By Ruth Ratcliffe
BRISBANE — The Queensland minister for health, National Party member Mike Horan, has launched an attack on women's right to abortion. Horan displayed his ultra-right, anti-woman views on the weekend of June 21-22 when
Issue 280
News
Protest stops sand mining
By Bernard Wunsch
NORTH STRADBROKE ISLAND — A five-week protest camp outside the Gordon sand mine operated by Consolidated Rutile Limited has ended with conservationists claiming victory after keeping the mine
"Earth Summit II" meets at the United Nations five years after the first UN "Earth Summit", held in Rio de Janeiro. That first summit occurred amid concern about the state of the world environment but also with some optimism that at last world leaders would start seriously addressing the ecological crisis.
Victorian health dispute still simmering
By Jo Obronschka
MELBOURNE — Victorian public sector nurses voted to end industrial bans, in place since June 12, at a stop-work meeting on June 23. The industrial action forced the state
James Vassilopoulos
The Democrats and the Liberals have struck a deal guaranteeing the passage of the Liberals' Aged Care Reform Bill through the Senate. The Australian Nursing Federation slammed the Democrats for caving in to the federal
By Tony Hastings
EAST GIPPSLAND — The chainsaw crews and bulldozers are ripping into Goolengook's rainforest again. Winter has set in, and the road is too boggy to drive log trucks in, so they are building roads — paid for by the Victorian
New industrial law proposed in SA
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — Some 40 people gathered at the state office of the Department of Industrial Affairs on June 25 to protest against changes to industrial relations legislation. The state
ALP right loses AWU elections
By James Vassilopoulos
In elections in the Australian Workers Union, the positions of national secretary, national president and two of the four national vice-presidents have been won by a broad coalition,
By Marina Cameron
The ALP and the Democrats went "belly up" in the Senate last week, according to Greens Senator Bob Brown, allowing the government to pass the amendment to social security legislation needed to implement work for the dole
Anti-Hanson protests in Victoria and NSW
Two thousand people participated in a silent vigil outside the launch of Pauline Hanson's One Nation party in Ballarat on June 23. The protest was organised by community and church groups and supported by
By Michael Bull and Vannessa Hearman
MELBOURNE — A dispute between Citipower and members of the Electrical Trades Union has continued for seven weeks. ETU organiser Howard Worthing told Green Left Weekly, "In the months prior to the expiry of
NSW Labor divided on power sell-off
By Shane Bentley
SYDNEY — A June 26 anti-privatisation rally called by the Labour Council of NSW outside state parliament attracted more than 1000 workers. It was joined by another 2500 workers
Concern over private bus line in Canberra
Martin Iltis
CANBERRA — An agreement between the ACT government and private bus company Deanes has been condemned by the Transport Workers Union and many others, as heralding the start of the
World
By Nikki Ulasowski
BODENSTOWN, Ireland — Ten thousand people from around Ireland attended the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration here on June 22. The large procession, piped and drummed along by marching bands representing many communities, wound
By Paolo Teobaldelli
ROME — After the June 14 European march in Amsterdam against the Maastricht treaty, the Italian independent newspaper Il Manifesto explored the differences shown by the left parties in Italy and the absence of the Italian
A June 10 meeting attended by members of the progressive Turkish community in Sydney, the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance heard EFKAN BOLAC from the People's Justice Bureau of Turkey discuss the issues of Kurdish and Turkish political
50,000 march to back locked-out newspaper workers
By Barry Sheppard
With the support of the national union federation, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), union activists from around the
Since 1987, Dr HELEN JARVIS has visited Cambodia regularly and worked there for extended periods in 1991, 1992-93 and 1995. She has worked with the National Library of Cambodia in its rebuilding after the Pol Pot years and in training of librarians.
By Filomena da Silva
Another Timorese freedom fighter has fallen. David Alex Daitula, 46 years old, was Falintil deputy chief of staff, regional commander in the Bacau area, and one of the earliest fighters for Timorese nationalism with the
On June 18, the Brazilian government connived with illegal timber traders in Brazil by voting against the inclusion of the hardwood mahogany in a list of endangered species at a meeting of the Convention on Endangered Species being held in Harare,
Loyalist cease-fire?
