Issue 1397

News

Hundreds protested outside Labor MP Ged Kearney’s office to demand she speaks up against Israel's genocide in Gaza and calls for a ceasefire. Jacob Andrewartha reports.

MUA members rallying against DP World in Fremantle

DP World, Australia's largest port terminal operator, is refusing to negotiate with the Maritime Union of Australia's demands for fair pay and conditions for wharf workers. Kerry Smith reports. 

Invasion Day rallies on January 26

Join your nearest Invasion Day protest happening this January 26.

LGBTIQ activists and allies celebrated a new Rainbow crossing which was finally completed last December, after a six-year campaign. Isaac Nellist reports.

National secretary of the CFMMEU Christy Cain told the Friends of Palestine WA rally that the union movement needed to take a stronger stand on Palestine.

The Save the Powerhouse group is concerned that NSW Labor is going back on its promise to end the secrecy surrounding this much loved and internationally admired arts and sciences museum. Kerry Smith reports.

 

The movement for Palestine in Australia is maintaining its pressure on Labor to abandon its support for Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Peter Boyle, Renfrey Clarke and Jacob Andrewartha report.

Kurdish supporters of the Western Sydney Wanderers showed their solidarity with Kurdish soccer players at the team’s winning January 1 match. Peter Boyle reports.

The release of cabinet documents from 2003 under the John Howard government has failed to clarify exactly how it decided to send Australian troops to the Iraq War. Mark Robinson reports.

Maritime Union of Australia and Electrical Trades Union members who work at the Geelong Port went on strike for 24 hours over January 1–2. Tim Gooden reports.

As the pro-Palestine justice movement grows, more Victorian councils have condemned Israel’s genocide of Gaza and joined the global call for a ceasefire. Gabriel Di Falco reports.

For the 12th consecutive week, Australians called for a permanent ceasefire at rallies and vigils over the traditional holiday period. People are also being urged to fly the Palestinian flag at midnight to show they oppose Israel's genocide.

Thousands marched through the streets of Gadi/Sydney on December 30 demanding an end to Israel's ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, reports Peter Boyle.

An emergency rally was held on December 29 to protest the latest escalation of the Turkish state's bombing of civilian infrastructure (including power stations, factories and even hospitals) in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava), reports Peter Boyle.

Protesting for a permanent ceasefire, to recognise Palestine and for a just and lasting peace continue across Australia.

Ecological impact of Gaza bombing, disease and war in Sudan & 2023 wrap up

Green Left journalists Isaac Nellist, Chloe DS and Gabriel Di Falco go through the latest news from across the continent and around the world. 

Blue Mountains Friends of Palestine organised its fifth protest on December 17. Aiasha Slee reports. 

RAFFWU members on strike in Meanjin/Brisbane on October 7

Workers at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets have ramped up their campaign for a living wage, secure jobs and safe workplaces with a Christmas #Superstrike. Isaac Nellist reports. 

The National Union of Students unanimously voted to stand in solidarity with Palestine at its 2023 National Conference. Simone Maddison reports.

Sit-down protest in Meanjin/Brisbane on December 17

Protesters were not deterred by Christmas distractions, summer heat or the long overdue Australian vote at the United Nations to join weekend protests for a genuine ceasefire in Gaza. Alex Bainbridge reports.

Analysis

Australia has not said much about South Africa’s case against Israel's genocide at the International Court of Justice. Alex Bainbridge writes that while Canberra generally supports the US on Israel, it is also giving itself some wriggle room.

The dismissal of ABC broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf last year is both the product of a nasty campaign from the outside as well as a weakness from management, argues Binoy Kampmark.

Man holding big bag of money

Despite their ballooning wealth, the corporate rich are using their power to demand more tax breaks and protect their industrial-scale tax dodging. Peter Boyle reports.

As global temperatures rise we need serious action to solve the climate emergency

Alarmingly — but not surprisingly — 2023 was the hottest year since 1850, but Labor is dragging its feet and depending on the private sector to handle the climate transition. Pip Hinman reports.

Tim Gooden, a former Geelong Trades Hall secretary, said the Labor government is complicit in Israel's genocide against Gaza and that unions should be doing more to stop it.

A deceitful historical narrative, at best, dismisses the systematic dispossession and genocide of First Nations peoples as being in the distant past. It isn't and it needs to be stopped, argues Peter Boyle.

Reporting Israel’s war on Gaza has become the greatest credibility challenge for journalists and the media in our time, writes David Robie.

South Africa's case against Israel in the International Court of Justice could be one route to end the hot war in Gaza. But, as Paul Gregoire writes, politics will decide — a reason to keep mobilising.

Arabunna Elder Uncle Kevin Buzzacott passed away in Alice Springs on November 29, 2023. A fierce advocate for his people and for a nuclear-free Australia, Kevin will be sorely missed, writes Jim Green.

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network is urging Labor to support South Africa’s suit against Israel for genocide in Gaza in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Stuart Rees reports.

