Issue 463

News

BY GRANT COLEMAN PERTH — In February, just before it was elected to government in Western Australia, the state ALP promised it would repeal legislation enforcing voluntary student unionism (VSU) within 100 days of being elected. Two months
BY CHRIS SLEE MELBOURNE — Five hundred people protested on September 2 against a visit by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, Janaka Perera. Because of the protest, Perera's meeting was shifted to another venue. Perera, a former
BY DANIEL KELLY SYDNEY — Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) workers employed on the waterfront here held a stop work meeting on September 6 over concerns about workplace safety and government plans to replace them with casuals.
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE HOBART — Potato farmers have accepted an increase of $36 per tonne, over three years, made by potato processor Simplot. The deal was struck on September 3 after negotiations that were, in the words of farmers' leader Richard
BY GRANT COLEMAN Secondary students across the country took action in protest at the government's handling of the refugee crisis on the MS Tampa, taking part in school walkouts and rallies organised by the socialist youth group, Resistance. In
BY MARGARITA WINDISCH MELBOURNE — A lively protest of about 30 anti-sweatshop activists targeted the headquarters of women's clothing retailer Sussan on September 5, parking a huge mobile billboard outside the building featuring a woman throwing
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE HOBART — Benchmark targets for Tasmania Together were released on September 3. Tasmania Together is the state Labor government's consultation program designed to draw up "goals" and "visions" for the state by 2020. There are
BY SEAN HEALY SYDNEY — Holding signs saying "Support breasts not dictators", 100 supporters of labour rights gathered in front of the Grace Brothers department store in the Pitt Street Mall on August 28 to protest underwear manufacturer Triumph's
BY CHRISTOPHER PERKINS WOLLONGONG — Illawarra Institute of TAFE management have agreed to negotiate with TAFE library staff representatives on September 10 in an effort to halt an escalating industrial dispute over job and budget cuts. The
BY BILL MASON BRISBANE — Leading indigenous rights activist and Queensland Senate candidate for the Socialist Alliance, Sam Watson, on August 29 condemned the Australian government's refusal to allow refugees aboard the Norwegian cargo ship MS
BY CHRIS SLEE MELBOURNE — Community and Public Sector Union members in tax offices around Australia have voted to endorse a campaign against planned job cuts. In the last budget the federal government cut Australian Taxation Office funding by
Build the anti-corporate movement SYDNEY — Students from all over the dispersed Penrith campus of the University of Western Sydney gathered on September 6 to discuss building the anti-corporate movement. Participants left the meeting determined
SYDNEY — Supporters of the Penrith Women's Health Centre and the Warehouse handed out leaflets around the Penrith shops, in Sydney's far-west, on August 31. The action was part of a state-wide day of action against sexual violence. A tree planting
BY CHRIS SLEE MELBOURNE — The Australian Industrial Relations Commission has ruled that Yallourn Energy's draft enterprise agreement, known as EB2000, should be adopted as the award governing workers' pay and conditions, despite its rejection in
Prime Minister John Howard's handling of the crisis aboard the MS Tampa, home to more than 400 asylum seekers for more than a week when the government denied the Norwegian ship permission to allow its passengers onto Australian soil, sparked outrage
BY RUTH RATCLIFFE DARWIN — Teachers throughout the Northern Territory have voted overwhelmingly to reject the 6% pay rise offer made by the new Labor government and to go on strike for a day. If the strike goes ahead it will be the first full
SYDNEY - "Open the borders", "Refugees are welcome" and "Close the camps" were just some of the slogans that resounded through the city on September 9. More than 1500 people marched from Town Hall to Prime Minister John Howard's office to protest
BY ARUN PRADHAN MELBOURNE — "We need a formation like Socialist Alliance to take the battle of refugee rights to the streets", Friends of the Earth Melbourne coordinator Cam Walker told a dinner and launch of the Gellibrand Socialist Alliance

