The furore over the government's intention to impose the GST on tampons — which are presently sales-tax free — is symptomatic of the anger that is building against the GST as its impact and the complexities involved in
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In George Orwell's novel 1984, every move you made was caught on camera. In the Hollywood blockbuster Enemy of the State, satellites watched where you went and heard what you said. And in Gattaca, your DNA was tested, diagnosed for
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Winston Regular readers of this column may recall Winston — the John Howard look-alike figure we introduced you in Green Left Weekly #371 in a fit of hopeful passion last year. Winston and I had big plans. Didn't we Winston? We sure did. The
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Hemp, not forests As our old growth forests continue to be destroyed, something needs to be done, and sooner rather than later. In Australia, hemp was widely used for paper making until the 1920s, until investors in pulp technology and owners of
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Networker: Cybersquatters You can't stand in a public place these days without seeing some sort of internet advertising. Hardly a poster fails to carry the ".com" footnote, inviting web surfers to an particular site. These ".coms" are the
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Are men biologically programmed to rape? "Without exception, women's greatest risk of violence comes not from 'stranger danger' but from men they know, often family members or husbands", says Lori Heise, co-author of Ending Violence Against
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Why the West allows Russia to butcher Chechens"Troops descended on the town ... and detained at least a dozen men and 20 cars ... Villagers had a similar wake-up call two days earlier when ... troops swept in and beat or harassed
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Indonesia's generals may still get away with murderThe Indonesian and United Nations human rights commissions have released their reports on the massive human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in 1999. The
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The construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is in good shape to win a shorter working week. Its campaign for a 36-hour work week is the next step in the Victorian branch's
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36 reasons for actionMELBOURNE — The construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association (FEDFA) launched a statewide campaign on
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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 Sunday, 9-11pm. Ph 9565 5522. Access News — Melbourne community TV,
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From that moment on "Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, by systematically ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than that you
News
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ADELAIDE — Nearly a year after its formation on March 26, the Arabunna Going Home camp is planning to return to the shores of Lake Eyre. The camp was established to protest the Roxby Downs uranium mine which, according to the
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Lupin You By the members of the DSP and Resistance in Adelaide Friends and comrades of Lupin You (Seong Mi You) were devastated to hear of her death in a car accident on January 31. She was 28 years old. The accident occurred as Lupin was
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Hobart art school under attack HOBART — Students at the University of Tasmania will meet on February 7 to plan their campaign against the university administration's plans for the School of Fine Arts. The university wants to cut the number
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Battle for the Mater heats upNEWCASTLE — The dispute over the future of the Mater Hospital was given a substantial boost when more than 1500 people attended a public meeting here on February 2 to demand extra state government
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If you believe the advertisement that the personnel firm Officeteam ran in a number of major newspapers on January 29, temporary work is now the cutting edge of the revolution. "Your resistance to the bonds of 9-5 slavery is about to be rewarded.
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The federal Coalition government showed its true colours on Australia Day (January 26) by announcing it's latest plan to harass unemployed people. The plan involves tightening the government's grip on dole recipients
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ADELAIDE — Members of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union are preparing for a long dispute with the South Australian government over the contracting out of TransAdelaide's bus routes. At a stop-work meeting on January 31, union members
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Homeless people evicted SYDNEY — A group of homeless people were abruptly evicted from a disused warehouse here on January 31 by oil giant Shell. The homeless people had been squatting in the warehouse for almost one year. According
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The ACTU has gained a small win in its legal challenge to BHP's offer of individual contracts (Australian Workplace Agreements — AWAs) to iron ore workers in the Pilbara. On January 31, the Federal Court granted the ACTU an
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NSW teachers vote to fightSYDNEY — At stop-work meetings across the state on February 3, NSW teachers overwhelmingly approved further political and industrial action in support of their demand for a pay rise of 7.5% per year
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University plan is no solutionCANBERRA — The Australian National University (ANU) has found $97 million from within its budget to fund its "Year 2000 growth plan". Of this, $70 million will come from the profit made from
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By Chris Spindlerand Arun Pradhan MELBOURNE — Eighty maintenance workers at the Yallourn power station have been locked out for 25 days. The lockout came after union members imposed bans on January 10 in an effort to halt the power station
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1240 asylum seekers on hunger strike in WAGreen Left Weekly has learned that 1240 asylum seekers detained at the Curtin air base in Derby, far-north Western Australia, are on hunger strike to protest against the conditions in which
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Opposition mounts to NSW pay offerSYDNEY — Opposition is growing amongst members of the NSW Public Service Association (PSA) to the state Labor government's latest pay offer. Members are also angry at their union leaders'
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Yanner forced to stand downAboriginal leader Murrandoo Yanner has been forced to stand down from his position as coordinator of the Carpentaria Land Council because of a politically motivated 18-month suspended jail sentence for
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Laboring on land rightsBRISBANE — Has Labor sold out on land rights? This was the question raised at Green Left Weekly's monthly forum here on February 2, held at the Resistance Centre. Thirty participants heard Les Malezer
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The government tells us that there are plenty of jobs, that its welfare policies are fair and that working for the dole will help young people get good jobs. But any person even vaguely in touch with reality — people like Rohan, Rebecca and Tanika
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Issuing job seeker diaries (JSD) to all new claimants of Newstart and Youth Allowance. At the moment, less than half of the unemployed are issued with diaries. The number of required job search efforts has increased from eight to 10 per fortnight.
