By Kirsten Lacy and Jeremy Smith
MELBOURNE — The Wilderness Society held a public meeting here on January 11 in response to the woodchip export licences granted by the federal government. Following lively discussion, the 200 people attending
Issue 172
News
New party to contest NSW election
By Dave Wright
SYDNEY — More than 150 people attended the first meeting of the newly formed No Aircraft Noise (NAN) Party on January 10. The party was formed to mobilise the anti-third-runway vote at the
AIDS drug delay condemned
SYDNEY — A community meeting of more than 100 people on January 17 unanimously condemned federal health minister Carmen Lawrence for "inexcusable delay" in approving funding for an effective AIDS treatment drug,
By Geoff Spencer
MELBOURNE — A significant victory was won against the Kennett government on January 11 with the dismissal of all charges against eight activists arrested at the Richmond Secondary College (RSC) in December 1993. The
Coledale Hospital picket imposed
By Polly McDonald
WOLLONGONG — The South Coast Labour Council (SCLC) has imposed a 24-hour a day picket on Coledale Hospital, in the northern suburbs, until the state elections on March 25, in order to
By Jennifer Thompson
The struggle for socialism today was the basis for discussion at the 16th national conference of the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), which took place in Sydney in early January. The conference took up key issues
Democratic Socialists to stand in Newcastle
By Shane Bentley
NEWCASTLE — The Democratic Socialists have announced that they will stand Dr Kamala Emanuel for the seat of Newcastle in the upcoming state elections. Emanuel, a 24-year-old
Shearers union recognised
By Ray Fulcher
MELBOURNE — Following formal recognition of the Shearers and Rural Workers Union (SRWU) by the Victorian Employee Relations Commission on December 23, the union is now set to seek registration in
By Max Lane
SYDNEY — More than 2000 people attended a public lecture by Noam Chomsky on January 20 organised by the East Timor Relief Association. Chomsky devoted most of his lecture to exposing US and Western foreign policy in relation to
World
Reprinted here are excerpts from the end of year message to East Timor solidarity supporters by imprisoned resistance leader Xanana Gusmao.
... Nineteen years have passed, and the most important difference to be noted is that the circumstances
By Norm Dixon
Joe Slovo, national chairperson of the South African Communist Party and the country's most popular leader after President Nelson Mandela, was given a hero's send-off in Soweto on January 15. Slovo, born on May 25, 1926, succumbed
The struggle of the Basque people for self-determination is one of Europe's most significant and protracted, yet little-publicised, conflicts. While in Madrid recently, Green Left Weekly's NORM DIXON spoke to KARMELO LANDA, a leader of the militant
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — The mood in the camp of the right-wing Russian "democrats" during the first days of December was savage. After an important round of provincial and local elections on November 29, the time had come to sum up the
Preserving the history of struggle
By Stephen Robson
PERTH — History in South Africa had reflected the "story of 'great' white men", Gordon Metz, a member of the African National Congress' department of the arts and culture, said,
By Boris Kagarlitsky
If some reckless analyst had suggested a year ago that admirers of Yegor Gaidar would be joining on Pushkin Square with followers of extreme nationalist Viktor Anpilov to shout, "Put the Yeltsin gang on trial!", he or she
MIXOLISI NKOSI was in Perth to attend the Indian Ocean Trade Union Conference. A member of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Nkosi is the assistant general secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers
By Max Lane
New protests broke out in East Timor during the first 10 days of January, following a series of demonstrations in Dili and Jakarta in November. The new actions occurred in Dili, Bacau, Ermera, Viqueque, Same and Liquica.
On
By Max Lane
Several activists from the Students in Solidarity with Democracy in Indonesia (SMID) were released from jail in Jakarta on January 15. They had been held in prison since January 10, when 1000 workers and 100 students clashed with the
A mission from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) visited Chechnya and the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia in December. The delegation investigated the November 1992 conflict over the Prigorodni Rayon
By Marina Carman
BLOEMFONTEIN — Eighty-three years ago, the African National Congress was founded here. From December 17 to 21, 3000 delegates from all over South Africa converged on the University of the Orange Free State to attend the 49th
Culture
Fear of Fifty
By Erica Jong
London: Chatto & Windus, 1994. 390 pp.
Reviewed by Melanie Sjoberg
Pick up a copy of any of Erica Jong's novels and you will discover an intriguing world of sexual pursuits, bizarre characters and events, along
At the Black Pig's Dyke
Vincent Woods
Seymour Centre
Roll-a-Pea
Piotr Tomaszuk
Belvoir Street Theatre
Bacchae Burning by Water
Euripedes, Robbe-Grillet, Joyce, Koltes
Performance Space
Playing as part of the Sydney Festival and
Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991
By Eric Hobsbawm
Michael Joseph, 1994. 627 pp., $45 (hb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
There is a new addition to Eric Hobsbawm's superb Marxist historical trilogy (Age of Revolution, Age
Family and fantasy
Art and Lies
By Jeanette Winterson
Random House. $29.95 (hb)
Reviewed by Kathy O'Driscoll
Following from the success of her previous novels Sexing the Cherry and Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson's latest book
By Maurice Sibelle
WOODFORD — Nothing captured the magic of Maleny Folk Festival at Woodford more than the Fire Event on closing night, January 1. On a cool clear night, up to 30,000 participants gathered on the hills that surround the
Holy Crime and The night after the revolution
By Reza Allameh Zadeh
Reviewed by Michael Karadjis and Jennifer Thompson
Religious fundamentalism has a long history of silencing its opponents through censorship, repression and murder. These
Aunty Raelene's debut album
New Dork Nation
Aunty Raelene
Reviewed by Tully Bates
The debut album for Aunty Raelene is one of the best political roots dance albums you could possibly hear. Basil, one of the four members of the group,
Art in the age of AIDS
Don't Leave Me This Way — Art in the Age of AIDS
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Until March 5
Reviewed by Kath Gelber
At the opening night of this exhibition, Australian artist Brenton Heath-Kerr
Editorial
Labor's role in the Liberals' crisis
For most people, including members of the Liberal Party itself, the ongoing leadership saga is more like a bad joke rather than something to be taken seriously. After all, there have been five leadership