A protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people at the University of Sydney drew dozens of students and activists from the Palestinian and Arab community. Khaled Ghannam reports.
Issue 1405
News
Several hundred people formed a picket outside the gates of Bisalloy Steel in Wollongong to protest its links with the Israeli military. Melanie Barnes reports.
The National Tertiary Education Union at the University of Sydney has voted to support an institutional academic boycott of Israeli universities and to cut ties with weapons industries. Pip Hinman reports.
NSW Labor has amended the Local Government Act to give the minister more power over whether forcibly-merged councils can demerge, breaking one of its pre-election promises. Pip Hinman reports.
Several hundred climate activists rallied outside Kirribilli House, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s residence, as part of environment groups’ 12-day Rise Up campaign. Coral Wynter reports.
Protesters gathered as part of an international day of action against the surge in military spending to demand Labor cut its military budget and cancel the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines. Jim McIlroy reports.
A 12-week community picket outside Heat Treatment Australia has led to a partial victory: the company has denied it helps supply parts for Israel’s genocide. Jacob Andrewartha reports.
Palestine solidarity featured at May Day rallies, while student encampments spread across the country and some cities marked the 30th consecutive week of protesting for a lasting ceasefire for Gaza. Reports below from across Australia.
Palestinian-Australian doctor Noor Aljassim addressed a protest outside the Australian College of Anaesthetist’s annual conference where Zionist anaesthesiologist Professor Carolyn Weinger was given a platform. Alex Bainbridge reports.
Gunnai Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has joined growing calls from medical experts for incarcerated people to receive equal access to healthcare. Josh Adams reports.
Year 11 student Jeremy told a climate rally outside Tanya Plibersek's office that “climate change is threatening our future”. Jim McIlroy reports.
Green Left journalists Isaac Nellist and Riley Breen discuss the latest news from across the continent and around the world.
Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton is standing for re-election to Merri-bek City Council, in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs. Jacob Andrewartha reports.
After rejecting an inadequate offer from the Department of Education, the State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia called a half-day strike.
Aid organisations, including Amnesty International, Oxfam Australia, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network and Trade Unionists for Palestine, supported the global call to end arms deals with Israel. Jim McIlroy reports.
Inspired by the United States encampments in support of Palestine, students launched one on Curtin University. Alex Salmon reports.
More than 5000 unionists, largely construction workers, marched through the CBD on May 1 to mark May Day, the international day of workers’ struggle. Jim McIlroy reports.
A Gaza solidarity encampment has recent been set up at the University of Queensland. Photos by Alex Bainbridge.
Students at the newly-formed Gaza solidarity encampment rallied against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the University of Queensland. Sam Morris reports.
Queer Liberation Boorloo welcomes WA Labor's long-awaited announcement on gender reassignment reforms, but says it has more promises to the LGBTIQ community to keep. Nova Sobieralski reports.
Tens of thousands of people joined mass rallies to demand real action to combat male violence against women, over April 26–27, promoted by the killing of 27 women, so far, this year.
As Israel continues to threaten a ground invasion of Rafah — where more than 1 million people are sheltering — students around the world have pitched tents at campuses to protest their universities' complicity in the genocide.
Mariana Riscali, a national executive member of the Socialist and Freedom Party, is confirmed to speak at Ecosocialism 2024. Fred Fuentes reports.
Some of the voices from the Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Melbourne, video by Alex Bainbridge and Jacob Andrewartha.
University of Sydney students are camping out on campus in solidarity with the student encampments for Palestine taking place in the US, video by Isaac Nellist.
Analysis
Palestinian scientist and activist Mazin Qumsiyeh joins the latest Green Left Show.
Palestine solidarity encampments at several universities issued this statement on May 9.
Federal budgets are about choosing where public money should be spent. Instead, governments cynically use them to manipulate public fears and expectations, argues Peter Boyle.
A scare campaign about domestic terrorism is mounting. Paul Gregoire asks if Australia is following the United States in selectively targeting Muslim communities.
ASIO has revealed that Indian spies are operating in Australia, undermining Labor's efforts to boost the region’s anti-China alliance. Binoy Kampmark reports.
Because Mazin Qumsiyeh's homeland has been occupied for 75 years, it is inevitable that colonisation’s impact has been a central theme of his research. Cas Smith reports on his lecture at Boorloo/Perth State Library.
