Aborigines win deal over national park
By Bill Mason
Aborigines occupying the Lawn Hill National Park in northern Queensland began leaving their camp on October 28, after winning concessions from state environment minister Molly
Issue 165
News
Kill first, ask questions later
By Stephen Robson
PERTH — Police action toward armed persons has become an issue again following the shooting of Ray Gould by the tactical response group (TRG) early on October 26.
Thousands of women and children mobilised around Australia on October 28 to reclaim the night. Since its origins in the 1970s, this annual march has given expression to women's determination to find answers to domestic and sexual violence. This year,
Power station flouted pollution law
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — State officials permitted the government-owned Gladstone power station to pollute the area for 18 years, without effective controls, documents obtained by the
CANBERRA — Forest Embassy organisers are angered that the National Capital Planning Authority (NCPA) has refused permission for the Forest Embassy to camp from November 4 to 8 on the lawns of Parliament House.
"The irony of the situation
Living in the city
By Rob Graham
ADELAIDE — A well-attended public meeting here on October 19 discussed sustainable low-cost housing in the inner city. The main speakers were Hugh Stretton, author of Housing and Government,
Anti-fees protests in Adelaide
By Susan Love and Michael Unger
ADELAIDE — One hundred and fifty people attended a "No Fees" rally at Adelaide University on October 27. The rally was organised by the socialist youth
Anti-abortionists call for clinic's closure
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Anti-abortion group Right to Life chairwoman Margaret Tighe and National Party leader Rob Borbidge have called for police to raid an abortion clinic here and
By Bernadette Hehea
SYDNEY — This year's Reclaim the Night demands were presented on October 26, on the ground floor balcony of the NSW Parliament House. A range of speakers outlined the 1994 demands, as well as expressing personal
Progressive candidates win on Victorian universities
By Bronwen Brook and Rachel Evans
MELBOURNE — Throughout 1994, students in Victoria have been fighting for the right to be represented, through the campaign against
By Ben Butcher
SYDNEY — Since mid-September the Fast for the Forest team have been sitting outside Parliament House in Macquarie Street, and for most of that time they have been fasting. They are collecting signatures on petitions
Hope for Whian Whian State Forest
By Zanny Begg
Logging in compartment 65, part of the Whian Whian State Forest, may halt after evidence has been produced that logging is damaging rainforest areas Garrick Martin from the
By Zanny Begg
Eighty-six environmentalists were in court on October 27, facing charges for protesting to save Wild Cattle Creek State Forest from logging operations.
The arrests were a result of a protest that involved more than
By Kate Minnett and Sean Purcell
CAIRNS — Despite the threat of legal injunctions, activists opposed to the building of a private 7.5 kilometre tourist cable car in World Heritage-listed national park between Cairns and Kuranda, north of
By Stephen Robson
PERTH — Decisions on Western Australia's woodchip licence renewals are expected to be made by the federal government prior to Christmas. While the federal minister for the environment, Senator Faulkner, has
World
Donald Trump’s announcement that his adminstration would recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital will end decades of US policy that such recognition could come only after the status of the city is settled in negotiations.
Last month, US lawmakers held hearings to promote recognising Jerusalem and moving the embassy that only heard from members of the Israel lobby, and completely excluded Palestinians.
Rwandan refugees used as pawns by old regime
By Zanny Begg
On October 24 officials of the former ruling party in Rwanda, the Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), and its military wing the interahamwe, took
Philippines villagers fight Mitsubishi
Residents of Masinloc on the Philippines island of Luzon are fighting a gigantic power plant that could force them off their land, cut thousands of century-old mango trees, pollute rivers and endanger
By Simon Heath
Multinational logging is now creeping in to destroy the rainforests of the south-west Pacific after timber supplies elsewhere in the world are exhausted or becoming protected.
A particularly horrifying example of
European Union considers ban on PCP
The European Commission is considering proposing a comprehensive European Union-wide ban on pentachlorophenol (PCP) according to a report in Environment Watch: Western Europe. This is the result of a
Pesticides found in milk in India
A seven-year study of pesticide residues in milk in 12 Indian states has attracted considerable public concern. The study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), found that a high proportion of
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Did officials of Russia's Federal Counter-Intelligence Service and of the Defence Ministry organise the murder of a crime-fighting journalist? This is the suggestion — backed by a disturbing volume of
In an October 10 ceremony in front of the Haitian army headquarters, Lt Gen Raoul Cedras passed the Haitian flag and his title of commander in chief to Maj Gen Jean-Claude Duperval.
Duperval is himself implicated not only in the September
CIA linked to FRAPH, coup
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The link between the US government and the founding and running of the Haitian army's death squad and front group, FRAPH (Front pour l'Avancement et le Progres Haitien), was finally exposed in
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — In Russian cities these days, the number of animals is increasing steadily. But to put this down to an improvement in the state of the environment would be risky, to say the least. The animal life in Russian
The following statement was issued by the URNG (National Revolutionary Unity of Guatemala) General Command.
The URNG General Command and all its components commemorate the civil and military movement that on October 20, 1944, put an end to
Korean socialists arrested
The Committee to Defend South Korean Socialists is asking trade unionists, women's organisations, academics, MPs, journalists and members of progressive organisations to support the defence 36 members of the
For the third consecutive year, on October 26 the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution demanding that the United States end its "embargo" (really a blockade) against Cuba. Only the US and Israel voted against the resolution. After
Reports of Australian hit-squad for Bougainville
It has been alleged that Australia and Papua New Guinea have sent agents to hunt down leaders of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG)
Culture
By Deb Sorensen
Arnhem Land: The name conjures up images of a majestic landscape, remote wilderness with special places known only by the descendants of peoples who have dwelt there for tens of thousands of years. Many of us have seen
The Bold Riders: Behind Australia's Corporate Collapses
By Trevor Sykes
Allen and Unwin, 1994. 651 pp., $45 (hb)
Reviewed by Frank Noakes
"They [the corporate raiders] used tiny equity holdings as the basis for huge empires
By Liliana Marambio
The technique of embroidering feelings on pieces of sackcloth was born in Chile at the end of the '80s, when the voices of the relatives of prisoners and the "disappeared" of the military regime — the majority of them
Tim E. Stewart
DARWIN — One hundred performers, 20 acts and a steamy evening. A packed Browns Mart Community Arts Centre tapped, slapped and clapped their way through three hours of mind-blowing percussion on October 1. Billed as "The
Innovative theatre takes up East Timor
Quito
By Martin Wesley-Smith and Peter Wesley-Smith
Performed by the Song Company
Presented by the Sydney Metropolitan Opera
Directed by John Wregg
Seven performances from
Poem: Storming the Desert
By John Tomlin
No more dumb bombs
for DEATH —
they're smart now.
Had an education
on how to seek out
that little extracurricular
bit of flesh
and sear it RED.
Writing Dangerously: Mary McCarthy and her World
By Carol Brightman
Harvest, 1994. 714 pp., $29.95 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
Mary McCarthy tends to be remembered, if at all, as the US author of a sexy novel from the
Editorial
The seesaw system
The federal Liberal Party is marking a half century since its founding. "Celebrating" would be far too strong a term to describe the party's attitude towards its birthday. Their mood suggests that the Liberal leaders have