By Marcus Bruno
The fight to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine is at a critical point. On July 12, The UN World Heritage Commission (WHC) will decide whether to list Kakadu National Park as "World Heritage in danger" because of the mine, which is
Issue 367
News
Woman wins pregnancy discrimination case
By Robyn Marshall
In 1997, Colette Johnson, then 28 years old, was hired by the Ipswich office of Gloria Marshall Australia, the infamous weight-loss firm. Three weeks later she found out she was pregnant.
Gordonstone miners still 'standing tall'
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — The miners' union is considering a High Court appeal after the Federal Court ruled on June 25 that, while sacked mineworkers at the Gordonstone mine in central Queensland were
Colombia features in Comrades Bar
By Vannessa Hearman
MELBOURNE — The second Green Left Weekly Politics in the Pub at the Electrical Trades Union's Comrades Bar on June 30 focused on Colombia. It discussed whether Latin America's next
Students and Sustainability to meet in Sydney's west
By Bronwyn Powell
SYDNEY — Students and Sustainability, the annual national student environment conference, will kick off at the University of Western Sydney's Hawkesbury campus on July 12.
By Robyn Marshall
Queensland gays and lesbians are celebrating. The state Labor government has recognised same-sex couples and their families for the first time under Queensland law. The new Queensland industrial relations bill includes same-sex
By Jonathan Singer
Legal industrial action by workers will be virtually impossible if proposed amendments to the federal Workplace Relations Act (WRA) are passed, according to the ACTU. The measures are being presented by federal industrial
By James Vassilopoulos
"My heart was saying kick her out. My head was asking, 'Are the matters raised sufficient to justify a genuine lack of confidence in the chief minister?'". With these words, right-wing independent and Liberal
By Andrea Marklew
BRISBANE — More than 600 people attended this year's annual Lesbian and Gay Pride rally at Roma Street Forum. The rally marks 10 years of activism for Brisbane's Lesbian and Gay Pride Collective. The rally was chaired by Gay
East Timor delegation calls for solidarity
By Vannessa Hearman
MELBOURNE — Belinda Morieson, branch secretary of the Australian Nurses Federation, and John Cummins, Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union construction division branch
By Bill Mason
The federal government's haste to cut public servant numbers has cost $711 million in redundancy payments for about 20,000 staff over three years, according to a report by the auditor-general, Pat Barrett. The report criticised the
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is undertaking a statewide speaking tour from late July into August. Aboriginal elders will address community meetings to discuss the history, recent developments and future of Aboriginal political action. Since the
Last Line of Defence screened
By Robyn Marshall
BRISBANE — The International Women's Day Committee held a film night on domestic violence on June 21 at the Schonell Theatre at the University of Queensland, with generous technical help from
By Dave Gosling
CANBERRA — On June 29, 11 unions marched from Parliament House to the ACT Legislative Assembly to protest against the ACT Liberal government's approach to enterprise bargaining for government workers. The march was led by 175
Longford royal commission: Esso blamed
By Vannessa Hearman
MELBOURNE — The Longford royal commission, which reported on June 28, found that Esso's inadequate training of its employees led to the explosion at the Longford gas plant near Sale in
Kurds protest Ocalan death sentence
By Gail Lord
More than 150 members of the Kurdish community travelled to Canberra on June 30 to condemn the death sentence imposed by a Turkish security court on the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party,
World
The French far-left's campaign in the European election
By Stanislav Demidjuk
MONTPELLIER â The success of the French far-left Lutte Ouvriere-Ligue
Communiste Revolutionaire (LO-LCR) list in the June European elections
was a
By Emily Citkowski
YOGYAKARTA — More that 80 Indonesian farm workers and organisers
met here on June 25-27 to re-establish the National Peasants' Union (STN
— Sarakat Tani Nasional). This was the STN's second congress. The founding
Pakistani workers condemn war
By Farooq Suleria
LAHORE, Pakistan — On June 25, 500 workers attending the annual general meeting of Itehad (Unity) Carpet Industry Workers Union of Pakistan condemned the war efforts of the ruling classes of both
By Norm Dixon
The overwhelming victory by the African National Congress in South Africa's June 2 national and provincial elections was greeted with approval by big business spokespeople. ANC leaders moved quickly after the final results were
By John Meehan
DUBLIN â The Protestant-chauvinist Orange Order's annual July march
down the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Northern Ireland, on Sunday,
July 4, has been banned by the British government's Parades Commission.
