SP Newsletter No.180
Support the Gualberto Villarroel workers – send protests!
Eight months ago, the Brasilian multinational company, Petrobras, who were the former owners of the ‘Gualberto Villaroel’ oil refinery in Bolivia, sacked trade union activists and leaders at the plant.

The following is a report of the July Yarra City Council meeting from Socialist Party Councillor Stephen Jolly.
Last nights Council meeting saw a victory of sorts on the battle to save St. Andrews Kindergarten. The Councillors, under huge pressure from the people of Clifton Hill and the surrounding areas, voted to relocate the Kindergarten building [...]

Sri Lanka is now most certainly experiencing its ‘Fourth Eelam War’. But neither side - the Sri Lankan Government nor the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - is prepared to accept this. According to the Sri Lanka Monitoring mission (SLMM), over 4,000 people were killed in the 15 months after president Mahinda Rajapakse came [...]

Despite the failure of the United Nations (UN) since its inception to prevent and resolve wars and conflicts, and its inability to eradicate crushing poverty and prevent climate change on a world scale, many (including those on the political left during last year’s Lebanon war), continue to promote it as a ‘world parliament’.
By Robin Clapp, [...]

To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 1917 Russian revolution we publish the following article.
Between February and October 1917 there were many sharp turns in the situation in Russia. In April, the government coalition of ’socialists’ - the Social Revolutionaries (SRs) and Mensheviks (minority) - with the capitalist ministers, continued the bloody first world war.
By [...]

Several governments around the world are currently looking to schemes for harnessing the power of the tide. Tidal power now seems to play a more significant part in plans for energy production. Tidal power is a clean alternative to burning fossil fuels; it produces no greenhouse gases or pollution. It is also a much more [...]

SP Newsletter No.179
On September 7 – 9 thousands of people will attend protests at the APEC summit in Sydney. Amongst them will be trade unionists, students, socialists, community activists and others who oppose the neo-liberal policies of cuts, privatisation and workplace deregulation. Despite the massive police operation activists will be there in force to defend [...]

In addition to the two Melbourne men who have been arrested, a Sydney man was extradited to Melbourne yesterday to face court over alleged links to the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers. Arumugam Rajeevan has also been charged with being a member of, and supplying money and assets to, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
By Anthony [...]

Socialist Party member Tony Mason recently participated in the anti G8 protests near Rostock in Germany. Below Tony and Michael O’Brien from SP in Ireland report on the events.
The meeting of the G8 world leaders in Heiligendamm not only was the meeting of the most powerful members of the capitalist world but was also the [...]

After bloody clashes with militias linked to Fatah and Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, the Islamic organisation, Hamas, took control of the Gaza strip on 13 June. Predictably, this has led the Israeli state, the US and other powers to express support for Fatah. Meanwhile, the people of Gaza are stuck under economic siege and in [...]