Issue 1435

News

Mary Kostakidis told a public meeting, called to support her defence against the听Zionist Federation of Australia,听that everyone needs听to stand up for the truth. Jim McIlroy reports.

A protest was called to oppose Victorian Labor鈥檚 destruction and privatisation of 44 public housing towers. Jacob Andrewartha reports.

Hundreds of thousands of people march for Palestine across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, August 3

A sea of humanity marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, adding to the growing pressure on Labor to impose sanctions on Israel, stop the two-way arms trade with Israel and send food aid to Gaza. Pip Hinman and Alex Banbridge report.

Solidarity was shown to former SBS journalist Mary Kostakidis, who the Zionist Federation of Australia is trying to silence from speaking out about Israel鈥檚 genocide in Gaza.听Clint Duncan reports.

Members of the Druze community, in particular those of Syrian and Lebanese background, organised a 鈥淪tand with Sweida鈥 rally on the steps of Victorian Parliament. Zane Alcorn reports.

A snap protest opposed Victorian Labor鈥檚 bail 鈥渞eform鈥 laws and called on it to implement an alternative series of reforms, which include the removal of the presumption against bail and for remand to be a last resort. Jacob Andrewartha reports.

一品探花 is urging you to join the protests over August 1鈥3 to end Israel鈥檚 barbaric starvation genocide of Palestinians.

Pro-Palestine activists demonstrated outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Gadigal Country/Sydney to demand the Freedom Flotilla activists on board the Handala be released.听Suelin McCauley reports.

Organisers are pleased to announce that Ecosocialism 2025 鈥 with the theme 鈥淓cosocialism not Barbarism鈥 鈥 will for the first time feature in-person speakers from the United States and Latin America. Fred Fuentes reports.

Nil眉fer Ko莽, the foreign affairs spokesperson of the Kurdistan National Congress, addressed a conference on the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and its consequences for the Kurdish people. Peter Boyle reports.

stop deaths in custody

Aboriginal organisations and independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe are calling on the federal government to suspend federal funds for policing and prisons in the Northern Territory until the Country Liberal Party government reduces the incarceration of First Peoples and children. Kerry Smith reports.

Queensland public school teachers have voted overwhelmingly to take protected industrial action for 24 hours to pressure the Liberal-National government to deliver on its promises to address the teacher shortage crisis. James Phillips reports.

The NSW Supreme Court has ruled that Palestine solidarity protesters will have immunity under the NSW Summary Offences Act in the March for Humanity: Save Gaza protest on the Harbour Bridge.听Pip Hinman reports.

The NSW Court of Appeal overturned the 2022 Independent Planning Commission鈥檚 approval of MACH Energy Australia鈥檚 proposal to expand its Mount Pleasant coal mine in the Hunter Valley. Jim McIlroy reports.

Prof Wanning Sun

A packed-out public meeting called for AUKUS to be cancelled, because it makes war on China a greater risk while making Australia more complicit in United States-led war crimes. Peter Boyle reports.

Words won't feed starving Gazans. Activists call for sanctions now!

The global outcry from the streets against Israel鈥檚 starvation genocide in Gaza continues to grow, pushing some Western governments to wring their hands 鈥 a sign the Palestine movement is starting to exert some power.

Hundreds of residents rallied in Marrickville to protest the pro-developer planning proposals being floated by the Labor-controlled Inner West Council. Hall Greenland reports.

Thousands of Palestine solidarity activists converged on Parliament House to demand that the Anthony Albanese government sanction Israel for its genocide in Gaza.听Jacob Andrewartha and Rachel Evans report.

Refugees and their supporters rallied at Town Hall, Gadigal Country/Sydney, to demand Labor stop deporting refugees and grant permanent visas to asylum seekers. Rachel Evans reports.

The housing crisis, poverty and the highly unpopular stadium have driven people away from the major parties towards independents and Greens, writes Solomon Doyle.

Menaha Kandasamy, general secretary of the Ceylon Workers Red Flag Union听says听tea and rubber plantation听workers face new challenges in Sri Lanka. Chris Slee reports.

LGBTIQ rights activists rallied outside Queensland Liberal National Party health minister Tim Nicholls鈥 office to demand he stop attacking gender-affirming healthcare. Elias Boyle reports.

Tamils from across Australia rallied in response to the United Nation High Commissioner Volker T眉rk鈥檚 visit to a recently discovered mass grave site on the outskirts of Jaffna in Sri Lanka. Zebedee Parkes reports.

As Israel鈥檚 genocide against Palestinians continues, protesters from across the country converged in Canberra, before the new parliament opened, to demand Labor sanction Israel. Pip Hinman and Isaac Nellist report.

Analysis

An Australian Council of Trade Unions commissioned a national poll of workers, which concluded that management capability puts the brakes on productivity. Kerry Smith reports.

Lidia Thorpe and Alex Bainbridge discuss the Red Lines package against genocide and the campaign against Black deaths in custody in the latest episode of the 一品探花 Show.

