Issue 76

News

Los Angeles youth speak out By Adam Hanieh ADELAIDE — Helena Swan and George Evans, two young people from Central Los Angeles who are touring Australia to inform people about life in Los Angeles after the riots, spoke to a Resistance
Greens to contest federal election in NSW SYDNEY — "NSW Greens are gearing up for the upcoming federal election", according to a spokesperson, Mark Berriman. "We feel that we need to give the federal parliament an increased green presence so
Jim Percy, national president of the Democratic Socialist Party, died quietly as a result of cancer, at his home in Sydney on October 12. He was 43 years old and had devoted 27 years of his life to revolutionary socialist politics. Like so many
South Sydney Festival By Peter Anderson SYDNEY — Redfern and the area of South Sydney in general has had its share of bad press and negative public opinion. Residents have also suffered the attempted closure of the Royal Prince Alfred
By Peter Anderson Independent Victorian Senator Janet Powell, formerly leader of the Democrats, has given notice of her intention to introduce a bill in November to repeal the anti-union Sections 45D and 45E of the Trade Practices Act. She is
Liberals bomb out on job creation By Dave Wright HOBART — At a time when the state Liberal government is slashing more than 1100 public sector jobs, a new job subsidy program has failed to create a single job. The "Tas Jobs for Youth"
Fees for national parks? By Natasha Simons HOBART — Entrance fees to National Parks and botanical gardens are inevitable according to Tom Crossen, the national president of the Royal Australian Institute of Parks and Recreation. Speaking
Memorial meetings for Jim Percy Adelaide Monday, October 26, 7pm Resistance Centre, 34A Hindley St, Adelaide Brisbane Tuesday, October 27, 7pm Resistance Centre, 29 Terrace St, New Farm Hobart Saturday, November 7, 6pm Resistance
Tributes Tributes and messages of condolence for Jim Percy received as of Sunday, October 18 (We will publish a range of these in future issues): Aliansi Kekuatan Demokratik Se-Indonesia (AKSI, Indonesian Democratic Something Alliance), Central
Bigots seek state funding By Rose Matthews HOBART — A group cynically calling itself "For a Caring Tasmania" (FACT) has formed to campaign against homosexuality. It originates in conservative elements of the church. FACT chair David Fry
Philippines solidarity conference SYDNEY — a conference entitled "The Philippines: 100 Years of Struggle, 100 years of Solidarity" on October 17-18 drew more than 100 people. A delegation of six prominent Filipino activists and leaders of
ABC team ordered out of Bougainville Heavily armed Papua New Guinea soldiers on October 17 forced an Australian Broadcasting Corporation television news crew to leave Bougainville at gunpoint. The crew, which included the well-known Port
By Graham Matthews PORT MACQUARIE — Nurses and local residents are planning a rally outside state parliament in Sydney on October 28 in an effort to stop the privatisation of their hospital services. Green Left spoke to one of the organisers
500 years marked in Melbourne MELBOURNE — In an evocative ceremony, members of the Yarra Yarra tribe on October 11 welcomed Domingo Colicoi, a Mapuche representative from the All Lands Council in Chile. With traditional dances, songs and

World

Europe in the grip of austerity Swedish Social Democrats back cuts By Dick Forslund STOCKHOLM — "They looked like two songbirds sitting together on a branch — and with about the same brain power." This was one Swedish writer's comments
BLACKPOOL — During the Trade Union Congress conference last month, ARTHUR SCARGILL, president of the National Union of Mineworkers, spoke with FRANK NOAKES from Green Left Weekly. Delegates to the 124th annual conference of the TUC gave Arthur
By Robert Went AMSTERDAM — Sunday, October 4, 6.42 p.m. A disaster occurs. According to the head of the fire brigade at Schiphol Airport, the chances of such a tragedy were "less than nil". A Boeing 747-200 El Al cargo plane loses two of
Scottish Militant trouncing Labour By Frank Noakes EDINBURGH — Scottish Militant Labour, formed by activists expelled from the Labour Party, has had a series of victories in local council elections in Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. SML
On October 14, Italy was paralysed by a 24-hour general strike involving 10 million workers. In this article, reprinted from International Viewpoint, LIVIO MAITAN explains the background to the protest. Italy faces its most severe crisis since
Big success for Alliance in Auckland elections By Keith Locke AUCKLAND — I've never seen business leaders and conservative politicians so glum. For decades, they have ruled local politics in Auckland, but in October 12 elections for four
By Norm Dixon The Papua New Guinea government's military blockade of Bougainville is coming under increasing international pressure. The European Community and those countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific that receive EC aid (known
By Karen Wald HAVANA — In what promises to be the first in a long series of popular demonstrations against US tightening of its economic blockade, thousands of Cuban students massed at the University of Havana on September 29, shouting their
By Peter Anderson The independence of the media has been a casualty of the Serbian-inspired war in the now independent republics of the former Yugoslavia. This is the finding of an International Organisation of Journalists mission which visited
By Allen Jennings MANAGUA — The Third Continental Meeting of Indigenous, Black and Grassroots Resistance was held here October 7-12. Delegates from the Miskito, Mapuche, Quechua, Aymara, Sumu, Aleut, Maya and Eskimo communities (to name just
The European Community has warned US President George Bush that the community's relations with the United States could be seriously damaged if the Torricelli Bill, which bans business between US subsidiaries and Cuba, is signed into law. In an
By Catherine Brown The German economy is in deep trouble, and so also is Chancellor Helmet Kohl's coalition government. Green Left Weekly recently spoke to Angela Klein, a leader of the United Socialist Party (VSP), and Andrea Lederer, a member

Culture

It takes the cake The Killing of Sara Lee The Doll Cafe, 16 Ballarat St, Yarraville Thursday to Sunday, Oct 15 to Nov 1, 7.30 p.m. Reviewed by Ray Fulcher Take the Doll Cafe, into it pour seven engaging performers, add a script by Rhondda
Manufacturing Consent A film directed by Mark Achbar Canada, 1992 Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen Noam Chomsky is famous for a revolutionary development in the theory of language. In the late 1950s, he argued that there was a basic grammatical
The Last Days of Chez Nous Directed by Gillian Armstrong Screenplay by Helen Garner Starring Lisa Harrow, Bruno Ganz, Kerry Fox and Miranda Otto Reviewed by Lee Wallace Some films have such an effect that you leave the cinema slightly
The culture of contentment By John Kenneth Galbraith Sinclair Stevenson (Britain), 1992. $39.95 Reviewed by Scott Wasley Veteran economist John Kenneth Galbraith deals with the attitudes and political power of the large "class" of the
Picture stories with a twist Every Story Tells a Picture Plays by Maree Walk, Tom Hungerford and Peta Murray The Studio, Subiaco Theatre Centre, Perth, until October 24 Reviewed by Jonathan Strauss This Artrage Festival event involves
Distant Voices By John Pilger Vintage. 397 pp. $14.95 Reviewed by Frank Noakes "Unless prejudice is countered, it is reinforced. Unless misconceptions are corrected, they become received truth." — Distant Voices George Orwell wrote in

Editorial

Kennett's sharp edge The first two weeks of the Victorian Kennett Liberal government have given a sharp edge to politics that even its powerful backers are worried about. The pro-Liberal Australian editorialised that Kennett had already