Newcastle rally against privatisation
By Shane Hopkinson
NEWCASTLE — A meeting was held at the Workers Club on September 16 as part of a national campaign opposing privatisation. Malcolm Larson, assistant secretary of the NSW
Issue 160
News
The NSW government decided on September 9 to reduce by 60% proposed wilderness areas announced with much fanfare last December. This will leave less than 5% of the state as wilderness, and even that is fragmented to accommodate off-road vehicles,
Strange bedfellows
By Bernie Brian
DARWIN — The Country-Liberal Party government of the Northern Territory has lent ALP leader Brian Ede the use of one of its most senior public servants to try to convince the Labor Party
By Francesca Davidson
Three hundred students stormed the Chancellery Building at the Australian National University on Thursday, September 15, while thousands of other students held mass rallies around the country in protest at proposals
Logging destroys water sources
The North East Forest Alliance has expressed outrage that the logging destruction of NSW's most precious water-producing forests is continuing at 60 hectares per day.
"With NSW in the grip of a
Landcare conference debates roll
By Jen Crothers
HOBART — A three-day Australian National Landcare Conference was held here from September 6. The gathering, convened by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and
WA environment actions
By Stephen Robson
PERTH — The national campaign coordinator of the Wilderness Society, Kevin Parker, called on the federal government to use its legislative powers to protect WA's unique environment at a
Day of action against uranium mines
Actions opposing the watering down of the Labor Party's "three mines" uranium policy will be held in a number of capital cities on Thursday, September 22. Uranium policy will be debated at the ALP
By Pip Hunter
The September 12 deal between the federal government, the ACTU and officials from the Maritime Union of Australia gives the go-ahead to the partial privatisation of the Australian National Line. The government has agreed to
By Chantal Wynter
MELBOURNE — The Committees in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean (CISLAC) held its national consultation on the weekend of September 10-11. A public forum on the first day heard a round-up of political
Thousands protest in Melbourne rally
By Ray Fulcher
MELBOURNE — "This is the revival of a campaign against privatisation by Keating and Kennett", John Halfpenny, Trades Hall secretary, told a rally of 6000-10,000 unionists and
Federal moves on anti-gay laws 'disappointing'
By Leon Harrison
PERTH — Federal legislation intended to override Tasmania's anti-gay legislation and possibly WA's laws has been described as disappointing by gay activists in
Controversy at Brisbane rally
By Maurice Sibelle
BRISBANE — 500 people rallied against privatisation in Brisbane's King George Square on September 14. The rally was part of a national week of action.
The rally was
Wollongong march
By Freya Pinney
WOLLONGONG — 250 people met at the Trade Union Centre on September 16 to protest against all forms of privatisation. City council workers struck for three hours to attend.
Protesters
World
Burma refugee crisis worsens
By Richard Horsey
The fate of some 6000 refugees who fled from Burma to neighbouring Thailand at the end of July still hangs in the balance. The refugees, from the Mon ethnic group, were forced to
'Australia, PNG threaten Bougainville peace'
General Sam Kauona, commander of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, has warned Australia, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu about rushing into a status of forces agreement with Papua New Guinea.
By Tony Benn MP
The development of events In Northern Ireland marks a sea-change not only In Irish politics but in British politics too. The historic opportunity to bring about a lasting peace must not be squandered.
For
US preparations to invade Haiti have been explained in terms of forcing out the military dictators who seized power there three years ago. But something closer to the truth began to surface on September 15, when deputy secretary of state Strobe
By Norm Dixon
LONDON, September 8 — As railway signal workers today embarked on their 16th national strike in 13 weeks, crippling Britain's rail system, support for their cause is growing within the British labour movement. The campaign
The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), long considered South Africa's most important liberation movement after the African National Congress (ANC), surprised many with its massive electoral failure in the April elections. The PAC won 1.3% of the national
[In issue 156, Barry Sheppard reported on the Committees of Correspondence Founding Convention, held in Chicago, USA, on July 22-24. Here Max Elbaum, another CoC member and managing editor of the magazine CrossRoads, presents another perspective.
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — "After the parade of sovereignties, the parade of infections will begin!" This sombre prediction by Mikhail Narkevich, a leading Russian specialist in the field of sanitary inspection, was made in 1991. His
Throughout most of this century, Uruguay has had a relatively stable political system dominated by the two traditional conservative parties, the Blancos and the Colorados. In the late 1960s, a deterioration in the economic situation led to an
Culture
By Helen Jarvis
Belvoir Street Theatre's second Asian Theatre Festival brings a range of sharply different presentations from writers and performing artists living and working in Australia. Music is to be a strong theme of this season,
True Stories: Boys and Balls
Director Sue Thompson
ABC, Sunday, September 25, 8.30pm
Reviewed by Frank Enright
In Boys and Balls, Sue Thompson set out to be quite cruel about men's fixation with balls but ended up producing
GERRY HARANT presents a different slant on the argument about pornography versus eroticism in film.
The world's first publicly screened film was called Train arriving at a station. It caused a sensation — not because of what it showed,
I Was A Teenage Fascist
By David Greason
McPhee Gribble. 311 pp., $16.95
Reviewed By Sean Lennon
Having spent six years as a member of various far right groups, David Greason offers an insider's account of these groups and
Masterpiece: Touch the Earth Lightly
SBS
Monday, September 26, 8.30pm (AEST)
Reviewed by Arun Pradhan
In a different society, architecture might be more than just another elitist profession. An architect might take account
The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier
By Amy Wilentz
Vintage. 427 pp., $17.95 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
Is there light at the end of Haiti's 500-year long tunnel, which that country entered following its first contact
By Pip Hinman and Zanny Begg
She's been called the diva of world hip-hop and Afro-funk dance and the new international voice of Africa. But however you choose to describe Angelique Kidjo's music and song, her performance on September 15,
By Lara Martineaux
SYDNEY — Left-wing music isn't dead — it's alive and kicking in a little hotel, the British Lion, in Glebe. The scene: a group of friends gathering in as Peter Hicks and the Born Again Pagans finish setting up. The
'Oils' and more play for Timor
SYDNEY — It will be two musical nights to remember when all star line-ups perform on Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24 in aid of East Timorese orphans, victims of the continued Indonesian military
Editorial
Criminals and criminals
"He was a genius at extracting money out of people. He would understand the psychology of people — bankers, brokers, analysts — and give them exactly what they wanted to hear ... Skase's trappings oozed