Drew Cottle

Land, life and labour in the sacrifice zone: The socio-economic dynamics of open-cut coal mining in the Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales

Abstract This article provides a case study analysis of the social, economic and ecological impacts of open-cut coal mining in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales (NSW) from the beginning of the resources boom in the early 1990s to the present. The article draws on secondary and grey literature relevant to open-cut coal mining in the Upper Hunter region to explore how the nature of the extractive process and its integrated logistics of ‘the coal chain’ directly affect mining workers, the community, primary producers and the physical environment, through an analysis of secondary and grey literature. It is argued that the operations of the mines has made the region a climate change ‘hot spot’ and a ‘sacrifice zone’ where the sacrifi ces are made by mining workforce, the people of the area and the land.

The Maoist conflict in Nepal: a Himalayan perdition?

What have been the consequences of the Maoists’ decade-long campaign in Nepal? The rebellion that emerged in 1996 can be understood as symptomatic of the nations struggle for democracy with its origins in the nations social and economic inequalities, and in the failure of parliamentary democracy in Nepal. However the conflict has important regional and international dimensions. The conflict has been disconcerting for China and India, particularly given the increased U.S. involvement in Nepali affairs in the current context of the war on terror. Had the war occured half a century earlier in the era of Third World independence movements, it may have been viewed differently.

The Department of External Affairs, the ABC and reporting of the Indonesian crisis 1965-1969

The Department of External Affairs took a keen interest in the manner in which Radio Australia reported events in Indonesia throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Radio Australias high signal strength gave it a massive listening audience in the region. The attempted coup in Indonesia of 1965, its immediate aftermath, and the protracted power struggle that followed, triggered a period of cooperation and conflict between the Department and the Australian Broadcasting Commission over Radio Australias reporting of events in Indonesia. During this time the Department received and acted upon advice from the Australian ambassador to Indonesia, Keith Shann, and, via Shann, received advice from the Indonesian Army on how it wanted the situation in Indonesia reported. This period is characterised by the Departments efforts to take over Radio Australia, and by cooperation between major western powers to coordinate information policy towards Indonesia. The Department also attempted to influence reporting of events in Indonesia by the Australian press and succeeded in convincing newspaper editors to report and editorialise in a manner sensitive to the Departments concerns.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR AND THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS: CHAINED OR UNCHAINED?

Analyses of the current global financial crisis have concentrated upon the origins of the crisis, the fluctuations and perceived recovery of financial markets, and the responses of governments to the crisis. The effects of the financial crisis on labour internationally have received little attention beyond the compilation of statistics on growing unemployment rates. Although the crisis is ongoing, this paper attempts to examine some of the initial responses of labour to the global economic meltdown, as well as the implications of the crisis for the worlds migrant workers.

Red‐hunting in Sydney's Chinatown

The Chinese radicals upheld the ideal of the Chinese communist revolution even though few Chinese in Australia shared their revolutionary zeal. Because of this ideological division, organisations within Chinatown became cultural expressions and this had a significant effect on Sydneys Chinese community.

The Colour-line and the Third Period: A Comparative Analysis of American and Australian Communism and the Question of Race, 1928–1934

The Bolsheviks’ seizure of state power in Tsarist Russia in 1917 shook the world. Through a policy of revolutionary defeatism, the party of Lenin hastened the end of the imperialist war in Europe. From its inception, the revolutionary regime survived imperialist intervention, civil war, the failure of revolutionary upsurges in Germany and Hungary and international isolation and opprobrium. The revolution that had occurred in the weakest link of the imperialist chain was confined to one vast country. Throughout the 1920s, a functioning form of socialism was established in the infant Soviet Union. The theory and practice of socialist revolution confronted new contradictory and pressing national realities. Following the death of Lenin, the Bolshevik Party descended into a prolonged struggle for revolutionary leadership. The Left Opposition grouped around Leon Trotsky were removed or eliminated by the faction led by Joseph Stalin. With Trotsky’s expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1928, the Stalin leadership, because of the failure of revolutionary struggles throughout the world and the Soviet Union’s economic backwardness, advanced the theory of ‘‘socialism in one country’’. The Bolshevik Revolution inspired the formation of Communist Parties throughout the world. In 1920, the Bolshevik leaders established the Communist International, or Comintern, to carry forward in every country what had been achieved in Tsarist Russia, the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of the workers’ state. The different Communist Parties affiliated with the Comintern created a world party of socialist revolution. In effect, these Communist Parties were beholden to the dominant Soviet Party ideologically, if not organizationally. The writings of Marx and Lenin were the guides to action to be taken by these parties. The history and political economy of every

