By Graham Matthews
TOWNSVILLE — "Boong bashing with a giant bludgeon" was how Carpentaria Lands Council coordinator Murrandoo Yanner described mining multinational Rio Tinto's attempts to secure agreement for the Century Zinc mine in
Issue 282
News
Cancer fear in the Illawarra
By Dave Holmes
WOLLONGONG — The recent release of a long-awaited government report on leukaemia clusters in the Illawarra will do little to allay community concerns. The report, by a special committee set up
By Angela Luvera
BRISBANE — The 1997 Network of Women Students Australia conference, held at the Queensland University of Technology July 7-12, was attended by around 600 women. Plenary panels included Feminisms; Women in Struggle; Women, Work
Campaign against Werribee toxic dump
By Mark Abberton
MELBOURNE — Residents of Werribee, in the western suburbs, picketed a shareholder meeting of CSR at the Grand Hyatt here on July 16. Werribee Residents Against Toxic Dump are
By Alex Bainbridge and Reihana Mohideen
The Industrial Relations Commission on July 17 instructed Public Transport Union (PTU) train drivers to cross the striking mineworkers' picket line in the Hunter Valley. However, the IRC ruling also stated
Rally against One Nation in Werribee
By Paul Miller
MELBOURNE — Around 700 protesters organised by Campaign Against Racism rallied outside the Werribee West Family Centre on July 14 to protest against Pauline Hanson's One Nation party
On Hanson's trail
By Helen Cunningham
GEELONG — The battle continued against the growth of Pauline Hanson's One Nation party in Geelong on July 18. Organised by the Geelong People for Multiculturalism and Democracy (GPMD), a protest rally
CPSU members vote
Meetings were held around the country last week to vote on the way forward for the campaign by the Community and Public Sector Union to protect jobs and conditions. Paul Oboohov reports from Canberra that on July 17 members
Comments of some NOWSA participants
Kylie Moon, 19, member of Resistance, studying at the University of Tasmania, third NOWSA: "The focus has been more on women taking action than compared to previous years. There has been a shift in the
Queensland TAFE cuts hit
By Daniel Lambert
BRISBANE — The Borbidge government's $113 million TAFE funding cuts, brought down in the last state budget, are beginning to show their effects as angry students mobilise to fight these attacks
One Nation spies on anti-racist campaign
By Zanny Begg
BRISBANE — The One Nation party has launched a dirty tricks campaign to discredit the anti-racist movement. The July 14 Anti-Racist Campaign (ARC) meeting was infiltrated by a One
Cuts to Aboriginal arts committee
By Chris Latham
PERTH — A protest was held on July 16 against cuts to Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation — the Western Australian Aboriginal arts advisory committee. Protesters read letters of support
By Graham Matthews
TOWNSVILLE — Around 600 students from campuses all around Australia and Papua New Guinea attended the Students and Sustainability Conference, held at James Cook University here July 14-18. "The conference has been a great
Disappointment
"I regret to report that there was no violence." — A TV reporter overheard by ambulance crew reporting in following the protest at One Nation's Werribee launch.
When we don't need it
"I have already indicated that we
Media, police harass conference goers
By James Norman
TOWNSVILLE — The organisers of the annual Students and Sustainability Conference, attended by some 500 people, are angry that despite its overwhelming success, the media reports have
US black activist defies deportation threat
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — "Racism is an international phenomenon", former US Black Panther Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin told a meeting at the Opal Centre on July 16, as he continued his speaking tour of
Anti-Hanson campaign meeting called
By Liam Mitchell
SYDNEY — In response to the One Nation party seeking to establish branches in northern and western suburbs, the Campaign Against Racism has called an open meeting to organise opposition
Aboriginal cultural centre opened
By Will Williams
@box text intro = BENDIGO — An Aboriginal cultural centre, "One Dream Time", has been established here with the aim of bringing cultural awareness to the city. The centre intends to
Clear message from miners' rally
By Chris Spindler
SYDNEY — Miners' conditions will not be bargained away, Ross Peters, president of the Hunter Valley No. 1 lodge, told a crowd of 3000 miners, Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy
Bosses on the offensive against awards
By James Vassilopoulos
On July 23, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission will begin arbitration in a case that may result in the removal of dozens of conditions from awards. The case is being
Kennett cuts disability services
By Bronwen Beechey
MELBOURNE — State-funded disability advocacy and information groups have been told that funding will be withdrawn from August 29. Most are to be completely de-funded, forcing many to
University of Tasmania general staff vote for NTEU
By Dave Abbott
HOBART — General staff at the University of Tasmania recently voted overwhelmingly for a greater choice of union membership. A group of general staff organised a secret
Analysis
Editorial: A 'cure' that must be resisted
A 'cure' that must be resisted
@box text intro = John Howard has sharply escalated his blame-the-victim campaign — a predictable response to recent poll results showing that the Coalition is
World
South Africans strike against privatisation
By Norm Dixon
Thousands of workers employed by local government in Johannesburg and Pretoria staged a one-day strike on July 1 to oppose privatisation. The strike was called by the South African
On July 26, revolutionaries around the world will celebrate the 44th anniversary of the storming of the Moncada Barracks in Cuba by young revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro.To mark the event, the following is abridged from a talk on Che Guevara
Strike wave hits Zimbabwe
By Norm Dixon
Workers in some of Zimbabwe's lowest paying jobs have embarked on a wave of strikes to win wage increases of up to 50%. Employers have responded with intransigence and violence, while the Mugabe
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Just in case anyone thought democracy and the rule of law were coming to Yeltsin's Russia, the country's security police in mid-June brought additional charges against nuclear safety campaigner Aleksandr Nikitin.
