Green Left Weekly is an Australian radical left-wing newspaper, written by progressive activists to "present the views excluded by the big business media". It was published by the
Democratic Socialist PerspectiveThe Democratic Socialist Perspective was an Australian Marxist political group, which operated as the largest component of a broad-left socialist formation, the Socialist Alliance...
(DSP) from its inception in 1990 until January 2010, when the DSP merged into the
Socialist AllianceThe Socialist Alliance was founded in 2001 as an alliance of socialist organisations and individuals in Australia, initiated by the Democratic Socialist Perspective and the International Socialist Organisation along with 6 other founding socialist organisations, to create greater left unity in the...
. Green Left Weekly's 20th anniversary issue was published in February 2011, and in October 2011, the 900th edition of Green Left Weekly was published
It is an independent Australian source of local, national and international news, and provides left-wing analysis and debate to strengthen the anti-capitalist and socialist movements. Subjects of particular importance to
Green Left Weekly include workers rights, refugees, women's rights,
global warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, environmental destruction, Australian Aboriginal land rights, and foreign policy, especially Australia's military intervention in the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. led invasions of
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and other forms of U.S. political intervention overseas (such as in
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
).
Green Left Weekly is routinely slandered by
News LimitedNews Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...
publications including editorials and opinion pieces in
The AustralianThe Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
, in particular accusing Green Left Weekly of supporting
terrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
and anti-semitism for their criticism of
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
In 2011, Green Left Weekly was investigated by the
Australian Competition and Consumer CommissionThe Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is an independent authority of the Australia government. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trade Practices Commission and the Prices Surveillance Authority to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974...
at the request of the
Baillieu MinistryThe Baillieu Ministry is the 67th ministry of the Government of Victoria. It is led by the Premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu, and Deputy Premier, Peter Ryan. It succeeded the Brumby Ministry on 2 December 2010, following the defeat of the Labor government at the 2010 state...
for supporting
Boycott, Divestment and SanctionsBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
actions in Melbourne. The movement was found not to have violated any laws.
The newspaper strongly supports the
Bolivarian RevolutionThe “Bolivarian Revolution” refers to a leftist social movement and political process in Venezuela led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement...
in
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
led by
Hugo ChávezHugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
, and in the past opened a bureau in
CaracasCaracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
to improve its coverage of events there. At the time, it was the only Australian newspaper with a bureau in
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
It is also the only Australian newspaper to regularly print articles by left-wing journalist
John PilgerJohn Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
. Pilger has said of
Green Left Weekly: “There are few other newspapers — radical or any other kind — that draw together news and analysis that is as well informed, credible, and non-sectarian as
Green Left Weekly. Its work has influenced mine and has been a beacon to those who believe the press ought to be an agent of the people.”
Since 2008,
Green Left Weekly has published a monthly Arabic language supplement,
The Flame, edited by Socialist Alliance members of the growing
Sudanese AustralianSudanese Australians constitute a small, mostly recently arrived group of Australians. In the 2006 census, there were 19,049 Sudanese-born Australian residents, making up 0.1% of the population...
community. In 2009,
Green Left Weekly launched a new
Spanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
supplement,
Foro Social Latinamericano, edited by the Latin America Social Forum in Sydney, a collaboration between left-wing members and groups in the
Latin American communityLatin American Australian refers to Australian persons who were born in Latin America irrespective of their ancestral backgrounds, and their descendants...
in Australia.
In June 2005
Green Left weekly won an award from web-surveying company
HitwiseExperian Hitwise is a global online competitive intelligence service which collects data directly from ISP networks to aid website managers in analysing trends in visitor behavior and to measure website market share. The Hitwise product is a commercial platform whereby customers pay Hitwise a...
. Hitwise ranked the website as the most popular Australian-based political site.
Green Left Weekly received a similar award in 2006, and in the period between June and December 2009,
Green Left weekly once again ranked in the top ten, achieving 7th position.
External links