Issue 261

News

International Women's Day — March 8 The International Women's Day collective needs your help. Come along to the next meeting and find out how you can join the campaign against attacks on women. All women welcome. Adelaide — Meets Saturday Feb
Queensland act 'legitimises' low wages By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Unions claimed on January 30 that the passage of the Borbidge government's industrial relations legislation that day had "legitimised" Queensland's position as the nation's
Young Libs attack de facto families By Bill Mason BRISBANE — "The Queensland Young Liberals have shown themselves to be political dinosaurs over their attack on the rights of de facto couples and their children", Kathy Newnham, Brisbane acting
By Chris Spindler On January 31, more than 300 people attended a public meeting called by the Redfern Aboriginal Housing Coalition to discuss opposition to the ongoing relocation of residents and demolition of houses in Eveleigh Street, Redfern.
Port Hedland strike ends By Michael Bramwell PERTH — Workers at the $1.5 billion BHP iron ore processing plant in Port Hedland have tentatively agreed to return to work following a combined union meeting on January 29. In a charged atmosphere,
Brisbane IWD By Sarah Callinan BRISBANE — On January 30, more than 20 women attended an International Women's Day organising meeting. Widespread government attacks on women and cuts to community services have motivated women from various
ADELAIDE — The Living Waters Revival Concert held here on Invasion Day, January 26, featuring indigenous and multicultural performers looks set to become an annual event. Continuing the momentum of the Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) public meeting
Careers with what? By Emma Webb ADELAIDE — The appropriately named daily newspaper, the Advertiser, managed to fill a quarter of a page last week reporting that federal and state ministers for employment and education, Amanda Vanstone and
Court rules on immunisation By Dave Riley BRISBANE — A recent ruling by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is sure to have significant impact on parents of young children nationwide. In a landmark decision, commissioner William

World

Attack on South African woman activist By Anthony Benbow Two recent events have pushed the shockingly high incidence of violence against women in South Africa back into the public spotlight. The first was a brutal rape committed on Robben Island,
By Julia Bale Last week was the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland. On January 30, 1972, troops from the First Parachute Regiment of the British Army opened fire on peaceful civil rights protesters in Derry. The 10,000-strong
JILL HICKSON visited Indonesia in December to make a documentary video. Here she describes her discussions with women factory workers. I met with women workers from Tangerang and other outlying industrial areas around Jakarta. They talked about some
By Peter Gellert MEXICO CITY — The eight-year struggle of sanitation workers from the south-east state of Tabasco ended on the evening of January 22, when an agreement was reached satisfying employee demands. The workers, initially fired for
Throughout January, the Indonesian regime has been on a campaign of harassment in the streets of Dili in East Timor. Many locals have been shot at by thugs, and several young East Timorese have been arrested and are still missing. BEN WEBSTER was in
By Adam Hanieh Speculation is increasing in Israel on the possibility of a government of national unity between the two major parties, Labour and the ruling Likud. Despite the impression given by much of the big business press that these two
Blood and oil By Barry Sheppard One week after I returned from attending the Democratic Socialist Party's convention in Australia, an explosion and fire at the Tosco refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area killed one worker and injured 25.
Army planning attack on rebels? Elements of the Mexican government and several state governments have been stepping up repressive measures against opposition groups. On January 11, Morelos state police arrested three members of the Tepozteco Unity
Indonesian show trial reveals more than planned By James Balowski The Suharto regime's attempt to blame members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) for the July 27 riots in Jakarta floundered after its own National Human Rights Commission
Peace activists released in London By Mark Lynas Two peace activists were given a three-month suspended prison sentence at the High Court in London on January 24, after they defied a court injunction forbidding them from carrying out protest
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — When the bright young reformers around Russian President Boris Yeltsin quit their Communist Party membership years ago and turned to building capitalism, they were acting from deep-seated ideological conviction. We have
Cambodian Genocide Program releases key data The Cambodian Genocide Program (CGP) at Yale University has released information on the internet today that details atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
By Sonny Melencio MANILA — Temic (Telefunken Microelectronics Incorporated) is a company with around 3500 workers, mostly women, in the microchips industry. The Temic plant in Taguig, Metro Manila, accounts for 80% of German investment in the
AIDS hits poorest By Marina Cameron Since HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was discovered, its biggest areas of growth have been in the Third World, particularly the poorest countries. Recent reports indicate that within the Third World it is
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — Between September 1 and January 12, voters cast their ballots in elections for the top executive posts in more than 50 of Russia's 89 provinces, territories and ethnic republics. In slightly more than half of these

Culture

Radically Speaking: Feminism ReclaimedEdited by Diane Bell and Renate KleinSpinifex Press, 1966. 624 pp., $34.95 (pb) Review by Pat Brewer This book is a defensive project, criticism driven, by a strand of feminism which feels itself under siege.
News values: Ideas for an information ageBy Jack FullerUniversity of Chicago Press, 1996. 251 pp. $41 (hb)Reviewed by Dot Tumney This is probably where Mediawatch would like to spend more of its time if there wasn't so much tabloid crap requiring
Liberty Hall House or workers, Hall of trades, Peoples' Palace, an idea wrought in stone and blood and struggle. If those stones could attest, what stories they could tell — deals done and done deals, bitter infighting, and
Off SideBy Manuel Vazquez MontalbanSerpent's Tail, 1996. 275 pp. Review by Phil Shannon In the hands of a writer of critical social awareness, the detective novel can be an effective window on the greed, hypocrisy, violence and related vices of
Capitalism, Socialism, EcologyBy Andre GorzVerso, 1994. 147 pp., $34.95Reviewed by Phil Shannon To say, as the blurb on this book does, that Andre Gorz offers "a vital, fresh perspective for the left" is like a baker selling three-day-old bread as
Hons and RebelsBy Jessica MitfordIndigo, 1996. 227 pp., $16.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon Jessica Mitford, born in 1917 into a family of rural English aristocrats, had by age 15 declared herself for communism and later, during the '40s, graduated
By Mahir Ali Long after the toppling likenesses of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov personified the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, Lenin keeps cropping up in the unlikeliest of places. Towards the end of his highly readably memoir, Palimpsest, a
BHP — A Share Prospectus There is a company called BHP drilling for oil in the Timor Sea, that's why we can't set Timor free we've all got shares in BHP. Don't talk to me about democracy human rights or humanity, 'cause we're drilling

Editorial

Only one solution The federal government's mid-year budget review, released on January 28, will certainly be used to justify another savage budget in May. The review projects a budget deficit for 1996-97 of $8.49 billion, $2.84 billion more than