By Tim Gooden
CANBERRA — The ACT government offered voluntary redundancies to workers in the Health Department, with bonuses for early exits, on September 7, in the wake of a consultancy report that recommends trading 300 jobs for $48 million
Issue 202
News
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE Queensland Premier Wayne Goss faced his greatest political humiliation when he was forced to renominate dumped speaker Jim Fouras in the face of the threat of defeat on the floor of state parliament, as the new
SYDNEY — Long-term communist activist Denis Freney died from cancer on September 2 at the age of 58. An important figure on the left, Freney joined the Labor Party at 16, the Communist Party at 18, and then the Trotskyist movement, which led him to
By Anthony Benbow
PERTH — In a dispute with the state Liberal government which goes far beyond wages and work conditions, teachers are now in the ninth month of a campaign to improve public education. The State School Teachers Union of WA
Australia's Washington embassy was picketed on September 5 by 50 protesters, including consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Greenpeace activists, condemning BHP's role in the PNG government's plan to outlaw compensation cases against the BHP-owned Ok
By Tamara Desiatov
PERTH — Up to 200 TAFE teachers, students and supporters rallied here on September 6 after three days of statewide strike action called by TAFE members of the State School Teachers Union (SSTUWA). The action was supported
By Norm Dixon
Years of anger and frustration at the French government's refusal to heed the wishes of the people of Tahiti have erupted into the most serious rebellion ever seen in this Pacific country. Tea Hirshon, spokesperson for the
By Rurik Davidson
PERTH — The Murdoch University administration is attempting to force the student guild to retract the latest issue of its newspaper Metior. It is threatening to cancel the leases for all the amenities run by the guild, in
SYDNEY — A march to commemorate the death, 12 years ago, of John Pat, who was killed in the west Pilbara town of Roebourne, Western Australia, will take place on September 23. This annual event also serves as a reminder that Aboriginal deaths in
By Chantal Wynter
MELBOURNE — In the first week of September tram workers held a series of stop-work meetings to vote on an enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) proposed by the Public Transport Union. The EBA consisted of 10 conditions to be
By Lisa Macdonald
Within hours of the Chirac government's detonation of the nuclear test at Moruroa on September 6, anti-nuclear protesters around the world condemned the move and warned of the disastrous environmental and health consequences.
Darwin uranium shipment delayeBy Tom Flanagan
DARWIN — Anti-nuclear protests have influenced Energy Resources Australia, the operator of Ranger uranium mine, to delay a scheduled shipment of uranium ore. On September 7 the mine's general
By Lisa Macdonald
The 75th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Australia in October will be marked by a range of events being organised by socialists around the country. One of the features of these commemoration activities
By Bernie Brian
DARWIN — Two students from the University of East Timor, currently imprisoned in Dili's Becora prison, have written to Northern Territory University students requesting help in their campaign for release. The letter, dated June
Culture
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.
Disney admits subliminal sex messages
SYDNEY — PACT Youth Theatre is presenting a play centring on the lives of inner city youth, The Train Almost Stops at Erskineville. It will run for three nights from September 29 to October 1 at Sydney Street Theatre Space. Entry is free but
By Matthew Abud
So far, the reactions to the Demidenko-Darville hoax have been polarised: those who don't know what they're arguing for, becoming tangled in all their own contradictions, and those who do. For its supporters, The Hand that Signed
Women, the State and Revolution: Soviet Family Policy and Social Life, 1917-1936By Wendy Z. GoldmanCambridge University Press, 1993. 351 pp., $39.95Reviewed by Pip Hinman Wendy Z. Goldman has done a great service: she has filled a gap in the history
The "ranaways" colour themselves,
Scooping saffron and silver and copper-green
From the old shell casings, forgotten on mantle-pieces
Sparkle shims on their Tungus hair, knotted strong,
They brown their feet in the mud dust,
Actively Radical TV — Community television's progressive current affairs program tackles the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Friday, 10.30pm.
Movie Matinee: Curfew (1993) — The stressful routine of
A humane look at inhumanitBlackrockWritten by Nick EnrightPerformed by the Sydney Theatre CompanyThe Wharf, SydneyUntil October 14Reviewed by Lisa Macdonald One summer night at a party on Blackrock beach, a 15-year-old women is brutally raped and
By Leon Harrison
PERTH — The annual gay art exhibition, which was to be staged at the Western Australian Museum during the 1995 Pride Festival, has been banned. The exhibition, entitled "Queer as Hell" and organised by That Way Inclined Gay
Radio National celebrates PNG's 20 years of Papua New Guinea's independence — Throughout the weekend of September 16 and 17, ABC Radio National will be devoting considerable air time to programs emphasising the history, culture and politics of our
The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence and the Future of AmericaSteven Fraser (ed)BasicBooks, 1995. 216 pp., $16 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon In the last few months, you may have seen an imposing book glowering down at you from the new releases
SYDNEY — Now in its third year, the NSW Writers' Centre Spring Writing Literary Festival on September 16-17 is shaping up to be an exciting combination of innovative programming, professional organising and imaginative use of the heritage venue.
Editorial
The major mobilisations in Tahiti in recent months have repeatedly stressed the links between the Maohi people's struggle for independence and the struggle for a nuclear-free world. It's obvious that if the Chirac government didn't have the option of
General
By Jorge Jorquera
Days after the bombing of the presidential house, La Moneda, on September 11, 1973, we still waited for parents and family to return. Tens of thousands of workers had remained in their factories to defend the Salvador Allende
By Eva Cheng
In a country where a large number of women are kidnapped for sale; female infanticide is common; illiteracy, unemployment and school dropout rates among women are persistently much higher than for men; the number of women in higher
By Jennifer Thompson
Farouk Qaddoumi, head of the PLO's political department, called on the Palestinian leadership to halt talks with Israel at a press conference in Amman on August 14. He presented an alternative program for peace, analysing
By Sujatha Fernandes
After 17 years of rule by the right-wing United National Party (UNP) government in Sri Lanka, the People's alliance (PA) was elected to government in August 1994 on a wave of popular support. One of its main promises was to
By Tyrion Perkins
[From June 28 to July 21, 13 people from Australia visited Nicaragua on a work-study brigade. This is the second article based on the brigade's experiences.] While the FSLN prepares for the elections in 1996, the political
Peter Montague
People calling themselves "conservatives" in Congress are preparing to flay US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists for the agency's four-year effort to determine the true hazards of dioxin. Dioxin is a highly toxic
By Lolo Houbein
Recently I returned from my second visit to Tibet. The situation was much deteriorated. Not only are the main streets, Barkhor market and Jokhang temple in Lhasa under constant surveillance through cameras hung from the eaves of
By Jennifer Thompson
"We have to follow through on our commitment to protect Sarajevo and the other (UN-designated) safe areas", President Clinton said last week. "We cannot allow more innocent civilians to die there. This war has to end by
By Helen Jarvis
HANOI, September 2 — September is the time for typhoons in Vietnam, and Hanoi has this week been lashed by the fifth typhoon this season, severely curtailing the preparations and rehearsals for the long-awaited 50th anniversary
By James Balowski
On September 6, around 1000 workers and labour activists rallied at the national parliament in Jakarta. They were demanding an improvement in working and living conditions, and better resolution of industrial disputes.
By Jennifer Thompson
Fifty Iranian political refugees threatened with deportation to Iran began a sit-in in the Ankara offices of the recently formed United Socialist Party of Turkey (BSP) on August 4. Since then, their number has swelled to