Issue 128

News

Ozone loss to get worse A major report by scientists for the British Department of the Environment, published on January 20, shows that "ozone loss is expected to become worse before recovery occurs" and that HCFCs (CFC replacements) will extend
By Greg Adamson CANBERRA — Residents and supporters of Ainslie Village, a low-income accommodation area, have maintained a 24-hour picket since January 16 in protest at hostile management activities. The picket has drawn broad community
By Chris Slee MELBOURNE — On January 17, only a week before the start of the school term, the Directorate of School Education finally announced some details on the proposed Richmond coeducational facility. The announcement was made nearly
Supermarkets break trading laws By Kest Courtice HOBART — Tasmania's Purity supermarket chain opened all day on Saturday, January 8, contravening Tasmanian law. On the following Saturday, Coles also opened all day. The Retail
Business vs environment An AGB McNair opinion poll has found that the overwhelming majority of Australian consumers would be less inclined to buy products from Australian companies that cause environmental damage in Asia. Eighty per cent of
Life or death [Brandon Astor Jones, who writes the weekly Looking Out column from his cell on death row in the United States, has sent us the following appeal. We urge those readers who are able to do so to respond.] Judge P. Harris Hines,
By Helen Jarvis SYDNEY — Imagine 100 million tonnes of sand: that's what Metromix proposes to dredge from the seabeds offshore from Botany Bay, Cronulla and the Royal National Park (itself nearly 90% burnt out during the recent bushfires).
CAPOW conference By Kath Tucker The first conference of the Coalition of Australian Participating Organisations of Women (CAPOW) was very successful, conference organiser Ingrid Fitzgerald told Green Left Weekly. CAPOW is a network of
Brisbane Watch-house picket By Lynda Hansen BRISBANE — One hundred people gathered outside the Brisbane City Watch-house on Sunday, January 16, the same lockup to which Daniel Yock was brought after being arrested late last year. The
LONDON — The High Court on January 13 agreed to Greenpeace and Lancashire County Council's (LCC) request for a judicial review of the British government's decision to license the controversial Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield.
By Rachel Evans MELBOURNE — Environmentalists have been sharply critical of the federal government's decision to renew 11 woodchipping company licences on December 22. The renewals came despite organisations such as the Wilderness Society and

World

A "catastrophic humanitarian situation" exists in the Tuzla region, according to the Bosnian city's mayor, Selim Beslagic. United Nations aid for refugees has been only 19% of what is needed, and the city is regularly shelled by surrounding Serb
By Francisco Sobrino BUENOS AIRES — On July 13, 1992, Time proclaimed "Menem's miracle" and showed the Argentine president as a shining sun. Time was not alone: the entire imperialist media have been very satisfied with the way Carlos
By Jana D.K. JAKARTA — A series of regulations which permit military intervention in industrial disputes have been revoked by the minister of labour, Abdul Latief, it was reported on January 18. While the move has been welcomed by some, many
By Irina Glushchenko MOSCOW — In the weeks after Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party polled strongly in the Russian parliamentary elections, a phrase constantly on the lips of government supporters was "the threat of fascism". On
Since the government of President Daniel arap Moi came to power in Kenya in 1978, political opposition has been illegal, thousands have been imprisoned, killed or disappeared, and tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes. OTIENO
Protesters detained in Port Moresby By Frank Enright Members of Melanesian Solidarity Papua New Guinea (Melsol) were detained while handing a petition to the Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby on January 6. The petition complained of
CLAUDETTE BEGIN and ALEX CHIS are both members of the Committees of Correspondence, a 2000-strong socialist regroupment project in the US. In Australia for the Democratic Socialist Party's annual conference, they spoke to FRANK NOAKES and CATHERINE
By Irina Glushchenko MOSCOW — Not so long ago, all that most Russians knew of serious infectious diseases was what they read in the classics of their national literature. After surviving a bout of typhus, Tolstoy's heroine Anna Karenina had
By Frank Enright "The war on Bougainville is the longest and bloodiest in the Pacific since World War II, and has cost thousands of lives. Little is known about the five year war because of a blockade imposed by Papua New Guinea on the island
Israeli peace movement revives In the euphoria created in Israel by the September 13 handshake on the White House lawn, most of the peace groups in Israel "demobilised". Peace Now, Yesh Gvul ("There is a limit" — soldiers refusing operations
Cuba, Colombia sign health accords HAVANA — The governments of Cuba and Colombia signed several important cooperation accords in the area of public health on January 10. According to one of the agreements, Colombia will purchase 2.5
By Norm Dixon Opinion polls in South Africa indicate that support for the African National Congress may be close to the all-important 66% mark. Should the ANC win the April 27 elections with more than a two-thirds majority, it will be able to

Culture

Tina Modotti: Photographer and Revolutionary By Margaret Hooks Pandora, 1993. 227 pp., $45 (hb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon In 1991, a photograph of a rose fetched $165,000 at a Sotheby's art auction. Not such an unusual example of the
By Kim Spurway SYDNEY — A five day festival celebrating community television, community arts and community issues will be held at the Bondi Pavilion, Bondi Beach, Wednesday-Sunday, February 2-6. Titled, "Small Screen: Big Picture", the
Playland Written and directed by Athol Fugard With John Kani and Sean Taylor Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney Reviewed by Jorge Sotirios Athol Fugard has written many a play which resonates with a commitment to the plight of the oppressed in
The Snapper Directed by Stephen Frears With Tina Kellegher, Colm Meaney and Ruth McCabe Dendy Cinema, Sydney Reviewed by Catherine Brown "Am I the only person in this house taking this seriously?", asks Dessie Curley (Colm Meaney) as his
By Tim E. Stewart First it was the spray-painted stencils "Certified Post-Arrivalist" on the footpaths of Sydney. Then there was a splattering of fluorescent stickers — poles, bus shelters, traffic lights all Certified Post-Arrivalist.
Toxic Psychiatry — Drugs and Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Truth and Better Alternatives By Peter Breggin Fontana Paperback, 1993. 578 pp., $19.95 Reviewed by Scott Robinson Peter Breggin has practised psychiatry since the 1950s, but

Editorial

Checkmate by Bishop? To paraphrase Paul Keating, every pet shop galah is talking about Bronwyn Bishop. Bishop has been elevated to almost regal status by a delighted Canberra press gallery starved of any real political debate between the two