The myth of the peaceful atom"Over the last 30 years the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards system under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty has been a conspicuous international success", says Ian Hore-Lacey from the
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Shed a tear for the marketeers of the last decade: technology had finally provided the ability to bombard a billion people with the same advertising message, but in most cases no one wanted to listen. Marketing is that area of modern commerce where
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Write on: Letters to the editor Equality of opportunity? Readers may have seen a recent series in the Australian on inequality. Much rubbish was written, some of which I hope to address later. However, particularly striking was the consensus
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The history of the eradication of the Haitian Creole pig population in the 1980s is a classic parable of globalisation. Haiti's small, black, Creole pigs were at the heart of the peasant economy. An extremely hearty breed, well adapted to Haiti's
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Derogatory and insulting "George Wallace, Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond became regional leaders, not in spite of, but because of, their overt appeals to our racism. And no matter how much we try to look the other way and pretend that [it is]
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Making a living? Having a life?Did the living standards and quality of life of workers improve in the 1990s? The answer is dependent on two questions: what goods and services could they access from their disposable incomes and
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The list of the world's richest 200 women has been released, and a big shock it was to those of us who had expected to see our very own monarch in top spot, at least among the royal women in contention. But no, our Lizzie
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Kazem, a refugee from Iraq, arrived in Australia by boat from Indonesia in October. University educated and with a family in Iraq, he hoped to make a new life in Australia, free from constant fear. He planned to bring his wife and children out to
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Statistics as tragediesThe HDR 2000 is primarily a statistical compilation, with pages and pages of tables. But amongst the statistics are real tragedies: In Afghanistan, 94% of the country's 21.3 million people have no access to
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At last, the 1901 show Within the four walls of Australia we're working up a bit of a hoot. The centenary of federation is here — almost! Girt by sea, festooned with waratah and greased up with eucky oil, all the common people of Australia
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Socialist solutions to the country crisisIt is only three weeks since dairy deregulation in New South Wales and already there are casualties: their incomes slashed almost in half as a result of the deregulation on July 1, 50 dairy
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The Korean War: a war of counter-revolution SEOUL — Fifty years after the outbreak of the Korean War, it is still seen as a war to defend peaceful South Korea against the aggressive ambitions of "totalitarian" North Korea. This theme dominated
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UN report shows poverty grinds on The benefits of increased global trade, investment, technology and economic growth are not flowing through to the world's poorest people, a new United Nations report released on June 29 has found. Worldwide, 1.2
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While capitalist economists and mainstream press finance writers may have fervently embraced "free trade" as a cure for all ills, the multinational corporations and Western governments are far more pragmatic and cunning: they write the rules of
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GM food — myth and realityThe proponents of using genetically modified organisms in food put forward six main reasons as to why GMOs are needed. All six are false and deliberately misleading. Myth 1: GMOs are needed to "feed
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Statistics as lies The Human Development Report 2000 findings of a growing rich-poor divide have proved contentious, mainly because they shatter claims that the brave new world of corporate-run "globalisation" will lead to prosperity and bounty for
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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,
News
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Good governance "We are not going to repair or rebuild everyone's home ... Even if we were able to, it would not be a good idea; it would not be good governance." — Stephen Lewarne, head of reconstruction in the United Nations administration in
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Wildlife conservationists protest SYDNEY — Activists from a wide range of environment groups gathered outside the Australian Museum on July 13 to protest against a NSW Liberal opposition proposal that endangered native animal species be conserved
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Abortion doctors reinstatedMELBOURNE — The Royal Women's Hospital announced on July 10 that it would reinstate three medical workers suspended for performing a late-term abortion on a 40-year-old woman who discovered that her
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HOBART — While the "walk for reconciliation" across the Tasman Bridge planned for July 23 has the endorsement of the political establishment as well as Aboriginal people, calls are also being raised for far more substantial
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Students, staff demand VC resignationHOBART — Students and staff at the University of Tasmania have called for the resignation of the vice-chancellor, Don McNichol. One hundred and fifty students and staff marched on the VC's
