Tamil refugee activist Aran Mylvaganam was arrested, then released, during a protest at federal immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs minister Andrew Giles’ office. Kerry Smith reports.
Issue 1380
News
A new report by Anglicare Australia has revealed that less than 1% of private rentals are affordable for a person working full-time on the minimum wage and just four rentals across Australia are affordable for people on JobSeeker. Isaac Nellist reports.
Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, on a sunny autumn day, was the venue for the Earth Care Café. David Killingly reports.
More than 600 Victorian National Tertiary Education Union members crammed into Victorian Trades Hall for their first stop-work meeting in a decade, as part of their fight for better conditions and fair pay. Mary Merkenich reports.
The inaugural Love, Art & Revolution Film Festival, directed by Jacqui North Productions and co-sponsored by Green Left and 107 Projects, was a success. Peter Boyle reports.
The Sudanese-Australian community mobilised outside Melbourne's State Library, calling for a return to civilian rule in Sudan. Jacob Andrewartha reports.
People in indefinite detention across the country held peaceful protests demanding their release. Chloe DS reports.
“Money for health and education, not for war and devastation!” rang out as arms lobbyist and former Coalition minister Christopher Pyne arrived at the Defence Strategic Review Summit. Jim McIlroy reports.
Work has started on the Perdaman fertiliser plant on the Burrup Peninsula, near Karratha, in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Chris Jenkins reports.
Unionists and health and safety representatives, as well as family and friends, mourned workers who have been killed, disabled, or physically or mentally injured at work on International Workers Memorial Day. Chloe DS reports.
May Day marches were organised in Boorloo/Perth, Gadi/Sydney, Meanjin/Brisbane, Muloobinba/Newcastle, Kombumerri/Gold Coast, Walyalup/Fremantle and Tarndanya/Adelaide. Susan Price, Jim McIlroy, Alex Salmon and Renfrey Clarke report.
Under significant pressure Labor is signalling it will raise the rate of the JobSeeker payment in the federal budget — but only for those aged over 55. Isaac Nellist reports.
Hundreds of unionists and their families attended the Labour Day march on the Gold Coast. Susan Price reports.
The Sydney May Day march demanded that state and federal Labor governments support workers' rights, urgent action on the climate emergency and peace. Video by Peter Boyle and Pip Hinman.
More than 5000 unionists marched from Belmore Park to Hyde Park calling for “justice”, “a better future” and to “show the bosses we mean business” on May 1. Jim McIlroy and Pip Hinman report.
Dr John Falzon told a May Day toast that Cuba shows the example of internationalism and solidarity with all the peoples of the world. Jim McIlroy reports.
Retired Lt Col Lance Collins, a former second in charge of the Australian Army Intelligence Division, said Australia's military integration into the US war machine had grown in recent years. John Quelch reports.
Three people protested their inhumane treatment on the roof of the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation detention centre. Chloe DS reports.
Episode 7: Green Left journalists Ben Radford and Isaac Nellist take you through the latest news from Australia and around the world.
The Australian Services Union initiated a protest outside the City of Greater Geelong Council meeting to show support council workers facing redundancies. Sarah Hathway reports.
Antipoverty Centre’s Kristin O’Connell: ‘The welfare system is stealing people’s present and future’
Welfare recipients, anti-poverty campaigners and supporters gathered outside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electoral office to demand he urgently commit to raising JobSeeker. Isaac Nellist reports.
National Tertiary Education Union members at the University of Sydney voted to end industrial action. Jim McIlroy talks to NTEU members Markela Panegyres and Kevin Fine about what it means.
Big Bird Backpackers is a specialty emergency accommodation service facing closure. Alex Bainbridge reports.
“Build tenant power” rang out through the CBD streets in a housing justice rally organised by SEQUR — South East Queensland Union of Renters. Alex Bainbridge reports.
Building industry unions and health groups are calling a total ban on the construction industry using engineered stone bench tops which contain silica. Jim McIlroy reports.
The Green Left Party (Yeşil Sol Parti) campaign for the May 14 Turkish general election was launched in western Sydney on April 22.
Margaret Kelly, a resident of the Barak Beacon Estate in Port Melbourne, told Green Left Radio she was angry with the Labor government’s decision to abandon its commitment to public housing. Conor Bond reports.
Analysis
As part of Green Left's coverage of the unfolding situation in Sudan we are sharing (with permission) this discussion between three Sudanese-Australian women about the situation on the ground, the background to the conflict and what the Australian government can do right now to support the people of Sudan.
