Issue 1417

News

The National Tertiary Education Union for Palestine, the National Union of Students and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions organised a day of action to support an institutional academic boycott of Israel. Paul Gregoire reports.

Four years after 1700 Qantas workers were sacked and outsourced, and a year after the High Court agreed that it was illegal, Qantas has been ordered to compensate them. Jim McIlroy reports.

 

Hundreds marched through the CBD to show support for refugees who are demanding permanent visas. Chris Slee reports.

The long-delayed Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2024 finally passed the New South Wales parliament, albeit with reduced protections for LGBTIQ people to appease NSW Labor. Josh Adams reports.

Hundreds marched from Flemington to North Melbourne to oppose Victorian Labor’s plans to demolish 44 public housing towers. Darren Saffin reports.

First Nations activists have been arrested or prevented from peacefully protesting about First People’s genocide during “King” Charles III’s visit to Ngunnawal/Canberra and Gadigal Country/Sydney. Ash Phthalo reports.

Protesters continue to demand that the United States and its allies, including Australia, stop Israel from bombing Gaza and Lebanon, and widening the war to Iran, with protests continuing during the 54th week of the genocide.

Public housing tenants and advocates demanded genuine solutions to the housing crisis outside NSW Parliament on World Eradicate Poverty Day. Rachel Evans reports. 

The newly elected Northern Territory Country Liberal Party government passed a suite of controversial punitive measures, which many argue will brutalise young children and not make the community any safer. Stephen W Enciso reports.

A large crowd gathered to protest foreign minister Penny Wong’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and attacks on Lebanon when she addressed a forum at the University of Tasmania. Isaac Nellist reports.

Isaac Nellist and Riley Breen discuss recent developments in the climate movement and talk to Green Left journalist and socialist activist Peter Boyle about imagining a green future.

University of Wollongong (UOW) management cited the updated Campus Access and Order Rules policy to shut down the UOW Palestine solidarity encampment, the last remaining encampment in the country, reports Kate Simpson

Labor now wants to keep the national broadband network, NBN Co, in public ownership, tabling a bill in parliament to that effect. Jim McIlroy reports.

A snap protest was called against transphobe Craig Cole, who is holding “community information sessions” on how children are under attack in schools. Steve O'Brien reports.

As Israel, backed by the United States, continues to ignore every international law on “war”, protests demanding Israel be sanctioned and for a permanent ceasefire continue across the country. Pip Hinman reports. 

The Environmental Defenders Office and Lock the Gate Alliance said Glencore and Yancoal’s decision to withdraw one of two open-cut coal mine expansions in the Hunter Valley is good news, but not the end of the matter. Kerry Smith reports.

Analysis

Not so long ago, the official line was that we could consider republicanism when the queen died. Tony Smith argues that politicians calling for Independent Senator Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe to be sanctioned for dishonesty invite ridicule.  

Instead of restoring trust in the public service and politics, the National Anti-Corruption Commission has shown it prefers to be impotent, argues Binoy Kampmark.

The NSW Independent Casino Commission handed Star Casino a reduced wrist-slap fine and yet another extension on its still-suspended licence, claiming its latest reprieve is “in the public interest”. Suzanne James reports.

Over the last 10 years, housing supply has increased faster than the population, but house prices have still risen 75%. Peter Boyle looks at why Labor does not want the public to understand its tax concessions for the rich.

Rising Tide is preparing for the biggest 2024 Peoples Blockade of the world’s largest coal port in its almost 20 years of protesting human induced fossil-fuel driven climate change. Zane Alcorn and Niko Leka report.

A week out from the October 26 Queensland election, the two major parties are doubling down on their racist law and order campaign, despite experts warning of social problems worsening without structural reform. Alex Bainbridge reports.

Jews are far from the only ethnic or religious group subjected to persecution and genocide over the centuries. Michelle Berkon argues that an inclusive approach to discrimination against Jews would be to include it under an umbrella definition of racism.

 

Justice for Palestine Magan-djin campaigner and Greens candidate for Moreton Remah Naji speaks to Alex Bainbridge on the Green Left Show.

Responding to the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign, the National Tertiary Education Union National Council has decided, overwhelmingly, to support an academic institutional boycott of Israeli universities. Jonathan Strauss and Markela Panegyres report.

Those cheering on Labor’s attack on the construction division of the Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union claim the union is responsible for the shortfall in promised new homes. Sue Bull reports.

kayaking

To tackle the worsening climate emergency, we need to build a mass movement that opposes the profits-driven capitalist system, argues Pip Hinman.

