Each session normally goes for about an hour and a half. That being said, some sessions I’ve been to in the past have had some pretty serious discussion going on after the introduction, so it can be a little longer. Have you thought about what sessions you’d like to see?
Marxism 2012 is honoured to have one of the leading activists from the Palestinian town Ni’lin, Saeed Amireh, speak on the struggle for Palestinian rights and against the apartheid wall.
The Israeli apartheid wall (3 times as long and twice as high as the Berlin wall) is designed to parcel off Palestinian land and to intimidate Palestinians. The population of Ni’lin have become famous the world over for their weekly demonstrations against the Israeli constructed concrete wall which runs right through their village.
Saeed Amrieh is a member of the popular committee against the Wall in Ni’lin, his father Ibrahim is the coordinator of the committee. Ibrahim was arrested and kept in Israeli military jail for 1 year.
The following is an account from Saeed’s experiences as a participant in the demonstration
“Since the protests started, five persons have been killed by Israeli soldiers, including a 10-year-old child, Ahmed Moussa, and more than 500 individuals have been detained. We have endured curfews, destruction of our property, snipers shooting demonstrators in their legs from the roofs of houses in Nilin. All of these acts of repression are intended to to discourage villagers from participating in the nonviolent protests. My 12-year-old sister Sammer has been shot in her hand with live ammunition simply for participating in the protests. My 10-year-old sister Rajaa was hit in her leg by a sound bomb when she tried to prevent snipers from climbing on our rooftop to shoot at other villagers. Nilin, our village, our home, is being turned into an open-air prison.”
For more information on their struggle go to:
Amireh will be speaking at Marxism 2012, on Saturday the 7th April, at 4pm.
Tickets are available at:
DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA? - with John PILGER
One of the things that almost has never come out of the generally appalling media coverage of Julian and Wikileaks, is the REASON for Wikileaks.
It had a moral base. It was about Justice. He wrote it on the home page of the first Wikileaks. It wasn’t necessarily finally defined, but to use that expression… he nailed his colours and the colours of Wikileaks to the mast.
This was going to be about Justice. It was about seeking Justice through letting people KNOW what is going on.
John Pilger, December 2011(by CaTV)
Malalai Joya speaks with CNN about the continuing military presence in Afghanistan. Joya has been described by many as the bravest woman in the world.
Come see her speak about this, and more, exclusively at Marxism 2012 (tix available at www.marxismconference.org)
Malalai Joya - Palestinian Of My Own Country
Another even better compilation of Joya’s activism.
Get your tickets for Joya’s exclusive appearance in Melbourne for 2012 here.
This is a great article about how the current debt crisis in Greece has lead to a mounting radicalisation amongst Greek workers. Come to Marxsim 2012 to see European activists, including a socialist from Greece talking about the fightback against the bosses attacks.
Merata Mita’s classic documentary “Patu”
Merata Mita’s Patu! is a startling documentary record of the mass civil disobedience that took place throughout New Zealand during the winter of 1981, in protest against a South African rugby tour. Testament to the courage and faith of both the filmmakers and marchers, Patu! is a landmark in New Zealand’s film history. It staunchly contradicts claims by author Gordon McLauchlan a couple of years earlier that New Zealanders were “a passionless people”.
Featuring John Pilger & Gary Foley, both are appearing at Marxism 2012.
John will be speaking about corruption in the corporate media.
Gary will speak about the history of the Aboriginal rights activism in Australia.
Get your tickets online at www.marxismconference.org - See you there!
From Socialist Alternative Website (6th Feb)
Tenants union mistreats its staff
Workers at the Tenants Union of Victoria (TUV) held a stop-work yesterday. It was a great success. They staffed a picket at the front of the office building, called for passers by to sign a petition and for cars to honk their horns in support.
Many delegates from the staff members’ union – the ASU – came by, as did members and delegates of the NTEU, NUW and ANF. The solidarity was a real shot in the arm for the TUV workers, who were buoyed by the day. Many supporters from the community also came to show support at the midday barbeque.
Lisa Darminin and Tash Wark from the ASU both addressed the crowd about the need to fight to win, and the success that the ASU has had recently with the equal pay case.
Further action will be voted on at the next union meeting, with members likely to continue with industrial action so long as management refuse to make any reasonable offer.
Just prior to the action, Socialist Alternative’s Adam Bottomley spoke with delegate Louisa Bassini about the issues at the TUV.
What sorts of workers are employed at the Tenants Union and what work do you do?
