Editorial

NSW stoppage a step forward In a welcome return to recognition of the need for political action as a tool of labour struggle, the NSW Labour Council has provisionally called a statewide one-day stoppage for October 15 in opposition to the NSW

Update on the New World Order Remember the peace and security that were supposed to be brought about by George Bush's New World Order (plus the "death of communism")? In the last few days, two series of events have demonstrated in practice what

The Nile bill [We asked Dr Jean Edwards, a member of the Doctors Reform Society, to prepare a short article on Fred Nile's bill to restrict abortion rights in NSW, and where, if successful, it will lead. It summed up the issue so well that we

Hawke and Namaliu Bob Hawke and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Rabbie Namaliu, meeting in Canberra last week, agreed that more Australian aid should be directed to solving PNG's "law and order" problems. They agreed that PNG must shift the

Death of communism? Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the dissolution of its Central Committee and the nationalisation of the Communist Party's property by Russian Federation President

USSR: a stolen victory Once again, the abortive coup in the USSR demonstrates that undemocratic methods cannot serve the cause of socialism, or indeed the aspirations of ordinary people for a better life under any political system. The failed

Privatising the pension As wage rises have proven very difficult to get under the Accord, the union movement has been offered something of an alternative in superannuation. The proportion of the workforce covered by super has probably doubled

Outing a media beat-up On July 23 Franca Arena, a Labor Party MP with a reputation for a generally positive stance on democratic issues, blotted her record with an outburst against supposed gay domination of the AIDS Council of NSW (ACON). She

The bomb and Iraq If a worldwide referendum were held tomorrow, there's little doubt an overwhelming majority of 5.3 billion people would vote for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. The question arises, why can't humanity rid itself of this

National transport plan In a welcome recognition of a huge problem, the July 30 special premiers' conference in Sydney is to discuss a national approach to long-distance freight haulage. Unfortunately, the main proposals likely to come out of this

Congratulations to you For those who don't read the small print on the cover carefully: this is the 20th issue of Green Left Weekly. That makes it an anniversary of sorts. And thereby hangs a tale — quite a few of them, in fact. When the idea

The media and the ALP conference After it was all over, the Financial Review spoke its mind on last week's ALP national conference: "The most striking image of this conference was that of a vacuum, of weariness, of a political party too long in