DAVE THOMAS and JULIA PERKINS spoke with Aboriginal activist ROBERT BROPHO about a planned October 11 Aboriginal community demonstration outside the WA police headquarters. Bropho has been the leader of the Lockridge Aboriginal community, in the
Issue 249
News
By Tuntuni Bhattacharyya and Pat Brewer
On September 26, a 90-strong meeting called by the Women's Abortion Action Campaign discussed the implications of the current High Court case involving the legality of abortion, in which the Catholic Church
By Leon Harrison
PERTH — A bill to outlaw discrimination against gays and lesbians in WA was defeated on September 18. As a result, it remains legal to discriminate against homosexuals in employment, housing and provision of public services. WA
Child-care cuts anger community
By Ana Kailis
PERTH — Carewest, an umbrella organisation for all community child-care centres, has been established in Western Australia to organise and mobilise child-care workers and parents in opposition to
By Lisa Macdonald
Taking the next step in its campaign to guarantee unimpeded access for mining corporations to all areas of Australia, federal environment minister Senator Robert Hill made it clear last week that the Coalition is prepared to allow
By Suneeta Peres da Costa
I find it rather apt that as I write this, there is a program being broadcast on Radio National about the burning of black churches in the US south. When Pauline Hanson said in her maiden address to federal parliament that
By Jorge Andres
The spoken word can be powerful, but immeasurably more so when spoken by the powerful. When those who make rules for the rulers, like Pauline Hanson and John Howard, have "their say", they do it on our behalf and without our
By Alex Bainbridge
NEWCASTLE — A meeting of BHP steelworkers on September 25 vowed to campaign against BHP's apparent decision to stop producing steel in Newcastle. The meeting was prompted by BHP chairperson Brian Loton's announcement to the
ACT budget fire-sale
By Tim Gooden
CANBERRA — The ACT budget, released on September 24, puts Action Buses and three ACT government buildings up for sale in a controversial effort to balance the books through $100 million worth of asset sales.
By Paul Oboohov
One September 25 the National Delegates Committee (NDC) in the Department of Employment, Education and Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA) met in teleconference to finalise their log of claims prior to a membership vote beginning
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — After months of stalling by the state Liberal government and significant industrial action by education workers, the dispute over wages and workload appears to have entered a new phase with the intervention of a full
By Sue Bolton
MELBOURNE — One hundred and thirty-six maintenance workers at the ACI glassworks plant at Spotswood have been locked out for 13 weeks. The dispute began on June 3, when BTR-ACI ignored existing workplace agreements and announced 59
By Sarah Peart and Marina Cameron
SYDNEY — On September 23, 50 students staged a sit-in at a conference on "Higher Education in a Changing Environment" which was attended by vice-chancellors and at which Amanda Vanstone was scheduled to speak.
Unionists support forest reserves
NEWCASTLE — The Trades Hall Council on September 19 adopted a resolution calling for "a comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) native forest reserve system based on public forests", and urging the state
Candle Day
Amnesty International's annual fundraising Candle Day will take place on Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26. Volunteers will be in the streets selling badges and candles to support Amnesty's work. The organisation defends the
SAIT annual conference
By Adam Hanieh
ADELAIDE — The South Australian Institute of Teachers held its 45th annual conference on September 21, the last for the union in its present form. In 1997 SAIT will dissolve and become the Australian
By Carol Booth
BRISBANE — A Hinchinbrook Legal Fighting Fund with a target of $50,000 was launched here on August 25. The fund will pay for a High Court challenge to federal environment minister Senator Robert Hill's consent to Keith Williams'
By Dave Wright
SYDNEY — After considerable public debate and heated lobbying from industry, unions and environment groups, the Carr Labor government has announced its interim forest and wilderness package. Carr says this package makes his
By Martin Iltis
CANBERRA — The crushing defeat for the Labor right "Rage" ticket, which previously held all executive positions and a majority of other positions, in ANU Student Association elections last week has been attributed to their
By Jo Brown
Members of the socialist youth organisation Resistance have pledged their support for the campaign to defend Indonesian democracy activists arrested in the recent government crackdown. Resistance branches around the country have passed
Howard's Indonesia policy rebuffed
By Nick Everett
BRISBANE — John Howard faced a vocal, angry picket on September 22, on his return to Australia after meeting with Indonesian dictator Suharto. Howard was attending a Liberal Party meeting at
World
By David Robie
International media organisations and Pacific islands groups have joined in a chorus of protest at the jailing on September 20 of two Tongan journalists and pro-democracy campaigner and MP 'Akilisi Pohiva. The jailings are the latest
Machinists win 99-day strike
A bitter 99-day strike against McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Corporation in the US ended in victory on September 11 when members of Machinist Union District 837 voted to accept a five-year contract. The main issue was
Suharto's rise: Communist plot or military coup?
