East Timor Week in Darwin
By Sally Anne Watson
DARWIN — August 15-21 was proclaimed "East Timor Week" by activists who worked hard and in unity to publicise and protest against Suharto's military dictatorship in East Timor and West Papua
Issue 157
News
Disabled win building access
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — The Anti-Discrimination Tribunal on August 24 ordered the Queensland government to provide access for the disabled to Brisbane's new Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The tribunal
Coode Island time bomb still ticking
By Rob Miller
MELBOURNE — Greenpeace and the Hazardous Materials Action Group (HAZMAG) highlighted the third anniversary of the Coode Island fires on August 22 by releasing a leaked government risk
By Kath Gelber
Both the federal Labor and the Tasmanian Liberal governments are claiming a moral mandate in the struggle over abolition of Tasmania's anti-gay laws.
On August 22, federal cabinet agreed to a Human Rights (Sexual Conduct)
August 20 marked the 19th anniversary of FALINTIL (Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor), which has maintained the armed struggle against Indonesian occupation of East Timor. FALINTIL has been transformed from the military arm of
Opening of Clearing House
By Sue Bolton
MELBOURNE — The Clearing House for Clean Information had its grand opening in Melbourne's western suburbs on August 21. The Clearing House is a new statewide toxics and urban issues group.
ADELAIDE — The state Liberal government's first formal budget on August 25 continues the strategy of generating savings through public sector job cuts and reforms previously outlined in May by the Audit Commission.
Rainforest protest occupies ship
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — More than 40 members of the Brisbane Rainforest Action Group occupied a Philippines cargo ship here on August 23 in protest at the import of rainforest timber from Indonesia.
World
Mother-to-child HIV cases increasing in Thailand
HIV infection from mother to child is increasing at a dangerous rate, especially among pregnant women in Bangkok according to a study presented at Bangkok's 12th National Epidemiology Seminar on
By Jurgen Vandalaar and Mary Merkenich
At first glance, one could be forgiven for thinking, that the federal Republic of Germany is heading in the same direction it did in 1933. However that would be an over-simplification.
The German
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG, August 20 — The national strike by car assembly workers entered its third week with no end in sight. The struggle has become a test of strength as the employers steadfastly refuse to offer more than a 10% increase
Opposition to toxic waste trade plan in South Africa
By Chris Albertyn
JOHANNESBURG — A recent national summit of South African non-government organisations has condemned the Ministry and Department of Environment Affairs for wanting to
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — In the spring of this year, social democratic ideas started coming back into fashion in Russia. Former Central Committee apparatchiks — people who had played more than a few roles over the years — recalled the
By Kamini Junankar
LONDON â Some 60,000 young people, environmentalists, hunt saboteurs, unionists, socialists, squatters, travellers and civil rights activists, joined the rally and march here on July 24 against the criminal justice bill,
On August 19 the Nepalese government arrested some 3000 political activists including the parliamentary representatives and national leaderships of the major opposition parties and the head of the student's federation and the womens' movement.
Peace talks
Peace talks in Tambea in the Solomon Islands between the Papua New Guinea government and the Bougainville Interim Government concluded optimistically on August 27. In a joint statement, the two delegations expressed "satisfaction at
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) faces a formidable challenge, Dr Ben Rugangazi, the RPF's assistant director for international relations, told Green Left Weekly. The new government must convince millions of
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Workers in Russia's nuclear power plants appeared close to forcing important concessions from the government in mid-August following weeks of struggle for the payment of back wages and of debts owed to the industry.
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — There is a none-too-subtle campaign under way here to convince black workers that they are overpaid, unproductive and too ready to take industrial action. These factors make South Africa "uncompetitive" say a
Bougainville updates
PNG military retreat
Radio Free Bougainville reported on August 19 that the Papua New Guinea military operation "High Speed" to recapture the Panguna mine, having hit the brakes, is now in reverse. The report claims
Culture
The politics of belly dancing: a choreopoem
Written by Paula Abood
Directed by Paula Abood and Jane Packham
The Performance Space
September 14-25 Wed-Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm, Thurs September 22 women only
The National Festival of Australian
A novel of artistic strength
To the death, Amic
By John Bryson
Viking 1994, 252 pp., $29.95 (hb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
In the Spanish province of Catalonia in 1936, ten-year-old twins Enric and Josep mistake the first rifle shots
Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
By Jonathan Shay
New York: Atheneum. 1994. 236 pp.
Reviewed by Allen Myers
The title of this fascinating study is not merely a literary allusion. Dr Jonathan Shay, a
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has, at last, a democratically elected government. Nelson Mandela has made the three-decade journey from the rock piles of Robben Island to the President's residence in Pretoria. These are significant milestones in the
Great gay cinema
Leaving Lenin (Gadael Lenin)
Directed by Endaf Emlyn
Reviewed by John Frame
Shown as part of Brisbane's Third International Film Festival, Leaving Lenin was a welcome contrast to the only other gay-themed feature,
Musician with a message
James Brook is a Melbourne-based solo singer guitarist who has been playing his hard-edged brand of political folk for about a year. In that time he has toured the east coast with the folk punk band Mutiny, played
Sounds of East Timor
By Sally Anne Watson
DARWIN — During the Portuguese colonisation of East Timor, an isolated indigenous group, the Ilimanu, lived in the north-east of the island. With the Timorese revolution in 1974, Ilimanu joined
By Rose McCann
A love of reading and writing plus an abiding interest in feminism proved to be an irresistible combination for the 24,000 fortunate souls who made it to Melbourne on July 27-31 to visit, participate and revel in the sixth
Pleasant listening music
Black Wings on the Sun
By Isabella A Cappella
Larrikin Records
Wetlands Acoustic
By Sirocco
EMI
Reviewed by Carla Gorton
Black Wings on the Sun is the first release from Lismore's Southern Cross
A well-rounded exhibition
What does two fish bowls and a lost soul
Carclew Youth Arts Centre, North Adelaide
Mon-Fri 9-5, Sat 10-4 till September 16
Reviewed by Fergus Mills
This exhibition by local artists Penny Farrow, wood duck and
Women as they really are
Jigsaws
By Jennifer Rogers
Directed by Louise Luccarini
New Theatre, Sydney
Friday-Sunday until October 1
Reviewed by Betty Downey and Pip Hinman
Jigsaws is about five women, belonging to three generations
Editorial
Liquidating public property
After a valuation of Australian National Lines found that the government-owned company could not be privatised, minister for transport Laurie Brereton is looking at ANL's liquidation.
The study by merchant bank