NGOs picket PNG forestry office
By Barry Healy
PNG NGOs including the Individual and Community Rights Advocacy Forum Inc, Conservation Melanesian, Melanesian Environment Foundation (MEF) and Greenpeace picketed PNGs National Forest
Iranian political prisoners die on hunger strike
Iranian political prisoners die on hunger strike
The Association of Iranian Political Prisoners in exile reports that four political prisoners who had gone on "dry" hunger strike, along with
By Helen Jarvis
PHNOM PENH — The unlikely coalition between the royalist Funcinpec and the formerly socialist Cambodian People's Party has fallen apart in a shoot-out in the streets of the capital. The population that had endured so much
Senegal was a French colony until it became independent in 1960. It contains about 20 distinct ethnic groups in its population of 8 million.The country has been facing a huge economic and social crisis that has its roots in the increase in debt and a structural adjustment program launched in the early 1980s.
By Norm Dixon
Disgust at Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan's plan to use South African mercenaries to crush the people of Bougainville led to his heavy defeat in the general election, held between June 14 and 28. PNG's 2.3 million
Students and youth in struggle
AZURAMANN CEKA is an AND JEF/PADS student leader and a member of the bureau of the Youth, Student and Pupils Movement. He was interviewed by FRED SPENCER Question: What's the nature of your movement? What are the
By Dave Riley
There was widespread relief throughout northern Ireland as news spread that the Orange Order had cancelled or voluntarily re-routed four highly contentious marches. The annual July 12 celebrations of a 1690 Protestant victory over
Mystery surrounds death of David Alex
By James Balowski
Mystery still surrounds the death of David Alex, deputy chief of staff of the East Timorese armed resistance, Falintil, who was shot and captured in Kaibada, Bacau, on June 25. The
By Lisa Young
LONDON — The longest trial in English history came to an end on June 19. It centred on the distribution of a six-page fact sheet, titled "What's Wrong With McDonald's — Everything They Don't Want You To Know", produced by
Culture
The Season at SarsaparillaBy Patrick WhiteDirected by Mary-Anne GiffordNew Theatre, Sydney Review by Brendan Doyle
A few days in the life of Sarsaparilla, a fictional suburb of Sydney, in the summer of 1961. Three decidedly Anglo families, the
City of Darkness, City of LightBy Marge PiercyMichael Joseph, 1997. 479 pp., $29.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon
When a brilliant novelist meets a great revolution, the result is a magnificent novel by Marge Piercy that brings alive the colour,
Review by Emily Carr
How do the leading lights of Australia's indigenous arts community respond to a year which has brought an ugly concoction of the most conservative political forces in decades? Stephen Page, artistic director and compere of
By Al McCall
Rather than wring his hands and lament that political satire seemed to be in its dog days, Dave Riley decided to do something about it. "Good satire", he told Green Left Weekly, "is rare. It rages for a time, then rests. It's time
Suspect History: Manning Clark and the Future of Australia's PastBy Humphrey McQueenWakefield Press, 1997238 pp., $17.95(pb) Review by Phil Shannon
Australia's history, if a certain resident of Kirribilli House is to be believed, has been one of
popo's dream
Can a dream ruin your life?One that begins like a train rideWith you stepping off the platformIn your travelling clothes, a vagrant,the fabric, a story, in which youwander 'til wearied, and far off ...The wheels turning, far off a