Culture

  • M1: carnival of the oppressed

    As more activists from many cities and towns respond to the call for mass actions against corporate tyranny on May 1, cultural activists are to lend their support to these blockades and related events. Taking our cue from the

  • Fighting in 'trenches of ideas'

    Capitalism In Crisis: Globalisation and World Politics TodayBy Fidel CastroOcean BooksMelbourne, 2000292pp., $29.95 (pb) REVIEW BY SHANE HOPKINSON There is no shortage of talk about globalisation these days. Cuban leader Fidel Castro paints a

  • Vital histories of East Timor's resistance

    East Timor: The Price of Freedom By John G. Taylor Zed Books/Pluto Press, 248ppTo Resist is to Win: The Autobiography of Xanana GusmaoEdited by Sarah NinerAurora Books/David Lovell Publishing, 256ppFighting Spirit of East Timor: The Life of

  • Rage to release Renegades

    Rage Against The Machine has recorded an album of classic socially and politically charged hip-hop, rock and punk songs. Rage attacks these songs in its typical hard-edged, unconventional fashion. Renegades (Epic) is a

  • The lions must shake off their chains

    Rise Like Lions: The Hijacking of Australian HistoryBy Steve DavisGinninderra Press, 2000138pp., $19.80 (plus $3.30 postage)Order from PO Box 53, Charnwood ACT, 2516. The cover of Steve Davis' Rise Like Lions: the Hijacking of

  • Sun, sand and protest

    BeachballsProduced and directed by Bronwyn KiddSBS TV, Tuesday, December 12, 8.30pm REVIEW BY MARINA CARMAN If you want a chance to see some of the reality behind the glamour and glitz of the Sydney Olympics, then park yourself in front of the TV

  • South African People's Poet fights on

    The Pretoria High Court's November 10 rejection of famed anti-apartheid poet Mzwakhe Mbuli's appeal demonstrates the difficulty of dismantling apartheid, especially when the system's engineers and foot soldiers have been retained.

  • Bail Up!

    SHORT STORY BY CRAIG CORMICK I went down to my local bank the other day — only to find it had been closed down. A large "For Lease" sign hung in the window and a small card on the door informed me where the closest branch not yet closed down

  • Orwell: the decline of a middle-class radical

    Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a GenerationBy Jeffrey MeyersNorton, 2000380pp, $39.90 (hb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON "Big Brother is watching you"; "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others" — these epigrams from Nineteen

  • Comic note off-key but tickles fancy

    Rough CrossingBy Tom StoppardDirected by Lloyd KingNew Theatre, SydneyThursday to Sunday until December 23$22/$15, bookings 9873 3575 Since the New Theatre's establishment in 1932, much of Sydney's alternative and radical

  • Indonesia's first socialist magazine

    Since August, a new left-wing theoretical magazine, Jurnal Kiri (Left Journal), has been published in Indonesia. Three editions of the 160-page magazine have appeared. Its general editor is Marlin, who is also member of the editorial