By Reihana Mohideen
Community and Public Sector Union members have begun a national campaign in defence of jobs and conditions. The strongest action planned so far is an ACT branch stoppage called by the executive for May 8. The stoppage, a week
Issue 273
News
Chinese community combats Hanson
By Graham Matthews
BRISBANE — Following the April 11 launch of Pauline Hanson's racist One Nation party in Ipswich, sections of the Australian-Chinese community have lodged a protest with the Australian
Support for native title
SYDNEY — A "prominent citizens' statement on native title" was launched at the Harold Park Hotel here on May 1.The endorsers — more than 100 artists, sportspeople, religious leaders, politicians, writers, academics
By Tony Iltis and Kath Gelber
HOBART — On May 1 Tasmanian legislative councillors voted almost unanimously to repeal that state's anti-gay laws, bringing Tasmania into line with the rest of Australia. The decision is a victory for a nine-year
Call to ban mining on Stradbroke Island
By Bill Mason
@box text intro = BRISBANE — Conservation and Aboriginal groups on April 27 renewed a call for sand mining on Stradbroke Island to be suspended after reports revealed possible mine
Campaign against Eastern Ring Road relaunched
By Marcel Cameron
MELBOURNE — Two hundred people attended an Anti-Ring Road Organisation (ARRO) public meeting in Eltham on April 30 to relaunch the campaign against the proposed Eastern Ring
Shellharbour protest picnic
By Margaret Perrott
WOLLONGONG — Fifty people gathered at Bass Point, overlooking beautiful Shellharbour Beach, for a picnic and protest against a proposed marina development on April 20. The action was
On April 29, BHP announced that the Newcastle steelworks, the Sydney wire mill and the Geelong rod mill will all close by the end of 1999, resulting in the loss of several thousand jobs. Green Left Weekly's ALEX BAINBRIDGE spoke to GEOFF PAYNE, a
Court rules for East Timorese refugee
By Max Lane
On May 2, the full Federal Court set aside a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal that East Timorese refugee Jong Kim Koe was not a refugee under the International Refugees Convention.
Queensland teachers vote for rolling strikes
By Bill Mason
@box text intro = BRISBANE — Queensland teachers have voted overwhelmingly for a campaign of rolling 24-hour strikes in state schools to demand better pay and to protest the
Email workers on indefinite strike
By Sue Bolton
MELBOURNE — Since April 11, 880 workers at two of the Email group of companies — Email-Lockwood and Martin Bright Steel — have been on an indefinite strike in their campaign for a new
Campaign against Holsworthy airport
Margaret Perrott
WOLLONGONG — Several thousand people attended a protest at Stanwell Park in the northern Illawarra on April 21 against the federal government's plan for a second Sydney international
By Anthony Benbow
PERTH — Twenty-five thousand people filled the streets on April 29 in a massive protest against the Court government's "third wave" of anti-union laws — the largest rally for workers' rights here in decades. All unions took
By Graham Matthews
Les Malezer, executive director of the Federation of Aboriginal and Islander Research Associations and member of the indigenous working group negotiating proposed amendments to the Native Title Act with the federal government,
Rally in defence of sacked teachers
By John Nebauer
MELBOURNE — Around 160 people attended a rally on April 30 at the Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre to protest against the sacking of three teachers from the Victorian Certificate of
World
Indonesians strike at Nike
Four thousand workers from one of the franchised Nike shoe assembly plants went on strike and demonstrated on three separate days in Jakarta at the end of April. According to the daily newspaper Republika, workers were
By Max Lane
On April 28, the trial of Budiman Sujatmiko, People's Democratic Party (PRD) president, and eight other PRD members ended. Budiman was sentenced to 13 years' prison. Petrus Haryanto, 26, secretary general of the PRD, was sentenced to
Unionists arrested in Malawi
Police arrested more trade union leaders in the southern African country of Malawi as a wages strike by public servants entered its third week on April 21. The latest unionists arrested were from the country's north,
Protest against murder attacked by police
By Sujatha Fernandes
At least 40 students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi were injured when police attacked a protest of students marching to the prime minister's residence last week. The
Comment by Kathir Ravichan
The Sri Lankan conflict does not feature in the international media as much as it should. The war-torn north-east of the island is isolated from the rest of the world by the iron control the Sri Lankan government has
Ground water contamination from pesticides in US
