Report on weekend activities

Socialist Alliance members in Perth and Fremantle took significant responsibility (along with others) to pull off three successful actions over the weekend.

On Friday evening, there was the Pro-Choice speakout of 40 people which was called to support the Cairns couple who face court on Tuesday this week. She faces a possible prison term of seven years for the supposed "crime" of having an abortion. He faces a possible three year prison term for helping her. A YouTube video explains the issues (and myths of the case) fairly well. The Perth action was held in conjunction with other actions around the country.

Then on Saturday, over 55 people joined a rally against the Afghan War to mark the ninth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. This was the first successful anti-war action in Perth for some time but was an important beginning in rebuilding an anti-war movement here. The prospects for doing this are increasing as the war is becoming more and more controversial. The Green Left Weekly report of the rallies (around the country including Perth) is here.

On Sunday, Safe Climate Perth launched a campaign for 10,000 signatures on a petition opposing the proposed new coal-fired power stations, coal mines and other coal developments in WA. This took place at an action involving around 40 people (in blistery weather) in the Cultural Centre as part of the 350.org global day of action.

None of these actions will set the world on fire by themselves, but they were all important, all contributed to real campaigns and all benefited from Socialist Alliance's involvement (and some may not have happened at all if it weren't for our initiative and/or support).

This weekend was an example of what Socialist Alliance can pull off in WA (we also had a presence at the John Pat memorial on Friday and the Festival of the Lakes on Saturday) and another reason to support the Alliance. As always, the more people get involved, the more we can achieve.

The next Socialist Alliance meetings to plan out our further activities will be:

• Perth Socialist Alliance meeting
  Friday 15 Oct at 6 for 6:30pm (following a campaign stall at 4pm)
  Perth Activist Centre, 15/5 Aberdeen St, East Perth (next to McIver station)
  Agenda will include: "Politics of climate change after the federal election"
• Fremantle Socialist Alliance meeting
  Saturday 16 Oct at 3pm
  Fremantle (Ph Annolies 0418 996 451 or Sanna 0405 208 943 for address.)
  Agenda will include: "Kimberley land aquisition"

See also:

• Socialist Ideas Seminar: Global Financial CrisisSun 24 Oct at 2pm
  Perth Activist Centre, 15/5 Aberdeen St, East Perth (next to McIver station)
  More info here.

PHOTOS FROM PRO-CHOICE SPEAKOUT


PHOTOS FROM ANTI-AFGHAN WAR RALLY


PHOTOS FROM RENEWABLES NOT COAL LAUNCH


See also Desire's photos on Indymedia: Pro-choice here and Afghan action here and here.