By Elle Morrell
MELBOURNE — It was reported in the establishment media as a shock. However, Moira Rayner, Victoria's equal opportunity commissioner, had been expecting something since July. Her sacking by the Kennett government on October 26
Issue 122
News
By Sarah Harris
WOLLONGONG — The South Coast Labour Council on November 2 imposed a ban on goods being shipped from Port Kembla to Papua New Guinea.
The ban will not be lifted until the PNG government lifts the blockade against
Officials 'ignored' illegal sewer dumps
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Brisbane City Council staff have turned a blind eye to the dumping of huge amounts of illegal liquid waste into the city's sewerage system, a Criminal Justice Commission
By Anthony Brown
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities may be included in a scientific project to collect genetic material from the world's endangered indigenous peoples.
The Human Genome Diversity Project is a five-year plan to
Triumph clothing strike ends
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — More than 350 women at Triumph International women's underwear factories at Ipswich and Wynnum ended a nine-day strike on November 3, after gaining some improvement in the redundancy
By Stephen Robson
PERTH — The Court government tabled the Land (Titles and Traditional Usage) Bill in the Legislative Assembly on November 4 in an attempt to pre-empt the Keating government's legislation, expected to be introduced on November
By James Basle
CANBERRA — Secondary Students Against Cuts (SSAC) is organising a strike on November 16 to protest against the ACT Labor government's education cuts. The radical youth movement Resistance is supporting and helping to organise
Reclaim the Night in Darwin
DARWIN — Speakers from the East Timorese community, the Aboriginal community and the university women's collective addressed the Reclaim the Night rally on October 29. The theme of the rally, organised by the Ruby Gaea
Action against nuclear submarine
By Rohan Gaiswinkler
HOBART — About 20 activists in kayaks and dinghies braved the wintry conditions on November 4 to protest the arrival of the nuclear-powered and probably nuclear-armed USS New York
Blacks demand more time on legislation
By Maurice Sibelle
BRISBANE — Three hundred people attended a meeting to discuss the Mabo situation on November 5. The meeting, organised by the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research
By Chris Spindler
ADELAIDE — The South Australian Institute of Teachers (SAIT) has endorsed the union's president, Clare McCarty, as an "Education Independent" for the state elections on December 11. Green Left Weekly spoke to McCarty about
Groups oppose cable car in rainforest
CAIRNS — The Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) and People Against Kuranda Sky-Rail (PAKS) on November 5 announced a campaign against a proposed cable-car development through listed World
Perth residents fight freeway
By Anne Pavy
PERTH — The City Northern Bypass is a freeway link proposed by the state Liberal government to run across the northern edge of the Perth central area. The government claims that it will help
Big business responds
"Richard Court sets off alone on his risky Mabo path" ran the editorial in the November 5 issue of the West Australian.
Reflecting the concerns of a section of big business that believes a better approach would be a
National women's conference
By Lara Pullin
CANBERRA — CAPOW!, the Coalition of Australian Participating Organisations of Women!, is a new networking body which is establishing itself as a powerful force for the more than 50 national
Recommendation
"I don't think the average audience wants an in-depth message." — Liberal back-bencher John Bradford on why he thinks Bronwyn Bishop would be a successful leader (Bulletin, November 9).
Closet Marxist?
"The proponents of
Comment by Yaluritja (Clarrie Isaacs)
PERTH — The West Australian Liberal Party's anti-Mabo legislation is a crime against humanity.
Running true to form, the West Australian Liberal extremists are determined to validate their own leases
World
By Robyn Marshall
Former army sergeant Noel Beteta, convicted of the 1991 murder of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang, escaped from Pavoncito prison in Fraijanes, Guatemala, on September 23. Beteta and 40 other prisoners escaped during
Fishermen Fed Up With Exxon
Alaskan fishers, frustrated by the lingering effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and Exxon's attitude, blockaded oil tanker lanes for three days during September.
The flotilla of 100 boats turned back
By Ana Kailis
AUCKLAND — New Zealanders have sent a clear message to the two major parties that neither is trusted to govern in its own right. The November 6 election has resulted in neither Labour nor National having a majority in the new
By Sean Healy
BRUSSELS—Plans by Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene for a social pact with the trade unions to enforce austerity suffered a major setback when 100,000 protesting workers took to the streets on October 29.
