Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of the book The Mugging of Black America and a correspondent for the US Guardian newspaper. He spoke to Green Left Weekly by telephone about the underlying conditions that led to the explosion triggered in Los
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The Victorian Cross-Campus Education Network, which organised the large and militant "Education Day of Action" demonstration in Melbourne on March 26, and also the large (2000) student demonstration in
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In the April 8 issue of GLW, Rose McCann's column on single-sex classes raises the question whether it is desirable for women to participate more in the traditionally male-dominated job areas, and therefore to specialise in
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"As I walked into the ABC studios today, I saw a sign saying, "This is a smoke-free environment", David Engwicht, an urban ecology activist and expert, told a seminar in Sydney recently. "Now, think back 10 years. How many
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The events in Los Angeles have exposed a deep rot in United States society, festering on racism and a growing polarisation between rich and poor. The "American dream" of democracy, decent living standards and peace has become a nightmare of
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From Watts to LA Twenty-seven years ago, a young black person, Marquette Frye, was arrested for drunk driving. His mother and brother were arrested when they protested to the California Highway Patrol officer. These arrests ignited a black
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The vaudeville show In the dog days of his bitter struggle to bump off Bob Hawke, Paul Keating assured sceptical journalists that the utter lack of warmth felt for him by the Australian electorate was no problem: slap on a bit of vaudeville and
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British voters reject 'electable' Labour As in Australia, the conventional "wisdom" in Britain is that Labour has a chance of winning only with conservative candidates and policies. In an article from the British socialist, ISIDOROS DIAKIDES
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Light criticism The great tragedy of the book Politics and the Accord is that it has come too late and is conceived as a reply to Costa and Duffy's iconoclastic work Labour, Prosperity and the Nineties. I was surprised to find Mike Rafferty
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Poverty in the United States The average weekly wage of non-supervisory workers fell by approximately 20% between 1973 and 1990. The real minimum wage in 1990 was worth 20% less than it was in 1980. For a full-time year-round worker the
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BRISBANE — The Women's Abortion Campaign held a forum here at City Hall on April 30, to explore the pros and cons of RU486, the "abortion pill". Unna Liddy, community development worker for Children By Choice, spoke on
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The events in Los Angeles come at a time when the United States left is going through a process of discussion and reorganisation. Green Left Weekly spoke to Max Elbaum, managing editor of the progressive monthly publication CrossRoads, about
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There is renewed debate over the nature of the National Union of Students — whether it a useful instrument of struggle or another device for the ALP to co-opt a movement. NUS office bearers and delegates are dominated by two
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Get Australia workingFederally, Labor came to power at the height of the 1982-83 recession. During the period it has been in office, unemployment has never dropped below 6% and has averaged 9%. This has been a disaster
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Action updates ADELAIDE — Official unemployment in South Australia has now reached 12% — the highest in the country and the highest since the 1933 rate of 18%. More than 86,000 people are out of work, with the young hardest hit. Most other
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Bobby Sands was born in March 1954 in Newtownabbey, a Unionist area. His first introduction to violence came when he was six. The Unionists found out that the family was both Catholic and Nationalist — and so started the
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An unprecedented biological collapse has begun worldwide, and only unprecedented effort will curtail the massive wave of extinctions. Furthermore, climate change from carbon dioxide emissions is likely to accelerate the demise of many forms of
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Contrary to Graeme Merry and Arnaud Gallios' assertion, Jorge Jorquera's article on the March 26 student demonstration in Melbourne was not based on "hearsay from Sydney", but on reports from people who attended the Melbourne
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Elections in France, Italy and Germany over the last two months have delivered sharp rebuffs to major parties in both government and opposition. While in all three cases increased support for far right parties
News
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SYDNEY — Eight members of the Sydney Rainforest Action Group (SRAG) were convicted of unreasonable obstruction last week. The judge compared their peaceful protest last year to the Los Angeles riots. Their rally outside the
