Controversial film to be screened
SYDNEY — Resistance, a $6 million Australian epic film production, will screen at the AFI Cinema, Paddington Town Hall, on April 30.
This technically superb, wide-screen action thriller tells the story of
Issue 140
News
By Francesca Davidson
Across the country young environmentalists have begun organising World Environment Day. On June 5 a variety of activities are planned to highlight the need for community action for environmental justice.
June 5 was
Sex information censored in Tasmania
By Jen Crothers
HOBART — The state government has banned posters and displays on sexuality in senior secondary colleges. Secretary to the minister for education and the arts Bruce Davis sent a memo to
NSW 'flouts national forest policy'
Approval for logging of old growth forest and wilderness areas in north-east New South Wales flouts the National Forest Policy Statement signed by the prime minister and the premiers of all mainland states in
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — Chris White, assistant secretary of the United Trades and Labour Council, has expressed concern at the dramatically increased powers of the industrial relations minister under a bill currently before state
Perth action against federal budget
By Sean Healy
PERTH — A public rally and demonstration have been planned for May 5, one day after the launch of the federal government's white paper on employment and five days before the budget.
LAUNCESTON — A decision of the state Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has rendered void hundreds of thousands of Newstart agreements entered into by unemployed people.
The decision, handed down on April 18, resulted from an appeal by
No conscience vote
The ALP, the Liberal Party, the Australian Democrats and the Australian Greens all allow their members a conscience vote on abortion, regardless of the policy of the party.
The Democratic Socialist Party has a clear
Pray for a job
"It is essentially an act of faith that
the Jobs Compact will improve the job prospects of the
participants." — Professor Judith Sloan, of the
National Institute of Labour Studies, on the
government's green paper on
By John Nebauer
BRISBANE — About 1000 people attended a rally called by the Brisbane Aboriginal community on April 20 to protest against the findings of the Criminal Justice Commission into the death of dancer Daniel Yock on November 7.
Plant ownership laws under review
The Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Bill 1994, which is to replace the Plant Variety Rights (PVR) Act 1987, is now open for public review.
The name change signals a general shift in focus and intent, according
WA forest meeting well attended
By Anthony Benbow
FREMANTLE — More than 300 people packed the Fremantle Town Hall on April 22 for a meeting discussing the effects of forest destruction and the need for campaigns to stop it. The focus was
By Bernie Brian
DARWIN — Hundreds of Aboriginal people and their supporters gathered on April 15 at Raintree Park to protest against moves by the Northern Territory government to withdraw funding from the Danila Dilba Aboriginal Medical
By Kath Gelber
On 18 April Justice Newman of the NSW Supreme Court handed down a judgment which has ramifications Australia-wide. In it, he confirmed that abortion remains illegal in NSW.
Abortion is, in fact, illegal in every state except
Jervis Bay victory
By Jon Land
The federal government announced on April 20 that it will not go ahead with plans to relocate the East Coast Armament Complex (ECAC) at Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast. The state government has also proposed
Call for church accountability
SYDNEY — A conference that attracted 250 Catholics from across Australia ended here on April 17 calling for far reaching changes in the operation and direction of the church in Australia.
The "People's
By Tyrion Perkins
SYDNEY — "Resource Security Sucks" read the banner over a demonstration against the state government's proposed Timber Industry (Interim Protection) Amendment Bill. About 200 people attended the demonstration, organised by
NSW forest assessment challenged
The North East Forest Alliance has strongly criticised the April 14 announcement that the NSW State Forests environmental impact statement program will be "upgraded". NEFA described this as a token attempt to
Melbourne rally in solidarity
By Ben Reid
MELBOURNE — The national day of action against black deaths in custody on April 20 was marked here with a rally at the Queensland government travel centre. More than 100 people gathered to express
Telecom halts work at old brewery site
By Anthony Benbow
PERTH — Telecom has halted cable-laying at the old Swan Brewery site. The brewery, built on Aboriginal religious ground in the 1890s and virtually given to Multiplex Constructions
45D hits Hindmarsh
By Anthony Thirlwall
ADELAIDE — Residents, conservationists and unionists involved in protests against the building of the Hindmarsh Island bridge will be sued for unspecified damages by property developers Tom and
World
Grosby workers demand jobs
By Ray Fulcher and Rachel Evans
MANILA — A picket of workers retrenched by the Australian-owned company Grosby GTP Footwear has been encamped outside the factory in southern Manila since losing their jobs on
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress' ambitious Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) — the cornerstone of its election campaign — would be funded in part by major cuts in military spending and the nuclear
By Michael Karadjis
The impression that Greeks are unanimously behind the Greek government in its campaign against Macedonia has been widely fostered in Australia, by both the Greek media and the establishment media. The reality is vastly
By Pip Hunter
On April 10, more than 100,000 people rallied in Mexico City in front of the National Palace to mark the 75th anniversary of the death of nationalist hero Emiliano Zapata. Tens of thousands also demonstrated in Michoacan, Jalisco,
US environmentalists oppose GATT
WASHINGTON, D.C. — US environmental groups have announced their opposition the Uruguay Round Agreement of GATT because it lacks measures to protect the environment and promotes policies that will contribute to
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi's surprise decision to have his Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) participate in the national and provincial elections and both the levels was announced on April 19. The Inkatha leader
By Peter Montague
The David and Goliath battle of the century is shaping up over a synthetic hormone called rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) that was approved by federal officials in February for use in milk cows in the US.
