Political tensions within the Spanish state have reached a new pitch after the January 23 declaration by the Catalan parliament of Catalonia’s sovereign right to decide its political future.
Antagonism is intensifying between the Catalan and national governments and polarisation continues to rise among and within all main political forces.
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This is surely a country that could use a bit of good news. It has been a tough few weeks with raging bushfires, severe flooding and, just when it seemed it couldn't get worse, the heartbreaking news we will be subjected to the longest election campaign in Australian history.
A packed-out meeting of tenants from Fitzroy's Atherton Gardens public housing estate established a resident’s committee to lead a campaign against the government’s plans to sell off open space and playgrounds to developers.
The meeting was initiated by Socialist Party Yarra councillor Steve Jolly, and was also attended by nearby private residents, including members of the local African, Chinese and Vietnamese communities, construction union members, Greens MP Adam Bandt and an ALP councillor.
This statement was released by the Refugee Rights Network on January 30.
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Refugee rights groups across Australia will be converging on the remote Yongah Hill detention centre in Perth on the long weekend of April 25 to 28.
We will protest against the mandatory detention of asylum seekers in hellholes such as Yongah Hill and the offshore processing of refugees on Nauru and Manus Island.
Front Line Action on Coal released this statement on January 30.
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Front Line Action on Coal has hit Whitehaven’s Tarrawonga mine and federal environment minister Tony Burke’s office in Roseland with simultaneous actions, unfurling huge banners that read: “The Burke stops here”.
The banners call on the Federal Environment Minister to reject coal expansions that would decimate the Leard Forest.
This statement was released by the Huon Valley Environment Centre on January 23. Click here for more information.
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The Wilderness Society today announced it would be travelling to Japan accompanied by staff of the controversial [Malaysian] timber company Ta Ann, to lobby customers and secure its international markets.
Veteran political commentator Michelle Grattan has dubbed PM Julia Gillard's early announcement of a September 14 federal election as the opening of the “longest election campaign in history”. She says it's “clever tactics” on Gillard's part. Another prominent political commentator, Lenore Taylor, says that this is an attempt by an embattled ALP government to “reboot the political debate”.
The latest weekly "Our Common Cause" column of the Socialist Alliance argues the time is well-over due to phase out fossil fuels and embrace renewable energy.
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It's been another summer of record-breaking extreme weather in Australia.
Protect Arnhem Land is a campaign to fight offshore exploration, mining and drilling around the entire coastline of the Northern Territory Arnhem Land region.
Last August, it came to light that there are more than 40 potential petroleum exploration sites off the coast of Arnhem Land.
The people living on this country had not been informed of the submission of such exploration permits nor were they aware of what mining exploration entails.
The recent floods in Queensland, as well as bushfires in three states, have dramatically shown that climate change is a serious threat and is getting worse. Climate change is not an abstract issue that will be a problem at some point down the track; it is having real impacts now.
Extreme fires and floods are becoming the norm in Australia, rather than infrequent disasters. It is expected that there will be more frequent and more damaging extreme weather events if action to stop climate change soon does not happen soon.
Solidarity released this statement on January 30.
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Trade union activist Sulthoni Farras, a leader of the Indonesian union federation Progresip, union alliance Sekber Buruh, and member of Indonesian political organisation KPO-PRP, is in danger of arrest for leading a strike last year. Another activist, Bona Ventura, may also face charges.
The Indonesian government and bosses are using these kinds of tactics against a growing workers’ movement in Indonesia.
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Dear Comrade/Friend,
A new report by the Australian National Audit Office has found the federal government spends more than $100 million a year to administer income management in the Northern Territory.
Over 17,000 people were on income management at the end of June last year, while welfare quarantining remains a key component of the controversial NT Intervention,
The scheme costs the Commonwealth Government between $6600 and $7900 per person, per year.
Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney's Paddy Gibson says he condemns the government's decision to maintain compulsory income management.
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