By Adam Hanieh ADELAIDE — Activists from the Socialist Party of Australia, the Democratic Socialist Party and other progressive organisations are organising a seminar on November 19 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the
Issue 211
News
By Bill Mason BRISBANE — There was sufficient evidence for a jury to convict six police officers of depriving three Aboriginal youths of their liberty, John Gerard QC, representing the Aboriginal Legal Service told the Queensland Supreme Court on
By Anthony Benbow PERTH — After a three-month campaign of union action, the Western Australian government has been forced to back down on in industrial relations "reforms". In emergency negotiations with union officials on November 6-7, Premier
By Liam Mitchell SYDNEY — Approximately 800 people rallied at Tempe Reserve on November 5 as part of the ongoing campaign against aircraft noise in southern Sydney suburbs. The rally, organised by the coalition of 13 councils that formed to
By Emma Webb ADELAIDE — Over 100 Semaphore residents and environmental activists have been blockading bulldozers and trucks from sand mining Semaphore beach. Since 1974 the Coastal Protection Board (CPB) has regularly moved sand from the beach,
By Bill Mason BRISBANE — National strike action looms in the mining industry as Comalco took out legal writs against striking workers at the company's Weipa bauxite operation on November 11. Seventy-five award workers at Weipa have been on strike
By Dom Bromilow John Ondawarme and Matthew Jamieson spoke about the movement for a free West Papua at a November 7 meeting, co-sponsored by Resistance and the Australia West Papua Association. They said that, while the establishment media had largely
By Bill Mason A group of Torres Strait islanders, led by Jim Akee, have held meetings on the Murray Islands in preparation for a move to declare the islands independent from Australia and set up an interim government. The independence move has drawn
By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Workers who fight for bigger lump-sum payments under the Queensland government's new workers compensation scheme may have to pay the legal costs of both sides. Union and legal bodies said on November 3 that the scheme made
By Frances Berney On October 19 the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, Simon Crean, announced changes to Working Nation — the government's White Paper on employment and growth. He also praised the success of the initiatives which, he
By Karen Fletcher SYDNEY — NSW TAFE teachers will strike for 24 hours on November 14 to protest the state ALP government's application of national competition policy to vocational education and training (VET) — which expressly goes against ALP
By Jolyon Campbell and Jeremy Smith MELBOURNE — In the last three weeks Victorian premier, Jeff Kennett, has upped the ante against the Save Albert Park (SAP) campaign. On October 23, in a wild outburst, Kennett accused the protest group, its
By Sujatha Fernandes SYDNEY — More than 3000 people rallied in Burwood Park on November 11 in a prayer meeting and fast organised by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations. The event was part of an international day of action in
By Melanie Sjoberg ADELAIDE — On November 9, Grand Prix visitors were confronted by a group of School Services Officers (SSOs) determined to raise awareness about the state Liberal government's attacks on their jobs. Members of the Public Service
By Hendrik Gout ADELAIDE — In two months' time a multinational consortium will take control of the state's water supply. United Water, a French, English and Australian firm, has the contract to deliver water to every house, shop, office, factory
By Chris Spindler SYDNEY — Members of the CFMEU working at the Prince Alfred Hospital site have had their pay stolen. As a result there is an "all day, every day picket" at the site and a black ban on any further work until the workers get paid.
