Four days before Saigon fell in 1975, when it had become clear it would fall, ABC Radio interviewed a spectrum of Vietnam protesters on their attitude. They chose to end the radio piece with my comments, which were, in sum: that I
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Radio National celebrates 100 years of commercial film making — Over the May 13-14 weekend, film buffs and others will have a field day (field weekend?). Programs include: The declining importance of the local cinema in country towns, May 13, 6am;
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Student organisation calls for solidarity According to Mautodok, a representative of RENETIL (National Resistance of Free East Timor Students), who is currently in Australia, "The May 13 demonstrations demanding Australia cut military ties with
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SYDNEY — "I hope people will be active and participate in the May 13 protests around Australia", Elino Santos told Green Left Weekly on May 3. For Santos, being "active and participating" has been a way of life in East Timor. From
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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. McNamara's Vietnam confessions
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Looking out: Racism and fascism: the wallMany readers of this column will know that from time to time I share this space with readers who have written to me citing their personal views and/or experiences that relate
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More accessible than your mum Dolly magazine in its May issue published a "Sex Extra" sealed section which apparently drew criticism from some parents and citizens groups. Although it had been about 15 years since I last picked up an issue, my
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The World at War: Red Star — The Soviet Union, 1941-1943 — The monumental series on the second world war examines two years when the Soviet Union alone fights Hitler's forces. The greatest land battles in history are fought on Russian soil at
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A Green Left seller in Sydney reports she was given an anonymous donation last week. While she was selling to another buyer near Town Hall in the centre of the city, the unknown man slipped a $50 note into her hand, took a paper and quickly
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There are an estimated 1 million industrial vessels fishing the world's oceans. Many of these ships are highly efficient in the ways that they find, catch and process fish. They are also wasteful of marine resources, and each year dump millions of
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May 5 was the 14th anniversary of the death of Irish Republican Army Volunteer Bobby Sands, who died in the hospital wing of Long Kesh (Maze) Prison after a 66-day hunger strike. Sands, who had won election to the British parliament while in prison,
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ADELAIDE — Streets were filled with the sound of honking horns at 4:30pm on May 4 as drivers supported the Resistance "Honk for East Timor" which linked up with the activists from the No Fees Tent City. With Resistance placards demanding that the
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Supporters of the big business parties may grumble about the undermining of democracy and "majority rule" through the election of several small parties to the NSW Legislative Council. But the approximately 130,000 people who
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Foul play The Sydney Morning Herald of April 20 published a report titled, "The Day the Balmain Boys Beat the Reds", by Brad Norrington on the book launch of The Forging of Votes by Dr Amy McGrath. He eagerly quotes the book's author when she
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Ian Cohen is perhaps best known for surfing at the bow of a warship in the quest for peace, scaling the chimney of a polluting incinerator to demand its closure and diving into murky waters to protest ocean outfalls. Today he is
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BRISBANE — Despite the biggest anti-government rallies since Labor came to power in Queensland, the controversial South Coast Motorway is to be built. Expressions of interest will be sought from private firms to design,
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The government's plan to corporatise and privatise public services under the proposals of the Hilmer Committee threatens to widen the gap between rich and poor. As well, there are serious doubts whether the extensive benefits being
News
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World Environment Day 1995SYDNEY — A World Environment Day march and rally, with the theme "livable cities, sustainable environment", is being organised for June 3. Plans are to march from Town Hall
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CANBERRA — National officials in the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) are anxiously watching the outcome of by-elections taking place throughout May. In recent months, widespread criticism has emerged of the union's
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4000 march for May Day in BrisbaneBRISBANE — Some four thousand unionists and members of political organisations marched here on May Day from the Trades and Labour Council to Albert Park in the annual Labour Day parade on
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Health insurance bill draws criticismFederal health minister Carmen Lawrence's Health Legislation (Private Health Insurance Reform) Amendment Bill has drawn criticism from a wide range of doctors, specialists and
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Virus in kangaroosA virus which blinds kangaroos has been discovered in three states — NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Researchers in NSW say the disease has the potential to kill off 7% of NSW's western grey
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Police seize computer equipment NEWCASTLE — Federal police agents have raided the operator of Megalink, a computer bulletin board system (BBS), and confiscated over $10,000 worth of equipment, according to a message posted on April 27 on a
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Filipina union leader tours BrisbaneBRISBANE — Terasita Carpio, a leader of the Philippines trade union movement, addressed several meetings and met union members during her recent tour here. Carpio presented a public
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HEMP week in BrisbaneBRISBANE — Last week at the University of Queensland HEMP (Help End Marijuana Prohibition) and the High Society organised events to highlight the many uses of hemp and its continuing prohibition in
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Solidarity night in BrisbaneBRISBANE — Sixty people attended an evening entitled "Solidarity with the fight for workers rights and justice and democracy: Indonesia and East Timor" at the Resistance Centre in New Farm on
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SYDNEY — Kingsford Smith Airport's international terminal was blockaded by some 500 protesters on Saturday, April 29. Organised by the Community Advisory Committee, the action was part of an ongoing campaign demanding an end to the noise and air
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Police called in ALP preselection brawlNEWCASTLE — Police have been asked to investigate allegations of fraud after an ALP preselection battle for the federal seat of Newcastle. The sitting member, Allan Morris, called
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Mt Isa dispute nears flashpointBRISBANE — The long-running industrial confrontation between workers at the giant Mt Isa Mines lead, copper and zinc mine and the MIM company seems set to escalate further as workers
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ACTU opposes immigration increasesIn a submission to the federal government's annual review of immigration programs, the ACTU has called for a freeze of the immigration intake in the next financial year at its current
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Vote for Last Chance "This is now the last chance left to me." — Former Tasmanian premier Robin Gray, standing for Liberal preselection for the Senate after failing to gain preselection for the lower house seats of Braddon and Bass.
