Issue 223

News

By Bill Mason BRISBANE It only took a week for the revelation that Queensland is returning to the bad old days of Bjelke-Petersen, former Democratic Socialist candidate for the federal seat of Brisbane Zanny Begg told Green Left Weekly. The secret
By Anthony Benbow and Justin Randell PERTH — A mass meeting of bus drivers on March 7 demanded the state Liberal government suspend its "competitive tendering" process or face further industrial action. The drivers, members of the Public Transport
By Nicolle Berell SYDNEY — On March 7, NSW teachers struck in support of their demand for a 12% pay rise with no productivity trade-offs. More than 2500 teachers packed Town Hall in one of several strike meetings that took place across the state to
By Lisa Macdonald The right-wing National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI) is sponsoring an end of the month visit to Australia by former Greenpeace campaigner Patrick Moore. Since 1991, Moore has been working for the British Columbia Forests
By Alex Bainbridge NEWCASTLE — CRA subsidiary, Novacoal, rejected an offer on March 7 by miners' union, CFMEU, to guarantee its profits to the tune of $250,000. The Vickery mine near Gunnedah has struck for almost seven months over compulsory 12
By Bill Mason BRISBANE - Several hundred Aborigines and supporters rallied in the Ipswich Mall on March 7 to condemn the newly elected independent MP for Oxley Pauline Hanson for racism during her successful election campaign in the Ipswich-based
By Pip Hinman Big business is salivating at the prospect of appropriating an even greater share of the country's wealth under a Coalition government. But given that John Howard says he intends to honour his $6.4 billion election promises despite a
By Chris Raab The four 1995 editors of the La Trobe University student paper Rabelais are being threatened with six years' jail and a possible $72,000 fine each. An increasing number of students in Victoria are being arrested and charged with a
By Nikki Ulasowski WOLLONGONG — Fifty women attended the year's first women's collective meeting at Wollongong University. The meeting discussed ideas of what the collective should be and what campaigns should be organised. Ideas flowed, such as
By Lisa Macdonald Despite the large number of small progressive parties and independents contesting the federal elections on March 2, the vote for these alternatives was relatively low. The Australian Democrats, promoted by the establishment media
Thousands of people from around Australia took to the streets in rallies, marches and festivals to mark International Women's Day last week. From Perth, Julia Perkins reports that 350 people attended a rally and noisy march around Northbridge on
By Neil Eveleigh BRISBANE — ASIET (Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor) hosted a forum at the Resistance Centre on February 29 on "East Timor and Australian foreign policy". The forum included speakers from the Australian Democrats,
By Seetal Dodd MELBOURNE — Hospital services in the northern region, covering the Austin, Repatriation, Fairfield, PANCH, and Bundoora hospitals, are entering their third week of industrial action. Strong bans have been in place on all hospital
NEWCASTLE — The notion that feminism is irrelevant in the '90s is being challenged on Newcastle University. After a period of several years without a prominent feminist presence on campus, a group of inspired women who recognise that the fight for
By Susan Price MELBOURNE — Hoping to capitalise on the Howard Liberal/National Coalition victory and the spin-off from the Grand Prix, Premier Jeff Kennett has called a snap state poll for March 30. The Democratic Socialists are all geared up with

World

By Phil Hearse LONDON — The February 15 publication of the report into the "arms for Iraq" scandal revealed what everyone already knew. In defiance of UN guidelines, Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s, and then John Major's in the 1990s,
By Jennifer Thompson The immediate costs of the four suicide bombings carried out in the last fortnight by groups in the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) are plain to see. While the Israeli political establishment has
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — International outrage is spreading following the February 6 arrest of Russian environmental activist Alexander Nikitin on charges of "betraying the motherland by espionage". A former naval captain, Nikitin was employed in
By Peter Montague In 1978, a small group of biologists studying the Elevenmile Creek in Escandia County, Florida, were "startled" to find a population of tiny mosquitofish that all appeared to be males, even though some were pregnant and were bearing
By Norm Dixon The premier of South Africa's North West Province, Popo Molefe, signed an agreement with leaders of Cuba's Santiago de Cuba province on February 26 that will lead to exchanges in the fields of education, health, culture, sport,
On February 26, Cuban Television interviewed JUAN PABLO ROQUE, a pilot from the anti-Cuban US group Brothers to the Rescue. The following transcript of the interview was translated by MERRI ANSARA. Question: In the last few hours the Cuban Foreign
By Norman Solomon The news should have caused a national uproar. In a decision with momentous implications, the new World Trade Organisation ruled that the US law known as the Clean Air Act is unacceptable because of restrictions it places on
President Ernesto Samper of Colombia is struggling to hold on to power amidst increasing evidence that his 1994 election campaign was financed by the drug cartels. LUIS AUGUSTO GARCÍA GUERERO of the Camilista Union — National Liberation Army
AIDS: Is the Cuban strategy working? By Karen Wald [This article is a response to a letter in GLW #215 from Ken Davis, criticising an article by Karen Wald in issue 214.] I wish I had time to answer individually and promptly all the people, like Ken

Culture

Bongo FuryBongo FuryIndependentReviewed by Jenny Long Bongo Fury, the first album from Ray Pereira's Melbourne-based band, draws together the rhythms and sounds from countries and cultures that connect drumming with community life. The band's music,
Economic Fundamentalism: The New Zealand Experiment — A World Model for Structural Adjustment?By Jane KelseyPluto Press, 1995. 407 pp., $34.95Reviewed by Eva Cheng Economic Fundamentalism is a well-documented and substantial attempt to evaluate
The Demidenko FileJohn Jost, Gianna Totaro, Christine Tyshing, (eds)Penguin, 1996, 300 pp., $14.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon Helen Darville's prize-winning novel, The Hand that Signed the Paper, is an anti-Semitic apology for the Holocaust. Yet
Palimpsest: A MemoirBy Gore VidalAndre Deutsch: 435 pp.Reviewed by Dave Riley On the final page of this book, Gore Vidal informs us that the actor Paul Newman has just rung and proposes dinner with the Clintons. Why not? "Since no one else is talking
Ballot Measure 9ABC TVWednesday, March 20, 8.30pm (8 in SA)Reviewed by Jen Crothers Coming two weeks after the ABC's coverage of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Ballot Measure 9 is a reminder that the fight for equal rights is yet to be won.
The Doom GenerationStarring Jonathon Schaech, Rose McGowan, James DuvalDirected by Greg ArakiScreens from March 21Sydney: Verona Cinema, PaddingtonMelbourne: George Cinema's and variousReviewed by Natasha Simons If you liked Pulp Fiction, you'll also

Editorial

Both the establishment media and the major party bosses have attempted to characterise the racist pre-election statements of National Party candidates Bob Katter and Bob Burgess, disendorsed Liberal Party candidate Pauline Hanson and former ALP