LL:DDV: Fundraiser for the Community Campaign for Heroin Reform
The community campaign for heroin reform is still battling away to ensure that the implementation of supervised injecting rooms goes ahead in Melbourne. The aims of the campaign go beyond this however, advocating the need for more rehabilitation places, education and harm reduction strategies. To help in the ongoing fight for heroin users to be recognised as members of our community instead of criminals the campaign needs funds. To help raise some desperately needed cash, a film night has been organised. Angela's Ashes Tues June 13, Westgarth cinema (High St, Northcote) 6.45pm. Tickets are $13/$10 and include light refreshments after the movie. If anyone is interested in coming along and showing support for this long-running campaign, please contact Denise on 9489 8103 to arrange to pick up a ticket at the door. The campaign still meets weekly in the student lounge of RMIT, 6.30pm Wed nights. All most welcome. Monthly rallies are held in front of the Melbourne Town Hall on the first Friday of the month. Stop by and say hello, sign the petitions and send off a letter to the Melb City Council urging them to support the trial of supervised injecting facilities in the CBD. Stop the deaths, support supervised injecting centres. [EMAIL PROTECTED] LL.VF -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: Rally against Reith's new anti-worker laws
Set My Union Free Rally Thursday 15 June; 10:30 am Trades Hall, Lygon Street, Carlton March to Flinders Street, Melbourne Industrial Relations Minister Peter Reith wants to outlaw industry pattern bargaining. Industry bargaining ensures that weaker workplaces achieve the same benefits as strong ones. We have to act now. Rally against Reith's new anti-worker laws. Source: Victorian Trades Hall Council 54 Victoria Street, Carlton South Vic 3053 Australia Tel: 03 9662 3511 Fax: 03 9663 2127 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.vthc.org *** Australia Asia Worker Links PO Box 264 Fitzroy Victoria 3065 Australia Tel: 03 9419 5045 Fax: 03 9416 2746 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] LL.VF -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: AUSTRALIA CHOOSES ARGENTINE RESEARCH REACTOR
John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/nat/newsnat-6jun2000-47.htm This Bulletin: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 13:09 AEST BREAKING STORIES Argentinian firm to build nuclear research reactor An Argentinian company will build a new nuclear research reactor in Sydney's Lucas Heights. The Federal Government has chosen the company, INVAP, as its preferred tenderer to design and build the reactor. The project will cost about $280 million and the reactor is expected to be commissioned in 2005. Industry, Science and Resources Minister Nick Minchin says INVAP will work with two Australian companies on the project. "The INVAP bid together with its Australian partners did offer the best combination of high performance...and the best building layout," he said. "I'd also point out that the INVAP bid offered the highest value-added local content at 53 per cent." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: Nike admits breaking work agreement, pays penalty
AAP NEWSFEED June 6, 2000, Tuesday Australian General News HEADLINE: Fed: Nike pays penalty after admitting it breached award By Heather Gallagher, Industrial Correspondent MELBOURNE, June 6 AAP - Sportswear giant Nike today admitted it was guilty of breaching the Clothing Trades Award and agreed to pay the textile workers' union $15,000 in penalties. The company reached a settlement with the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) late today after the union brought proceedings against it in the Federal Court. In consent orders read to the court, Nike admitted breaching three sections of the award and agreed to pay the union $5,000 a breach. The court was told Nike had failed to register with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission as a contractor. It also failed to supply a list of subcontractors and other workers, which enables the union to check on workers' wages and conditions, for 12 months from February 1998. During a protest before the hearing, TCFUA state secretary Michele O'Neil said the union had brought similar court action against more than 80 companies. All the others had settled and she estimated Nike had spent $100,000 in legal fees bringing the matter to court. Ms O'Neil later said the settlement was a great victory for Australian workers. "This is about Nike, a large multinational company, being made to not only keep to the award conditions but actually pay a penalty for having breached them," she told reporters. Annie Delaney, who has managed the union's FairWear campaign, said the case would act as a deterrent to other companies. "We believe the outcome today is the best in terms of making the award work ... and getting the company to admit to breaches that up until this morning they were refusing to admit to," she said. Ms Delaney said despite the company's policy of not using outworkers - people who sew from home usually in sub-standard conditions - the union had discovered some outworkers making Nike products in Brisbane. "The nature of the industry is outwork is everywhere, in the garment industry everyone gives work out," she said. Nike communications manager Megan Ryan said the company had agreed to settle in a spirit of conciliation and cooperation. "We acknowledge that the award and the award process is a very important one," she said. "Nike has put in place processes and resources to ensure that these administrative oversights don't occur again." She said the matter had nothing to do with home workers. "We don't use home workers and we have contractual obligations with our manufacturers that they don't use them," she said. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDA: Indigenous people raising money to get to the UN
