Analysis

  • UN a tool, not the answer

    UN a tool, not the answer The call by Geoff Clark, chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, for the federal government to invite members of the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial

  • From social security to social control

    From social security to social control Over the next few weeks and months you will hear a lot about the interim report of the government's committee on welfare “reform”, Participation Support for a More Equitable Society, issued on

  • Environmental criminals

    Environmental criminals Yet another toxic spill by an Australian mining company in the Third World provides a compelling argument for tougher laws against polluters. It also exposes the futility of "industry self-regulation". On March 22, one

  • Mandatory sentencing: it isn't over

    Mandatory sentencing: it isn't over In spite of Senate and United Nations reports finding mandatory sentencing laws are in breach of international conventions, and in spite of the Senate's March 15 adoption of a private member's bill overturning

  • New' Editorial: economy, same old principles

    New economy', same old principles Stockbrokers, market analysts, finance journalists and politicians have been breathlessly singing the praises of the "new economy", supposedly based on the rapid growth of communications and information technology,

  • If you don't fight, you lose

    By Trisha Reimers (Perth) When women's right to control their bodies is under attack ... when sexist advertising surrounds us ... when 1 in 4 women is sexually assaulted by the time she is 18 ... when media commentators and politicians tell us that

  • Putting the international into International Women's Day

    By Jackie Lynch (Melbourne) This year, IWD rallies across Australia are raising demands around people's struggles in many other countries. From calls for war reparations for East Timor to demanding that the Australian government scraps its

  • Our bodies are not for sale

    By Bec Beirne (Sydney) You only need to glance at any mainstream media outlet to see that the "beauty myth" is alive and flourishing. The recent increase in the amount and blatancy of sexist advertising in Australia is a measure of the concerted

  • Real choices require fundamental change

    By Karen Fletcher (Brisbane) Imagine a world where women have won liberation and participate fully in public and private life; where a woman's skills, talents and intellect are valued and rewarded; where women and girls stride purposefully and

  • As early as possible, as late as necessary!

    By Kamala Emanuel (Hobart) A pregnant woman is the only person qualified to determine what course of action to take regarding her pregnancy — whether to continue it or have an abortion. The right to decide should not have to be proven to satisfy

  • Marxist feminism in action

    Marxist feminism in action The Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance have placed the issue of women's liberation at the centre of our work since our formation during the youth radicalisation and the "second wave" of feminism in the 1970s. This

  • Racism is a feminist issue

    Racism is a feminist issue Despite successive governments' rhetoric about reconciliation, many indigenous people in Australia live in Third World conditions and, across the board, Aboriginal people have lower levels of health, education employment,