Guantanamo Bay lawyer praises Green Left Weekly
SYDNEY — At the first event of its kind in the Bankstown area, 150 people packed out the Bankstown Senior Citizens Centre on June 19 for a Socialist Alliance and Green Left Weekly fundraising dinner. In attendance were representatives of local Greens groups, the Sudanese Communist Party, the Turkish and Kurdish left, and other supporters from across Sydney.
Stephen Hopper, lawyer for Guantanamo Bay prisoner and Lakemba local Mamdouh Habib, described the torture that Habib has allegedly been subjected to. Hopper praised Green Left Weekly for carefully checking facts, unlike other newspapers.
There was a standing ovation for Habib's wife Maha, who also attended the dinner, as Hopper praised her determination in standing her ground against Australian intelligence authorities.
Dinner-goers also heard from Raul Bassi, the Socialist Alliance's candidate for the local seat of Blaxland, and Rihab Charida from the Coalition for Palestine.
Supporters were entertained by some political hip hop and local singers, and were treated to a Middle Eastern feast and fabulous home-made chocolate mousse for dessert.
The evening was a huge success raising more than $3000.
Sarah Stephen
Restaurant vigil continues
SYDNEY — A nightly protest action outside the Safari Restaurant in Newtown has continued for well over 100 days.
The restaurant's owner, James Nazmi, was building a new restaurant and multi-storey hotel in Sydney when the contracted builder went bust, owing 20 sub-contractor companies $1.5 million.
Because of this, dozens of workers employed by the sub-contractors have not been paid. The policy of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is that if the builder goes bust, the developer — as the party contracting the builder — must pay debts owed to the work force.
In recent developments in the federal court, Nazmi is being sued for breaches of the Trade Practices Act and Fair Trading Act.
Daniel Crute
International Cooperatives Day
HOBART — On July 3, cooperatives around the world will be celebrating the 83rd International Cooperatives Day.
Cooperatives were originally formed as a response to the capitalisation that occurred during the Industrial Revolution. Groups of weavers collectivised to protect themselves against exploitation. Since then many different groups of consumers, producers and suppliers have formed cooperatives to create empowering, non-exploitative ways of meeting their needs and doing business. This includes credit unions, housing co-ops and farmer co-ops.
The theme for the day is "Cooperatives for fair globalisation: creating opportunities for all". Cooperatives are calling for recognition of the contribution that co-ops make to fair globalisation and putting people first.
[Visit <http://www.ica.coop>.]
Linda Seaborn
Milk workers strike
PERTH — On June 22, 150 workers at the National Foods milk bottling plant in Bentley went on strike for a 6% pay rise and better redundancy provisions.
The two-day strike by workers covered by the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union resulted in an increase in redundancy payments, an extra week of annual leave for shift workers, better representation rights for union delegates at the factory, and the conversion of casual work into permanent employment over a 12 month period. The workers also gained a pay increase of 4.85%.
Alex Salmon
From Green Left Weekly, June 30, 2004.
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