Freedom of information?
On December 16, [ABC journalist] Geraldine Doogue interviewed an Australian National University lecturer about the situation in Aceh. Though Geraldine's questions were incisive and to the point, the answers were evasive
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Australia's Prime Minister John Howard has to be the only person in Australia prepared to argue that the government has not yet decided to participate in a war on Iraq. While Howard keeps right on claiming that "no decision has
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The January 17 Washington Post quoted an anonymous UN official who stated that the discovery of a dozen rocket warheads in Iraq by UN inspectors was not a "smoking gun". In fact, the discovery of the 1980s-era warheads has lessened
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Nestle corporation, which earned US$5.5 billion in profits in 2001, is demanding $6 million "compensation" from Ethiopia, a country in which more than 14 million people are in danger of dying of starvation. That doesn't seem to
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Anti-war activists around the world have been inspired by two train drivers who, on January 8, refused to drive a freight train from Glasgow to the Glen Douglas NATO base on Scotland's west coast. The drivers believed the train was carrying
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In 2002, 5836 people joined the Australian Defence Force (ADF) as regular members about 700 more than joined in 2001. The vast majority of them were young people between the ages of 18 and 24. While no survey has been taken
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Since November 17, Code Pink: Women's Pre-emptive Strike for Peace has maintained a vigil in front of the White House in Washington to protest against US President George Bush's planned war on Iraq. Women at the site have been fasting for days or
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On January 2 US President George Bush stated: "There are countries which are developing weapons of mass destruction and we will deal with them appropriately. One country is Iraq... if they won't [disarm], we'll lead a coalition to
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[The following letter was sent to Australian human rights groups on January 2 by an Afghan asylum seeker imprisoned in Topside camp on Nauru.] Since December 24, the detainees of State House detention [one of the two detention
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JAMES GIUGNI made the front page of the December 21 Sydney Morning Herald after a creative writing response in his final English exam, dealing with the frustration of a detained refugee, almost resulted in him not gaining his Higher School
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On December 20, Afghan refugee Riz Wakil, living on a temporary protection visa that is about to expire, received a letter from the immigration department. The letter informed him that he had until June 30 to take up the
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When he addressed US troops at Fort Hood on January 3, US President George Bush told them: "We're not going to forget the fact that they kill without regard for the rules of war. They don't value innocent life like we do... They're
News
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MELBOURNE Victorian state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Martin Kingham, has urged all trade unions to participate in an afternoon rally on the day that the US launches its war
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PERTH — With the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln still undergoing maintenance off Fremantle, US warplanes starting bushfires during bombing "practice" 100 kilometres north of Perth and a US FA-18 fighter crashing near the
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GEELONG — One hundred people attended a January 18 "picnic for peace" on the Geelong waterfront, initiated by the Geelong Greens. Federal ALP member for Geelong, Gavin O'Connor spoke out against a war on Iraq outlining the
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MELBOURNE — Around 600 workers from Grocon's five construction sites and two construction yards staged a four-hour stop-work meeting on January 17 to determine what industrial action would be taken to pressure the company into
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CYGNET The Cygnet Folk Festival held in Tasmania on January 10-12 has become one of the most progressive festivals in Australia today according to one of the festival organisers, Geoff Francis. Notable progressive
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Leichhardt activists organise against warSYDNEY - The recently formed Leichhardt Stop the War Group is demonstrating the breadth of local opposition to the waging of war on the people of Iraq. Its members include the mayor of
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CANBERRA The corporate media on January 14 and 15 denounced new flexible leave conditions contained in the latest industrial agreement for employees of the federal Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).