@box text intro = There appears to be a great deal of confusion surrounding the status of the loyalist cease-fire. Loyalists insist that it is still in effect, but there is a great gap between their words and their actions.
The Suharto regime and the Burmese military junta
By George J. Aditjondro
In July, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia will be admitted into the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). As an Indonesian dissident in exile, I wish to
— Throughout the Palestinian and Israeli left, a serious discussion is occurring over the Oslo Accords and their inability to deliver peace, a Palestinian state or an improvement in life for the majority of Palestinians. Green Left Weekly's ADAM
'Making peace is a shared responsibility'
[The following is an abridged version of the speech by keynote speaker Martin McGuinness to the Wolfe Tone Commemoration on June 22.] [Sinn Féin has] faced disappointment, but we have also made
Last push for agreements as nationalists brace for sieges
By Dave Riley
With last-ditch efforts under way to avoid a summer of conflict on a par with last year, nationalists in the north of Ireland are preparing themselves for an onslaught
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Anti-nuclear campaigners in Russia are locked in battle with state authorities over plans by the Atomic Energy Ministry to start a lucrative business reprocessing domestic and imported nuclear waste. If the ministry
Culture
The one eyed nun from hell
The one eyed nun from hell
The Beyond Dependency Conference in New Zealand
The one eyed nun from hellhas come down here to tellus,how to slash the dole,how to sear the soul,how to thrash the poorand
Reforming Australia's UnionsEdited by Michael Costa and Mark HearnFederation Press, 1997.290pp., $24.95(pb) Review by James Vassilopoulos
With the ALP's Prices and Incomes Accord now dead, it's easy to be sceptical about it, to express concern
By Bronwen Beechey
Body Suits is an exhibition that is touring nationally. It is produced by Arts Access, an organisation working with people who have a disability or are disadvantaged by social conditions, giving them the opportunity to make a
HamletDirected by Kenneth Branagh Review by John Tognolini
Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet is the 60th film version of Shakespeare's classic story of murder, revenge, madness, incest and abuse of power. Seeing the two-hour version makes me want to see
Bad Girls: The media, sex & feminism in the 90sBy Catharine LumbyAllen and Unwin 1997. 192 pp. $16.95 (pb) Review by Corinne Glenn
Over the last two years, publishing houses have been rushing to provide books about young feminists and feminism
Poem: Chain Gang
Chain Gang
Work for the dolewell "Bless my sole"what an interesting idea.You would have thoughtthat someone oughtto have thoughtof thatbefore this year.
Didn't they try to do it in 1929?Wasn't it then the susso
A child of poverty in modern Iran
A True StoryDirected by Abolfazi JaliliSydney Film Festival Review by Brendan Doyle
There are films that stay with you long after the screening. For me, this tiny-budget, hardly edited and atrociously
José Martí Cultural Evening
@box text intro = FREMANTLE — On June 15, more than 150 people gathered at the third José Martí Cultural Evening, organised by the Australia Cuba Friendship Society and Committees in
Huxley: Evolution's High PriestBy Adrian DesmondMichael Joseph, 1997. 370 pp., $40 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon
Thomas Huxley was "Darwin's Bulldog", a brilliant scientist and fearless propagandist for Darwin's theory of evolution. Whereas
Brothers to Us: The Story of a Remarkable Family's Fight Against ApartheidBy Kristin Williamson (with a foreword by John Pilger)Viking, 1997. 344 pp., $24.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon
Rugby, some claim, is the game played in Heaven, but for
International Women's Day Song 1997
By Rachel Morgan
Hey sisters take to the streetsIt's International Women's DaySee the strength in you, the strength in meCelebrate our diversity.
Hey sisters sing out loudGutsy aunts have shown the
The Unconscious CivilisationABC Massey LecturesBy John Ralston SaulPenguin, 1995. 208 pp.A Truly Civil SocietyBoyer LecturesBy Eva CoxABC in booklet form or from the ABC web site. Review by Gerry Harant
Since their broadcast on the ABC, a book