Maggie K, from the Tzedek Collective, addressed a solidarity rally at the University of Sydney encampment for Palestine on May 3.
Greens federal housing spokesperson and Griffith MP Max Chandler-Mather spoke with Stuart Munckton and Federico Fuentes about the opportunities for transformative politics today.
Pro-nuclear pundits are using push-polling tricks to sway opinions which include biased preliminary comments, biased questions, limited response options and misreporting the findings. Jim Green reports.
Labor’s package to help women escape violence is welcome but not nearly enough. Angela Carr argues that we need to be clear on what drives men to commit violence against women and address that, as well as assisting victim/survivors.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties has added its support to Freedom Flotilla initiative, saying it is both “a form of protest and as a humanitarian relief campaign”. Kerry Smith reports.
It is important to amplify the voices of those most affected by climate catastrophe, and those include young people, argues Maz Misiewicz.
World
People have flooded the streets of Georgia's capital Tbilisi against the passing of a new foreign influence law. This follows three weeks of protest after the bill was tabled, reports Brenna Dempsey.
A second wave of protest encampments was launched at universities in several provinces across Canada in the week of May 4, including at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta — where police violently attacked peaceful protesters, reports Jeff Shantz.
Following the violent police crackdown on Palestine solidarity encampments at Columbia and City College in the United States, Green Left’s Isaac Nellist, Jacob Andrewartha and Chloe DS spoke to three US student activists about the protests: Cyn Huang from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, Daniil Sapunkov from the City University of New York’s Hunter College and Amey from San Francisco State University (SFSU).
Since taking office in December, far-right Argentine President Javier Milei has embarked on a program of public spending cuts, leading to suffering for millions. But his neoliberal reforms and severe austerity are being met with growing grassroots resistance, reports Ana Zorita.
Jailed anti-war sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky’s final appeal against his five-year jail term will be heard on June 5, reports Federico Fuentes.
Storms that began on April 29 have triggered unprecedented flooding in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, with 150,000 people displaced, 85 dead and more than 130 missing as of May 6. Israel Dutra and Roberto Robaina outline a socialist response to this climate catastrophe.
Around the world, the far right is gaining strength and seeking to impose its agenda. Green Left’s Federico Fuentes spoke with Mariana Riscali, a leader of the Socialist Left Movement tendency within Brazil’s Socialism and Liberty Party, about how Brazilian socialists are organising to confront the far-right threat.
Green Left’s Isaac Nellist, Jacob Andrewartha and Chloe DS spoke to three students, Cyn Huang (University of California, Berkeley), Daniil Sapunkov (City University of New York, Hunter College), members of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Amey (San Francisco State University Students for Gaza) about establishing Gaza solidarity encampments at their campuses.
Students at universities across Canada have established encampments in solidarity with Palestine, inspired by and in solidarity with university encampments across the United States, reports Jeff Shantz.
Pro-Palestinian protests have spread to more than 70 campuses large and small across the United States. Crackdowns by administrators suspending students and using police to make arrests have only spurred them on, report Barry Sheppard and Malik Miah.
The Gaza solidarity encampments established at more than 50 universities across the United States have inspired students around the world to pitch tents on campuses and demand universities cut ties with apartheid Israel.
The Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee was previously the only VW facility in the world without union representation. But all that changed on April 20, when workers voted in favour of unionisation in a three-day ballot, reports Malik Miah.
The Israeli authorities have been found wanting on accusations that Hamas terrorists filled the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), reports Binoy Kampmark.
Students at more than 40 universities and colleges in the United States and around the world have lit a fire under the Palestine solidarity movement by setting up encampments on their campuses, reports Saurav Sarkar.
Culture
Jim McIlroy and Coral Wynter review Asylum, a hard-hitting play about the intersection of the refugee crisis and the severe problems facing families in a period of social tension, which just finised its season at the Hellenic Theatre in Sydney's inner west.
Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus presents eight recent books for people who want to change the world.
Combining the distilled wisdom of socialist writer Jeff Sparrow and the graphic ingenuity of comic artist Sam Wallman, 12 Rules for Strife is a handbook for changing everything, writes Andrew Chuter.