Job insecurity is growing
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Successive Queensland governments have boasted of being the nation's leading job creator. But 50% of all new jobs created in Queensland since 1988 were casual or part-time, according to a
Issue 363
News
Beattie clashes with AWU, bosses
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Queensland Labor premier Peter Beattie is confronting ALP faction leader and Australian Workers Union state secretary Bill Ludwig over proposed new industrial legislation, which will
By Lachlan Malloch
SYDNEY — "The mass movement for full democratic reform in Indonesia over the next 12 will grow", Max Lane, national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), told a forum here on May 29. Forty
By Nick Southall and Justin Randell
WOLLONGONG — More than 100 people gathered on May 29 at Allen Street Park for the Port Kembla Loitering Festival. The festival was organised by Illawarra Community Action for Public Space (ICAPS) to protest
By Sarah Stephen
PERTH — Five people are now facing trial for the murder of 14-year-old Aboriginal boy Cleon Jackman after his battered body was found on May 22. Jackman is believed to have been beaten and strangled to death after he was
Trade union solidarity with East Timor
By Neil Everley
BRISBANE â The Queensland branch of the Australian Council of Trade
Unions organised a broad public meeting here on May 27 to support the right
of East Timorese to a vote in
Protesters condemn Democrats
BRISBANE — A picket against the GST was held outside the Fortitude Valley offices of the Australian Democrats on May 29, the day after their dirty deal with the Coalition was announced. Called by the Democratic
Union protesters target Woolworths
SYDNEY — The Woolworths Metro store in George Street was picketed by around 100 people on May 27 in response to the sacking of 30 workers by Metro Shopfitting, a company engaged by Woolworths to do its
Niddrie residents oppose toxic dump
By Chris Spindler
MELBOURNE — Hot on the heels of the victory against the proposed CSR toxic dump at Werribee, residents at Niddrie in Melbourne's west are opposing a proposed toxic dump in a disused quarry.
By Simon Millar
MELBOURNE — Forty-three members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) employed at Marathon Foods in Kensington participated in their first picket line in mid-May. Marathon Foods produces dim sims, spring rolls and
More taxes, more cuts in SA
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — The state Liberal government crowed on May 27 about delivering a "balanced budget" for the next financial year. Treasurer Rob Lucas laid the blame for tax hikes on those who opposed the
Support Abdullah Ocalan
SYDNEY — The Australian Kurdish Association organised a 60-strong demonstration
outside the Law Society building on May 25 to call for the release of Kurdistan
Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan and a
By Trish Corcoran
MELBOURNE — On May 21, 150 people attended an Earthworker public meeting featuring Jack Mundey. Earthworker is a Melbourne-based organisation that mobilises trade unionists around environmental issues. Many of the objectives of
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — Two hundred people attended a SA United Trades and Labor Council (UTLC) public meeting on May 21 to hear Jennie George, ACTU president, speak on the latest round of changes to the federal industrial relations laws
Solidarity with Indonesia goes international
By Chris Latham
Between May 21 and 23, protests actions were held in a number of countries in support of the struggle for democracy in Indonesia and independence for East Timor. On May 21, supporters
Giving the Democrats a serve
For many years, callers looking for the Australian Democrats have rung the Democratic Socialist Party after being given its number by directory assistance. Usually, DSP activists tell the confused callers that the
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — "Sexual harassment is against the law", ACTU president Jennie George reminded more than 60 participants at the launch of a new publication of the SA United Trades and Labour Council, Uniting to Eliminate Sexual
Tasmanian budget fails health and child-care
By Tony Iltis
HOBART — Rising gambling tax revenues and a 5% levy on household electricity bills allowed the Tasmanian ALP government to boost some public spending and deliver a budget with a surplus
Adelaide Sorry Day commemoration
By Bronwen Beechey
ADELAIDE — Around 500 people gathered on May 26 for a "Journey of Healing" to mark the first anniversary of Sorry Day and the second anniversary of Bringing Them Home, the report on the
By Chris Spindler
MELBOURNE — Beef processor G&K O'Connors, in Pakenham, has locked out 250 workers after refusing to negotiate an enterprise agreement. The meatworkers have been locked out now for two months. The workers' union, the
Firefighters fight for a fair deal
By James Vassilopoulos
CANBERRA — On May 24, members of the United Firefighters Union of Australia (UFUA) were in Civic Mall asking shoppers to sign petitions in support of their stand in an enterprise
World
