The fall of Suharto in May unleashed an unprecedented wave of political discussion and activity in East Timor. Across the island, meetings are being organised to discuss East Timor's future as an independent entity, to debate the proposal of
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... and ain't I a woman?: Violence: a growing scandal The annual Reclaim the Night march and rally celebrates its 20th anniversary in Australia this year. Arising out of the women's movement in the '70s, the first marches in Sydney, Adelaide
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Pulling strings By Brandon Astor Jones "The poet's heart, it is said, must find and be in agreement with the reader's intellect." — Irving Elmer Bell From time to time, as a new feature in this space, I will compose a poem in the hope of
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For a non-sexist future A recent front-page report in the Sydney Morning Herald, citing statistics from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, highlights the increasing number of women and children seeking protection from domestic
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Honourable intentions Is Kim Beazley a happy man? Sure he is! And you know why? He lost the election, that's why. — Lost! But what's so good about that? That was the game plan. You don't seriously think Labor wanted to win the election
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Another 'theory' wears thinThe Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party on October 11 announced plans for the government to spend ¥67 trillion rescuing and/or taking over banks threatened with collapse by massive bad loans.
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The Howard government returns with very little political legitimacy. That's why PM John Howard is now desperately trying to refashion his image. He's changed! No more Mr Apologist-For-Pauline-Hanson. Now (after he has nearly
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Just who is kidding whom about Kosovo? NATO is ready to bomb Serbia "to force it to back down". US special envoy Richard Holbrooke holds hours of talks with Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic, and comes out saying that
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[This is abridged from a speech to the South Coast Labour Council by JOHN RAINFORD on August 12.] The Erie Wicker Defence Committee was formed at a public meeting held in this hall and attended by more than 60 people in April. Those attending were
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MELBOURNE — There has been widespread opposition to a decision to exclude transgender women from the NOWSA (Network of Women Students Australia) collective. This opposition has come from numerous alternative
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Starting on October 10, a new wave of pro-independence protests took place across East Timor. The largest mobilisations occurred in Dili, which was brought to a standstill for two days by huge demonstrations. Estimates of the number of
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9POINT = Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Thursday, 10pm and Saturday, 7pm. Ph 9565 5522. Access News
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Indigenous whaling An article from Hour magazine reproduced in Green Left Weekly #336 has raised the issue of indigenous whaling rights and the part they play in the wider struggle for indigenous autonomy and emancipation. The Makah Indians in
News
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Liberals prepare sale of ACTEWCANBERRA — Kate Carnell's Liberal government is proposing the sale of the ACT's electricity and water provider, ACTEW. Carnell claims the sale is necessary to pay for superannuation liabilities.
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Resistance seminar on fighting racismSYDNEY — Forty people, including a number of new faces, attended an anti-racism seminar held by Resistance on Saturday, October 10. The event sought to get to the heart of racism and how to
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Industrial commission undermines wagesThe Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) ruled on October 20 that paid rates awards — awards that specify actual pay, rather than minimum pay — will be changed so as
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Land for health swap 'an outrage'DARWIN — The Jawoyn Association announced last week that, following negotiations with the Northern Territory government, it would drop a claim for land 20 kilometres south of Katherine in
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Organising Reclaim the Night Melbourne By Lynne Kennedy Organising this year's 1998 Reclaim the Night has had its share of problems and successes. The fact that we have been unsuccessful in all our requests for funding highlights, yet again,
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Beginning of wisdom "Now it seems we were just pawns." — Andrew McKellar, recruited as a wharfie for the Patrick union-busting operation but dumped when Patrick settled with the MUA. McKellar and another scab are suing Patrick and industrial
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Protest planned against nuclear ship visitHOBART — Activists and progressive groups have vowed to protest against two US nuclear warships due to arrive here in the next month. The first ship is scheduled to
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Workers First contests organiser electionsThe Workers First team, which won the leadership of the Victorian branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union earlier this year, is standing candidates for seven organiser
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Mixed results in Wollongong SRC electionsWOLLONGONG — Wollongong University Student Representative Council elections were held on October 13-15. There were mixed outcomes for the left, with good results for the SRC and some
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Touch One, Touch All premieredWOLLONGONG — On October 21, 50 people attended the launch of the new film by Peter Ewer, Touch One, Touch All, about government attacks on unionists in the Illawarra. The film draws parallels
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Rio Tinto sacks Hunter Valley minersRio Tinto, the giant Anglo-Australian transnational, announced on October 20 the sacking of 115 coalminers at its Hunter Valley No. 1 open-cut mine. The retrenchments are aimed at
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Rallies against PinochetADELAIDE — Around 100 people rallied outside Parliament House here on October 22 in support of the arrest and extradition to Spain of Augusto Pinochet to stand trial for murder and torture. Organised by
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Wharfies' anger at Patrick deal growsWharfies are angry following their experience of the enterprise agreement between Patrick Stevedores and the Maritime Union of Australia. The deal came into operation in early October.
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Coober Pedy says no to nuclear dumpThe people of Coober Pedy, in outback South Australia, are organising to oppose the National Radioactive Waste Repository (i.e. dump) proposed for Billa Kalina. A public meeting was organised in
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Timbarra protesters attackedLISMORE — Police and mining company employees have violently attacked and injured protesters and local residents at the gates of the Timbarra gold mine near Tenterfield in north-eastern NSW.
