By Archie Moore MELBOURNE — Eleven political refugees imprisoned for up to 18 months at Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre have been on hunger strike since June 24. The group, eight Somalis, two Bulgarian Macedonians and an Iranian, are
Issue 20
News
Controversy over women's dance By Melanie Sjoberg MELBOURNE — Months after the event, Northcote City Council has refused to return a bond for the hire of Northcote Town Hall for the International Women's Day dance. The bond was provided by
By Fran Ellery SYDNEY — A Chilean naval training ship, used as an interrogation and torture centre during the military dictatorship, will be arriving in Sydney this week. During the Pinochet regime, the Esmerelda was "non grata" in most
By Rose McCann SYDNEY — Call to Australia Party leader Fred Nile has foreshadowed yet another attempt to restrict women's access to abortion in NSW. Nile, narrowly re-elected to the state upper house on May 25, with less than 4% of the
Browning acquitted on fire-bombing charges Anti-apartheid activist Kerry Browning was acquitted by a Canberra jury on July 4 on all charges related to the alleged fire bombing in 1988 of cars belonging to the South African and US embassies.
By Peter Boyle Minister for employment, education and training John Dawkins didn't succeed in his effort to push a cut in immigration through the ALP national conference in Hobart, but the issue is being taken up by the media and others.
Hot air at smog summit By Tracy Sorensen SYDNEY — An election promise by Liberal Premier Nick Greiner in the run-up to the NSW elections on May 25 has been fulfilled. A "smog summit" was held July 4-5 to talk about the Sydney region's worsening
By Tracy Sorensen SYDNEY — When the Jabiluka uranium mine site was sold to North Broken Hill Peko Ltd on July 3, the Northern Territory government and what the Australian calls "industry observers" started talking up the possibility that mining
Supporting Burma's struggle By Dick Nichols SYDNEY — A July 20 solidarity dinner here may wellmark the beginning of heightened support for the struggle of the Burmese people for democracy, according to Debbie Stothard of Burma Alert! After
BRISBANE — As a result of the Accord and enterprise bargaining, "the rank and file have less say in union affairs than ever before," Transport Workers Union Brisbane branch secretary Hughie Williams told an all-day seminar on June 30. Williams said
By Dick Nichols SYDNEY — In a special one-day sitting last week, the Liberal-National state government of Nick Greiner brought down proposals to lop 12,500 public servants off the payroll, privatise the Government Insurance Office and the State
WA Aborigines warn on heritage act By Leon Harrison PERTH — Aboriginal representatives have warned of a strong reaction if the state government goes ahead with pro-mining amendments to the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act. Following a statewide
Lesbian Festival '91 By Janet Fraser SYDNEY — Lesbian Festival '91 continues all this week (through July 14) with art shows, a trade fair, dance party, workshops, cabaret and films. A cafe at Glebe High School can supply tickets, conference
Green fridge The Australian Conservation Foundation has launched a quest for an energy-efficient, ozone benign, commercial/domestic refrigerator for use in Australia and developing countries. The ACF's newsletter reports that the quest will
By Peter Boyle MELBOURNE, July 4 — Hasan Donmez was lying on a camp bed in an old tent that couldn't completely keep out the winter wind. By his side was a bottle of water and some salt — all he had taken for eight days in his strike against
Analysis
The state of Roe v. Wade The film Roe versus Wade, shown by Channel 7 on May 29 (with a group of anti-abortion activists protesting outside) brought to life the legal and personal dimensions of the famous 1973 US Supreme Court ruling.
