By Sam Wainwright
SYDNEY — More than 4000 teachers braved pouring rain to rally outside Sydney's Town Hall on February 9. The action was part of a statewide one-day strike called by the NSW Teachers Federation to pressure the Labor and Coalition
Issue 349
News
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — The crisis in Pauline Hanson's racist One Nation party has deepened. Hanson attacked the Queensland state MPs who resigned recently as "traitors", and warned that One Nation candidates would stand against the defectors.
By Jenny Long
Marina Carman, Democratic Socialist candidate for the seat of Port Jackson in the March 27 NSW election, warned on February 13 of more protests against Sydney Airport before the Olympics. "Yesterday's announcement by transport
Industrial action at Sydney Uni
By Tyrion Perkins
SYDNEY — Staff at the University of Sydney voted on February 10 to take industrial action over problems with the latest round of enterprise bargaining. At a meeting of 300 National Tertiary
Arrests on Timbarra Road
By Olivier Maxted
NORTHERN NSW — Protesters against the Timbarra goldmine staged the largest action for some time on January 19, with the erection of four tripods on Timbarra Road, 30 kilometres south-east of
Thousands expected for anti-Jabiluka rally
By Emma Webb
ADELAIDE — Thousands of people are expected to turn out for the anti-Jabiluka uranium mine rally planned to coincide with the WOMADelaide festival on February 21. The rally will start at
By Anthony Benbowand Bronwen Beechey
ADELAIDE — For the last 12 months, the Olsen Liberal government has been trying to privatise the state Electricity Trust (ETSA). A community and industrial campaign has so far thwarted Olsen's plan to ram the
By Vannessa Hearman
More than 60 police were brought from around central Queensland to the Gordonstone coalmine near Emerald on February 11 as 250 unionists solidified their picket line near the entrance to the site. Twenty-two picketers were
Correction
In last week's Green Left Weekly the article on the resignation of Queensland MUA organiser Jeff Langdon contained the following sentence: "Langdon claimed the branch leadership did not send copies of his resignation letter to ships
By Chris Slee
MELBOURNE — In a decision handed down on January 27, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission found that Mervyn Vogt was unfairly dismissed from his job with Telstra, and ordered his re-instatement with back pay. Vogt, a
By Kathy Newnam
ADELAIDE — As part of preparations for International Women's Day, a forum on February 6 featured a range of speakers on the theme chosen by the 1999 IWD Collective, "Women Unite For Your Rights". Melanie Sjoberg, an industrial
New MUA rank and file web page
The MUA Rank-and-File movement has given itself a national voice and discussion forum with the establishment of a web page. The address is <http://www.angelfire.com/ma/rank/index.html>.
By Yael Winikoff
MELBOURNE — Protesters at the Otway forest blockade have accused Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union members and pro-loggers of human rights violations against them. On January 25, 50 CFMEU forestry division members,
Firefighters demand a fair deal
ADELAIDE — Firefighters and their supporters rallied on February 10 in support of an 18% pay rise. The SA government has offered 6% over three years. Mick Doyle, secretary of the United Fire Fighters Union
By Tuntuni Bhattacharyya
SYDNEY — Not long after she was elected leader of the NSW Liberal opposition, Kerry Chikarovski told the Sydney Morning Herald that she "believes in a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy safely, because New South Wales
Life after Patrick: back to the 'hungry mile'?
GRANT HOLDEN is a job delegate at P&O Ports, West Swanson Dock, in Melbourne. He was interviewed by SUSAN PRICE for the February 5 Friday Breakfast Show on Melbourne community radio 3CR. The
Cops extinguish Tent Embassy fire
By Kim Bullimoreand Paul Oboohov
CANBERRA — On February 8, elders and supporters from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy took their protest to the lawns of new Parliament House to coincide with the resumption of
World
Britain keeps silent on state violence in Ireland
By Stuart Ross
On January 30, 1972, 13 unarmed civilians were gunned down by British soldiers on the streets of Derry. Another 14 were seriously wounded. One later died of his injuries. To this
By Norm Dixon
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) are furious at the African National Congress government's decision on February 5 to approve a deal to privatise water delivery
By Norm Dixon
United States and British warplanes are launching multiple air attacks every day against targets in northern and southern Iraq. Had US rockets not slammed into a working-class Basra neighbourhood and a village on January 25, coverage
By Adam Hanieh
On February 7, King Hussein of Jordan was pronounced dead and removed from his life support system. Hussein ruled Jordan for 47 years after inheriting the crown from his father, who abdicated in 1953. Judging by the mainstream media
Culture
Razor-sharp cabaret
Cabaret PolitiqueTrio Gusto with accompanist Philip RobertsSydney 8pm Tuesday-Saturday until February 26 at Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. Wollongong 6.30pm March 3-5 and 8pm March 6 at Performance Space, Wollongong University
By Jenni Maysand Lynda Hansen
BRISBANE — More than 100 supporters attended a cultural event on February 6 at the Trades and Labor Council building organised by the Communist Party of Australia's Victor Jara branch. Jose Viligron gave an update on
Free tickets to Men with Guns
Palace Cinemas are generously offering Green Left Weekly readers in Sydney and Melbourne 10 free double passes to see John Sayle's new release, Men with Guns.