Performing for Justice Fundraiser to raise money for international air fairs to represent an non-government, frank and independent view of the reality of contemporary Aboriginal issues in Australia to the United Nations Hearings in Geneva. Where: Tilley's Devine Café Gallery, Lyneham Shops When: Tuesday 13 June 2000, 7:00 pm Cost: $10 per ticket, $5 concession Tickets:Tickets are available from: Ffionnan Brooke-Watson, phone (02) 6248 8837; Clare Bruhns, phone (02) 6249 7930; or at the door on the night. Entertainment on the night includes; * Bearded Ladies (guitar, cello, double bass, female vocalist - original compositions) * Nitya (saxophone, flute, guitar, mandolin and percussion - a blend of Indian, Macedonian and Tuggeranong music) * Denise Dixon singer songwriter * Graeme King didgeridoo and story telling * Anne Edgeworth reading own poetry and the poetry of Judith Wright * Ellie Gilbert reading the poetry of Kevin Gilbert * Michel Anderson Update on the current United Nations situation. Please tell as many friends as possible. Hi guys, also wanted to tell about Jared Diamond's lecture on Friday, June 9th at 7.00pm, at the Manning Clarke Lecture Theatre, ANU. He wrote "Guns, Germs and Steel," which won the Science Book prize in 1998. The book debunked Social Darwinist notions of "white superiority." Should be a great lecture. LL.AF -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:PR: No Honeymoon for New Uranium Miner
Friends of the Earth Melbourne 7th June 000 No Honeymoon for New Uranium Miner. National environment group Friends of the Earth (FoE) has today condemned plans for a new uranium mine in eastern South Australia. The Honeymoon project, located around 80 kms from Broken Hill, is set to be the latest flash point in an escalating series of anti-nuclear protest actions. "The Honeymoon proposal is dirty and dangerous", stated FoE representative Ila Marks at a protest held outside the Melbourne office of part owner of the mine, Sedimentary Holdings". The company plans to pump sulphuric acid into the underground water reserves in order to leach out uranium. This is a direct threat to the quality of this precious resource and must not proceed". In situ leach (ISL) mining such as that proposed for use at Honeymoon is not an accepted industrial practise in any OECD nation other than Australia and the controversial technique has been documented to have caused massive contamination of groundwater reserves when used internationally in Central and Eastern Europe." The Honeymoon project is majority owned by the Canadian based Southern Cross Resources, who are holding their Annual General Meeting today in Toronto. "Southern Cross are proposing to do in South Australia what they would not be allowed to do at home in Canada," outlined Ms Marks." It is unsafe and unacceptable and will be strongly resisted." Today's action in Melbourne is part of wider action against the Honeymoon proposal with protest action also occurring today in Adelaide and Brisbane. "Today's message is clear. We are telling the company and the Government that polluting our groundwater in order to access a material that will become high level radioactive waste is not going to be accepted by the Australian community. The Honeymoon is most certainly over." What: Protest over plans for a new uranium mine in SA Where: Melbourne headquarters of Sedimentary Holdings - 40 Dudley St, North Melbourne When: 8 am to 10 am. On 7 June-2000 Further information and comment - Ila Marks at the demonstration: 042 859 4480 ISL and Technical Issues - Gavin Mudd 9467 5756. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: Residents vs Pascoe Vale McDonalds anniversary
Residents Against McDonalds are commemorating the first anniversary of the demolition of the 109 year old house at # 1 Sussex Street, Pascoe Vale to construct the drive-through McDonalds now on the site. A plaque will be unveiled on the footpath outside. A year ago 200 police and 80 private secuity guards overpowered the protesters and the historic home destroyed. The residents have shown the video film McLibel and participated in World anti-McDonald's Day October 16th. Join them at 11.30am on Sunday June 11th. corner Bell Sussex Streets (55 tram terminus nearby in Melville Road) Residents Against McDonalds are also putting on a touring exhibition of the 94 day community protest, with the Living Museum of the West others, to tour schools and communities to help educate others resisting Corporate dictators. "RAM is a resident group opposed to McDonalds, dedicated to informing the community about the impact McDonalds has on our society, and the repeal of the Victorian planning laws RL 155 RL 160" Residents Against McDonalds, PO Box 103, Pascoe Vale South 3044 Telephone: 0418 300 507 http://www.taz.net.au/ram=20 email [EMAIL PROTECTED] International web site http://www.McSpotlight.com LL.VF -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:PR: WA PRISONS: SIXTH DEATH IN 4 WEEKS
