By Tarquin McPartlan and Vanessa Bushell CANBERRA — The idea of legal distribution of heroin to dependant users has been researched in Australia for the last four years. Some of the results have been used in the creation of heroin programs in
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By Ernest Tomic As a former member of the Communist Party of Australia, I wish to respond to John Percy's recent articles in Green Left about the history of the CPA. I was a member from 1983 to 1985. I joined when I was 16 years old. Growing up in a
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By James Vassilopoulos CANBERRA — The Greens won two Legislative Assembly seats in the ACT elections in February. They were elected on a platform which includes reducing waste, supporting an efficient and clean public transport system, quality
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Divorce is a topic that's barely ever out of the news — from Diana's worldwide plea for understanding to the never ending gossip about this or that celebrity. But some of the recent coverage, including a 60 Minutes "story" and Bettina Arndt's
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By Shane Hopkinson In early October CRA merged with its parent RTZ to form the largest mining company in the world with an estimated $14 billion in assets. The company also has big investment plans — to the tune of $750 million in Queensland alone
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The following speech was given by Cuban president Fidel Castro on October 22, 1995 to the United Nations General Assembly in New York which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the organisation. Half a century ago, the United Nations Organisation was
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By Kate Conson Cyclists are joining together and taking to the streets to demonstrate a variety of concerns. It's called Critical Mass and it happens in over 60 cities around the world. On the last Friday of each month, hundreds of cyclists together
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By Jeremy Oxley Giant US insurance company, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), has dealt the owners of the Freeport mine in West Papua, Freeport MacMoRan, a stinging blow by cancelling its US$100 million insurance coverage. The
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By Dave Holmes "The dominant impression of the massive international jamboree that marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nations", wrote Martin Walker in the November 5 Guardian Weekly, "was the extraordinary degree of resentment that the
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By Jennifer Thompson Senator Gareth Evans' comments to the Australian-American Association on November 21 leave no doubt about the Labor government's support for the continued presence of joint Australian-US spy bases here. He said, "The threat of
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By Peter Montague The attack on the environment by so-called "conservatives" in Congress has caused a radical re-thinking throughout the environmental community. People are recognising that they must stop working alone and start building alliances.
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"A man may as well open an oyster without a knife, as a lawyer's mouth without a fee." — Barten Holyday Yes. Because I want to live, I desperately need money for expert witnesses and to retain a responsive and talented lawyer. At this writing the
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Boycott Shell I was livid at the recent murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others in Nigeria. "Saro-Wiwa has led the battle against the oil multinational Shell's environmental vandalism of the Niger Delta region in southern Nigeria — home to 500,000 Ogoni
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By Karen Lee Wald HAVANA — On August 13, Reynaldo Morales, aged 42, died of AIDS. Reynaldo wasn't the first but his story is worth telling because it is an allegory of the progression of HIV/AIDS care in Cuba. When Reynaldo Morales returned from
News
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By Eva Cheng Demonstrations took place in several cities across Australia on November 22 to protest against the fourth French nuclear test at Moruroa atoll. In Sydney, more than 50 people gathered outside the French consulate. In Melbourne, 80 people
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The following letter was sent from the Weipa strikers to the Bougainville Freedom Movement. We are all very grateful for your expressions of support and solidarity in our fight for equal pay. Some of our managers are ex-Bougainville. Our experiences
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By Graham Mathews The federal government's final decision on the Deferred Forest Assessment areas (DFAs) is due to be made by federal cabinet on November 27. Since the decision on areas to be protected from logging was postponed in late October, the
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Despite their partial victory won in the Industrial Relations Commission last week, the workers at Weipa remain on strike, determined to stay out until equal pay for equal work is the certain result of their six-week struggle. Green Left Weekly's
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Qld Tamils hold peace meeting By Bill Mason BRISBANE The crisis in the Tamil Eelam, the northern area of Sri Lanka under siege from government troops, and the homeland of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka, has become a humanitarian tragedy of
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By Brendan Kays HOBART — For the last two weeks, the Wilderness Society and the Tarkine Tigers have been holding vigils at Parliament House lawns to protest against the destruction fo the Tarkine wilderness. On November 22, 40 people held a "wake"
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By Bill Mason BRISBANE — The proposed "competition" bill arising from the Hilmer report is "the most regressive legislation in the history of the labor movement in Australia", Brian O'Halloran from the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace told
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By Roberto Jorquera SYDNEY — Ninety people attended a public meeting for Cuban foreign minister Roberto Robaina at the University of NSW on November 22. In the evening Robaina attended a Cuba solidarity dinner with 250 supporters. The 39-year-old
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By Alex Bainbridge NEWCASTLE — Forty people protested against the execution of former Ogoni leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, outside the Shell depot in Broadmeadow on November 23. Demonstrators also condemned the Nigerian government's ongoing repression and
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By Alex Bainbridge NEWCASTLE — Regular readers of the Newcastle Herald could not have helped but notice a number of technical hitches in the November 24 edition. These included larger than normal photos, an increase in "magazine" articles with less
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Trade unionists and left activists organised actions around the country last week to condemn CRA's attempt at union-busting and show solidarity with the CRA workers striking for equal pay in Weipa. More than 400 workers, unionists and solidarity
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By Sean Healy MELBOURNE A state-wide meeting to discuss strategies to fight the Kennett government's "voluntary student unionism" legislation was held on November 20. Organised by the Student Unionism Network, the meeting was attended by more than
