Perth Indymedia

Supporters of the labour movement across the country experienced a real shot in the arm last Wednesday, when an estimated 100 000 people marched through the streets of Melbourne in support of the Australian Council of Trade Union's Change the Rules campaign. Alex Whisson had the opportunity to speak to one of the organisers of the march, Assistant Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council Wil...

A few weeks ago we promised to bring you a range of perspectives on the Syrian war. We've already spoken to Leila Al-Shami, blogger and co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War. We also heard from Mark Goudkamp of the Sydney Stop the War coalition. Today we speak to Jay Tharappel. Jay is a PhD researcher at Sydney University's Political Economy Department, an anti-war campaigner...

"The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right." That’s the wording of the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution, enshrined in law after a referendum in 1983. There’s now another referendum scheduled for May 25th...

The world was stunned early last week to hear Dr Mahathir Mohamad, long term former autocratic ruler of Malaysia, had won the right to form government. The opposition coalition he led received a 12% swing and gained some 54 seats in the national parliament. Alex Whisson spoke to Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, who it’s confirmed has lost the seat he held for the Malaysian Socialist Party since 2008. Dr Kuma...

The Change the Rules campaign is an initiative of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Its goal is to, as the name suggests, change the laws and regulations governing industrial relations in this country. From unpaid penalty rates to record low wage growth, to the fact one third of big businesses in Australia don’t pay any tax at all, the hope is this campaign will focus public attention on the...

The current protests in Gaza have involved tens of thousands of people. It’s the largest sustained mobilisation of Palestinians in many years. Despite the largely peaceful nature of the protests, at least 48 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Army, and many hundreds wounded. Dubbed the Great Return March, this new movement has given birth to a flowering of creative, non-violent resistanc...

Independent journalist and commentator Michael Brull recently wrote a three-part special report for New Matilda on conflict within the NSW Greens. The piece focuses on a dispute, which eventually made its way to the NSW Supreme Court, over the validity of Cate Faehrmann standing for preselection in the upper house of state parliament. Faehrmann, who won the court case and is now expected to take u...

Last week we spoke to Mark Goudkamp from the Sydney Stop the War coalition to get his perspective on the Syrian war. Today we turn to Leila Al-Shami, co-author with Robin Yassin-Kassab of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War, published by Pluto Press. Alex Whisson began by asking Leila to start at the beginning, to go back to what happened in the early months of 2011, when massive street...

Many observers, including many people on the left, accept the Assad regime carried out a chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma on April 7th, killing some 60 people and injuring dozens of others. And many people, with a gut instinct against war, support the idea of the so-called international community responding to such attacks with limited, targeted airstrikes. Others take the view the str...

Though there will be May Day events around the country this weekend, there are few people who would seriously argue they’re not a pale shadow of the past. With only around 15% of workers members of a trade union, and only one in ten in the private sector, the truth is the labour movement in Australia is at a historical ebb. Alex Whisson spoke to Liz Humphrys, political economist at the University...

Karun Cowper talks to independent journalist and filmmaker Cathy Vogan about the latest developments in the Cambridge Analytica debacle.

West Australians for Racial Equality's Suresh Rajan responds to the weekend's march for South African farmers in Perth.

Karun Cowper speaks with anti-nuclear activists Jessica Lawson and Jemila Rushton about the generations of anti-nuclear activists, military whistleblowers, founders of ICAN Australia, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, and staunch traditional owners whom are all presently participating in the Radioactive Exposure Tour in South Australia.

Karun Cowper speaks with academic and commoner Elsie L’Hullier about power and value in the commons.

Tomorrow is Keep Your Children at Home Day, an initiative organised by the United Voice Union as part of their Big Steps campaign. It aims to highlight the low wages of early childhood educators, who at $21 an hour are paid only around half the average national wage. Alex Whisson caught up this morning with the assistant secretary of United Voice’s WA branch, Karma Lord, and began by asking what l...

The Tamil Refugee Council has condemned an early morning raid in which a refugee family was given just ten minutes to gather belongings before being flown to Melbourne and detained at the Broadmeadows detention centre (MITA – Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation). Priya, her husband Nadesalingam and their daughters – 9-month-old Dharuniga and 2-year-old Kopiga, born in Australia – were woke...

Venezuela is not a country one often sees in the news. When stories do appear, they tend to present a very one dimensional, often lurid picture. Footage of violent anti-government protests, empty supermarket shelves, hyper-inflation, and a President, Nicolas Madura, apparently intent on claiming absolute power over the state. Rarely do we hear the voices of ordinary Venezuelans. Pacha Guzman is an...

Karun Cowper speaks to CEO of Modest Fashion Project Aisha Novakovich about the booming modest fashion market in a time of Islamophobia. The growing demand for modest clothing is not just limited to people of Islamic faith and is estimated to be worth US $368 billion by 2019. Meanwhile former prime minister of Australia Tony Abbott claims support for the industry by the Department of Foreign ­Affa...

Bugs placed in foreign government offices, withdrawals from international legal obligations, the suppression of witness statements. Sound like the actions of a rogue state? North Korea perhaps? Iran? In fact it describes just part of Australia’s conduct in its efforts to secure an unjust share of revenue from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field, much of which sits in East Timorese territorial wa...

Karun Cowper speaks with Amanda Cahill, director and founder of the Centre for Social Change about post-capitalism in the here and now. Amanda has spent nearly two decades working on community development projects in countries as diverse as Brazil, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Timor-Leste and Indigenous Australia.

Australian songwriter and accomplished storyteller Carus Thompson live in studio playing his song "Reza Barati" in commemoration of his tragic murder in detention 4 years ago on Manus Island.

Karun Cowper speaks with farmer and community organiser Frank Ashman of the Oakey Coal Action Alliance Inc (OCAA) on "Dining not Mining" opposing coal mine expansion at the Inner Downs in QLD.

Ray Grenfell and Karun Cowper talk to Melbourne activist and funny man Sean Bedlam about his Fringe comedy gig "Death to America"..... "It is 2017. The United States of America has lost its mind. The world looks on as the American Dream becomes a nightmare. Should we let these idiots take us down with them? Obviously the answer is no, but you’ll be surprised to learn the solution includes nuking N...

Karun Cowper speaks with urbanist, activist and "Audacities" initiator Sharon Ede on "cosmo-localisation" in the New Economy in Australia and beyond.

Karun Cowper speaks with Nick Everettt, co-convenor of Friends of Palestine WA on Donald Trump "recognising" Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in reversal of decades of US policy and drawing international condemnation.