Tax Office workers protest
By Chris Slee
Members of the Community and Public Sector Union employed by the Australian Taxation Office have completed two weeks of rolling stoppages to protest management's plans to sack up to 50 workers in the
Issue 290
News
Hinchinbrook protesters face vigilante threats
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has called for a police investigation into alleged threats against environmentalists protesting against the Port
NTEU criticises Abstudy cuts
By Marina Cameron
On September 9 the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union publicly pledged support for a national day of action on September 11, organised by indigenous educators to fight cuts to
Correction
The article "Hinchinbrook campaign in court and on the water" in GLW #289 said that land purchased by Williams' Cardwell Developments was granted development approval by Cardwell Shire Council in 1995. This approval was granted in
ANU students go to the polls
By Will Williamsand Erin Killion
CANBERRA — Elections for the students' association at the Australian National University take place this week. Green Left Weekly spoke to Dave Gosling, Resistance activist and
Swinburne union affiliates to VTSAN and NUS
By Maurice Sibelle
MELBOURNE — More than 700 students attended the Swinburne Student Union (SSU) special general meeting on September 9 to change the constitution of the union and affiliate to
Asian activists address secondary students
By Kerryn Williams
CANBERRA — Touring activists Edwin Gozal from the Indonesian People's Democratic Party (PRD) and East Timorese writer Naldo Rai addressed a packed lunchtime forum at
Strike resumes at Hunter Valley mine
By Alex Bainbridge
HUNTER VALLEY — Mine workers at Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No. 1 coal mine resumed their strike on September 8 in response to continuing provocation by mine management. The miners had
By Emma Webb
ADELAIDE The neo-Nazi grouplet National Action on September 6 marched down Hanson Road, which runs through the western suburbs and has a large Asian population. While the march attracted 10 people, some 100 anti-racists mobilised
MELBOURNE — Green Left Weekly's RAY FULCHER and ALISON DELLIT spoke to a participant in the RMIT occupation, MARCEL CAMERON. Why did the university give way to the students' demands on the referendum?
The student union had already put a lot of
First death in private prison
By Brendan Greenhill
BRISBANE — A 22-year-old white male serving a three-month sentence in Woodford private prison was found hanging by a video cord at 2.12pm on September 12. The prisoner, whose name has not
Brutal reaction to student sit-in
By Will Williams
CANBERRA — On September 11, after an Australian National University student general meeting, a small group of students held a brief, peaceful sit-in in the university chancellery.
Build fight back in UQ student union elections
Comment by Kathy Newnam and Tim Walgers
Student union elections will take place at the University of Queensland from September 15 to 19. At a time of increasing attacks on education and
Victory at RMIT
By Alison Dellit and Ray Fulcher
MELBOURNE — In a significant victory for the campaign against fees for undergraduates, RMIT students and staff are to vote in the first "referendum" on fees ever held. The concession
Very soon every purchaser of a new Windows-based computer will have Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer's world view delivered right into their homes without even having to remember to subscribe. It's no fuss, no mess, no choice news on-line.
Every
Feminists discuss attacks on women
SYDNEY — A public meeting about the impact on women of the Howard government's funding cuts was organised by the International Women's Day collective on September 10. Speakers were Peggy Trompf from the
Activists block Eastern Distributor
By Kerry Nettle
SYDNEY — Greens councillor Tom McLoughlin from Waverley Council was among eight protesters arrested on September 9 for blockading the felling of trees on the Eastern Distributor route.