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By Roberto Jorquera SYDNEY — Sixty people attended a public forum, "Police fabrication and review of wrongful conviction", on November 23. The meeting was chaired by Green MLC Ian Cohen and organised by Justice Action, a community-based criminal
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By Brendan Greenhill BRISBANE — In a letter given to 4ZZZ, a group of low security prisoners have alleged that they receive worse treatment than murderers, armed robbers and child molesters. The fine defaulters at Westbrook Correctional Centre,
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By Kim Linden MELBOURNE — More than 50 people holding placards which read "Stop the racist Hindmarsh Bridge royal commission", "Boycott Brown's commission" and "Brown's inquisition sucks" gathered on November 18 outside the SA government travel
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By Nikki Ulasowski WOLLONGONG — Pickets were set up outside Tradelink stores here and in Nowra on November 17 following the sackings of six workers from Tradelink Plumbing Supplies. All were members of the National Union of Workers (NUW). NUW state
Analysis
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With the agreement signed at Dayton air force base, Ohio, the US has managed to achieve the ethnic division of Bosnia — something that Serbia hadn't managed in three and a half years of bloody fighting, despite the West's policy backing ethnic
World
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French students' strike escalatesBy Sam Stratham FRANCE Following the Chirac government's passage of the education budget on November 9, hundreds of thousands of students took to the streets across France on November 21. Education Minister Beyrou's
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By Norm Dixon On November 22, after 47 days on strike, 61% of striking Boeing workers in the United States voted to continue a strike that has virtually closed down the world's largest manufacturer of passenger jets. Workers rejected Boeing latest
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By Norm Dixon The Queensland Greens are to launch a campaign over the execution of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders. Internationally, there are growing demands for an immediate imposition of sanctions on Nigeria's oil trade and for
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By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — On November 10 aides came away from the bedside of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, hospitalised a fortnight earlier following a heart attack, bearing an order vetoing a recently adopted law which set out the basis for
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By Kevin Jardine or Mary MacNutt TORONTO — When France and China tested nuclear weapons this year the Canadian government expressed official "regret". However, PM Jean Chretien's effort to sell the Chinese government two nuclear reactors completely
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By Eva Cheng The recent Osaka heads of government summit of the 18 nations in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group was widely hailed as a success. While the meeting achieved little of substance, it revealed a major conflict of interest
Culture
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This new dyke video-zine is planned to come out every two months, as a fundraiser for Community Access Technology's equipment drive. It's a low budget community production, and is on sale for $10 at Black Rose, Half a Cow and the Bookshops, Sydney.
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On the box Programs of interest on Sydney Community TV (UHF 31) — Perleeka, indigenous Australians' program, nightly, 7pm. Art Experimenta, Mondays, 8pm and 11.30pm, and Tuesdays, 3am and 6.30am. Bent TV, gay and lesbian program, Thursdays, 10.30pm
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Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical PoliticsPolity Press, 1994. 276 pp.Reviewed by Neville Spencer To most socialists, a title such as Beyond Left and Right, would signal a dosage of fatuous small "l" liberalism. The author of this book
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EmmaWritten by Graham PittsDirected by Rosalba ClementeBelvoir Street TheatreUntil December 23Reviewed by Pip Hinman For those of us with a soft spot for things Italian, Emma is an entertaining and humorous look at one family's adaptation into a new,
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XenophobiaDe>Tri>MentalCooking Vinyl through FestivalReviewed by Sujatha Fernandes Brutal murders, police harassment of young Asian and Black youth, constant stop and searches, and immigration laws that target Asians and Black people are all part of
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Dangerous MindsStarring Michelle PfiefferReviewed by Sujatha Fernandes Dangerous Minds is a film about empowering young black and Chicano people in the US by giving them the tools to think and fight against the cycle of violence and poverty that
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The Rise, Corruption and Coming Fall of the House of SaudBy Said AburishBloomsbury Publishing Co, 1995 (pb)Reviewed by Adam Hanieh Saudi Arabia is a country that conjures up many varied images. Oil, desert, camels, and Islam combine to form the
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Confessions of a rabbit fancier You may dote on cats (for reasons best known to yourself) or harbor a passion for domesticated canines ... but I love rabbits. Instead of all that meowing and barking, give me a bunny fricasseed, baked or stewed. Such
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Returning on FootPenelope SwaylesGirl Zone RecordsReviewed by Jen Crothers The latest release by Melbourne artist Penelope Swayles is a rollicking double album of folk tunes. It spans themes of love and friendship, racism and environmental
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Nervous Arcs & The Body in TimeEdited by Spinifex Press1995, 239pp.Reviewed by Afrodity Giannakis Nervous Arcs & The Body in Time is a collection of poems by two Australian poets, Jordie Albiston and Diane Fahey. It is divided in two sub-collections:
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MY FRIENDS — I'm setting forth upon a journey I'm not fleeing, I am searching For the side that will be fighting What I fear. I wish that I could stay here A moment longer, Hug you all a little harder For I know soon I must leave you On my quest.
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The Australian Heritage Commission is running a photo competition on Australia's wild rivers. The event is part of a program to identify and conserve this increasingly rare part of our natural heritage. The competition runs until January 29 with
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Global Pesticide Campaigner (September 1995, Vol 5, No. 3)Pesticide Action Network, North American Regional CentreIndividual subscription rate US$25Reviewed by Dot Tumney This issue is mainly concerned with assessing the 10-year Dirty Dozen Campaign
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Tom Paine: A Political LifeBy John KeaneLittle, Brown and Co, 1995, 644 pp., $48.95 (hb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon Thomas Paine was cheered by millions of common folk back in the 18th century. He wrote what were perhaps the three political best-sellers