media release DEATHS IN CUSTODY WATCH COMMITTEE (WA) Inc. 207 BEAUFORT ST PERTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6000 PO Box 8196 Perth WA 6849 Tel: 61(0)8 9227-5751 Mobile: 041993-0375Fax: 61(0)8 9227-5593 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] URL:http://www.deathsincustody.com/ 7th June 2000 WA PRISONS: SIXTH DEATH IN 4 WEEKS Another Aboriginal prisoner from WA's infamous Casuarina Prison died in Royal Perth Hospital at 5 am today. "This the sixth prison death in 4 weeks" said Murray Jones, Chairperson of the Watch Committee, "and the eighth prison death this year." "Of the six deaths to occur over the last month, four of the prisoners were Aboriginal and three of those deaths were due to illness." "I understand that Ministry of Justice is conducting a "Health" conference this weekend, but none of the key stakeholders from the community have been invited." "Curtin University of Technology - The Centre for Aboriginal Studies - has been addressing this very issue for over seven years. Since the early 1990s, - they have been graduating Indigenous people as Bachelors of Applied Science (Indigenous Community Health). Further, Mar Moodich at Clontarf College has been graduating Indigenous health workers at the TAFE level for more than a decade. The ex Director of that College, Dr Joan Winch, is now the Head of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University.'" - Mr Jones said. "But to my knowledge, the Ministry of Justice does not employ a single Aboriginal graduate health worker within its prisons. Specialists in a specialised area, schooled and educated into this special area of study" "Given that nearly forty percent (40%) of inmates in Western Australia's prisons, are Aboriginal, is it therefore unreasonable to suggest that that each prison should be adequately staffed with professional graduate Indigenous Health Workers?' said Mr Jones. "We call upon the Ministry to immediately staff the medical facilities in our prison system with appropriately qualified health professionals for appropriate inmates." "Whilst it is accepted that some inmates will die of natural causes, we will vigorously pursue an independent inquiry into whether or not those inmates received adequate and appropriate health care prior to death." Media Contact: Murray JonesChairperson 08 9265-69340407 191469 Kath MallottExecutive Officer 08 9227-5751041 9930375 Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (WA) Inc) 119 Mathieson Road, REDCLIFFE, Western Australia, 6104 "The beginning of the cause of deaths in custody does not occur within the confines of police and prison cells or in the minds of the victims. Initially it starts in the minds of those who allow it to happen." Elder Dr. Jack Davis (OA, MBE) *[EMAIL PROTECTED]http://www.deathsincustody.com/* -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:URL: Call Centres
[The links below overrun the screen, so copy then open in browser, rather than click.] "Women On Standby: Call Girls of the Global Market" Hearing of the Alternative Economic Summit to the G7/8 Summit June 1999 Cologne Convened and organised by the NGO Womens Forum German Platform of Women in Development Europe (WIDE) in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the German Welthungerhilfe http://www.labournet.de/branchen/dienstleistung/CallGirls-Content+Preface.h tml - "Examples of Union-Based Resistance from Two Countries: Sabine Morgenroth und Karen Dowling" Sabine Morgenroth Live Wire In the fall of last year, workers in the trade union, HBV (trade, banks, and insurance companies), came together at both the Citifinanzberatungs GmbH Bochum (better known as Citiphone-banking Bochum), and the Fachhändler-Service in Duisburg. Here they united to fight against the shutdown and integration of their companies into a new Citibank office building in Duisburg. Citifinanzberatungs, or Citibank's financial consulting department, and the Fachhändler-Service, or the retail service department in Duisburg, are both Citibank call centers. The workers united under the slogan 'Auf Draht', which is a play on words which combines 'on the ball' with 'on the phone' and is best expressed by the notion of a 'live wire'). The rest at http://www.labournet.de/branchen/dienstleistung/CallGirls-CallCe-Morgenroth.htm l -- Karen Dowling Call Center Ireland My name is Karen Dowling. I am a member of the national executive council of the communications workers union in the republic of Ireland. My union has approximately 2o ooo members, which is considered a large union in Ireland. We represent the majority of workers in the Irish Post Office and in the Irish Telecom Company. I.e. we have 8o% of the membership in Eircell, the mobile phone subsidary of Telecom Eireann. We have