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The right to demonstrate is under threat. May 12 is the deadline for submissions to a parliamentary committee investigating "the right to legitimately protest or demonstrate on National Land and in the Parliamentary Zone". In
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More than 6000 students across the country rallied, marched and occupied against university fees on May 3. The demonstrations were part of a second national day of action called by last December's No Fees Activists Conference.
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Union leaders stall DSS campaignSYDNEY — Despite the clear direction given to the NSW branch of the Community and Public Service Union (CPSU) by workplace delegates at the recent combined delegates conference (CDC), the
Analysis
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Peace in the Middle East — US style The US administration's decision to cut off all US trade and investment with Iran is a continuation of its policy to suppress any country in the Middle East with the potential to challenge Western countries'
World
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Four years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the economic crisis that followed in Cuba, the Cuban economy is starting to grow again. Cuba's real GDP grew 0.7% in 1994, marking what is believed to be the beginning of a
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Israel steps up land grabIsrael's announcement of the confiscation of 53 hectares of Palestinian-owned land in East Jerusalem, to build a new Israeli settlement and a police headquarters, is the biggest single land
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Violence increases in ManilaMANILA — Election-connected violence continues to rise. As of April 27, 66 persons were reported killed in various parts of the country. This is seen as normal in a country noted for bloody
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BORIS KAGARLITSKY is a former deputy in the Moscow City Soviet, a leading member of Russian Party of Labour (PL) and the author of several books about socialism after the fall of the Stalinist regimes in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. He writes
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Cuban representative in Ireland Cuban government official Javier Dominguez Martines visited Ireland during Central America Week as a guest of the organisers, which included the Cuban Support Group, and met with a delegation from Sinn Fein.
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The Solomon Islands ambassador to the United Nations, REX HOROI, prior to the recent World Climate Conference in Berlin, led a delegation to six European countries to lobby for further commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists
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Following the resignation of all the bourgeois opposition parties from the national parliament of Bangladesh in 1994, the country has plunged into a constitutional crisis. As well, large general strikes have destabilised the economy. Green Left
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Between December 1994 and February 1995, a dozen members of the West Australian South Africa Solidarity (WASAS) group visited South Africa on a work and study brigade. The group ran workshops with grassroots organisations struggling to deal with
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On July 14, 1994, all the major newspapers in Beijing published the "Detailed Implementations Regulations for the State Security Law." This law had been passed by the 13th session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National
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News of Israel putting up its settlements for sale leaked into the occupied territories as settlement expansion continued at full force and a West Bank settler physically attacked a foreign delegation. Al-Quds Arabic daily
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MANILA — On May 8, after months of often bizarre pageantry and promises, voters will elect officials for thousands of offices, from town councillors to provincial governors to senators and congresspeople. Among the
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On a historic occasion for the Indonesian labour movement, workers and students took to the streets to demonstrate on May Day for the first time since General Suharto seized power 30 years ago. The actions were initiated by the
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MOSCOW — First, in 1992, there was shock and disorientation as the beginning of "reform" threw at least a third of the Russian population into poverty. Then, in 1993 and 1994, even while output in the economy continued to
Culture
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Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw By Stephen Knight Blackwell, 1994. 308 pp., $24.95 (pb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon The Robin Hood legend has been popular for around 600 years. Amongst the latest to revive the tradition, as
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Big Noise — the Mambo Inn compilation Various artists Hannibal/Rykodisc through Festival Reviewed by Norm Dixon One of the refreshing aspects of the world music craze has been its growing popularity among the more aware and open-minded
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The New Victorians: A Young Woman's Challenge to the Old Feminist Order By Rene Denfeld Allen & Unwin, 1995. 339 pp., $19.95 (pb) Reviewed by Carla Gorton Critiquing "establishment" feminism has become the recipe for guaranteeing
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Book documents abuses on BougainvilleSYDNEY — Sixty-five Bougainville solidarity activists gathered at the state parliament theatrette on May 1 for the launch of Human Rights Abuses Against the People of Bougainville
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Before Sunrise Reviewed by Jane Schneider Before Sunrise is at best a charming love story exploring the bittersweet character-forming aspects of fly by night affairs. A couple meet on a train and spend an evening in Vienna together. What
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Caribbean warmth in Birmingham Jamaica by Night Andy Hamilton World Circuit through Larrikin Entertainment Reviewed by Norm Dixon Hailing from Port Maria, a little fishing village on Jamaica's north coast, and a resident of industrial
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Orton on stage in Melbourne The Ruffian on the Stair By Joe Orton Starring Dales Stevens, Alan King and Guy Phillips The Stage, 231 Smith St, Fitzroy, until May 20 Reviewed by Kelly Jean The subjects of Joe Orton's works were
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Lockerbie: The Maltese Double Cross Produced and directed by Allan Francovich The Cutting Edge, SBS TV, Tuesday, May 16, 8.30pm (8 in SA) Previewed by Peter Boyle On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the village of