The Defence Strategic Review doesn’t contain any surprises, argues Sam Wainwright. It abandons any pretence that military expenditure has anything to do with defence, conceding that it’s all about helping the United States project its military power into Asia.
The ecological and social impacts of a new surge in global military spending will be one of the discussions at the Ecosocialism 2023 conference in Naarm on July 1–2. Peter Boyle reports.
Blaming wages for inflation is cover for the capitalists’ attempts to make working people shoulder the cost of their system’s chronic periodic economic crises, argues Peter Boyle.
Canberra is happy to outsource its military and security establishment to Washington’s former mandarins, with many earning a pile in consultancy fees. Binoy Kampmark reports.
Shirley Winton argues that we must build a long-term, sustainable people’s mass movement for peace, justice and a safe environment that does not serve US imperialism or any other hegemon.
The Queensland government’s recently-released Coal Seam Gas Brine Management Action Plan confirms that there is not safe way of storing produced salt. Elena Garcia reports.
The tradition of ANZAC has done nothing to make Australian cautious, reflective and wise in sending troops to war, argues Binoy Kampmark.
While Doctors for the Environment Australia warns that coal seam gas mining is toxic, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association has the Queensland government’s ear. Elena Garcia and Glen Beasley report on the toxic waste problem.
The US has been perusing its China containment strategy for some years. But Australia is also preparing for war and is looking to make worrying changes to the Defence Act. Bevan Ramsden reports.
Green Left's Alex Bainbridge speaks to outgoing Greens Gabba Ward Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan about politics, social change and the role of elected representatives.
World
Following the outbreak of fighting in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, on April 15, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces/Janjaweed militia, The Civilian Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy was launched on April 27, reports Susan Price. It brings together more than 80 civil society and political groups and 130 individual signatories.
Hoyam Abbas from the United Sudanese Revolutionary Forces Abroad on April 29 spoke to Susan Price about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan.
The Barack Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia” — the military, economic and political strategy to deploy more than half the US Navy to the Pacific — is continuing apace. Reihana Mohideen argues it needs to be resisted.
Kenan Bircan, the Sydney representative of the Green Left Party (Yeşil Sol Parti) in Turkey, discusses its campaign for the May 14 general election.
John Pilger recalls the "electric" opposition of writers and journalists to the coming war in the 1930s and investigates why there is "a silence filled by a consensus of propaganda" today as the two greatest powers draw closer to conflict.
Khader Adnan died after 86 days of refusing food in protest of his detention by Israel, writes Tamara Nassar. He is the first Palestinian to die during a hunger strike in almost 40 years.
The Communist Party of Austria stunned many with its historic vote in the state of Salzburg. Christian Zeller discusses the rise and significance of the KPÖ’s vote.
Palestinian trade unions are urging the international labour movement to take action in support of the Palestinian-led movement against Israeli occupation, colonisation and apartheid, reports Kerry Smith.
A new pay scheme introduced by Blinkit, a quick-delivery grocery service in India, has sparked protests by delivery workers across several cities, reports Peoples Dispatch.
Chilean president Gabriel Boric has announced his plan to nationalise the country’s lithium industry to boost the economy and protect the environment, reports People's Dispatch.
The world’s total military expenditure surpassed $2.24 trillion last year, with Europe recording its steepest rise in the past three decades, reports Peoples Dispatch.
The world’s top four cruise companies have recently lodged appeals against a December 2022 decision by a United States federal judge who held them financially liable for nearly US$451 million for using docks nationalised in the Cuban Revolution, reports Ian Ellis-Jones.
Israel's politicians have always managed to unify around "security", writes Ramzy Baroud. But the cracks are widening.
At least 427 people have been killed, as clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces enter their ninth consecutive day. Peoples Dispatch reports.
President Emmanuel Macron has now signed his pensions bill into law, but the struggle to defeat it is not over, reports John Mullen.
Culture
Many US states have passed laws penalising companies that use boycotts to pressure Israel on its human rights record, writes Selma Dabbagh. Julia Bacha’s 2021 documentary Boycott tells the story of these efforts to stifle dissent.
The remarkable and outstanding Harry Belafonte died on April 25 at the age of 96. He lived a full life as a political activist and encouraged young people to be more angry and rebellious, writes Malik Miah.
Mat Ward looks back at April's political news and the best new music that related to it.
Saul Griffiths has demonstrated that 100% renewable energy would help the US and Australia not reach the climate targets, surpass them and raise export earnings. Elena Garcia reports.
Richard Gott's 2011 book focuses on the revolutionaries and rebels who stood up to the British Empire. Alex Salmon reviews.