Issue 522

News

BY JODY BETZIEN 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
BY SALLY BROWN 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
Leichhardt activists organise against war BY LACHLAN MALLOCH SYDNEY - 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
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE 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
BY PETER ROBSON 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
BY GRANT COLEMAN 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
BY MICK BULL 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
BY PAUL OBOOHOV 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).
BY BRONWYN JENNINGS 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
BY KAMALA EMANUEL 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'
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE 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
BY ANTHONY BENBOW 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
BY MARG PERROTT 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,

World

BY EVA CHENG 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
BY PIP HINMAN 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
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
BY JEFFREY ST CLAIR 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
BY JOEL BEININ 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
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
BY STUART MUNCKTON "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 ...
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
BY MAX LANE 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
BY EVA CHENG 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
BY FEDERICO FUENTES 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

Culture

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
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.
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
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