Friends
"Try to imagine a large frog on a poster, smiling a huge smile. Around his head are tracks of insects whizzing by. A caption under the frog reads: 'Time's fun when you're having flies!' "— The Reverend Greg Skala
Have you ever noticed
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Racism The battle against racism is one that needs to be fought with a passion. It is fundamental to the future success of the left that this constant river of ignorance is dried up once and for all. Only education can do this, and a full blown
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Courts and injustice A two-year study, Heroines of Fortitude: the experiences of women in court as victims of sexual assault, was released on October 30 by the NSW Department for Women. The aim of the study was to assess women's experiences in the
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Directions for the student movement In the final of a three-part series on the student movement, MARINA CAMERON talked to four activists currently involved in the campaign against the Liberals' education cuts. PHIL HAROLD is a member of Left
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Now it's even easier to subscribe to Green Left Weekly with the new free call Subscription Hotline: 1800 634 206. Don't miss out on your weekly news and progressive analysis just because you may not come across a GLW seller this week: ring the
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The Backsliders — Australia's premier of traditional African-American blues performing live. ABC Radio National, Friday, November 22, 9pm. Earthbeat: The Fate of the Forests in Northern NSW — The northern NSW forests are a hot spot in the
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Racist minister gets 'special treatment' from protestersCANBERRA — An angry group of protesters gathered at the Australian National University on November 15 to picket a function addressed by Aboriginal affairs minister John
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It was a sunny day, as it often is in Queensland. Pauline Hanson was a bit down that day. She had been denied access to a school, also to a meeting, and had recently been harassed by demonstrators and even threatened with
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Doctors stop work Rolling stoppages of doctors in public hospitals across NSW began on November 13. The stoppages are part of a campaign to oppose the government's restriction on Medicare provider numbers. The restriction will mean that about a
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Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Thursday, 7pm. Access News — Melbourne community TV, Channel 31, has
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Murder most foul Once upon a time — and a terrible time it was too — in the land downunder there lived a very bad man named Martin. Martin was a lonely boy and had few friends. Indeed, it would be true to say that Martin didn't have any. In all
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Massive and immediate aid is needed to prevent starvation and disease among 500,000 refugees held captive by the genocidal Rwandan former regime and the interahamwe death squads in eastern Zaire. The western powers and most
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Green Left Weekly's JO BROWN spoke to three Resistance members involved in the campaign against racism: CONRAD BARRETT from Brisbane, WENDY ROBERTSON from Sydney and ARUN PRADHAN from Perth. Question: What do you think has been the general response
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Resistance is putting up motions for NUS to prioritise a year-long campaign, initially under the slogan of "Education for all, not just the rich!", with a large national budget. We are calling for student general meetings to be held on every campus
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The Washington Post reports that frogs with severe birth defects have been discovered during the past two summers in 54 of Minnesota's 87 counties, across Wisconsin and up into the St Lawrence River Valley in Quebec. According to
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Last month, 300 consumer, health, trade and agricultural organisations from 48 countries announced the launch of a world-wide boycott of genetically engineered soy and corn produced in the US. Monsanto's glyphosate-tolerant soybeans and Ciba-Geigy's
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In the wake of Pauline Hanson's racist outbursts, there has been a flood of organisations and individuals claiming to oppose racism. Virtually everyone, even those who have been and are implementing policies
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Australia First's Graeme Campbell was dumped from the ALP only last year. He'd been a proud racist in the ALP for a long time before that. In his final years in the party, he repeatedly whined about (two of) Prime Minister Paul
News
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Apprentices picket DemocratsMELBOURNE — One hundred and fifty apprentices picketed Senator Lyn Allison's office on November 15 to protest the Australian Democrats' agreement with the government to pass the Workplace
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A coalition of Victorian conservation groups has called for proposals to allow for new commercial developments in Wilsons Promontory National Park to be abandoned. Developments opposed by the groups and proposed by the National Parks Service include
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SYDNEY — More than 100 Aborigines and their white supporters protested outside state parliament on November 14 as Premier Bob Carr proclaimed his government's commitment to the reconciliation process. They called the statement a
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Bonds Wear strikeWOLLONGONG — About 300 workers are on strike at the Unanderra factory of Bonds Wear in a bid for a 10% pay rise. At a mass meeting on November 11, the workers, mainly women, rejected an 8% pay increase and went
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Activists picket Malaysian diplomat By Tim E. Stewart DARWIN — Following news on November 12 of a visit by the Malaysian high commissioner, the Democratic Socialist Party, Australians for a Free East Timor, the Territory Australian Greens and
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Anti-racist activists in Queensland are gearing up for a rally in Pauline Hanson's home town of Ipswich on November 23. The Anti-Racist Campaign (ARC) has been meeting in Brisbane for a month, and a new anti-racist group began meeting in Ipswich on
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ADELAIDE — SERCO Australia has lodged a proposal with the state Liberal government to contract for the running of all TAFE administrative, maintenance and grounds duties. SERCO Australia is a subsidiary of the SERCO group, a
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NEWCASTLE — Workers at Forgacs Engineering in Hexham are close to settling an enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) after lengthy and heated negotiations. The EBA period began in mid-July after workers forced management to begin negotiations.
