Issue 514

News

BY BILL MASON BRISBANE — Queensland's 16,000 public hospital nurses on October 25 won a 3.8% interim pay rise and the first round in their Australian Industrial Relations Commission battle with the state government. The increase will come into
BY JIM MCILROY BRISBANE — Members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) employed by Centrelink, the federal government's social services agency, will meet across Australia over the two-week period beginning October 28, to the
BY TAMARA PEARSON SYDNEY — Around 3500 people stood for a minute's silence on October 26 to remember the 353 refugees who drowned needlessly one year ago to the day. The victims of the October 13 Bali bombings were also remembered.
Across Australia protesters gathered on the evening of October 25 to participate in annual Reclaim the Night marches demanding an end to violence against women. The largest march was in Brisbane. Maria Voukelatos reports that close to 1000 women
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS MELBOURNE — Some 400 people on October 23 attended a forum on the Bali bombings. It was organised by Asialink and was also simulcast on Radio National and was addressed by academics Arief Budiman, Merle Ricklefs and Tim
BY PIP HINMAN SYDNEY — The 45,000-strong anti-war rally in Melbourne on October 14 has spurred anti-war groups here to unite to build the largest possible rally on November 30. A meeting of some 60 people on October 21 agreed to organise a
BY SUE BULL MELBOURNE — Some 10,000 workers rallied in support of Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) leader Martin Kingham as he marched to the Magistrates Court on October 24. Kingham, who is the CFMEU state
BY PAUL BENEDEK SYDNEY — In a stunning backflip, one day after the Greens defeat of the ALP in the October 19 Cunningham federal by-election, NSW Labor planning minister Andrew Refshauge and Port Jackson Labor MP Sandra Nori announced that
BY SUE BOLTON On October 24, the Victorian state council of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union appointed Dave Oliver as state secretary of the AMWU, and industrial officer Steve Dargavel as assistant state secretary, with responsibility for
BY FEDERICO FUENTES PERTH — Refugees' rights activists scored a major victory on October 22, as students voted to declare the University of Western Australia Guild a refugee safe haven. Nearly 900 students voted during the half-day of polling,
BY PETER ROBSON NEWCASTLE — On October 21, a rally of 300 students forced Newcastle University vice-chancellor Roger Holmes to commit to the full retention of resources and services at the Huxley Library. A university administration proposal
BY BONNY CAMPBELL SYDNEY — On October 22, Klaus Rohland, the World Bank country director for Papua New Guinea, East Timor and the Pacific Islands, addressed a lecture at Sydney University on instability in PNG and the Pacific. The abstract
BY SARAH STEPHEN The 8500 refugees who hold temporary protection visas are already denied the right to bring their families to Australia, are not allowed to have access to free English language classes, resettlement services or employment
BY MELINDA SMITH SYDNEY — On October 20, the Socialist Alliance Port Jackson branch launched a bold socialist campaign for the 2003 NSW state election, under the theme of "For the millions, not the millionaires!" The launch encapsulated what
BY PHIL SHANNON CANBERRA — By the close of voting on October 23, 93% of staff in the federal Department of Health and Ageing (DHA) had voted in favour of the department's next certified agreement. This overwhelming endorsement followed a

World

BY MAX LANE JAKARTA — While Indonesian police investigations, conducted in cooperation with Australian, US, British and other police forces, continue into the October 12 Bali bombings, the policy responses to the bombing by President Megawati
BY CHARLIE KIMBER LONDON — The Socialist Alliance candidate Paul Foot came third with 4187 votes, 12.7% of the total, in the October 17 mayoral election in the east London municipality of Hackney. Foot beat both the Liberal Democrat
BY ROHAN PEARCE US President George Bush continues to demand that the United Nations Security Council endorse a massive military attack on Iraq on the basis of tenuous "evidence" that Saddam Hussein might have the capability to develop nuclear
BY ELIZABETH SCHULTE CHICAGO — Iraq is one of the largest oil resources in the world — with proven reserves of 112 billion barrels of oil, second only to Saudi Arabia. This simple fact has shaped Iraq's relationship with the rest of the
BY MAX LANE JAKARTA — In a scene reminiscent of the Suharto era, on October 24 a Jakarta court sentenced two pro-democracy activists from the Popular Youth Movement (GPK) to one year in prison for "insulting the head of state". The two
BY NORM DIXON Members of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) are continuing their strike for better pay and working conditions. Takavafira Zhou, PTUZ president, declared on October 21 that the arrest and torture of union leaders, and
IRAQ Clean lies, dirty wars BY PATRICIA AXELROD Twenty-two months after Desert Storm, I was finally on my way to Amman, Jordan, the gateway to Iraq. Somewhere over Europe, I caught a glimpse of the Kafkaland to come when I heard that
BY SARAH PEART GLASGOW — The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is averaging 9% support in the latest opinion polls for elections to the Scottish parliament, which puts it on par with the Conservative Party. The SSP is looking to increase its
"The Iraq story boiled over last night when the chief UN weapons inspector, Richard Butler, said that Iraq had not fully cooperated with inspectors... As a result, the UN ordered its inspectors to leave Iraq this morning." — Katie Couric, NBC's
BY BORIS KAGARLITSKY MOSCOW — There are times when the image of Russia in the Western press calls to mind the consciousness of a schizophrenic. On the one hand, we are told that everything is fine; on the other, that everything is
WASHINGTON — Nothing makes a newspaper prouder than a juicy foreign-policy scoop. Except, it seems, when the scoop ends up raising awkward questions about a US administration's drive for war. Back in 1999, major papers ran front-page
BY NORM DIXON The US government's difficulty in convincing France, Russia and China to agree to a new United Nations Security Council resolution that would authorise a large-scale US-led military attack on Iraq may have disrupted Washington's

Culture

When using force to secure the peace,and encouraging more shopping to save the economy,and children and teens play video games that rewardfor every person decapitated and limb severed.When old women and babies are pepper-sprayedand rubber bullets
BY SIMON ABRAHAMS MELBOURNE — Creative arts students from the University of Melbourne have responded to Australia's treatment of asylum seekers with Asylum, a theatrical work that addresses issues of "border protection" and the farce of the
BY BILL NEVINS ALBUQUERQUE — A New Mexico tribal drum circle concludes an honour song and John Trudell steps onto the stage, all in black, even his eyes shielded by opaque lenses, his dark hair streaming past his shoulders. His band Bad
Bloody SundayWritten and directed by Paul GreengrassWith James Nesbitt, Declan Duddy, Tim Pigott-Smith, Mike Edmonds and Nicholas FarrellShowing at Palace Academy Twin and Norton Street Cinemas, Sydney; Nova and Rivoli Cinemas, Melbourne; and the
MayDay, MayDay: Songs of Solidarity Various artists Wobbly Radio and Unions NSW REVIEW BY DANIELLE BUHAGIAR There has been a proud history of pro-worker tunes dating back to the early days of the 20th century. In 1915, Ralph

Editorial

353 deaths overshadowed by child that wasn't thrown The Senate committee set up to investigate whether asylum seekers threw their children into the sea last year found that they didn't, and that former defence minister Peter Reith