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Activists storm forestry officeLISMORE — Seventy activists from the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) occupied the Casino office of State Forests on October 20 to highlight the Carr Labor government's failure to put forward an
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Rally to defend native titleMELBOURNE — About 450 people gathered on the steps of Parliament House on October 22 to protest against Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett's attempts to ram through native title extinguishment in
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'Vote for a steelworker, not a politician!' NEWCASTLE — Green Left Weekly's STEVE O'BRIEN interviewed GEOFF PAYNE, Democratic Socialist candidate for the federal seat of Newcastle, between his shifts at the BHP steelworks. The vote in the seat
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Indonesian forum SYDNEY — About 100 people attended a forum presented by the Indonesian Welfare Association here on October 16. Speakers from the NSW Rape Crisis Centre spoke of their visit to meet with volunteers working with the ethnic Chinese
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Dorf workers push company backMELBOURNE — After two weeks of being locked out, about 200 workers at the Email Dorf plant in Melbourne's south-east have returned to work after the company accepted most of the workers' demands.
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International day of action against Jabiluka mine International day of action against Jabiluka mine Protests against the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine took place in Madrid, Paris, Cologne, Bonn and Osaka on October 20. In Madrid, representatives
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Dita Sari interview smuggled from prisonSYDNEY — Film maker Jill Hickson addressed a meeting of 60 people at the Resistance Centre here on October 13. She presented footage from her most recent trip to Indonesia,
Analysis
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Packer's taxes and ours Was anyone really surprised by the October 13 Federal Court ruling which rejected attempts by the Australian Tax Office to make Kerry Packer (through the companies he owns) pay taxes on some $500 million of income? The
World
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High school students in France, angry about large class sizes, badly maintained buildings, too few teachers and shortages of resources, have taken to the streets in their hundreds of thousands. Student strikes began in Nimes, in
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uth = By Barry Sheppard Two bicyclists were riding in the evening in Laramie, Wyoming, when they saw what appeared to be a scarecrow tied to a fence along a ranch, its arms outstretched. On getting closer, they saw it was a human being,
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Indonesian regime suffers further setbacksThe Habibie-Wiranto regime suffered another major setback on October 22 when the parliament finally passed a law on "public expression of opinion". The final version of the law undid
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By any calculation, the October 17 oil pipeline disaster in southern Nigerian rates amongst the worst industrial accidents ever. As of October 21, the death toll was estimated at 700; it is expected to climb above 1000. The western
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Putting people first Speaking to the UN General Assembly's third commission on social, humanitarian and cultural issues in early October, Rodolfo Reyes, second secretary of Cuba's UN mission, said Cuba will continue to be a society that puts its
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AUCKLAND — With less than a year to go before the 1999 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) leaders' summit here, a high-profile civil court case against the New Zealand spy agency, the Security Intelligence Service (SIS),
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Three months after the July 26 elections, a new Cambodian government is yet to be formed. Despite participating in the National Assembly swearing-in ceremony on September 24, the majority of elected opposition members are now
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Chilean dictator Pinochet arrestedThe dictator General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile for more than 16 years, was arrested in a London hospital on October 19. The arrest by Interpol came on a request from Spanish
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UN votes 157-2 against blockade of Cuba The United Nations General Assembly on October 14 voted against the US blockade of Cuba by a record margin, 157-2. Only the US and Israel voted in favour of the blockade. Twelve countries abstained. The vote
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BERKELEY, California — There is an immigration crisis in the United States. But it is not caused by uncontrolled borders or too many immigrants, the stereotyped images used to inflame anti-immigrant hysteria. It is the return of
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The People's Democratic Party (PRD) announced on October 22 that it had held a national congress in Yogyakarta October 9-11. Eighty-five delegates representing 23 branches, the national leadership and the affiliated mass organisations
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KEMEROVO, Russia — Gennady Filatyev, director of the Volkov coalmine near this city in the Kuzbass industrial region of Siberia, is a bull of a man. When he leans across a lectern, gesticulating as he makes a point, he could be
Culture
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How Can It Be? How can it be that we have come to this?Australia must be a land of foolish masochistsOnce you might overlook, but someone tell me now,Did we really put up our hands for more of Johnny Howard? Civilisation will hold us in
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A Vietnamese Revolutionary Talks To Jesus You say you were six hours on the Cross?— That's true, six hours of sun and dust and sweat.I am still young, and I have been a scoreOf years in battle. I was born upon a battlefield. You say your mother
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Waco: The Rules of EngagementDirected by William GazeckiFifth Estate Productions Review by Arun Pradhan "Do I really want to spend the next two hours watching a film about mad, Christian fundamentalist Americans?" was the question going through my
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ADELAIDE — The second annual Feast Lesbian and Gay Cultural Festival got off to a fiery start on October 23 with an opening night party that featured a lively mix of highlights from performance, dance and music. After its
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Dorney misses the forest and the trees The Sandline Affair: Politics and mercenaries and the Bougainville crisisBy Sean DorneySydney: ABC Books, 1998352 pp., $24.95 Review by Max Watts Since the Bougainville "crisis", (I'd call it the
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Year of hope 1968: Marching in the StreetsBy Tariq Ali and Susan WatkinsBloomsbury Press, 1998. 224 pp., $49.95 Review by John Nebauer "'Order reigns in Warsaw!' 'Order reigns in Paris!' 'Order reigns in Berlin!' This is how the reports of the