Socialist Alliance Blue Mountains

`The battle of Copenhagen' By Hugo Chávez Frías, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,

2009-12-22T14:04:00.003+11:00

"I will not tire of repeating to the four winds: the only possible and viable alternative is socialism. I said it in each of my speeches to all the world representatives gathered in Copenhagen, the world's most important event in the last two hundred years: there is no other way if we want to stop this heartless and debased competition that promises only total annihilation." – Hugo Chávez

I

Copenhagen was the scene of a historic battle in the framework of the 15th Conference of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP15). Better said, in the beautiful, snowy capital of Denmark, a battle began that did not end on Friday, December 18, 2009. I reiterate: Copenhagen was only the beginning of a decisive battle for the salvation of the planet. It was a battle in the realm of ideas and in praxis.

Brazilian Leonardo Boff, a great liberation theologian and one of the most authoritative voices on environmental issues, in a key article, entitled What is at stake in Copenhagen?, wrote these words full of insight and courage: What can we expect from Copenhagen? At least this simple confession: We cannot continue like this. And a simple proposition: Let’s change course.

And for that reason, precisely, we went to Copenhagen to battle for a change of course on behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA), and moreover, in defence of the cause of humanity and to speak, with President Evo Morales, in defence of the rights of Pachamama, of Mother Earth.

Evo, who together with yours truly, had the responsibility to be a spokesperson for the Bolivarian Alliance, wisely said: What this debate is about, is whether we are going to live or we are going to die.

All eyes of the world were concentrated on Copenhagen: the 15th Conference on Climate Change allowed us to gauge the fibre we are made of, where hope lies and what can we do to establish what the Liberator Simón Bolívar defined as the equilibrium of the universe, an equilibrium that can never be achieved within the capitalist world system.

II

Before our arrival in Copenhagen, the African bloc, backed by the Group of 77, denounced that rich countries were ignoring the Kyoto Protocol, that is, the only existing international instrument to fight global warming, the only thing that penalises the industrialised states and protects the developing countries.

It is necessary to recognise that the battle had already begun in the streets of Copenhagen, with the youth at the forefront protesting and proposing: I could see and feel, since my arrival in the Danish capital on December 16, the historic power of another world that for the youth is not only possible but absolutely necessary.

III

In Copenhagen, from the beginning, the cards were on the table for all to see. On the one hand, the cards of brutal meanness and stupidity of capitalism which did not budge in defence of its logic: the logic of capital, which leaves only death and destruction in its wake at an increasingly rapid pace.

On the other hand, the cards of the peoples demanding human dignity, the salvation of the planet and for a radical change, not of the climate, but of a world system that has brought us to the brink of unprecedented ecological and social catastrophe.
On one side, the victors of a mercantile and utilitarian civilisation, that is, the “civilised ones” who for a long time now have forgotten about human beings, and opted blindly for increasingly insatiable desires.

On the other hand, the “barbarians” who remain committed in believing and in fighting for radically changing the logic, that you can maximise human welfare, minimising environmental and ecological impacts. Those who sustain the impossibility of defending human rights, as raised by the comrade Evo Morales, if we don’t also defend the rights of Mother Earth, those who act with determination to leave a planet and future for our descendants.

I will not tire of repeating to the four winds: the only possible and viable alternative is socialism. I said it in each of my speeches to all the world representatives gathered in Copenhagen, the world's most important event in the last two hundred years: there is no other way if we want to stop this heartless and debased competition that promises only total annihilation.

Why are the “civilised ones” so afraid of a project that aspires to build shared happiness? They are afraid, let’s be honest, because shared happiness does not generate profit. Hence the crystal clarity of that great slogan of the Copenhagen street protest that today speaks for millions: “If the climate was a bank, they would have saved it already.”

The “civilised ones” do not take the necessary measures, simply because of this, it would oblige them to reverse their voracious pattern of life, marked by selfish comfort and that does not touch their cold hearts, which palpitate only to the beat of money.

That’s why the [US] Empire arrived late on December 18, to offer crumbs via blackmail, and through this, wash away the guilt marked on its face. In front of this strategy of buying support, you could hear throughout Denmark the clear and courageous voice of Vandana Shiva, the Indian thinker saying a great truth: “I think it is time for US to stop seeing itself as a donor and begin to recognise itself as polluter: a polluter must pay compensation for damages and must it pay its ecological debt. It is not charity. This is justice.”

I must say: in Copenhagen the Obama illusion was definitively destroyed. He was confirmed in his position as head of the empire and winner of the Nobel War Prize. The enigma of the two Obamas has been resolved.

Friday the 18th came to an end without a democratically agreed accord: Obama mounted the platform separately, in a further violation of UN procedures, for which we feel obliged to challenge any decision that does not respect for the validity of the Protocol Kyoto. To respect and enhance Kyoto is our motto.

An accord was not possible in Copenhagen due to the lack of political will of the rich countries: the powerful of this world, the hyper-developed, they do not want to change their patterns of production and consumption which are as senseless as suicide. “The world can go to hell if it dares to threaten my privilege and my lifestyle”, is what they appear to be saying with their conduct: that is the hard truth that they do not want to hear from those who act under the historical and categorical imperative to change course.
Copenhagen is not the end, I repeat, but a beginning: the doors have been opened for a universal debate on how to save the planet, life on the planet. The battle continues.

IVWe commemorated the 179th anniversary of the physical disappearance of our Liberator Simón Bolívar in an act of deep revolutionary content; I refer to the meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance with social movements in Denmark on December 17. There I felt, once again that Bolivar is not only a banner of Venezuela and Our America, but is increasingly a universal leader.

It is his living and combative legacy, now embodied in the Bolivarian Alliance, which is becoming a world heritage, that we took to Copenhagen to do battle for the Patria Grande, which is at the same time, to do battle for the sake of humanity .
In reality and in truth: Bolivar lives! In Copenhagen it was confirmed that his legacy is more alive than ever.
And now he will overcome.
Now we shall overcome!

translated by Kiraz Janicke for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal December 20, 2009

2008-09-16T19:58:00.000+10:00

Green Left Weekly and Blue Mountains Socialist Alliance invite you to ...

Two films that explain why we must...Keep COAL in the hole!With global warming threatening our planet, calls for coalmining, coal exports and burning of fossil fuels to be phased out, and for a massive expansion of renewal energy, are gathering strength. Join us to watch two films and hear from people directly involved in campaigns to keep coal in the hole.

Rivers of Shame

Rivers of Shame 2 reveals how coalmining is damaging swamps, rivers and aquifers. More than 40 communities across NSW are fighting the state Labor government’s plan to more than double the volume of mining in NSW.

Newcastle coal loader blockadeFootage of the inspiring direct action by around 1000 young people in Newcastle earlier this year, which blockaded coal exports for a day to highlight the fact that we need to rapidly phase out coalmining and exports, and the burning of fossil fuels, if we are to halt the terrible march of global warming.

An Art Resistance production.

Monday, September 29, 7.15pm.Tris Elies Night Club (next to Katoomba station)$8 waged/$6 conc./$10 solidarity

Ph Terry on 4787 7859 for more info, or email bluemountains@socialist-alliance.org

Plebiscite On Power Privatisation

2008-07-10T11:36:00.004+10:00

I support the call for plebiscite on the proposed energy sell-off at NSW council election, a plebiscite or referendum on this unpopular and anti-environment policy of privatisation of NSW's energy power industry, could easily take place at the same time as the council elections on September 13.

