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On March 16, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib won his case for defamation against an article by Piers Akerman in February 2005 in the Daily Telegraph.
Federico Fuentes and Kiraz Janicke concluded their ten-day tour of Canada on March 7, with a rally in Vancouver entitled “Change the System, Not the Climate.” Fuentes shared the platform with Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s UN ambassador and chief spokesperson on climate change.
CAIRNS — Three Queensland doctors published a letter in the international medical journal The Lancet on March 6, highlighting the difficulties women in the state face accessing medical and surgical abortions.
Aboriginal services workers and community members from across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions held a “community issues workshop” on March 17.
Commonwealth By Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri Harvard University Press, $64.95, (hb)
BRISBANE — Despite the postponement of US President Barack Obama's visit to Australia until June, a rally protesting against his government's war policies took place on March 19, the seventh anniversary of the US-led allied invasion of Iraq.
Thinking Outside The Square: A Retrospective (Photographs 1972-2010) By Elaine Pelot-Syron South Sydney Uniting Church 56a Raglan Street Waterloo March 14 until May 20 Tues-Thu, 4.30-6pm; Sun, 9am-noon
On March 16, Yarra City Council amended the racist Local Law 8, which bans drinking in public places. The law was originally passed on October 20 with the ALP, Greens and independent councillors voting for it. Socialist Party councillor Stephen Jolly was the only councillor to oppose the law.
Three hundred climate activists participated in Australia’s second national Climate Action Summit in Canberra on March 13-15, marking an important step forward for the grassroots climate movement in this country.
Frustrated by a lack of progress in enterprise bargaining after eleven months of negotiation, members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of New South Wales launched the first of a series of fortnightly 24-hour strikes on March 18.
Western Australian attorney-general Christian Porter said on March 17 an interim payment of $200,000 to the family of Aboriginal elder Mr Ward should be “finalised’’ by the end of the month (leaving unclear whether this meant “paid” or “approved”).
La’o Hamutuk, the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis, calls on the military and civilian commanders of Australian and other foreign soldiers in Timor-Leste to direct their soldiers to avoid involvement in local politics, including asking Timorese citizens their political views or encouraging them to identify with one political grouping or another.