NTEU campaign against homophobia
BALLARAT — After the University of Ballarat endorsed a student contingent at the 2002 Pride March, two public emails were sent by staff members condemning "sexual perversion".
Although the NTEU responded with a
Issue 489
News
GLW #488 incorrectly reported that at a Brisbane public forum on April 5, Fernando Duque, Oceania representative of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, had stimated that the illegal US 42-year trade embargo had cost Cuba "US$60
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
HOBART — Unions Tasmania organised the inaugural cross-union delegates' conference, attended by 215 people on April 19. A large majority of the participants were workplace delegates rather than union officials or organisers.
BY GARY MEYERHOFF
DARWIN — Four drug law reform advocates handed themselves into the Darwin Local Police Office on April 12 to raise awareness of the Northern Territory Labor government's proposed "drug house" legislation.
The four activists,
BY JESS MELVIN
MELBOURNE — More than 2000 people marched for Palestine on April 20, in a protest mobilising much of the Palestinian community in Melbourne.
"I am angry", Rarda Abdel Fatah, speaking on behalf of Young Palestinian Women, told the
BY JIM GREEN
SYDNEY — Greenpeace is legally challenging the construction license granted for the new nuclear reactor, to be built at Lucas Heights in Sydney's southern suburbs. A Federal Court hearing has been scheduled in May.
The basis of the
BY SUE BULL
MELBOURNE — The city's immigration department offices are almost certain to be closed on the morning of May 1 when protesters against racist attacks on refugees, the US war drive and union bashing will converge on them. The Community
Woomera reportback #1
PERTH — More than 100 students from three universities — Curtin, Murdoch and the University of Western Australia — heard reports from the Easter protest outside the Woomera refugee detention centre in outback South
BY CHRIS ATKINSON
DARWIN — At 6am on March 20 five international students were woken from their sleep by someone at the door. When one of the students opened it, he was confronted by a team of immigration department officials and NT police
BY SUE BULL
MELBOURNE — Two hundred people demonstrated outside mining giant Rio Tinto's annual general meeting on April 18. The action, organised by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), was in protest at the company's
BY ALISON DELLIT
SYDNEY Organisers of the April 19 pro-Palestinian protest are supporting
planned protests on May 1, arguing that defence of Palestine and demands
on Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territories be a central part of
HOBART — Five hundred people rallied to stop logging in old growth forests on April 20. Built at short notice, the sizeable turnout reflected the considerable activism in defence of the forests in recent months. In addition to previously formed
BY TIM GOODEN
GEELONG — After travelling to Melbourne M1 protests in 2001, this year unionists and progressive activists here will be protesting closer to home on May 1.
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Victorian secretary Craig Johnston
BY LISA MACDONALD
SYDNEY — Two thousand people, many of them carrying candles and Palestinian flags, marched through the city centre as part of an Asia-Pacific regional day of action for Palestine on April 19. Simultaneous protests were held in
World
BY PENNY DUGAN
PARIS On March 23, the Revolutionary Communist League
(LCR, French section of the Fourth International) deposited at the Constitutional
Council the 500 "sponsorships" that will enable its candidate, Olivier
Besancenot, to
BY EVA CHENG
More than 10 million workers across India took part in a general
strike on April 16. The action was taken to resist the anti-worker, neo-liberal
offensive being waged by the Indian government and to oppose the diktats
of the
BY LARRY DOUGLAS
On April 8, Ray Krone, became the 100th person in the United States since 1973 to be released for a crime that put him on death row.
Krone, 45, was convicted for the 1991 stabbing death of 36-year-old Arizona bartender, Kim
BY RICARDO ALARCON
[The following message was sent on April 5 by Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly, to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.]
In the face of the barbaric acts unleashed in Palestine with the invasion by Israeli
BY URI AVNERY
TEL AVIV — One hundred and five years ago, the day after the first Zionist congress in Basel, Theodor Herzl wrote in his diary: "In Basel I founded the state of the Jews." Last week, Ariel Sharon should have noted in his diary: "In
BY DICK NICHOLS
RIMINI — Since it was launched in 1991 by opponents of the dissolution of the old Italian Communist Party (PCI), Italy's Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC) has not only kept the communist name alive in national politics, but
No Israeli defence of its war on the Palestinians would be complete without a reference to Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat's supposed rejection of "peace" at the July 2000 Camp David summit hosted by US President Bill Clinton. The story is
BY ROHAN PEARCE
If it weren't for the horrendous death toll of Palestinians, the destruction of West Bank towns and the fierce repression of dissent of anti-war protesters within Israel, US Secretary of State Colin Powell's tour of the Middle East
The Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC) will continue to demand free water and electricity, which were promised by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) during its election campaigns, SECC chairperson Trevor Ngwane declared on April 16.
BY SUE BOLTON
On April 3, New Zealand Alliance party leader and deputy prime minister Jim Anderton announced that he and Alliance deputy leader Sandra Lee would not stand under the Alliance banner in New Zealand's national elections, due in
Culture
REVIEW BY PAUL D'AMATO
We Were SoldiersDirected by Randall WallaceWith Mel Gibson, Greg Kinnear and Sam ElliotShowing at major cinemas from April 25
Hollywood has released a string of movies lately that claim to give us a realistic portrayal of
BY KAREN FLETCHER
HAVANA — In a welcome interruption to the April 13 Saturday night movie, Cuban TV viewers were able to witness the dramatic uprising in Venezuela live via Venezuela's state-owned Venezolana de Television (VT).
Venezolana de
REVIEW BY JIM GREEN
Running from the Storm: The Development of Climate Change Policy in AustraliaBy Clive HamiltonUNSW Press, 2001176 pages, $35 (pb)
Running from the Storm, Clive Hamilton's book on climate change, and in particular climate
Editorial
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, First World governments have exploited the fear that was generated to justify the diversion of government funds from programs that benefit working people and the poor to the