The following is the text of a leaflet distributed by Spirit of Eureka members on September 21, International Day of Peace.

Spirit of Eureka strongly condemns the US-led naval incursion in the Strait of Hormuz. We call upon the Australian Government to refrain from increasing military tension by cancelling the sending of Australian warship and troops to the region.

US officials and their subservient counterparts in the UK, Australia and elsewhere, have claimed the need to defend ‘navigational freedom’ and to ‘de-escalate’ rising tensions in the region.

However there is a clear desire on the part of the United States to pursue an increasingly aggressive and undiplomatic policy towards Iran, after withdrawing from a major non-proliferation agreement and reinstating harsh sanctions aimed at crippling the economy of the Middle Eastern nation. This is a dangerous escalation with the potential to ignite a direct military conflict, possibly involving multiple countries.

Members of the Trump administration have been eager to blame Iran for the unfolding crisis in the Strait of Hormuz following a series of mysterious attacks against a number of oil-tankers in the region earlier this year. The allegations came despite the lack of an official investigation and without substantial evidence linking Iran to the crimes.

More recently, Iran has been blamed for drone attacks on Saudi oilfields, again without any evidence. Iranian officials also subsequently denied any responsibility for any of these attacks.

We need to ask “who benefits?” from this situation, apart from the multinational oil monopolies, as soaring oil prices reap monstrous profits!

Read more: Oppose US provocations in the Strait of Hormuz!

By Lindy Nolan

From left: MillieTelford, Stuart Nugget,Tyrone Foster and Nicole Hutton at the SydneyTown Hall on September 5

When plans to frack the Northern Territory were announced, communities didn’t even know what fracking was.

Communities were told the mountains of salt, billabongs of bleach and other toxic chemicals ready overflow in the first wet season were just like products you’d find in your cupboard at home.

Nicole Hutton, a Garrwa woman now living in Brisbane, says there was no consultation.

She’s an activist for Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network. The Seed mob take their lead from Elders.

Seed has worked against fracking in the Northern Territory for over five years.

Members began communicating within and between Territory communities, formalising their organisation in 2014.

By the 2015 NT election, the ALP won a landslide, promising a fracking moratorium.

Nicole Hutton said this temporary reprieve was “a powerful time” when communities were educated. But last year the ALP Gunner Government announced fracking would go ahead. This followed federal government threats to remove GST revenue if state and territory governments didn’t allow fracking.

Then Bill Shorten promised $1.5 billion to build the Beetaloo gas pipeline to Darwin to export. Immediately after the Federal election, fracking maps covering more than 50 per cent of the Territory were released.

Read more: Seed mob take on Origin's dirty fracking energy

By Lindy Nolan

Sydney’s Rocks on Sydney Harbour has been a working class heartland almost since the British invaded and stole Gadigal land in 1788.  

Convicts had tough lives, but held tight a fighting spirit, later taken up by waterside, maritime and office workers who let off steam and organised in the Rocks.

Now it’s Sydney’s tourist centre, but a small group of workers hold tight that working class heritage. They’re into their eighth week on the picket line there.

Staying strong on a picket line takes strength and commitment, but when there’s less than 20 of you, it becomes harder still.

GBAR asbestos removal workers started protected action Monday 29 July.

The former AWU members had negotiated for nine months before joining the CFMEU and starting talks about their EBA. They were paid 50 percent less than the CFMEU award.

GBAR Group took the union to Fair Work for not bargaining in good faith and lost. The company wanted to cut out the union and negotiate directly with unrepresented workers.

Read more: Asbestos removal workers picket Sydney's tourist heart

This article is shared from John Menadue's website Pearl's and Irritations and published on 29 August 2019

by Brian Toohey

Labor governments surrendered Australian sovereignty in other ways by agreeing in 2008 to renew the lease on North West Cape without any conditions on how US nuclear attack submarines could use the base[i]. This could include undermining China’s ability to deter a nuclear war.[ii] Labor subsequently agreed to let the US install long-range ground sensors at NWC to help conduct space warfare against Russia and China in violation of Australia’s support for a treaty outlawing the militarisation of space.[iii] The public were not told about the significance of these developments, nor about similar changes at the Pine Gap satellite base near Alice Springs.

The US National Security Agency essentially runs Pine Gap’s role in intercepting a wide range of electronic signals providing real-time targeting information for battlefield use by US forces. It also helps detect data on heat emissions from missiles, jet engines and ground explosions that feed into military operations, including space warfare, regardless of whether Australia opposes a particular US war. [iv]

Read more: Is Pine Gap for Arms Control or the US fighting machine?