Issue 474

News

BY KATIE NEVILLE MELBOURNE — Reacting to a crackdown on asylum seekers in the Maribyrnong detention centre, 20 activists from the Refugee Action Collective staged a protest action outside the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs'
HOBART — The socialist youth group Resistance organised a successful "Rock Against War" on December 1, with the support of local "original bands" opposed to the US-led "war on terrorism". Pictured is Lab A. Photo by Alex Bainbridge.From Green
Thirty detainees at the Maribyrnong detention centre issued a statement on November 23 drawing attention to their treatment at the hands of security company Australasian Correctional Management and the immigration department, claiming that, in recent
BY SEAN HEALY SYDNEY — Supporters of Tibetan independence have claimed a "small victory" against China's occupation of the country after a cultural exhibition they called a "propaganda tour" was cancelled early. Thirty people, including
BY NICK EVERETT SYDNEY — Thousands are expected to attend an International Human Rights Day rally, march and festival on December 9, which organisers the Network Opposing War and Racism say will both oppose the carnage in Afghanistan and express
BY SARAH STEPHEN Human rights commissioner Sev Ozdowski announced on November 28 that he would conduct an inquiry into the effect of immigration detention on children, in particular investigating whether Australia's detention practices are in
BRISBANE —."Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples have had a strong relationship with Green Left Weekly over the years", indigenous leader Sam Watson told 80 GLW supporters on December 1. The audience had gathered to enjoy food and entertainment
BY ZANNY BEGG SYDNEY — More than 1500 people gathered in Newtown for the Reclaim the Streets festival and march on December 1, protesting against the dominance of cars on city streets and the lack of control people have over their environment.
BY LEIGH HUGHES CANBERRA — For months "Fort Badja" has been a base of operations for environmentalists seeking to stop the logging of New South Wales' south-east forests. But that changed on November 20, when 30 police removed six forest
BY PAT BREWER CANBERRA — In a surprise move, John Stanhope, the chief minister of the new ACT Labor government, has announced that he will remove foetal images from a compulsory information booklet shown to women seeking an abortion in the
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS MELBOURNE — Premier Steve Bracks sent a letter to Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Doug Cameron on November 29, complaining about the actions of the Victorian AMWU's Workers' First leadership. Bracks
@caption =PENRITH - As part of an ongoing campaign to challenge the ALP state government's proposal to build a new women's prison at South Windsor, the No New Women's Prison Campaign held a week long vigil near the prison construction site from
BY NOREEN NAVIN SYDNEY — The New South Wales Teachers Federation is in the midst of a bitter dispute over the stance the union has taken on Israel's occupation of Palestine, with the federation's executive standing by its opposition to Israeli
BY TERRICA STRUDWICK Australian workers are second to South Korea in working the longest hours. They may soon be in first place, as South Korea is legislating to reduce working hours. With long working hours reaching epidemic proportions, the
BY MARCEL CAMERON BRISBANE — "Our bombs and missiles will be as effective [in fighting terrorism] as fighting fire with kerosene", retired brigadier Adrian D'Hage told a packed Brisbane Town Hall, filled with 250 people for a November 27 "Public
BY KAMALA EMANUEL HOBART — Hobart City Council has been placed under pressure by the continuing distribution of Green Left Weekly in the Elizabeth Street Mall, despite a ban upheld by the council on November 26. The intent behind the motion
BY LISA MACDONALD SYDNEY — At meetings held by the six Socialist Alliance branches in Sydney following the November 10 federal election, alliance members began to assess the election campaign results and discuss the activities of the alliance in

