Communist Party of Australia

May 29, 2019 - click here for index of articles.

Stop Adani

Following Labor’s routing in the recent federal elections, Queensland Labor state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk wasted no time fast-forwarding the final approvals for the Adani Carmichael coal mine – which would be the biggest coal mine in Australia’s history – in central Queensland. She expects the final go-ahead to be given in mid-June. more ...

Assange and journalism

Shunned by the government of his own country, Australia, deprived of asylum by Ecuador and wanted by Sweden and the US for dubious crimes: In these cynical times when many journalists are content to serve as mouthpieces for the powers-that-be, Julian Assange was busy holding the US superpower’s feet to the fire over issues related to war crimes, torture and high-level corruption. more ...

Climate change – Smoke fallout

Breathing smoke from bushfires and burn-offs is deadly for humans and animals. Recent smoke haze over Sydney on May 21, will cause considerably more illnesses than authorities have stated. more ...

Outcry over locked up kids

Aboriginal advocates have condemned the practice of Queensland police holding children as young as 10 years old in cells designed for adults. An explosive ABC Four Corners investigation based on more than 500 files revealed that children were being sent to watch houses because Queensland’s two youth detention centres are full. more ...

Monopoly moves on-line

Electronic commerce is expanding rapidly into food distribution and retail across Asia. In particular, the emergence of online food delivery services is generating significant changes to farm-to-fork food supply chains. Yet very few countries have regulations covering online food distribution, including food safety and health hazards, or even regulations covering cross-border e-commerce for food. more ...

Past struggles – Their significance today

Like today, the government then – like all governments (Liberal or ALP) – was more interested in the needs of big business, in this case the mining companies. The difference between then and now was that the ALP in those days still had a mass working class base. Then the leaders of the ALP supported capitalism, even though it had thousands of radical workers and young people making up its base, but it was nowhere near as right-wing as it is today. The Chifley Labor government was quick to introduce many anti-union laws. It established the Joint Coal Board – with no union representation – and with strong powers to repress unions and their members. more ...

War justifications

You could set a watch to it, or maybe a countdown timer. more ...

International law at stake

Washington’s bid to “destroy Venezuela” is wrecking the international laws governing relations between all states, Venezuela’s ambassador to Britain Rocio Maneiro warns. more ...

Trump’s ban on China’s Huawei

Seems like the United States doesn’t just make washing machines or pork rinds – it’s in the hostage-taking business, too. At least that’s what it looks like after President Donald Trump’s Department of Commerce announced that China’s Shenzhen-based tech giant Huawei would be put on the “Entity List,” a ledger of firms legally prohibited from trade with the US based on – well, based on whatever reason the president pulls out of thin air. Pretty smart way to run a global economy. But with such ire thrown a single company’s way, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. The answer is as predictable as it is simple. more ...

Libya – Devastation at the hands of NATO

In 2011, NATO launched an illegal, savage attack against the country with the Highest Human Development Index in Africa. Let us see where Libya stands today. more ...

Documentary – Moundsville

The 2018 documentary Moundsville drops viewers into the West Virginia town with no introduction. Instead, the film takes us directly into conversations with local residents, the mayor, a former mayor, retirees, a couple of historians, young entrepreneurs – a dozen or so people from all walks of life. They talk about the town’s history, the prehistoric burial mound for which it is named, the leading industries over the decades, the boom times, the economic decline since the 1980s, and ideas about the town’s future. I grew up in the Ohio Valley, about an hour’s drive from Moundsville, so these conversations felt familiar, like spending an afternoon in the local diner. more ...