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Hundreds of grassroots climate activists will meet in Canberra from March 13-15 to attend the second Climate Action Summit. It will build on the success of the first summit, which occurred in January 2009 and attracted more than 500 people, representing about 150 climate action groups.
On February 15, five men who were convicted in October under “anti-terror” laws, were each sentenced in Parramatta court to between 23 and 28 years in jail. The shortest non-parole period was set at 17 years and three months.
Aboriginal singer-song writer Ruby Hunter passed away on February 17. Her music dealt with her personal history, Indigenous struggles, and social and women’s issues.
A memorial for left-wing musician Alistair Hulett was held on February 14 at Sydney’s Gaelic Club.
Elaine Peckham is a Central Arrernte woman who lives on homelands in the West MacDonnell Ranges. She spoke at the Prescribed Area People’s Alliance meeting in Alice Springs on February 12. The speech below is abridged from text prepared by the Intervention Rollback Action Group rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com.
NEWCASTLE – Forty-five people attended a fundraiser for the Haitian Emergency Fund on February 10. The Haitian Emergency Fund is a grassroots organisation in Haiti made up of unions, women's groups, and human rights activists. The lively crowd heard Caribbean music and a presentation by Stuart Munckton, an editor of Green Left Weekly.
Bridget Chappell, an Australian solidarity activist, was arrested along with Spanish activist Ariadna Jove Marti in a pre-dawn raid on February 7 in Ramallah, Palestine.
The Sydney Morning Herald-sponsored “Independent Public Inquiry” into Sydney’s public transport released its preliminary report on February 13. The report outlined a 30-year strategy to massively improve Sydney’s public transport infrastructure.
The modern queer rights movement was born on June 28, 1969 in New York City.
Congratulations to Victorian Electrical Trades Union secretary Dean Mighell for his frank comment in the February 11 Age (“Unions must leave Labor”).
"I think the media plays a big role in desensitising the masses to injustice and the inequality in the world. It says "that's the way it is", and makes us think, "I'm only one person, what can I do?" I get angry mostly about what I call "the war on terror incorporated" and the total waste of war. I listen to bands like Anti-Flag. Films by people like Michael Moore informed me a bit.
The struggle for wage justice by workers at the Star City Casino in Sydney continued with strikes on February 11 and Chinese New Year (February 14).