Resistance Centre Newsletter
A calendar of events, July 16 2007
Summary of announcements:
- Stop Howard’s attack on indigenous rights!
- After the election of Sarkozy, Where is France Going?
- Film Screening: An Inconvenient Truth
- Peoples Powerin Latin America: Rebellion, workers control and socialism in the 21st century
- SiCKO: come to the Perth opening
- Socialist Alliance State Conference: Building a Fighting Alternative to Howard
- Tell Kevin Rudd: Scrap all of WorkChoices
1. Stop Howard’s attack on indigenous rights!
Around the country people rallied in NAIDOC week to demand justice for indigenous Australians and protest the Howard government’s attempt to use the issue of child welfare as cover to undermine land rights in the Northern Territory. In Perth on Saturday July 14 around 120 attended a rally called at short notice by the Socialist Alliance. We heard from Mark Newhouse (Deaths in Custody Committee), Mark Lawrence (Stand Up for the Burrup), Ray Jackson (NSW indigenous activist) and many people on the open mike. Thanks to everyone who made it a success. Meanwhile 400 gathered in Brisbane, 350 in Sydney, 1,500 in Melbourne and 2,000 in Adelaide.
Sam Watson is a long time Aboriginal activist, Socialist Alliance national spokesperson on indigenous issues and a Queensland Senate candidate. Read his statement A new vision for Australia:
http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=670 2. After the election of Sarkozy, Where is France Going?
The victory of Nicolas Sarkozy in the French Presidential elections and the subsequent landslide to the right in the legislative elections has been widely viewed in the media as signalling a sharp shift to the right in French society. However despite the long standing dominance of the parliamentary right in France, there has been a strong resistance to neo-liberal attacks by France’s workers and students on the streets, reflected in the victory against the First Employment Contract laws in early 2006. The elections also demonstrated the consolidation of the far-left with the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) received 1.6 million votes in presidential elections and an increase of 66% in their parliamentary vote.
Sam Wainwright is a member of the Socialist Alliance and an activist in Maritime Union of Australia. Sam lived in France in 1996-7 where he was active with the LCR and has recently returned from a trip to France. 6.30pm Friday July 20, La Tropicana Café, 177 High Street Fremantle (dinner available) 9218 9608 or 0412 751 508.
3. Film Screening: An Inconvenient Truth
Did you miss Al Gore's documentary when it was in the cinemas? Do you want to discuss with others ideas for getting the planet out of the global warming mess? We need to choose: How can we put the planet and people before the needs of profit?
4pm Saturday July 21, St Cuthbert’s Meeting Room Cnr Darlington and Hillsden Roads Darlington, entry by donation
perthhills@socialist-alliance.org 9299 645.
4. Peoples Power in Latin America: Rebellion, workers control and socialism in the 21st century:
A special half day conference looking at the explosion of peoples’ power in Bush’s “backyard”. Saturday July 28, 12 noon - 5.45 pm, Princess May Community Centre, Cnr Cantonment & Parry Sts, Fremantle, registration: $12 ($8 concession). To register or for a complete agenda contact: Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network _www.venezuelasolidarity.org _ (Trent 0407 070 841 email:_
perth@venezuelasolidarity.orgor Australia Cuba Friendship Society
_www.acfsadelaide.blogspotcom_ (Vinnie 0419 812 872 or email:_
acfsperth@gmail.com). Includes the following discussions:
__ )
· Neoliberalism and the rebellion in Latin America: Since the 1980s Washington and its tame international financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, pushed “free trade”, privatisations and redirecting funds to debt repayment from basic services as a way to prosperity. But the opening up of the countries of Latin America to “competition” and the “efficiency” of market forces, resulted in greater poverty and a tightened grip over their economies by multinationals, especially US corporations. Through the 1990s, movements against neoliberalism grew. In Argen
tina, as the economy went into free fall, a mass revolt swept aside four presidents in a week. In Bolivia, a mass revolt stopped the attempt to privatise the nation’s water in 2000. In 2003 and 2005, mass revolts overthrew pro-US governments in Bolivia in battles that centred on the demand, supported by Morales, to nationalise Bolivia’s gas reserves. The Bush administration attempted to tighten the screws further, proposing a “Free Trade Area of the Americas,” due to come into effect in January 2005. But the FTAA was soundly rejected, with governments in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay refusing to negotiate their people's future away. This plenary will analyse the rebellion in Latin America: its roots and consequences. Speakers: Nick Everett (AustraliaVenezuela Solidarity Network) & Roger Meza (President, Colo Colo Soccer Club), starts 12:30pm.
· Workshops I: The Cuban Five: gaoled for defending their homeland against US terrorism, Venezuela: the media, democracy and freedom of speech & Che: his life and legacy. Starts 2pm.
