Issue 237

News

By Liam Mitchell SYDNEY — Over the next few weeks, the NSW government will conclude the Interim assessment process to confirm which areas of native forest will be protected from logging. This is the second stage of the government's forest
By Lisa Macdonald SYDNEY — With shouts of "Sack the government" and "We'll fight to the end", more than 1200 angry people packed into St George Leagues Club in Kogarah in Sydney's west on June 27 to protest against the ALP state government's
By Nick Fredman SYDNEY — Plans for the August 25 national day of solidarity with East Timor were advanced at a national meeting held here on June 23. The actions, to be held in most major centres in Australia, will demand a free East Timor and
Supplementary motion for July 3 VTHC delegates' rally 1) This meeting calls on the ACTU to call a national 24-hour stoppage on August 19 as part of an ongoing mass campaign against the Howard government's Industrial Relations legislation. 2) This
By Brian Kelly DARWIN — On June 27, about 15 activists held a vocal demonstration for several hours outside the Indonesian consulate. The protest culminated in an "invasion" of the consulate by four demonstrators after security personnel refused
By Rebecca Meckelburg SYDNEY — The success of the East Timor: its future in the Asia Pacific conference, held June 21-24, was indicated by the attendance of more than 350 people, including 80 international guests. Another very positive outcome,
On June 27, Canberra CPSU members in the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA) called on the ACTU to organise a 24-hour strike on August 19 to coincide with its "Cavalcade to Canberra" day of action against Howard's
Call for lesbian and gay men to fight Howard's attacks By Samantha Lazzaro and Nick Everett BRISBANE — Four hundred people rallied here on June 29 as part of the annual Pride Festival. The theme of this year's rally and festival was "One
By Nico Warouw On July 26, almost 200 Indonesians living in Sydney attended a public meeting in Marrickville organised by a newly formed organisation, Forum Solidaritas Australia Indonesia (FSAI, Indonesia-Australia Solidarity Forum). Speakers
By Lisa Macdonald On June 21 Greenpeace released Dioxin Factories, the first major report documenting dioxin pollution in Australia, and called on the federal government to legislate immediately for a national pollutant inventory. The establishment
HOBART — Tasmanian teachers are stepping up their industrial campaign with the first ever strike-for-pay. Angry at the second lowest wage rates for teachers in the country, the Australian Education Union has announced rolling strike action
SYDNEY — "The media release from the Institute of Criminology (ACT), along with the media release from Amnesty International (London), echoes the many statements made by the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee and other Aboriginal
By Pat Brewer CANBERRA — The ACT Greens have introduced legislation to phase out battery egg production and sales over the next three years through random inspection of premises where animals are kept, labelling the eggs produced by such methods
By Maree Roberts CANBERRA — At the June 26 CPSU ACT branch conference, delegates voted for the branch leadership to organise a mass meeting as soon as possible to put a motion to the members for strike action against the cuts. It has become
WOLLONGONG — On June 8, Brian Lovell died at his home in Dapto following a short fight with cancer. The attendance at his funeral by people from all over Australia reflected the respect in which he was held by those who knew him. Brian was a

