Melbourne rally for parks
By Saul Fischart
MELBOURNE — Three thousand people gathered on February 23 to express their anger at the state government's environmental vandalism. The rally was called by Hands Off Our Parks, a coalition of more than
Issue 265
News
UNSW staff win rise
By Helen Jarvis
SYDNEY — UNSW academic staff appear to have won significant gains as a result of their strong campaign, including scheduling a strike for March 3 and 4, at the beginning of the academic year. After stalling
Pearson blasts Borbidge's anti-Wik campaign
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — In the March 1 Courier-Mail, Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson explains that the Queensland government is mounting a concerted effort to create popular opposition to the High
Secondary students organise
By Bronwyn Powell
SYDNEY — Twenty United Secondary Students Union (NSW) members discussed the need to build campaigns to fight the government's attacks on high school students at the first NSW USSU conference on
Liberals threaten environment office
By James Vassilopoulos
Environmental Defenders Offices (EDOs) have been threatened with funding cuts because they are defending the environment. The EDOs each receive around $70,000 a year from the federal
Victorian teachers stop work
By Mary Merkenich and Norrian Rundle
MELBOURNE — Around 4000 Victorian teachers stopped work on February 27 and attended a mass meeting at the Sports and Entertainment Centre to show their anger at the continuing
Family day care under attack
By Kylie Moon
HOBART — The University of Tasmania administration in mid-January gave parents using the family day care scheme two weeks to find alternative child-care. Opposition has forced the university to delay
Socialist candidate calls for youth voice
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Kathy Newnam, Democratic Socialist candidate for Central ward in the March 15 Brisbane City Council elections, has called for a greater voice on council for young people and
Campaigns against fees
SYDNEY — Students achieved two small victories against the introduction of up-front fees last week. The council of the University of Technology Sydney met on February 27 to discuss a proposal charge up-front fees for up to
British socialist leader speaks in Melbourne
By Ben Reid
MELBOURNE — Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the British Socialist Party (formerly Militant Labour), spoke at a public forum here on February 24. More than 90 people filled the meeting
Korean workers prepare to strike
By James Vassilopoulos
SYDNEY — The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is launching another general strike, according to Jongsoae Oh, a leading member of the KCTU. Oh told a public meeting held on February 25
Victory for Viking workers
By Nick Markin and Andrew Gianniotis
SYDNEY — Employees at the Viking Office Products warehouse in Rydalmere have scored a victory after two days on strike. Members of the National Union of Workers voted on February
Pickets organised by Committees in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean and the Brisbane Zapatista Front were held at Mexican consulates in Sydney and Brisbane on February 28. The Mexican government has refused to honour the Accord on
Is racism 'un-Australian?'
By Pat Brewer
CANBERRA — Around 200 people attended a two-day "Is racism 'un-Australian'?" conference here on February 21-22. The conference, jointly organised by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres
By John Fraser
In the forests of Goolengook in East Gippsland, there are places where the understorey is so thick that it can take half a day to walk a kilometre; whole valleys of tree ferns, where the smallest is over 10 metres tall; trees so big
World
By Sonny Melencio
MANILA — Workers at Telefunken Microelectronics Philippines (Temic) started to stage their own version of "people power" during the four-day anniversary of the EDSA revolution from February 22. The EDSA revolution is the popular
West Papuans in mercenaries' sights?
@box text intro = PNG Prime Minister Chan has hinted that mercenaries may also be deployed against Free West Papua (OPM) rebels fighting Indonesian occupation of West Papua (Irian Jaya).
Speaking at a press
Weeds could develop resistance to Roundup
The evolution of pesticide resistance plays a key role in keeping farmers on the so-called "pesticide treadmill" — a cycle in which farmers feel compelled to move on to other chemicals as older pesticides
By Nico Warouw
Starting on March 3, the 14 People's Democratic Party (PRD) prisoners who are now on trial on subversion charges, which carry the death penalty, will launch a hunger strike protest against unfair actions by the judges and
Four minutes after their strike began at 12:01am on February 15, American Airlines pilots were ordered back to work by President Clinton under an especially reactionary labour law, the Railway Labor Act (RLA). This law authorises the President to
By Moses Havini
As a representative of the Bougainville Interim Government, I have made many appeals to the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments in the past to end the war on Bougainville and all the suffering and death that it has caused.
By James Balowski
For the second time in two weeks, the armed forces' chief of social and political affairs, Syarwan Hamid, has accused the People's Democratic Party (PRD) of being behind the riots which have been rocking the country over the last
By Malik Miah
SAN FRANCISCO — Hundreds of demonstrators chanted "Just don't do it!" at the opening of a Nike super-store in the main shopping area here on February 22. Nineteen protesters were arrested for blocking the door to the three-story
Women played an active role in Burma's struggle for independence — from British colonial rule and Japanese occupation — and remained an organised force under the post-independence government, 1948-58. Ne Win's seizure of power in 1958 and his
By Jo Thompson
Throughout 1996, the Chinese government continued to commit widespread human rights abuses in Tibet. These included instances of death in detention, torture, arbitrary arrests, detention without public trial, long detention of
Swaziland union leaders freed
By Norm Dixon
@box text intro = As the pro-democracy general strike in Swaziland is set to enter its second month, workers celebrated the release of four senior leaders of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions on
Russian budget-cutters court environmental disaster
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Sergey Mund, the director of the Elektrogorsk Institute for Oil Processing, was clearly worried. On his institute's premises just east of Moscow were 663 rods of
South Africa bans landmines
@box text intro = South Africa has banned the use, storage, manufacture and development of all landmines. Defence minister Joe Modise told a media briefing on February 20 that landmines would no longer be part of South
By Norm Dixon
According to political commentator Laurie Oakes, writing in the March 4 Bulletin, the Australian government was given detailed information about the PNG government's plot to use mercenaries against the people of Bougainville last
Culture
FrontierThree one-hour filmsABC TV, March 5, 12 & 19 at 8.30 pm Review by Chris Martin
Frontier is the history that Howard wants us to forget, the bloody, murderous history of white Australia's unfinished land war against the Aboriginal nations of
Sylvia Pankhurst: Sexual Politics and Political ActivismBy Barbara WinslowUniversity College London Press, 1996. 236 pp., $37.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon
Strife and controversy have reigned over the bones of Sylvia Pankhurst, daughter of
Manifestations — a year in the life of the TarkineAvailable from Kaganovich Productions, PO Box 83, Paddington NSW 2021 and the Wilderness Shop, Salamanca Place, Hobart$25 Review by Joel Wilson
In 1995, the Tasmanian government bulldozed a road
etails = The Marxists and the Jewish question: History of a debate 1843-1943By Enzo TraversoHumanities Press, New Jersey, 1996. 288 pp, $37 (pb)
Review by Chris Slee
This book reviews a century of writings by Marxists on the history, social
Suppression StoriesBy Brian MartinFund for Intellectual Dissent, 1997. 171 pp. Review by Allen Myers
Brian Martin, an occasional contributor to Green Left Weekly, has produced an intriguing and very readable account of the suppression of dissent in
@details 3 = TelekGeorge Mamua TelekOrigin through MDS
Review by Norm Dixon
It has been a long wait for those who were captivated by George Telek's Australian recording debut way back in 1991, when his collaboration with Melbourne-based Not
Editorial
One year too many
Sunday, as we have all been repeatedly reminded, was the first anniversary of the election of the Howard government. For big business and its media, it was an occasion for taking stock of what the government has "achieved", and