Forum discusses censorship
By Kathy O'Driscoll
SYDNEY — In response to a move by the chief censor to ban a film from the recent Mardi Gras Film Festival, festival organisers Queer Screen held a forum on censorship and the media on
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More action on racetrackMELBOURNE — Seven hundred people braved the heat on March 4 to protest against construction of the Grand Prix racetrack at Albert Park. A fortnight earlier, 1000 protesters had stopped work on the
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A ruling by a United States judge has put an end to a 15-year fight against breast implant manufacturers in the United States. The class-action lawsuit has resulted in the biggest product liability settlement in US history. Sixty
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Equal payThe International Women's Day events last week provided fertile ground for those wishing to look more "woman-friendly". Whether it's because they are facing elections (the ALP and Liberals), or a decline in support
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MELBOURNE — Fifty students from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and other campuses protested at the inauguration of Sam Smorgan (of Smorgan Smallgoods) as chancellor of RMIT on March 10. The rally was part of the preparation for the
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St Patrick's Day special: The Chieftains — The Irish folk legends recorded live at the Grand Opera House in Belfast. SBS, Friday, March 17, 12.30pm. Unearthing the Slave Trade — The excavation of sites in New York City have shed new light on
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East Timor campaign picks up paceSYDNEY — The campaign in solidarity with East Timor continued this week with a public meeting and a lively picket against the presence of Indonesian troops in Australia. A meeting
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In the face of flagging support for the Labor Party — both state and federal — the federal minister for transport, Laurie Brereton, has announced a budget plan to "fast-track" construction of Sydney's second airport at
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The war against the British miners, and the smearing of Arthur Scargill, are the subject of an important new book. JOHN PILGER examines the relations between governments, secret police and the media. Shortly before Christmas, Jonathan Dimbleby's
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Thank you Back in December, the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center imposed a letter writing ban that prohibited all of Georgia's prisoners from writing letters to our contacts, friends and supporters overseas. On February 23, 1995,
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Queensland bans safe-sex cardsBRISBANE — The Queensland AIDS Council is considering a challenge to the state chief censor's ruling on March 8 to ban distribution of sexually explicit swap cards on the grounds of obscenity.
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With the March 25 NSW election looming, an important opportunity exists to increase the pressure on both major parties to stop the destruction of our old growth forests. However, given that the woodchipping debate will continue
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The campaign against the staging of the 1996 Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park is gathering momentum. A demonstration of 20,000 people against the Kennett government on February 10 was led by the Save Albert Park group. As the construction works
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Green Left is not only a newspaper. Its purpose is not simply to report the news that others do not print. Green Left seeks also to change the news. It is with this in mind that Green Left has campaigned against the woodchipping of old-growth
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The worldwide scientific community has reached consensus that global warming is inevitable if humans continue to dump "greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere at anything like present rates. Greenhouse gases include carbon
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Cruising through EssenceMany readers have written to me asking why I write in Australian publications. The answer is because most Americans, especially editors and publishers, are not interested in hearing what goes
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DENIS DOHERTY, the social justice independent candidate for Port Jackson, is being supported by a variety of groups and independent activists. Doherty, who has taught Aboriginal children in Alice Springs and in schools in Queensland, the Northern
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Wearing of the Green — St Patrick's Day is remembered with special folk and choral music. ABC Classic FM, Friday, March 17, 7.05pm. Sunday Concert: Rory McLeod — The multi-instrumental musical nomad brings his politically aware,
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Coming outI admit to it. It was some time ago when I first realised that despite the pressure of my friends and family it was time for me to come to some resolution, if only at first for my own peace of mind. Once I had got
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SYDNEY — Standing in the seat of Marrickville in the NSW state elections for the Democratic Socialists is prominent women's activist Karen Fletcher. Fletcher was centrally involved in the International Women's Day organising
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Reflections on a debate by Roger Clarke Doug Lorimer (GLW #175) takes me to task for saying that "if the ALP were a capitalist party, there would be no reason for socialists to work inside the ALP". He suggests that I should therefore oppose
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One important fact which has not had much prominence in the woodchipping debate is that growing hemp could be a viable alternative to the woodchipping industry and would create more jobs. Philip Bamback from
News
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Rank and file discuss woodchip crisisSYDNEY— A lively "jobs and environment" meeting organised by the Rank and File Alliance was attended by more than 50 people on March 4. Gavin Hillier, the NSW secretary of the
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Not short enough "People's memories are amazingly short." — Mari-Ann Kelam, a spokesperson for Estonia's coalition government, which received only 5% of the vote in March 5 elections. The pro-capitalist coalition had presided over a big increase
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Women marched in their thousands across Australia on Saturday, March 11, for International Women's Day. In Sydney, Amanda Mitchell reports that more than 3000 women marched to Circular Quay, where they heard speakers on the theme "Women Around
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Energy Resources of Australia, the operator of the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu in the Northern Territory, announced on March 9 that it intends to release radioactive water into nearby Magela Creek. ERA has been given permission
