Issue 385

News

Thousands rally to save Leighton By Anthony Benbow FREMANTLE — "You all know what you see when you're sitting on the train or driving along Stirling Highway; you come over the hill to this glorious view over the beach and the ocean, and it
Building unions stake their claim By Michael Bull MELBOURNE — An alliance of four Victorian unions has launched a united claim for a new collective agreement for the building industry. The Victorian branches of the construction and general
By Grant Coleman PERTH — After striking for 96 hours, hospital worker members of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union have won a 5% pay rise and are now entering into arbitration. Five hundred orderlies, caterers and patient
Women's liberation discussed in Wollongong By Nicole Hilder WOLLONGONG — On November 6, Green Left Weekly held a women's liberation forum titled "It's Time to Get Angry Again". Dr Margaret Perrott from the Democratic Socialist Party outlined
By Jeremy Smith The federal Coalition government has set its sights on the National Tertiary Education Industry Union as part of its anti-union offensive. The NTEU has suspected for some time that the government will come after it. Industrial
Defence Department opposes nuclear dump By Molly Wishart Chiefs of the three defence forces and the secretary of the federal Department of Defence have written to the government expressing opposition to hosting a nuclear waste dump on land used
South Coast teachers bury government offer By Andrew Hall WOLLONGONG — Teachers in the northern suburbs of Wollongong buried a coffin outside Labor state MP David Campbell's electoral office on November 11. On the previous day their colleagues
Telstra walks out of negotiations By Tim E. Stewart In an effort to secure an enterprise agreement without union endorsement, Telstra management walked out of negotiations with unions on November 5. The following week, management express-posted
East Timor benefit CANBERRA — On November 6, Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union organised a benefit for East Timor at the University of Canberra bar. The folk-rock
In Dili, more than 10,000 East Timorese marched through the streets on November 12 in a solemn commemoration of friends and relatives killed in the 1991 massacre by Indonesian troops at the Santa Cruz cemetery. It was the first such commemoration
SA union secretary resigns By Bronwen Beechey ADELAIDE — Paul Noack resigned as the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) South Australian branch secretary on October 29. Noack's resignation followed a meeting of the AMWU's federal
Gay and lesbian pride springs out By Kim Bullimore and Simon Tayler CANBERRA — The ACT's first Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival — Spring Out — included a rally and march on November 13, attended by 300 people. The rally was addressed by,
Government slashes funding to green groups By Jim Green On November 8, the federal government announced another round of funding cuts to environment groups. The government's funding program, which totals $1.65 million, will now include grants to
Union members support sector-wide campaign The Family and Community Services section council of the Community and Public Sector Union passed a motion on November 4 calling for a union campaign for a public service-wide agreement on pay and
Forest summit warns of new threats By Jim Green Fifty representatives from forest conservation groups around Australia concluded the 15th national forest summit in Victoria's East Gippsland on November 9. The summit warned that forests face
Bill on same-sex domestic violence welcomed By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Gay and lesbian organisations have welcomed the passage of Queensland government legislation giving same-sex couples the same access to domestic violence protection as that
Casual workers to strike By Chris Slee MELBOURNE — Contract workers at the Victorian state government's Land Titles Office, members of the Australian Services Union (ASU), are planning to strike on November 14 and 15. The workers are
Two arrested at bridge protest By John Nebauer ADELAIDE — Builders are preparing to sink pylons for the controversial Hindmarsh Island bridge, sparking a new outbreak of anti-bridge protests. Two people were arrested at a protest near the
Mapoon elder slams Lingard over 'straw hut' remarks By Bill Mason BRISBANE — A leader of the Aboriginal community at Mapoon on the Cape York Peninsula has slammed National Party MP and former Aboriginal affairs minister Kev Lingard over racist
Another win for the NTEU By Jeremy Smith MELBOURNE — A strike scheduled for November 10 at the Victoria University of Technology was called off after management indicated it would settle an agreement with the National Tertiary Education

