University pulls plug on community radio
By Corinne Batt-Rawden and Ritchie Logan
LISMORE — Around 120 people gathered on April 13 at a public meeting to show their support for the future of 2NCR, after the local community radio station's
Issue 357
News
Women in revolutionary movements
By Maureen Sexton
ADELAIDE — Inspired by International Women's Day, women members of Committees in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean organised an event on April 9 on the topic of women in
Speak-out on Balkans war
By Bea Brear
SYDNEY — The socialist youth organisation Resistance organised a snap speak-out at Town Hall on April 16 against the NATO war on Serbia and Serbia's attacks on Kosova. Resistance organiser Sarah Peart spoke
Western hypocrisy hit
By Martin Iltis
MELBOURNE — A speak-out against the Balkans war on April 9 was chaired by Resistance organiser Kerryn Williams, who explained that the United States and other Western powers are hypocritical when they claim
CPSU members reject performance-based pay
By Nick Everett
— On April 14 the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) Centrelink Section Council voted to recommend to its membership the introduction of a new "performance-based" pay system within
By Tom Flanagan
SYDNEY — About 90 people attended a seminar titled "Globalisation and the Third Way" presented by the International Socialist Organisation on April 16 at the University of Technology, Sydney. Speakers were ALP parliamentarian Mark
By Ruth Ratcliffe
BRISBANE — The University of Queensland student union executive has shocked students and anti-voluntary student unionism campaigners by formally disassociating itself from the Cross Campus Anti-VSU Collective (CCAVSUC). At its
Crime wave' blamed on youth
By Ruth Ratcliffe
BRISBANE — According to the Queensland Victims of Crime Association, Ipswich is in the grip of a juvenile "crime wave" being waged by a small group of notorious child criminals. This claim follows
Rape Crisis Centre in crisis
By Stephanie Roper
EESYDNEY — The NSW Rape Crisis Centre has been threatened with loss of funding after operating in deficit for the last two years. The centre says it has been forced into a budget deficit by the
Arrests at Jabiluka Westpac protests
By Jim Green
Protests outside three Westpac branches in Cairns, two in Brisbane and one each in Sydney, Surfers Paradise, Noosa and Canberra on April 13 continued the campaign to highlight the role of the
Plans for socialist activist conference
SYDNEY — Marxism in the New Millennium, organised by the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance, is a conference to discuss issues for socialist activists in various campaigns, socialist solutions to the
Telstra: making life harder
By Leo Wellin
Cutting a birthday cake on the day you announce your resignation after being denied a redundancy is giving life a cruel twist. Such is the experience of Bill Bogan, a Telstra employee for more than 37
Protest against Sydney nuclear reactor
By Molly Wishart
SYDNEY — Six hundred people attended a rally on April 11 to protest against a new nuclear reactor proposed for Lucas Heights in southern Sydney. The rally was held outside the front gates
Rank and file strengthen CPSU ACT campaign
By Stuart Martin
CANBERRA — Nationally, the failure of the ALP-dominated leadership of the Community and Public Sector Union to defend the 5000 Centrelink jobs threatened by the Liberals shows it
World
By Max Lane
"Fear still stalks Dili", Australian activist JON LAND told Green Left Weekly by phone from Dili on April 16. "There are more and more reports of an impending attack on independence activists here by militias backed by the military.
The following is abridged from a statement issued from Dili by the HAK Foundation, a non-government human rights organisation, on the afternoon of April 17. "In the front yard of the Governor's office, a grand ceremony was held to inaugurate the
Picket calls for disarming of militia
By Liam Mitchell
SYDNEY — A picket outside the Sydney offices of Garuda Airlines on April 15 demanded that the Indonesian government disarm the pro-integration militias responsible for massacres in Liquica
Eyewitness account from Liquica
Following is an eyewitness account from Liquica priest RAFAEL DOS SANTOS. It is a translation by Human Rights Watch of a report in the Dili daily paper Suata Timor Timur on April 8. At about 13:00, members of Besi
US/NATO hypocrisy exposed as Turkey attacks Kurds
By Norm Dixon
Turkey, a member of the US-led NATO alliance that is bombing Serbia with the claimed aim of ending the oppression of the Kosovar people, is viciously escalating its attacks on the
Timorese meet to plan development policies
By Vannessa Hearman
MELBOURNE — About 100 people representing East Timorese communities, non-government organisations and international aid agencies met from April 5 to 9 to discuss policies to be put
More charges thrown at Pinochet
ON APRIL 7, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon decided to accuse Augusto Pinochet of 11 more cases of torture allegedly committed between 1988 and 1990. The latest charges bring to 60 the total number of charges pending
Ireland: impasse on the Good Friday agreement
The Irish peace process is again in crisis following the failure to meet a third deadline for the formation of a power-sharing executive before Easter. Loyalists are refusing to agree to the formation
UN: Sri Lanka second after Iraq for disappearances
SRI LANKA has the second highest number of disappearances in the world, ranking only behind Iraq, according to the UN Commission on Human Rights, reported in the March 28 London Sunday Times.
The
Pakistan's left unity conference breaks new ground
By Eva Cheng
LAHORE — The left in Pakistan took an important step towards unity on March 23 with a ground-breaking Left Unity Workers' Conference here in which more than 230 movement leaders
Timorese demonstrate against Liquica massacre
By Vannessa Hearman
MELBOURNE — On the steps of the Victorian Parliament House on April 10, around 120 people demonstrated against the massacre in Liquica, East Timor. The protest was organised by
Cops obstruct 'Millions for Mumia' march
Mayor Ed Rendell and the Philadelphia Police Department are attempting to interfere with the April 24 "Millions for Mumia" march. The Millions for Mumia Mobilisation, a coalition of more than 500
Militarisation vs democratisation in India and Pakistan
DELHI — India's April 11 test of an Agni-II missile, which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, was answered by Pakistan on April 14-15 by the firing of Ghauri-II intermediate-range
Culture
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 —
Buffalo Music: benefit for East Timor
MELBOURNE — Buffalo Music, a six-hour musical spectacular to promote solidarity
with the people of East Timor, will be held at Trades Hall on May 1.
The concert features the Natural Mystic, Painters
Polemical theatre without gimmicks
Face To FaceBy David WilliamsonDirected by Sandra BatesEnsemble Theatre, SydneyUntil May 8 Review by Brendan Doyle
David Williamson goes back to his working-class roots with his latest play, Face To Face, which
Billy Bragg — this machine bombs Belgrade
By Sean Healy
There has been a soft spot for Billy Bragg in many socialists' hearts — certainly in mine. He's even produced a t-shirt acknowledging it: "Socialism of the heart", it reads. Over the
Lolita denies the reality of abuse
By Zanny Begg
Adrian Lyne's 1997 adaption of Vladimir Nabokov's novel has been dogged by controversy. It took a year to clear US censors and it was nearly banned by Australian authorities. Much of the hype
The day the war ends in Kosova
The day the war ends in Kosova will be a great day for all Slavs. A new age of peace will return to the Balkans, and our television sets will resume normal programming.
Unfortunately, as so often happens in war,
Marxism or nationalism?
Fatherland or Mother Earth? Essays on the National QuestionBy Michael LöwyPluto Press, 1998108 pp., $29.95 (pb) Review by Doug Lorimer
Michael Löwy, director of Research in Sociology at the National Centre for
An Easter feast of diversity
By Jane Salmon
CANBERRA — The National Folk Festival at Easter was a feast of diversity that you don't have to be feral to enjoy. Traditional peasant dances and medieval reenactments competed with bagpipes and
Resistance!
By Alison Dellit
The Australian government's response to the World Heritage Commission's damning report on uranium mining in Kakadu has been a predictable combination of "You're wrong", "You have no right", and "We're doing all we can". The report,
Liberal and Labor cover-up: terror in Timor
By Rohan Pearce and Nikki Ulasowski
As Indonesian-sponsored militias create chaos throughout East Timor and the Indonesian government threatens to send East Timorese Resistance leader Xanana Gusmao back
The Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee has received legal advice from Minter Ellison that the government's voluntary student unionism (VSU) legislation may be unconstitutional. This is denied by education minister David Kemp, who claims that he
Police reality check
By Stuart Munckton
If you are sick of the endless police dramas that fill our screens, whose primary function is to convince the working class that the police are good guys, then Irvine Welsh's novel Filth, published last