Critical Times

by Nat Wasley
March 10, 2010

It has been a very busy couple of weeks since Martin Ferguson announced new legislation targeting Muckaty as the preferred site for the federal nuclear waste dump.

1- Senate Inquiry- submissions due NEXT MONDAY MARCH 15

There will be a Senate Inquiry into the proposed new dump legislation- the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010-which is largely recycled from the previous Howard government Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act.

Link to the Bill: http://www.

by Renfrey Clarke

When a respected scientific journal carries a peer-reviewed article branding the key technology behind “clean coal” as “profoundly non-feasible” , you’d expect governments and coal corporations to react in some fashion.

After all, the proposed Waxman-Markey climate bill in the US reportedly promises “clean coal” a staggering US$60 billion in subsidies. Here in Australia, the Rudd government last year pledged to spend A$2.

Source: Green Left

by Simon Butler
13 February 2010

The December 7-18 United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen was supposed to “seal a global deal” to tackle climate change. It failed miserably.

A number of commentators have put forward a simple explanation: China did it.

Click on the link below to view the video, “Unmineable Minds” on YouTube. It is a plea to save Arkaroola from the devastation of mining this world heritage geological feature of South Australia.

http://www.

Source: St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association

Feb 9th, 2010
by Jenny.

What a busy year 2010 is shaping up to be for us!

We are surrounded by lots of political activity and media news at this time with our forthcoming State election. Our continuing efforts to save St Clair are being referenced in the press/media along with Cheltenham and other related matters.

Last year Alyawarr leader Richard Downs led his Alyawarr people in a walk-off from their community town of Ampilatwatja, about 300 kilometres from Alice Springs in central Australia.

They were protesting about the terrible housing and the lack of action to assist them in the wake of the racist Federal Government “intervention” in the Northern Territory.

Richard Downs says the Alyawarr are becoming sick from living in tin houses which are ankle-deep in sewage.

by Renfrey Clarke

How to sum up the Liberal Party’s “direct action” scheme for global warming mitigation? Well, how about “a fraud wrapped in demagogy inside a delusion”?

The delusion is that the measures outlined in the scheme would represent a meaningful contribution by Australia to saving nature and humanity from climate change.

The demagogy lies in the decision by the Liberals to issue the policy even though many of them – if not most – remain unconvinced that global warming is even a problem. Opposition leader Tony Abbott assured a meeting in country Victoria last October that climate change was “absolute crap”.

Source: Socialist Aotearoa

Commentary: Omar Hamed, Socialist Aotearoa, Wellington Branch

Despite selling out every night it screens at the cinema on Courtney Place and becoming the highest grossing film of all time, few have picked up on Avatar’s blatant allusions to the historical drama of Bougainville that happened on New Zealand’s doorstep thirteen years ago. The films names, plot and characters are almost direct references to the 1997 Bougainville crisis yet no one seems to have drawn the dots between science fiction and south Pacific fact. Until now.

Source: Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney

On February 13, 2010 there will be a national day of action against the NT Intervention and for Aboriginal rights.

This will mark the 2nd anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, when Prime Minister Rudd committed the government to, “a future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again”.

But ongoing NT Intervention policies reek of the same paternalism and commitment to assimilation that created the Stolen Generations.

Source: The Guardian
by Bob Briton

The federal government’s long term plans for public education took a giant leap forward last week with the release of school test data on the “My School” website. It crashed shortly afterwards following what the government insists was a rush of visits from interested parents. Education Minister Julia Gillard was at pains to point out in the weeks and months leading up to the launch that it would not rank schools in a league table of achievement in the Commonwealth’s NAPLAN testing.

Written by ILPS Info Bureau
Sunday, 15 November 2009

From: Saibaba G N

PART 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rygJzzutBOg

PART 2

http://www.

Source: Vanguard
by Ned K.
In October this year, the largest rubber and tyre manufacturer in the world, Bridgestone, announced it will close its Salisbury tyre plant in the northern suburbs of Adelaide by 30 April 2010. 600 workers will lose their jobs as a direct result of the closure.

RSVP essential via Hawke Centre web site or phone 08 8302 0215

Thursday 11 February
5.30pm for a 6.00pm start

Allan Scott Auditorium, UniSA City West campus, Hawke Building, 50 North Terrace, Adelaide

Keynote address by Professor Ian Lowe, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation “The truth and lies about water politics”

A sustainable Water Future without compromising the health of interdependent ecosystems is a critical issue for our state and our nation.

Presented by Australia-East Timor Association (NSW)

at GLEEBOOKS, Glebe, SYDNEY, FRIDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 2010…FROM 6PM

Friday February 12, 6 for 6.30 pm

Donations at the door for AETA

Dr Andrew McNaughtan Lecture to be given by Jude Conway

Every year AETA, (the Australia-East Timor Association NSW) remembers Dr Andrew McNaughtan with a memorial lecture in his honour. Andrew was a medical practitioner from Mosman in Sydney who died in late 2003.

by Renfrey Clarke

The target posed by James Hansen of stabilising atmospheric carbon dioxide at 350 ppm is increasingly understood in conjunction with the need to keep cumulative emissions within a tight global “budget”. While the point at which budgeted emissions occur is not in theory crucial, in practice there is a need to ensure that emissions peak early and decline swiftly thereafter. Low or zero-emissions energy generating plant needs to be built out at an accelerated rate, with the time-frame seeming to exclude nuclear power.

Source: Charles Sturt Ratepayers & Residents

The following letter was sent to City of Charles Sturt Ratepayers & Residents website and was forwarded to The Advertiser & other newspapers for publication, as well as TV channels.

Letter to The Editor
30 December 2009

I challenge you, Premier Rann, Treasurer Foley, Attorney General Atkinson, Minister Hill & Ministers Maywald & Gago to a debate on national television. The only condition I seek is the full protection of Parliamentary Privilege; not that I intend to disclose anything but facts & my opinion of them.

Source: Vanguard

The fingerprints of US imperialism were all over the Copenhagen Conference, and the handwriting on the flimsy ‘Copenhagen Accord’ also matched that of the main environmental criminal.

Unwilling to accept any responsibility for its historic and current contributions to global climate warming, and determined to resist any restrictions or imposition of costs on its polluting industrial monopolies, US imperialism has, until recently, opposed any effective international action to deal with it. Unable to deny the science any longer, US imperialism was forced to participate in the UN process or lose all credibility.

By Prof. JOSE MARIA SISON
Chairperson, International League of Peoples’ Struggle

Human societies have created the bases of our survival, sustenance and advancement through the use of our natural resources in production with rudimentary tools and rising levels of science and technology. Yet in no time in history has environmental destruction been systematically brought about in most parts of the world.

by Humphrey McQueen

Note from Critical Times: For those interested in a Marxist interpretation of the workings of capitalism, Humphrey McQueen provides a number (8 to be precise) of insightful explanations. His article will give the reader intense but enjoyable reading over the holidays. To use his own words, ” knowing how to identify each form of capital depends on recognising its function in the social patterns of exploitation.

Source: Charles Sturt Ratepayers

Attention Attention Attention

This is a Reminder and a Call to Arms (figuratively)

A Reminder: Remember that we are holding the Christmas Picnic in the Park at St Clair this Sunday from 12 midday on. There will be events for children and a sausage sizzle for those who don’t want to bring a picnic lunch. Don’t forget your wallet or purse as we are always looking for donations to supplement our costs in running this campaign.