By James Balowski
People watching Indonesian television on the night of September 30 didn't need a guide to know what was on. With the Suharto regime desperate to resurrect the "latent threat of
Armed police raid Porgera villagers
More than 200 armed PNG police raided houses along the Porgera River on August 31. Police claimed they were attempting to recover property stolen during a riot by disgruntled landholders at the Porgeras gold
By Brian Campbell
All 25 members of the National Executive of Herri Batasuna (the party of left-wing Basque nationalism) have been threatened with jail. The Spanish authorities accuse them of being agents of ETA, which is engaged in an armed
By Barry Sheppard
On Sunday, September 15, the largest protest action in recent years in defence of the environment in the US took place in the remote northern California town of Carlotta. Organized by Earth First!, the action mobilised some
The international Rainforest Action Network has issued an action alert concerning rainforests in Nigeria's Cross River State, home to an astounding variety of animals, including one third of Africa's primates and more than 1000 species of
By Russel Norman
AUCKLAND — It's a beautiful sunny day, the first day it hasn't rained in months. Winston Peters, the leader of the New Zealand First Party, has gambled on an open air campaign launch for the October 12 election and has won. God
People's Democratic Party (PRD) prisoners in Jakarta are refusing to answer any questions from the attorney-general's interrogators. In a letter smuggled out from the attorney general's detention centre, PRD chair Budiman Sujatmiko, PRD leaders
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Electricity generating workers in the Maritime District of Russia's far east are locked in a battle with federal and local authorities to force the payment of long-overdue wages. Power output in the district, whose
British trade unions in solidarity
As the campaign in solidarity with the Indonesian democracy movement prepares for the October 28 international day of protest for human rights in Indonesia, British trade unions have decided to organise a protest
By Sam Wainwright
PARIS — Ten thousand people marched through the streets here on September 22 to protest against the visit by the pope. People lined the streets as the demonstrators chanted "Kick out the pope and his clergy, not the immigrants"
Culture
GuantanameraDirected by Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos TabioWith Mirtha Ibarra and Jorge PerugorriaOpens Lumiere Cinema Melbourne, October 10Reviewed by Natasha Izatt
Guantanamera ... GuajiraGuantanameraGuantanamera ... GuajiraGuantanamera
Bureaucrat
House the homeless.
They are human, too.
If Christian grace you profess,
House the homeless.
Indeed, while you live in opulent excess;
What if (s)he were you?
House the homeless.
They are human, too.
Brandon Astor Jones
By Dave Riley
The O'Tooles were the first in our street to get television. It was 1956, the Melbourne Olympics were on and our biggest treat was to be invited to their lounge room to watch the magic. Young Peter O'Toole, was forever going on about
VirtuosaDirected by Anna McCrossin-Owen and Merfyn OwenSeptember 25 to October 6Theatreworks, St KildaReviewed by Nedjeljka Viduka Virtuosa chronicles the life of Clara Schumann, a great pianist and composer, whose life and work in music history has
Guerilla Days in IrelandBy Tom BarryDublin: Anvill Books. 1981Reviewed by Rupen Savoulian This is not a new book, but it's worthwhile having a look for it at your local library or bookshop.
Tom Barry was born in 1898 in County Cork. In June 1915,
According to a September 25 report, 13 Kurdish prisoners were killed in a Turkish security forces attack inside the prison of the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. Many of the dead had suffered severe head injuries. Another 12 prisoners were taken to
The IncorruptibleBy Louis NowraDirected by Aubrey MellorSydney Theatre Company in association with PlayboxDrama Theatre, Sydney Opera House until October 19Reviewed by Helen Jarvis An unknown country politician and sugar cane farmer is plucked out of
BillalDirected by Tom ZubryckiFrom October 10, Sydney Valhalla and St Kilda GeorgePreviewed by Jennifer Thompson Tom Zubrycki's new documentary is powerful medicine for anyone unconcerned about the effects of hate-mongering commentary by Pauline
Prepared for Green Left Weekly by Sasha Shtargot
For 20 years community radio 3CR in Melbourne has been at the forefront of alternative, progressive media, covering the struggles of ordinary people for social justice. For the last 15 years 3CR
Community activist awards
MELBOURNE — The Inaugural Community Activist Awards are being organised as a fundraiser for Access News, the alternative news segment on Channel 31 community TV. Access News comes from a left-wing, trade union and