Foreign fighter laws aim to prevent Australians fighting alongside Hamas and Hezbollah, but Australians can and have joined the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza. Paul Gregoire reports.

John Pilger should be remembered and honoured not just for his impressive body of work, but for being a brave — and at times near-lone — voice for truth against power, write Peter Boyle and Pip Hinman.

AI behemoth Palantir, which markets itself as 'humanitarian' is proud to provide the Israeli government with military and surveillance technology. Binoy Kampmark reports on the tech giant's mission is make the West stronger.

While the US Department of Justice battles to indict Assange for absurd espionage charges, various parts of his case have begun to unravel. Binoy Kampmark reports.

World

South Korea and North Korea flags and two men's faces

Green Left’s Federico Fuentes spoke to Youngsu Won, a socialist and coordinator of the International Forum in South Korea, about the new tensions flaring on the Korean peninsula and their potential ramifications.

protesters, map of mining site

An Algerian court has acquitted university lecturer and scientist Kamel Aïssat on all charges related to his opposition to a lead and zinc mine on Algeria’s Mediterranean coast, following an international campaign of solidarity, reports Susan Price.

young people protesting

In the United States, despite the mainstream media’s backing of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, more young people in the US are critical of the war and taking leading roles in the movement against it, write Barry Sheppard and Malik Miah.

Four Latin American presidents and former presidents

In the second part of his interview with Green Left’s Federico Fuentes, Brazilian author and socialist Pedro Fuentes discusses the crisis of imperialist hegemony, the unpredictability of contemporary politics and its impacts on Latin America.

Container ship and port

Pedro Fuentes, a leader of the Socialist Left Movement (MES), a tendency within Brazil’s Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) speaks to Green Left’s Federico Fuentes about imperialism’s new phase, ecological crisis and international solidarity.

Three faces against a background image of a sniper

Three Indigenous land defenders were found guilty of criminal contempt in a Canadian court on January 12 for their opposition to the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, reports Jeff Shantz.

woman holding a sign

When the overwhelming majority of world governments call for a cease fire, it indicates Israel and its key ally the United States are under intense pressure from below, argue Malik Miah and Barry Sheppard.

large area of forest logged and bulldozed

In part 2 of his interview with Green Left's Federico Fuentes, South African politial economist, author and activist Patrick Bond discusses some of the limitations in Vladimir Lenin’s views on imperialism and the need to incorporate the concept of "unequal ecological exchange" into any analysis of this defining feature of modern capitalism.

protesters holding signs

South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on December 29, on the grounds of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Mohamed Hanipa Maidin looks at South Africa's case and Israel's response.

protesters holding signs

Aotearoa/New Zealand's Fair Pay Agreements Act was repealed by the newly-elected conservative National Party government on December 20, reports Clive Tillman.

mourners at a funeral, headshot of a woman

Turkey carried out a devastating string of airstrikes on North East Syria (NES) over Christmas, targeting civilian service facilities and infrastructure. The Rojava Information Center (RIC) spoke with Kurdish politician and former Syrian Democratic Council co-chair, Ilham Ahmed, about the latest attacks.

flags of Brazil, India, China, Russia, South Africa

In the first of our two-part interview, South African political economist and author Patrick Bond discusses modern-day imperial power and the role BRICS countries play in maintaining United States dominance with Green Left's Federico Fuentes.

people protesting

Standing Together is a Jewish-Arab social movement in Israel, organising against racism and occupation and for equality and social justice. Its national field organiser Uri Weltmann spoke to Green Left’s Federico Fuentes about its response to Israel's war on Gaza and anti-Arab racism within Israel.

woman with tape over her mouth

The crackdown against Palestine solidarity activists and movements in Canada has intensified, as the shadow of a 'new McCarthyism' hangs over the country's universities, reports Jeff Shantz.

Culture

book cover with background image of protest

Federico Fuentes reviews Uprising: The October Rebellion in Ecuador, an exceptional look at the October 2019 anti-neoliberal insurrection from the perspective of one of its central leaders.

book cover

Alex Salmon reviews Knocking the top off: A people’s history of alcohol in Australia, edited by Alex Ettling and Iain McIntyre.

Book cover against images of drugs

Chris Slee reviews Benjamin Fong's book, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, which examines the history of drug use and prohibition in the United States.

book cover and background image of woman's face

Andrew Chuter reviews Their Blood Got Mixed, a graphic memoir through the heart of a remarkable experiment in self-determination.

woman wearing a face mask looking out a window

In their book, The Locked-up Country — a play on Donald Horne’s The Lucky Country — Tom Chodor and Sharar Hameiri meticulously chronicle how governments opted for seemingly unthinkable measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Fred Fuentes reviews.

Usman Khawaja for Palestine

Cricketer Usman Khawaja challenging the banning of wearing messages supporting Palestine is the latest example of athletes countering the idea that 'sports and politics don't mix'. Alex Salmon reports.