Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the momentous Clarrie O'Shea and the Penal Powers struggle on Wedneday 15 May in Melbourne. 

Details:

Wednesday 15 May
Doors 5:30, Speeches 6:30
The Substation
1 Market St, Newport

TICKETS $10

Finger food provided. Drinks at comrade prices.

RSVP here: RTBUVIC.COM.AU/CLARRIEOSHEA

This event is being jointly organised by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and Spirit of Eureka.

Read more: EVENT: Clarrie O'Shea and the Penal Powers Struggle 50th Anniversary Celebration

The following is the text of a Spirit of Eureka leaflet for the Change the Rules rallies being held around the country in the lead up to the 2019 Federal Election.

MORE THAN VOTING IS NEEDED TO CHANGE THE RULES

Workers mobilised and united CAN change the rules!

Great changes in the lives of working people have never been won at the ballot box. The 8-hour day was won in 1856 when stone masons downed tools and walked off the job. It was a million striking workers and ordinary people that defeated the anti-union Penal Powers in 1969. When Tramways union leader Clarrie O’Shea was jailed for refusing to pay fines against the union, workers went on strike around the country demanding his release. A week later he was free and the laws were never used again. And just last month, workers at Chemist Warehouse won significant pay increases and improved conditions after two weeks standing strong and united on the picket line. The history of Australian workers is full of these lessons and inspirational examples.

It is when we are mobilised and united in struggle fighting for our own working class interests, not the interests of parliamentary parties, that we can really force change. The real strength of workers and unions doesn’t lie in parliament, lobbying politicians, or in the courts. Every condition workers ever achieved has been won through militant and defiant struggle in the workplace, in the streets, and in our communities. And that’s how we can change the rules!

Read more: More Than Voting Is Needed To Change The Rules

This article was originally published on March 22nd, 2019. It will also appear in the April edition of IPAN's monthly newsletter Voice. Spirit of Eureka is a founding member of IPAN*.

Last week, 31st MEU, backed by the 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Logistics Group and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, members of the Air Force 353rd Special Operations Group, and Army soldiers with 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, conducted a series of simulated military exercises attacking and seizing Ie Shima Island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea, reported Task Purpose.

The new military strategy, known as Expeditionary Advanced Base (EAB) Operations, will allow Marine units to seize, establish, and operate multiple small bases across the Pacific Ocean, a tactic that will be beneficial in a high-end fight with China.

Read more: US Marines Seize Pacific Island as Training for War with China

by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Fear them for their technology; fear them for their ideology and their authoritarianism. But embrace interference and involvement in the economy if it involves coal. This is the fancy hypocrisy of Australian politics, one driven to lunacy and inconsistency by that dark and dirty love. 

The contrast between a fear of Huawei, on the one hand, and an eager opening for a Chinese state-owned enterprise barging its way into the Australian market suggests that those in Canberra have finally twisted themselves into knots.  The latter is particularly striking – the China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC), the designated monster behind what promises to be 2000 megawatt of coal generation in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney. Two plants billed as users of efficient coal-fired technology will supposedly take root in the “failed industrial zone” and give it life. The cost would be in the order of $8 billion and generate over $17 billion worth of carbon liabilities.

Read more: A Fancy Hypocrisy: China, Australia and Coal Mania