By Anna Weekes
TOLAGNARO, Madagascar â A mining project on the southern coast of
Madagascar, the huge island east of the African mainland, has run up against
unexpected resistance from local villagers, and could spark angry protests
Militia violence continues in East Timor
By Jon Land
On June 29, while East Timorese pro-independence and pro-integration leaders were finishing reconciliation talks in Jakarta, a pro-integration gang attacked the recently established United
Correction
The article in GLW #365 "Revolutionaries elected to European Parliament" reported that the Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC) in Italy won six EP seats. In fact, it won four seats. The other two were won by the Party of Italian
International news briefs
Dalai Lama's hypocrisy
The exiled Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama, has backed the Indian government's continued violent occupation of Kashmir — including its current brutal campaign against "intruders" — and
By Farooq Tariq
LAHORE — The defeat of the Pakistani cricket team by Australia in the final match of the World Cup has dashed many hopes of the government. The ruling conservative Muslim League government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had hoped
Culture
Isaiah Berlin: A LifeBy Michael IgnatieffChatto & Windus, 1998. 356 pp., $49.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon
Since the death of Sir Isaiah Berlin in 1997, there has been a publishing flurry of Berlin's philosophical and historical essays,
The force be with racism and sexism
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom MenaceDirected by George Lucas Review by Mary Merkenich
The latest Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace, is both entertaining and visually very beautiful. Unfortunately,
Viva Timor leste!
SYDNEY — Australian and East Timorese performers will join forces on July 15 to raise money for much needed medical and humanitarian aid to East Timor in an event organised by the Australia-East Timor Association (AETA).
Viva
Helen Todd's battle for justice
Punitive DamageDirected by Annie GoldsonSydney Film Festival Review by Michael Goldstein
Punitive Damage, recently shown at the Sydney Film Festival, is an inspiring and most moving testimony to the courage and
General
We are taking a break
Green Left Weekly is taking a week off to enable our contributors and distributors to attend the Resistance National Conference in Melbourne on July 8-11. The next issue of GLW will be dated July 21. Don't miss it!
By Edward Said
No one can doubt that what has transpired in Kosovo as a result both of Slobodan Milosevic's brutality and the NATO response has made matters a good deal worse than they were before the bombing. The cost in human suffering on all
The passing of the death sentence on Kurdish liberation fighter Abdullah Ocalan on June 29 by a political court of the viciously anti-democratic, military-backed government of Turkey highlights the depth of hypocrisy and utter cynicism of the
Resistance!
By Jo Ellis
Pre-revolutionary Cuba was no paradise for gays and lesbians. There were gay bars where homosexual men could meet, but to be a maricone (faggot) was to be a social outcast. Laws made it illegal to be gay and police targeted homosexuals
By Kate Carr
SYDNEY — On June 29 it was revealed that, despite the federal Coalition government's efforts, its proposed "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) legislation will not be debated during this sitting of the Senate. With the changed balance
Resistance conference guest attacked
By Chris Latham
Dhyta Caturani, who was scheduled as a guest speaker at the Resistance National Conference in Melbourne, July 8-11, was attacked by the Indonesian military in Jakarta on July 1. Dhyta was
Exposing the G7 lies
By Eric Toussaint
Was last month's G7 Summit (bringing together the United Kingdom, United States, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and Germany) in Cologne a move towards cancelling poor countries' debts? Don't believe all you're
Solidarity or a sliding scale of oppression?
By Bronwyn Jennings
The way forward for women's liberation — or even if there is a need to keep fighting for collective liberation — continues to be debated within feminism. In recent years, there
Cancel all Third World debt!
By Zanny Begg
In 1992, a memo by the World Bank's chief economist and vice-president Lawrence Summers was leaked to the media. In it Lawrence asked, "Shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty