By Norm Dixon
The African National Congress narrowed the gap between it and the National Party in the Western Cape local elections held May 29. Despite the ANC gains, the NP's continuing support from members of Cape Town's predominantly
Issue 235
World
Armed police raided the headquarters of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (New Socialist Party) in Colombo on June 1, while the party's central committee was in session. About 30 policemen armed with automatic rifles, grenades and sub-machine guns broke
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — If you hadn't had a pay packet in months, would you be holding off from protest action in order to avoid embarrassing the ruling authorities before the next elections? Probably not, and workers in Russia aren't doing so
By Norm Dixon
Oblivious to the terrible human rights record of the Indonesian dictatorship in occupied East Timor and West Papua, in Aceh and Indonesia proper, western governments continue to sell high tech weaponry to the Indonesian military.
By Graham Matthews and Karen Fletcher
On May 5, 1996, the people of the east German states of Brandenburg and Berlin soundly rejected by referendum a treaty to unify those two states. The treaty was defeated even though almost every major party
More than 15,000 people participated in the founding of the new Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) in Turkey on January 22. Ertugrul Kurkcu, a founding member of this party, recently visited Australia. He was interviewed for Green Left Weekly by Arty
Protests follow killing of East Timorese youth
By Edmund Thompson
East Timorese youths and their supporters in Jakarta have organised protests following the killing of an East Timorese youth, Manuel Soares, on June 7. Soares, 25, had moved to
New unpublished US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data documents that US pesticide use reached an all-time high of 567 million kilograms in 1995. This is over twice as much chemicals as were used 30 years ago when Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
By Norm Dixon
The brutal military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha is stepping up its harassment of labour movement activists. The British Committee of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR) and the London-based Committee for a
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — Most of Russia's population are following the election campaign with confusion and scepticism, mixed at times with curiosity and fear. The Yeltsin team has put its stake on three methods: "going to the people";
Black churches in flames
Over the June 10 weekend, two more black churches in the south were torched, in Greenville, Texas, bringing the total of such racist arson attacks to more than 60 since 1990. The number of instances is accelerating —
Culture
TrainspottingDirected by Danny Boyle Starring Ewan McGregor, Ewan Bremner, Johnny Lee MillerReviewed by Natalie Woodlock
If you're looking for a happy ending, or for a moralising don't-do-drugs-they're-bad-for-you film, you shouldn't see
MELBOURNE — Australia's first and only Melbourne-wide community broadcaster celebrates 20 years of broadcasting this year. Station manager Bruce Francis says, "From an idea of a small group of activists in 1974 to Australia's premier community
From: The Office for Open Communication
Circulation: All Coalition Politicians, State and Federal
Subject: Stamping out Political Correctness
When the Howard government came to power, it was obvious to all and sundry that a tide of political
By Sarah Stephen
HOBART — Over the past year, Mecca Performance Cafe has become one of the most popular venues for alternative political and cultural performance, as well as alternative political scene and discussion. Political groups such as the
If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?By Cynthia HeimelPicador, 181 pp., $14.95 (pb)Reviewed by Dave Riley It's true that the US of A isn't short of columnists. Name your preference, and there is sure to be some self-righteous wag claiming a few column
"... [they] set no value on anything we gave them.
nor would they ever part with any thing of their own
for any one article we could offer them ..."
For him the sea was another sky
And the sky another sea
Deep as wishing wells and both
As
MrayaAbdel Ali SlimaniReal World through FestivalReviewed by Jenny Long This album is an interesting introduction to the current evolution of Algerian "pop"-rai — the 1980 and '90s version of the bawdy, working-class rai originating from the
A short story by Craig Cormick
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" I'd tried to videotape Star Trek last night for my weekly fix of fantasy, and I'd accidentally taped some documentary off SBS. I was running it back and forward with the remote control, hoping that
Baker's DozenEnda KennyIndependently produced. PO Box 5018, Carlton 3053$30 (includes postage)Reviewed by Alex Bainbridge Enda Kenny is an Australian folk singer on the rise. Baker's Dozen, like its predecessor, 12 Songs, has been widely acclaimed in
Editorial
The outcome of last week's hard cop (Peter Costello) and soft cop (John Howard) routine around the removal of sales tax exemption for state governments was another blow to working people.
Not surprisingly, the federal treasurer's move early in the