Issue 304

'Slave labour', say youth By Bill Mason BRISBANE — The Howard government's move to extend the compulsory work for the dole scheme is akin to conscription and slave labour, according to a group of young people interviewed in the January 29

Perth protest against Howard By Sarah Stephenand Katie Miles-Barnes PERTH — On January 25, 150 people gathered outside Government House to peacefully protest against an address by John Howard. The rally was opposing the Wik 10-point plan,

By Alison Dellit NEWCASTLE — A decision by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on January 29 refused workers at Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No. 1 mine access to arbitration to resolve the long-running dispute at the mine. The dispute

Telstra unfair dismissal case adjourned By Chris Slee MELBOURNE — The Industrial Relations Commission hearing of the unfair dismissal case of Mervyn Vogt has been adjourned to April 14. Vogt, a Community and Public Sector Union delegate at

NT TLC condemns Labor leader over Jabiluka By Tim E. Stewart DARWIN — Support for the campaign against the proposed uranium mine at Jabiluka has been strengthened after the NT Trades and Labour Council at its January meeting condemned NT Labor

Watch Committee for Victoria MELBOURNE — Around 50 people attended a January 28 meeting to establish an Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee for Victoria. Late last year, five men and one woman died in private prisons. The usual

Militant struggles in isolation may be heroic, but only a struggle that gains support from other organised workers and the general public can win its demands. Over the last week, the establishment media have been doing their utmost to ensure that the

Today's tasks: ten-point justice "Our ten points: a long-range policy for Aborigines" was adopted at the 1938 Day of Mourning and Protest held in Australian Hall, and published in the first edition of the Australian Abo Call newspaper in April

The pope in Cuba: 'Everyone's a winner but the US' By Karen Lee Wald HAVANA — While the pope's visit to Cuba was officially billed as a "pastoral visit" to Catholics at the invitation of their bishops, the world's attention was nevertheless

Sex scandal diverts attention from threat to Iraq By Barry Sheppard For the past two weeks, the allegations that President Bill Clinton had an affair with a young woman working in the White House has drowned out other major news. The scandal

By Karina Marlon JAKARTA — The opposition to the Suharto dictatorship is growing, fuelled by the economic crisis. The drop in the value of the rupiah and the slumping economy have brought a severe loss in confidence in the regime. People are

TB spreads in Russia as government chops health funds By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — At about 2.5% of GDP, health spending in Russia last year compared poorly with western European levels of 7-8%. That was before the cost-cutters lopped another

Jazz Against Racism By John Gauci SYDNEY — What better way to protest against racism than through an art form whose roots are historically grounded in the struggle of an oppressed people? Jazz literally means "wildly active" or "lively". On

Tasmanian Waffle Waffle Tall StoriesSunday, February 8, 7.30pmCinema After Dark, HobartWednesday, February 11, 8.30pmCafe Who$8.50/$6 concession (slightly more at the door) Review by Kathy Pinkus HOBART — Waffle Tall Stories are back. There are

Telling it like it is: Land rights and the pastoral industry Bludgers in Grass Castles: Native title and the unpaid debts of the pastoral industryBy Martin TaylorResistance Books, 1998$3.95 from Resistance Bookshops (addresses page 2) or send