Issue 643

News

ALICE SPRINGS — The traditional owners of one of the federal government's proposed nuclear dump sites — on Arrernte land 25 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs — say they don't want poison from Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor brought
DARWIN — The Charles Darwin University Students' Union has been hit with a pre-emptive strike from the university management as it tries to beat PM John Howard to the punch in starving the student union of funds. The university administration is
MELBOURNE — Canberra's 18, a new work by artist Azlan McLennan, due to appear in the Platform exhibition space in Flinders Street Station, has been barred from exhibition by the Melbourne City Council. The work was to list the 18 "terrorist"
BRISBANE — "The prison system is racist and sexist, and we need to openly challenge it", Debbie Kilroy, director of the women prisoners support group Sisters Inside, told a public forum at the New Farm Neighbourhood Centre on September 10. The
BRISBANE — On September 10, 100 people rallied in the Roma Street Forum as part of a global day of action in support of the Make Poverty History campaign. Dave Andrews, representing the Christian social justice group TEAR Australia, chairing the
Ron Perkins, Perth At least 700 union delegates met in East Perth on September 13 to discuss the next steps in the campaign against the federal government's planned new anti-union laws. Held at ME Stadium, the mass delegates' meeting was addressed
Bill Mason, Brisbane A battle over uranium mining has divided the union movement in Queensland, following the announcement by the right-wing-led Australian Workers Union (AWU) that it will press Labor Premier Peter Beattie's government to open
Peter Rafael, Brisbane "The essence of the revolution is humanity — how can you oppose a process that has allowed 20,000 people to see their first sunrise; that has allowed a 70-year-old woman to write her name for the first time?", Paul Benedek,
Pip Hinman, Sydney Labor won all three NSW parliamentary by-elections on September 17, but with swings against new Premier Morris Iemma's government of 4-12%. In Marrickville, the Greens scored their highest vote ever for a lower house seat,
One week to go, just $9000 more to raise Peter Boyle In just nine weeks our supporters have donated and raised $91,033! It has been an inspiring effort. Several hundred dollars were donated last week by US supporters in response to the letter
Would your organisation, class or workplace like to experience an eyewitness presentation of Venezuela's revolutionary transformation? Participants in the first Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Brigade are now available to visit you! Email
CANBERRA — On September 8, a new peace coalition was formed in the ACT. Attending the meeting were representatives from the Greens, the left caucus of the Labor Party, the ACT Council of Churches, the Quakers, the Socialist Alliance, Unions ACT,
SYDNEY — On September 16, the socialist youth organisation Resistance initiated a speak-out against PM John Howard's proposed industrial relations reforms. Speakers at the protest, outside McDonald's at Circular Quay, highlighted the damaging
Jim McIlroy, Brisbane A vigil on the steps of King George Square on September 11, called in support of Cindy Sheehan, mother of a US combat soldier killed in Iraq, led off several protest actions in Brisbane against the Iraq war and in defence of
NEWCASTLE — On September 16, 15 people held an anti-ASIO, pro-free speech picket in Hamilton. Members of the environmental collective at Newcastle University Students Association brought banners in the drizzling rain and gave out leaflets that

