BY MARCEL CAMERON
BRISBANE — "One hundred years of ALP control of the trade unions is enough" — Community and Public Sector Union delegate Jim McIlroy, who is the Brisbane secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party, told a May 18 seminar.
Issue 493
News
BY SHANE BENTLEY
The seafarers' sit-in aboard the CSL Yarra has ended in an Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) brokered deal that was signed by Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) on May 16.
The deal allows the CSL Yarra to resume cement
BY AMY McDONELL
On May 13, the day before the federal government's budget was delivered,
students mobilised around the country to demand more funds for education
and social services. The national day of action was called by the National
BY OWAIN LEWIS-JONES
DARWIN — Eleven protesters from the Network Against Prohibition (NAP) stormed the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly chamber on May 14. The group was protesting the introduction of the Labor government's "drug house"
BY KAMALA EMANUEL
HOBART — At the next Tasmanian state election, the word "socialist" will appear on ballot papers for the first time since 1976. The Socialist Alliance was registered by the Tasmanian Electoral Office on May 16 and is one of only
BY SUE BULL
MELBOURNE — The Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, headed by Terence Cole, was accused on May 16 of using secretly taped evidence to discredit construction workers and their unions.
John Cummins, Victorian
BY AMY PARISH
WOLLONGONG — "Refugees are willing to contribute to society but the government won't let them", Afghan refugee Riz Wakil told a public meeting, organised by the Illawarra Refugee Action Collective, at the Thirroul Senior Citizens
Students for Refugees launched
HOBART — On May 8, students at the Hobart campus of the University of Tasmania launched a Students for Refugees group. Shua Garfield told Green Left Weekly: "The formation of this group shows that you don't need
BY KAMALA EMANUEL
HOBART — Hundreds of people have attended refugee solidarity activities here in recent weeks. This bodes well for a major rally against the mandatory detention of asylum seekers on June 22.
On May 2, 250 people attended a
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
MELBOURNE — Eighty-five people participated in a trade union seminar sponsored by the Socialist Alliance on May 11. The seminar's highlight was the presentations by union officials and political party representatives on unions
BY HELEN SLANEY
MELBOURNE — Six hundred outraged students attended a student general meeting at Melbourne University on May 15, protesting against the recent attacks on campus political activism by the Melbourne University Students' Union
BY TONY ILTIS
MELBOURNE — At a May 16 "people's inquiry" into the immigration detention centres held at the Inner West Migrant Resource Centre in Footscray, a panel of health workers formerly employed at the Woomera detention centre spoke out
BY SUE BOLTON
MELBOURNE — Showing breathtaking disregard for the wishes of his Victorian members, national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Doug Cameron convened a telephone hook-up of AMWU national council members on May
BY LISA MACDONALD
SYDNEY — "The ALP — whose party is it?" was one of the questions addressed in a lively debate between trade union and other left activists at a Socialist Alliance-sponsored seminar held at Parramatta Town Hall on May 11.
The
BY BRETT MULLER
On May 1, NSW planning minister Andrew Refshauge approved Australian
Silicon Ltd's proposed development of a charcoal factory at Mogo, on the
NSW south coast. The department received more than 1530 submissions from
1220
A memorial service for poet, feminist and Democratic Socialist Party
member Connie Frazer (1925-2002) will be held at 1pm on May 25, at the
Box Factory, 59 Regent Street South, Adelaide. All welcome. For more information
phone Leslie on
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
HOBART — The Resource, Planning and Development Commission hearing into the proposed Southwood woodchip mill and wood-fired power station ended on May 14 — two weeks after what was meant to be a three-day hearing began.
World
BY FIDEL CASTRO
The following is an abridged version of a statement issued on May
10 by Cuban President Fidel Castro in response to allegations by the US
government that Cuba is developing biological weapons (BW).