also organized workers in two other major call centers. One is owned by the post office parcel service - SDS and the other is known as TSS which is a customer service company run by irish telecom. The call center phenomena is new and does not have existing staff representation structures. However in the past this work was predominantly performed in house by the parent company and has only recently been outsourced by a large number of companies. One of the effects of this approach is that it allows the companies to bypass the existing collective agreements in the parent company, that could mean lower wages and an increase in the number of temporary part time agents. Traditionally a lot of these parent companies are unionized. The rest at http://www.labournet.de/branchen/dienstleistung/CallGirls-CallCent-KarenDow. html -- Case History: Call Centre in Nordrhein-Westfalen Andrea Reischies "ABC Europe, hello, my name is Ramona Schneider." This is the kind of greeting one is likely to hear constantly emerging from some 40 cubicles in which not much more than the women's eyes can be seen. To say that they are telephone operators does not adequately describe their job because besides answering calls, they are required to type up orders on their PCs, check clients' addresses, as well as stock up the appointment books of the bank's sales representatives and service representatives. These are some of the responsibilities of a telephone operator, or call-center agent, as they are now called. It is a fairly new profession that is becoming popular because of the 'Call-Center Offensive' initiated by the federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen. 30,000 new jobs have been created in Germany in the past year, mainly in the banking, insurance, mail order, tourism, electronic data processing, telecommunications, and energy supply sectors. It is expected that by the year 2001, another 140,000 jobs will have been created. The rest at http://www.labournet.de/branchen/dienstleistung/CallGirls-CallCen-Reischies. html -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: DAIRY FARMERS FIGHT MILK MONOPOLY
Dairy Farmers fight milk monopoly Dairy farmers across Australia vented their anger last week at the deregulation of their industry on July 1. Over 600 farmers and farm workers (and a dozen cows) in NSW, and over 1000 farmers in QLD marched on their state parliaments at the imminent loss of their livelihoods. Legislation to deregulate the industry is currently before the NSW and QLD parliaments and is well advanced in other states. Deregulation is being forced by the unilateral decision of the Victorian industry to deregulate on that date, but it is also supported by other State governments and the Federal government. Milk processing companies such as Dairy Farmers and the big supermarkets are also in favour. The price of a litre of milk is currently $1.50 out of which the dairy farmer receives 54 cents in NSW. But after July 1 the major milk processors (some overseas owned) will be able to dictate their own prices and are planning to slash the price paid to dairy farmers to as low as 27c a litre. This reduction will cut over $85,000 off the average farm income while the margin of profit for the processors and supermarkets will sharply increase. Over 60 per cent of Australia's milk is produced cheaply in Victoria, and the industry there intends to aggressively enter the NSW and QLD markets, whether the market is deregulated or not. The loss of income to already struggling farmers will cause the "total destruction" of the industry in NSW and QLD, according to the Australian Milk Producers Association (APMA). The APMA, which represents 1100 farmers in NSW, has put forward an alternative plan to retain the milk quota system, but allow interstate producers to provide a share of the NSW market. The Association's director Ken Cork says this would save up to 15,000 rural jobs in Australia, where they are already suffering from higher than average unemployment levels. However, this plan does not have the backing of NSW Labor Agriculture Minister Richard Amery. His Federal counterpart Warren Truss has dismissed the plan as unconstitutional and has also ruled out a suggestion that the Federal Government use its power to institute a national floor price. Dairy farmers in Australia have already seen the industry fall into the hands of big business, with the number of farmers dropping from 30,700 to just 13,150 over the last 25 years. Under the new system, market farms would have to be milking 400-500 cows to remain viable, when the average farm herd is currently only 118. Hardship Mr Amery acknowledges the financial hardships that are going to be faced by NSW farmers, but will push the deregulation legislation through parliament regardless. He states that this is necessary to take advantage of $337 million being offered by the Federal Government, and does not see how any further compensation from the NSW Government would help. The Federal government's bail-out is nothing more than a sweetener to facilitate the "restructuring" of the industry. The government's package is not aimed at helping small farms remain in business, but rather as an incentive to quit the industry and deliver their livelihood into the arms of Agribusiness Corporations. It is a continuation of the farm policy pursued by governments for decades -- "Get big or get out". Those who are driving deregulation claim that benefits will flow to consumers with cheaper drinking milk. No major price fall is expected however, and the $85,000 cut from the income of each dairy farmer will, instead, flow into the pockets of the processing corporations and the major supermarket chains. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: SP newsletter