Some 85 per cent of residents in NSW do not want our energy generators and retailers to be sold off. Premier Morris Iemma's own party has told him and Michael Costa, by a margin of 7 to 1 that they disagree with privatisation. Iemma has been forced to withdraw the energy bills for this session of parliament, due to a lack of support from his own Members of Parliament.

Socialist Alliance says that Iemma and Costa should listen to the public. Put the sell-off to the public: let democracy prevail. This is also the view of the Blue Mountains People Power group opposing privatisation. Also local Blue Mountains MP Phil Koperberg should be commended for opposing privatisation.Socialist Alliance supports the power industry workers who know that some of their work mates will be out of a job if this sale goes ahead.

We also support their calls for action if anyone is sacked, or if the energy bills go through with the support Liberal, Nationals, Shooters and Fred Nile. Like many others, we don't think that a sale will help shift energy production away from its main power base - polluting coal – towards the sustainable energy sector. To do this requires a political commitment to finding real and lasting solutions to the climate crisis – something that this government doesn't have.

Socialist Alliance has been given advice by the State Electoral Commission that such a plebiscite would be possible. The state government only has to ask the governor to issue a writ, and a plebiscite could be carried out at the same time as the council elections on September 13. Let the people decide after all, this is what democracy is supposed to be about isn't it?

John Tognolini, Socialist Alliance Candidate for Ward One Blue Mountains City Council.

published in Blue Mountains Gazette July 9 2008

Socialist to Contest Blue Mountains City Council Elections

2008-06-18T22:16:00.003+10:00

John Tognolini

The NSW local government elections will be held on September 13. The Socialist Alliance will be standing John Tognolini (Togs) for the First Ward in the Blue Mountains City Council, which covers Katoomba, Leura, Medlow Bath, Blackheath, the Shipley Plateau, Mount Victoria, Bell, Mount Wilson, Mount Irvine and the Megalong Valley.

John will be campaigning against unjust workplace laws by advocating policies to:·

Make the Blue Mountains an Australian Workplace Agreement/individual contract-free zone.·

Ban BMCC work being given to contractors who use AWAs, and all other non-union contracts.·

Defend volunteer bushfire fighters and State Emergency Service volunteers from the effects of the WorkChoices laws that are still in place.

A major plank of John's campaign will be opposing the Labor state government's proposed privatisation of the power industry. Such basic utilities must be kept in public hands. John will also campaign for:·

Defending and extending public education and health care, emergency services and transport.

No transport of uranium, nuclear waste or cyanide through the Blue Mountains.·

Open and accountable local government and more community services.·

Real solutions to climate change -- a cause of more extreme bushfires and storms.

John Tognolini has been a political activist for more than 30 years. He has been a high school teacher for the past eight years in western Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Central West. He is active in the NSW Teachers Federation, and served on the union's state council for nearly five years. He has been a NSWTF delegate to Unions NSW and is currently a NSWTF representative to the NSW Board of Studies for the Ancient and Modern History Curriculum Committees.

John is active in the Blue Mountains Union Council and worked in the Macquarie Your Rights At Work Campaign last year.

Over the years, John has also been involved in Justice Action, the NSW National Parks Association and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

Before teaching, he worked as a labourer, scaffolder, rigger, dogman, railway fettler/ganger and a painter and docker. He is a life member of the Federated Ship Painters & Dockers Union and was a Builders Labourers Federation organiser.

John is strongly committed to the local community. He is a volunteer bushfire fighter of more than 14 years' standing, and coached and helped organise junior Australian Football for four years in Katoomba. He has been involved in community radio for 20 years and currently presents the Katoomba Surf Club on BLUFM 89.1 every Sunday night from 8-10pm.

For more information about the Socialist Alliance's Blue Mountains City Council election campaign, email bluemountains@socialist-alliance.org or phone John on 0428 826 347. For information about the Socialist Alliance's policies, visit http://www.socialist-alliance.org/

2008-06-03T20:38:00.002+10:00

BEYOND SORRY:THE FIGHT FOR LAND RIGHTS ,

COMPENSATION & REAL JUSTICE

Greg Etock, founding member of Aboriginal Rights Coalition will doscuss the reality of the racist NT intervention and address the question of real justice under the newRudd government

2pm, Saturday June 14, Family Hotel dining room, Parke St Katoomba

Blue Mountains Socialist Alliance phone 47826347

Koperberg Supports Power Privatisation

2008-03-12T09:40:00.003+11:00

To the editor,

Firstly I wish Phil Koperberg all the best with his upcoming medical operation.

In saying that, he has made a grave mis-judgement if he thinks he can get away with selling the pup of Morris Immea and Mick Costas' power industry privatisation. He sent a letter to the February 21, Katoomba People Power public meeting outlining his support for power privatisation.

Phil probably noticed the 12,000 unionists outside state parliament on February 26 who were joined by 15 ALP backbenchers. And Phil is probably aware of the Katoomba ALP branch's motion opposing privatisation, that many other ALP branches have adopted across the state.

Over eighty per cent of people are opposed to privatisation. So why does Phil, Iemma and Costa believe they can ignore the will of the people?

And Phil are you familiar with what ALP Federal Member of Parliament, Julia Irwin said in the Australian parliament, "The proposal of the New South Wales government to privatise parts of the electricity industry has alarmed many consumers as well as employees of electricity generators and suppliers. Consumers have little confidence that electricity prices would fall if privatisation goes ahead when experience from other states with private generators shows that prices are higher for average consumers."

She's right.Julia Irwin went on to state, "In 1946, the long-serving conservative Premier of South Australia, Tom Playford, could not get the private electricity supplier to extend services to new growth areas of the state, so he nationalised the industry. Those governments who today seek to sell the people's power assets may someday find themselves in the same position. I call on Premier Iemma to listen to the voices of the people of New South Wales."

So Phil why don't you listen to people of the Blue Mountains, many of whom elected you to state parliament on catchphrase of "Keeping the Mountains in safe hands." There's nothing "safe" about privatisation, it's down right evil. It's hurting the battlers who voted for you.

John Tognolini,Socialist Alliance candidate for Ward One, Blue Mountains City Council.

Published in Blue Mountains Gazette 5-3-08

Rudd Supports Power Privatisation

2008-02-28T13:24:00.000+11:00

I'm not surprised by prime minister Kevin Rudd's support for the NSW government's plan to lease out power stations and sell all but the poles and wires assets of the state's power utilities worth $15 billion. "Premier Iemma has my complete support," he told journalists in Canberra.

Kevin Rudd did not say one word about privatisation of public assets in last November's federal election, nor did Morris Iemma in last March's state election.

Starting with Margaret Thatcher in the UK, we've seen over two decades of privatisation of basic services like energy, water and transport: the jury is now in. For the user, it means higher prices and less reliability, for the worker, less job security, for the environment, greater danger of pollution, but for the corporations, very, very fat and publicly guaranteed profits.

For us in the Blue Mountains how long would it take to get the power back on after storms with fewer workers and how much money would we pay?

Also as the Total Environment Centre and Nature Conservation Council have pointed out, public ownership of power is essential for developing renewable energy to challenge Climate Change. And Rudd was elected largely on workers' rights and Climate Change.

I've challenged state member Phil Koperberg and local ALP councilors to stand-by-side with the local community and publicly oppose their party leaders' sell off plans. After Rudd's support for privatisation I challenge federal member Bob Debus to do the same.

John Tognolini
Socialist Alliance candidate for Ward One Blue Mountains City Council

published in Blue Mountains Gazette 27-2-08

Stop NSW Labor's energy privatisation, a letter published in Blue Montains Gazette from John Tognolini

2008-01-25T03:07:00.001+11:00

John Tognolini broadcast's every Sunday night from 8-10 BLUFM 89.1 with the Katoomba Surf Club.