LAHORE, Pakistan — The Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) organised a successful demonstration against the arms race on May 27. The action attracted more than 250 people despite police and government harassment. It was the only such demonstration
Japan boosts its role as part of US war machine
By Eva Cheng
Despite widespread protest, the upper house of Japan's parliament rushed through on May 24 three bills to greatly increase the country's role in the United States' war machine. Japan
The Cordillera people's armed protest
By Reihana Mohideen
MANILA — After driving for 22 hours, on narrow roads which cling to the sides of spectacular mountain ranges, we were greeted in the dead of night by armed fighters of the Cordillera
By Eva Cheng
Two days after the close of the May 12-16 rolling general strike led by hospital and metalworkers, the South Korean government issued arrest warrants for many union leaders, including those who led the nine-day subway workers' general
By Russel Norman
AUCKLAND — Legislation to establish a royal commission into genetic engineering and to place a moratorium on genetic engineering field trials and commercial genetically engineered production has been rejected by the New Zealand
Turkey prepares show trial for Ocalan
By Norm Dixon
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan has already been judged and sentenced to death by the Turkish regime — all that remains is the formality of the stage-managed "trial" that
@column int = Zimbabwean women won formal equal rights in 1980 with the passing of the Legal Age of Majority Act, one of the gains of the liberation struggle against white minority rule. However, a ruling by the Zimbabwe's Supreme Court in March has
'The Philippines left needs to appreciate the national question'
ABRINO AYDINAN, a leader of the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army-Cordillera
Bodong Administration (CPLA-CBA) and an executive council member of the
Socialist Party of
Culture
Capitalism puts its own edge on the 'netwar'
The Zapatista Social Netwar in MexicoBy David Ronfeldt, John Arquilla, Graham E. Fuller and Melissa FullerRand Corporation, 1998, $15Also available at
This machine fights for forests
Lock On — Songs to save Australia's forestsVarious artistsCompiled by Andy ParkesRaw Power Productions through Niche RecordsOrder by phone on 1300 655 966 or visit <http://www.byron-bay.com/rawpower>
Useful ammunition for activists
Dollars for Death: Why the uranium mining and nuclear industry must be stoppedResistance Books, 199964pp., $4.95 Review by Rjurik Davidson
Activists protesting against the Jabiluka uranium mine are under attack
By Alex Bainbridge
DAVID BENIUK is an accomplished musician who frequently plays benefits for progressive causes. More than that, he is a songwriter who writes honestly about what he sees and thus creates some of the best political music I have
Rappers lament the 'struggle between brother and brother'
Pray for LiberiaThe Boyz of ButuburamUnited Sound (Germany)Order (approximately DM37) from <http://www.united-sound.com/usmaster/usmastereng.htm>> or e-mail Dirk Majchrzak at
Editorial
It is ironic that on the day the Business Review Weekly released its Rich 200 list, the Australian Democrats and the Coalition agreed on a GST deal to make those on the list even richer.
Australia's richest tycoons increased their wealth by $9
General
By Michael Karadjis
There is considerable contention on the left about the Kosova Liberation Army's relationship to NATO and position in the Balkans war. It is charged of being an extreme nationalist organisation that would "slaughter" the Serbs if
Self-determination for Kosova!
The following international statement has been initiated by Green Left Weekly. If you agree, please return your endorsement (include your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and your organisation or
By Francois Vercammen
In September, Gerhard Schröder promised that German troops would go outside Germany only with a UN mandate. But the chancellor used the recent Social Democratic Party (SPD) congress to block a left-wing motion opposing a
Resistance!
By Zanny Begg
In Djadi-Dugarang, the newsletter of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Ray Jackson tells the story of Belinda (not her real name), a male to female transgender. In late 1997, Belinda was arrested for drug possession and sent
By Sean Healy
More than 250 young socialist activists are expected to descend on Melbourne for four days in July for the annual Resistance national conference. The theme will be "Rebellion, resistance, revolution: dare to struggle, dare to win",
By Sarah Cunningham
Ask most teenage women in Australia who they consider their idol and they would probably reply Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow or even Sabrina, the teenage witch. My choice would be Dita Sari.
Dita Indah Sari, aged 26, has been a
NATO's 'humanitarian' war: it's a lie
By Kerryn Williams
As the NATO bombing of the Balkans enters its third month, NATO's "humanitarian" smokescreen is thinning rapidly. The civilian casualty figures are rising, while Slobodan Milosevic's
Perth film showing
By Claudia Fuentes Beltran
PERTH — More than 25 people attended a showing of Indonesia in Revolt: democracy or death at Murdoch University on May 18. Students were stunned by the power of the film and wanted to know how they