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AMWU Campaign 2003 takes shape

BY SUE BULL MELBOURNE — Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) metal division stewards arrived from all over Victoria to discuss their next enterprise bargaining campaign on November 14. Over 250 stewards gave unanimous support to a

Socialist Alliance says 'don't let UN trick us into war'

BY ALISON DELLIT On November 13, the Socialist Alliance condemned the November 8 United Nations Security Council resolution on Iraq, arguing that it helped pave the way for war. "Even with United Nations Security Council backing, a war on Iraq

VENEZUELA: Chavez looks for an 'axis of good'

BY STUART MUNCKTON Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has answered right-wing commentators who have attacked Brazil's new president, the Workers' Party candidate, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, with the claim that Brazil will, with Venezuela and Cuba,

Write On: Letters to Green Left Weekly

AMWU and N14 When it was announced the November 14 anti-World Trade Organisation (WTO) unity rally in Sydney would not be marching due to fears of "violence", I was appalled. When I found that the leadership of my union, the Australian

DSP: 'Alliance too valuable to risk breakdown in relations'

BY JOHN PERCY [The following letter was sent on November 11 by Democratic Socialist Party national secretary John Percy on behalf of the political committee of the Democratic Socialist Party to the national executive of the International Socialist

Candidate withdraws

MELBOURNE — With regret, the Aston branch of the Socialist Alliance has announced that Josephine Cox will no longer be standing for the alliance in the seat of Dandenong in the state elections. Aston Socialist Alliance members wish Cox all the best

Canto Coro's 'Voices of the Masses'

MELBOURNE — A South American folk mass, sung by a 60-strong choir and accompanied by an Andean band, will be the major piece in the "Voices of the Masses" concert in Melbourne on November 22-24. Over the last nine years, the community choir Canto

Loose Cannons

Peace danger looms "The risk in the strategy [of allowing UN inspectors to return to Iraq], [US] officials note, is that the inspectors may visit those sites and discover nothing", — New York Times, November 14. Washington, London and Canberra

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Bishops call for refugees to be released

BY BILL SMITH The Papua New Guinea Catholic Bishops Conference on November 6 called on the PNG government to "respect human rights and accept the need to release the refugees from detention in Manus [Island]". The bishops said that the laws of PNG

CHINA: CP welcomes capitalists into its ranks

BY EVA CHENG China's drawn out process of capitalist restoration is poised to take a new leap forward after the 16th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CP), held November 8-14 in Beijing, vigorously endorsed such a move away from socialism.

JAPAN: Pentagon praises role 'war on terrorism'

The 2002 US Department of Defense report on "Allied Contribution to the Common Defense" highly praises the Japanese Self-Defense Forces' participation in operations in the Indian Ocean the past year in support of US forces. The report, submitted to

'No borders! No nations! No deportations!'

BY OWEN RICHARDS SYDNEY — A dynamic and colourful gathering of around 1000 activists at Town Hall on November 13 kicked off three days of protest against the mini-ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with a march demanding