Police assault Monash demonstration By Julie Tisdale MELBOURNE — A 200-strong demonstration against sexual violence on campus was broken up by police at Monash University on October 19. About 40 police moved in on students after they
Issue 32
News
By Steve Painter From their inception several years ago, the Greiner government's attempts at industrial relations reform have correctly been seen as a blueprint for the policies of a future federal Liberal-National government. However, until
By Tom Flanagan HOBART — Five hundred people packed out the Hobart Town Hall on October 16 for a lunchtime public meeting against resource security legislation. The proposed legislation will lock up 1.4 million hectares of Tasmania in
By Teresa Dowding HOBART — The council of this fair city is not one of the more progressive bodies in the Australian governmental system. Resting on a system of multiple voting for property owners, its members are elected by a few hundred
By Tracy Sorensen SYDNEY — A one-day strike organised by NSW health unions on October 15 to protest against cuts and closures in the public health system was supported by more than 90% of workers in the sector. About 80,000 NSW health workers
By Tim Stewart NEWCASTLE — Newcastle University activists appear to have won two transport issues on campus. State transport minister Bruce Baird has made a firm commitment to build a university train station, and the university has agreed to
People's power radio CANBERRA — "People Powered Radio" is the theme of community radio 2XX's radiothon, running until October 26. For 15 years 2XX has been the sole progressive voice on Canberra's airwaves. Earlier this year 2XX decided
Youth depression, suicide at high level By Grace Minton PERTH — An alarming suicide rate and the level of severe depression amongst Western Australian young people are the subjects of two new health reports. One study found that more than
By Bill Mason BRISBANE, October 20 — The perjury trial of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen came to a sensational end yesterday with a hung jury and revelations that the jury foreman was a National Party branch official, with alleged links to the Friends of
WA government stalls on safe sex By Leon Harrison PERTH — The WA Health Department's safe sex campaign, aimed at 16- to 25-year-olds, has been stalled yet again. Health minister Keith Wilson, a right-wing Catholic, first blocked the
Margaret Perrott and Lesley Warne SHELLHARBOUR — The proposal to build a luxury marina and resort at South Shellharbour Beach, south of Wollongong, seems to be once again on the agenda. Visits to the area in the last month by federal treasurer
SYDNEY — More than 300 people gathered outside the ANZ head office in Martin Place on October 18 to protest against the possible sale of Fairfax to the Kerry Packer-Conrad Black consortium. Speakers at the rally included Freda Whitlam, Andrew
Brewery ruling threatens Aboriginal heritage By Leon Harrison PERTH — In a setback to Aboriginal plans to demolish the old Swan Brewery, the full bench of the Supreme Court has upheld an appeal by the WA Development Corporation and the state
MELBOURNE — About 170 journalists from the Age newspaper picketed the headquarters of the ANZ Bank (receivers of the troubled Fairfax newspaper empire) to protest against increased concentration of media ownership and the threat this poses to
Saboteurs at Coode Island? By Kate Tregarthen and Dave Mizon MELBOURNE — Police claim they have evidence suggesting that the August 21 and 22 explosions and fires at Coode Island, which caused a toxic smoke plume to drift over the city, were
500 years committee launched By Martin Mulligan MELBOURNE — Exactly 499 years after Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas, a Melbourne Working Committee on 500 Years of Indigenous and Popular Resistance held a public launch to
Workers block provocation by Mobil By Dave Mizon MELBOURNE — Workers at Mobil's Yarraville terminal won a victory over management on October 15 after four days of strike action. The strike followed a series of provocative actions by the
By Peter Boyle The problem with Australia, federal opposition leader John Hewson told the Business Council of Australia on October 17, was that most people are paying dearly for the benefit of a few. A privileged but vocal and influential minority
World
