A report released in January by the Pesticides Trust (UK) indicates that corporate strategies to expand markets for pesticides and the increasing export of agricultural produce from developing countries are leading to an increase in pesticide use in
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Bligh campaign Well-known lesbian and community activist, Susan Harben, has announced her candidacy for the ALP for the inner Sydney seat of Bligh, the "pinkest" seat in Australia. The seat is currently held by independent, Clover Moore, who has
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The plague of aircraft noise generated by the opening of the third runway at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport has generated a protest movement on a scale not seen in many years. The draft environmental impact statement in 1991
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Family man John Howard's re-election to the leadership of the party-that-can't-find-a-leader has been accompanied by a barrage of comments on that most fundamental of institutions, the family. Howard admits that "on ... issues such as the
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Looking out: We should ask ourselves: Why?"Penology ... has become torture and foolishness, a waste of money and a cause of crime ... a blotting out of sight and heightening of social anxiety." — Paul Goodman
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Evidence is accumulating that unleaded fuel could be more damaging than leaded. Unleaded fuel may be causing new waves of cancer and making a profound contribution to environmental degradation. While declines in the amount
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A recent radio phone-in on the ABC on "Has Political Correctness (PC) gone too far?" had all callers agreeing that it had. They lamented that certain kinds of jokes can not be told without the teller being accused of being a
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Roger Clarke continues a debate Frank Noakes' letter (GLW #171) introduced a refreshingly reasonable note into our discussion of the ALP Left. His remark that Lenin "lived long ago and far away" is a fitting comment on the way that Lenin has
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Actively Radical TV — Community television's progressive current affairs program, every Friday at 10.30pm. This week's program is a documentary on the history of women's liberation. Guests include Nadia Stani and Francis Peters, who discuss women's
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Every year Green Left runs a fund appeal to help cover the costs of producing the paper. 1995 is no exception. This year Green Left will again need at least an extra $100,000, above what we receive from sales, to ensure that we can go on publishing.
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The blockade of Parliament House in Canberra by 4000 timber workers has narrowed the terms of the export woodchipping licence debate to a question of "jobs versus environment". Yet all of the available information on employment
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Campaign for Coogee women's pool SYDNEY — A concerted community campaign has begun to save the Coogee women's pool. It is currently under threat from one man, who has contested the council's right to refuse him entry to the pool, which has
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ADELAIDE — Planning for International Women's Day is well under way. A guest speaker from Kababaihan, which represents women workers and urban poor of the Philippines, will be the feature of the day. Other speakers will take up issues related to
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Hundreds of students at the Australian National University occupied the chancellery building for nine days last September in a battle to prevent the introduction of up-front fees for a postgraduate legal course. This struggle led to the holding of a
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Our Fabulous Heritage: The Living Forest — The first of a six-part series on the National Estate Register. The Victorian Central Highlands is a large and very diverse area encompassing the magnificent mountain ash forests. These trees can be over
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By C.M. Friel What is the relationship between public ownership, private ownership and the environment? Public ownership itself is no guarantee against corruption, but it makes it much more difficult to misappropriate public property for
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Based on highly reliable international contacts, leaked documents and horoscopes from several TV magazines, Nostradamus' Media Watch presents a highly accurate forecast of political events across the globe. Second
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This year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) could declare the use, and threat of use, of nuclear weapons illegal, as a result of the United Nations General Assembly's December resolution to refer the question to the
News
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Department of Employment, Education and Training officers struck for 24 hours on February 1 for the necessary staff to carry out additional duties associated with the government's 1994 white paper on unemployment. The
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Film banned SYDNEY — For the first time in over a decade, the Censorship Board has banned a film from a film festival. The Spanish film, In a Glass Cage, deals with the themes of fascism, masculinity and physical abuse and was to be screened
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All in the game "It's like treasurers lying about budgets. There are some things you're allowed to be slightly dishonest about in politics without giving away the game." — Former NSW Liberal police minister Terry Griffiths, explaining why Liberal
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ADELAIDE — South Australian teachers are gearing up for a confrontation with the Liberal state government over enterprise bargaining. The government has launched a campaign of misinformation in an attempt to get teachers to
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Workcover changes a threat to workersADELAIDE — More than 400 angry workers and community members crammed into the Irish Hall on February 1, hoping that state industrial relations minister Graham Ingerson would allay
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Ten thousand rally against woodchippingMELBOURNE — In what has been described as the biggest mobilisation in defence of the environment since the Franklin Dam campaign, 10,000 people rallied on January 29 against the
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Public tenants union fights privatisationMELBOURNE — Late last month the Kennett government defunded the Public Tenants Union (PTU) by putting the funding traditionally available to it up for tender. The bulk of the
