By Sean Malloy
"The Resistance national conference is one of the best vehicles for young activists to discuss, plan and think about radical politics.
"Young people around the world are becoming increasingly active and organised to change
Issue 104
News
Qld farmers confront the banks
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Central Queensland farmers George and Stephanie Muirhead were released from jail on June 17 after receiving a six-month suspended sentence for contempt of court, after a battle
By Peter Boyle
MELBOURNE — Like others who were in the city on August 20-22, 1991, I vividly remember the huge black smoke plume that rose from the Coode Island chemical storage facility, immediately to the west of the city, and arched
AIDEX protester arrested
By Maurice Sibelle
BRISBANE — Jim Dowling, AIDEX protester and Catholic Worker, was arrested and jailed for 10 days on June 11. Police were executing a warrant for his arrest over charges relating to his
On June 5 more than 3000 young people around Australia made a stand for environmental justice in rallies and festivals organised by the Environmental Youth Alliance.
The message of World Environment Day was clear: our environment is still
By Di Quin
MELBOURNE — Support for the occupation of Richmond Secondary College is gaining ground despite a state Equal Opportunity Board decision to dismiss a claim made by two male students that the Kennett government's decision to close
A conference for activists
By Tom Sylva
Young people from around the country will be attending the Resistance conference in Melbourne July 3-5. The chance to discuss problems such as the environment, sexism and racism with international
Looking to ACTU congress
By Barry Healy
SYDNEY — Forty rank and file trade unionists met in Newtown Community Centre here on June 19 as part of national preparations for the ACTU congress scheduled for later this year.
Activists
Port Macquarie residents challenge hospital secrecy
By Karen Fredericks
SYDNEY — The Hastings Hospital Action Group (HHAG) has lodged an appeal under the NSW Freedom of Information Act against the refusal by the NSW Department of Health
By Greg Ogle
Troops firing on unarmed protesters in Australia? Almost unthinkable, but it is a possibility which is clearly planned for in an official (though secret) Australian army document which was leaked recently. The peace movement got
Seminar slams enterprise bargaining
By Jim McIlroy
BRISBANE — "The problem of enterprise bargaining is the fault of the whole trade union movement", Queensland Transport Workers Union vice-president Paul Hooper told a 50-strong seminar
By Stephen Robson
PERTH — Rallying at noon on June 17 in Forrest Place, about 9000 unionists protested against the attacks being carried out by the Court state Liberal government.
The Trades and Labour Council leadership did not put any
Mary Angeline Morgan
Mary Angeline Morgan died on May 29, aged 83. She was the last "full-blood" Koori in Victoria. Born at Carrenderk Aboriginal mission near Healesville, where the Great Dividing Range starts just north of Melbourne, she
World
Guatemala faces uncertain future under new president
By Huberto Estrada S.
On May 26, José Domingo García, who was then defence minister, stated that Guatemala's vice president, Gustavo Espina, had resigned along with the
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Remarkable events have unfolded in the Ukraine since early June. A huge wave of strikes has forced President Leonid Kravchuk to endorse the call for a vote on confidence in his rule. The country's parliament has
Dutch youth fight cutbacks
Story and photos by Gina Rogers
THE HAGUE — The Netherlands government's plans to make youth pay for the recession by slashing f600 million (about $510 million) from student funds and abolishing youth
OAS evades debate on Cuba
By Allen Jennings
MANAGUA — Each and every country in the Americas — including the smallest Caribbean island — is a member of the Organisation of American States (OAS). Whether it be St Kitts-Nevis or the
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — With 52 million people, highly developed industries and enormous agricultural riches, the Ukraine might seem destined to become an economic giant.
But history, not to speak of international lenders and
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — May was a hot month in Lithuania, as striking teachers headed up the largest wage struggles for many decades in the former Soviet republic. An estimated 4000 teachers began walking off the job on May 13 after
By Leigh Dix
and Peter Devereux
MANAGUA — Ranked among the 25 poorest nations on earth, the small Caribbean country of Haiti elected, in late 1990, a leftist priest as president. Jean Bertrand Aristide received the presidential sash from
By Will Firth
ZAGREB — A lot of problems in Croatia today are caused directly by war. But they are aggravated by the aggressive nationalist policies of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) government under Franjo Tudjman.
