Ten thousand rally against woodchipping
By Kim Linden
MELBOURNE — 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
Issue 174
News
Public tenants union fights privatisation
By Dave Mizon
MELBOURNE — 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
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
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
Brisbane protest
By Kathy Newnam
Brisbane — 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
Workcover changes a threat to workers
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — 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
By Adam Hanieh
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
By Pip Hinman
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
By Jennifer Thompson
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
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
Pro-woodchipping rally
By Anthony Brown
PERTH — 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
World
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
By Jennifer Thompson
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
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
By Tom Griffiths
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
By Boris Kagarlitsky
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
By Michal Schwartz
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
By Max Lane
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
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.
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
By Max Lane
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
By Irina Glushchenko
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.
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
Culture
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
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
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
By Lisa Renfrey
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
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
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
Editorial
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