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By Anne O'Callaghan PERTH — An unprecedented election initiative here seems certain to make waves in the December 14 state elections. A well-known Aboriginal activist is joining forces with an activist from the Asian Australian community to stand
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Cairns council rejects East Trinity projectBRISBANE — North Queensland conservationists have welcomed a decision by the Cairns City Council to reject a plan to create a $1.5 billion satellite suburb south-east of the city. The
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Tough "Westpac looks to tougher times" — Financial Review headline on article reporting Westpac bank's $1.132 billion profit. Win some, lose some "The good news is that air bags work and air bags save lives. We also know air bags can cause
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DARWIN — A determined group of pensioners and their carers are making a stand against the Darwin City Council (DCC) policy of harassing homeless Aboriginal people. In the last council elections, Mayor George Brown
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Between November 14 and 16, thousands of East Timorese youth demonstrated at the University of East Timor and outside the governor's office in Dili in solidarity with Bishop Belo. Belo has come under verbal attack from the Indonesian
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ADELAIDE — Chris Sidoti, the human rights commissioner, was the guest speaker at the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia annual general meeting on November 13. Sidoti addressed myths surrounding youth crime and compared juvenile
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ADELAIDE — Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) will be in the national spotlight again in coming weeks. The federal government wants the Hindmarsh Island bridge to go ahead and has introduced the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Bill 1996 to
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The Liberal government's changes to higher education — including a 5% cut to university operating grants, higher HECS to be charged in a new three-tier system, a lower HECS repayment threshold, allowing the charging of
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Left activist receives death threatsIt seems that right-wingers will go to any extreme to silence the growing public opposition to Pauline Hanson, John Howard and Co's racist attacks. West Coast Council member Ian Jamieson has
Analysis
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On November 9 in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, a peaceful conference discussing "Peace in East Timor" was attacked by a hundred thugs from the ruling National Front political parties. They smashed down the door to the function room and
World
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Porgera land-holders oppose increased tailings Land-holders from the Kulini Strickland Resource Owners Association are outraged over Porgera Joint Venture's (PJV) application seeking a water use permit to quadruple the amount of tailings dumped
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As the Middle East and North Africa Cairo Economic Conference drew to a close, speculation increased that an agreement for Israeli redeployment from sections of the Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron would be signed. The
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On September 27, the Afghan capital, Kabul, fell to the Taliban militia, an Islamic fundamentalist group whose penchant for ultra-violence stands out even against the appalling record of the various Mujahadin warlord armies that have
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At 4pm on Tuesday, November 12, Filemon "Popoy" Lagman, chairperson of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP — Solidarity of Filipino Workers), was arrested by eight carloads of military operatives of the Intelligence
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Amnesty International anti-union? Amnesty International in the United States — an organisation that champions the right of workers around the globe to organise — is embroiled in a dispute over the right of its own employees to join a trade
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London targets political refugees The British government is using its new "fast-track" approach to asylum cases to attack politically active asylum seekers. People who have been prominent opponents of western-backed dictatorships in Africa and who
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MOSCOW — What was it that replaced "communism" in Russia? Democracy, someone said? Journalists who value their reputations no longer make that claim, except with extensive reservations. But it is often asserted that with
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PNG gold mine causes 30 deaths Villagers in the vicinity of the Mount Victor gold mine in PNG's Eastern Highlands have fled, claiming cyanide leaking from the mine tailings dam and other facilities is getting into the local waterways and causing
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The Liverpool docks dispute is reaching its first anniversary. The dockers were sacked when they refused to cross picket lines put in place by contract workers. This was a clear provocation set up by their management in order to attack the only
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MANAGUA — Thousands of Sandinistas converged on the tomb of Carlos Fonseca, the founder of the FSLN, on November 8, and transformed the anniversary of his death into a protest against the electoral fraud. Sandinista Front (FSLN)
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Green Left Weekly's SHANE BENTLEY talked to MIKE WADDINGTON, the national secretary of Militant Labour in Britain, about the political trajectory of Tony Blair's "new" Labour Party, and its implications for building the left wing of politics in
Culture
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Wagner: Race and RevolutionBy Paul Lawrence RoseFaber & Faber, 1996. 246 pp., $24.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon Hitler was a fan of Richard Wagner, always opening the Nuremberg rallies with the overture to Wagner's "Rienzi" opera. Does this mean
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Get a GripBy Kaz CookePenguin, 1996. 245 pp., $16.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon The festering season is near upon us, the peak season for suicides, domestic disharmony and political drought (no GLW!). May I prescribe a course of Kaz Cooke to cope
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Arguments about Aborigines, Australia and the Evolution of Social AnthropologyBy L.H. HiattCambridge University Press, London.1996 $29.95 (pb)Reviewed by James Goodman Have you ever wondered why anthropologists have been obsessed with Australia's
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The Internet for WomenBy Rye Senjen and Jane GuthreySpinifex Press, 1996. 285pp., $24.95Reviewed by Patricia Brien The Internet for Women is a practical and interesting guide for women embarking on a journey into the world of cyberspace. Rye Senjen
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Nature's Keepers: The New Science of Nature ManagementBy Stephen BudianskyPhoenix Giants, 1996. 296 pp., $24.95Reviewed by Dot Tumney Budiansky's target is the semi-religious status of the balance of nature concept (idol of the well-fed ambience
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Bull Bar ToursBy Catherine Fitzgerald and Eva JohnsonVitalstatistix Wharf ShedRemaining matinees: November 20, 27 at 11am.$18/15/10/5Reviewed by Emma Webb and Melanie Sjoberg The chill winds blew across the Port Adelaide docks as we rugged up to