The name HILDA LINI has been synonymous with the nuclear-free and independent Pacific movement, environmental issues and women's rights. An activist for progressive political causes since she began working for Vanuatu's ruling Vanua'aku Pati (then
By Martin Mulligan After digging very deep into its voluminous bag of dirty tricks to secure the presidency in the 1988 elections, Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) managed to reassert its dominance with a sweeping victory in
Fallout from the Yugoslav civil war and the failed Soviet coup is currently dominating Hungarian politics, benefiting the ruling rightist Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), reports LASZLO ANDOR from Budapest. Eighteen months after national
By Angela Matheson BUDAPEST — The Cafe Hungaria is renowned for serving the best coffee in the city. For most of this century, waiters have pushed mahogany cake trolleys around the art nouveau interior to expectant customers' tables. But these
By Robert Graham The chances for peace in El Salvador are closer than ever before according to Dr Gorka Garate, a leading aid and development worker from El Salvador. Speaking at a public meeting in Fremantle, Garate said that the recent
Solidarity activists are mobilising for a major international campaign called "East Timor: It's Time to Talk". The proposal is for round table talks between the East Timorese resistance and Indonesia under United Nations auspices. The offer has been
ROY MEDVEDEV became well known in the West as the leading dissident Soviet historian during the Brezhnev years. He was expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1969, when his letter to the editor of the CPSU's theoretical magazine
By Angela Matheson WARSAW — At the Krosno glassworks in western Poland, rehearsals are under way for the bleak free market future. Jan Kadir, the laconic manager, starts the factory tour in the furnace room, which is staffed by female workers
A declaration calling for the formation of a Russian Party of Labour was launched in Moscow at the end of August. Among the signatories were well-known socialists — including leader of the Socialist Party Boris Kagarlitsky and ANDREI ISAYEV, a
Culture
Inequality in Australia Slicing the Cake The Social Justice Collective William Heinemann Australia, 1991. 338 pp. $19.95 pb Reviewed by Stephen Robson Inequality in Australia has increased during the period of the Hawke Labor government. This
Taking the sting out of ageing A Woman's Tale Directed and co-produced by Paul Cox Screenplay by Paul Cox and Barry Dickens Starring Sheila Florance, Gosia Dobrowolska, Norman Kaye, Chris Haywood Reviewed by Ulrike Erhardt Sheila Florance,
No Fear — Korkmak Yok Written by Patricia Cornelius and Vicki Reynolds Directed by Joan Murray Music by Irene Vela Performed by Kate Gillick, Senol Mat, Ijlal Olguner and Irene Vela A Melbourne Workers Theatre production Reviewed by Melanie
Fan my fevered cliché Jungle Fever A film by Spike Lee Reviewed by Melanie Sjoberg Jungle Fever left me feeling confused and uncertain about just what message Spike Lee is trying to convey. The boy-meets-girl scenario attempts to
By Peter McGregor The Vietnam News Agency (VNA), based in Hanoi, has recently expanded its English-language publications. Previously it had been producing only the 16-page weekly bulletin, Vietnam Weekly. In mid-June, VNA began its
By Norm Dixon Cuba is facing its most serious threat since the revolution. The effects of the United States' 30-year economic embargo are being compounded by the disruption of Cuba's vital trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Congress
Inside Out By Sowaddayawant Women's Theatre Company and Patricia Cornelius Directed by Lisa Dombroski At the Anthill Theatre, South Melbourne, until October 27. Reviewed by Bronwen Beechey Sowaddayawant Women's Theatre Company began drama
Reconciliation? em = By Duncan Richardson In fruit boxes on shelves the 'disappeared' lie jumbled mostly unnamed but labelled "Product of Argentina". Their children force adopted lost between names smile on screen hoping eyes, nose,
Louisiana Red and Billy Branch with special guests, the didgeridoo players of Bathurst Island Paddington RSL, October 13 Reviewed by Norm Dixon After a solid weekend's work getting Green Left ready for the printers, to be able to knock off and
Editorial
Recognise Croatia! For months now, the Yugoslav People's Army, assisted by Serbian paramilitary groups, has been waging a brutal war against the Republic of Croatia. Tanks, artillery, naval vessels and the air force have been used to attack