Issue 171

News

Salvadoran workers stand firm over racism By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Latin American workers at the Steel-Line Doors factory at Sumner Park, in the western suburbs here, are standing firm in their month-long strike over allegations of racist
36-hour shifts for doctors By Tim E. Stewart DARWIN — Doctors at the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) have expressed outrage at comments by NT health minister Mike Reed that shifts of 36 hours have no effect on patient care. These comments
By Kerryn Williams MELBOURNE — More than 200 activists from campuses around the country gathered here on December 5-6 to plan a national campaign in opposition to fees. The conference, held at Melbourne University, was initiated in
By Rebecca Collerson Environmentalists have won the battle to save sections of Croobyar State Forest. However, the battle to save our forests from woodchipping and logging continues. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is creating
By Graham Matthews SYDNEY — The University of New South Wales was the setting for the public day of the 32nd annual conference of the Australia New Zealand Solar Energy Society on December 3. The keynote speakers were prominent
Peace action planned A national women's peace action and festival is planned to be held at the Australian Defence Industries Munitions Factory in Benalla, Victoria, during Easter next year, from April 14 to 16, 1995. The action will be an
Victorian actions against woodchipping By Rachel Evans MELBOURNE — Two actions were held in Victoria on December 9 against renewal of 10 woodchipping licences. One action, at the woodchipping mill in Eden, was organised by the Wilderness
Row over banning of magazine By Brendan Greenhill BRISBANE — The Queensland Department of Consumer Affairs has refused distribution of the December issue of the lifestyle magazine Simply Living. The department has banned the magazine
By Liam Mitchell WOLLONGONG — The decision by mining giant CRA to close its Illawarra subsidiary Southern Copper Ltd (SCL) has raised questions about the motives. Organisers in the Australian Workers Union-Federation of Industrial

World

By Norm Dixon As the African National Congress (ANC) prepares to hold its first national congress since winning an overwhelming majority in the April elections, there has been no let-up in the wave of struggles by workers, students, the landless
By Max Anderson LONDON — A conference on "Economic Policies for Full Employment and Defence of the Welfare State" was held at Congress House on December 3. It followed a conference on "The Future of the Welfare State" in December 1993 which
By Jackie Coleman HAVANA — Miami-based TV Marti has succeeded in broadcasting less than an hour of programs into Cuba since it started transmissions in March 1990. While Cuban technicians have been able to scramble its signal and thus block US
Kurdish newspapers bombed The offices in Turkey of Kurdish daily Ozgur Ulke were bombed on the morning of December 3. The first bomb went off in Istanbul at about 3:30am. About five minutes later, the Ankara office was also bombed. The last bomb
KAREN WALD in Havana gives her impressions of last month's World Cuba Solidarity meeting. Havana has been flooded with people from every continent, practically every country of the globe, for the past two weeks. They overflowed the Karl Marx
By Liang Guosheng Amid the rumours of a cover-up of Deng Xiaoping's death, larger foreign investors are becoming increasingly frustrated and concerned by the stop-start nature of the "market reforms" which have become a feature of "market
Following its narrow defeat in Brazil's 1989 presidential elections the Workers Party (PT) believed that outright victory in 1994 was possible. But though the PT significantly increased its initial vote in comparison with 1989, it was not enough to
Cuba has boldly initiated alternative and ecologically sustainable methods of food production with the aim of improving food self-sufficiency among urban communities. Luis Sanchez Almanza, agronomist, permaculture activist and horticultural community
NABIHA MORKUS is a Palestinian member of Women in Black and secretary in Tel Aviv of Democratic Women, which, like Women in Black, includes both Jewish and Arab women. VIVIENNE PORZSOLT interviewed her for Green Left Weekly. How did you come to
The signing of the Oslo Declaration of Principles in September 1993 has posed a dilemma for Women in Black, the women's movement in Israel of Jewish and Palestinian women aimed at stopping the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. In October VIVIENNE

Culture

Eat Drink Man Woman Directed by Ang Lee Mandarin with English subtitles To be released nationally on December 22 Screening in Sydney at the Pitt Centre, Cremorne Orpheum and Stanmore Cinema Reviewed by Peter Boyle There have been quite
Poem: Lies, Laurie, Lies By Geoff Francis and Peter Hicks [This song has proved very popular at rallies against the Sydney airport's third runway. Several weeks ago, Peter Hicks sent the text to Laurie Brereton's office, figuring that
The Pacification of Central America: Political Change in the Isthmus, 1987-1993 By James Dunkerley Verso, 1994. $34.95 Reviewed by Neville Spencer In Central America the 1980s were dominated by civil wars, with casualties numbering into
Poem: I Becomes We By Denis O'Neill When I awake Who is there? I When I drink my tea Who is there? I When I take my walk Who walks? I I go home again Who is there? I again. Again I. Best I go To the Resistance
Green It Up finishes '94 with a bang By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Green It Up, the weekly alternative cultural event held at the Shamrock Hotel here every Thursday night, finished up for 1994 with a huge end-of-year party on December 1. Green
By Christopher Phelps "Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir." "Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge. "Plenty of prisons", said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
The continuing terror against Libya By Fan Yew Teng Kuala Lumpur: Egret Publications, 1993. 119 pp. Reviewed by Pip Hinman Apart from Jonathan Bearman's 1986 scholarly work, Qadhafi's Libya, there has been very little published about this
Renewable hero Home Spearhead EMI Music Reviewed by Sujatha Fernandes Michael Franti, hip-hop artist formerly from the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, has released Home with his new band Spearhead. Franti, together with vocalist Mary
A short story by Craig Cormick Any of the townspeople of Dangawullah could tell you exactly when the Devil arrived. It was that hot afternoon of October 29, 1929. It was the last day that it rained that year until Christmas Day, and it was the
Poem: Pleasures By Walter Jones Visiting the toilet To read. Eating In company. Drinking wine. Good comedy This newspaper and Dialectics. How pleasing it is To change the world. In my need To There is freedom.
In the stars: your coming year By Lucifer Skycrawler What's in the stars? Hydrogen, say some people. Heat, say others. Tonnes of orange Smarties, say still others. All of these answers are silly. In reality, the stars are occupied by
Auschwitz Admonishes em= By Denis Kevans ["Auschwitz admonishes" — Pope John Paul II] "Auschwitz admonishes" Pope John Paul says it's so, "Auschwitz admonishes", The Popentate says so. And Maidanek's a caution, I'm sure

Editorial

History lessons It seems only yesterday that we were told of the end of history: that for better or worse, things were the way they were and no more could be hoped for. We'd arrived. This message, universally proclaimed by government and media,