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When the financial bubble burst for the Laurie Connells, Alan Bonds and Christopher Skases in the late '80s, losing their lenders spectacular sums, the banks turned on the poor to extract some compensation. Those with bank
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Unions in tiff with KirnerMELBOURNE — A plan to corporatise state utilities, including the State Electricity Commission, the Gas and Fuel Corporation and Melbourne Water, has been endorsed by the Kirner government's cabinet
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Looks after who? "How would you like to live next to deserted women and children?" — Keith Hewitt of estate agent Raine and Horne ("Raine and Horne looks after you") in Canberra, complaining to the Canberra Times about a recent land purchase
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Plan to counter anti-homosexual violenceBRISBANE — Campaigns against anti-lesbian and gay violence are anticipated following meetings here on April 27. A conference was held by the LRAT (Legal Research Advisory Trust for the
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HOBART — The Aboriginal community on May 3 reoccupied Risdon Cove, 12 kilometres from the centre of Hobart, in commemoration of the 1804 massacre of at least 100 Aborigines. More than 300 Aborigines and supporters attended
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Minister discusses sex, school and politicsCANBERRA — Members of Resistance and the ACT education minister, Bill Woods, failed to get agreement when they discussed a sex information calendar, condom vending machines in high
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The US space agency, NASA, claims the danger of ozone depletion over the northern hemisphere has eased due to a short Arctic winter, but a seven-month study by the agency confirms the ozone shield is "increasingly vulnerable to
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Brisbane free speech campaign resumes By Cameron S. Boyd BRISBANE — Some 100 people rallied on May 8 in the Queen Street Mall to generate public support for the freedom of speech campaign in Brisbane. Speakers included Terry Fisher, a
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Benetton boycott called By Darryl O'Donnell BRISBANE — The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) demonstrated outside the Benetton clothing chain last week, claiming that Benetton was profiteering from images of people with AIDS. An
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Euan McKenziePERTH — The death of Euan McKenzie represents a significant loss to the community of the left. Euan was a tireless, humanitarian and exceptionally dedicated worker for progressive politics in a
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ADELAIDE — A rally of 100 Aborigines and supporters on May 9 heard of the mystery surrounding the death of long-time Aboriginal rights activist Alice Dixon, 53, found dead in her home on May 6. Police have said that there
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Alice Dixon One of Australia's great fighters for justice has died. Her spirit, courage and sense of unity, however, continues to live in the hearts of the thousands of people she inspired. Alice Dixon was a Kaurna woman, known throughout
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Bosnians, Croatians call for peace Photo and story by Steve Painter CANBERRA — Supporters of the new states of Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia held vigils outside federal parliament and in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide on May 4. One of the
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SYDNEY — Late on the afternoon of May 8, clerks employed by the Building Workers Industrial Union (BWIU) and the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association (FEDFA) learned they had won their strike. The 36 clerks had
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NSW Liberals in disarraySYDNEY — The New South Wales government is in serious disarray as the scandal over the attempt to give Liberal renegade Dr Terry Metherell a plum Public Service job moves into its second month. The
Analysis
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Politics after Los Angeles Following the collapse of the bureaucratic attempts to build socialism in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, propagandists for capitalism had a field day proclaiming the victory of their system. Some even
World
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Polish doctors restrict abortionsWARSAW — A controversial doctors' code of ethics prohibiting most abortions went into effect on May 2, despite warnings that it could increase the death rate among women and that it violates
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Swaziland is a tiny landlocked southern African monarchy dominated by South Africa. Repression and human rights abuses are overlooked by many governments and the international press. Inspired by the freedom movement in neighbouring South Africa,
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MOSCOW — In the first warm days of spring, workers in the capital took the chance offered by the May Day holiday to head for the countryside — the lucky ones to stay in their cottages or dig their garden plots, others to
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MOSCOW — An important breakthrough, it seemed, was about to occur in the fight to defend Russian workers. On May 1, the back-to-Brezhnev Trudovaya Rossiya ("Toiling Russia") bloc was not the only formation calling its
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Cuban Marxists and Christians meet SANTIAGO — Leaders of the Cuban Communist Party and some 50 leaders and lay persons from Protestant Churches in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba met on April 30 under the slogan, "For hope and