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Work conditions not in the 'Olympic spirit'SYDNEY — Construction work at Olympics venues across the city has been disrupted by the discovery that 24 New Zealand workers were employed on inferior conditions to their Australian
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Centrelink staff outraged at minister's attackBRISBANE — Union members in Centrelink offices around the country are outraged at attempts by family and community services minister Jocelyn Newman to blame them for GST-related
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Women students' conference heads left BY SARAH CLEARY & APRIL-JANE FLEMING ADELAIDE — Feminist students have described as a significant shift leftwards this year's Network of Women Students Australia (NOWSA) conference, held at Flinders
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Unionists set upon by cops, then lawyersSYDNEY — Having failed to keep construction union officials out of enterprise agreement negotiations at its Rooty Hill factory on July 7, giant construction parts company CSR has now
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NSW Labor's commuter chaosSYDNEY — "CityRail regrets to announce ...". Before the details are even out, you can feel the atmosphere on the platform thicken with anger and exasperation. What is it this time: signal failure,
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Aboriginal rally condemns government 'war'SYDNEY — The federal government's policy towards the Aboriginal people would turn the Sydney Olympics into "the games of shame, not the games of peace", Aboriginal Tent Embassy
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Prisons 'out of bounds' for mediaBRISBANE — Queensland police have charged three women prisoners and a journalist with criminal offences after an article appeared in the Townsville Bulletin alleging abusive treatment in the
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HOBART — While it poses as the heroic opponent of federal government support for genetically modified organisms, the Tasmanian Labor government is yet to take any concrete measures against it, or even against controversial
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Joy miners joyful SYDNEY — Two hundred union supporters enjoyed an excellent evening of Latin American and African music at a benefit at the Harbourside Brasserie on July 12 for the workers of Joy Mining. The evening, organised by the
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Emission excuses compound embarrassmentFriends of the Earth (FoE) Australia has described as "embarrassing" new figures which show a massive blowout in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, to 16.9% above 1990 levels. The group has
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Police close Aboriginal concertBRISBANE — Police have been accused of racism after 12 officers raided the Melbourne Hotel in the suburb of West End on July 7, shutting down a National Aboriginal and Islander Day of
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Lucas Heights reactor contract signedSYDNEY — Construction of a new nuclear research reactor in the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights is now due to begin in 2002, after the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
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NOWSA vox pops Evelyn, NSW: I've always had an interest in feminism, and when I came to uni I joined the women's collective there straight away ... There should have been more workshops [at NOWSA] on organising actions. Sharon, Vic: I first
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Centrelink introduces 'No sign-no start'BRISBANE — In a mock presentation about a new social security regulation, a Centrelink call centre worker took three props to her weekly team meeting: a dictionary, a carrot and a stick.
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Unionists oppose unjust world economic orderThe protests in Seattle and Washington against the global corporate rich have become a catalyst for activity in the struggle for a more humane and just world. In Melbourne on
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BRISBANE — Activists here have described as a big step forward the July 7 merger of local anti-corporate groups into an S11 Alliance to plan and build local participation in protests against the World Economic Forum meeting in
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Correction In the last issue of GLW (#411), the article titled "Tasmanian upper house stymies land rights" includes comments from Clyde Mansell from the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania. This is a different organisation from the Tasmanian
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P&O wharfies reject new "death bonus"SYDNEY — Waterside workers at P&O Ports' White Bay site have labelled as a "death bonus" a new bonus scheme brought in with less than a week's notice and without consultation with
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Hospital dispute grows bitterBRISBANE — Despite early signs of a breakthrough, the hospital workers' pay dispute escalated last week, with stop-work meetings and 24-hour strikes in dozens of hospitals across the state. Labor
Analysis
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Editorial : Support democracy in Fiji The Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) appointment on July 14 of coup leader George Speight's nominees, Ratu Josefa Iloilo as Fiji's president on July 13 and Ratu Jope Senilopi as vice-president, marked the
World
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INDIA: Bihar assembly besieged Responding to a call by the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (Liberation), thousands of protesters staged a militant gherao (siege) of the assembly building in the poor, northern state of Bihar on July 11.