It's a tried and true NSW Labor formula—wait until the holiday season is almost here, then ram your nasty plans through caucus while workers and the community are winding down for Christmas. This is how NSW premier Morris Iemma has started his bid to privatise up to $15 billion worth of publicly owned energy generation assets.

Beginning with Margaret Thatcher in the UK, we've seen over two decades of privatisation of basic services like energy, water and transport: the jury is now in. For the user, it means higher prices and less reliability, for the worker, less job security, for the environment, greater danger of pollution, but for the corporations, very, very fat and publicly guaranteed profits.

Anyone who believes that privatisation will benefit consumers should check out the experience of Melbourne's commuters, Adelaide's electricity users, or remind themselves of Sydney's cross-city tunnel and airport rail link.

In Queensland, on the first day of privatised energy (July 1 last year), the corporate energy suppliers raised tariffs by 11.7%—partly to cover the advertising costs of competing among themselves for customers!

Now, ten months after re-election Iemma can't wait to privatise energy, to be followed by ferries and water.

The experience of the Your Rights at Work campaign against Work Choices showed that if working people and the community fight for their rights they can win.

I urge people to ring Phil Koperberg's office to express their opposition and support the campaign against Iemma privatisation plans by Unions New South Wales.

John TognoliniSocialist Alliance candidate for Ward One Blue Mountain City Council

Blue Mountains Gazette 16-1-08

Katoomba Showing of John Pilger's film 'The War On Democracy' Monday Febuary 25 Tris Elies nightclub, Katoomba(next to train station) 7.30pm

2008-01-08T13:19:00.000+11:00

$8 waged/$10 solidarity/$5 concession.Organised by the Blue Mountains Socialist Alliance and Green Left Weekly. Phone Terry on 4787 7859 or John 47826347 for more info.

John Pilger

The rising of Latin America - the genesis of 'The War On Democracy' by John Pilger

In the 1960s, when I first went to Latin America, I travelled up the cone of the continent from Chile across the Altiplano to Peru, mostly in rickety buses and single-carriage trains. It was an experience my memory stored for life, especially the spectacle of the movement of people.

They moved through the dust of a snow-capped wilderness, along roads that were ribbons of red mud, and they lived in shanties that defied gravity. "We are invisible," said one man; another used the term abandonados; an indigenous woman in Bolivia unforgettably described her poverty as a commodity for the rich.

When I later saw Sebastiao Salgado's photographs of Latin America's working people, I recognised the people at the roadside, the gold miners and the coffee workers and the silhouettes framed in crosses in the cemeteries. Perhaps the idea for a cinema film began then, or when I reported Ronald Reagan's murderous assault on Central America; or when I first read the words of Victor Jara's ballads and heard Sam Cooke's anthem A Change Is Gonna Come.

The War On Democracy is my first film for cinema. It follows more than 55 documentary films for television, which began with The Quiet Mutiny, set in Vietnam. Most of my films have told stories of people's struggles against rapacious power and of attempts to subvert and control our historical memory. It is this control, this organised forgetting, that has always intrigued me both as a film-maker and a journalist. Described by Harold Pinter as a great silence unbroken by the incessant din of the media age, it assures the powerful in the west that the struggle of whole societies against their crimes is merely "superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged... It never happened. Even while it was happening it never happened. It didn't matter. It was of no interest".

This was true of Nicaragua in the early 1980s, when a popular revolution began to turn back poverty and bring literacy and hope to a country long dismissed as a banana republic. In the United States, the Sandinista government was successfully portrayed as communist and a threat, and crushed. After all, Richard Nixon had said of all of Latin America: "No one gives a shit about the place." The War On Democracy is meant as an antidote to this.

Modern fictional cinema rarely seems to break political silences. The very fine Motorcycle Diaries was a generation too late. In this country, where Hollywood sets the liberal boundaries, the work of Ken Loach and a few others is an honourable exception. However, the cinema is changing as if by default. The documentary has returned to the big screen and is being embraced by the public, in the US and all over. They were still clapping Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 two months after it opened in this country. Why? The answer is uncomplicated. It was a powerful film that helped people make sense of news that no longer made sense. It did not present the usual phoney "balance" as a pretence for presenting an establishment consensus. It was not riddled with the cliches, platitudes and power assumptions that permeate "current affairs". It was realist cinema, as important as The Grapes of Wrath was in the 1930s, and people devoured it.

The War On Democracy is not the same. It comes out of a British commercial television tradition that is too often passed over: the pioneering of bold factual journalism that treated other societies not as post-imperial curios, as useful or expendable to "us", but extraordinary and important in their own terms. Granada's World in Action, where I began, was a prime example. It would report and film in ways that the BBC would not dare. These days, with misnamed "reality" programmes consuming much of television like a plague of cane toads, cinema has been handed a timely opportunity. Such are the dangers imposed on us all today by a rampant, neo-fascist superpower, and so urgent is our need for uncontaminated information that people are prepared to buy a cinema ticket to get it.

The War On Democracy examines the false democracy that comes with western corporations and financial institutions and a war waged, materially and as propaganda, against popular democracy. It is the story of the people I first saw 40 years ago; but they are no longer invisible; they are a mighty political movement, reclaiming noble concepts distorted by corporatism and they are defending the most basic human rights in a war being waged against all of us.

Cinema and television production are closely related, of course, but the differences, I have learned, are critical. Cinema allows a panorama to unfold, giving a sense of place that only the big screen captures. In The War On Democracy, the camera sweeps across the Andes in Bolivia to the highest and poorest city on earth, El Alto, then follows Juan Delfin, a priest and a taxi driver, into a cemetery where children are buried. That Bolivia has been asset-stripped by multinational companies, aided by a corrupt elite, is an epic story described by this one man and this spectacle. That the people of Bolivia have stood up, expelled the foreign consortium that took their water resources, even the water that fell from the sky, is understood as the camera pans across a giant mural that Juan Delfin painted. This is cinema, a moving mural of ordinary lives and triumphs.

Chris Martin and I (we made the film as a partnership) used two crews and two very different cinematographers, Preston Clothier and Rupert Binsley. They shot in high-definition stock, which then had to be converted to 35mm film - one of cinema's wonderful anachronisms.

The film was backed by the impresario Michael Watt, a supporter of anti-poverty projects all over the world, who had told producer Wayne Young that he wanted to put my TV work in the cinema. Granada provided additional support, and ITV will broadcast the film later in the year. The extra funding also allowed me to persuade the late Sam Cooke's New York agents to license A Change Is Gonna Come, one of the finest, most lyrical pieces of black music ever written and performed. I was in the southern United States when it was released. It was the time of the civil-rights movement, and Cooke's song spoke to and for all people struggling to be free. The same is true of the ballads of the Chilean Victor Jara, whose songs celebrated the popular democracy of Salvador Allende before Pinochet and the CIA extinguished it.

We filmed in the National Stadium in Santiago, Chile, where Jara was taken along with thousands of other political prisoners. By all accounts, he was a source of strength for his comrades, singing for them until soldiers beat him to the ground and smashed his hands. He wrote his last song there and it was smuggled out on scraps of paper. These are the words:

What horror the face of fascism

creates

They carry out their plans with

knife-like precision ...

For them, blood equals medals ...

How hard it is to sing

When I must sing of horror ...

In which silence and screams

Are the end of my song.

After two days of torture, they killed him. The War On Democracy is about such courage and a warning to us all that "for them" nothing has changed, that "blood equals medals".