World

BY JONINA M ABRON DURBAN — The United States government's withdrawal from the third World Conference Against Racism is consistent with its role in the two previous international conferences on racism. It boycotted those, too. A review of
BY CHRIS SMITH BEIT UMMAR, West Bank — As soon as the Israeli army jeep disappears around the bend, a dusty minivan emerges from the grape fields outside this farming town in southern West Bank. Revving the engine as he accelerates into the turn,
The Sandinista Renewal Movement (MRS), which split from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) six years ago, voted on August 28 to back FSLN candidate and ex-president Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua's presidential elections this November. The
BY AHMAD NIMER RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel's war against the Palestinian Intifada continues to escalate. On August 27, Israeli death squads assassinated a senior Palestinian political leader in his office in a residential neighbourhood. At
BY JANA DK DILI — In its first major mobilisation since the beginning of East Timor's election campaign, on August 25 some 5000 Timorese Socialist Party members and supporters gathered at Dili's Independence Field for one of the most energetic,
BY MAX LANE Despite protests by human rights groups and large sections of the legal profession, Indonesia's police are continuing their prosecution of more than 30 people for their political activities. In the northern province of Aceh, where the
BY EVA CHENG Hundreds of workers in Beijing and Shanxi province staged protests in August, seeking job security and payment of unpaid wages, while 10,000 miners in Jilin province blocked a major train line in July. The Beijing workers alleged
BY NORM DIXON More than five million workers, students and poor South Africans joined the August 29-30 national strike against the African National Congress government's privatisation plans, in what was clearly a massive success for the Congress of
DURBAN — On the opening day of the United Nations-sponsored World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), 20,000 people marched to protest the failure of the South African government's land
BY EVA CHENG The July 1 speech of Communist Party (CP) chief Jiang Zemin that the party should throw its door open to capitalists has provoked outrage among its ranks — prompting Jiang to close down at least four journals which printed critical
BY JON LAND Fretilin, the party which declared East Timor independent in 1975 and which was the largest single force in the long fight against occupation, has won 57% of the vote in the country's first elections since the end of Indonesian rule —
BY MARIA VOUKELATOS Ngadinah binti Abu Mawardi made Indonesian history on August 30 when she became one of the first workers to defend herself in a court of law and win. The factory worker, who produces merchandise for giant Western sportswear
BY MATT GRAINGER One of the poorest countries in Africa is about to undergo a process of debt reduction with a difference. It will be paying more in debt servicing after creditors provide debt relief than it is at present, with devastating
Cuban President Fidel Castro delivered the following address to the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, in Durban, September 1. It has been slightly abridged. Racism, racial discrimination and
BY VONANI WA KA BILA DURBAN — More than 3000 landless South Africans — women, farm workers, chiefs and young people — gathered on August 30 at the Roger Rovers Club for the International Landless People's Assembly, called by the newly formed
BY EVA CHENG Nearly 1000 former residents of the major industrial city of Chongqing, who were displaced by Beijing's US$24 billion Three Gorges Dam project, clashed with police on August 27 when they protested in Yongzhou city, Hunan province,
US dock workers and protesters in Portland on August 16 and Oakland on August 18 prevented the Italian ship, Cielo di San Francisco, from unloading its cargo. Protesters and members of the International Longshore Workers Union acted against the
On average, almost six women die each day from unsafe abortions in Nepal and those that are lucky enough to survive back-alley procedures then risk life imprisonment. Under current laws, abortion is prohibited even in cases of rape, incest or when
BY JILL HICKSON "Where are our missing children? We have nothing — no land, no houses, nothing to do, no materials to work with to make an income. The women here are dying from childbirth because they have no money for doctors, there is little

Culture

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo RevolutionBy CLR JAMESPenguin, 2001364 pp, $22(pb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON Which country defeated the largest ever invasion force sent by Britain in its colonial heyday? Which country
Blood drenched dreams danglingfrom the spikes of the razor wire —so close to freedom.Wild fearful eyes stareinto our collective consciousnessand sear our indifference.Batoned discipline enforcedby Wackenhut guards — Capitalism's storm troopers.
M1: People Resist Corporate GlobalisationActively Radical TV, Sydney$30 individuals, $60 organisationsSend cheque to 73-75 Princes Highway, St Peters, NSW, 2044Phone (02) 9565 5522 REVIEW BY LAUREN CARROLL HARRIS Everyone who took part in this
The Family of True and Well Snails Stand up!on the pink crossof the poor skinny tree — If you cut your hair, don't!Tear it!The two-hand printsare on your faceand breast.God has his paintbrushes outto paint you.You say to himI have a bottle of
Wifework: What Marriage Really Means for WomenBy Susan MaushartText Publishing, Melbourne, 2001269 pages, $24.95 REVIEW BY ANGELA LUVERA Prime Minister John Howard's assertion that the family is the best welfare unit reflects his government's
BY ANDREW HALL CANBERRA — The changing face of politics and grass roots activism are addressed in four works in the Festival of the Contemporary Arts theatre program. Canberra's fifth Festival of the Contemporary Arts (FoCA5) is being held from

Editorial

Pauline Hanson told a rally on the Sunshine Coast in February how One Nation would deal with asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat: "You go out and meet them, fill them with food and water and medical supplies and say 'Go that way'." In an