Issue 79

News

Forum discusses censorship By Emma Webb ADELAIDE — Almost 100 people attended a Democratic Socialist Party forum on censorship and pornography on November 4. Speakers were Melanie Sjoberg of the DSP and Helen Vicqua, the secretary of the
By Debbie Brennan The survivors of an industrial disaster are now fighting for compensation and medical treatment for diseases contracted over decades. The Baryulgil catastrophe was a creation of asbestos mining companies, which needed
How Cuba is tackling the energy crisis By Bill Mason BRISBANE — "One thing Cuba has to be grateful the US blockade for", Cuban environmental scientist Rolando Alfredo Hernandez Leon told a forum here on November 4. "It's taught us to be
Police hassle Canberra squatters By James Basle Canberra — Young squatters in the disused Fortune Theatre have been harassed by police and accused of stealing or damaging hundreds of cars. In what appears to be a media and police
By Alex Cooper MELBOURNE — Complaints about the behaviour of members of Victoria Police almost doubled in the last financial year according to a report in the November 2 Age. In the year ending June 30, 1992, there were 4525 complaints
Public transport campaign By Freya Pinney BRISBANE — Brisbane Environmental Youth Alliance launched its Public Transport Campaign on November 4 as part of Youth Week '92. More than 70 people attended the "Anti Traffic Jam" — a public
By Peter Anderson SYDNEY — Environmentalists and supporters of Aboriginal rights will rally outside state parliament on Friday, November 13, to oppose the government's resource security legislation. The legislation would in effect privatise
By Norm Dixon A meeting of traditional leaders from central Bougainville has condemned the attack on the area by Papua New Guinea Defence Force troops and called for their immediate withdrawal. The chiefs vowed not to cooperate with the PNG
Victoria Police racist, says ex-adviser By Alex Cooper MELBOURNE — The former Koori adviser to the Victoria Police, Ken Saunders, who resigned his position last month because of the "inherent racism in the police force", has accused the
By Andrey Spark ALICE SPRINGS — The Northern Territory Country Liberal Party government is trying to privatise Yirara College, a public secondary college here for Aboriginal people. It proposes to hand the college over to the Lutheran Finke

World

Anderton banned from Tonga The leader of New Zealand's NewLabour Party, Jim Anderton, has been banned from delivering a keynote address to a pro-democracy conference in Tonga after intervention by the rulers of the Pacific kingdom. In a
Fretilin representative Estanislao da Silva spoke at a Democratic Socialist forum in Sydney on the eve of the first anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. The following is excerpted from his talk. The Santa Cruz massacre is an important event
LIDY ALEJANDERO is secretary-general of BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) in the Philippines. In Sydney for an Australian-Philippines solidarity conference, Alejandero was interviewed for Green Left by MAX LANE. Question: Could you explain just
By Helen Jarvis PHNOM PENH — One year after the Paris Peace Accords were signed, about 15,000 UN soldiers are here. Some (including the majority of the Australian troops) are busy establishing a UN military communications system (supplied by
By Peter Anderson SYDNEY — The war in the former Yugoslavia has taken a tragic toll and nowhere more than in Bosnia-Hercegovina where it is estimated 100,000 Muslims have lost their lives as a result of Serbian aggression. Taken together, the
By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — With a decree issued on October 28, Russian President Boris Yeltsin outlawed the country's major opposition formation, the National Salvation Front (FNS). The FNS had been set up four days earlier at a Moscow
Clinton and Gore, Clinton and Gore — Both of them born after the war! They're not liberals, like before — Technocratic, to the core. Clinton and Gore, Clinton and Gore. — from a poem by Calvin Trillin By Peter Anderson The
'Muslims must fight for their rights' Ifet Mustafic is the imam of the Islamic Society of Footscray in Melbourne, where he has worked for the past one and a half years. A Bosnian Muslim, he graduated from the Islamic faculty in Sarajevo. He

Culture

By Karen Fredericks The first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Music Festival, With Open Eyes, will be held in Sydney from November 30 to December 5. The festival comes at a time when Yothu Yindi, Kev Carmody and other
Dreamy, mystical mountain music Islands of the Sky Peter Crowe Distributed by Larrikin Records Available on CD Reviewed by Peter Hicks This is an album of ambient guitar pieces which Peter Crowe describes as "acoustic mountain music".
Endangered species legislation Left anonymously on the doormat this week is what appears to be an early draft of the federal endangered species legislation. The document is particularly interesting in showing what clauses did not make it into
By Zanny Begg In the dim past young people, when asking about sex, would be given vague answers about storks flying over chimney pots before the topic of conversation was quickly changed. In the liberated '90s it would be nice to think that we
Take Two: The Criminal Justice System Revisited By Tim Anderson Bantam, 1992. 376 pp. $34.95 Reviewed by John Tognolini Tim Anderson's new book is a stunning portrait of a police vendetta and an insight into this country's criminal justice
Vince Jones blows Greenpeace's trumpet Popular Australian jazz trumpeter Vince Jones' latest album, Future Girl, is to be launched with several shows at Sydney's Harbourside Brasserie. The album and shows feature Vince's commitment to the
Life on a string A film directed by Chen Kaige Starring Liu Zhongyuan and Huang Lei Reviewed by Wayne Ruscoe Two blind musicians wander an achingly beautiful landscape, searching for spiritual salvation or, at least, the return of the power
The Fire Next Time By Mark Davis SYDNEY — Popping in for a quiet drink at Max's Petersham Inn to hear popular folk singer Peter Hicks' new band The Fire Next Time proved a very rewarding experience. At last, some overtly political music
One plum pudding would have been enough Until the end of the world Directed by Wim Wenders Script by Peter Carey and Wim Wenders Starring William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Sam Neil Reviewed by Ulrike Erhardt Co-productions which are
Timor mortis (From the Spanish of Uruguayan author Mario Benedetti. Translated by Rosemary Evans.) And, finally, death awaits me. She knows at what terrible moment she will come. But to me it is a mystery. So between us I build

Editorial

Keating's cynical ploy A desperate, irresponsible idea that has been floating in the political stratosphere for many months was finally brought to ground last week when Paul Keating blustered in parliament that Labor would not block the GST in