Ground water contamination from pesticides in US
A new study released by the North Carolina Pesticide Board shows widespread pesticide contamination in the state's ground water. Over 27% of
By Cam Walker
The US government has stepped up its 20-year campaign against the Navajo (or Dineh) people. The government has announced a "90-day eviction" process that will forcibly remove the Navajo from their lands. The Dineh live in a remote
By Eva Cheng
In early 1994, when pressure was mounting in the US Congress to cut the country's war budget, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs General Colin Powell was quoted by Washington's Defense Monitor magazine as saying: "I'm running out
By Margaret Gleeson
On April 22, Peruvian president Fujimori ended the 127-day occupation of the Japanese ambassador's residence by Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) guerillas. "The end of the crisis showed that Fujimori exclusively
Win for Thor victims
British chemical company Thor Holdings agreed on April 8 to pay 20 South African workers suffering from mercury poisoning 9.4 million rand (US$2 million). The settlement ends a battle that began in 1992, after three
By Lisa Macdonald
The landslide victory for Tony Blair's New Labour Party in the May 1 British election was more a massive rejection of 18 years of Tory policies than it was a strong endorsement of Blair's new style Labour Toryism. The lack of
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — You're a worker in an industrial city of provincial Russia, and you haven't been paid in months. You and your family would starve if it weren't for the vegetables you raise in a garden plot on the outskirts of town.
Young suffer from capitalism in eastern Europe
Young people in eastern Europe can be forgiven for not celebrating the triumph of the "market economy". According to a report released by the United Nations Children's Fund on April 21, there are
Germany under pressure over McAliskey case
Pressure is building on the German government to drop a spurious extradition case against Roisin McAliskey, daughter of prominent Irish nationalist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. Eight months pregnant,
US chemical weapons bill masks nuclear deployment
The US Senate voted on April 17 to impose tough penalties, including death, on anyone dealing with chemical weapons. The Chemical and Biological Weapons Threat Reduction Act 1997 provides
Pesticide hazard for agricultural workers
According to a new report from the International Labour Organisation, pesticide poisoning remains a daily occurrence among agricultural workers in developing countries. The report, "Wage Workers in
By Lisa Macdonald
TRIPOLI — More than 1000 representatives of political parties, governments, solidarity and peace organisations and the media converged on Tripoli in Libya on April 14 and 15 to attend the International Spring Festival for
By Norm Dixon
The campaign being waged by western governments, the international media and aid agencies against the rebel Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire and its leader Laurent Kabila has little to do with the
Culture
For his latest film, Carla's Song, director KEN LOACH teamed up with scriptwriter PAUL LAVERTY. The film is a love story set against the background of the Nicaraguan Contra War. It portrays the gains of the Sandinista revolution which overthrew the
FireWritten and directed by Deepa MehtaScreening in Sydney from end of JuneFor details phone Courtney at Globe on (02) 9332 2722 Preview by Reihana Mohideen The opening scene — a young couple silhouetted against a magnificent backdrop of that pious
By Melissa McArdle
MELBOURNE — Censorship of the arts has come into the limelight once again with an unprecedented move by a local council to ban a theatrical production. The Essentials, a play exploring the social backlash against cutbacks
Powerful people's opera
Little CityBy Irine VelaPresented by Brisbane Ethnic Music and Arts Centre Inc.Until May 11Culturebank, West End, Brisbane Review by Lynda Hansen
This is a story about a community's last ditch attempt to persuade an
Lunch with Mr.KilltheReef Makingsquillions
Luxury yacht in the channelharpoon in hand"That one! I'm that hungry!"
Like a rocket from over the hillanother benign paradiseis lepidopterror-struck into the ledgers of greed.
"Quick Gabriel!
Poem: "Oh, Alonya's OK"
"Oh, Alonya's OK"
They don't see the water retreatacross the eyes of their children,and hear the love pumping out over the sand,"that is sunset", they say to themselves,missing the bubbles in the blood. for while
Editorial
Greenhouse outlaws
John Howard says Australia cannot afford to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. He says this country is a "special case" — given our reliance on fossil fuels — and has even countenanced withdrawing from the climate