David is
By Alex Harmoko in Jakarta
and Max Lane
Tension has spread in Jakarta in the wake of six days of demonstrations and rioting by angry factory workers from the industrial estates around Sumatra's largest city, Medan. In Jakarta, rumours spread
Call for labour unity
By Ray Fulcher and Rachel Evans
MANILA — A press conference of six union organisations here on April 18 announced the formation of a Caucus for Labour Unity (CLU) with the aim of unifying the Philippines labour
Green Left Weekly's Johannesburg correspondent NORM DIXON talks with JEREMY CRONIN, South African Communist Party (SACP) central committee member, and editor of the African Communist, about South Africa's transition to democracy and the prospects for
All opinion polls for the last 12 months have shown that the ANC is close to winning the vital two-thirds majority in the national assembly. If it breaks this barrier, the ANC will be in a position to write the final constitution without requiring
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's prisoners again must embark on a campaign of mass action to win their right to vote, Golden Miles Bhudu of the South African Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights (SAPOHR) told Green Left Weekly.
By Max Lane
On April 3 Leopoldo "Comrade Hector" Mabalingan, a former commander of the Benahaw New People's Army (NPA) command, was shot dead by NPA units under the command of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leader Gregorio Rosal.
GLOW backs ANC
JOHANNESBURG — The Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witswatersrand (GLOW), one of South Africa's two main gay and lesbian rights groups, has endorsed the African National Congress in the elections. GLOW activist Simon Nkosi
By Michael Karadjis
When the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia declared independence in 1991, it appeared to most a simple matter of self-determination. A referendum endorsed it, and the majority of the people in the state have long called
Culture
Where the Boys are: Cuba, Cold War America and the Making of a New Left
By Van Gosse
Verso, 1993. 270 pp., $49.95 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
On January 1, 1959, the Batista-Mafia alliance that ran Cuba fell under the weight of its own
Film slams police harassment
By Sean Healy
PERTH — A new community-produced film, slamming the treatment of young people at the hands of Perth police, particularly through the infamous "Operation Sweep", will be launched on Friday, May
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — One of the things that doesn't vary much from country to country is the speeches record company executives make at album launches. There they stand amongst the music journalists and photographers and musicians,
A Season Inside God's Bunker: The Story of the Hebron Massacre
By Micha Peled
SBS TV, Tuesday, May 3, 8.30pm (8 Adelaide)
Reviewed by Nikolai Haddad
This documentary is a chilling look at life in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba,
Blue Murder
By Beatrix Christian
Starring Lucy Bell and Jacek Koman
Belvoir St Theatre until May 1
Reviewed by Mina O'Shea
Billed as "a contemporary Gothic peepshow", Blue Murder is a play haunted by women dripping with blood and a
That Dangerous and Persuasive Woman: Vida Goldstein
By Janette M. Bomford
Melbourne University Press, 1993. 264 pp., $29.95 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
In 1913, one conservative rural gentleman in Bairnsdale, Victoria, refused to attend
Editorial
Peace in the air, but not on the ground
The visit to Bougainville by an Australian parliamentary delegation, although allowed to see only what the Papua New Guinea authorities chose to show it, was an important step forward on the road to peace