World
By Peter Annear It is not only in Yugoslavia that the crumbling of Eastern European Stalinism has reopened national dissatisfactions and disputes. For most of this year, Czechoslovak politics has been coloured by the question of Slovak
By Martin Mulligan On the 12th anniversary of the revolution, Nicaraguans suffer living standards that have plummeted since the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas in February 1990. In the last year, the annual inflation rate reached a
By Steve Painter The Yugoslav government's military actions against the breakaway Slovenian republic will almost certainly speed rather than slow the break-up of the Yugoslav federation. Already, there are clear signs of demoralisation in the
By Dan Connell SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — The stark, rugged mountains of the Sinai desert and the kaleidoscopic undersea world just offshore appear to form one of the most serene spots on earth. Yet a hidden conflict pits the hordes of tourists
Interview by Bryan Thomas FIONA BJOERLING is speaker of the Swedish Green Party. She was interviewed for Green Left by BRYAN THOMAS. How important do you think democracy is in helping to save the world? The Greens are concerned with two
By Peter Annear Concluding a series of articles, PETER ANNEAR reports from Prague on the outlook for Czechoslovak politics in the '90s. Once Civic Forum had to turn to constructive tasks of political and economic management after last June's
Greens call for support The Greens of Slovenia, an important part of the governing DEMOS coalition elected in April-May 1990, have appealed to all green organisations to call for recognition of the Slovenian republic. The June 27 appeal, signed
Challenge to land reform Mass anger was provoked on June 17, when National Assembly member Fernando Zelaya introduced a bill to rescind land ownership laws passed in March 1990, before the present government took office. The Sandinistas say
By Greg Adamson Thirty-two years after its revolution, Cuba is training 100,000 oxen for plowing, President Fidel Castro reported earlier this year. This underlines the extreme problems faced by the small Caribbean island. Cuba's natural
Radioactive leakage from Moruroa The presence of radioactive cesium-134 has been confirmed by analysis of plankton sampled last year in international waters close to France's nuclear test site at Moruroa in the South Pacific, according to a report
By Peter Gellert MEXICO CITY — Latin American left and democratic parties and movements met here June 12-15. The gathering, a continuation of the San Paulo forum held last year at the initiative of the Brazilian Workers Party (PT), was attended
Number One By Andrew L. Shapiro After years of slipping superiority and encroaching mediocrity, the "We're Number One" ethos is born again in America. General Schwarzkopf assures us we're the world's only superpower; President Bush hails the
By Mary Merkenich HATTINGEN, Germany — The German Greens are no longer a vehicle for social change, according to Jutta Ditfurth, the prominent "Fundi" who led a walkout from the party's congress in April. Speaking to Green Left, Ditfurth
Interview by Renfrey Clarke A chemistry graduate, Paul Soler-Sala has spent the past 10 months in the Soviet Union as a representative of the US environmental organisation Ecologia. During much of this time, he has travelled through the USSR
By Mary Judith Ress SANTIAGO, Chile — As many as one in four Latin Americans — 90 to 120 million people — could come down with cholera in the coming months, according to estimates by the World Health Organisation. The disease has reached
Interview by Peter Annear and Sally Low Despite difficulties faced by some of the older Green parties such as Germany's Die Grünen, around the world there is strong interest in green politics as a genuine alternative. ROSS MIRKARIMI works for
Culture
By Father Shay Cullen This is fiction, but it is based on a tragic reality. We are proud to present this short story by Father SHAY CULLEN, the founder of the Preda drug rehabilitation centre in Olongapo, the Philippine city adjacent to the US
Video on Gulf War By Stuart Wax SYDNEY — A new video, Consequences of the Gulf War, had its debut at the Trades Hall here on July 4. Film maker John Reynolds told the audience the media was biased and that he wanted to be "biased in the other
By Susan Mackie Queen of Hearts Screenplay by Tony Grisoni Directed by Jon Amiel Dendy Cinema, Sydney Reviewed by Susan Mackie Voted best film by audiences at the Sydney Film Festival, this story of a close-knit Italian family is told by
By Claire Wagner Brisbane's Fortitude Valley rocketed to national notoriety when the ABC screened scenes outside brothels and disclosed police corruption. CLAIRE WAGNER looks at the less "newsworthy" but more important issue of redevelopment.
CITY STATION FREQUENCY ACT Canberra 2XX 1008 NSW Armidale 2ARM FM 92.3 Bathurst 2MCE FM 92.3 Bellingen 2BBB FM 107.3 Bourke 2WEB 585 Bowral 2WKT FM 107.1 Coffs Harbour 2CHY FM 104.1 Forster 2GLA FM 101.5 Goulburn 2GDR FM
By Peter Boyle MELBOURNE — Consider a radio station which has been condemned by the Bulletin as "a front for terrorism" and attacked a decade later (in 1988) by former Labor minister Steven Crabb for defending the Builders' Labourers Federation.
By David Robie Plunder! By Roger Moody Published by People Against RTZ and its Subsidiaries (PARTIZANS), London, and Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA), Christchurch, NZ. 1991. A$12.50 Reviewed by David Robie Bougainville's
By Christine Kearney (Continued from page 28.) This freedom means that 4ZZZ, like other public stations, is able to play "non-commercial, progressive music with a bit of intelligence". 4ZZZ's motto of "Agitate, Educate, Organise" is reflected
By Barry Healy Down Under Chelsea By Mona Brand Directed by Sharon Singleton Stables Theatre, Sydney, until July 14 Reviewed by Barry Healy What is the price which communists pay for their commitment? Are the emotional costs of political
Editorial
Congratulations to you For those who don't read the small print on the cover carefully: this is the 20th issue of Green Left Weekly. That makes it an anniversary of sorts. And thereby hangs a tale — quite a few of them, in fact. When the idea