Perth Indymedia

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has set Australia on a path to potential war, recklessly throwing the country into a nuclear submarine deal with Britain and the United States. Alex Whisson spoke late last week to Dr Chris Johansen, a member of the newly formed campaign group, Stop AUKUS-WA.

‘Yeelirrie 50 years of resistance’ is the incredible true story behind Western Australia’s longest and most bitter battle to prevent the mining of uranium in our state. It is the story of how three multinational mining companies tried – and failed – to dig up one of Australia’s largest uranium deposits, 650 km northeast of Perth. We spoke to Mia Pepper from Conservation Council of WA about the book and the history of the struggle.

As the war between Congolese government forces and rebels of the March 23rd Movement continues to cause great suffering for the people of eastern Congo, Prosper Baeni, managing director of the International Forum of Reconciliation and Peace, and recently returned from a humanitarian project in Goma, joins Alex Whisson to discuss the appalling situation on the ground and the need for international solidarity.

After the Age uncovered links between Legacy Boxing Gym, in Sunshine West, some of Victoria’s most dangerous neo-Nazi activists and a growing community of young men learning to box at the gym. CARF

https://www.justicereforminitiative.org.au

Marianne Mackay - Invasion Day 2023 by Perth Indymedia Collective

We speak to Francis Russel from the Curtin Branch of the NTEU about ongoing bargaining between Curtin staff and management, the recent non-union ballot that was rejected by workers and the potential for further industrial action to ensure fair pay and rights for workers at Curtin Uni.

We speak to Joana Partyka from Disrupt Burrup Hub after her apartment was raided by police and state security in connection to her actions in the campaign to protect the Burrup peninsula from Woodside's proposed developments. https://disruptburruphub.com/

Notorious far-right anti-trans activist Posie Parker is coming to Perth for a 'speaking tour' - a series of rallies to galvanize the far-right around anti-trans rhetoric. The trans community and our allies are coming out to counter her rally at Parliament House at 11:30 14 March. Indymedia's Joni Boyd talks to Danica Scott from Socialist Alliance to talk about why it's important to organise and counter rallies like these. More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1366495174171728

On Wednesday 1st February, some half-a-million workers undertook strike action in the United Kingdom, the largest singe day of industrial action in that country in over a decade. It served as something of a culmination of a long wave of strikes currently taking place in the UK. To discuss the causes and contours of the strike wave, Alex Whisson spoke to author, commentator, activist and journalist, Kevin Ovenden.

We speak to Chris Sheed from the campaign to save Bulga Forest in NSW and the importance of ending native logging in Australia.

Indymedia's Joni boyd investigates the experience of trans people in Australian prison, who routinely experience sexual violence, extended periods in solitary confinement and extreme discrimination from inmates and staff. She chats to community members including a trans woman with experience in the justice system and Socialist Alliance's Nova Sobieralski about potential changes to the prison system.

Following the Congress-led coup against leftist President Pedro Castillo in early December, a huge protest movement has erupted in Peru, calling for the resignation of Castillo’s replacement, his own Vice-President Dina Boluarte, and a new round of elections. Alex Whisson had the opportunity to speak to Sydney-based Peruvian community organiser, Leonor Luna.

After two years of occupying a village in Lutzerath, Germany, tens of thousands of climate activists have faced off against the full force of the German state, resulting in hundreds of arrests. Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to Luka Scott, a spokesperson for Ende Gelaende, a grassroots environmental organisation that has been campaigning against the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine in the area.

Christine Duckham speaks to indymedia's Raymond Grenfell about the significance of the Cockburn Wildlife Corridor and the need to preserve the area from development.

Queer Youth Event, Glitter Nova, was cancelled last Thursday after safety threats from a Neo Nazi group. The event, which was organised by @stronningtonyouthservices and the council will be postponed to another date; however, was canceling the right option? While the event was cancelled, 200+ showed up in solidarity, including Drag performers and community allies alike. @tomtanuki - Antifascist commentator and community organiser, unpacks what happened, why cancelling such events is not conducive to any assurance of safety, and how the activist and anti-fascist community will always stand in solidarity with those at risk.

Murrawah Johnson from Youth Verdict spoke to Indymedia about their landmark win in the Queensland Land court. The case, which ruled in favour of rejecting Waratah Coal / Clive Palmers coal mine, is an amazing step forward for not only preservation of environment and country, but for First Nations connection to it. Murrawah explains how they won, and what it means for the future.

Clinton Fernandes is an author, a former intelligence officer on the Indonesia desk for the Australian Army, and currently a Professor of International and Political Studies at UNSW Canberra. He spoke to Alex Whisson to discuss his latest book, Sub-Imperial Power: Australia in the International Arena, published by Melbourne University Press.

On Friday 25th November, after many twists and turns in a fiercely fought campaign for better wages and conditions, Western Australian nurses went out on strike. It was the first strike by Western Australian nurses since 1998, one held, remarkably, in defiance of an Industrial Relations Commission order, the same industrial umpire, so-called, which later threatened to suspend the Australian Nursing Federation's registration as a union. To discuss these dramatic developments, and what might happen next, Alex Whisson was joined by Tyler Ray, a rank-and-file ANF activist and enrolled nurse at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

While in Australia for the International Trade Union Confederation World Congress, currently being held in Melbourne, Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Mineworkers Union of Ukraine, Nataliya Levytska, spoke to Alex Whisson about the immense difficulties of carrying on her work in conditions of war and privation.