The latest Western Australian Maritime Union of Australia Rank-and-File Bulletin (number 3) is a special issue mainly devoted to letters from seafarers and retired MUA members. The issue provides a sharp insight into the issues that
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Write on: Letters to the editor Racism GLW (January 20) quotes Acting Queensland Premier Jim Elder, commenting on a 14-year-old Aboriginal girl being locked up in a police watch-house for a week, saying "The simple solution is don't break the
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The US massacred at least 11 Iraqi civilians, and wounded 59 others, in missile attacks on January 25. Air strikes on Iraq continue almost daily. In December, the four-night bombardment of Iraq killed 82 civilians and 62 soldiers. The
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SYDNEY — The Sydney International Women's Day collective is busy organising this year's march and rally, to be held on March 6 from 10.30am at Sydney's Town Hall. The theme for the day is "Generations of feminist
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Eliseo Balcazar Eliseo Balcazar, a Guatemalan trade union activist and revolutionary, died in Melbourne on January 16 at the age of 56. His entire adult life was spent in the shadow of the Guatemalan military dictatorship. After an apprenticeship
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Academic freedom By Brandon Astor Jones "Responsible journalism is journalism responsible in the last analysis to the editor's own conviction of what, whether interesting or only important, is in the public interest." — Walter Lippmann,
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For self-determination and financial assistance [The following statement by the national secretariat of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) was issued as a response to the Indonesian government's statement on autonomy and
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Mobil Oil Indonesia, the country's biggest producer of natural gas, is linked to serious human rights violations in the north Sumatran region of Aceh in Indonesia. The company is a joint venture between US-based oil giant Mobil
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New atrocities against Albanian villagers by the Serbian occupation forces in Kosovo have further highlighted the western powers' "even-handed" policy. Even more than last year, virtually every commentary in the media has
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Rumours have been circulating amongst anti-nuclear activists that Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) wants to pull out of the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory. ERA began construction of the mine in June. At the moment,
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And I should know Take your everyday unemployed person. Now there's a sight! Round shouldered, pig ignorant, doesn't know chalk from cheese. And surly! You wouldn't believe how surly! And they wonder why they can't get a job. According to them,
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The fashion industry might lead the way in cashing in on women's bodies, but the sports industry is close behind. Men's sport has always been taken more seriously and given more attention than women's. But recent efforts to
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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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A radio station in Sydney recently reported the creation of a pro-republican group called "Conservative Republicans for an Australian President". It was, presumably, an acronym joke, although in the current republic "debate", you can
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Women of East Timor "In 20 years, an untold number of women went through the horror in the Indonesian prisons all over East Timor. Many of us died of starvation and exhaustion in the mountains; others died, cremated by the napalm bombs; others were
News
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With an apparent lack of irony, the One Nation party used Starship Troopers to advertise the launch of its new youth group, Young Nation. Resistance national coordinator Sean Healy commented: "Starship Troopers is a film about a
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ATHENS — High school students throughout Greece are continuing their struggle against the government's education bill 2525. The campaign, which kicked off in November, is dynamic and persistent. Hundreds of schools remain
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The Alternative Life Style Organisation's choice of theme for the January 23 gay and lesbian dance party in Melbourne — "Red Raw" — has been controversial. Red Raw was billed as a "revolutionary dance party", and the publicity
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AMA: 'Spend more on indigenous health'The Australian Medical Association used Australia Day to call for more resources from this year's federal budget to improve indigenous health. Dr Ngiare Brown, the AMA's indigenous health
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ACT government to force staff into individual contractsCANBERRA — After failing to force certified agreements on workers employed in the Chief Minister's Department, Canberra Hospital and ACT Housing, the ACT Liberal
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SYDNEY — In a return to policies from the 1950s, the NSW government has proposed a new crackdown on truancy. It says truancy is "chronic", but in fact fewer than 0.5% of NSW students are regular truants. The government is
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Resistance magazine's Chris Latham spoke with visiting People's Democratic Party (PRD) student leader Wahyu about the development of the high school student movement in Indonesia. Question: How has the involvement of high school students in the
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WA protests against clear-fellingPERTH — On January 24, 100 people gathered in an area of old-growth forest in the south of Western Australia to protest against clear-felling. Known as the Wattle Forest, the area lies adjacent to
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Activists seek to revive peace marchMELBOURNE — Anti-nuclear and peace activists have come together to organise a Palm Sunday rally and march on March 28. The action was initiated by Jabiluka Action Group (JAG) activists and has
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Thousands mark Invasion Day The capitalist establishment and mass media organised spectaculars throughout the country on January 26 to celebrate the uninvited arrival of a bunch of scruffy British naval officers, prison guards and convicts at
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NSW police commissioner put on the spotSYDNEY — More than 100 people attended a public meeting with NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan at Ashfield Town Hall on January 27. The meeting was organised by the Ethnic Communities
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Solidarity rally planned for locked-out workersMELBOURNE The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union (TCFUA) is planning a stop-work rally of its Victorian members to express solidarity with workers at the Australian Dyeing Company