John Bolton, an
BY JIM GREEN
Greenpeace activists blocked the export of illegally logged timber from the Kiunga-Aiambak logging project in western Papua New Guinea on March 12. Volunteers locked themselves onto a barge carrying the timber and also obstructed the
BY RATHEESH KALIYADAN
KERALA — Plachimada has never been singled out as a village that exemplifies the "Kerala model of development". It is a tribal area that is highly crowded with destitute people. Families own tiny plots of land. The only jobs
BY KAREN FLETCHER, JO WILLIAMS & JORGE JORQUERA
HAVANA — Former US president Jimmy Carter's historic May 12-17 visit to Cuba has highlighted the differences within the US ruling class over how to defeat Cuba's socialist revolution.
The wing
BY JON LAND
As the official festivities wind down in East Timor following the May 20 independence celebrations and the international dignitaries fly back to their comfortable and privileged lifestyles, a beckoning question for most East Timorese
BY ROHAN PEARCE
A report released on May 13 by B'Tselem, the Israeli centre for human rights in the Occupied Territories, exposes the continuing illegal appropriation of Palestinian land by the Israeli government and Israeli colonial settlers.
BY JON LAND
During his May visit to the Pentagon, Indonesian defence minister
Matori Abdul Djalil received signals that the United States is keen to
renew military ties with the Indonesian armed forces.
Despite reluctance by Congress to
BY URI AVNERY
RAMALLAH — "They want us to enact a constitution? No problem! I shall ask Israel to send me a copy of theirs and copy it word for word!" Yasser Arafat sent me an amused look. Israel, of course, has no constitution.
That was on the
BY MICHELLE BREAR
SUVA — Since the flawed August 2001 general election, which legitimised and formalised the 2000 military overthrow of the democratically elected Fiji Labour Party government, Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has refused to honour
BY NICK SOUDAKOFF
The Solidarity of Philippines Workers (BMP) labour organisation was formed in 1993 emerged from the Communist Party of the Philippines-aligned May First Movement (KMU). Today, the BMP is the largest militant labour organisation in
Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on May 11 to
call for the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the Occupied Territories.
Police estimated the crowd at about 60,000, while organisers Peace
Now put the figure at
Another of the US government's post-September 11 lies has been exposed — and from the horse's mouth. According to the April 28 Newsweek magazine, US officials have confirmed that the alleged leader of the September 11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta, could
Culture
John QDirected by Nick CassavetesWith Denzel Washington, Anne Heche, Robert Duvall and James WoodsAt major cinemas
REVIEW BY MARTHA GRUELLE
John Q is a drama about a man's love for his child and his desperate attempt to save the boy. But the
Taliban: The Story of the Afghan WarlordsBy Ahmed RashidPan Books 2001250 pages $20
REVIEWED BY CHRIS SLEE
Re-published with a new foreword after September 11, Taliban: The Story of the Afghan Warlords by Far Eastern Economic Review journalist
Melbourne's progressive community radio station 3CR is deeply committed to fighting injustice. It broadcasts the voices of groups and individuals who rarely have a voice in mainstream media. Most recently, 3CR has given extensive air-time to struggle
Expensive spoons, some wereborn with; also the worditself sliding as smoothly off the tongue.Then all the substitutes cheap but preciousreflected in eyeshine at Xmas toys, tinselsparklers, stars.
But hard glitter of mint-new silver dollarswere
The Great Aussie ScreamPaul BuckberryOrder at <http://www.buckberry.com>
REVIEW BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
The Great Aussie Scream is like nothing that I have ever heard before and definitely gets full marks for creativity. The music defies
Heads low, grass-cropping idleunder the olive treesundressed of reins, saddle, bridleinoffensive as sheep, yet these
were the flesh-tearing hoovesunder which we fell; the fused halvesof the mounted-monster man-horse, ancientoppressor raised tall
Editorial
All out for June 22-23!
Federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock isn't the sort to admit
to making errors of judgement. But try as he might, these days his nauseating
smirk doesn't appear so convincing.
While the tide of