Rejecting a phony choice
In 1979, environmentalists in Tasmania launched a campaign to protect pristine wilderness rivers in the state's south-west from plans by the Hydro Electric Commission to construct a dam on the lower Gordon, which would have
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Gender roles for sale Feminism is no longer necessary. Little girls are being taught that they can do anything that little boys can. Little boys are taught that they don't have to be confined to stereotyped male behaviour or interests. The next
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The very latest draft I've taken the view that, in the end, to allow the whole preamble to the Constitution to fall over because of a personal passion for a word — "profit" — that we may all love very much would be a poor ordering of
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Sex and education By Brandon Astor Jones "These kids knew that what they were doing was ... not right, but they did ... [not] know it was as bad as it was ... There was a naivete about the legal and moral consequences." — Bill Myers, police
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Write on: Letters to the editor Referendum I am perturbed about "invisible ink" on thumbs of "those who have voted" in East Timor. How will the illiterate people vote? Signing a cross? In Nicaragua I thought they (the illiterate) voted by
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Since prehistoric times, humanity has been on the move. Driven by material compulsion, we have made the entire planet our own, adapting to all manner of climate and topography along the way. With the rise of class society, migration
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If organising the working class is narrowly construed as organising workers into unions, then it must be said that we've gone from being pretty good at it to being pretty crook. Australia was once the most highly unionised country
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Botanical congress predicts disaster Four thousand scientists attending a botanical congress at in St Louis, Missouri, in early August, have predicted massive species loss. Professor Peter Raven, president of the International Botanical Congress,
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Putting the mates back in the preamble An alternative draft constitutional preamble by Graham Matthews With hope in the international financial markets, the wealth of 'stralia is constituted as a plutocracy with a federal mint to serve the ruling
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Until recently, the oceans seemed so vast that no-one could imagine humans damaging them. Now, however, a decade of scientific research has shown that this view is mistaken. Human activities are degrading the oceans in numerous ways. The dominant
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On November 6, Australians will vote in a referendum on whether Australia becomes a republic or remains a constitutional monarchy. The model to be voted on is the "minimalist" one, which involves the least possible change: a simple replacement of the
News
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Pangea campaign beginsPERTH — The relocation soon of the head office of Pangea Resources, the company that has proposed the construction of an international high-level nuclear waste dump in Australia, indicates its interest in
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CPSU tax section council debates 'second wave'MELBOURNE — The tax section council of the Community and Public Sector Union met from August 6 to 9. The main discussion was the campaign for a new enterprise agreement. The council
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Opposition grows to M5 'death stack'SYDNEY — About 100 people packed the Ferncourt primary school hall in Marrickville on August 11 to begin organising against the construction of the unfiltered exhaust stack for the M5
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ACT forced to negotiate with bursarsCANBERRA — School bursars, locked out of schools three weeks ago for banning extra duties, have forced the ACT government to agree to upgrade their wage classification. The breakthrough in the
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On July 21, 1968, the Sydney Sunday Telegraph reported that "a well-organised youth movement is recruiting school children in NSW with slogans like 'Support the NLF'. The organisation, Resistance, openly supports the opposing forces
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Workers rally against Reith's 'second wave'MELBOURNE — More than 100,000 workers rallied and marched here on August 12 to fight industrial relations minister Peter Reith's "second wave" of anti-union laws. The proposed laws
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Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) clubs are being established on universities across the country. Several clubs have already been launched, and more will form in the coming weeks. The Sydney University
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Voter registration for the August 30 ballot on autonomy or independence for East Timor finished on August 6. Around 427,000 people registered. The large number of registrations is significant, reflecting the refusal of the East
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Dorf and Beauty Ware picketers defiantMELBOURNE — Australian Manufacturing Workers Union members at the Beauty Ware and Dorf factories in Melbourne's south-east are maintaining picket lines in their battle to save their jobs.
