Youth rights attacked in NSW law
By Nick Soudakoff
SYDNEY — The state government's juvenile crime legislation is facing intense opposition from youth and welfare groups. The legislation allows police to detain people under 16 on
Issue 177
News
Thousands in Perth rally for forests and jobs
By Anne Pavy
Eight thousand people braved 40 degree temperatures to attend the "Ancient Forests/New Jobs — we can have them both" rally and march on the Perth esplanade on February 19. The
Police freed in abduction of Aboriginal children
By Mick White
BRISBANE — Magistrate Robert Quinlan on February 24 dismissed charges against six police who had previously admitted to abducting and terrorising three Aboriginal children.
Health fears at Leigh Creek
By Michael Unger
The Leigh Creek Trust, a group of 130 former Leigh Creek residents and workers, is preparing for a Supreme Court class action against the Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA).
Leigh
By David Mizon
MELBOURNE — The management of Caltex's Kurnell refinery launched an attack on wages and conditions in April 1994 with glossy brochures and a gaggle of US managers.
Since then, process operators, members of the AWU state
The statement below is being circulated for signatures in the union movement. Its initial sponsors (as individuals) are Ian Thompson, secretary of the WA branch of the Community and Public Sector Union, Glenn Ferguson, secretary of the Australasian
By Karen Fletcher
SYDNEY — Nearly 10,000 anti-woodchipping protesters encircled the NSW Parliament House on February 19 in a spirited show of strength.
Many participants had made their own placards and banners, expressing anger at both
Steel Line Doors strikers tour Melbourne
By Ray Fulcher
MELBOURNE — Three workers from Steel Line Doors in Brisbane, who are among 17 unionists on strike against racial and trade union discrimination since November, toured Melbourne
MELBOURNE — After spending $5 million in court costs, the Kennett government has finally admitted defeat and agreed to reopen Northlands Secondary College. The end of the battle came with a Supreme Court ruling that the Equal Opportunity Board
Progressives do well in ACT elections
By James Basle
CANBERRA — One week after the February 18 ACT elections, it is still uncertain who will govern. Either Liberal or Labor form a minority government.
The final make-up of the ACT
Students suspended over hair
By Rosalind Carr
MELBOURNE — Over the past few weeks, several Melbourne secondary schools have challenged their students' right to education because of the length or colour of their hair.
The media have
By Jennifer Thompson
The clamour of demands for action to cut the federal budget deficit and current account deficit has risen in the past month to a cacophony. Federal Labor faces the recurring problem associated with a period of economic
No Aircraft Noise Party launched
By Janet Parker
SYDNEY — More than 1000 people packed out Marrickville Town Hall for the launch of the No Aircraft Noise Party on February 21. The new party is contesting six lower house seats affected by
Environment policy launched
By Roberto Jorquera
SYDNEY — A lively discussion around environmentally sustainable alternatives marked the environment policy forum for the Democratic Socialist campaign in the NSW elections.
Speakers at
Building workers strike over pay claim
By John Nebauer
BRISBANE — More than 3000 CFMEU and BLF members voted to strike at a mass meeting in Brisbane on February 22. The strike, which is scheduled to last until midnight on February 26, is
Meeting discusses woodchipping
By Liam Mitchell
WOLLONGONG — A public meeting at the Resistance Centre on February 18 was told of distortions by the media and the timber industry in the debate over woodchipping of old growth forests.
World
By Michael Tardif and Sujatha Fernandes
COLOMBO — The Korea-Ceylon Footwear Manufacturing Company is a joint venture in the Colombo free trade zone. In the last four months the company has been the site of significant workers' struggles and is
By Peter Gellert
and Rosendo Mendoza
MEXICO CITY — In a desperate measure to shore up much-needed support for his crisis-ridden government, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo announced a major offensive on February 9 against the Chiapas
Sri Lankan students in eight-year campaign
Students at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies in Colombo have been struggling for eight years to win hostel accommodation, better facilities and increased funding. For the last two years, they have
By Norm Dixon
DETROIT — Walking along Michigan Avenue is a depressing experience. Forget the glitz and glamour on TV: this is the real United States. One of the Motor City's main thoroughfares, Michigan Avenue is symbolic of the crisis of US
By Max Lane
Indonesian President Suharto's son-in-law, Colonel Prabowo, has been cultivating an image of being interested in trying to reach some form of compromise solution in East Timor. He has visited both Bishop Belo in Dili and Xanana in
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Coal miners in Russia are moving toward an all-out confrontation with the government following a massive one-day warning strike on February 8.
