Archive of articles on the Asia-Pacific from Direct Action newspaper 2008-2013.

Direct Action was re-launched in June 2008. From the very first issue it campaigned to support the fight for democracy in the Asia Pacific region providing up-to-date reports, articles and background information on the Asia Pacific as well as solidarity actions and campaigns being organised by Australian and international solidarity organisations.

Direct Action ceased publication in 2013 when the Revolutionary Socialist Party merged with the Australian socialist organisation Socialist Alternative.

Continuing the tradition of Direct Action in campaigning for democracy in the Asia Pacific region, in 2013 Socialist Alternative launched a new fortnightly newspaper Red Flag.

• Red Flag articles on Asia and the South Pacific.
• Subscribe to Red Flag.

Number 41 - January-March 2013

• Women fall victim to sharia law in Aceh - By James Balowski. January 25, 2013

Number 28 - November-December 2010

Indonesian workers struggle for basic rights - By Zoe Kenny

Indonesian president's six years of failure - By Zoe Kenny

Merapi disaster: when the government fails, the people must act

Burmese military regime organises fraudulent election - By Win Padauk Wah Han

Action needed on Agent Orange - By John Percy

Philippine Airlines dispute tests government's labour policy - By Ben Reid

Asia Solidarity website: A gold mine of information on struggles - By Max Lane

Indonesian rights groups call for truth about murder of Munir - By James Balowski

Indonesia: where do we go from here? - By Zely Ariane

Indonesian rightists try to stop LGBT film festival - JNPM Statement

Indonesian left group launches revamped English language website - By Max Lane

Indian left takes steps towards realignment - By Dipankar Bhattacharya

Vietnam's long fight for liberation and socialism - By Hamish Chitts

US restores military ties with Indonesia's Kopassus killers - By James Balowski

Electricity rate hikes unite Indonesian opposition - By Vivi Widyawati

Struggle for land rights in Yogyakarta - By Zoe Kenny

Burmese military sets date for sham elections - By Myo Nyunt and Win Padauk Wah Han

Flood-hit Pakistan should stop foreign debt payments - By Farooq Tariq

Wikileaks exposes the real terrorists in Afghanistan - By Nick Everett

South People's Solidarity Network conference - By Vivi Widyawati

Vietnam's Independence Day - By John Percy

Indonesian press, freedom of expression under attack - By James Balowski

Indonesia: New left-wing trade union federation established - By Dian Trisnanti

Agent Orange: US still attacking the people of Vietnam 35 years on - By Hamish Chitts

A Call to Action on Orange Day (August 10, 2010)

Afghanistan war: Let the refugees in! - By Kerry Vernon

Indonesian workers demonstrate on May Day - By James Balowski

Thailand: a bloodbath and afterwards? - By Danielle Sabai

Australian oil company bullies East Timor - By Jon Lamb

Indonesia's January 28 protest actions: Political limitations and potential

Australian mining companies displace thousands of Indonesians - By Sam King

Merak asylum seekers call for just solution to their plight

Book bannings spur Indonesia's struggle for political liberty - By Max Lane

Abdurrahman Wahid: contradictions of an unsuccessful demo - By Max Lane

Burma's generals prepare rigged election - By Hamish Chitts

Rudd ignores war crimes to boost ties with Sri Lanka - By Sam King

Number 40 - November-December 2012

• Indonesian commission urges trials of military rights abusers - By James Balowski
• Australian-funded soldiers policing West Papuan activists - By James Balowski
• The Timorese elections and their aftermath - By Max Lane
• Teenage suicide puts spotlight on Indonesia’s sexist laws - By James Balowski
• Yudhoyono government says 1965 murders ‘saved’ Indonesian - By James Balowski
• National strike changing Indonesia's political terrain - By Max Lane

• Militarist party positioning itself in Indonesia - By Jalalludin Ngoko
• Australian-funded military accused of murder in West Papua - By James Balowski
• Tens of thousands rally across Indonesia for May Day - By James Balowski
• Demonstrations start: a first tear in Indonesia's thin fabric of stability? - By Max Lane

• Sexual violence, workplace discrimination dominate Indonesian IWD rallies - By James Balowski
• IWD in Indonesia: A struggle for liberation - By Zely Ariane
• Indonesian faces jail for saying 'God does not exist' on Facebook - By James Balowski
• Punks become latest victim of Aceh's abusive Shariah laws - By James Balowski
• Defend Tamils threatened with deportation - By Andrew Martin

• Don't Deport Tamils to Danger - By Andrew Martin
• Fight against Greed in Papua - By Setyo Budi
• Indonesia: Strikes and protests as discontent rises - By Max Lane
• Philippine Airlines workers continue struggle, support Qantas staff - By Ben Reid
• Monsanto's crimes unpunished! - By John Percy

Number 18 - December 2009

• New left-wing political organisation formed in Papua - By Hendrik Sorandanya
• East Timor: hydrocarbons, invasions and independence - By Jon Lamb

Outsourcing occupation - By Hamish Chitts

• Street protests greet Yudhoyono's inauguration - By James Balowski
• Indonesian leftist makes Australian speaking tour - By James Crafti
• Agent Orange in Vietnam: Ignoring the crimes before our eyes - By Dave Lindorff

• Indonesia: 'Oppositionists' seek cabinet posts - By Max Lane
• Howard's new lies on East Timor - By Jon Lamb
• Afghanistan occupation quagmire enters ninth year - By Hamish Chitts
• India teeters on the brink of food crisis - By Sukanta Mandal