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ADELAIDE — On August 4, the Resistance club at Brighton High School held a lunchtime screening of David Bradbury's film Jabiluka. The screening was highly successful, with more than 20 people attending. This included three
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BRISBANE — About 300 women attended a rally in King George Square to celebrate National Abortion Rights Day, Sunday August 8. Abortion remains in the criminal code in every state in Australia, yet at least
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Indonesian unionists' tour off to good start Indonesian union leader Dita Sari's Australian tour began when she arrived in Perth to an emotional welcome on August 8, reports Roberto Jorquera. The recently released political prisoner was met by
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Aborigines call for preamble to include their sovereignty Aborigines call for preamble to include sovereignty By James Vassilopoulos CANBERRA — The Aboriginal Tent Embassy on August 10 demanded that any preamble to the constitution recognise
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10 reasons to stop Badgerys Creek airport 1. Environmental pollution: the Badgerys Creek flight paths would traverse Warragamba Dam, which supplies most of Sydney's water. Dumped fuel, leaks or a plane crash could contaminate the dam. Vast numbers
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ACT teachers mobiliseCANBERRA — On August 11, more than 2000 teachers stopped work to discuss a new enterprise bargaining agreement. At the half-day meeting, attended by 85% of ACT teachers, the Australian Education Union
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Big rallies against Badgerys Creek airportSYDNEY — With the federal Coalition government's decision due soon on whether the 24-hour airport at Badgerys Creek should proceed, around 1000 residents of Sydney's western suburbs
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Coalminers strike for workers' entitlementsCoalminers across Australia struck on August 13. The miners, all members of the mining division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, were protesting government
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DILI — On August 5, Green Left Weekly's Sam King spoke to MARIANO SABINO LOPEZ, chairperson of the central leadership council of the East Timorese Student Union (IMPETTU) and vice-president of East Timorese National Student Resistance (Renetil), an
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CANBERRA — A national speaking tour of anti-abortion campaigner Dr Joel Brind is to take place August 20-30. Sponsored by the far-right Catholic group Human Life International and the Endeavour Foundation, Brind is being promoted
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ADELAIDE — Last week, nurses refused to close down beds in ward 6B at Flinders Medical Centre. Sixteen beds were to be closed on August 9, and management is talking about closing 30 to 60 beds to cover a $5 million budget
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LISMORE — Friends of East Timor (FET) groups and supporters of Green Left Weekly in northern NSW have organised successful events in solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor. In Byron Bay on July 4, 120 people attended a screening
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Brisbane Resistance was appalled at the attempt by Griffith University administration to ban the women's edition of the campus newspaper Gravity for featuring a picture of women's genitals with a poem which read "this is my cunt, it is beautiful like
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Firefighters suspend actionSYDNEY — On August 13, a mass meeting of Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) members voted to end two weeks of industrial action after winning a commitment from the state Labor government to
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Poor dears "Unease ... has become something of a permanent state of mind for investors in Russia." — Sheryle Bagwell in the Australian Financial Review. Stop press "... there is no real intellectual conservative movement in Australia." —
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Fight back discussed SYDNEY — Around 100 people attended a forum titled "Defend our services, defend our unions" at the Transport Workers Club on August 10. The forum was organised by the Community Action Group. Speakers included John Sutton,
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HOBART — Discussions between Resistance and Keep Left (a student electoral grouping made up of members from the Non-Aligned Left (NAL) and Tasmania University Greens), about forming a united left ticket to intervene in the
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You could keep your eyes shut during Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and not miss much. The meandering three-hour-long film is boring. So mild and boring it is hard to image how it earned its R rating. True, Tom Cruise and Nicole
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SYDNEY — Staff employed at Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes across NSW are desperately trying to fend off severe funding cuts and job losses. As part of the state Labor government's June budget, $35 million is
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Record fine not enough BRISBANE — The Industrial Magistrate's Court here has imposed a $40,000 fine on a Bulimba boat-building company over the 1998 death of an apprentice, who was electrocuted at work. Queensland Council of Unions secretary
World
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JAKARTA — Shalar Kosi is the secretary general of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST). In an interview with Green Left Weekly, he stressed that the crucial question for socialists in East Timor is building bases among the people.
