SP Newsletter No.205
Socialism 2008 - A day of discussion on a world in crisis!
The Socialist Party will be holding our annual Socialism event this weekend - March 14 & 15 at Trades Hall in Melbourne.

Make the bosses pay - Say NO to wage restraint!
There are ominous economic clouds forming over the heads of the Australian working and middle classes.
By Stephen Jolly, Socialist Party Melbourne

On Friday March 7 a successful community assembly of up to 150 activists shut down Qantas Valet Parking’s operations at Melbourne International Airport. The action took place for several hours from 6am in support of Australian Services Union (ASU) members who were either forced onto individual contracts or sacked for refusing to sign.

On February 21 up to 10,000 Turkish troops backed by helicopter gunships and aircraft bombers invaded northern Iraq. The ostensible aim of the Turkish government in the invasion was to stop the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) Kurdish separatist guerrillas using northern Iraq to launch attacks inside Turkey.
By Dave Carr, Socialist Party

About 30 workers protested outside the Unilever offices in Melbourne on March 7 as part of an international day of action. They were there to draw attention to the fact that Unilever have knowingly poisoned many of their workers in South India.
By Socialist Party reporters Melbourne

SP Newsletter No.204
International Women’s Day special edition.
Australia is one of only two advanced capitalist countries in the world not to provide a government funded paid maternity leave scheme for women. The other is the United States.

A day of discussion on a world in crisis!
The Socialist Party will be holding our annual Socialism event on the weekend of March 14 & 15 at Trades Hall in Melbourne. Our special guest for the event will be Pakistani socialist and trade unionist, Khalid Bhatti.

Many people who come into contact with the Socialist Party often ask “what’s the difference between you and the other socialist groups?” While there are many important political differences, there are also differences in our areas of work, our approach and the way that we explain ideas and interact with workers.
By Dean Roberts, Socialist Party [...]

Everyday we see more commercial and state funded campaigns promoting individual action on climate change. We are told to switch off the light, turn off the tap and switch to “green energy”. But can our personal lifestyle choices alone save the environment?
By Kylie McGregor, Socialist Party Melbourne

Editorial comment from the March edition of The Socialist newspaper
Rudd’s apology on behalf of previous Australian governments for the Stolen Generations after eleven and a half years of silence under the Howard government was an enormous symbolic action and just a symbolic action.