University plan is no solution
By Keara Courtney
CANBERRA — 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
Issue 392
News
Homeless people evicted
SYDNEY â 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
Opposition mounts to NSW pay offer
By Frances Sheehan
SYDNEY — 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'
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
1240 asylum seekers on hunger strike in WA
By Sean Healy
Green 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
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
Battle for the Mater heats up
By Alison Dellit
NEWCASTLE — 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
Yanner forced to stand down
By Bill Mason
Aboriginal 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
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
By Erica Haines
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
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
Laboring on land rights
By Graham Matthews
BRISBANE — 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
By Graham Williams
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,
By Melanie Sjoberg
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
NSW teachers vote to fight
By Tom Flanagan
SYDNEY — 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
By Emma Webb
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
World
Burmese demand justice
By Grant Coleman and Jane Armanasco
PERTH — 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
By Daniel Jardine
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
By May Sari
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
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
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.
By Norm Dixon
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
By Dick Nichols
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
Organising East Timor's working people
By Nick Fredman
DILI — 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
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
By Jean Dupont
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
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
By Deborah Shnookal
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
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
Culture
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
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,
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
Theme park
By Rachel Laredni
People, 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
Editorial
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
Resistance!
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
By Dave Matthews
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
By Justin Randell
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
By Sarah Peart
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
By Bernie Wunsch
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
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.
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.