World

BY DAVID BACON After the leader of their union was shot down at the gate into the plant where they worked, Edgar Paez and his co-workers at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Carepa, Colombia, tried for four years to get the country's courts to bring
BY SEAN HEALY The provisions in a future agreement on investment allowing corporations to sue governments for measures which affect their revenues would likely be based on chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Cases which have
BY SAM PARRY On October 19, the body of human rights attorney Digna Ochoa was found in her Mexico City office. She had been shot to death at point blank range in the back of her head. Next to her body was an obscenity-filled letter threatening
BY JIM GREEN The German Greens, junior partner in a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), voted on November 16 in the German parliament to support the deployment of 3900 German troops for the United States-led "war on
BY DALE MCKINLEY A cursory perusal of the political events in South Africa over the last two months might leave one with the impression that there is a fundamental political battle raging between the South African Communist Party and the African
BY VIV MILEY George Bush has said that anyone who "houses and supports terrorists" is themselves a terrorist — so maybe people should take a look in the US president's own backyard to find one. Fort Benning, Georgia, is the site of the US's
BY MIRIAM MUNICIO More than two and a half million students in the schools and universities answered a strike call all over Spain on November 28, 200,000 of them pouring onto the streets to support demonstrations organised by the Marxist-led
BY SEAN HEALY In B-grade splatter films, even after the evil villain has been sliced, diced and dunked in lava, you just know he'll be back for the sequel. It's the same with corporate plots to take over the world — because the Multilateral
BY NICOLE COLSON CHICAGO — "We watch the X-Files on television, but we never thought it would happen here." That's what Pakistani native Asif Kazi told reporters after FBI agents came crashing through the front door of his Chester, Pennsylvania,
BY LISA HAUGAARD On September 20, 1996, the Pentagon released to the public seven manuals prepared by the US military and used between 1987 and 1991 for intelligence training in Latin America and at the School of the Americas. From start to
The United Nations General Assembly, for the 10th consecutive year, voted overwhelmingly on November 27 for an end to the US economic blockade against Cuba The vote was 167 to 3, identical to last year's record vote. Only the United States, Israel
BY EVA CHENG Afghanistan's proximity to the Caspian region has fuelled speculation that US President George Bush's bombing, and now invasion, of the country has been motivated primarily by a desire for control of the Caspian's rich oil and gas
BY JOHN PILGER LONDON — Polite society's bombers may not have to wait long for round two. The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, warned last week that America could take action against "40 to 50 countries". Somalia, allegedly a "haven" for al Qaeda,
BY MALIK MIAH SAN FRANCISCO — "America has a message for the nations of the world. If you harbour terrorists, you are terrorists. If you train or arm a terrorist, you are a terrorist. If you feed a terrorist or fund a terrorist, you're a
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS Tian Chua was detained by Malaysian authorities on April 10 under the Internal Security Act which has been in force in that country since 1960. Under the ISA, the Mahathir government is empowered to jail any person without trial
BY NORM DIXON The first of an expected 1100 US marines began landing in southern Afghanistan on November 25, ferried from US ships in the Arabian Sea and equipped with helicopter gunships, artillery, armoured vehicles and Harrier jump jets. As they

Culture

It's A Groove Thing!Rosie LedetMaison De Soul Records<http://www.floydsrecords.com> REVIEW BY BILL NEVINS ALBUQUERQUE — It's a hot summer night at a south-west juke-joint. Rosie Ledet is on stage. Her head cocked to the right, black
Cover-up: the inside story of the Balibo FiveBy Jill JoliffeScribe BooksMelbourne, 2001360 pages, $35 REVIEW BY JO ELLIS It was close to dawn on October 16, 1975, when journalists Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart, Brian Peters and
One Night the MoonDirected by Rachel PerkinsWritten by Rachel Perkins and John RomerilFeaturing Paul Kelly, Kelton Pell and Chris HaywoodMusic by Paul Kelly, Mairead Hannan, Kev Carmody and Ruby HunterAt major cinemas REVIEW BY ANGELA LUVERA One
I want you to understand my life and my vanishing identityhaving lost the meaning of my life — now I survive ...it is like being a child again I am trying to tell you my needs while I am learning to speak againI am discovering my new world and
BY ARUN PRADHAN It might have begun as a story in the mind of JK Rowling, but today Harry Potter is an industry that turns over more than many countries' gross domestic product and has multinational corporations falling over themselves for a cut of

Editorial

Ever since the US war against Vietnam provoked normally passive civilians into demonstrating against the war, the ruling class has been acutely aware that when it wants to wage war against another country, it needs to control the information which