World

The view from Dili By Max Lane DILI — Burned-out buildings and people on foot — these were the immediate impressions of East Timor's capital when I arrived on November 4 for a 36-hour visit. Jakarta-backed militias had done enormous damage
By Sue Njanji Matetakufa HARARE — More than six months after Zimbabwe's Supreme Court shocked equal rights campaigners worldwide by relegating African women to the status of "junior males" within the family, many Zimbabweans are worried about the
Zimbabwe doctors win, nurses strike By Norm Dixon Nurses in several Zimbabwean cities went on strike on November 9 to demand a pay increase, three days after doctors ended their seven-week strike in protest at low salaries, poor working
East Timorese refugees: no end of trauma By Jon Land More than 200,000 East Timorese refugees are still languishing in militia-controlled camps across West Timor. United Nations personnel and representatives of human rights groups continue to be
By Eva Cheng Despite extraordinarily brutal oppression, India's working people are resisting the new attacks that the ruling coalition, regrouped after the October election, is seeking to impose. The offensive, loaded with privatisation and
Win for pay equity in Canada By Margaret Allum In a monumental victory for women's rights, the Canadian government agreed on October 29 to implement the July 1998 findings of a human rights tribunal which ruled that there existed a discrepancy in
Budiman Sujatmiko likely to be freed soon By Max Lane The Indonesian People's Representative Council (DPR) is likely to recommend the release of at least 44 political prisoners, including People's Democratic Party (PRD) chairperson Budiman
By Raul Cienfuegos There has been much discussion in Colombia about the "peace" dialogue between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) and the government. After decades of unsuccessfully trying to wipe out left-wing
US blockade aids Iraqi regime FARIS MAHMOOD, a member of the politburo of the Workers Communist Party of Iraq (WCPI) is in Australia until early next year. He spoke to Green Left Weekly's PAUL BENEDEK. In Iraqi-occupied Kurdistan (in the north),
East Timor Solidarity Aid Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) is launching Timor Solidarity Aid to provide material assistance to people's power-based activism in East Timor. Strength in organising, campaigning and mobilising
By Sam King BANDA ACEH — The mass action that overwhelmed Aceh's capital city on November 8 is undeniable proof of the people's desire for a referendum and their resolve to campaign for it. Some 2 million people took to the streets, in the
UN again demands US end its embargo against Cuba The United Nations General Assembly on November 9 overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution, for the eighth successive year, calling for an end to the 40-year-old US economic embargo against Cuba. The
By Robyn Marshall BRISBANE — United States doctor Warren Hern was detained and questioned by immigration authorities for two hours at Sydney airport on November 10. Hern, a supporter of women's right to choose abortion, was in Australia to attend

Culture

Reclaiming the language of East Timor By Jon Land Standard Tetum-English DictionaryBy Dr Geoffrey HullAllen and Unwin$24.95 As the transition to independence begins in East Timor, a debate around language is assuming critical importance. What
The dictatorship of US$ and Wall Street The Global Gamble: Washington's Faustian Bid for World DominanceBy Peter GowanVerso, 1999320 pp., $39.95 Review by Eva Cheng Guns and tanks are usually very visible, but those who control the world also do
Bad medicine By Karl Miller I accidentally caught the last segment of Good Medicine, on Channel Nine at 8.30pm Wednesday night. It was one of those times you are so horrified you can't stop watching. Those 10 minutes were a segment on breast

Editorial

A matter of life or death The national crisis in public health care was dramatised last week when emergency wards in at least five public hospitals in Sydney were closed to all patients except those with life-threatening conditions. "You don't get

Resistance!

By Kylie Moon BANKSTOWN — A major victory has been won by the students at the University of Western Sydney-Macarthur's (UWSM) Bankstown campus, a result of a 14-day long occupation of the Student Information Centre which ended on November 10. The
By Natalie Zirngast High school students will walk out on November 30 in Seattle to join a protest against the World Trade Organisation (see Green Left Weekly page 20). The protest is being organised by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and
By Natalie Zirngast The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) inquiry into the "cash for comments" scandal involving 2UE's shock jocks John Laws and Alan Jones has the rest of the Australian media running scared. Alan Kohler commented in the
By Rohan Pearce and Nikki Ulasowski HOBART — Recent articles in the Murdoch-owned Mercury are an example of how the media can reinforce racist myths and whip up nationalism. The government's crackdown on "boat people" has been an excuse for the
By Anthony Brown Despite much talk about a youth "crime wave", statistics show that youth crime is not out of control and that young people themselves are often the victims of crime. It is true that most criminal offenders are young people. The
Tutorial sizes to be capped at 30 until autumn 2000; Employment to be guaranteed for five staff crucial to a number of courses continuing; No internet-only subjects to be offered; Enrolments to be made not only via the internet; No car
By Kate Carr "Identity politics" emerged from British and US feminism towards the end of the 1970s. It developed in reaction to the failure of liberal feminism to adequately incorporate or acknowledge the differing experiences and demands of women