Unable to win the moral, political and legal arguments, apologists for genocide in parliament and the media are pushing back. But, as Janet Parker told a rally, supporters of justice will not be vilified or silenced.

World

Pro-Palestine supporters at the council meeting

Ōtautahi Christchurch city council voted on October 23 to cease doing business with companies building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), reports Zara Lomas, making it the first in the country to do so.

Opening title of film

A year after the launch of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has released a new documentary that exposes Israeli war crimes through photos and videos shared by Israeli soldiers, writes Barry Sheppard.

Prabowo Subianto takes oath of office

When Indonesia’s new president Prabowo Subianto announced his cabinet, a number of former activists and leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PRD) were among its 109 members. Green Left’s Peter Boyle spoke to Rudi Hartono, former editor of the PRD’s publication Berdikari, about this development.

Anti-mining protest in Peru

The Peruvian government will send a delegation to the International Mining and Resources Conference to be held in Sydney over October 29‒31, to promote foreign investment in the country’s mining sector, reports Ben Radford.

Protesters with a banner

Pressure is building on Aotearoa New Zealand’s government to create a humanitarian visa pathway for Palestinians fleeing the genocide in Gaza, reports Zara Lomas.

Protesters with a banner

Green Left's Peter Boyle spoke to Ignatius Mahendra Kusumawardhana from Indonesia's Perserikatan Sosialis (Socialist Union), one of the left groups protesting former Suharto-era general Prabowo Subianto, who was sworn in as Indonesia's new president on October 20.

Two women holding a protest sign

Michael Karrer spoke to Atenea Jiménez, a sociologist and founder of the National Network of Commune Activists and the Campesino University of Venezuela Argimiro Gabaldón, about the situation following Venezuela’s July 28 elections.

THAAD missile defence system

United States troops are being sent to a conflict that resembles a train travelling at high speed, with no risk of stopping, writes Binoy Kampmark.

West Papuan protesters and police line

In the lead up to the October 20 inauguration of President Probowo Subianto, Indonesia established five Vulnerable Area Buffer Infantry Battalions in key regions across West Papua, raising concern about further militarisation and repression in the occupied territory, writes Ali Mirin.

Federico Fuentes explains what happened in the Venezuelan elections, what it means and where it leaves the solidarity movement.

A US B-2 stealth bomber

The United States deployed B-2 stealth bombers to launch airstrikes on Yemen on October 17, underscoring the US’ deep involvement in a deadly regional war that is threatening to engulf the entire Middle East, reports Jake Johnson.

Tempest interviewed Marxist activist John Mullen about anti-capitalist organising and the need for unity to overcome divisions within the left in France.

After France’s recent parliamentary elections, President Emmanuel Macron refused to allow the Nouveau Front Populaire left alliance to form government. Tempest interviewed Marxist activist John Mullen about the challenges facing the left in France following the formation of the new right-wing government.

Protest outside the NYSE

A Jewish-led anti-war protest in front of the New York Stock Exchange in the United States surprised share-traders and finance capital figures, reports Malik Miah.

Two Israeli Defense Force tanks recently destroyed the main gate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, near the Israeli border, and shot at UN soldiers. Binoy Kampmark reports on Israel’s history with the UN.

Public transport workers on strike

Transport workers in Peru’s Lima and Callao region went on strike on October 10–11 to demand that the government act against the worsening violence and extortion that workers face at the hands of organised crime groups, reports Ben Radford.

Map

Despite its malicious strategy of communal gerrymandering to win the Legislative Assembly elections in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party was rejected by a thumping majority, report Farooq Sulehria and Haris Qadeer.

map of fires in the Amazon

More than 300,000 fires have burned more than 80 million hectares and claimed hundreds of lives across South America this year, reports Ben Radford.

b-1_bombers_on_diego_garcia

The British government will return sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, reports Binoy Kampmark. But the caveat is that the joint British-United States military base on Diego Garcia will continue to operate unimpeded for another 99 years.

Culture

Book cover

Warwick Fry’s account of El Salvador’s history, from colonialism to its post-Civil War period, is a tremendous addition to understanding this beautiful country known as the Little Toe of Central America, writes Andrew Jones.

books on a shelf

Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus presents new books on oil, empire, the science of death, fungal health threats, degrowth and socialist strategy.

George Mann and his supporting artists

United States singer-songwriter George Mann — a former union organiser and activist based in New York — is touring Australia, reports Kerry Smith.

Newcastle and the Hunter region in New South Wales are the focus of the Monumental Imaginaries exhibition. Cathy Peters reviews the works of artists commenting on the magnitude of the transformation required for a rapid energy transition.