Emergency Rally For Democracy In Honduras

5pm Friday 4th December
Sydney Town Hall
Rally For Democracy In Honduras and Against The Fraudulent Elections
Please bring banners and placards
Please email to contacts

The war on refugees: Is Rudd becoming Howard?

A Socialist Alliance Forum on Refugees, Racism & War

Sat Nov 21, 2pm
Resistance Centre
23 Abercrombie St
Chippendale

The Sri Lankan government's genocide of the Tamil people and its detention of 300,000 people in concentration camps has provoked a mass refugee flight. An estimated 3,700 Tamil refugees (24,000+ over the last three years) have fled from Sri Lanka to India this year, according to Matt Wade in the Sydney Morning Herald (November 9, 2009) . Indeed more than 100,000 Tamils from Sri Lanka are refugees in India. About 73,000 of them live in special refugee camps funded and run by the Indian government. Another 31,000 live in the community, mostly in cities such as Chennai.

Only a few hundred have braved the dangerous sea voyage to Australian territory but the Rudd Labor government is seeking to have them intercepted and taken to detention camps in Indonesia. The "Indonesian solution" is Rudd's alternative to Howard's failed "Pacific solution". And worse, Rudd Labor government has offered millions of dollars to run the concentration camps in Sri Lanka and promised to assist the Sri Lankan government hunt down Tamil freedom fighters allegedly helping the refugees flee.

Guest speakers include Ananthan Sri from the Tamil community in Australia, Susan Price, UNSW president of the NTEU, and a live hookup with Ignatius Mahendra, an Indonesian comrade who recently visited the 255 Tamil refugees who are refusing to leave their boat in Merak, Indonesia.

Read regional left groups' statement on the refugees here. Socialist Alliance initiated this statement and coordinated solidarity action is being organised with Indonesian and Malaysian comrades.

More information: Peter 9690 1977 or 0401 760 577

Meetings to prepare 7th National Conference Jan 2-5, 2010

Sydney Socialist Alliance will be holding three meetings over the next few weeks to prepare for and elect delegates to the 7th National Conference which will be held at Women's College, Sydney University January 2-5, 2010. The draft conference agenda can be downloaded here.

Pre-conference discussion can be read at Alliance Voices site and you can send in your thoughts and ideas in for publication.

We need members and guests to fill out conference registration forms as soon as possible. Conference registration forms will be posted out to members or can be downloaded here. They can also be filled out at the upcoming Socialist Alliance meetings:



Sydney Central branch meeting - Wed Nov 11, 6.30pm, Resistance Centre, 23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale: Introduction to conference process, discussion of Socialist Alliance's new Charter of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rights led off with presentation by Emma Murphy and Pat Eatock. The Charter ($3) which is published as a booklet and a new book The Aboriginal Struggle & The Left by Terry Townsend ($15) will be on sale at the meeting. A short video "Call to Action on Indigenous Land Rights by Richard Downs, Ampilatwatja spokesperson" will also be screened.

Sydney Central branch forum on Refugees - Sat Nov 21, 2pm, Resistance Centre, 23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale: Guest speakers include representative from the Tamil community and probably a live hookup with Indonesian comrades working with the 255 Tamil refugees who are refusing to leave their boat in Merak, Indonesia. Read regional left groups' statement on the refugees here. Socialist Alliance initiated this statement and coordinated protests are being organised with Indonesian comrades.

Sydney Central branch delegate elections for 7th National Conference - Wed Dec 2, 6.30pm, Resistance Centre, 23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale. Come along and vote for your delegates to conference. The Socialist Alliance National Executive has set a delegate ratio of 1:10. Please check that your membership is current to maximise our branch's delegation.

More information: Peter 9690 1977 or 0401 760 577.

Latin America: Back to era of coups & US military intervention?

“The U.S. Empire ... has launched a retrograde and anti-historic counteroffensive, with the aim of rolling back the union, sovereignty, and democracy of our continent.”

- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, August 17, 2009

The recent military coup in Honduras, which deposed democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, and the planned establishment of several new US military bases in Colombia (just next to Venezuela), has set off alarm bells around Latin America. Is this the beginning of a return to military dictators and US military intervention that blighted the subcontinent for decades?

Guest speakers on this important topic will address the next meeting of the Sydney Central Socialist Alliance branch:

• Jose Pena, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) committee in Sydney.
• Victor Hugo, Committee for Human Rights in Guatemala.
• Stuart Munckton, Green Left Weekly co-editor.

Saturday August 22, 2pm
Sydney Resistance Centre
23 Abercrombie St
Chippendale (near UTS Broadway)
More info: Peter 9690 1977/0401 760 577