Issue 42

News

By Sam Wainwright HOBART — About 5000 people participated in a January 29 protest over funding cuts and staff shortages at Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania's major tertiary referral hospital. The demonstration, organised by the Save the
By David Johanson MELBOURNE — Rank and file postal workers have launched a campaign called Keep Australia Post Public (KAPP) and are calling for support in their fight to save Australia's post offices and their jobs. Under Australia Post
WA safe sex campaign hit By Leon Harrison PERTH — The safe sex campaign launched by state health minister Keith Wilson has been condemned by ACT UP Perth, the Family Planning Association, the Uniting Church and the Australian Federation of
Forum condemns youth crime bill By Leon Harrison PERTH — A public forum on January 29 condemned the state government's juvenile crime legislation, under which children as young as 10 could be detained indefinitely. The 500-strong forum
Jailed women suffer mental stress By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Women in prison suffer levels of psychiatric problems 150 times greater than women "outside", a survey has found. More than half the 92 women prisoners surveyed suffered
Report on Indonesian struggles NEWCASTLE — Green Left correspondent Michael Tardif addressed a forum on Indonesia here on January 29. Tardif outlined the broad progressive movement in Indonesia and the growing grassroots opposition to the
By Janine Williams When Charles (Paul) Moran became aware that there were health problems related to asbestos mining, he asked his white bosses would they provide protective clothing for the miners at the Baryulgil asbestos mine. Moran says he
By David Jagger CANBERRA — In symbolic and tactical moves against what they call Australia's "illegal regime", about 100 Aborigines occupied, then peacefully quit, the old Parliament House in Canberra after the Invasion Day long weekend.
Queensland to jail juveniles By Brian Reeves BRISBANE — The Goss Labor government is drafting new legislation to increase the punishment which young offenders will face. The new legislation will include jail sentences for juveniles.
Students demonstrate against Baldwin By Alex Aitkin SYDNEY — A vocal group of 50 angry university students demonstrated outside the office of federal education minister Peter Baldwin on January 31. The protest was organised by the Cross
Art for the wilderness By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Avant GARD, "an urgent event for the Sarawak rainforests", was launched on January 31 at Space Plenitude, an alternative art gallery here. The environmental art exhibition, featuring more
By Lex Nelson The Wilderness Society has welcomed the decision of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to step in and block woodchip logging in a forest dominated by giant brown barrel trees in the Coolangubra wilderness in the
Aidex aftermath NEWCASTLE — At the Stop Aidex protest, Peace Forum members Ron Gallagher and Bob Berghout were arrested. Both pleaded not guilty. Ron's trial is coming up early in April and Bob's was brought to a happy conclusion two weeks
By Bronwen Beechey MELBOURNE — The Australian Workers Union has claimed that the health of fruit pickers is being endangered by uncon- trolled use of the pesticide parathion, and is demanding action from the Victorian government to end its
Green jobs strategy CANBERRA — Greenpeace launched a strategy for ecologically sustainable job creation on January 31. The strategy focuses on an urban transport strategy for Sydney, a national freight transport strategy, job opportunities in
By Barry Healy MELBOURNE - Active members and delegates from the Public Sector Union in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra held a national con- ference here on January 26 to discuss problems facing public servants and map out a strategy against the
Wallsend Hospital holds firm By Jane Beckmann NEWCASTLE — After six months, the picket line at Wallsend Hospital is as firm and determined as it ever was. Barbara Hardes told Green Left at the picket, "We are staying no matter what
By Ray Fulcher MELBOURNE — A decision to campaign around the Kangaroo '92 military exercise, the aerospace exhibition and the Cape York space base was adopted by around 60 peace activists attending the Campaigning Against Militarism
By Greg Adamson CANBERRA — "Stop the Labor/Liberal program of sack, slash, tax and sell!" is the slogan being raised in the February 15 ACT Legislative Assembly elections by Democratic Socialist candidate Lara Pullin. The Labor and Liberal
By Peter Boyle MELBOURNE — On January 28, the day Greenpeace released a videotape of a large and rare reef endangered by an ocean sewer outfall due to begin operation at the famous Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland, hundreds of dead penguins
By Bernie Brian WOLLONGONG — Canteen workers at BHP's Port Kembla steelworks have struck for at least five days over plans by their new employer, Advance Food Systems, to reduce their number from 108 to 68. The new canteen contractor wants to