Men with Guns, set in a mythical Latin American country,
Brunswick Music FestivalFebruary 28 to March 28MelbournePresented by Moreland City Council Preview by Vannessa Hearman
MELBOURNE — The Brunswick Music Festival is on again. Opening on February 28, the festival provides a whole month of
Workers Online, an internet "newspaper" for workers in Australia, is being posted every Friday from February 19 at <labor.net.au/workers/magazine> by the NSW Labor Council. Industrial news articles, features, interviews and columns are
Corporate VibesWritten by David WilliamsonDirected by Robyn NevinSydney Theatre CompanyDrama Theatre, Sydney Opera House Review by Mark Stoyich
Fairy tales about modern life seem to be the trend in theatre now. In Beatrix Christian's Fred, selfish,
Cuban women show how it's done
Sí Señor! — Las Perlas del Son — Corasón through Larrikin/Festival Records Review By Melanie Sjoberg
One of the most exciting aspects of any music festival is the discovery of a fresh new
Gibran Khalil GibranTAQA TheatreSt Patrick's Cathedral, ParramattaWednesday-Sunday, February 17-28, 8.30pmBookings phone 0416 116 716 Review by Jennifer Long
PARRAMATTA — The poet of solitude — Khalil Gibran — will be unearthed in the ruins
Soweto via Liverpool
Township JiveSkokiaanStompi DiscsSend £9 to 12 Devonshire Rd, Liverpool L8 3TY, United Kingdom<http://www.merseyworld.com/skokiaan> Review by Norm Dixon
Somewhere this Saturday night in cold and miserable
Complex sounds of Ireland
Tóg é go bog éKilaKila Music through Larrikin/Festival Records For anyone who was touched by the commercial success of Riverdance, Irish band Kila, which is hitting the tour circuit as a part of Womad,
Resistance!
By Kate Carr
BRISBANE — On February 9, the first Cross-Campus Education Network (CCEN) meeting took place in Queensland, attended by around 20 people. During 1998, the CCEN was an open, activist-based collective which directed the National Union
Stop the logging! Regional Forest Attack
By Lara Gurgone and Marce Cameron
Public outrage over the destruction of old-growth forest in the south-west of Western Australia is growing. At the time of the European invasion, the magnificent tall
By Katie Broadbent
ADELAIDE — Resistance is organising a protest against the federal government's attacks on Centrelink workers and the unemployed. With "initiatives" like literacy tests and work for the dole, the Howard government is trying to
Gough Whitlam:
* Supported Australia's intervention in Vietnam in 1965.
* Met Suharto over dinner during his first year as Indonesia's president. During that year, up to 1 million people were massacred. Decades later, Whitlam still referred to
By Marce Cameron
PERTH — The forest campaign in Western Australia has focused on blockades, in which small groups of protesters chain themselves to trees and machinery or construct elaborate tree-houses. The blockades have helped to keep the
Carr caves in to forest industry
By Simon Kenny
SYDNEY — Prior to the last NSW election, Premier Bob Carr promised to "end all export woodchipping of native forests by the year 2000". Given that the level of export woodchipping in NSW has
By Sean Martin-Iverson
PERTH — Voluntary student unionism (VSU) was introduced in Western Australia in 1993. As the student movement prepares to fight national VSU legislation, it is useful to examine the impact VSU had in WA and draw conclusions
Organising students and youth in the Philippines
By Jo Brown
A new socialist youth organisation called the Ligang Sosyalistang Kabataan or Socialist Youth League (LSK) was launched in the Philippines late last year. The Philippine student
It's time to uncover the real Whitlam
By Kerryn Williams
Have you ever been in the middle of a free education rally and heard someone yell out from the crowd "Bring back Gough"? To some, former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam personifies the
By Branny Schembri
MELBOURNE — It was announced on February 4 that the government is establishing a scheme for schools to be supported by private business donations and sponsorships. The project will be run by Alister Maitland, chairperson of the
By Bronwyn Jennings
MELBOURNE — The Student Unionism Network held a teach-in on fighting voluntary student unionism on February 3. The final plenary session was a discussion about strategies for fighting the government's attack on student