• Women's liberation and the struggle for socialist politics in Indonesia - By Sam King
• Jusuf Isak (1928-2009): Indonesian socialist journalist and publisher - By Max Lane
• TW.S. Rendra (1935-2009): Dissident in the wind - By Max Lane
• Vietnam: How 'state capitalism' misleads Australian socialists - By Allen Myers

• No surprises in Indonesian presidential election - By Max Lane
• The Indonesian left and Green Left Weekly - By Max Lane
• Ten years since East Timor's vote for freedom - By Jon Lamb
• Crisis in Nepal's capitalist democracy - By Ray Fulcher

• Anti-neoliberal demagogy fails to enliven Indonesian election - By Max Lane
• Afghanistan: Karzai builds warlord alliance - By Hamish Chitts

• Little voter enthusiasm for Indonesian presidential candidates - By Max Lane
• Still waiting for justice in East Timor - By Jon Lamb
• Australian death squads in Afghanistan - By Hamish Chitts
• Sri Lankan Army massacres Tamil civilians - By Kerry Vernon
• Escalating US proxy war in Pakistan - By Ray Fulcher

• Sri Lanka's rulers seek 'final solution' to Tamil resistance - By Kerry Vernon
• Indonesian elections put militarists into the game - By Max Lane

• Afghanistan: Rudd endorses Obama’s war surge - By Hamish Chitts
• Indonesian election campaigns get off to a limp start - By Max Lane
• The Philippines left today - By Max Lane

• Gap between elite and people widens as Indonesian elections approach - By Max Lane
• Papernas leaders sow illusions of radical change through the ballot box - By Zely Ariane
• Where is East Timor heading? - By Jon Lamb
• Labor tiptoes around sending more troops to Afghanistan - By Hamish Chitts

• Thai socialist threatened with jail - By Allen Myers
• Why the US is losing the war in Afghanistan - By Nick Everett

Number 36 - October-November 2011

• Indonesia's crisis of leadership - By Max Lane
• Indonesian feminists: 'Don't blame the victim!' - By Vivi Widyawati and Zely Ariane
• Philippine Airlines workers fight retrenchment - By Ben Reid

• Jakarta protest over rape statements: don't blame the victim! - By Max Lane
• Currents undermining Indonesian political stability - By Max Lane
• I am here to give solidarity, not as a provocateur - By Paulus Suryanta Ginting
• Timorese socialism today - By Max Lane
• International conference spurs fight for Agent Orange justice - By Hamish Chitts
• The fight for Agent Orange justice in Australia
• Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin: 'Agent Orange in Vietnam was a crime against humanity'

• Malaysia: Socialists at forefront of changing politics - By Max Lane
• Malaysia deal guarantees more refugee misery - By Jon Lamb
• Indonesia's democratic struggle and the fight for socialism - By Zely Ariane
• China's road to capitalist restoration a rocky one for workers - By Doug Lorimer
• Indonesian children in Australian prisons - By Andrew Martin
• Troops out of Afghanistan

• Singapore election shows the times they are a-changing - By Kirat Kaur
• Behind the fighting on the Thai-Cambodian border - By an observer in Phnom Penh
• Motion on Philippine Airlines dispute
• Thousands rally across Indonesia on May Day - By James Balowski
• Agent Orange Justice launched in Sydney - By John Percy
• 'Millions continue to suffer' - Speech at launch of AOJ-AVSN

• Economic challenges on Vietnam’s road to socialism - By Hamish Chitts

• Indonesian government blamed for religious violence - By James Balowski
• Indonesian women struggle against poverty, discrimination and exploitation - Zely Ariane
• Philippines Labor Party sets example of union leadership - By Sam King
• Labor continues to push off-shore asylum processing regime - By Kerry Vernon

• Fighting for women's rights in Indonesia - By Zoe Kenny
• Indonesia: 100 years of women's struggle for liberation - Perempuan Mahardhika Statement
• Vietnam reviews course of socialist construction - By Hamish Chitts

• Letter from Jakarta: Amin's death - By Max Lane
• Australian government complicit in persecution of Sri Lankan Tamils - By Andrew Martin
• US aggression continues against North Korea - By Bayardo Rodrieguiz

Number 7 - November 2008

• Malaysian socialists host international conference - By Hamish Chitts
• Upturn in Indonesian workers' struggle - By Sam King
• Cambodia and Vietnam: Different endings to US war - By Allen Myers

• 9/11 and the imperial adventure in Afghanistan - By Larry Everest
• Washington escalates Pakistan's civil war - By Linda Waldron

• CPI (ML) builds stronger party in India - By John Percy

• Ten years after Suharto, Indonesians fight 'democratic' neocolonialism - By Sam King

• East Timorese still waiting for justice - By Jon Lamb
• 20,000 Indonesian farmers take on Australian mining company
• Burma’s long struggle for democracy - By Jon Lamb
• Unfinished Nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto - Reviewed by Nick Everett

• New Indonesian alliance fights fuel price rises - By Max Lane
• Another advance for Malaysia’s socialists - By Max Lane
• Revolutionary eye on Pakistan: Interview with Farooq Tariq - By Linda Waldron and Ray Fulcher

• Left collaboration growing in Indonesia - By Max Lane
• New Asia-Pacific solidarity website launched - By Doug Lorimer
• The struggle for a 'political alternative of the poor' in Indonesia - By Zely Ariane
• Slowly, justice approaches for Khmer Rouge killers - Helen Jarvis