BY JULIAN GORMLY
SYDNEY — If you were in any doubt about the vindictive and undemocratic nature of the Australian government's refugee policies consider the case of asylum seeker Maqsood Alshams, an activist in the Refugee Action Collective
Issue 419
News
BY LALITHA CHELLIAH
MELBOURNE — The lesbian and gay community here organised a conference on August 27 to examine their reproductive rights and discuss reproductive law.
Dr Ruth McNair runs the Carlton clinic, which specialises in providing
SYDNEY The following statement is being circulated by anti-racism
activists for endorsement by individuals and organisations around Australia.
Those gathering for the assembly on September 15 at the Tent Embassy
Peace Keeping Camp,
BY NICK FREDMAN
LISMORE — A major reason for the protracted enterprise bargaining dispute at Southern Cross University is extravagance by the institution's executives, according to damning evidence presented at a mass meeting called by the
BY BRONWEN BEECHEY
ADELAIDE — The United Trades and Labor Council of South Australia is considering turning its traditional Labor Day march, on September 29, into a strike following the refusal of the state Liberal government to contribute to a
BY SIMON BUTLER
It seems that for the federal Coalition government to even pretend to respect the human rights of refugees, women or Aborigines has become far too tedious and burdensome to bother with. On August 28, a desperate protest by asylum
BY OWEN RICHARDS
SYDNEY — The roar of traffic along Parramatta Road in Auburn did not silence 70 spirited protesters gathered outside the Nike factory-warehouse on September 1.
The protesters, organised by Resistance, heard speakers decry
Exceptions make the rule
"I don't think Australians will ever so far lose their common sense as to elect stupid people." — PM John Menzies Howard explaining in the August 23 Age why the new military powers legislation us unlikely to be abused by
ABC staff to fight
SYDNEY — Amid fears of commercialisation of the national broadcaster, members of the ABC section of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) will stop work on September 6 to discuss campaign strategies to defend the
SYDNEY South Sydney Council is evicting squatters in empty council
buildings at 147-159 Broadway, near Glebe. The council had planned to evict
the squatters on August 28, but public support and media attention forced
a delay. The
BY ANA KAILIS
PERTH — Members of the Australian Education Union (AEU) WA branch packed the Entertainment Centre on September 1 to endorse an escalation of the campaign for better wages and adequate funding for WA's schools and TAFEs.
The AEU
BY JON LAND
SYDNEY — Unlike most of the media coverage commemorating the first anniversary of East Timor's vote for independence, a day-long seminar organised by the Australia East Timor Association held at the Leichhardt Town Hall on August 30
BY CHRIS SLEE
MELBOURNE — Four hundred people demonstrated on August 29 against the proposed outsourcing of the CSIRO's computer system. The demonstration, held outside the Casselden Place building, was organised by the CSIRO Staff Association.
BY BRONWEN BEECHEY
ADELAIDE — The August 28 militant protest by refugees at the Woomera Detention Centre, in South Australia's outback, sparked a racist frenzy from both Liberal and Labor politicians, and the capitalist media. Liberal Premier
BY LINDA WALDRON
MELBOURNE — On August 25 Brunswick Town Hall confirmed its reputation as a long-time sanctuary for capitalism. Jeff Kennett's most prominent publicist, comedian Rod Quantock, refereed a brutal debate between two teams of
BY SUSAN PRICE& STUART MARTIN
More than 200 people rallied outside the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne on August 26 in support of refugees' rights. The facility is run on behalf of the Australian government by Australian Corrections
"Johnny Rotten" was a man who held strong beliefs on the rights of the working class. On any picket line in Melbourne over the last 20 years, chances are "Rotten" was there. Whether it was the nurses in 1987, the BLF in '86, the MUA in '98 or the
BY SUSAN PRICE
MELBOURNE — The ALP-controlled Melbourne University Student Union (MUSU) on August 31 succeeded in scuttling a student general meeting scheduled for September 1 to overturn the MUSU's decision to outlaw support for the September 11
Misinformation on S11 leaked
A briefing paper on the planned S11 protests, prepared by one of the world's largest public relations firms, Hill and Knowlton, has been leaked to Melbourne Independent Media Centre. The paper, marked "Highly
BY REBECCA MECKELBURG
ADELAIDE — An Adelaide University student was banned from entering sections of the university on August 31 by student election returning officer Ian Cannon, who is also chief executive officer of the student union.