The first all-Russian stoppage to be organised jointly by the
by Hannah Friedman
Ahmad Ibrahim Sa'id, engineering student at Birzeit University and Hamas activist, stood before his interrogators. They announced, "We've taken off the gloves. We're acting on an explicit order from Prime Minister Rabin to
Nawal Hassan Osman is touring Australia this month, sponsored by Community Aid Abroad. The tour focuses primarily on her work as director of the Grinding Mills Project for rural women's development in Sudan. However, she is also an outspoken
Young people harassed in six counties
Twenty-six per cent of 18-year-olds in the occupied six counties of Ireland say they have been harassed by British crown forces.
This information was contained in a report published in Northern Ireland
By Jennifer Thompson
In defiance of the Oslo peace accords, the Israeli government is continuing the policy of new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and proceeding with Israeli Prime Minister Rabin's plans to wall off these
By Stephen Marks
HAVANA — Famous for its support of armed struggle in the 1960s and 1970s, the Organisation of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL) recently held an international meeting in Havana on the theme
Culture
The Life and Lies of Bertolt Brecht
By John Fuegi
Harper Collins. 732 pp., $39.95, (hb)
Reviewed by Dave Riley
As the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, word went out that this action drew on the inspiration of "the three B's" — Biermann,
Poem: Timor
em = By John Tomlinson
Chorus:
Obrigado, thankyou, grazie
East Timor will be free
the people of this troubled world
will end their tyranny.
Don't look away
don't hide your eyes
or turn your faces to the wall
200,000
For women
Women in Focus, the only independent women's magazine in the south of NSW, is seeking articles from women for its spring edition on the issue of "How would women like to be portrayed in the media?" If you would like to share your
Nell
Directed by Michael Apted
Starring Jodie Foster
Reviewed by Tyrion Perkins
Nell is a movie to make you think. It is a fascinating story about a woman raised in total isolation from society by a speech-impaired mother.
Her mother
Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Propaganda in the US and Australia
By Alex Carey
University of NSW Press, 1995. 214 pp., $19.95
Reviewed by Alex McCutcheon
As Alex Carey sees it, "The twentieth century has been characterized by three
Hemp: The True Story
Produced by Gary Evans
$49.95
Hemp for Victory
United States government (which later tried to destroy all copies) $29.95
Both available from Casper Publications, PO Box 255, Narrabeen 2101
HEMP
8 page paper of the
The Playwright's Audience
The other day I met my audience
In a dusty street
He gripped a pneumatic drill in his fists.
For a second he looked up. Rapidly I set up my theatre
Between the houses. He
Looked expectant.
In the pub
I met
The Comfort of Men
By Dennis Altman
Minerva, 1995. 247 pp., $13.95 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
In 1971, Tasmania ceased to be part of Australia and became an independent nation. The Independist movement, "a movement which carried the
Only the brave
Directed by Anna Kokkinos
Starring Elena Mandalis and Dora Kaskanis
Reviewed by Jenny Long
This film won best film in the Dendy Awards for Australian short films during the 1994 Sydney Film Festival, and I went to it with
By Mark Gregory
"You can talk a lot and the words are soon forgotten; perhaps you can write, that might last a bit longer; but to sing about it is to create a lasting means of communication and Don did that ... His songs will become part of the
Editorial
Labor swaps media barons
What lies behind Prime Minister Keating's recent outburst against Labor's former favourite media magnate, Kerry Packer? In describing the rejected Optus-Packer plan for a regional pay TV duopoly (with Murdoch-Telecom) as