Issue 15

News

By Angela Matheson and Kathy Raheb Photo by David Brazil SYDNEY — Clad in black, standing in silent vigil in Martin Place on June 1, Women in Black made their inaugural Sydney protest against the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and
By Tracy Sorensen About 1100 participants from around the country came to last year's Socialist Scholars Conference in Sydney, where they were able to hear, meet and discuss ideas with such renowned international guests as Ralph Miliband, Giovanni
By Peter Boyle MELBOURNE — Opposition leader "Foot in Mouth" Jeff Kennett seems determined to live up to his nickname. His "quantum leap" attempt to force the Kirner Labor government to an early election fizzled when nearly everyone (even most
By Angela Walker PERTH — Students from the University of Western Australia Austudy Reform Action Group completed 10 days of protests against cuts to education funding with a demonstration at the Fremantle CES Office on May 30. Approximately 50
By Dick Nichols SYDNEY — Since April, when the ACTU launched its "campaign" for the full Accord Mark VI against the Industrial Relations Commission's "rotten egg" decision, industrial relations junkies have been speculating how the wage fixation
By Ray Fulcher MELBOURNE — The "Free Speech Committee" was launched here on May 30 in the offices of Joan Coxsedge, Labor MLC for Melbourne West. A group of activists representing various left and progressive groups came together to start a
Demand for real land rights By Maurice Sibelle BRISBANE — Queensland Aborigines are not happy with "land rights" legislation passed by state parliament at 2 a.m. on May 31. The legislation does not give Aboriginal people real ownership over land
Criminals exploit black youth By Leon Harrison PERTH — Aboriginal youth are being exploited by adults who are forcing them into housebreaking and theft, according to Aboriginal Legal Service executive officer Rob Riley. Riley said that an
Comalco moves for bans clause By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Boyne Smelters, owned by the giant multinational Comalco, has applied for a clause banning all strikes at the Gladstone aluminium plant, after workers walked off the job for the sixth time in
By David Jagger SYDNEY — In the wake of the report of the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody, Aboriginal representatives here are calling for an Aboriginal ombudsman or crime authority. Commission evidence indicated that police
By Catherine Brown PERTH — "More public sector jobs not less" demands the log of claims being served on the state ALP government by the combined government sector unions. The log was adopted at a May 29 shop stewards' meeting. "The issue we
By Steve Painter SYDNEY — It took a week after election day, but it now seems Nick Greiner's Liberal-National coalition will have the 49 seats needed to form a minority government with the support of National Party defector Tony Windsor. There
By Steve Thompson PERTH — Metropolitan Perth could take a radical step forward in transport planning by scrapping the proposed controversial City Northern Bypass Road and Burswood Bridge link road, replacing it with a light rail transit (LRT)

World

By Peter Annear PRAGUE — A hardening political differentiation among Czechoslovakia's parliamentary parties has turned the popular coalition that emerged in November 1989 and won elections the following June into a thing of the past. "Civic
Comment by Col Hesse The postwar two-party system in Australia is undeniably facing its greatest challenge. Acknowledging evidence that there could be anywhere between 10% and 30% of the electorate looking outside the two main parties, NSW trade
By Tom Jordan On June 17, long-time peace activists Michael Randall and Pat Pottle will be tried for helping famous double agent George Blake escape from a British prison in 1966. Randall and Pottle admit they did it but insist that they committed
Development problems in Thailand By Stuart Wax Environmental consequences of development in Thailand were the topic of a Community Aid Abroad forum in Sydney on May 29. In 1988-9, the Thai economy grew by 10%. The country is looking to become
WASHINGTON, D.C. — US oil companies, seeking petroleum exploration rights in a region of the Ecuadorian Amazon considered a jewel of biodiversity, are running into legal opposition under US law. The Corporación de Defensa de la Vida
By Norm Dixon Large and militant demonstrations by university students, which rapidly gained broad popular support, have forced the PNG government to defer huge pay increases for national and provincial politicians and senior public servants.
Now a member of the unified Bundestag (all-German parliament), THOMAS KLEIN was elected to the east German Volkskammer in March 1990 on the ticket of Vereinigte Linke (United Left), of which he was a founder. While working in the economics section of
Czechoslovakia's oldest party Established 130 years ago, in 1878, the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party sees itself as part of the 19th century tradition of European Social Democracy and as the oldest party still active in Czechoslovak
By Andrew Katelaris The use of trees from virgin forest in the production of paper is a phenomenon of the latter part of this century only, though paper itself has been an integral part of human civilisation for thousands of years. Common
By Norm Dixon Jim Beatson, a freelance journalist who writes regularly for Time and the UK Guardian, recently returned from a three-week stay in embattled Bougainville. Beatson reports that an uneasy calm prevails after the PNG government's
By Keith Locke AUCKLAND — New Zealand foreign minister Doug McKinnon has been visiting London and Washington trying to "bridge the impasse" between New Zealand's anti-nuclear law and British and US reluctance to disclose the presence of nuclear

Culture

Jaywalkin' Big Jay McNeely and the Mighty Reapers ABC records. Available on CD and cassette The Big Jay McNeely Show can be seen on Thursday, June 6, at the Old Lion Hotel, Adelaide; Friday, June 7, at the Birkenhead Point Tavern, Sydney;
From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War In American Film Linda Dittmar and Gene Michau (eds) Rutgers University Press, 1990. 387 pp. $26.95 (pb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon "Boy, I saw Rambo last night; now I know what to do next time", said
By Alastair Davidson Manning Clark will be remembered by me in a series of vignettes of kaleidoscopic variety. Together they form a composite picture which explains why he attained the status of Australia's first great historian as much as do the
The seven day song cycle One: the wisdom of Solamundy em = By Tony Smith This is the tale of a man called David. At his black birth they estimated that things seemed well enough on Monday. Schooled, trained, but not indoctrinated his heart
Radio features World Environment Day By Tracy Sorensen SYDNEY — Public access radio station 2SER-FM will mark World Environment Day on June 5 with a full day of special programs, reports, interviews, features and music. "Public radio was
Art from the lounge room By Philippa Stanford BRISBANE — "If the unemployed are dole bludgers what the fuck are the idle rich?" asks one of the exhibits in a political poster display at the Queensland Art Gallery. The posters cover 1970-90
Comedy Paul Kelly and the Messengers Mushroom Records Reviewed by Col Hesse "From Little Things Big Things Grow" is the song on Paul Kelly's new album which really grabs you. Written by Kelly and Kev Carmody, it's about "the Gurindji stockmen
By Kaarin Davies-Cassin Australian band Mixed Relations will not be touring France this month. Because of overspending by the French government on the Gulf War, half the gigs were cancelled. Steve Pauner, the band's manager, explained, "We were
Communications for Progress By Graham Lane 1990. 152 pp. $22 Available from Pegasus Networks, PO Box 424, Byron Bay NSW 2481 Reviewed by Andrew Garton An unfortunate title, but a book that has come none too soon, Communications for Progress
Death in Brunswick Written and directed by John Ruane Rated M Reviewed by Angela Matheson Sam Neill is Carl, a downwardly mobile loser caught in the seamier side of life in ethnic inner-city Melbourne. Newly appointed as chef in a seedy night

Editorial

Editorial: After the NSW elections The May 25 NSW election confirms the unpopularity of all the main parties. Around the country, there are now five minority governments relying on the support of independents: NSW, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT