Issue 36

News

MELBOURNE — The Kirner government settled its dispute with the Federated Teachers Union of Victoria, which covers most primary and technical state school teachers, on November 15 after 12 weeks of bans and rolling strikes. The government promised
By Bill Mason BRISBANE — The plot has thickened in the continuing Joh Bjelke-Petersen trial saga with revelations in state parliament on November 13 that a former associate of the infamous Queensland police corrupt "rat pack" had snooped on
SA unemployment rate rises By Liam Mitchell ADELAIDE — The unemployment rate in South Australia rose from 10.5% to 10.7% for the month of October — an increase of 1400 people out of work — taking the total number of unemployed in the
Conservation Council opposes WA mine By Leon Harrison PERTH — The WA Conservation Council is preparing to fight the development of the proposed Marandoo iron ore mine in the Hamersley Range National Park. The council says mining would destroy
By Philippa Stanford "The flag comes down over this consul just as it will come down all over East Timor", shouted one protester as Indonesian officials hastily lowered the flag at their Perth consulate during a protest on November 15. Angry
By Liam Mitchell ADELAIDE — "This is not just about the violation of natural justice, or simple injustice", Australian Irish Congress representative Gerard Steele told a public meeting of 150 people on November 8. Britain "is a country that has
By Norm Dixon Aid organisations, solidarity groups and others supporting East Timor's right to self-determination have severely criticised the Australian government's weak stand on the Indonesian army massacre of mourners in East Timor [see page
By Gina Rogers CANBERRA — Among the many activities scheduled against the Aidex armaments bazaar in the last week of November is a youth protest, to be held in Garema Place, Civic, at 4.30 p.m. on November 26. Heidi Beynon and Loretta Asquini,
By Paul Thompson and Ray Fulcher The Stop Aidex Campaign has opened an office in Canberra in preparation for major protests during and prior to Aidex '91, the biggest armaments exhibition ever held in the southern hemisphere. The office is
By David Jagger SYDNEY — The planned third runway at Kingsford Smith Airport rests on wet sand. Sand for reclamation is the main building material for the type of runway proposed. It is essential too in concrete for the airport expansion that
By Peter Boyle Bob Hawke's November 14 "agenda for jobs" statement actually offered very little to the country's more than one million unemployed. Looking suspiciously like an attempt by Hawke to recreate happier days, it was a largely empty media
WA hospital workers meet By Rodney Cheuk PERTH — Frustration with award restructuring and long delays in reaching a wage agreement were evident at a stop-work meeting of 1500 hospital workers here on November 14. The workers, members of the
Seminar on Latin America By Roberto Jorquera BRISBANE — Forty people attended a Latin American seminar on November 9 organised by CISLAC, the Guatemalan Human Rights Group, Medical aid for El Salvador, El Salvador Solidarity Group and the Pablo

World

By Helen Jarvis This week our friend Kamal Bamadhaj became the seventh foreigner to die in the war in East Timor. Five journalists were killed in October 1975 by advancing Indonesian troops, and a sixth, Roger East, was murdered, together with
By John Hallam THANNIRPALLI, Tamil Nadu — My wife Mishka Jambor and I attended the World Conference of Religions held in the town of Cochin in Kerala, South India, October 1-6. At that meeting, more than 350 representatives of the Hindu,
In Warsaw, Professor TADEUSZ IWINSKI, a member of the Central Executive Committee and International Secretary of Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland, spoke with PETER ANNEAR. Are you pleased with your vote in the election? We regard our
Philippines logging companies, together with sections of the military, are suspected of involvement in the murder of an environmental activist, Father Nery Lito Satur. Father Satur, a parish priest from Valencia in Mindanao, was killed on October
By Peter Annear and Sally Low PLZEN, West Bohemia — Most people know this Czechoslovakian town by its German name, Pilsen, famous as the producer of one of world's finest lagers: Pilsner Urquell. It was, in fact, already a thriving burgher town
Rebuilding Zimbabwe By Camilo Jorquera In Zimbabwe, a unique human process is taking place though the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP), a village-based movement which seeks a return to indigenous values and structures to
By Sally Low and Peter Annear PRAGUE — Czechoslovakia's lustrace or political screening law came into effect on November 5. Even if the constitutional court, which has not yet been established, rules that the law should be amended or annulled,
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — The savage free-market "reforms" of Russian President Boris Yeltsin are certain to encounter large-scale, organised worker resistance. This was clear by the afternoon of November 7, following the largest and angriest
By Satendra Prasad SUVA — Police have begun another round of repression against civil rights activists campaigning against Fiji's racist 1990 constitution. Members of the Fiji Youth and Students League (FYSL) and several trade unionists went
By Emlyn Jones More destruction was caused by tropical storm Thelma in the central Philippines than has been caused in the past by much bigger storms. Worst affected was he town of Ormoc on the island of Leyte, where thousands of bodies were left
By Sally Low and Peter Annear WROCLAW — Solidarity of Labour leader Karol Modzelewski spent nine years in prison under the former Polish regime. In the 1960s he, along with Jacek Kuron, authored a famous open letter to the regime. Commenting

Culture

Martha and I Directed by Jiri Weiss (Germany/France, 1990) True Confections Directed by Gail Singer (Canada, 1991) Showing at the Second Jewish Film Festival Until December 1 AFI Cinema, Paddington, Sydney Reviewed by Vivienne Porzsolt
Fred Hollows, an autobiography With Peter Corris John Kerr, 1991. 240 pp. $29.95 Reviewed by Stephen Robson Fred Hollows has been showered with accolades such as Australian of the Year and Humanist of the Year. One is left with the impression,
By Carla Gorton PERTH — Despite the uncertainty that Perth community radio station 6RTR FM (previously 6UVS FM) faced at the beginning of 1991, it is finishing the year off in style. The station launches into a week-long radiothon on
By David Roberts In the early 1980s, the National Library of Australia in Canberra was collecting widely in the areas of British social history, local history and genealogy. Having acquired the excellent Clifford Collection of English Catholic and
By Norm Dixon AEIOU Akona Te Reo [Learn the language] Too many tears, for too many years We've been crying alone Now's the time to make up your mind Listen to your own If you learn about yourself and your history Know where you come from,

Editorial

A dangerous world order Since the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988, United States investigators have variously accused Iranian- and Syrian-based terrorists of responsibility for the crash of the Pan Am jumbo with the loss of 270 lives. Now, US and