World

Malaysian groups support Timorese By Colin Pemul KUALA LUMPUR — Non-government organisations here are carrying out an educational campaign which involves showing the film Shadow over East Timor and organising group discussions. In the
Puerto Rico still denied self-determination The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation has adopted a resolution urging the United States to establish as soon as possible a legal framework to enable the Puerto Rican people "to
By Angela Matheson One night in September, 230 asylum seekers and up to 100 Vietnamese and African guest workers were evacuated under police escort after mobs of neo-Nazis laid siege to the apartment blocks where they lived in the east German
German chemical case goes to court By Bryan R. Thomas BONN — Criminal proceedings have started in Frankfurt against the general managers of two of Germany's leading manufacturers of wood preservatives. This is the most serious
By Peter Gellert MEXICO CITY — After an initial euphoria about possible beneficial effects of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Mexico, the United States and Canada, many specialists in Mexican rural affairs and peasant leaders are
By Dan Connell KEREN — The road to Keren, Eritrea's second largest city, is littered with the twisted, rusting remains of Ethiopian army vehicles — Fiat transports, heavy-duty Russian trucks, eight-wheeled BRDM-2 armoured cars and T-54 and
By Norm Dixon While the Indonesian government has yet to arrest or charge a single member of the military force responsible for the massacre of up to 180 people on November 12, at least 56 East Timorese remain in detention. Of the 56, 22
Radiation pollution in Gulf Construction companies and military clean-up personnel in the Persian Gulf are concerned about health risks from depleted uranium scattered by anti-tank shells. According to reports in the London Independent,

In 1912, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia attacked the Turkish Ottoman Empire to carve up its last possession in Europe, Macedonia. The victors immediately fell out, and Greece, Serbia, Romania and Turkey went to war against Bulgaria. In 1922, the

By Norm Dixon Delegates to the South African Communist Party's Eighth National Congress, the first held legally within the country for over 40 years, enthusiastically reaffirmed the party's vision of a democratic, socialist South Africa and
White workers on South Africa's railways (Transnet), traditionally some of the most conservative and racist in outlook, are starting to join the predominantly black South African Railway and Harbour Workers' Union. SARHWU is affiliated with the
By Norm Dixon South African President F.W. de Klerk has urged Israel to rapidly acquire the state arms manufacturer, Armscor. The Southscan news service reported recently that this was the main reason for de Klerk's visit to Israel last
By Jack Colhoun The Olin Corporation shipped the last of 15 mercury cells from its closed chlor-alkali plant in Niagara Falls, N.Y., to the Electroquimica Pennwalt, S.A. (ELPESA) plant in Managua, Nicaragua, in early December. The closed

Culture

To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History By Edmund Wilson Penguin, 1991 (first published 1940). 590 pp. $18.95 (pb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon Amidst the triumphant brayings of conservatives about the collapse of
Pete Seeger is a living cultural link between three generations of political and cultural activism. In the '40s and '50s he championed folk music not only as an alternative to pop, but as a vehicle for socialist and left social criticism in
Dingo Starring Colin Friels, Helen Buday, Miles Davis Directed by Rolf de Heer Written by Marc Rosenberg Now showing in Melbourne and Sydney; opens Canberra, Adelaide and Perth on February 13, Brisbane on March 19 Dingo soundtrack — music

Editorial

Mysteries of the market From Moscow to Melbourne, we're told, the capitalist market will work miracles if left to carry out its work without interference. This is despite massive and growing evidence to the contrary. In Moscow, the market has