Howard’s overboard - but keep the pressure on Rudd Labor By Peter Boyle

2007-11-25T20:24:00.000+11:00

The Socialist Alliance "Howard Overboard" election night party in Green Left Weekly's offices in Sydney spontaneously spilled into the streets when John Howard conceded defeat. Jubilant activists celebrated with chants, whistles and pots and pans in a lap around the block which drew out people from their homes. A right-wing government that has plagued Australia since 1996 has been defeated and we have much to celebrate.

Most of all we have to celebrate the people's power that was mobilized to defeat the Howard government over the last three years.

There can be no doubt that it was the outrage at attacks on workers' rights and the resistance to "Work Choices" -- that crude euphemism that was the official name for the biggest attack on workplace rights won over a century of workers' struggle -- that helped finish off the Howard government.

The hundreds of thousands who took to the streets against Work Choices spoke for the majority of people. They were dismissed by Howard and they remembered his ruthless arrogance on election day. Many trade unionists spread out through the suburbs of the major cities to campaign against the Howard government during the election campaign in one of the biggest electoral campaign mobilisations organised by the trade union movement in many years, most building the vote for Kevin Rudd's Labor.

The tens of thousands who marched on in the Walk Against Warming demonstrations on and around November 11 also helped bury the Howard government. The great majority of Australians who want serious action to address global warming was another majority arrogantly dismissed.

The thousands who defied the police-state conditions to take to Sydney's streets when US President George Bush came to Sydney for the APEC summit in September also symbolised the majority who dissent over the imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the associated war on civil liberties. This was another nail in Howard's coffin.

Such was the popular backlash that Howard looks set to lose even his own parliamentary seat in Bennelong to Labor's Maxine McKew, who won 45.9% of the first preferences counted on election night. The preferences from the Greens' 5.4% at should assure Howard is ousted from the seat. It would be the first time a sitting prime minister has lost his seat since 1929.

Mal Brough, Howard’s notorious minister for indigenous affairs who led the jackbooted military invasion of Northern Territory Indigenous communities (which shamefully was supported by Rudd Labor), also lost his seat, a popular rejection of the racist scapegoating of Aborigines and attack on land rights.

But our celebrations should not blind us to the fact that the trade unions and other progressive movements will have to continue mobilising to push the incoming Rudd Labor government to deliver on its promises to rip up Work Choices, bring the troops home from Iraq and take action on climate change.

Already there is a gap between the promises Rudd has made and the reasons why people voted for Labor. On Work Choices, the Rudd version of "ripping up" will leave in place many elements of the Howard government's attack on workers and their right to organise. Labor has no serious program to tackle climate change and implement the kind of "renewables revolution" that we need -- and Rudd's vision for sustainability includes a place for coal, one of the worst greenhouse-gas generating fuels. Rudd's policy is to maintain troops in the Middle East, withdrawing only combat troops from Iraq (and even
that will have to wait until mid-2008). Moreover the US-led war in Afghanistan continues to have the blessing of the Labor's leaders, despite most Australians wanting troops withdrawn.

Rudd has told us that he is an "economic conservative" and experience tells us that economic conservativism = social and environmental vandalism. That's a lesson we cannot ignore after three decades of bipartisan support for the corporate profits-first agenda, demonstrated in action by federal and state governments (all of which are conservative Labor governments).

On election night Rudd congratulated Howard for his "extensive contribution to public service in Australia" and declared it time to "put aside the old battles of the past" between business and unions, between "growth and environment", "public and private".

"I extend our greetings tonight to our great friend and ally the United States", Rudd said in his victory speech and right-wing US President George Bush reciprocated by issuing a statement overnight congratulating Rudd on his victory.

"The United States and Australia have long been strong partners and allies and the President looks forward to working with this
newgovernment to continue our historic relationship", the statement said.

Labor's 6.3% swing was a strong endorsement for change but voters attached a note indicating which way they want his government to move by delivering a strong vote to the Greens, the most progressive party currently represented in federal parliament. The Greens look set to win at least two extra Senate positions.

Socialist Alliance national coordinator Dick Nichols told Green Left Weekly that it was movement's against Howard's policies, in particular those against Work Choices and the pulp mill in Tasmania, that madesure the Howard government was smashed. "The Socialist Alliance played a big role in building these movements, and did well in those seats where that work was most visible", he said.

Nichols said there had been modest increases in the vote for alliance candidates in the Sydney seats of Grayndler, Parramatta and Blaxland, the Wollongong-based seat of Cunningham, and the western Melbourne seat of Gellibrand. This is a result of thealliance's role as a builder "on the ground" of the movements that helped defeat the hated Howard government.

The Socialist Alliance congratulated the Greens on their good result and pledged to continue to work as partners in building the progressive movements. Many progressive-minded people gave their first preference vote to the Greens because they see them as having the best chance to win parliamentary elections at this time, said Nichols, but a number have sought to triple the value of their vote by voting "1" Socialist Alliance and "2" Greens.

More detailed reports on how the Socialist Alliance candidates did in the elections will be published in the next issue of Green Left Weekly.

Howard’s overboard - but keep the pressure on Rudd Labor By Peter Boyle

2007-11-25T15:23:00.000+11:00

Eight reasons to VOTE 1 SOCIALIST ALLIANCE

2007-11-23T12:37:00.000+11:00

Eight reasons to VOTE 1 SOCIALIST ALLIANCE above the line in the Senate (preferences flow to the Greens, other progressive parties, then Labor; Libs and rightwing parties come last)

1. Tear up all of Work Choices

No to individual contracts
Yes to collective agreements in workplaces and across industries
The rights of casual and part time employees to be the same as for full-time workers
Defend the right to strike
For strong and democratic unions
Get rid of the Australian Building and Construction Commission

2. Stop the destruction of our planet

The Socialist Alliance supports 60% emissions reductions by 2020 and 90% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
Stop logging of old growth forest
Stop Gunns' pulp mill
No dredging of Port Phillip Bay
End the mining and processing of uranium and pull Australia out of the nuclear cycle
Implement an emergency program to phase out coal and rapidly make renewable energy the main source for the power grid
Bring all power industries under public ownership
Free and efficient public transport

3. Make poverty history, free health and education

Universal and free education and health systems
Medicare to cover optical and dental
More money for all levels of public education
No TAFE or university fees
A living wage for all carers, pensioners and unemployed

4. Fix the housing crisis

Stop the privatisation of public housing
Build new public housing to end the waiting list
Improve maintenance of public housing
End private rental profiteering
End repossession of homes due to increases in mortgage repayments

5. Bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan

Withdraw all foreign troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Let the Iraqi and Afghan people determine their future
War spending to be redirected for social services and to assist poor countries
Free Palestine
No war on Iran
Self determination for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka
No to Australia's imperialist role in Asia and the Pacific

6. Defend Aboriginal rights

Solidarity with Indigenous peoples’ struggles
No government intervention in Aboriginal affairs (Northern Territory and elsewhere)
Land rights not land grabs
No more black deaths in custody
Justice for victims of police racism like Redfern’s T. J. Hickey and Palm Island’s Mulrunji

7. Scrap anti-terrorism laws

Stop attacks on Islamic and Middle Eastern communities
Restore civil liberties lost under anti-terrorism laws
Free all people presently held under ‘anti-terror’ laws, like David Hicks, the Goulburn 9 and the Barwon 13, and drop the charges against the 3 Tamil activists
Stop harassment of Mamdouh Habib, and provide compensation for his ordeal

8. End all discrimination

Equal pay for equal work irrespective of sex, age or race
Repeal all laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation
Support same-sex marriage and adoption rights
Expand maternity leave and legalise abortion
All refugees welcome to Australia and be given full citizenship rights
Close all dentention centres and build Refugee Help Centres for new arrivals

Authorised by Dick Nichols: 23 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale NSW 2008

BLUE MOUNTAINS Film Premiere: Now the People Have Awoken

2007-11-19T13:07:00.000+11:00

BLUE MOUNTAINS Film Premiere: "Now the People Have Awoken
7.30pm Mon Dec 10, Tris Elies Red Room, next to Katoomba Station, Katoomba,
Ph 4787 7859 for more info.