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NEWCASTLE — "Bring all the warships home!" was the rally cry on February 18 at the National Maritime Festival where the HMAS Newcastle was on show to the public. The Newcastle No War Collective organised a snap protest, because
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HOBART — The state Labor government has ignored the January 1 deadline — imposed on it by the Tasmania Together consultation process — for ending clear-felling in some forests classified as "high conservation value". Many
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Old McBush, IEAE Oh! "And then the North Koreans made a decision ... to ignore international ... agreements that they had reached, and start building potential nuclear weapons, enriching uranium. And now they are ... in the process of kicking out
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APOLLO BAY — "With around 400 women, men and children marching along the Great Ocean Road in solidarity chanting 'No blood for oil' and 'Australia does not want this war', this rally is not only the first rural town to have a no
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A delegation of doctors representing the Australian Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) delivered a Prescription for Peace to Prime Minister John Howard at his Kirribilli home on January 12. The prescription,
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WOLLONGONG — In the lead up to the February 16 "Walk Against the War" in Sydney, the Illawarra NoWar collective is organising a February 8 protest against war on Iraq. Advertised with the slogan "No blood for oil", the rally
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LAUNCESTON — The refugees' rights movement has witnessed a painful partial victory. On January 14, Fatima Sarwari and her children — seven-year-old Asima, five-year-old Zahoor and the Australian-born twins, almost two years'
World
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Four years ago, Malaysia's Registrar of Societies (ROS) turned down the Malaysian Socialist Party's (PSM) application to be an officially registered party. A subsequent appeal to the Home Ministry was turned down. In September
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"The strike that once left most commercial areas of the city dark and abandoned — at an economic cost of more than $50 million a day — is now a collage of contrasts: abandoned shopping malls and bustling street markets ...
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The first Asia-wide "social forum" was held in Hyderabad, India, on January 2-7. It was attended by at least 15,000 people. The Asian Social Forum (ASF) was intended to be the Asian extension of the World Social Forum (WSF), which has
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CORDOBA, Argentina — The inauguration of Luis Ignacio "Lula" da Silva as Brazil's president on January 1 gained huge media coverage in Argentina. The massive celebrations in Brazil, in which somewhere between 200,000 and
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BY MALIK MIAH& JENNIFER BIDDLE SAN FRANCISCO — How could the biggest airline in the world, with the most enviable route structure, largest and most diverse fleet, employing over 100,000 workers — an airline that made US$8 billion in net profit
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BY LUKE FOMIATTI& TAMARA PEARSON LAHORE — The Anti-War Committee-Pakistan (AWC), a coalition of 27 progressive organisations and political parties, organised a protest here on January 18 to coincide with an international day of action against
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When Indonesian judge Asril Marwan on December 30 sentenced Joy-Lee Sadler to four months' jail and Lesley McCulloch to five months, he declared that McCulloch should have received a harsher sentence because her actions "could have
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JAKARTA — On the evening of January 15, senior Indonesian cabinet ministers announced the postponement of a proposed 22% increase in telephone charges and the postponement and review of proposed increases to electricity and petrol
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In the early stages of the campaign for Israel's January 28 Knesset (parliamentary) elections, there were no armed attacks by Palestinians on Israelis. During the same six weeks, Israeli forces shot dead some 75 Palestinians in the
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Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States mobilised on January 18 to oppose a US-led war on Iraq. A crowd estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000 rallied and marched in Washington. They listened to the radical British band
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Hostile intentions toward the people of another country. Deployment of chemical weapons and biological agents. Pursuit of a scorched earth policy. Sound like Saddam's Iraq? Think again. This neatly summarises US President George
Culture
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Riding the Dragon: Royal Dutch Shell and the Fossil FireBy Jack DoyleEnvironmental Health Fund, BostonAvailable for free download at <http://www.shellfacts.com>Hard copies can be ordered from Gary Cohen, Environmental Health Fund, 41
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British rebel band Chumbawamba's new song "Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name)" expresses fury and revulsion at the blatant lies being broadcast to create a climate for war. "Jacob's Ladder" is featured on the band's latest album Readymades.
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Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century by Howard Zinn, Dana Frank, Robin DG Kelley Beacon Press, 2001 174 pages, $34.50 (pb) Three Strikes: Labor's Heartland Losses and What They Mean
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REVIEW BY SARAH STEPHEN Poetry by Mohsen Soltani ZandVocals by Annette Hughes, Yvette Duncan and Jane CamachoMusic by Geoffrey Datson$20, order at <www.stickylabel.com.au/mohsen.html> or <http://www.chilout.org>Send cheque or