World

Amnesty International has called on the US government to ban the use and export of a remote-controlled electro-shock stun belt for prisoners that has just been introduced. AI said the belt appeared to be designed to degrade and torture prisoners "at
By Norm Dixon South African President Nelson Mandela surprised and disappointed many supporters when, after returning from a trip to Germany to woo foreign investors on May 24, he declared: "Privatisation is the fundamental policy of the ANC, and
By Norm Dixon Opposition is growing to Papua New Guinea's impending military offensive against rebel strongholds in Bougainville. Most harmful to Port Moresby's cause has been criticism voiced by Theodore Miriung, Premier in the PNG-appointed
By Jennifer Thompson The Turkish government has begun a brutal attack on legal left and Kurdish parties as pressure mounts on its military over its dirty war in Kurdistan. The Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP), Labour Party (EP) and Liberty
KATY TYRRELL, a member of British Militant Labour and leader in UNISON, the biggest trade union in Europe, visited Australia in May. Green Left Weekly's LISA MACDONALD interviewed her in Sydney. Question: What will the election of a Blair-led Labour
Regular readers of Green Left Weekly will have noticed one or two photos in every issue taken by Ken Bansgrove. Ken is one of the many supporters of Green Left. A keen photographer, Ken attends many of the progressive events and demonstrations in
By Peter Montague The chemical industry received some extraordinarily bad news in early June. Science magazine published a new study showing that some combinations of hormone-disrupting chemicals are much more powerful than any of the individual
By Lisa Macdonald Janet, a mother of four from Yorkshire, works at home packing gift tags which retail for £1.50 per bag. She works up to 15 hours a day sorting, counting and stapling bags of the tags. She receives just £7.50 per thousand
By Tyrion Perkins Cuban revolutionary Leonardo Tomayo Nuñes (also known as Urbano) was Che Guevara's chief escort while in Cuba and is the only surviving member of the group of revolutionaries who went to Bolivia with Che. On tour in
By Reihana Mohideen MANILA — "The strike's on", announced the leaflet distributed by striking workers here on June 18, as they started their industrial campaign around the demand for comprehensive tax reforms. Some 568 factory-based unions in
As of April 12, 21 nations had signed the Organisation of American States' (OAS) first regional convention to fight bribery and corruption. An editorial in the Washington Post praised the treaty, which the US and Canada had still not signed: "... For
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — In the presidential poll on June 16, Boris Yeltsin gained about 35% of the vote compared with 32 % for his main rival, Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov. Then, within two days,

Culture

Bandit Queen is the name of a film about the life of Phoolan Devi, a village woman raped by the landlord of her village. She joins a band of dacoits to seek revenge on him. The following poem by a local poet and women's rights activist, Deepa Pathak,
As It Happened: The Last God-KingProduced by Jim Gerrand SBS, Thursday, July 11, 8.30pm (8 in SA)Reviewed by Eva Cheng Being remnants of a social system that has no place at all in today's globally operated capitalism, monarchs — notwithstanding
By Norm Dixon The Amnesty International Report 1996 paints a chilling portrait of the state of human rights in the world today. The reality is in stark contrast to the rosy picture of a new era of democracy and human rights predicted by world
Story and photos by Sujatha Fernandes We will make you account for your repressive activities, one dayWe will answer your sticks and bullets, one dayUntil that day comesUntil this place is developedThe flame of revolution will keep burning in
The Pol Pot regime: race, power, and genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79By Ben KiernanNew Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. 477 pp., $63 (hb)Reviewed by Helen Jarvis As rumours circulate once again about the death of Pol Pot, the
Ready or Not: Stories of Young Adult SexualityEdited by Mark McLeodRandom House, 1996308pp., $14.95Reviewed by Jen Crothers Being a young adult is never easy. There are the inevitable conflicts with "old adults" about school, work, drugs and
The UN-official version: IntezaarWritten and directed by Rashid MasharawiSBS, Sunday, July 7, 7.30pm (7 in SA)Reviewed by Jennifer Thompson Rashid Masharawi made this film by visiting the Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Al-Shati, in which
Does TV kill?About Us, SBS TVWednesday, July 10, 8.30pm (8 in SA)Previewed by Lisa Macdonald The Port Arthur massacre provoked a new wave of debate about the relationship between screen violence and real violence. In the last two months, numerous
The Life of GalileoBy Bertolt BrechtIn a new translation by David HareDirected by Richard WherrettWith John Howard as GalileoSydney Theatre CompanyOpera House, Sydney until July 20Reviewed by Allen Myers This new production of Brecht's Galileo has
Work harder. Make someone else redundant. This is efficiency. Competition is our salvation. This way we cost our betters less. One day we'll be internationally competitive and get paid a dollar for a fourteen hour day. Then we'll
La RosaArts Theatre, 210 Petrie Tce, BrisbaneJuly 4, 5, 6 (2 shows)Reviewed by Robyn Marshall Anyone who loves flamenco dance must see this performance. The opening scene is very dramatic, with five people seated against a blue-lighted backdrop as

Editorial

The formation last month of the Australia First Reform Party, following the mobilisation of tens of thousands of people at pro-gun rallies around the country, once again raises the issue of the growth of the far-right in Australian politics. It is