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Human rights in China have deteriorated sharply, according to Amnesty International, which described Beijing's crackdown on peaceful dissent in 1999 as "the most serious and wide-ranging" in the last 10 years. "Thousands of people were arbitrarily
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On June 12-13, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) issued regulations for the formation of a joint Timorese-UNTAET "cabinet" and announced changes to the nature of the National Consultative Council (NCC). The
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MUNYARADZI GWISAI, a member of the International Socialist Organisation (ISO) Zimbabwe, was elected to the national parliament in the June 24-25 general election as a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP. PETER MANSON, from the British Weekly
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Up to 120,000 East Timorese are still languishing in refugee camps throughout West Timor 10 months after the post-referendum rampage by the Indonesian military and their pro-integration militia proxies forced around 290,000 East Timorese across the
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Call for international protests against sanctions on Iraq The following statement was issued by Jalal Mohammed from the Worker Communist Party of Iraq (email <shemal1@ihug.com.au> or <zarya@ihug.com.au>) and John Percy, national
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Some 25,000 public sector workers swamped the streets in Hong Kong's central business district on July 9, in a massive show of opposition to galloping privatisation and worsening employment conditions. On the same day, most eligible voters didn't
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ARGENTINA: Mothers of Plaza de Mayo attacked The following statement was issued by Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo on July 3 to support groups around the world. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo campaigns for the disappeared. In the early hours of
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SOUTH AFRICA: Privatisers gets 'Seattled' JOHANNESBURG — Holding up an unexploded orange water balloon like a trophy, South Africa's water and forestry department director-general Mike Muller beamed with relief. He and a gathering of water
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More than 300 villagers were killed on July 10 in Adeje, near Warri, in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, in a oil pipeline explosion. It was the latest in a string of disasters in the oil-rich region. In May, 27 residents of nearby Okwadjeba village
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PAKISTAN: Journalists appeal for help LAHORE — Police raided the Lahore Press Club on July 10 in an attempt to arrest a small traders' leader holding a press conference inside the building. Twenty-four journalists who sought to deny the police
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Spotlight on Indonesia Right to form unions The Indonesia House of Representatives passed a bill on July 10 easing restrictions on workers' right to form unions. The law also allows public servants to form and join unions; for decades they were
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ECUADOR: Church calls cops on activists Friends of the Earth (FoE) Australia has called on supporters of environmental and social justice to protest against the detention of activists in Ecuador. On July 10, a group of more than 50 peasant,
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On the evening of June 1, David Russell, senior solicitor at the British law firm Towells, received an unexpected phone call. Rio Tinto, the world's largest mining corporation, wanted to surrender. Russell was representing former Rio Tinto workers,
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The following statement was issued by Rebwar Ahmad, secretary of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq on July 14. Green Left Weekly readers are urged to respond to the WCPI's urgent appeal for solidarity. On July 14, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
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FIJI: 'Parachute journalism' aids plotters' propaganda DAVID ROBIE, a respected commentator on Pacific island affairs and now head of the journalism program at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, spoke to Green Left Weekly's NICK FREDMAN.
Culture
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The spectre of Frantz Fanon DURBAN, South Africa — July 20 is the 75th anniversary of Frantz Fanon's birth but his spirit lives on. A few days after McDonald's opened its first branch here, some large and bold graffiti appeared on the
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Urban guerillas confront injustice Urban GuerillasJust a LifetimeMad in AustraliaCloud Above my HeadSelf-releasedOrder at <http://www.arch.su.edu.au/~stewa_k/Lyrics.htm> REVIEW BY ROBBIE CASEY Marchers in this year's May Day parade in
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Rock Against Racism 2 The Urban Guerillas are performing at Rock Against Racism 2 in Sydney, Thursday August 10, 7.30pm, Harbourside Brasserie. Proceeds go to Green Left Weekly, Art Resistance and the Indigenous Students Network. Phone Jill on 9596