Just completed by New Zealand film-makers, Activo Productions. A documentary about how Venezuleans are making the first socialist revolution of the 21st Century.

Using the largest oil reserves in the world to foment a new order in Venezuela, Chavez has supported some of the most controversial social programs in the world. What makes Venezuela tick? All of a sudden Venezuela has taken a leap onto the world-stage. Who else but its repeatedly elected dictator would call the president of the US ‚Äúthe devil‚Äù? Having survived a military coup in 2002, Hugo Chavez and the new Venezuela are experimenting with ways of finding political and economic democracy. Is this a real possibility? Chavez is regularly depicted as the dictator squandering the wealth of the nation and blocking democratic freedoms. Perhaps this is true? The film gives voice to the people behind the revolutionary process ongoing in Venezuela, filming during the December 2006 elections, and analysts ranging from an exCIA and Pentagon security analyst to the controversial Venezuelan attorney who authored 'The Chavez Code.' Who is behind the movement and what does it seek? With the interest in Venezuela coming from all sides of the political spectrum, the film engages with the problem of what position to take towards this rapidly changing nation.

DIRECTOR: Ricardo Restrepo

Check out this preview of the Now the People Have Awoken on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNb3lDoGap8

Presented by Blue Mountains Socialist Alliance, Green Left Weekly & Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network

Walk Against Warming Sunday November 11

2007-11-05T15:54:00.001+11:00

Join the tens of thousands of people who will converge on the Sydney Domain this Sunday, November 11, to demand real, immediate action to address global warming. Both the Coalition government and the Labor opposition are refusing to set short- or long-term greenhouse gas emissions targets that can seriously address the dangers of global warming. Neither of the major parties are prepared to buck the fossil fuel corporations -- the ``Greenhouse mafia'' -- by massively expanding renewable energy R&D and generation, public transport, and phasing out fossil fuels.

Instead Howard and Rudd promote the myth that non-existent ``clean coal'' will save the day (see http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/729/37797). Whoever wins the federal election, huge sums of public money will be handed over to the coal corporations to subsidise this fantasy. If that isn't bad enough, Howard wants nuclear power stations; Rudd wants open slather uranium mining.Socialist Alliance urges Mountains people to join the protest and add their voices to the growing demands for radical action now. Catch theWAW Mountains Express*!Catch the train from Mt Vic at 10.05amBlackheath 10.12amKatoomba 10.25amWentworth Falls 10.34amSpringwood 11.05amBlaxland 11.15am(*All stations actually; check the timetable for your station if not mentioned above.)For more information on what is really needed to tackle global warming, please check out Socialist Alliance's Climate Change Charter at

http://www.socialist-alliance.org/resources/SA_climate_change_charter.pdf http://www.socialist-alliance.org/

Socialist Alliance Blue Mountains Climate Change Charter Launch

2007-10-02T12:42:00.000+10:00

People & planet before profits!
Saturday October 20 2.30-4.30 pm
Katoomba's Family Hotel

The Socialist Alliance has launched a “climate change roadshow” to promote its radical policy of a 60% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2020 and a 90% reduction by 2030.

Download the Socialist Alliance Climate Change Charter here

Download easy-to-print version of the Socialist Alliance Climate Change Charter (with references) here

[MORE]

The End of Suburbia

2007-08-15T14:08:00.000+10:00

Green Left Weekly/Blue Mountains Socialist Alliance present
A film about peak oil, oil wars and oil corporate power and:

Since World War II, the West's corporations and government rulers have encouraged mass profit-driven consumerism, symbolised by private-car-centred ``suburbia''. As suburban sprawl has exploded over the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the Western consciousness. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are have emerged about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World oil peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary. The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. We need a new system, sooner than you think!

Monday August 27, 7.15pm,Red Room (Tris Elies nightclub), Katoomba(next to train station)
$8 waged/$10 solidarity/$5 concession.Organised by the Blue Mountains Socialist Alliance and Green Left Weekly.Phone Terry on 4787 7859 for more info.

NSW State Socialist Alliance Conference

2007-07-13T10:54:00.000+10:00

Newcastle to host SA state conference Saturday 21 July.

The conference will be held at the Yoga Hall, Steel St, Hamilton(opposite Gregson Park) and Local indigenous leader Arthur Ridgewaywill welcome participants.

The welcome will occur at 12.45pm.
A feature of the day will be a public forum on `change the system not the climate' (1pm to 2.30pm) with

* Graham Brown, retired coal miner, Save Anvil Hill campaigner

* Vanessa Bowden, Rising Tide

* Kamala Emanuel, Socialist Alliance (SA) Environment spokesperson

* Peter Kennedy, coal miner, Upper Hunter

* Paula Morrow, Greens candidate for Newcastle* Save Our Rail, representative

* Chair: Geoff Payne, SA candidate for Newcastle.

Plenty of time for discussion and questions. There will be discussion about other campaign work of the SocialistAlliance (including the federal election campaign, Stop Bush campaignfor APEC, campaign against Work Choices, anti-war movement and queerrights campaign).

The state conference will also preselect a NSW senate ticket for thefederal elections and will elect state convenors and a state executive.

In the morning prior to the conference there will also be SAcampaigning stalls in Newcastle and from 11.30-12.30 a sausage sizzlein Gregson Park.
There will also be a performance night in the evening after theconference is over and, on the Sunday morning, a trip to Anvil Hill.

This will be an open conference but only financial SA members will beable to vote. Help out with organising on the day (set up, catering,billeting etc) is welcome. Please ring 49265328 if you can assist.

Download the conference agenda at http://socialistalliancenewcastle.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/SAagenda.pd
Download the climate change forum leaflet at http://socialistalliancenewcastle.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/cc.pdf
See the latest Newcastle SA branch newsletter http://socialistalliancenewcastle.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/sanews.pdf
Stephen O'Brien, Newcastle Socialist Alliance co-coordinator

After Dean Mighell, Joe McDonald to be axed:

2007-06-26T13:25:00.000+10:00

Dick Nichols, Socialist Alliance National Coordinator, today described Kevin Rudd’s decision to convene a special meeting of the ALP National Executive to expel Joe McDonald, assistant secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in Western Australia, as marking “a new high tide of anti-unionism in the so-called party of the unions”.

He called on the ACTU and individual unions like the CFMEU to cut their funding to the ALP if federal Labor’s attacks on unionists didn’t stop.

“What exactly was McDonald’s crime?”, Nichols asked. “He swore at a manager from a building company that was using the anti-union police force of the Australian Building and Construction Commission to reduce the CFMEU’s ability to monitor health and safety in a dangerous industry—and for his pains he gets thrown out of the ALP.”

Nichols added: “This scandal has happened under anti-worker legislation which the ALP is formally committed to repeal, but which Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard now say they will ‘phase out’—against the opinion of former ACTU secretary (and ALP candidate) Greg Combet.”

The Socialist Alliance coordinator stated that it was impossible to defend people’s rights at work without breaking anti-union laws, especially laws as draconian as those that set up the ABCC—which even eliminate the right to silence.

