Issue 17

News

Greens stretch Nile for NSW upper house With counting still under way to decide the important 15th seat in the NSW Legislative Council, the Greens are giving Call to Australia's Reverend Fred Nile a run for his money. With more than 50% of votes
By Debra Wirth Young people have been in the lead of struggles for progressive social change since the 1960s, when they were a major part of the movement against the Vietnam War. Out of that movement grew Resistance, a group for young people
By David Mizon MELBOURNE — A mass meeting of all unions at Shell's Geelong site unanimously rejected the company's award restructuring proposals on June 6. Shell had offered a 13.3% pay rise in return for: acceptance of the "production zone"
By Tracy Sorensen SYDNEY — Public Sector Union representative Vivienne Colmer has warned that there will be a significant fall in the quality of ABC radio and television programs as result of funding cuts, job losses and commercial sponsorship
By Peter Boyle MELBOURNE — All train services here stopped on June 13, when Electrical Trade Union members employed by the Victorian government struck for 24 hours to protest against a deal between the Trades Hall Council and the Kirner Labor
SYDNEY — Bill Pinwill died of a heart condition on June 6, aged 52. He was a "distinguished" journalist in more than the usual sense of the word: be remembered not only for the stories covered and positions held, but also for his influence on those
By Peter Boyle By giving metal industry employers the right to stand down workers, the Industrial Relations Commission has raised the stakes in its confrontation with the Hawke government and the ACTU over the April national wage case. The IRC

World

By Andrew Nette Who benefits from US bases in the Philippines? Not ordinary Filipinos. In the second of two articles, ANDREW NETTE reports on a visit to Olongapo, near the Subic Bay naval base. Fishing, which used to be the main source of
By Slavina Novak and Adam Novak PRAGUE — There were a number of serious injuries when a peaceful demonstration here was attacked by young rightists. This followed an attack by police on a similar protest. Several weeks ago, two anarchist
Gertrude Shope, newly elected president of the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League (WL) "grew up in the struggle". In the '50s she was secretary of the Federation of Transvaal Women. In 1966, she left the country, on the advice of the ANC,
By Sally Low Poland's first free parliamentary elections are due in October. The outcome will be strongly affected by the way the present government and particularly President Lech Walesa react to growing dissatisfaction with their attempts to
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — The flat was bright and spacious. The location, however, was not what I'd wanted: far from the centre of Moscow on a relatively ill-served train line. But even in this unpopular locale, the monthly rent I recalled she
On February 27, the last day of the Gulf War, soldiers arrived at the Ramallah (West Bank) clinic of 48-year old urological surgeon Dr Mamdouh Al-Aker and took him off; he was not even given time to leave some urgent instructions regarding the
'Terrorism' from chlorine company STOCKHOLM, — A leaked "crisis management plan" confirms the concern of chlorine manufacturers and users over decreasing market demand and increasing environmental pressure. The plan, prepared for the Clorox
By Pat Brewer A spokesperson from the growing movement for democracy will be one of the international guest speakers at next month's Socialist Scholars Conference, being held in Melbourne. Indro Cahyono is involved in both the labour movement
Interview by Jim Percy and Renfrey Clarke A senior Soviet economist and leader of the left wing of the Social Democratic Party, Galina Rakitskaya is also playing an important role in developing the movement for people's self-management in the
During the Trades and Labour Council Indian Ocean Region Conference held in Perth on May 17, Saut Aritonang, general secretary of Indonesia's recently formed free trade union, Serikat Buruh Merdeka (Setiakawan) spoke to Green Left. Shortly after his

Culture

By Rod Webb Buzz By Warren Coleman and Tyler Coppin Directed by Tyler Coppin Designed by Brian Thomson and Ross Wallace With Warren Coleman and Tyler Coppin Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney, until July 7. Reviewed by Rod Webb Back in 1969
Bio-technology em = By Duncan Richardson New onco-mouse lab inspired, having been persuaded to shrug off the last eighty million years, finds itself sprouting carcinomas galore after ten months of life, then dies unmourned but fully
By Tracy Sorenson The journalist and the murderer By Janet Malcolm Bloomsbury. 1991. 163 pp. Paperback $17.95 Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that
A warning for green democracy By Richard Ingram The latest issue of Chain Reaction, published by Friends of the Earth, is a special double issue with a cover story likely to create controversy — but also, one hopes — serious discussion in the
Fax me a prayer em = By Willy Bach Lord We beseech thee Let Alan Bond Recover from His present troubles So that my BM shares Will steadily rise Above the four cents I paid for them Back in July And Lord We pray that BHP Will be able to
A helpful poem for simple folk em = By Rosemary Evans (After Rudyard Kipling's "If") If you keep muddling Kurds up with Kuwaitis (It's easy, as they both begin with K), And if the two Husseins sometimes confuse you — There's Saddam, and
By Angela Matheson King Lear Sydney Theatre Company Staged by Philip Parsons, Wayne Harrison and John Senczuk Reviewed by Angela Matheson Does the Sydney Theatre Company believe that King Lear was meant to be a comedy? Or did it have some
By Tom Jordan Guilty by Suspicion Written and directed by Irwin Winkler USA 1991The Ear Czechoslovakia 1969 Written by Jan Prochaska and Karel Kachyna Directed by Karel Kachyna Both features of the Sydney film festival Reviewed by Tom

Editorial

Gareth Evans in South Africa The petty and irrelevant press coverage of Gareth Evans' trip to South Africa has served to conceal the true scandal of his visit: that the Australian government has chosen to lead the charge to have international