The devastating impacts of Australia’s economic crisis are clear for all to see, but many in the welfare sector believe the worst is yet to come, reports Fred Fuentes.
News
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Sydney unionists joined a car convoy to express solidarity with Sonic Health workers in Britain fighting unfair dismissal for standing up for their rights under the COVID-19 lockdown, reports Jim McIlroy.
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Tens of thousands of people rallied in Brisbane on June 6 to express solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the United States and to campaign against Black deaths in custody in Australia, reports Alex Bainbridge.
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Gumbaynggirr custodians are claiming a hard-fought victory by stopping the NSW Forestry Corporation from logging cultural sites in the Nambucca State Forest, reports Kerry Smith.
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Close to 200,000 people took to the streets across Australia for Black Lives Matter–Stop Black Deaths in Custody rallies on June 6-7, reports Zebedee Parkes.
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Between 300-350 people attended a solidarity action in Katoomba, reports Lisa Macdonald.
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The huge size of the Black Lives Matter protests across Australia on June 6 took everyone by surprise, reports Pip Hinman.
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Nurses rallied outside New South Wales parliament and across the state on June 2 to reject the state government’s attempt to impose a 12-month pay freeze on 400,000 public servants, including nurses and paramedics, report Jim McIlroy and Kerry Smith.
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Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton will contest the October council election with a team of community independents and Socialist Alliance members, report Darren Saffin and Chloe DS.
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A gas moratorium bill was passed in the NSW Legislative Council on June 3 with only the Liberals, Nationals and the Pauline Hanson's One Nation party opposed, reports Pip Hinman.
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A car cavalcade calling for an end to detention and to free the refugees from Villawood Detention Centre was organised on May 30, reports Coral Wynter.
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About 150-200 people took part in an "exercise for refugees" solidarity action outside the Kangaroo Point detention facility. It was the seventh week of Friday afternoon actions and the biggest yet, reports Alex Bainbridge.
Analysis
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Well-funded reactionary forces are using the COVID-19 shutdown to spread their unscientific views about how to deal with the pandemic, the World Health Organisation, the medical profession and scientists, writes Coral Wynter.
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Sue Bolton argues only a sustained mass movement, led by First Nations people, will have a chance of dismantling the racist and repressive system which criminalises people on the basis of their skin colour.
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To the relief of communities devastated by the disastrous Black Summer bushfires, the royal commission has focussed on the connection between climate change and the fires that ravaged much of southern New South Wales and eastern Victoria, reports Jim McIlroy.
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The Black Lives Matter-Stop Black Deaths in Custody movements are highlighting the racism of the police, as well as their repressive role in society. Peter Boyle argues that we don't need the police to keep us safe.
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The federal government's decision to wind back JobKeeper for early childcare educators will make life a lot harder for workers and families, write Jacob Andrewartha and Jim McIlroy.
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Paul Gregoire lays out the context to the massive and youthful Stop Black Deaths in Custody — Black Lives Matter protest that took over the centre of Warrang-Sydney.
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Numbers count. When 50,000 people showed up to the Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney, the NSW Police had no choice but to back down. But they sought their revenge later, reports Pip Hinman.
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The Australian High Court has ruled that correspondence between the Queen and the Governor-General of Australia, her viceroy in the former British colony, is no longer "personal" and the property of Buckingham Palace, writes John Pilger. Why does this matter?
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It’s an uncomfortable and disorienting time to be alive but to achieve justice we have to continue to speak in the 'language of the unheard', writes Benji PK.
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As the gruesome footage of George Floyd’s death has gone viral, activists here point to a similar death in 2015 when Dunghutti man David Dungay Jr was knelt on by prison guards in Long Bay Jail, notes Paul Gregoire.
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An alliance representing communities from the Murray-Darling Basin wants an urgent buy-back of water to revive the river system. Such an approach would minimise water trading and help the rivers, river communities and farmers, argues Elena Garcia.
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While JobKeeper is a valuable lifeline for ensuring job security for some workers, it is also being exploited by some employers, writes Julian Stewart.
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The Australian economy is set for a significant slowdown in response to the COVID-19 shutdown, with the jobless rate expected to climb to 10%. The question, asks Graham Matthews, is who will pay?
World
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The defunding and dismantling of the standing police is the first step to creating a “safety force” under community control, with the ability to prosecute bad cops and those who are rarely thrown in prison, writes Malik Miah.
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In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, recent polls suggest US President Donald Trump may lose the November 2020 election, writes Barry Sheppard. Consequently, the Republicans are ramping up attempts to curtail African Americans’ right to vote.
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Left and progressive groups are concerned for the safety of Wanchalearm Satsaksit, a Thai political dissident who has been living in exile in Cambodia, and are calling on the Cambodian government to act immediately to launch an investigation into his abduction, locate him and ensure his safety.
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More than 2000 refugees and migrant workers have been rounded up by Malaysian authorities since May 1, in a series of sweeps through communities under the pretext of combatting COVID-19, writes Peter Boyle.
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Some have argued that although abolishing the police is the best option, such a scenario is not viable. Yet such a scenario already exists in Rojava, writes Hawzhin Azeez.
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In yet another attack on democracy by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, more Kurdish parliamentarians and Kurdish mayors were detained and removed from their elected positions, writes Peter Boyle.
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Sweden’s death-rate from COVID-19 has topped the rest of the world on a per capita basis on several occasions since the pandemic started, writes Astrid Paulsson. But Swedish authorities claim the figures are wrong and are standing by their much-criticised “herd immunity” strategy.
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Since protests erupted across the United States in response to the police murder of George Floyd, it has come to light that inaction by former Minnesota prosecutor, Democrat Amy Klobuchar meant killer cops were free to roam the streets, writes Emma Clancy.
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In response to the murder of George Floyd by white police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, protests have erupted across the United States. Protesters took to the streets of New York City on May 31. These images were captured by Edward Leavy.
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President Donald Trump held a Rose Garden gathering of mainly white male staffers on June 1 to announce he had invoked the rarely used Insurrection Act of 1807, writes Malik Miah. Trump said if state governors do not “dominate” protesters with force he would do so.
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Muslims in India are suffering disproportionately from the COVID-19 pandemic, due to communalism and discrimination whipped up by Narendra Modi's right-wing government, writes Kavita Krishnan.
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Blood and destruction are on the hands of the cops and the criminal justice system, writes Malik Miah, as an emboldened civil protest movement sweeps the United States.
Culture
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French economist Thomas Piketty became something of a global phenomenon when Capital in the Twenty-First Century topped The New York Times’ Best Seller list in 2014. He has now produced a follow-up work, Capital and Ideology, writes Neville Spencer.
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The mass protests erupting in the United States in response to the police killing of George Floyd have led to support from some unlikely allies, writes Jacob Andrewartha.