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Stoppages planned against SA education cutsADELAIDE — The South Australian Institute of Teachers is planning a series of rolling stoppages on March 14, 16, 21 and 23. The demands are prevention of further cuts to
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Unions see MIM confrontationBRISBANE — Unions at strife-torn Mount Isa are predicting a major industrial confrontation following the March 10 appointment of Comalco Ltd's Nick Stump to head giant Queensland mining company
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CJC slams Pinkenba SixBRISBANE — The Criminal Justice Commission has called for the sacking of a senior police officer over the "Pinkenba Six" incident, in which six police were charged over the abduction of three
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Liberals threaten SA hospital lockoutADELAIDE — The state Liberal government has threatened to lock out workers who refuse to carry out full duties from Sunday, March 11. Cleaners and orderlies have maintained bans for
Analysis
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Smooth market functioning So "rogue trader" Nick Leeson blew $2 billion punting the wrong way on the Nikkei 225 index. So the Mexican peso has almost halved in value against the US dollar in three months. So last week the once mighty greenback
World
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The following statement for International Women's Day was issued by Women in Black in Belgrade. March 8th is the international day of women's action of solidarity against all kinds of discrimination against women. Women's solidarity is a
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MOSCOW — Unable to defeat the Chechen fighters, Russian generals have launched a new battle. This time the goal is to force the repeal of a law that allows male students to defer their military service. Complaining of a
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Italian computer network raided On February 28, at 7am, members of the Carabinieri Anti-Crime Special Operations Group raided the homes of a number of people in Rovereto and Trento associated with the local self-managed social centre "Clinamen".
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At least four groups of political activists braved arrest in the first week of March to make their voices heard in demand for greater democracy in China. They are of diverse background, posing a wide range of daring demands by
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Palestinians oppose talks while settlements continue The Centre for Palestine Research Studies in Nablus conducted its 15th public opinion poll February 2-4, interviewing a total of 1089 Palestinians 18 years or older; 669 interviewees were from
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The Zapatista uprising testifies to a new radicalism of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. A range of Indian organisations drafted the following declaration during the November assembly of the National Democratic Convention. They call for autonomy,
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Young people around the world are organising to campaign for social and environmental justice. Over the last five years, a network has begun to develop, opening up the possibility of bringing many of these groups together in collective action. It's
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MOSCOW — You've got a mountain of highly toxic industrial waste, which can't be reprocessed at a profit. It can be kept from contaminating the environment only if you're prepared to foot a heavy bill. What do you do?
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China and the US have locked horns repeatedly over trade issues in recent years, from the most favoured nation (MFN) benefits to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) membership and from trade balances to intellectual
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Fifteen Puerto Rican independence fighters, including six women, are currently enduring extremely harsh conditions of imprisonment in US jails. They are regularly strip-searched and held in solitary confinement with no outside
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Two years after "Gaza first" comes "Jenin first." Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin staged a public relations coup [in mid-February] when he offered to immediately transfer authority in Jenin to the Palestinian National Authority.
Culture
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Jess Hawk Oakenstar features at Sydney CDAt Sydney's first Cultural Dissent for 1995, on February 26, several entertaining women performers played to a lively and appreciative audience. The women's performance night
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Vengeful goddess Bandit Queen Directed by Shekhar Kapur Starring Seema Biswas and Nirmal Pandey At Sydney's Mandolin Cinema and Melbourne's Kino Cinema Reviewed by Karl Miller This film is based on the prison diaries of Phoolan
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Emotion Papa Wemba Realworld through Larrikin Entertainment Reviewed by Norm Dixon Released to coincide with Papa Wemba's appearances at the Womadelaide festival and other capitals, Emotion will come as bit of a disappointment for those
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The Simpsons Channel 10, Wednesdays Reviewed by Dave Riley Confronted with The Simpsons, Walt Disney would turn in his grave. If Uncle Walt's subterranean crypt had access to network television, maybe he would (finally) feel remorse for what
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Tasmania's innovative IHOS Opera returns to Sydney with its much acclaimed production of To Traverse Water. Like its piece of three years ago, Days and Nights with Christ, which dealt with schizophrenia, this production engages
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Beyond Blood: writings on the lesbian and gay family Louise Wakeling & Margaret Bradstock, eds Blackwattle Press, Sydney, 1995. 151 pp. $14.95 (pb) Reviewed by Kath Gelber Blackwattle Press promotes itself as "Australia's foremost gay and
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Huxley: The Devil's Disciple By Adrian Desmond Michael Joseph, 1994. 475 pp., $40.00 (hb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon Charles Darwin fretted for 20 years about publishing revolutionary materialist theory of the evolution of species. If all
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Once Were Warriors By Alan Duff University of Queensland Press, 1994. 198 pp., $15.95 (pb) Reviewed by Peter Riedlinger It was with some misgivings that I bought a copy of Alan Duff's novel. I'd read an interview he'd given and heard him
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Melbourne's Queer Film and Video FestivalMELBOURNE — Last year's Melbourne Queer Film and Video Festival provided audiences with the first opportunity to see Armistead Maupin's brilliant Tales of the City series, and