Socialist Party newsletter Wednesday 7th June 2000 Produced every Wednesday PO Box 1015, Collingwood 3066 Ph: (03) 9417 0805 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web address: http://home.mira.net/~sp/ Newsletter back on track The Socialist Party newsletter has been revived, and it will go out on the email and by post every second Wednesday. Issue 4 of Voice out Our newspaper Voice comes out tomorrow. The centre page spread is on the Fiji and Solomon Islands coups with maps, background factual information, a history, and two main articles on the current situation from a socialist perspective on the two coups. Other articles include Aceh, British Council elections, Howard's racism, the new Young Workers Association, campaign updates, Reith's 3rd wave, the Olympics, an editorial on the collapse for the National Party, an article from a new member on why he became a socialist and more. Take out a subscription at the new special annual rate of $10. Contact us now! Young Workers Association (YWA) Our new youth campaign, YWA, was launched last month. For $1 young workers can join and get access via a telephone hotline to legal and industrial advice (we have developed a relationship with better elements in WorkCover and JobWatch) and if necessary direct action against their employer. Up to 90% of young workers in the private sector (including retail and hospitality) are outside the union movement. This is a long term campaign for us to get more support from youth, and help organise youth at work. It is potentially the most important campaign we have launched. On the first recruitment drive on Friday 26th May we did Brunswick St, Fitzroy and got a great response from staff in the many cafes and pubs in the area. Some joined on the spot. The next recruitment drive is next Wednesday at 4pm on Smith St, Collingwood. We meet at 4pm outside radio station 3CR. The Melbourne branch last night decided to buy a special new phone line for the YWA hotline instead of using the SP phone number as is currently the case. Angela's Ashes next week Next week's Melbourne SP branch meeting is cancelled because members are supporting the Community Campaign for Heroin Reform's fundraised on that night, June 13th. At 6.45pm at the Westgarth Cinema in High St, Northcote we are showing Angela's Ashes. Tickets $13/$10 concession, including a light meal. Phone 9417 08085 for tickets or pay on the night. New John Pilger movie The Melbourne SP branch is showing the new John Pilger movie on Iraq at its branch meeting of Tuesday June 27th at 7pm at Trades Hall, cnr Lygon and Victoria Sts, Carlton South. Phone 9417 0805 for details. When first shown on British TV in March it caused a sensation in its exposure of the West's cruel sanctions against innocent Iraqi people. National Trade Union camp The Progressive Labour Party have agreed to co-sponsor a joint national trade unioncamp for militant unionists with the SP. We will also approach the Greens and DSP to join in. The camp will be held later in the year in Melbourne, probably at Camp Eureka. Watch this space for details Sydney Olympic Coach The Coach from Melbourne to the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony's protest in Homebush leaves at 6pm Thursday September 14th; returning Saturday 16th. Deposit for a ticket is $20, the final cost will be around $50. Tickets can going fast, so book now. s11 campaign On Monday September 11th the World Economic Forum meets at the Crown Casino, Melbourne for three days. It is a collection of the world's capitalists and government chiefs who will as a prelude to the Olympics in an attempt to find new ways to exploit the environment, the Third World and our wages and conditions. There will be a Seattle-style protest out the front. The SP is supporting the S11 campaign as it prepares for the three days. We are calling a high school strike on the Monday. Phone in for leaflets for your school or to get to school students you know. School student contingent will meet at 9am Monday 11th September at Flinders St Railway Station, for a rally followed by a march to the Crown Casino. Fighting Fund Nearly $80 was raised inpaper sales and fighting fund at the Corroborree 2000 walk last month. Well done Sydney comrades! In Melbourne the CCHR rally last week diverted us from the usual good sales in the city. Better effort with the new paper this week! In Perth comrades are distributing old copies for free to potential contacts and in working class areas. CWI news The Committee for a Workers' International unites over 30 socialist parties (including ours) around globe. *Congratulations to the Irish comrades, one of their members has just been elected as President of the biggest white collar union in the Irish Republic. *The two Nigerian student comrades arrested last month have been released. *We won a seat inCoventry (making 3 SP members on the local council) in the recent English council elections. *A leading Swedish Central Committee member will be visiting the Melbourne