Nichols added: “The Rudd-Gillard leadership’s surrender before corporate and Coalition pressure over industrial relations isn’t just cowardly and hypocritical—it’s also plain stupid from the point of view of winning the coming federal election.

“Every time Rudd tries to prove he’s as tough on ‘union thugs’ as Hockey and Howard he invites those scoundrels to intensify the attack against Labor on the industrial relations front. As a result the Coalition, which was put on the ropes by the Your Rights at Work campaign, could even make a comeback.

“It’s high time Rudd and Gillard stopped attacking unionists who are just doing their job, and started talking about what Work Choices is really doing to the lives of working people.

“For example, they might begin by expressing some concern about the work regime at Telstra, which as Four Corners showed this week, drove two workers to suicide.”

The Socialist Alliance spokesperson concluded: “The ACTU and individual unions like the CFMEU should demand that Rudd and Gillard stop their union-bashing drivel that just helps the Coalition. To ram the message home they should threaten a redistribution of union election funding away from the ALP towards those parties with a more principled pro-worker and pro-union stance.

“They should also decide immediately to hold another massive National Day of Protest against Work Choices which demands that Rudd and Gillard commit to really tearing Howard’s vile legislation—Australian Workplace Agreements, ABCC and all.”

We need a mass protest when Bush comes to Sydney APEC summit

2007-06-13T10:34:00.000+10:00

The Socialist Alliance supports the Stop Bush Coalition’s call for a mass protest when the world’s biggest war criminal, US President George Bush, attends the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Sydney in September. A mass protest is exactly what the John Howard and NSW governments (and the federal Labor opposition) don’t want - and should get.

The NSW ALP government is using APEC as a pretext to introduce unprecedented powers of arrest and bail restrictions to scare people into not joining the protests. Deputy premier John Watkins has even urged Sydneysiders to get out of town while the meeting is on!

But APEC is an important opening for peaceful protest by all who care about the fate of our planet and its peoples. It is an opportunity to express what the majority of Australians think about war, global warming, and attacks on workers’ rights and democratic freedoms. It is also a chance to protest against a model of regional “economic cooperation” that will make the rich countries of the region even richer by stifling and distorting the development of poor and underdeveloped nations.

Look at the powerful grounds for protest that APEC presents:

War

Eighty per cent of Australians are angry about the US’s illegal wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of people and the devastation of those countries.

The US-led “war on terror” - a war without end - has been an unmitigated disaster for human rights and democracy. What greater terrorism is there than the US’s trashing of international human rights conventions, its illegal gulag at Guantanamo, its proxy wars in Palestine and Lebanon, and its economic aggression against countries and peoples who dare to pursue policies that Washington doesn’t like?

Workers’ rights

From its beginning in 1989, APEC was designed to assist the club of rich countries prise open Third World markets for First World goods and services, and push low-paid Third World labour into factories owned by the Nikes, Dells and Wal-Marts.

The trade “liberalisation” that goes with this “development” model aims to boost productivity and corporate profits by intensifying competition among workers in all countries. In Australia, we get the nasties of Work Choices partly as a result. At the same time, Philippine unionists who speak up for workers’ rights are murdered by anti-union hit squads financed by the employers.

The Sydney APEC meeting is an ideal opportunity to speak up for international economic relations built on the principles of solidarity, helping those who most need help, and extending and defending workers’ rights everywhere.

Global warming

In a world of runaway greenhouse gas emissions, APEC 2007 also needs to become a huge protest against the two key Kyoto Protocol rogue states - the US and Australia. All the more so when Howard is marketing the summit as the one that will deal with energy “security” and clean energy for the region.

Such greenwashing is farcical, especially as Howard and Bush continue to push for “clean” coal and nuclear power as “solutions” to the global warming nightmare.

Civil liberties and democratic freedoms

This APEC summit will focus on ending “terrorism” and “weapons of mass destruction”. But the bipartisan consensus that the state needs more powers to tackle “terrorist” threats is everywhere a thinly veiled attempt to drive back the people’s right to protest against bad policies and bad laws.

In Australia, the Muslim community and people of Arabic background have been under pressure from racist “anti-terror” laws for some time. Now, state and federal governments and their security services are striving to marginalise anyone who tries to organise or participate in protests against the wars in the Middle East.

The Socialist Alliance stands in solidarity with the people throughout the world who have protested in their hundreds of thousands against Bush.

Potentially, such mass protests can not only topple dangerous criminals such as Bush and Howard, they can also begin to push back their political agenda. A massive protest in Sydney against Bush and all he represents would be a fitting prelude to the well-deserved defeat of the Howard government at the next federal election.

From: Green Left Weekly issue #713, 13 June 2007.

Download poster for Bush protest here.

Details of protest organising meetings here.

Defend Our Rights at Work, Tear up all of Work Choices!

2007-06-02T17:49:00.000+10:00

The campaign against Work Choices has been strong enough to force Howard to dump a hated brand name and accept a very feeble “fairness” test for individual contracts. But the campaign has been too weak to stop the federal ALP from keeping a lot of Work Choices’ anti-worker approach. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard’s policy maintains extreme restrictions on the right to strike and bans pattern bargaining and strike pay. It takes years to “phase out” Australian Workplace Agreements and the Australian Building and Construction Commission. It’s a sick joke to say Rudd and Gillard have “torn up” Work Choices.

They’ve created Work Choices Lite.

For example, Rudd told the National Press Club on April 17:

Under our laws, employees will not be able to strike during the term of a collective agreement. They will not be able to strike unless there has been genuine good faith bargaining. They will not be able to strike in support of an industry-wide agreement. And they will not be able to strike unless it has been approved by a mandatory secret ballot.

Unless changed Labor’s restrictions on the right to strike will be so harsh that the strikes in the campaign against Work Choices would be themselves illegal! As Julia Gillard told the ABC on April 27: “That wouldn't be protected industrial action.”

The Socialist Alliance says that the trade union movement must force the ALP to remove these savage restrictions on the right to strike and the other rights at work that Howard has stolen.

Why is the right to strike so important? Because it is the basic guarantee of all the other rights that working people have won.

This is why the International Labour Organisation says that “the right to strike is one of the essential means available to workers and their organisations for the promotion and protection of their economic and social interests.” It’s also why the ILO criticised the Howard government’s 1996 Workplace Relations Act for being “contrary to the principles of freedom of association on the right to strike”.

Some unionists argue that since there has only ever been a very limited right to strike in Australian law, the ALP’s anti-strike policy isn’t important. This is wrong: The ALP policy will carry heavy penalties against “illegal” strikes, restricting the ability of unions to defend their members.

It will make it easier for a Rudd-Gillard government to repeat anti-union attacks like the Hawke-Keating government’s deregistration of the Builders Labourers Federation (1986) and its near-destruction of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (1989).

If the ALP doesn’t change its position it’s not difficult to imagine what life could be like under Rudd and Gillard:

• It would be illegal for workers to strike against a company like James Hardie that was poisoning them at work;

• It would be legal for an employer who had decided to “offshore” work to lock out his employees, but illegal for the workers to strike in their own defence, or call on other workers to take supporting action in solidarity;

• It would be illegal for workers to strike against bosses trying employ cheaper, non-union, labour;

• It would be illegal to conduct a strike like the 1976 general strike against the Fraser government’s destruction of Medibank; and

• It would be illegal to conduct strikes in support of the rights of other workers and peoples—like the building workers’ support to the East Timorese people in 1999 or the wharfies’ famous 1940s strikes in support of the Indonesian independence movement.