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Actions to save forests Following a series of actions in January to oppose the chipping and export of old-growth forests, further protests are planned for February. These include a rally in Newcastle on February 18, in Sydney on February 19
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Brisbane protestBrisbane — Some 200 people attended a speak-out against woodchipping on February 3 in the Queen St Mall. The action, called by Resistance, demanded that the government protect all old growth forests by
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Union takes anti-woodchipping stand The construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has distanced itself from the recent activities of the union's forestry division in the woodchip debate. Martin
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Pro-woodchipping rallyPERTH — Some 1500 people, mostly timber workers and families from the state's south-west, attended a rally in the city centre on January 30. The rally, organised by the pro-woodchipping Forest
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There were angry scenes outside Parliament House last week, as some 4000 timber workers — assisted by their employers — made their demands very publicly. By contrast, the environmental movement has yet to make its presence
Analysis
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Editorial: Another slap in the face Last year, Prime Minister Keating labelled strident supporters of cuts to the budget deficit as "deficit daleks". This year, following the large increase in the balance of payments deficit, Treasurer Ralph
World
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Recurrent Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers stationed at the military checkpoint near Netzarim in the northern Gaza Strip have raised the question of whether or not the settlement should be evacuated. The killing of
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US court win for bigots In Boston, a gay, lesbian and bi-sexual group, GLIB, has been prevented by a court ruling from taking part in the St Patrick's Day parade through the city. The US District Court ruled in January that the South Boston
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Times are hard in Cuba. The collapse of the socialist bloc has led to an estimated 85% drop in total external economic relations — that is exports, imports and foreign aid. The US trade embargo has been strengthened through the passage of the Torricelli Act, making it impossible for the West to make up for the bulk of the loss in trade with the socialist bloc.
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In the Netherlands on January 23, the government of Portugal began action in the International Court of Justice against Australia for signing the Timor Gap Treaty with Indonesia. United Nations resolutions still recognise Portugal as
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Renato Constantino Jr, president of the progressive federation of mass organisations Sanlakas and convener of the Asia Pacific Coalition on East Timor (APCET), has appealed to the pro-democracy movement internationally to support a
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HAVANA — "You are probably wondering who the foreign minister is ... well I'm it". With these words, Roberto Robaina opened a discussion with a group of some 40 Australians on January 20, the day after the departure of Gareth
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Indonesian terrorism The National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM) reports that Indonesians from Java on January 25 stabbed to death Atai, an East Timorese of Chinese ancestry, in Bairro Pite. It was not immediately known whether the killers
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While he was in Sydney, internationally renowned author NOAM CHOMSKY was interviewed by the alternative media. Last week we featured his comments on the Middle East. In the same interview, Anna Pha of the Guardian asked whether, in the light of the
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MARINA CARMAN was in South Africa in December to attend the national conference of the African National Congress. While there, she obtained this interview with three prominent left activists: JEREMY CRONIN, a member of the Political Bureau of the
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A report in late January from the liberal Turkish Daily News unveiled the latest in the Kurdish struggle for independence: a Kurdish-language satellite TV station, broadcasting from Britain. According to the report, the
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MOSCOW — On January 21 and 22, the Third Congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) was held here. No sensations were expected, and none occurred. Nevertheless, the congress was an important landmark
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MOSCOW — When Russian President Boris Yeltsin in late December refused to sign this country's first-ever AIDS legislation into effect, the broad response among health workers and human rights activists was one of relief.
Culture
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Dundunbanza! Sierra Maestra World Circuit through Larrikin Entertainment Reviewed by Norm Dixon As the Adelaide WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) festival approaches, world music enthusiasts are licking their lips at the prospect of some of
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Heavenly Creatures Directed by Peter Jackson Written by Frances Walsh and Peter Jackson Starring Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet Produced by Wingnut Films Reviewed by Jenny Long Based on the true story made famous as one of New
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Giap's role in the Vietnamese revolution Giap: The victor in Vietnam By Peter Macdonald Warner Books, 1994. $14.95 (pb) Reviewed by Stephen Robson Written by a brigadier, the book concentrates on a military assessment of Vietnam's
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The Mardi Gras Film Festival February 16-26 Academy Twin Cinema, Paddington, Sydney Previewed by Philippa Marsden The month-long Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, which culminates in a huge night-time parade and party, is now a
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Penny Arcade's Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore! was welcomed back in Sydney on February 4 by a packed and enthusiastic audience. Written during the 1990 US arts censorship crisis to "stick it up the National Endowment for the
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Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 By Doris Lessing Harper Collins, 1994. 419 pp., $39.95 (hb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon To read Doris Lessing is to struggle between being unable to put the book down and wanting to