LL:ART: OPPOSITION GROWS TO FIJIAN COUP
Opposition grows to Fijian coup Fiji's crisis is in its third week and the effects are being felt right across the region. On Monday, June 5 reports from the Solomon Islands indicated a coup attempt by the Malaita Eagle Force. Key government buildings were under siege with mobs roaming the streets. In Fiji not only has the democratically elected government been overthrown but the fabric of civil society is disintegrating into mob rule as the crisis drags on. In a classic example of appeasement the Australian Government has so far, delayed implementation of the measures which were announced more than a week ago. Meanwhile acts of orchestrated violence against innocent communities and families in rural areas have taken place. A press release from Fiji's People's Coalition, Fiji Labour Party dated June 3 reports on the pattern of violence saying that "They involve groups of 8 to 10 masked men, armed with iron bars, semi- automatic rifles, knives and rocks. Some of whom remain on guard outside, while the others smash their way into a house, loot, destroy and physically assault the terrified family members. In many cases, the young daughters of a family are threatened with rape if they do not get what they want. Temples and holy shrines have also been deliberately targeted". The press release states that the "raids are methodical and planned to target Indo-Fijian families living in isolated settlements. In some instances, the houses are burned down altogether". The first incidents took place right after Prime Minister Chaudhry and his government were taken hostage and have continued since then. The perpetrators are young men from villages with close kinship ties with George Speight. Military, police complicity The military government claimed to be acting to restore law and order but clearly sympathises with Speight and his gang. There are also reports of police complicity with police officers actively involved in transporting slaughtered cattle and livestock, root crops and other stolen food directly to the parliamentary complex to feed Speight's men. Courts are also virtually condoning the lawlessness and criminality by imposing $20 dollar fines for stealing and looting. Trade unions Fijian trade unions are angry at the continuing hijacking of the democratically elected government. The Fiji Trades Union Congress declared: "Like all other democratic bodies in the country, [we] cannot give any recognition to the unlawful and illegal interim military government". The TU Congress will "exert all the pressure it can to restore the 1997 Constitution and the democratically elected government. Its resolve to achieve both these goals is absolute". The Fijian trade unions are vowing to bring Fiji to a halt to put pressure on the authorities and the military to rethink their actions. Mr Anthony, the Congress's national secretary, condemned the Australia Fiji Business Council as "selfish" after it called on Australian trade unions to lift bans imposed on postal, airline and shipping services to Fiji. The Council's president, Mr Ross Porter claimed that the bans would only hurt innocent Fijians. In reply, Mr Anthony pointed out that "they are looking at their business and how they [could] continue to make their own money. We have bigger things at stake here like democracy, the rule of law and the restoration of a democratically elected government." International union solidarity The Commonwealth Trade Union Council plans to circulate a Fiji crisis submission to members of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. John Monks, the British TUC General Secretary, wrote to the British Foreign Minister, Robyn Cook urging the Commonwealth to ensure that the Commonwealth continues to recognise the Labour-led People's Coalition Government of Fiji and that the 1997 Constitution is upheld. "In the event of failure by the current military regime to restore democracy and the rule of law, we would call upon the Commonwealth to take immediate actions to expel Fiji and sever all diplomatic, trade, sports and military links with any illegitimate government in Fiji", said the letter. The Executive Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) have condemned the violence and illegality of the attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Fiji. The ICEM pledged to "mobilise a campaign of international actions" to support the call for the release of the hostages and a return to democracy. The ILO Workers Group has also declared its support for the request from the Fiji Trade Union Congress for solidarity support and action by unions in the region and internationally. The group "welcomed the boycott action already being undertaken by Australian workers and other trade union organisations in the region." Despite the growing international trade union support for restoration of democracy in Fiji, the main burden of the struggle is