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Climate change impacts on Arctic A three-week Greenpeace expedition to the retreating Arctic ice pack, completed on July 31, has uncovered new evidence that climate change is impacting on the wildlife and ecology of the region. The Greenpeace
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Indonesian activist undaunted by attack JAKARTA — DHYTA CATURANI, an activist in Indonesia's People's Democratic Party (PRD), was shot and severely beaten in a police and military attack on the party's July 1 rally outside the electoral
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The Trepca zinc, lead, cadmium, gold and silver mining and metallurgy complex in the north of Kosova has been described as the "most valuable piece of real estate in the Balkans" by Chris Hedges, the Balkan writer for the New
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Socialists in Prague have appealed for international solidarity against political violence directed against them by several anarchist groups. An appeal issued by the League for a Revolutionary Communist International (LRCI) has called for the recent
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By Siddartha DELHI — "The Kargil war [in Kashmir between India and Pakistan] was forced on India. It had no other choice." This was the Indian establishment's consensus on the Kargil crisis. But let us stretch this argument a few steps further.
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By Doris On the third attempt we made it — a meeting with some of the women guerrilla fighters in East Timor. These women are part of Falintil, the resistance army that has been fighting for freedom in Timor Loro Sae (East Timor) since the
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QUÉBEC — Over the past six months, nurses throughout Canada have been at the forefront of labour struggle as they protest against being overworked and underpaid, and against governments' austerity drives in health care
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LAHORE — Since Pakistan and India have gone nuclear, August 6 — Hiroshima Day — has become an important day for peace activists. In both India and Pakistan, socialists are in the forefront of the peace movement. Hiroshima
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Megawati, Habibie and political alternativesJAKARTA — On July 29, Megawati Sukarnoputri addressed a select group of supporters at the national office of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). The speech was to lay
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Indonesian army stokes violence in AcehOn August 4, a two-day general strike in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh left most cities and towns deserted, public transport paralysed and business brought to a standstill.
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Indonesian oil workers win strike The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) reports that 8000 Indonesian oil rig workers ended a six-week strike on August 7, after winning many of their demands. The
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Y2K nuclear warningOn August 6, Hiroshima Day, a letter signed by more than 260 environmental, peace, trade union and church groups was sent to US President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin demanding that they
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Scores of Indian villagers are threatening to drown themselves in the rising waters of the remote Narmada River in protest against the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The villagers, organised in the Narmada Bachao Andolan
Culture
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In the three decades that film director Ken Loach has steadfastly championed the British working class, his work has lost none of its sting.
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Skin-deep beauty The Beauty Queen of LeenaneBy Martin McDonaghSydney Theatre CompanyThe Wharf, SydneyUntil September 4 Review by Brendan Doyle On Broadway it was the season's most acclaimed new play, where it won four Tony awards and several
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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, 10.30pm. Ph 9565 5522. Access News —
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The pain of crossed paths Haunted by the PastBy Dr Ruby Langford-GinibiAllen & Unwin, 1999$17.95 (pb) Reviewed by Ray Jackson On July 5, I had the great honour to launch Dr Ruby Langford-Ginibi's new book, her fourth, Haunted by the Past. I
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Garvaghy: A Community Under SiegeBy the Garvaghy Road ResidentsBeyond the Pale PublicationsBelfast, 120pp.Send £8.99 to 5-7 Conway St, Belfast, BT13 2DEE-mail <info@btpale.ie> for postage rates Review by Stuart Ross On July 4, the
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The Left in History: Revolution and Reform in Twentieth Century PoliticsBy Willie ThompsonPluto Press, 1997, 263 pp., $44.95. Review by Jonathan Singer What are the political lessons from the left's history in the 20th century? Willie Thompson