So far the trade unions and the ACTU have been far too tight-lipped about the ALP’s attack on worker and union rights. This must stop. The leaders of our unions must be forced to speak out against all attacks on our rights at work.

Socialist Alliance,"Unions must act to end ALP backflips on Work Choices "

2007-06-02T15:31:00.000+10:00

“The union movement must take urgent action to end ALP backflips on its industrial relations policy,” Socialist Alliance national trade union coordinator Sue Bolton said today.

“We can all see what is happening”, she said. “First, the big mining, energy, media and construction corporations’ lobbying campaign has succeeded in forcing Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard to renege on Labor’s promise to abolish all Australian Workplace Agreements and the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

“Then all union leaders from Greg Combet down have remained tight-lipped for fear that, if they protest and Labor loses the federal election, defeat will be blamed on them.

Bolton asked: “Of course we need to vote Howard out, but what is the gain if the Labor Party keeps adopting Howard’s policies with the roughest edges rubbed off? The ALP won’t commit to restore any of the worker and union rights that Howard took away with the 1996 Workplace Relations Act and it will keep the Coalition’s draconian Welfare to Work legislation.”

The Socialist Alliance spokesperson said: “It’s high time for the unions to stop relying on the ALP to be the answer to the anti-worker Howard government.

“Rudd and Gillard’s recent policy backflips and their Labor attacks on building industry unions as ‘thuggish’ make it clear as day that they have accepted the biased propaganda of the big corporations.”

Bolton emphasised: “What Australian workers and communities urgently need from their unions is a mass industrial campaign for the repeal of all anti-worker laws brought in by the Howard government. That campaign must be independent of the ALP.

“Until the union movement commits to such a strategy, the corporations will demand more, Rudd and Gillard will carry on reneging and the promise to ‘tear up’ Work Choices will become a totally sick joke.”

The Socialist Alliance spokesperson stressed: “To restart serious action against Work Choices, the union movement needs to immediately launch plans for another mass National Day of Protest.

“But more than one protest will be needed. Unless the unions also kick off a campaign of industrial action, the voice of workers and their unions will be completely missing from the current media debate about industrial relations.”

Bolton concluded: “The experience of Labor backsliding on its policies before it is even elected makes it crystal clear: the ALP is interested in our rights at work only as far as these don’t interfere with the corporate “right” to make megabucks from our labour.

“The urgent challenge before all of us who say we stand for workers’ interests is to work out how to build a new party that really does represent working people.”

Tear Up "Work Choices"

2007-05-31T16:46:00.000+10:00

Since the ALP national conference, the big companies have had the ear of the Liberal and Labor parties about what sort of changes should be made to Australia's industrial relations laws. The voice of workers and their unions has not been heard.

We believe that in order to defend our rights at work workers need to mobilise again so that our voices are heard in opposition to the anti-worker laws.

We therefore call on the ACTU and state, territory and regional labour councils to immediately call a day of protest that demands:

1. The full repeal of the Howard government’s Work Choices and Workplace Relations Act (including the abolition of all individual contracts) and;

2. The enshrining in Australian law of the internationally recognised right of workers to take industrial action in defence of their economic and social interests.

Download petition here, get your workmates to sign and return to:

Socialist Alliance, PO Box 1246, A’Beckett Street, Melbourne Vic 8006

FAX: 03 9639-8452

EMAIL: sue_bolton@hotmail.com

PHONE: Sue Bolton 0413-377-978

Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network Statement on RCTV license non-renewal

2007-05-29T10:30:00.000+10:00

Dear members and friends,

You will no doubt be seeing news headlines "Venezuelan troops take TV equipment" and worse, circulating the world today, many referring to "international criticism of (Chavez') decision not to renew RCTV's license and to replace Venezuela's most-watched channel with a state-backed network that will promote the values of his (sic) self-styled socialist revolution."

It is important that you are clear that the 'international criticism' referred to is confined to prominently identified right wing identities and their media outlets, and their allies in the US Bush administration. This is a highly politicized campaign utilizing the international mass media. Opposition leaders openly state their aim in protesting the closure of RCTV is to return Venezuela to the old "4th Republic" days and rid themselves of Chavez.

Any strategy based on "removing Chavez' is doomed to fail. Over the past nine years Venezuela has undergone a mass, popular, peaceful and democratic revolution. Chavez represents the hopes and aspirations of millions of Venezuelan's. Those millions of Venezuelan's have been demanding for many years that the media be democratised as well. For Venezuelan's today the media does not just represent the opposition – it is the opposition. Venezuela's community and alternative media is flourishing – has expanded enormously and is as an essential part of people's power.

Ironically it was the direct actions of the media in 2002 in working to implement the briefly lived coup and politically identifying themselves – not as 'independent' reporters but as creating the very biased discourses – which has led to the Venezuelan people being so conscious about the role of the mass media. They have led to their own demise.

And let's be clear. There is no forced, troop seizure of the RCTV in the way it is being presented. Notice was given months ago and court actions and appeals were lodged, followed through and have been lost by RCTV.

What is happening today is happening as a result of a process of accountability. The Chanel 2 public broadcast license was up for renewal. The government has considered that the best option for the Venezuelan public – the public interest that government is elected to represent – will be best served by allowing access to that broadcasting frequency to the many many public, community and alternative programs already being produced and transmitted on community frequencies. This followed wide consultations as is the hallmark of the current Venezuelan government.

It is a tribute to the Bolivarian revolution that the new TVes will not be producing new material themselves – but will be transmitting the wealth of material that people are already producing and that has a more limited audience currently.

Viva the Bolivarian Revolution and the cultural developments that it brings! AVSN congratulates the Bolivarian government and people's organizations for this exciting step forward and for following legal and democratic processes to do so.

When AVSN began to compose this note about the closure of RCTV and the transmission of the new Public broadcaster VTes, it was to be simply a congratulatory note - many compañeros have worked very hard to ensure a peaceful transition to the new public and socially responsible state owned TV station. And while in many ways it still is a great congratulations that we send to the Bolivarian Revolution and those millions of Venezuelan's who firmly reject the media monopoly which continues to destabilise and agitate for the pro-capitalist and imperialist systems they are a part of it is also a message of solidarity and condemnation of violence.

AVSN notes the violent and aggressive reaction of the business managers of RCTV and their associates within Venezuela and in the USA, in calling for violent actions to overthrow the government in the supposed aim of "restoring democracy". We particularly deplore the use of armed violence by the RCTV protest organizers who on Sunday 27 May opened fire and shot 11 members of the Venezuelan security forces outside the RCTV – Tves building, and we applaud the restraint shown by the Venezuelan security forces in not responding with further violence and in continuing to negotiate and defuse the confrontations.

As the vast majority of Venezuelan's tell you, they are very proud of their peaceful, democratic revolution. Incidents of violence are abhorred. Violence is understood by Bolivarians as a tactic of the opposition, the old fourth republic and their allies in imperialist and war mongering circles. Violence is a clear violation of the revolutionary conscienceness and it is used exclusively by the opposition : they are familiar with and comfortable with violence as they have used violence and repression for decades to control the population. Posada Carilles and other notable torturers and murders acted within the old state structures to carry out their crimes against the left and the general population.

