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News briefs 2

2 ACT Labor government bans appeals CANBERRA - On April 16, the ACT ALP government responded to the Save the Ridge group's March 31 court victory by announcing not only an appeal, but also a change to land planning regulations so that objections

SCOTLAND: Socialists launch council tax rebellion

Alex Miller The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) will initiate a campaign to abolish the local council tax wuith a mass demonstration in Glasgow on April 24, and with the presentation of bill in the Scottish Parliament by SSP MSP Tommy Sheridan. In

Love and death amid the crisis of social democracy

REVIEW BY LACHLAN MALLOCH The Barbarian InvasionsWritten and directed by Denys ArcandWith Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau and Marie-Josee CrozeOpens nationally April 8. In the beginning, Australian audiences could be forgiven for thinking The

Moqtada al Sadr and the Mahdi Army

Rohan Pearce Outside of Moqtada al Sadr, most clerics in the higher reaches of the Shiite hierarchy — such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq — have had ambivalent attitudes towards the

Troops out now!

While government and opposition ministers ruminate ceaselessly about what kind of "exit strategy" is needed to get troops out of Iraq, the anti-war movement has been shouting its strategy: "Troops out now!" Prime Minister John Howard may have

Greens challenge ALP stranglehold on local councils

Kylie Moon& Margaret Gleeson, Sydney Despite the big increase in the Greens votes in the Sydney inner-west municipalities of Marrickville, Leichhardt or Ashfield at the March 27 NSW local government elections, no Greens councillors were elected as

Socialist Alliance unionists get organised

Andrew Watson After years of retreat under conservative leaderships, sections of the trade union movement are today experiencing a revival of militancy and rank-and-file workplace organising. Socialists are playing a leading role in rebuilding

Little Johnny helps festival go left

CANBERRA — A statue of Prime Minister John Howard titled 'If the boots don't fit', helped set the scene for one of the most radical national folk festivals in years, over the Easter weekend. The statue, by Melbourne sculptor Greg Taylor, was

Timorese demand: 'Stop stealing our oil'

Jon Lamb The recently formed Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea (MKOT) staged a series of peaceful demonstrations in Dili on April 14-16, demanding an end to the theft of East Timor's oil and gas resources. Some 500 protesters

Rally opposes occupation of Iraq.

SYDNEY - On March 16, 250 people attended an emergency rally initiated by the Stop the War Coalition (STWC) in response to the aerial bombardment and killings in Falluja, Iraq. Protesters marched to the US consulate, demanding "Iraq for the

South Korea: Labour leaders win seats

Sarah Stephen South Korea's April 15 general election has resulted in a shift to the left. Ten representatives to the 299-member parliament were elected from the labour movement-based Democratic Labor Party. The DLP, which previously had no

PALESTINE: Why all the fuss about the Bush-Sharon meeting?

Ali Abunimah The April 14 meeting between US President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Washington sent Palestinian leaders into a flying panic. But their response reeks of desperation and self-interest rather than any real