The war in
Media put words in Xanana's mouth
By Jana D.K.
JAKARTA — Two East Javanese newspapers, Surya and Surabaya Pos, both ran articles on June 6 headed "Xanana admits the benefits of East Timorese integration". On the previous day the
Student-army clash
YOGYAKARTA — Students on campus of the Sunan Kalijaga State Institute for Islamic Studies demonstrated on June 14 to demand academic freedom, campus autonomy and the withdrawal of a ban on the student newspaper Arena.
By Max Lane
As the cold war continues in Jakarta between President Suharto and the army, the political manoeuvring of the main new player, de facto prime minister Habibie, has provided opportunities for another important opposition group to
By Max Watts
and Norm Dixon
ABC Television's Foreign Correspondent program on June 12 screened a lengthy report by the ABC's resident Port Moresby correspondent, Sean Dorney, on the situation in the blockaded island of Bougainville. It
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Threatening to embarrass President Boris Yeltsin with national protest actions on the eve of his Constitutional Assembly, Russian tertiary students on June 3 forced the government to meet a series of unfulfilled
Strike against labour minister
A strike wave continues in Indonesia with strikes occurring in individual factories almost every day.
The latest to get into the mainstream media is a by more than 400 women workers from Sarinah Jaya
By Norm Dixon
"People were running away from the demonstration before the firing even started, including these people here who were hiding behind a pick-up truck, one a small boy. His head was blown off, that's his brain smeared all over the
Culture
Taking time's pulse
Sofie
Directed by Liv Ullmann
Starring Karen-Lise Mynster, Ghita Norby, Erland Josephson, Torban Zeller
Palace Brighton Bay Cinemas and Rivoli Cinema Camberwell from June 24
Reviewed by Ulrike Erhardt
This is
Conceived in America
Made in America
Starring Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson
Directed by Richard Benjamin
At Village cinemas
Reviewed by Sean Malloy
This is a light-hearted comedy with a very relaxed approach to relationships
Life by accident
Waterdance
Directed by Neal Jimenez and Michael Steinberg
Written by Neal Jimenez
Starring Eric Stolz, Helen Hunt, Wesley Snipes, William Forsythe, Elisabeth Pena
Begins at KINO, Melbourne, mid-late July
Reviewed
How does a garden grow?
The Garden of Granddaughters
Written by Stephen Sewell
Directed by George Ogilvie
Sydney Theatre Production
Wharf Theatre until July 31
Reviewed by Mina O'Shea
The Garden of Granddaughters is a play
Voices from the Front
A Testing the Limits Production
Australian premiere screening with Sex and the Sandinistas
Brisbane Resistance Centre, 29 Terrace St, New Farm
Sunday, June 27, 7.30 p.m.
Tongues Untied
A Marlon Riggs film
By Deb Sorensen
Kakadu National Park — We had been having trouble with the pump. After a couple of days of not working properly, the first public toilet block you get to when you enter Kakadu via the Northern Entry Station was open for
Still going strong
By Bernie Brian
Even though they have been playing together for over 3O years, the five members of the Chieftains obviously still enjoy it. I suppose you could excuse them if, like some successful performers, they
By Louise Boivin and Bruce Girard
The Chapultepec Accords, signed on January 16, 1992, put an end to 12 years of civil war in El Salvador. Radio Farabundo Martí and Radio Venceremos, the two radio stations of the Farabundo Martí
Boys' own message
School Ties
Directed by Robert Mandel
Story by Dick Wolf
Featuring Brendan Fraser, Chris O'Donnell and Amy Locane
Reviewed by Gabrielle Carey
In the tradition of Dead Poets Society, School Ties is another
Wild Pumpkins At Midnight
By Joy McEntee
"So you wear clothes like a radical
and always seem fanatical
put shit on society
complain it's not pragmatical
but you don't do much that's practical
to help fight against the
Harry Bridges: A man and his union
Directed and produced by Berry Minott
Commentary written by James Hamilton
Narrated by Studs Terkel
Reviewed by Karen Fredericks
In the 1930s Harry Bridges, leader of the US International
Editorial
The new colonialism
As the United Nations holds an international conference on human rights in Vienna, its so-called peacekeeping forces terrorise the population of Mogadishu.
In Australia, there has been no angry government