Stymied Solutions for the Pest: Farmers, Graziers, Rabbits and the Search for a Biological Agent, 1880–1908

During the late nineteenth century huge numbers of rabbits swept across south-east Australia causing widespread damage. Farming and grazing sheep and cattle became difficult on many properties, but the rabbit industry boomed. For farmers and graziers who tired of efforts to reduce rabbit numbers by shooting, trapping or poisoning, the solution seemed to lie in total extermination with a biological agent. In the late 1880s, the New South Wales (NSW) government took up their cause and offered a £25,000 prize for a biological remedy for the rabbit problem, but the prize was not awarded. Twenty years later farmers and graziers took matters into their own hands and hired the noted French scientist, Dr Jan Danysz, to provide a biological agent to exterminate the rabbits. Danysz’s employment and experiments became a battle between sectional interests. Rural workers, who had begun harvesting rabbits, and rabbit industry investors opposed the Danysz virus for financial reasons, while farmers and graziers supported it because they wanted the rural landscape to support their traditional economic practices. While the NSW government supported landowners, other state governments and the federal government opposed the experiments.

Venezuela’s 2017 Crisis: A Failed Bolivarian Experiment or a Legitimate Claim of US Imperialism?

With Venezuela having the world’s largest oil reserves and located within the supposed US-dominated Western Hemisphere, Venezuela’s sovereignty and limited control of its own oil has threatened the control of US capitalism in the majority of Latin America. The 2017 crisis in Venezuela caused by US-backed opposition is seen in the context of the US attempting to remove a sovereign and independent government from power, resembling the Syrian crisis in 2011. This paper will analyse the context of the current crisis in Venezuela as a coordinated effort by Washington to target the Bolivarian revolution. The most critical question though is why? Washington is attempting to counter a Chinese penetration into Latin America and to stop a threat to the US dollar’s domination on the region. However, despite Caracas blaming Washington for its current crisis, do the opposition have legitimate claims to the failures of the Bolivarian experiment?

NATO’s push into the Caucasus: geopolitical flashpoints and limits for expansion

ABSTRACT The Caucasus has been a major flashpoint of contention between NATO and a resurgent Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The rivalry saw the escalation of hostility in the region during the brief 2008 Russo-Georgian War where a NATO-backed Georgia challenged South Ossetia supported by the Russian military. In 2011, NATO officially recognised Georgia as a potential member, challenging Russia’s traditional sphere of influence in the Caucasus. Moscow says the Eastward expansion of NATO into the Baltics and to include Georgia as a member state is a method of containing a resurgent Russia. However, the former Soviet Republics of Ukraine, the Baltics and Georgia, maintain that Russia represents a threat to their sovereignty, as seen by the Russian support of the breakaway unrecognised Republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. A hostile rivalry between the Russian-backed Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is reliant upon NATO-member Turkey, intensifies the polarisation in the Caucasus.

Douglas Evelyn Darby, MP: Anti-communist Internationalist in the Antipodes

The conservative politician, Douglas Darbys long service to the extreme Right in Australia spanned almost the entirety of the Cold War. Darbys reputation as a powerful advocate of right-wing causes from strikebreaking to Captive Nations and the war in Vietnam was unsurpassed. Despite this advocacy, a study of Darbys political career suggests that he remained largely isolated and powerless on the Right.