By Neville Spencer The Committees In Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean (CISLAC) held its annual national consultation in Adelaide on November 4 and 5. The Latin American continent, previously dominated by military regimes, is now
World
BALI, Indonesia — On November 8, an international ecumenical delegation was expelled from East Timor. The delegation, which included Namibian MP Daniel Botha, Brian Brown of Freedom House, Australian Aboriginal poet Lionel Fogerty, Australian
By Jennifer Thompson The proclamations by governments and the media of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as a courageous "peacemaker" are not surprising given his Nobel peace prize, shared with his replacement, Israeli Foreign Minister
Struggle continues after Ogoni leader is executed By Norm Dixon On November 10, in defiance of international outrage, the Nigerian dictatorship executed Ken Saro-Wiwa a leading campaigner against the environmental devastation of his homeland by the
Guatemalan military steps up harassmentBy Gabriel Torres On November 4, two-year-old Juan Carlos Velasquez Menchu was snatched from his mother's arms by heavily armed men, believed to be from the military, a block a way from peasant leader Rigoberta
US to resume nuclear weapons' tests By Eva Cheng On October 27, the US government announced plans to carry out six underground tests of nuclear materials, including plutonium, over the next two years. The tests could modernise and upgrade what is
Exporting the 'ALP model' to Britain By John Pilger In a recent article in the Guardian, the [British] Labour MP Denis MacShane lauded the "compelling model" of the Australian Labor government. "What is the secret of its success?" he asked, listing
Sinn Féin national executive member, Dodie McGuinness, is currently touring Australia. Dodie, a native of Derry, has been actively involved in republican politics since the early '70s. Her party responsibilities include international work,
NSSP campaigns for peace in Sri Lanka By Sujatha Fernandes On October 17, after peace talks had failed, the Sri Lankan government launched a major offensive against Jaffna, the citadel of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) in an attempt to
Four leading members of Mexico's ruling elite have been assassinated over the past two years. Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and six other people died in a gun battle at Guadalajara's Miguel Hidalgo international airport
By Lisa Macdonald Five hundred dock-workers in Liverpool have been sacked by the Mersey Harbour Dock Company (MHDC) after refusing to cross a picket line established by young "trainee" dockers fighting casualisation of their jobs. Dozens of ships and
UN condemns US embargo on Cuba again For the fourth year in a row, the UN General Assembly voted on November 2 in favour of a resolution to condemn the US embargo on Cuba. Only the US, Israel and Uzbekistan voted against the resolution. One
By Norm Dixon More details have emerged about how the apartheid state collaborated with Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party to murder its opponents. Former defence minister General Magnus Malan and 10 former security officers
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — Late in October the huge tractor plant in the city of Vladimir, 250 kilometres east of the Russian capital, laid off almost 30% of its workers in a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy. For the Russian government and
Culture
By Katie Hepworth On November 6 the first full-length edition of Student Underground was sent out to schools all over NSW. The newspaper was produced by the Secondary Student Anti-Nuclear Network (SSAN) and joins a large number of student papers that
Mr Riley gets his dream house Having a flutter with a little each way does no one any harm. And who knows, maybe you did pick the winner of the Melbourne Cup? If you did then you have tasted success. Prestige and financial reward are yours. Ever so
If This is a Man and The TruceBy Primo LeviAbacus, 1995. 398 pp., $16.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon The poisonous Demidenko/Darville rewriting of the history of the anti-Semitic horror of European fascism needs an antidote. There are none better
By Sujatha Fernandes SYDNEY — Hip hop originates from the alienation and frustration of young, black people in the US who are the victims of the racist system in which they are forced to fight vicious cycles of violence and poverty, with no control
Demons at DrivetimeDirected by Kerry BrewsterTo be screened on SBS Television's Cutting EdgeTuesday, November 21, 8.30pm (8pm South Australia)Previewed by Peter Boyle If you have been telling yourself that we are lucky in Australia do not face the
Transitions: New Australian FeminismsEdited by Barbara Caine and Rosemary PringleAllen & Unwin, 1995. 237 pp., $24.95 (pb)Reviewed by Carla Gorton Women's studies texts are no longer dowdy looking books your eyes skim over on the library or bookshop
DesperadoDirected by Robert RodriguezScreening at Hoyts cinemasReviewed by Roberto Jorquera and Michael Tardif Robert Rodriguez bases his new film Desperado on the 1992 film El Mariachi, also set in Mexico. It too uses the artist/musician as the hero
The Alliance Alternative in Australia: Beyond Labor and LiberalEdited by Robert LeachCatalyst Press, 1995.Left Book Club Co-operative, $17 (p)Reviewed by Jim McIlroy The Australian two-party political system is in crisis. After 12 years of right-wing
East Timor: Genocide in ParadiseBy Matthew Jardine with introduction by Noam ChomskyOdonian Press, 1995Reviewed by Jon Lamb Matthew Jardine is a US-based journalist and researcher who visited East Timor in July 1992, six months after the Dili
Editorial
The Australian government has informed PNG-based officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that it is cutting funds to the main camp for refugees who have fled Indonesian-controlled West Papua. Australian officials are