World

Doug Lorimer On September 13, the UN General Assembly approved a 38-page document for submission to a summit in New York of 150 heads of governments marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Organisation. The document is a considerably
@head = UNITED STATES: Pentagon paper plans 'pre-emptive' nuclear attacks The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions them being used in pre-emptive attacks on countries or "non-state actors" using "or
Marce Cameron "How could this be happening in the United States?", asked the headline of a September 3 Washington Post article in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. "People around the world cannot believe what they're seeing", the Post reported. "From
Federico Fuentes, Caracas The right-wing controlled opposition media and big business, both foreign and Venezuelan, have unleashed a wave of condemnation against the recent actions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land (MAT). The editorial in
On September 14, 1500 delegates representing 6.7 million workers unanimously voted to express their support for Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution and the National Union of Workers (UNT). The motion was presented by the university and college
In Caracas, Green Left Weekly's Kiraz Janicke spoke to Gregory Wilpert about the developing revolutionary process in Venezuela. Wilpert has been living in Venezuela for five years and is the editor of venezuelanalysis.org, an independent website
Bronwen Beechey & Andrew Martin, Auckland The historic public servants' strike in the south Pacific country of Tonga ended on September 3 after the government agreed to the strikers' demands for 60-80% rises in pay. A memorandum of understanding
Eva Cheng, Kajang Two-hundred socialist activists and their sympathisers were joined by socialists and Malaysian political exiles from at least eight countries at Kajang near Kuala Lumpur on September 10-11 to discuss the way forward for socialist
Jamal Juma, Jerusalem Twenty-three years ago, on September 17-19, 1982, at least 2000 Palestinians in the Beruit refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila were brutally massacred under the guidance of then Israeli defence minister Ariel Sharon. Today this
Stuart Munckton The willingness of the left-wing government of Hugo Chavez to implement the program it was elected to carry out — to use the nation's resources to solve the problems of poverty and underdevelopment — and the inability of foreign
Andrew Hall, Buenos Aires On September 9, at least 20,000 people marched from the congressional building to Plaza de Mayo in downtown Buenos Aires to protest against the November 4-5 visit for the Summit of the Americas by US President George
The Korean Federation of Service Workers' Unions (KFSU) is continuing its battle against the union-busting campaign by Hotel Riviera in Daejeon City, which began in August 2004 when the hotel's owners, the Shinan Leisure Corporation, closed the
John Pilger, London When I lived in the United States in the late 1960s, my home was often New Orleans, in a friend's rambling grey clapboard house that stood in a section of the city where civil rights campaigners had taken refuge from the
A majority of US residents believe that the US war in Iraq contributed to the slow response by the federal government to last month's hurricane disaster in New Orleans and other Gulf coast areas, according to a poll by CBS TV News. The poll, reported
Sixty-five per cent of citizens across the world do not think their country is governed by the will of the people, according to an opinion poll commissioned by the BBC. The Gallup International Voice of the People 2005 poll questioned 50,000 people
Rohan Pearce According to the September 15 English-language online edition of the Baghdad Azzaman daily, the US military's assault on the city of Tal Afar, 320 kilometres north-west of Baghdad, has displaced large numbers of Tal Afar residents and
Louay Alzaher Iraq was plunged into mourning on August 31 after some 1130 Shiite Muslims lost their lives in a stampede in the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad the previous day. The stampede was caused by rumours that there were suicide bombers in a
The United Auto Workers has presented a gift of US$880,000 to members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, who are on strike in protest at the union-busting efforts of Northwest Airlines. More than 4400 workers have been striking since
A letter to US attorney-general Alberto Gonzalez demanding the release of five Cuban anti-terrorist operatives unfairly convicted by the US has attracted more than 3000 high-profile signatories from around the world. These include French actor Gerard
The UN's Human Development Report 2005, released in New York on September 9, has praised the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as "an example of a country that has converted high [economic] growth into rapid human development". The report adds that

Culture

Home Among the Gum TreesArtwork by Gabrielle AlexanderThe Artery Fitzroy87-89 Moor St, FitzroyOpening September 21, 6pmExhibition September 20-October 2Phone Zola on (03) 9415 9200 or email <info@theartery.com.au> BY GABRIELLE ALEXANDER
Message Stick: Us Mob (Part 5) — Follows the adventures of a group of Indigenous kids who live in a community on the fringe of Alice Springs. ABC, Friday, September 23, 6pm. Sex 'N' Pop: Sexual Healing — Is it true that a dreadful comeback of
Freedom Festival 2005 is a national music event to raise awareness of Amnesty International Australia's Stop Violence Against Women campaign. International artists include Ursula Rucker (Philadelphia, US), Ben Mono (Munich, Germany) and Jah'licious
My Life is My Sun Dance: Prison Writings of Leonard PeltierRead by Harvey Arden, music by Reverend Goat and New Orleans LightMi Abuelo RecordsOrder at <http://cdbaby.com/cd/harveyarden> REVIEW BY NORM DIXON Leonard Peltier is one of the
MondovinoWritten & directed by Jonathan Nossiter Opens in Sydney and Melbourne on September 15 REVIEW BY BRENDAN DOYLE Don't know your Beaujolais from your bubbly? You can still enjoy Mondovino in moderation. Corporate crooks, carping critics,