· Workshops II: Cuba's Green Revolution, Venezuela: putting power in the hands of the workers , Women and Revolution in Latin America & Mexico: peoples power confronting a sham democracy. Starts 3:15pm.
· Building alternatives: the Cuba-Venezuela ‘axis of hope’ and the struggle for ‘21st century socialism’: The Cuban revolution has for decades been a beacon of hope to the people of Latin America and has been the target of a cruel blockade by the United States. However, the 1998 election of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and the Venezuelan peoples’ defeat of a US-Backed coup in 2003, has meant that Cuba is no longer alone. Ecuador and Bolivia’s newly elected presidents, backed by powerful indigenous movements, have also declared their support for Chavez’s call for a ‘21st century socialism’, both pledging to natio
nalise their country’s oil reserves and renegotiate contracts with foreign oil companies to free up money for spending on health, education, the environment and housing. Political power is being refashioned with proposals to introduce new constitutions by referenda that will allow the recall of elected officials and greater participation by social movements and community sectors in government. This plenary will examine the gains of the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutions, the meaning of ‘21st century socialism’ and the need for solidarity.Speakers: Nelson Davila (Venezuelan Charge d’Affairs), Trent Hawkins (AustraliaVenezuela Solidarity Network) & a speaker from AustraliaCuba Friendship Society. Starts 4:30pm.
5. SiCKO a film by Michael Moore (fundraising screening for Green Left Weekly & Socialist Alliance)
Opening with profiles of several ordinary Americans whose lives have been disrupted, shattered, and-in some cases-ended by health care catastrophe, SiCKO makes clear that the crisis doesn't only affect the 47 million uninsured citizens-millions of others who dutifully pay their premiums often get strangled by bureaucratic red tape as well.
After detailing just how the system got into such a mess, we are whisked around the world, visiting countries including Canada, Great Britain and France, where all citizens receive free medical benefits. Finally, Moore gathers a group of 9/11 heroes - rescue workers now suffering from debilitating illnesses who have been denied medical attention in the US. He takes them to a most unexpected place, and in addition to finally receiving care, they also engage in some unexpected diplomacy.
While Michael Moore's SiCKO follows the trailblazing path of previous hit films, the Oscar-winning BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and all-time box-office documentary champ FAHRENHEIT 9/11, it is also something very different for Michael Moore. SiCKO is a straight-from-the-heart portrait of the crazy and sometimes cruel U.S. health care system, told from the vantage of everyday people faced with extraordinary and bizarre challenges in their quest for basic health coverage. SiCKO uses humour to tell these compelling stories, leading the audience conclude that an alternative system is the only possible answer.
For more information on the film, visit
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/ and
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/711/36909Thursday August 9, 6:30 pm Luna Cinema 155 Oxford Street, Leederville. Tickets: $20 solidarity / $15 waged / $10 concession. Tickets available from the Resistance Centre, 15/5 Aberdeen St, EastPerth. Ph: 9218 9608
6. Socialist Alliance State Conference: Building a Fighting Alternative to Howard
The 2007 Socialist Alliance State Conference will be held at the Maritime Union of Australia Hall North Fremantle, from 1 pm on Saturday August 11.
The conference will provide an opportunity for members to discuss the work of Alliance and the campaigns against the Howard government's assault on workers rights and the wider community. In addition the conference will set the framework for the Alliance's campaign in the coming federal elections.
Defend our Rights at Work! Tear up all of Work Choices! We will open with a panel discussion about the fight against the anti-union laws. Figures for March show that corporate profits are growing at the expense workers’ wages. The Howard government has plans for even tougher anti-union laws if it gets re-elected. The ALP has said it will keep the majority of Work Choices if it gets elected, including draconian penalties for workers who strike outside the bargaining period, a ban on pattern bargaining and special policing of building workers.
This panel will discuss options for union campaign against Work Choices, whether the anti-Work Choices campaign should be independent of the ALP, the potential for a right to strike campaign in Australia and the implications of both major parties support for a building industry police force continuing after the federal election. Speakers include: Chris Cain (State Secretary Maritime Union of Australia) & Sue Bolton (Socialist Alliance National Trade Union Convener).
The conference will also include workshops sessions on; Campaigns for the rights of migrant workers; Indigenous rights & Climate Change and the campaign against nuclear power. 1pm Saturday August 11, entry $12/$8 MUA Hall, 2-4 Kwong Alley North Fremantle,
perth@socialist-alliance.org or 9218 9608.
- Tell Kevin Rudd: Tear up all of WorkChoices!
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 have 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. Sign the online petition:
http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/defend-our-rights-at-work-tear-up-all-of-work-choices.html 