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MELBOURNE — The national education committee of the National Union of Students, meeting on February 3, decided to call a national day of action on April 5 on the theme "Public education, not privatisation!". Reaching that decision
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National Textiles workers confront Howard By Adam Leemanand Alison Dellit NEWCASTLE — On February 4, sacked workers from National Textiles protested outside the Williamtown RAAF Base. A delegation of the workers met with PM John Howard in an
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BRISBANE — The University of Queensland student union executive has told the National Tertiary Education Industry Union that it does not intend to publicise the NTEU's industrial campaign during student orientation week on
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The others don't count "We protected around 4000 foreigners ... staff from the UNAMET stayed in East Timor for four months and no one was killed." — General Wiranto claiming that the Human Rights Commission report on the Indonesian military's
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LISMORE — On February 3, Prime Minister John Howard was forced to run a gauntlet of protesters outside the Lismore City Hall during his tour of rural Australia. Four hundred people protested outside the meeting, Howard's main
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GEELONG — Three hundred workers rallied outside the gates of the BHP wire mill here on February 4. Delegations of workers from the vehicle and metal divisions of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), the Textiles,
Analysis
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Washing the blood from their hands "I think any comment [beyond "understanding and sympathy"] is really intruding a little into the internal affairs of another country", Prime Minister John Howard opined on the outcome of the Indonesian and United
World
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On December 26, the Revolutionary Workers Party of the Philippines (RPMP) and the government of president Joseph Estrada agreed to peace negotiations. The RPMP controls about one-third of the communist guerillas in the southern
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By Dale T. McKinley JOHANNESBURG — Why does the predictable (if uneven) evolution of the African National Congress's (ANC) socioeconomic strategy and policy continue to be treated by the South Africa's media commentators as if it were a
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Organising East Timor's working peopleDILI — Floating in this burned-out city's harbour is the bizarre structure of the Hotel Olympia. A large squat vessel that was formerly housing for oil rig workers, it has been towed to
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Following the January 21 bombing in Madrid, which apparently brought to an end ETA's (Euskadi Ta Askatasura — Basque Homeland and Freedom) 14-month unilateral cease-fire, the right-wing Spanish government has launched a serious
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JAKARTA — Thousands protested against the meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) — which includes 30 donor countries and is chaired by the World Bank — on February 1. The meeting considered the Indonesian
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Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez, the small Cuban boy plucked from the sea and taken to the United States against the will of his family and country, has become the focus of Washington's cold war against Cuba. However, this is not
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HAVANA, Cuba — What happens when you pour into one pot more than 800 economists from 58 countries representing nearly every viewpoint on the analytical and political spectrum? That's what occurred here on January 24-28 when some
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While world attention is focused on the crimes committed by Indonesia's military in East Timor last year, former Indonesian president Suharto is living in peace and comfort, still not charged for the countless crimes against humanity he ordered
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CPI-ML on the way forward for the Indian left BALASUBRAMANIAN SIVARAMAN, politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (Liberation) (CPI-ML) and editor of the party's monthly journal, Liberation, attended the Marxism 2000
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International news briefs Indonesian students oppose fee increases JAKARTA — Four hundred students demonstrated on February 2 at the University of Indonesia to protest against the proposed withdrawal of subsidies for student university fees.
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One hundred and thirty governments concluded an agreement in Montreal, Canada, on January 29 on the international transport of living modified organisms that have been created by genetic engineering and biotechnology. Negotiations
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Regional day of protest against Elian's kidnapping Socialist parties in the Asian region have called for February 17 to become a day of regionally coordinated protest actions against the kidnapping of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez (see article on
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Burmese demand justicePERTH — Members of the Burmese community held a protest outside the Thai consulate here on February 3 to demanding that those responsible for killing 10 Burmese freedom fighters be
Culture
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Three kings and a million dead By Ciaron O'Reilly It has taken Hollywood nine years to acknowledge some of the truths of the 1991 US massacre in the Persian Gulf. Not that it required rigorous research to uncover the realities layed bare in the
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Theme parkPeople, people, masses of people jammed between wrought iron fences and theme park signboards, awaiting their Hollywood fix. The scent of flesh upon flesh and perspiring children coalesce to yield stench. Theme park
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John Pilger wins gold Journalist and documentary maker John Pilger has been honoured for his film Welcome to Australia, which exposes this country's long history of racism against its Aboriginal people. (The film is reviewed in the September 22,
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The Torch MELBOURNE — Fuelled by sporting and nationalist zeal, aiming to impress the eyes of the world, the torch is heading towards Sydney for the 2000 Olympics. As the nation's dust is disturbed, the ghosts emerge from the shadows — the