ADELAIDE — Green Left Weekly was officially launched at Adelaide University during the week of April 29-May 3. More than 150 papers were sold during the week, generating a great deal of interest. The university was adorned with posters advertising Green Left, and student radio broadcast information on the paper. Progressive academics received letters about it, and many attended the champagne launch which heard a rousing address by environmentalist and cartoonist Jim Cane. A donut stall raised over $100 towards the Green Left fund drive.
BRISBANE — The Environmental Youth Alliance is getting on with the campaign against the federal government's resource security legislation. At its meeting on May 3 it produced a petition and planned a stall for Environment Week at the Queensland University of Technology.
"In a massive travesty of justice, a person is doing 14 years for opposing the corrupt elements of the NSW police force", said John Jiggens, launching his book, The Incredible Exploding Man: Evan Pederick and the Trial of Tim Anderson, which tells the story of the 1978 bombing of the Sydney Hilton. The May 3 launch was followed the next evening by a Solidarity Night for Tim Anderson.
The Women's Abortion Campaign will picket the state Labor Women's Conference on May 11-12, on the theme, "It's Criminal What Queensland's Abortion Laws do to Pregnant Women".
The Brisbane Peace Network is discussing its structure, processes and aims. After a non-violence workshop on April 28, the group will meet again on May 16.
MELBOURNE — Activists of the Environmental Youth Alliance launched their campaign against the federal government's "resources security" legislation early on April 26 by decorating City Square with a banner proclaiming: "Our forests, our future; protect them — no resource security legislation".
PERTH — About 150 Martu Aboriginal people led about 1500 people in an April 28 march against mining in national parks. The Martu, from the Western Desert region, came to Perth to protest against a state government decision to excise parts of the D'Entrecasteaux, Rudall River and Hamersley Range national parks. The Martu, and Aboriginal communities throughout the state, are concerned that they will never have legal status in decisions on economic use of their lands.
SYDNEY — Only the withdrawal of British troops could bring a lasting peace in Ireland, said John Pilger in a message to a 250-strong meeting here on April 30. The gathering, addressed by Paul Hill and state Labor MP Anne Symonds, was the first activity of the newly created Australian-Irish Congress. The group will attempt to enlist the support of prominent Australians for a charter calling on British troops to leave Ireland.
US film maker Saul Landau's The Uncompromising Revolution was shown on April 28 in the Fairfield School of Arts Hall in Sydney's was organised by the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society.
Conservation groups and the environment of the Sydney region have won an important victory with the announcement of a ban on a major development proposal in the middle of the Nattai wilderness. Colong Foundation for Wilderness project officer Keith Muir, while congratulating state environment minister Tim Moore for the government's decision, also pointed out Moore's failure to secure the long-term protection of the area.
Left-wing folk singer Peter Hicks launched his debut album at the Resistance Centre on April 28, in the company of Alistair Hulett and other progressive artists. High points in the evening included Hicks' stirring rendition of his award-winning song "One more day than them", and a laid-back folk version of the "Internationale" by Hulett. The success of the evening has inspired Resistance to organise a monthly folk club to be called "Cultural Dissent".
Students from campuses across the city will demonstrate against overcrowding, privatisation and underfunding of tertiary education at the University of New South Wales on May 10. Bob Hawke will be at the university to open the Asia-Australia Institute. Academics at UNSW are expected to vote for a four-hour work stoppage on the day. It is likely that UTS academics will follow suit.
The World Environment Day Rally Committee met on May 1 to plan the NSW World Environment Day Confest to be held on June 2. The committee urgently needs help for the final month's push to the big day. Ring Janet on 690 1977.
Solidarity with the Middle East has not stopped just because the shooting war is over. The Middle East Action Coalition held a petition-gathering stall at Town Hall on May 2. Future plans include teach-ins and forums.