The Tenants Union of Victoria provides advice and advocacy to tenants and people who have problems with their residential tenancy or rooming house residency. We also try to improve the situation faced by tenants more broadly through policy work and community education around legal rights. It’s a vital service for those who face the ever-increasing pressures of the rental market and insecure housing.
Why workers at the Tenants Union are taking industrial action?
Many staff at the TUV work under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Award. It provides for a meagre minimum wage and shitty conditions for staff, who are highly skilled at what they do. It’s also the case that some staff at the TUV are covered by a more generous agreement, or individual contracts. We consider this situation grossly unfair, and so have sought to gain an enterprise bargaining agreement so that our working conditions can be both improved and standardised across the workplace.
Unfortunately, management has refused to accept any of the offers that we have made, which have been costed at an increased total spending of as little as $26,000 more per annum for the organisation. We’ve decided to take industrial action because we believe that what we are asking for is both well deserved and entirely achievable. The answer has been “no” for way too long.
Your company is not-for-profit. Shouldn’t it be a nicer place to work?
It is enjoyable to do the work that we do, as there can be a real satisfaction in providing help to clients to assert their rights at times when they need it most. On the other hand, the work is stressful and demanding, and it’s insulting to be paid as little as $20.79 per hour despite holding tertiary qualifications in our field.
The principles of social justice that our organisation ostensibly stands for don’t necessarily extend to the way in which staff are treated. And I think this is symptomatic of the community sector more broadly, where workers do some of the most important jobs in society with some of the lowest rates of pay.
Too often our demands for better wages and conditions are met with excuses about poor government funding. Indeed our funding is pitiful, but community CEOs (who don’t pay themselves that badly I might add) invariably assert that that’s our problem instead of theirs. Community organisations could be nicer places to work if only we enjoyed the employment standards that we deserve. It’s hard not to feel like a sucker most days.
What sort of action have workers taken in this campaign?
The action has been aimed at generating public support for our aims and to put pressure on our CEO to treat us fairly. Unfortunately, he used the Fair Work Act to prevent us from instituting any partial work bans without losing a full day’s pay. This, combined with the fact that he’s pretty good at ignoring us, has led union members to vote for total stop-work action.
We’re hoping that this will make a clear point that the work we do is what the service relies on, and we’re not prepared to do it for poverty wages. This type of action is much harder for management to ignore and it’s an indication of our shared feeling that enough is enough.
What process did workers go through to get to the stage where they were ready for industrial action?
We’ve spent a long time negotiating with management about these issues. Our efforts began in more subtle ways, but through the process we’ve all learned that management is absolutely determined to refuse polite requests. I don’t think any of us set out with the idea that we would be having a community picket on the street around this dispute, but we’ve been left with no other choice really. It’s not so much that we are all supremely confident at this point; it’s more that we are just totally fed up with being ignored. The least we can do is put up a fight, and if we win that will be fantastic.
In the health sector and in social and community services, workers can sometimes worry about industrial action impacting their clients. How have you dealt with that?
Of course we all feel a sincere sense of responsibility to our clients. But to let our service continue to deteriorate with constant staff turnover, work overload and staffing cuts would be far more detrimental to our clients than any industrial action. I really believe that only a concerted fightback in the community sector by union organised staff will save these important organisations from being hollow and useless. So this is just as much about our client’s rights to quality social services as it is about workers’ rights within the sector.
How has the Australian Services Union’s equal pay campaign impacted on you and your workmates?
The equal pay campaign has been great, not only for the improved minimum wages that we’ll see flow through in time, but also because the publicity and support around the campaign has vindicated what we all feel and have felt for a long time. It was great to come together with workmates at the public rallies and to get a sense of the power we can have when we stand together on issues like gender equality and workers’ rights. I only hope this will continue into the future with stronger EBAs that fully bridge the gender-based inequity of our sector.
How can other workers and people who support you help?
It’s been great to draw on the support of other union members in organising our stop-work and community picket. People should join their union, or become more active in it. It’s only through taking a stand in solidarity with one another that we’ll win.
Also, we would love a short message of support to go to emailus@tuv.org.au to stick on our “solidarity wall” at work. And keep your ear to the ground for further community pickets outside the TUV.
| — | Malalai Joya |
Article from June about the Fukishima nuclear power plant meltdown. Japanese activist Chie Matsumoto will be speaking at Marxism 2012 about this and other movements in Japan (Occupy Tokyo, labor struggles) Get your tickets at www.marxismconference.org - See you there!
