Fraser by-election results
By Lara Pullin
CANBERRA — Disillusionment with traditional parties was notable in the outcome of the Fraser by-election on February 1. The ALP retained the seat vacated by Labor's John Langmore (who left to take up a
Issue 262
News
Horta speaks to public meetings
By Jon Lamb and Sean Moysey
ADELAIDE — East Timorese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta addressed more than 500 people at a public meeting here on February 7. Ramos Horta was greeted with a standing
Industrial dispute at Viking
By Nick Markin
SYDNEY — Workers at Viking Office Products in Rydalmere have faced harassment and intimidation in their attempts to remove an unsafe work practice which leads to back injuries. Members of the National
Activists promote unity in Redfern
By Andrew Gianniotis
SYDNEY — Establishment newspapers say the Aboriginal community in Redfern is divided and that the area is experiencing a "crime spree". Is this true? Resistance activists decided to see
SYDNEY — On February 3, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission announced that it would contribute $6 million to "alleviating the social and environmental problems of Sydneys Redfern Aboriginal Community" by funding a proposal for
Indonesian activist addresses meetings
By Bernard Wunsch
BRISBANE — Robby Hartono, a pro-democracy and labour activist with the PRD (People's Democratic Party) in Indonesia, addressed several meetings in Brisbane last week. In a four-day tour,
Kennett loses by-election
By Maurice Sibelle
MELBOURNE — The Kennett Liberal government lost its second safest seat on February 1 in a by-election for the Gippsland West seat of Wonthaggi. In its first major electoral defeat, the Liberals'
Mobil, Toyo take on unions
By Dave Mizon
MELBOURNE — At a mass meeting held at Williamstown Town Hall on February 5, members of the construction, electrical and metalworker unions were informed of the ongoing dispute at Mobil Altona's catalytic
By Jeremy Smith
The National Tertiary Education and Industry Union national council in October launched a campaign around three claims: a 15% pay rise, retention of positive aspects of the award and past enterprise bargaining agreements, and
By Kevin Taylor
MOE — Victoria's Latrobe Valley has three substantial public hospitals: a modern 150-bed hospital in Moe, one in Traralgon and the Hobsons Park psychiatric hospital. There are also two publicly owned nursing homes. For six years
Werribee residents oppose toxic dump
By Ian Haywood
MELBOURNE — A strong community campaign has arisen in Werribee, a town just west of Melbourne, in response to a planned toxic dump on the town's outskirts. The site is an exhausted quarry
World
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — While Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and presidential chief of staff Anatoly Chubais jostle for power under Yeltsin, interior minister General Anatoly Kulikov is systematically occupying key positions. The
Germany's new iron curtain
A particularly severe winter, with temperatures as low as -22° C, has had a heavy toll among refugees attempting to cross Germany's eastern border with Poland and the Czech Republic. On December 7, a 35-year-old
By Kerryn Williams and Nadeem Ansari
CANBERRA — An Amnesty International forum on February 4, the 49th anniversary of Sri Lankan independence, heard a Catholic priest, Dr Edwin Savundranayagum, describe the massive human rights violations against
Two more PRD activist to go on trial
By James Balowski
On February 4, the Jakarta daily Kompas reported that the trials of People's Democratic Party activists I Gusti Anom Astika and Wilson bin Nurtias have begun. Twelve PRD members are now being
By Eva Cheng
After nearly four weeks of general strikes which involved around 260,000 South Korean workers in daily walk-outs, strike leaders announced on January 18 that the walk-outs would be replaced by strikes on Wednesdays and rallies on
By Norm Dixon
Since early January, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in a joint offensive with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — an coalition of northern political groups opposed to the military dictatorship — has captured a
Monsanto agrees to change Roundup ads
Monsanto Corporation has agreed to change its advertising for glyphosate-based products, including Roundup, in response to complaints by the New York attorney general's office that the ads were misleading. The
Chemical blamed in dolphin deaths
Researchers have found butyltin compounds, including tributyltin (TBT), in the liver, kidney and muscle of bottlenose dolphins that were stranded along the south-east US Atlantic and Gulf coasts between 1989 and
Stalin's hand in the French CP
By Stuart Russell
Documents recently released by the Russian presidential archives demonstrate to what extent former Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin controlled the policies of the French Communist Party. In June
By Amanda Radcliffe
Last October, the Bakun Dam project contracts were signed in Malaysia between the Swedish-Swiss Asia Brown Boveri (ABB) consortium and Ekran Berhad. The US$5.5 billion Bakun Dam, masterminded by the timber tycoon and executive
By Norm Dixon
South Africa's last apartheid-era state president, F.W. de Klerk, was handed a report almost 18 months before the historic April 1994 election that spelled out the apartheid military's role in the so-called "Third Force", a shadowy
Pepsi withdraws from Burma
A six-year campaign has ended with PepsiCo's announcement that it will totally withdraw from Burma by May 31. PepsiCo sells Pepsi and 7-Up in Burma under the brutal State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
JEAN-BAPTISTE MULEMBA MAKUBI, spokesperson of the Coalition of Democratic Organisations of the Zairean Diaspora (CODEZAD), was interviewed by ALAIN MATHIEU in the December 19 issue of the French left weekly Rouge. In France, CODEZAD represents the
By Jon Lamb
Over the past few weeks Indonesian military, security agents and pro-integration youth thugs from GARDIPAKSI have terrorised East Timorese youth in Dili and other regional centres. Scores of young Timorese have been rounded up, detained
Culture
The Woman I'll Be
puts her hair up with a comb
of absolute zero, fastens
it with a pack of hounds
until it forms a straight peak,
utters words like a species
of pepper, and has a blemish
on her tongue, is certain
she is not asleep,
The CrucibleWritten by Arthur MillerDirected by Nicholas HynterOpened nationally February 6
Review by Jennifer Thompson
Arthur Miller's play about the 1692 witch-trials in Salem, Massachusetts, written in 1953 at the height of the McCarthyite
Life's Grandeur: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to DarwinBy Stephen Jay GouldJonathon Cape, 1996. 244 pp., $39.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon
It pays to know your maths. In 1982, Stephen Jay Gould was diagnosed as suffering from abdominal
Strong lyric style
Yes Sir, No Sir3 Bags FullOracle Records, 1996 Review by Stuart Martin
Having heard the band live at the Invasion Day rally at the Aboriginal tent embassy on the lawns of Old Parliament House in Canberra, I looked forward to
Burma: insurgency and the politics of ethnicityBy Martin SmithZed Books, 1991. 492 pp., $59.95. Review by Eva Cheng
Though Burma: insurgency and the politics of ethnicity was published six years ago, it remains one of the richest and most
Raising the Red Flag: The International Socialist League and the Communist Party of South Africa 1914-1932By Sheridan JohnsMayibuye Books, Bellville, South Africa1995, 309pp. Review by Norm Dixon
Mayibuye Books specialise in publishing works