En Passant

To stop the planned plant closures and defend jobs, to start the journey to a better world, reclaiming the spirit of 1973 at Broadmeadows and translating that into occupying the Ford car plants today offers not only a way forward but the only way forward.

Racists and right wingers are trying to use yesterday’s horrific killing in south London to divide working people and whip up hatred of Muslims. It is crucial that we stop them. We must not allow this to be exploited to generate racism or to give a boost to the far right. We need unity against racism, and unity against the Tories. The US and Britain have murdered hundreds of thousands of people in the “war on terror” over the past 12 years. The killing in Woolwich is not the way to fight it. The millions strong movements against the war in Iraq and broad mass mobilisations against racism and fascism show this is possible.

The discussion about breast cancer and its causes – and the health care industry’s failures – needs to be brought out of the shadows, writes Leela Yellesetty in Socialist Worker US.

Despite the success of the strikes so far, more serious industrial action is needed. The public face of management intransigence, Professor Ann Brewer’s latest email to staff, reaffirmed that the university will not be backing down on a range of clauses that will impact job security and worsen conditions. Management wants to slash sick leave by 60 percent, increase the time for academic probation to two years, increase workloads, force the union off campus and make it easier to push through redundancies and restructures.

Patrick O. Strickland in Socialist Worker US reports from the West Bank and Israel on protests to mark 65 years since Israel was established through the dispossession of the Palestinian people.

Enough of the charades Labor and the Liberals are playing over tax. Abolish the Goods and Services Tax and soak the rich till their pips squeak.

Seventeen billion dollar woman Gina Rinehart has warned against the rest of the country using the mining industry as a giant ATM. Evidently she can’t afford it.

As both Labor and Liberal governments attack or will attack the poor and working class maybe it is time to make some big withdrawals from the Bank of Rinehart to provide for socially useful spending.

Any genuine policy to provide the needs of people with chronic disease or disabilities could, and should, make them accessible through improvements to Medicare. A universal health scheme which pays for the actual needs of people, not just those the government deems worthy of funding, is what we need.

Left Unity: A Forum with Socialist Alternative and Socialist Alliance on Left Unity 6 pm Thursday 16 May Room G 52 Haydon-Allen Building ANU Socialist Alternative and Socialist Alliance are in talks about unity, and as part of that process we will hold a joint forum here in Canberra on left unity in Australia. If [...]

The protests against Labor’s attacks on Universities have been a shot in the arm for student activists. But rebuilding the student movement will require a lot of work and left wing politics. We need more people in our student unions who do not shy away from criticising the government, who want to build grassroots organising collectives and who see ordinary people in the streets as the way to force change.