Doctors raise alarm over Jabiluka
By Tracy Snook
A team of doctors from Sydney Children's Hospital on September 9 held a press conference opposing the Jabiluka uranium mine in Kakadu National Park. The team was headed by Dr Helen Caldicott,
By Polly MacDonald
WOLLONGONG — Two hundred residents showed their disapproval of changes to services at Port Kembla Hospital by walking out of a community consultation meeting held at Warrawong Community Centre on September 3. The Illawarra
World
By Michael Karadjis
ATHENS — The US/NATO-controlled "stabilisation forces" occupying Bosnia have come out openly on the side of Bosnian Serb President Biliana Plavsic in her power struggle with the clique around former president
In brief
By Barry Healy
BP backs off
Energy conglomerate British Petroleum has backed off from legal attempts to seize the bank accounts of UK Greenpeace. On August 21, BP dropped court actions against Greenpeace for its campaign
NY police torture immigrant
By Barry Sheppard
In the early morning hours of August 10, a Haitian immigrant in New York, Abner Louima, was outside a nightclub in a largely black and immigrant section of Brooklyn after a party. As the
Cuba: hotel bombing kills Italian visitor
Italian businessperson Fabio di Celmo was killed on September 4 when a bomb exploded in Havana's exclusive Copacabana hotel. Two other bombs which exploded at the same time at the Triton and
'Educational elitism' in the Philippines
By Lachlan Malloch
SYDNEY = Arnel Casanova spoke on the struggle against privatisation of education in the Philippines at Macquarie University on September 11. Casanova is a left-wing member of the
By Eva Cheng
Ever since Beijing's turn toward the market in 1978, top Communist officials have repeated a "determination" to defend socialism and that state ownership would remain the "mainstay" of the economy. Beijing's key measure of
By Norm Dixon
Veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war have mounted a determined campaign to expose the Mugabe government's failure to deliver decent living standards and land for the poor, and to fight corruption. Veterans want decent pensions and
By Wachira Maina
NAIROBI — On August 12, 1897, English law came to Kenya. A century later, should we celebrate or mourn? We suggest that Kenyans should reflect on the meaning of English law and of colonialism to Kenya as the 20th century comes
By Michael Karadjis
ATHENS, September 6 — While 10,000 Athenians waved flags and honked horns outside parliament at the news that Athens would stage the 2004 Olympics, the mood could hardly be described as overwhelming. Compared to events such
By Michael Karadjis
ATHENS — Thousands of teachers and students blocked the city on September 4 in the first action of what promises to be a long campaign against the government's education "poly legislation". The centrepiece of this
Peace forum on Sri Lanka
By Sue Bull
CANBERRA — A group called Friends of Peace in Sri Lanka held a lively forum of 50 people on August 31 to explore the possibilities of an end to the war in that troubled country. The group is an
Culture
By Al McCall
Not many people know of Ewan MacColl. Those who do remember him as a folk singer and partner of Peggy Seeger. As a songwriter, MacColl is recognised as the author of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Dirty Old Town", "The
Dangerous LiasiansDownstairs Theatre, Belvoir StreetSeptember 18-20 and 25-27Bookings 9699 3444 Review by Suneeta Peres da Costa
A cabaret as anti-racist polemic? The work of the ensemble in Dangerous Liasians, performed as part of the fifth
By Al McCall
BRISBANE — The Satire Workshop has been making headway. Originally foundered as a pilot project to disseminate and promote political satire throughout Australia, the workshop has met with a ready response, as much overseas as
Small MiraclesBy Eric BogleLarrikin/Festival, 1997The Emigrant & the ExileBy Eric Bogle & John MunroLarrikin/Festival, 1997 Review by Alex Bainbridge
Eric Bogle's songs still maintain some connection with social — dare I say
Timorese art exhibition opens
By Kerryn Williams
CANBERRA — The Tuba-rai Metin art exhibition opened on September 11 at the Canberra School of Art. Initiated by the East Timor Cultural Centre in Fairfield, Sydney, this impressive
Inventing Mark Twain: The Lives of Samuel Langhorne ClemensBy Andrew HoffmanWeidenfeld & Nicolson1997, 572 pp., $49.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon
Mark Twain is often regarded as a simple humorist and writer of children's books about growing
Doing Time for Patsy ClineStarring Matt Day, Miranda Otto and Richard RoxburghWritten, directed and produced, with John Winter, by Chris KennedyOpening nationally in Dendy cinemas on September 25 Preview by Jennifer Thompson
This film opens, and
By Peter Green
The Democratic Socialist Party has a new web page. It can be accessed at http://www.peg.apc.org/~dsp. It aims to be not only an accessible introduction to the views and activities of the DSP, but also an extensive resource of DSP
Dreamtime Wisdom Modern Time VisionWirrinyga BandCAAMA Music Review by Deb Sorensen
Arnhem Land has produced some great bands over the years. Arnhem bands will often tour communities in the region, where they have an established following, but
Preview by Lynda Hansen
The Marrugeku Company was created specifically to produce Mimi in which performers from the Stalker Theatre Company, indigenous dancers and musicians from Western Australia, and Aboriginal dancers, musicians and painters
Pulling the strings on an old classic
By Lynda Hansen
BRISBANE — Sixty years after its first publication, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit has been brought to life. After six years of lobbying for funding, puppet design and construction and
Editorial
Hands off native title! Land rights now!
While pretending otherwise, Howard and his government are trying to push through with "bucket loads of extinguishment", as deputy PM Tim Fischer rather aptly, if undiplomatically, described the racist
TCF tariffs
"It is designed to give people a greater sense of job security", John Howard said of his government's decision to freeze tariffs on textiles, clothing and footwear for five years from 2000. The prime minister chose his words