Woodside sacks 429
By Stephen Robson
PERTH — Woodside Offshore Petroleum sacked 429 workers on February 28. One hundred and forty were from the work force of 500 at Karratha and the rest from the Perth-based staff.
Sixty-five of
Issue 135
News
By Maree Sutton
A survey by the Australian Youth Institute, a private think-tank funded by Pepsi Cola and Arthur Andersen & Co, hit the headlines last week with claims that young people support some type of work for the dole.
While the
Les Taylor
MELBOURNE — Les Taylor died from AIDS peacefully at home on March 8. Les, a long-time member of the Democratic Socialist Party (then the Socialist Workers Party), was an activist in the Hospital Employees Federation and Central
By Pip Hinman
"The ALP has stolen most of our industrial relations policies — so why don't they take the rest of the package?", asked John Howard, opposition industrial relations spokesperson, on March 10. Howard was commenting on the Labor
By Pip Hinman
Thousands of feminists took to the streets around the country on March 12 to mark International Women's Day. The biggest rally, 5000, was held in Sydney, and large numbers of women gathered in other capital cities as well as
Nazi thugs chased out of Brunswick
By Dave Holmes
MELBOURNE — Some 30 neo-nazi toughs trying to hold a "white power" demonstration in multicultural, inner-city Brunswick on March 12 got more than they bargained for. For hours they were
Vasili Manikakis
By Michael Karadjis
and Kyrn Stevens
Family, friends the Greek community and the entire progressive movement suffered a tragic loss on February 28 with the death of Vasili Manikakis in Athens, where he had been living
Normal relations
"[There is] a full resumption of normal relations. I have not spoken to him since." — Former Liberal leader John Howard, on the "end" of a dispute with current leader John Hewson.
Spoilsport
"The [NSW] Police Commissioner,
Cooper slammed on 'dole threat'
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — In a joint statement, Democratic Socialist candidates for the March 26 Brisbane City Council election Ana Kailis and Susan Price have slammed a proposal by state opposition
Nurses strike against cutbacks
By Nikki Ulasowski
Brisbane — More than 4000 nurses at 21 public hospitals statewide struck on March 10 against plans of state health minister Ken Hayward to cut 220 nursing administration jobs, in a bid to
World
By Frank Enright
"My eyes turned toward Panguna on the right. I was almost shocked by the size of the crater; it was kilometers wide! Entire villages and gardens, mountains, traditions and memories had been dug out and replaced by an enormous
With South Africa's first democratic election less than two months away, solidarity with the people of South Africa is urgent. MARC NEWHOUSE and ANGIE HARTWIG, two long-time activists in the Australian anti-apartheid movement, have just completed a
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — In one of the largest labour protest actions in Russia for years, an estimated 600,000 coal industry workers struck on March 1 to demand payment of back wages and the allocation of new government subsidies. Reports
By Martin Khor Kok Peng
In mid-April, trade and commerce ministers from more than 100 countries will sign the Final Act of the Uruguay Round in a glittering ceremony at Marrakesh in Morocco. They will be putting the seal on a seven-year-long
Australia opposes peace envoy
The Australian government has moved to sink an African-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission calling for a UN special representative to investigate the situation on Bougainville, announced the
By Norm Dixon
PRETORIA, March 12 — "Bop breaks down — Judgment Day", "There is no government in Bop", "Mangope, beware the ides of March!". These were just some of the homemade signs carried by 20,000 angry Bophuthatswana residents and
By Vivienne Porzsolt
Since the February 25 massacre of worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron by Israeli settler Barukh Goldstein, ongoing Palestinian demonstrations have been viciously put down by the Israeli military. The entire occupied
Culture
The Wobblies at War: A History of the IWW and the Great War in Australia
By Frank Cain
Spectrum Publications, 1993. 300 pp., $19.95 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
Every radical lefty's heart has a soft spot for the Wobblies (the Industrial
Dead Heart
By Nicholas Parsons
Directed by Neil Armfield
Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney
Reviewed by Helen Jarvis
Acres of red dust trucked in from the outback set the stage for a gripping account of the clash of cultures and laws —
A Winning Day
By Kevin Nemeth
Directed by Helmut Bakaitis
Q Theatre, Penrith, until March 27
Reviewed by Gail Lord
Since moving west of Sydney in 1977, the Q Theatre has established an enviable reputation presenting classic and
As It Happened: USSR
SBS-TV, Thursday, March 17, 8:30pm (8 Adelaide)
Reviewed by Paul Oboohov
The events in Russia of recent years have led to the growing availability and exposure of never-seen-before archival film footage, and this series
By Allen Myers
SYDNEY — Death of a Nation, John Pilger's new film on East Timor, was launched with showings at the Mandolin and Valhalla cinemas here on March 10. A party following the launch raised funds to support the East Timorese people's
By Justin Arnold
SYDNEY — Deep down in the basement of the State Theatre, it was dark except for candlelight and empty except for the tables, which outnumbered the chairs by two to one. After a tedious search, I found a place to park my body.
Bloodwood: the art of the didjeridu
Alan Dargin with Michael Atherton
Natural Symphonies
Reviewed by Jill Hickson
This is a collection of 10 of the most unusual musical pieces I have ever heard featuring the didjeridu. The title Bloodwood
Folk for instruments
Fiddling Around
Kilmarnock
Produced by Henk de Weerd
Recorded by Ian Coulls
Hard Yacka Records and 5EBI-FM
Reviewed by Gail Lord
Larrikin has announced a new distribution agreement for the Adelaide-based Hard
Editorial
Mugger sues victim
Less than one month after the decision by the Clinton administration to lift its trade embargo against Vietnam, the US State Department announced on March 1 that it is seeking compensation from Cambodia and Vietnam for