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Tax staff vote on agreement

BY CHRIS SLEE On October 30, Australian Taxation Office (ATO) staff began to vote on a new agency agreement. Voting will close on November 7. Opponents of the agreement, including supporters of the Members First group within the Community and

Labor joins attacks on civil liberties

Labor joins attacks on civil liberties In a stunning display of just how far to the right a Labor leader can go, NSW Premier Bob Carr has called for even more attacks on civil liberties, paving the way for a crackdown on dissent, and

EL SALVADOR: 200,000 march against privatisation

In the largest protest march in El Salvador's history, at least 200,000 Salvadorans, or 4% of the nation's population, completely shut down the country's capital, San Salvador, on October 24 as they took to the streets in the second “white

RUSSIA: Chechen war comes to Moscow

BY BORIS KAGARLITSKY MOSCOW — On the evening of October 23, all of Russia's television channels interrupted their broadcasts to report that a group of Chechen fighters had seized the Moscow theatre centre where the musical Nord-Ost was playing.

'Axis of greed' condemned at forestry protest

BY KAMALA EMANUEL LAUNCESTON — One hundred people attended a demonstration against the Gunns woodchip company's forestry practices at its annual general meeting on October 31. One banner read "People don't kill forests — Gunns kill

ASIA PACIFIC: APEC summit fails to revive stalled WTO trade talks

BY EVA CHENG Created in 1989 to help break Third World resistance to the Uruguay Round of trade talks, the 21-country Asia Pacific Economic and Cooperation (APEC) forum plunged into near irrelevance in 1997 when the economic crisis hit Asia. But

Are Aussies heartless bastards?

BY JAMES CRAFTI MELBOURNE — Are all Aussies heartless bastards? This was the question that was thrashed out at the third annual Green Left Weekly comedy debate. Almost 200 people crowded into the Brunswick Town Hall on October 25 to find

BRAZIL: A challenge to Washington?

BY ROGER BURBACH Elected in a landslide victory with over 61% of the vote, Luis Inacio da Silva will become president on January 1 of Latin America's largest country with 175 million inhabitants. Lula, as he is commonly known, received three

Howard's racist ASIO raids who's next?

BY SARAH STEPHEN A woman told the November 1 Illawarra Mercury that she has stopped wearing her traditional hijab headscarf after suffering five years of taunts and abuse. She is not alone. Many Muslim and Arab Australians are bracing for an

BRITAIN: Lesley McCulloch case debated in parliament

BY IGGY KIM On October 24, a debate was held in Britain's House of Commons over the Foreign Office's handling of the detention of Lesley McCulloch in Indonesia. The debate was initiated by Alan Reid, the Scottish Liberal Democrats member for Argyll

Write On: Letters to Green Left Weekly

Socialist Alliance In her letter (GLW #513) regarding the Democratic Socialist Party's proposal to cease operating as a public party and build the Socialist Alliance, Angela Budai argues that this will create the perception that the Socialist

March to target WTO hypocrisy

BY SIMON BUTLER SYDNEY — Federal trade minister Mark Vaile's confirmation on October 30 that the November 14-15 ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been moved to the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in Homebush