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Wollongong Sat, March 13 Meet 11am at Lowden Square, march to Crown St Mall Phone Angela 4226 2010 Brisbane Sat, March 6 Meet 11am at King George Square, march at 12 noon Phone Ruth 3254 0565 Adelaide Sat March 6 Meet 11.30am at
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Rosa Luxemburg: profile of a revolutionaryOn January 9, 100,000 people marched through the streets of Germany to commemorate the death of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Demonstrators carried red flags, and some of the more
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Hobart rally backs republic By Nikki Ulasowskiand Tony Iltis HOBART — Later this year a referendum will be held on whether Australia should become a republic. On January 26, a pro-republic rally held at the state Parliament House Lawns
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Challenges "These are challenges facing magistrates — and the whole of the justice system — to deal with matters expeditiously." — Jeff Shaw, NSW attorney-general, commenting on disclosures that the state's overworked magistrates sometimes
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Indonesian Chinese PRD leader visits Hendri Kuok, a member of the central leadership council of the Indonesian People's Democratic Party (PRD), ended a one-month visit to Australia on January 30. One of the central purposes of Kuok's visit was to
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'We have paid rent in blood'CANBERRA — On the eve of Invasion/Survival Day (January 26), the Daily Telegraph reported that the federal government intended to move the Aboriginal Tent Embassy from the lawns of Old Parliament
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The federal government has announced a $143 million scheme to link dole payments to literacy and numeracy levels amongst unemployed young people. From April, dole claimants between 18 and 24 years old will be tested for literacy and
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BRISBANE — Service delays and staffing shortages have increased in Centrelink offices as the Howard government refuses to retreat on the 5000 job cuts it has imposed on the "social security" agency. Centrelink printing operations
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ADELAIDE — "Freedom, fairness and flexibility" proclaims the South Australian government's January 23 announcement of its proposed changes to the state's industrial legislation. Acting minister for government enterprises and
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Waste time bombs for Hunter Valley By Graham Williams NEWCASTLE — Cessnock City Council was forced to release details of a video promoting the building of a waste dump at Cessnock on December 11. The Council has been investigating building a
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On average, women receive only two-thirds of the wages of men. Accessible child-care is still not publicly provided. Free education and health care do not exist. Women still suffer violence in their homes and on the streets. Women of colour still experience racism. Women still do not have control of their reproduction: abortion is still illegal and expensive. Women still do the majority of the unpaid work in the home.
World
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Sri Lankan elections 'a fraud' The January 25 Wayamba provincial elections in Sri Lanka have been condemned as a "fraud beyond all imagination orchestrated by the PA [People's Alliance] government". Speaking on the day of the poll, the New Left
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While the west is lauding the Nigerian military dictatorship's "transition to democracy", the regime has launched a campaign of murder and rape to crush an uprising by the peoples of the Niger River delta in the south.
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Crisis-hit Russians look to the starsMOSCOW — Suddenly, the Russian capital has been overrun by rabbits. You can find them in the markets, on the newsstands and in the toyshops. The reason? In Chinese astrology, 1999 is
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US politics must seem quite odd to people in other countries. The Democratic president of the United States is put on trial in the Senate by the Republicans for trying to cover up his affair with a young White House intern. In
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East Timor: independence now!The announcement by the Habibie regime on January 27 that it is prepared to "relinquish" East Timor as part of Indonesia marks a new turn in the struggle for independence. For the first time in the
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In 1996, Chiquita Brands' CEO Carl Lindner donated $US500,000 to US President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign. Now he wants some return. Lindner's gripe is that several Caribbean states in the Windward Island group — Grenada,
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COLOGNE — The Social Democratic Party's (SPD) September victory, coming to government in alliance with the Greens, ended 16 years of rule of the conservative Christian Democratic Party and raised hopes that it might turn its back on
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COLOGNE — The mobilisations for a new round of Euromarches against crushing unemployment and other attacks of the ruling classes against working people were kicked off here by a well-attended preparatory conference of close to 640
Culture
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A history of contraceptionTaking Precautions: the story of contraceptionA touring exhibition from the Powerhouse Museum, SydneyShowing at the Western Australian Museum until March 1. For thousands of years, women around the world
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Correction The review of the book Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age printed in the last issue of GLW was incorrectly attributed to Robert Hodder. The review was in fact written by Maree Roberts.
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Blazing with revolutionary fire and energy Dreaming with his Eyes Open: A Life of Diego RiveraBy Patrick MarnhamBloomsbury, 1998370 pp., $59.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon Drama and controversy followed Diego Rivera everywhere. The Mexican
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Land and Freedom Socialist director Ken Loach's marvellous film about the Spanish Civil War is at last coming to television. Land and Freedom tells the story of David, young and unemployed, who leaves Liverpool to join an international brigade of
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dURBAN NOISE and scrapsWORKSInitiated and produced by Jürgen BräuningerLyrics by Ari SitasSend cheque for $30 (order GSE Claremont CD AM31) to the NSW Phonograph Society, M-J Hanna, Lot 58, Forest Gum Place, Greystanes, NSW 2145; or order
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The Love GermBy Jill NevilleVerso, 1998 (first published 1969)149 pp., $19.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon "A fantastic, earth-shattering, dynamic, brilliant, beautiful, touching, unbelievably sensitive, outasight book written by my sister." So
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UK writer and editor Alan Dearling is planning a new book on counter-culture in Australia. To be put together with Mook from the Byron Bay Rainboweb, it will be a follow-up to a number of publications Dearling has been involved in in the UK and