Issue 134

News

Scenes from the Invasion Day rally in Meanjin/Brisbane

24-hour rail strike By Geoff Spencer MELBOURNE — Suburban rail guards struck for 24 hours on March 3. A well-attended mass meeting the previous day voted unanimously for industrial action due to the lack of consultation in the
By Tom Kelly A large protest movement has sprung up in Tasmania in response to last month's extension of the permit allowing Pasminco Metals-EZ to continue dumping toxic waste into the ocean. Actions so far have included an angry march and rally
By Steve Rogers CANBERRA: A debate on the proposed amalgamation between the Public Sector Union (PSU) and the State Public Service Federation provided a lively focus for the first meeting of the ACT branch conference since the PSU Challenge
By Dave Holmes MELBOURNE — Some 600 people rallied in front of the Brunswick Town Hall on March 5 to protest against racism and fascism. In recent months the heavily multicultural inner-city suburb has experienced instances of neo-nazi racist
By Maurice Sibelle BRISBANE — Candidates for the Central Ward in this year's Brisbane City Council election debated local issues at a public meeting organised by the Red Hill/Paddington Residents Group here on February 27. Greens
By Sean Healy CANBERRA — In what was dubbed by its leaders a "high risk strategy", coal miners from as far afield as Collinsville and Bowen in central Queensland marched on Parliament House on March 1 in protest at threatened job losses. The
Qld students lose free transport By Nikki Ulasowski BRISBANE — Public meetings were held last week in a number of schools over the state Labor government cutting access to free public transport for students travelling to school. The
By Norrian Rundle MELBOURNE — Recent cuts to the Victorian ambulance service has cost lives, according to the Ambulance Employees Association. Within one week there were three "avoidable" deaths of people in their 20s and 30s. Vince
'Put people first', say socialist candidates By Bill Mason BRISBANE — "The Brisbane City Council, under the Soorley administration, has put the needs of private developers before people in our inner cities", Ana Kailis, Democratic
By Pip Hinman "The policy of detaining people seeking refugee asylum in this country harms those detained and cannot be justified", said Greens (WA) Senator Christabel Chamarette as she tabled her dissenting report on the Joint Standing
Support for Greens PERTH — "We are urging unions to lend their weight and support to the Greens in the by-elections", Perth Democratic Socialist Party secretary Stephen Robson told Green Left Weekly. The by-election for the federal seat
Students at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean, occupied the office of the chief executive at the Kingswood campus on March 4. They were protesting against a new parking policy under which students, staff and visitors are required to pay a fee

World

By Norm Dixon JOHANNESBURG — Throughout the negotiations process since 1990, the African National Congress has pushed hard for the post-apartheid constitution to proclaim South Africa a non-sexist state. That this was incorporated into the
By Brian Rohan The four year battle over the St Patrick's Day parade has cost New Yorkers more than a few headaches and traffic tie-ups — now it will also cost them $150,000 in a settlement with the parade's sponsor, the Ancient Order of
Death of a Nation, the new film on East Timor narrated by Australian journalist JOHN PILGER, has had a major international impact — and has been attacked by the Australian government even before it has been shown here. Pilger, in London, was
By Norm Dixon JOHANNESBURG — The terrible prospect of a blood-soaked election campaign in the Natal/KwaZulu region may have receded a little following a meeting in Durban between African National Congress president Nelson Mandela and Inkatha
By Irina Glushchenko MOSCOW — In the final days of 1993, Professor Alexei Yablokov resigned as Russian President Boris Yeltsin's personal adviser on environmental matters. "I have resigned of my own will", the famed biologist told the paper
By Norm Dixon JOHANNESBURG — Thor Chemicals is again at the centre of a major controversy, this time involving the import into South Africa of toxic wastes. Thor Chemicals is a British-owned company notorious for its callous treatment of black
By Norm Dixon A high-spirited group of young South Africans, mostly in their teens, had spent the day campaigning in the southern Natal village of Mahehle. Keen to participate in South Africa's first democratic election, they had put up many ANC
Karen Lee Wald HAVANA — One of the pioneers in AIDS education/prevention in Cuba, Raul Llanos Lima, died in Havana on February 20 of cardiac arrest. He was 39 years old. He had tested positive for HIV in 1986 and had lived and worked in Cuba's
By Robyn Marshall and Margaret Gleeson MEXICO CITY — The political violence in El Salvador intensified on February 24 with an attempt on the life of ex-Comandante Nidia Diaz. Diaz is a member of the national leadership of the FMLN (Farabundo

Culture

Blonde Ambition By Melanie Sjoberg Before You Were Blonde, Adelaide's wild, jean-clad choir, launched Blonde Ambition, its first three-track CD, at the Fringe on February 18 to an unusually sedate but appreciative audience. The vibrant
Trauma and Recovery By Judith Lewis Herman Basic Books 1992 Reviewed by Chris Slee This book deals with the causes and consequences of psychological trauma, and how survivors can be helped to recover. Judith Herman is both a
In the Name of the Father Directed by Jim Sheridan Reviewed by Sean Magill First of all, do go and see In the Name of the Father. It is a powerful, harrowing and at times uplifting account of an unjust legal system. The dramatisation of
By Melanie Sjoberg ADELAIDE — Trying to pack nearly 300 women into the Irish Hall on Friday, February 18, delayed the start of the second birthday celebrations of Women Performing, a regular cultural event on the alternative scene. It was
The Morning After: Sex, Fear, Feminism By Kate Roiphe Hamish Hamilton, 1993. 180 pp. $18.95 (pb) Reviewed by Zanny Begg From the ivory towers of Princeton, Kate Roiphe has let loose a tirade against the women's movement. Her book The
Raining Stones Directed by Ken Loach Screenplay by Jim Allen Dendy Cinema, Sydney, from March 17 Reviewed by Claudine Holt Raining Stones is a funny and humane film portraying the life of one working-class family in Lancaster. It neither
Cinderella Goes to Market: Citizenship, Gender and Women's Movements in East Central Europe By Barbara Einhorn Verso, 1993. Australian distributors Allen and Unwin 280 pp. $34.95 (pb) Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen "I think our East European
By Jane White "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,/ None but ourselves can free our minds", sang Bob Marley. Reggae is changing and adapting to the times. The roots of calypso and reggae reach back into slavery, where social criticism and

Editorial

Israel responsible for massacre Barukh Goldstein walked into the Tomb of the Patriarchs mosque in Hebron on February 25 and mercilessly gunned down 54 worshippers, young and old alike. In doing so, Goldstein exposed not only his own burning