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Malaysian threat to BougainvilleMoses Havini, the Bougainville Interim Government's representative in Australia, has condemned Malaysia's decision to provide military aid and counter-insurgency training to the PNG Defence
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Business as usual in Panama PANAMA CITY — The principal opposition group, Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD), on April 27 severely criticised the involvement of a US army colonel in tenders submitted to the Panamanian government for the
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Hydro project swindle in SumatraDirty dealings surround a proposed Japanese-backed hydro-electric project in western Sumatra's Riau province. The project will displace 23,000 people by flooding 128 sq km of prime agricultural
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"We demand that the Security Council condemn the sabotage against the Cuban airline with the same firmness that we condemn the sabotage against the Pan Am and UTA airplanes", wrote Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations, Ricardo
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BUDAPEST — With CNN and Skynews broadcasts booming in 24 hours a day, the citizens of Budapest — and most of eastern Europe — have now seen with their own eyes the quality of life in the United States. Many here were glued
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WASHINGTON — Here for a meeting with World Bank officials, former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega delivered an urgent warning: Nicaragua is on the verge of "an armed social explosion". "There are thousands of armed men
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MEXICO CITY — Luz Mendez is a member of the International Political and Diplomatic Commission of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). The commission, along with four commanders of the URNG, has been involved in
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Businesslike generals Two Indonesian generals sacked over the November 12 army massacre in East Timor are using their new-found free time to study management in the United States, the Indonesian magazine Editor said on May 5. Major-General
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In the last year, a new trade union association has emerged in Czechoslovakia. KAREL HYNES, president of the Trade Union Association of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (OSCMS — Odborove sdruzene Cech, Moravy a Slovenska) was interviewed in Prague
Culture
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Up the Greasy Pole: a year in the life of Senator Frank Bragger By John Black, Michael Macklin and Chris Puplick Mandarin, Melbourne. 1992. 273 pp. $14.95. Reviewed by Tony Smith Up the Greasy Pole is unlikely to win any literary awards,
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PERTH — The Musicians' Union here has embarked on a campaign which, if successful, could bring major changes to the appalling conditions of employment most musicians are now forced to endure. The campaign, endorsed by the
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Paris is Burning Directed by Jennie Livingstone. Reviewed by Penny Saunders Madonna may have made "vogueing" a popular dance, but Paris is Burning, which won best documentary at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, traces the development of this
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Green shopping service SYDNEY — "Green consumers, not governments or corporations, will ultimately be the saviours of our planet", says Tim Walsh, manager of a new green home shopping service. According to Walsh, Greendoor Ecological Shopping
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RU486: Misconceptions, Myths and Morals By Renate Klein, Janice G. Raymond and Lynette J. Dumble Spinifex Press, 1991. 151 pp. $14.95 Reviewed by Claudine Holt RU486, the so-called "abortion pill", is a drug that women can do without. This
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East Timor: The Impact of Integration. An Indonesian Socio-Anthropological Study By Prof. Mubyarto et al Indonesian Resources and Information Program, Melbourne. 70 pp. $10.00 Reviewed by Robin Osborne Judging this book by its cover, the
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Angry A photocopied newsletter, a new venture associated with Sydney's anarchist Black Rose Bookshop, has just been produced. The first edition of Angry People contains commentary and graphics on drugs, sex and censorship; increases in
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Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Cubans em = By Rosemary Evans (A song for President Bush based on Noel Coward's "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans") Don't let's be beastly to the Cubans, For 30 years we've done exactly that) They just
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The Blue Shadows at Night em = By Peter Hicks and Geoff Francis Rodney King was driving home on the freeway one night, He was guilty of nothing, 'cept not being white, There were four of LA's finest there, out to have fun, So for this Black
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Rush Directed by Lili Fini Zanuck Music by Eric Clapton Starring Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sam Elliott, Gregg Allman Reviewed by Ulrike Erhardt Rush is heroin which kick-starts drug users into oblivion. That's why undercover