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Action updates

Cuba film premiere NEWCASTLE — Two hundred people attended the premiere of a documentary about Cuban music, the Buena Vista Social Club, here on 17 March. The screening was sponsored by the Committee in Solidarity with Latin America and the

Networker: Whatever happened to the 'information superhighway'?

This is the age of the internet. The daily papers carry technology supplements extolling the wonders that will soon descend. No reader can be left in any doubt: better and better technology is about to solve every human need. The future is

Reject Wahid's austerity plan, says PRD

Reject Wahid's austerity plan, says PRD By Pip Hinman Since his election five months ago, the new president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, has managed to create the impression that his is a people-friendly government. But how true is this?

Ecstasy over-reaction

By Will Williams If you came across the headline "Valley of death", what would you imagine? A massacre? A hideous natural or un-natural disaster? In fact, the February 22 Sydney Morning Herald editorial under this headline was about the Happy

Against the new prohibition

Review by Sean Healy Stopping Traffik: the war against the war on drugsDirected by Jerry ThompsonSBS TVTuesday, April 4, 8.30pm. There's a point in this Canadian documentary when you realise the devastating effect of governments' relentless war

Army battles residents for bushland

By Tim Stewart GOLD COAST — Public access to popular Back Creek Gorge in the Gold Coast hinterland has been won back from the Australian army, which wanted the land to expand their Canungra Land Warfare Centre. What began as a protest by 200

All eyes on Zimbabwe's new 'workers' party'

All eyes on Zimbabwe's new 'workers' party' By Patrick Bond JOHANNESBURG — The Shona-language slogan of the popular new political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has spread far and wide throughout the countryside: Chinja!

Hindu fundamentalists knocked back

Hindu fundamentalists knocked back By Eva Cheng The February attempt by India's main Hindu fundamentalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to seize power through the back door in India's second largest state, Bihar, has failed miserably.

Korean steelworkers press on

Korean steelworkers press on By Eva Cheng Against great odds, almost 190 Sammi Specialty Steel workers in South Korea are continuing their long struggle for jobs and justice after 580 workers were dismissed by the Pohang Steel Company (Posco)

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

Jobs and services go, private profit grows

Jobs and services go, private profit grows By Jonathan Singer Just where does the privatisation of public services get you? Some of the answer — cuts to jobs and services — has been splashed across the front pages of the

Olympics forcing Sydney rents up

Olympics forcing Sydney rents up By Sean Healy SYDNEY — Tenant rights advocates Rentwatchers have warned that rent levels in the Olympics corridor here are skyrocketing and the frequency of evictions from houses, flats and lodges in the city