However on the eve of the license for transmission to expire - at about 7pm Caracas time on Sunday 27th May, the opposition protest began to OPEN FIRE on the metropolitian police and national guard who were providing security for their RCTV protest. An outrageous action from the RCTV which shows their true colors – this is how they chose to operate in an open and free democracy. Under people's power being constructed in Venezuela, people are not just 'allowed' to organise a (peaceful, mass) protest, they are positively encouraged to express themselves and have a voice and a public presence. As such millions of Venezuelans, who are the Bolivarian Revolution in action, have demanded that the licence not be renewed to RCTV, this has been public knowledge for some time - It is the clear will of the majority of Venezuelan's that the public licence and broadcast rights go to a socially responsible and democratic station. There is consistency of policy and the wishes of the vast majority of Venezuelan's in NOT renewing the license to this company : due to the long list of violations of broadcasting code : including several legal actions by governments prio to Chavez : as documented on the attached fact sheet – and due to the ongoing lies and misinformation transmitted by the broadcaster. They are free to continue to produce their materials and to sell them commercially and to broadcast via satellite. However they are no longer holders of the public broadcast license.

Please don't hesitate to contact any one of us if you would like further information

SOME FURTHER RESOURCES:

1. VIO Fact Sheet re RCTV closure
2. Venezuela Analysis article
3. GreenLeft Weekly Article

An visual presentation explaining the situation can be found in the video "Tell the truth" posted to: http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/
Video:This is the documentary "Tell the truth", explaining what is happening with the Venezuelan TV channel "RCTV". Their concession for open broadcasting will expire on May 27th, 2007, and the Venezuelan government announced that their concession will be not renew. This video explains why. Also Links to further web debates on the issue.

Links to direct video footage and reports of the violence of the RCTV protests against the Bolivarians can be found at www.aporrea.org and review the www.venezuelasolidarity.org site regularly also for news in English.

http://www.aporrea.org/medios/n95624.html

An earlier link to the RCTV Supporters Rally : they claim the "most Venezuelan's " support them, yet with complete freedom to mobilize, and lots of money at their disposal as well as all the media they could desire !! this is their best result: Note VIDEO taken BEFORE the RCTV opened fire on the metropolitan police and national guard.

http://www.aporrea.org/venezuelaexterior/n95562.html

Geelong Trades Hall votes to defend right to strike

2007-05-29T10:29:00.001+10:00

Geelong Trades and Labour Council Secretary Tim Gooden at the opening of It's About Time! at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre.

At its May 15 meeting, Geelong Trades Hall Council passed a motion declaring that “GTHC is opposed to any laws that fetter and/or criminalise union activity and workers’ rights under International Labour Organisation conventions to organise and take action to advance or defend our economic and social conditions. To this end we call on the Victorian Trades Hall Council to organise a mass delegates’ meeting to discuss how we can best help the ACTU [Australian Council of Trade Unions] defend its own industrial relations policy and thus the rights of all workers.”

A second motion that was passed noted the council’s concern that “fundamental International Labour Organisation conventions on workers’ rights are under further attack by big business. Therefore, we need to raise the profile of workers’ concerns through large-scale demonstrations to counter the pressure that big business is placing on the government and the opposition. GTHC calls on the ACTU to call a National Day of Action around 28th June.”

Tim Gooden, GTHC’s secretary, told Green Left Weekly that the council is very concerned that the Labor Party is not promising to get rid of the Howard government’s restrictions on the right to strike: “Geelong unionists believe that the right to strike is a basic right of workers, as well as being ACTU policy. Trade unions and labour councils are obligated to defend this basic right, regardless of which party is in government.”

Gooden said that since the ALP national conference, “the big corporations, especially the mining companies, have dominated the public debate about industrial relations. The only way that workers can start to influence the public debate again is if there is another mass protest of workers.”

Socialist Alliance adopts radical greenhouse gas emissions reduction target

2007-05-29T10:26:00.000+10:00

The Socialist Alliance has adopted radical greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets—95% of stationary power emissions and 60% of overall emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2020, and 90% of overall emissions by 2030.

The targets are minima and provisional. In adopting them at its May meeting the Alliance’s National Executive recognised that many Alliance members support even tougher emission reduction targets—including a zero emissions goal by 2020—and decided to actively invite amendments to the policy from members and branches.

These amendments will be considered at the June meeting of the National Executive and a final set of targets endorsed.

The targets are the most radical yet adopted by a registered political party in Australia. Alliance National Coordinator Dick Nichols commented: “These targets are dictated by the global warming crisis. The science is telling us that we have to arrest the growth in greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible. Otherwise we risk crossing the crisis threshold of a two degree increase in average global temperatures—with unimaginable consequences.”

The Alliance National Executive also set up an editing group with the job of producing the party’s draft Climate Change Charter—a popular explanation of its diagnosis of global warming and policy proposals for fighting it.

“The environment, especially climate change, will be at the centre of this year’s federal election”, Nichols said. “The Alliance will be campaigning vigorously for a radical switch to renewables, a massive expansion of public transport and a radical reduction in energy waste, especially in industry.

“We shall also champion the polluter pays principle, so that the cost of fighting climate change doesn’t fall on the shoulders of working people but on the corporate polluters and energy guzzlers.”

Nichols also stressed that the Alliance would also be explaining that the various carbon trading schemes presently under consideration could not reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly enough—the energy corporations and corporate energy users would never accept the level of carbon price needed to force the rapid elimination of their greenhouse gas generating investments.

The Alliance National Executive also voted to establish the position of climate change coordinator, and elected long-term environmental activist Dr Kamala Emanuel to the position.

For further information. Kamala Emanuel 0417 319 662 Dick Nichols 0425 221 565. The Socialist Alliance´s special dossier on climate change is available at: www.socialist-alliance.org

Stop Bush campaign gathers pace

2007-05-06T19:22:00.001+10:00

The next meeting of the Stop Bush campaign is this coming Monday night at 7pm (30 April, UTS students association, Broadway campus). Ph Alex Bainbridge 0413 976 638 for more details.

In the meantime, check out some of the new material on the Stop Bush website at:
http://www.stopbush2007.org/

In particular, you can download posters to start spreading the word from:
http://www.stopbush2007.org/stop-bush-posters

The website still needs more content. Can you write, draw or in another way contribute?

Can you organise an endorsement and/or a link to the website from any campaigns/organisations you're involved in?

Socialist Alliance Blue Mountains

`The battle of Copenhagen' By Hugo Chávez Frías, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,

Plebiscite On Power Privatisation

Socialist to Contest Blue Mountains City Council Elections

Koperberg Supports Power Privatisation

Rudd Supports Power Privatisation

Stop NSW Labor's energy privatisation, a letter published in Blue Montains Gazette from John Tognolini

Katoomba Showing of John Pilger's film 'The War On Democracy' Monday Febuary 25 Tris Elies nightclub, Katoomba(next to train station) 7.30pm

Howard’s overboard - but keep the pressure on Rudd Labor By Peter Boyle

Howard’s overboard - but keep the pressure on Rudd Labor By Peter Boyle

Eight reasons to VOTE 1 SOCIALIST ALLIANCE

BLUE MOUNTAINS Film Premiere: Now the People Have Awoken

Walk Against Warming Sunday November 11

Socialist Alliance Blue Mountains Climate Change Charter Launch

Related links:

The End of Suburbia

NSW State Socialist Alliance Conference

After Dean Mighell, Joe McDonald to be axed:

We need a mass protest when Bush comes to Sydney APEC summit

Defend Our Rights at Work, Tear up all of Work Choices!

Socialist Alliance,"Unions must act to end ALP backflips on Work Choices "

Tear Up "Work Choices"

Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network Statement on RCTV license non-renewal

Geelong Trades Hall votes to defend right to strike

Socialist Alliance adopts radical greenhouse gas emissions reduction target

Stop Bush campaign gathers pace