While recognising Palestinian statehood gives legitimacy to Palestinians鈥 aspirations, to use it as a bargaining chip, as Australia is doing, is a face-saving exercise, argues Jacob Andrewartha.

Activists protested outside Liberal Senator Jonno Duniam鈥檚 office for supporting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. They also criticised Labor鈥檚 complicity in this crime against humanity. Solomon Doyle reports.

Israeli human rights group B鈥橳selem and听Physicians for Human Rights 鈥 Israel have issued new reports stating that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Binoy Kampmark reports.

Disrupt Burrup Hub activist Petrina Harley faced court for blocking access to Woodside鈥檚 industrial plant in Western Australia鈥檚 Burrup Hub peninsula last year. Paula Green听reports the court rejected her 鈥渃limate emergency defence鈥.

Anthony Albanese is right that the Australian state has been sovereign for more than a century and its close military alliances with Britain and the US were not just struck freely, but enthusiastically. Peter Boyle argues that his big deceit is asserting that this is in our common interest.

Labor鈥檚 push to further tie Australia to US military ambitions, represented by AUKUS and the recent Talisman Sabre military exercises, puts us on a path to destruction, argues Pip Hinman.

一品探花鈥檚 Riley Breen spoke to Hala Shanableh and Amin Abbas from Boycott Caltex Australia about the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.

This year marks 80 years since the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan,听killing between 150,000 and 246,000 people and devastating two cities. Alexander Brown听documents the history of the strong regional anti-war movement in the Illawarra.

Jackie Kriz听reports on union members, family, friends and comrades recognising听Allan Sargent's听dedication and service to the union movement, just before he died.

Janet Parker told a pro-Palestine protest outside Parliament House as Western governments dig in to support Israel, protesters will bring make them accountable.

World

In less than a week, more than 500,000 people have joined in the formation of a new left party after it was announced by former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. Jonathan Strauss reports.

Teachers鈥 protest encampment in Mexico City鈥檚 Z贸calo plaza.

Education workers in Mexico are leading a renewed struggle to reclaim public retirement systems from global finance, writes听Isabel Villal贸n.

Collage of photos

The trial of three activists from Singaporean activist group Letters for Palestine entered its sixth and final day, reports Alex Salmon.

crowds of protesters in a square in Belgrade

Students and community members in Serbia have been blockading, protesting and building the largest anti-corruption movement Europe has seen in recent history. Sofija Filipovic returned there just in time to participate in one of the latest actions.

Thai and Cambodian flags with background map of Southeast Asia

Thailand and Cambodia have now agreed on an unconditional ceasefire to end fighting in disputed zones along their 800-kilometre border, reports Susan Price. But what was behind the escalation?

A recording of a panel at the Socialism 2025 conference, which examines Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 repression of activists who have publicly opposed his war of aggression against Ukraine.

delegates standing on a staircase

Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told the Hague Group conference that it 鈥渉as the potential to signal not just a coalition, but a new moral centre in world politics鈥, reports Ben Radford.

warships superimposed with countries' flags

In the second part of this interview with 一品探花鈥檚 Federico Fuentes,听veteran socialist activist听Rasti Delizo accounts for the rise of new imperialist powers and outlines the faulty logic behind multipolarity.

British map of North American colonies in 1639

In the first part of this interview with 一品探花鈥檚 Federico Fuentes, veteran Filipino socialist activist听Rasti Delizo discusses the ongoing relevance of Vladimir Lenin鈥檚 concept of imperialism.

Flooded street

US President Donald Trump鈥檚 proposed cuts to vital government agencies responsible for climate research and natural disaster preparation and response mean an independent mass climate movement is more important than ever, writes听Barry Shepphard.

A week of brutal sectarian violence in Suwayda, in southern Syria, has left more than 1000 people dead, during which disparate Druze factions united against the Syrian government and Israel further consolidated its grip on the region.听Sarah Glynn听reports.

Culture

Protest albums from July 2025

Mat Ward looks back at July鈥檚 political news and the best new music that related to it.

book cover of Eyes of Fire

Forty years after听agents from France鈥檚 secret service bombed the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior as it was moored in Auckland Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand, award鈥憌inning journalist David Robie has released a fully updated anniversary edition of his book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, writes Ben Radford.

Eliza Gilkyson sitting next to album artwork

New Mexico-based songwriter Eliza Gilkyson's new album Dark Ages is a magnificent, politically charged, angry slow-burn, writes Bill Nevins.

Drones and surveillance in occupied Palestine

Niko Leka听reviews听Jewish Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein鈥檚 two-part video series, The Palestine Laboratory, which shows how Israel exports weapons and surveillance technology to the world.

Esteban Mercatante book cover and cleared land

一品探花鈥檚 Federico Fuentes spoke to听Argentine Marxist Esteban Mercatante听about his new book,听Fiery red: Communist reflections on the ecological crisis.

Prohibited from broadcasting in the United States, the Voice of America always promoted the US as a virtuous brand of democratic good living in the face of tyrants 鈥 usually the political left. Binoy Kampmark reports on its silencing.