Issue 25

News

Story and photos by David Brazil New South Wales forests are going up in smoke. Up and down the north coast, bush fire brigades and the Forestry Commission are going though their ritual of winter burn-off. At Chaelundi, in the name of forest
Demands for resignation over racist slur By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Calls are mounting for the resignation or sacking of Queensland Labor government whip Bill Prest over racist comments in state parliament on August 20. Prest described former
By Norrian Rundle MELBOURNE — Teachers voted unanimously for a campaign against budget cuts and a breach of their award restructuring agreement at a stop-work meeting here on August 20. The campaign will include bans on school closures, new
Chemicals close school By Jon Lamb PERTH — Dryandra Primary School in the outer suburb of Mirrabooka has been closed indefinitely following widespread sickness caused by chemical solvents used to clean graffiti. More than 600 students and 30
Students confront Baldwin summit By Nick Fredman SYDNEY — Angry students broke through police lines and into the Hotel Nikko at Kings Cross in a 500-strong August 23 protest against a "Higher Education Summit" attended by federal education
Doubts cast on Chaelundi EIS By David Brazil SYDNEY — The Chaelundi court battle is still unresolved, but it has already caused severe embarrassment for the state government. The court has been told that the Greiner-Murray cabinet gave the
WA Aborigines oppose mine By Leon Harrison PERTH — Aboriginal people in the Eastern Goldfields area are opposing the proposed Yakabindie Nickel Project, a Dominion Mining operation approved by the state in 1990. Approval for the mine
SYDNEY — An exhibition of pottery, including the work of several of Sydney's top potters, ran over the weekend of August 24-25. The Potters for Peace exhibition was a fundraising event for People for Nuclear Disarmament. Special guest Jane
ADELAIDE — Workers occupied part of the Workcare building here during a 600-strong protest in freezing winds and hailstorms on August 23. The building workers, cleaners and corrective service employees were protesting against proposed changes to
By Peter Boyle Robert Hudson, executive director of the Victorian Council of Social Services, is blunt in his assessment of the Hawke government's ninth budget, presented on August 20: Labor has turned its back on the unemployed at a time when
SYDNEY — Queer Notion, an organisation in the gay and lesbian community here, conducted an "outing" at a press conference opposite St Mary's cathedral on August 21. "Outing only works as a political weapon because there is a stigma attached to a
By Chris Perkins About 5000 government workers gathered outside state parliament for the NSW Labor Council's August 21 protest against the Greiner government's plans to cut public sector jobs by more than 12,000. There were also large rallies
By Tracy Sorensen SYDNEY — Nine protesters were arrested at a demonstration outside the Malaysian consulate on August 22. Organised by the Sydney Rainforest Action Group (SRAG), the action coincided with debate on a bill introduced by Democrat
World heritage push for Blue Mountains By Denis Kevans KATOOMBA — A committee to push for World Heritage listing for the Blue Mountains was elected at a meeting at the Ellerslie Road Public School on August 16. Geoff Mosley, who has been a

World

A Harvard University medical team has confirmed findings of an earlier United Nations delegation to Iraq. The Harvard team, which visited 11 Iraqi cities recently, says it expects around 170,000 deaths of children under five as a direct result of war
By Sally Low Control over women, no matter what social order we live in, is an important pillar of that order. If all the hundred or so women at the conference of the European Forum of Socialist Feminists in June agreed on anything, perhaps it was
Turkish troops invade northern Iraq The Turkish government has said it will set up a buffer zone in northern Iraq. Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz says the area might not be permanently occupied by Turkish troops, but would be regularly patrolled.
Zarana Papic While their experiences and opinions differed in many ways some of the themes commonly expressed by women from Eastern Europe at the June conference of the European Forum of Socialist Feminists in Norwich, England were contained in
By Bernadette Moloney Vietnam is cautiously removing administrative controls over its economy. BERNADETTE MOLONEY describes impressions of a recent visit. TG682 from Bangkok to Hanoi was full of former refugees from Canada and the US returning
Gulf War casualties continue WASHINGTON — Eighty-seven per cent of civilian deaths caused by the Gulf War have occurred since the war ended, according to casualty estimates released by Greenpeace on July 23. Greenpeace also estimates that
By Steve Painter New Zealand's NewLabour Party claims the recent budget of the National Party government pushed the country's economy from recession to depression by cutting demand without "putting in place balancing measures to promote
By Norm Dixon Only days after the worldwide condemnation of the apartheid regime's collusion with Inkatha, the South African security forces were again found to be actively aiding Inkatha violence, according to a report that appeared in the
By Stephen Shalom US and Philippine negotiators have announced a new military bases agreement under which the United States will withdraw from Clark Air Base by September 1992 but retain Subic Naval Base for at least 10 more years. Though
By Norm Dixon Revelations that the South African government has secretly directed millions of rands to the Inkatha organisation, responsible for the deaths of thousands in murderous attacks in black townships, has put the de Klerk regime on the
By K. ten Broke Anarchists, in the opinion of Anatoly Lukyanov, president of the Supreme Soviet, are one of the few political forces to be taken seriously in the USSR. That was certainly not meant as a compliment for the various anarchist
Interview by Andrew Nette Significant realignments are taking place among the left in the Philippines, long since the centre of the largest and most active popular struggle in the Asia Pacific. Since its establishment in the late '60s, the
NPA leader captured MANILA — Philippine police on August 5 captured the top official of the New People's Army at a suburban hospital. He was apparently seeking treatment. Romulo Kintanar was captured with his wife, Gloria Jopson, at the Makati
'Apartheid still practised' The council of the International Amateur Athletic Federation has refused to allow South Africa's return to international competition, saying that apartheid is still rampant in sport in South Africa. The meeting was
By Frank Gollan JAKARTA — A major industrial dispute and trouble with a visiting Dutch parliamentary delegation gave the Indonesian government more than its usual share of problems in the week of the 46th anniversary of independence. The
Fire at Mexican pesticide plant Mexican environmentalists need international support for their effort to have an ecological disaster investigated by the country's Human Rights Commission. On May 3, fiery explosions engulfed a pesticide

Culture

Viennese housing By Pete Malatesta SYDNEY — Brought to Australia by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the City of Vienna, "New Housing in Vienna" is an exhibition of Viennese housing since the 1920s showing at the Tin Sheds Gallery,
By Phil Shannon Vietnam Days: Australia and the Impact of Vietnam Peter Pierce, Jeffrey Grey, Jeff Doyle (eds) Penguin, 1991. 323 pp. $19.95 Reviewed by Phil Shannon "The struggle of people [against power]", wrote the Czech author Milan
Feminist Book Fortnight SYDNEY — The second Australian Feminist Book Fortnight will be taking place from September 6 to 22 and will present a national program of activities to celebrate women as writers and readers. An important part of the
By Susannah Begg and Vannessa Hearman Black Rain Directed by Shohei Imamura Reviewed by Susannah Begg and Vannessa Hearman It was a hot, still day on August 6, 1945, when the A-bomb descended from the sky over Hiroshima. Imamura's masterful
By Phil McManus Everyone has heard of it, but who knows what it really means? Are the debates about postmodernism relevant only in the world of academia, or do they have an impact on the green, left, feminist and other movements for social change?
The first issue of At Ease, a new alternative journal for men and women in the Australian military forces, appears this week. It is available from PO Box 167 North Carlton Vic 3054. The publishers aim to produce an eight-page magazine every two

Editorial

USSR: a stolen victory Once again, the abortive coup in the USSR demonstrates that undemocratic methods cannot serve the cause of socialism, or indeed the aspirations of ordinary people for a better life under any political system. The failed