The
By Sean Malloy
At least 65% of Palestinians in the occupied territories support the Palestinian-Israeli accords, according to the Centre for Palestinian Research and Studies.
The figures are based on a survey carried out by the centre in
By Frank Noakes
SAN FRANCISCO — Cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge and sunshine are the images conjured up by the mention of this city's rhythmic name. Less part of the image is the cold fog that regularly descends during the summer months,
QUITO — Schools throughout Ecuador have been closed since October 4 by a strike of more than 100,000 teachers.
The teachers, one of the largest groups of public sector employees, are asking for a 50% pay rise, which the government of Sixto
[The author, ALAN WALD, travelled to Haiti in July on behalf of the Washington Office on Haiti as part of a civilian observer delegation to investigate human rights abuses.]
On September 30, 1991, Lt General Raol Cedras overthrew democratically
By Stephen Robson
NEW DELHI — Bhutan, a tiny country in the north-eastern part of the Himalayas, has a population now estimated at around 1.3 million. Since 1988, some 125,000 have become refugees from the brutal regime.
Bhutan is ruled
PARIS – Two weeks of strike which all but shut down France's major airports forced Prime Minister Edouard Balladur to back down on October 25 and cancel job cuts planned by Air France chief
By John Helmer
MOSCOW — Russian officials in charge of parliamentary elections due on December 12 have revealed details of procedures that will give significant advantages to supporters of President Boris Yeltsin.
If US Secretary of State
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — As campaigning for Russia's parliamentary elections gathered pace in the final days of October, two of the country's main opposition newspapers remained suspended. Another national daily was under heavy government
By Frank Noakes
SAN FRANCISCO — John May and Steve McGriff were in town in late September to raise funds for the 17,000 striking members of the United Mine Workers of America across seven states. Already 160 days on the grass, none expect to
Culture
What's left? Memoirs of an Australian CommunistBy Eric Aarons
Penguin Books, $14.95
Reviewed by Stephen Robson
Having joined the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in 1937, Aarons is in a good position to help flesh out the history of the
Waterland
Directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal
Nova Cinema, Melbourne
Reviewed by Peter Boyle
"What's the point of studying history, when the world is about to end?", a high school student asks of teacher-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown Tom
By Ignatius Kim
Waiting outside the interview room at the offices of Polygram, I can hear roaring guffaws within. "They're viewing their video clips", I'm told.
Tiddas — an Aboriginal word for sisters — are a band that don't take
By Jorge Sotirios
CANBERRA — A slab of wood lies deep within the reddest of fibres of a beer-aged carpet. Amidst the remains of mud-encrusted boot marks and months-old spittle, a man is drawn towards it. He touches it and his eyes light up.
Soweto Flying Squad
SBS television
Tuesday, November 16, 8.30 p.m. (8 in Adelaide)
Reviewed by Norm Dixon
Soweto Flying Squad, a documentary by Britain's respected Channel 4, is a more sophisticated version of the many, mainly US-made,
Tess McKenna album
Make Me Wonder
Tess McKenna
ABC
Reviewed by Melanie Sjoberg
I first heard Tess McKenna perform in one of the many little bars in Melbourne's Fitzroy; she struck me then as really talented woman. Her style is
A Place of Greater Safety
By Hilary MantelPenguin, 1993. 873 pp. $13.50 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
"But if you had not the King, or Lafayette, or Mirabeau, or the Ministers — and I have heard you speak against them all — who would
Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
SBS Television
November 19, 8.30 p.m. (8 in Adelaide)
Reviewed by Ignatius Kim
One of the most fascinating, yet little-known, phases in US history is the period of Radical Reconstruction, which began two
Lament
Various artists
Real World, distributed by Larrikin
Where Angels Fly
Jan CarterLarrikin
Reviewed by Bernie Brian
Lament was recorded with the express intention of connecting with the people of Derry, and through its music
Editorial
Playing God
The announcement that 20,000 Chinese students and their families, living in Australia at the time of the Tienanmen Square massacre, have been granted residency is a welcome one. Australia is doing no more than honouring a moral duty