Cannon
BY BRONWYN POWELL
WOLLONGONG — On August 31, the University of Wollongong was declared winner of Australia's University of the Year Award for 2000-2001 for "preparing graduates for the e-world". Ironically, the university is considering the
BY SEAN HEALY& MELANIE SJOBERG
MELBOURNE — Victorian Trades Hall Council has confirmed that its labour rights rally, scheduled for September 12, the second day of protests against the World Economic Forum, will march to the WEF's Crown Casino
Analysis
BY ROBERTO JORQUERA
PERTH — The campaign here against corporate tyranny has taken a new turn with the organising of a Globalisation Convention for November. The convention was initiated by the local Stop MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment)
UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson suggested that the Australian government had acted "in an over-defensive way" by cutting cooperation with the United Nations human rights committee system. That seems a diplomatic euphemism. This government
It might sound flippant, but it isn't. The movement that is fighting against neo-liberal globalisation in its various aspects needs to consider the question: how will we know if we win? Or, to put the same question another way: what would victory
BY DICK NICHOLS
In discussions about globalisation, working-class internationalism is often put forward as the only serious counter to the crimes of the likes of Shell, Bill Gates and the International Monetary Fund. Easy to say, but how can unions
BY MARGARET ALLUM
The Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civil Authorities) Bill is being debated in the Senate. It passed through the House of Representatives without amendment, with the support of the Labor Party. It is no coincidence that the
World
Suharto avoids court
Students protesters who led the mass actions which toppled former President Suharto two years ago reacted with anger and disgust at his failure to show up on the first day of his corruption trial on August 31. Suharto's lawyers
Below is an excerpt of an interview, conducted on March 4, with Dr VANDANA SHIVA by REBECCA GORDON and BOB WING. It appeared in the August 16 issue of the United States magazine ColorLines.
The mainstream press in the US treats globalisation as the
The following is abridged from an August 28 statement from the Worker Communist Party of Iraq (WCPI) in Kurdistan.
On August 26, [in Iraqi Kurdistan], the armed forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan arrested Azad Ahmed, a leading member of the
DILI — Members of Timorese Socialist Party (PST) around East Timor have been occupying buildings left by the Indonesian government in order to establish offices for their work with the grassroots.
In order to claim right to use empty buildings,
'Let Nader debate'
PORTLAND, Oregon— US Green Party presidential nominee Ralph Nader and his vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke on August 28 filled the Portland Memorial Coliseum with 10,571 supporters who demanded that Nader be allowed in
DILI - From August 21-29, members of East Timor's seven political parties participated in the congress of the CNRT (National Council for Timorese Resistance), which debated a wide range of recommendations and proposals for the development of Timor's
MOSCOW — According to the Russian press, the reputation of President Vladimir Putin sank along with the submarine Kursk. This is not true. All that sank was the propaganda myth surrounding Putin. Russia's president has never had a reputation.
A
Leave it to capitalism to find a way to make a profit from someone else's misery. In the United States, more than 2 million of our friends, neighbours and relatives are in state and federal prisons. The prison-industrial complex, as it is called by
Culture
REVIEW BY JEREMY SMITH
Nations Without States: Political Communities in a Global AgeBy Montserrat GuibernauSt Leonards NSW: Allen and Unwin, 1999. $43.91 (pb)
Nations Without States tackles an area that few others have been willing to touch: a
REVIEW BY HELEN JARVIS
Death in Balibo, lies in CanberraBy Hamish McDonald and Desmond BallSt Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2000. 199 pp., $24.95.
"Blood on whose hands?" is the subtitle on the striking cover of this powerful book, which recounts
BRISBANE — In the wake of the S11 protests in Melbourne there will be a street theatre workshop in Northgate on September 17 from 1pm to 4pm.
The format is based on the following themes:
being heard;
being seen;
having something to say;
BY KARL MILLER
Over the last couple of years, a company called Napster has been one of many trying to make money from the internet.
The company borrowed a few ideas and came up with some software that allowed listeners to share music through its