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Australia to violate maritime law

BY SARAH STEPHEN The Australian government is planning legislation that will make it illegal for civilian ships to pick up refugees at sea without permission. Such a law would have prevented Arne Rinnan, captain of the MV Tampa, from rescuing

PAKISTAN: Crackdown draws mixed reactions

BY EVA CHENG In a televised speech on January 12, Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf banned two Islamist groups active in Kashmir — Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. The bans have helped ease military tensions between India and

and ain't i a woman?: Wives for blokes in the bush

There is a saying that if prostitution is the rental of the body, then marriage is the sale. There is no better way to describe the campaign initiated late last year by the National Farmers Federation and a yet-to-be-named national women's magazine

On the box

Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9pm-11pm. Phone 9565 5522. Visit

Seventh detention centre suicide

BY MICHELLE BREAR SYDNEY — The suicide of Lee Hanh in Villawood detention centre on January 8 brings to seven the number of deaths in Australian detention centres in the past three years. Four of those occured at Villawood. Hanh was taken to

Fugazi goes post-punk

The ArgumentFugaziAvailable at <http://www.dischord.com/bands/fugazi.shtml> REVIEW BY ALLY BLACK Fugazi are pioneers of the US punk scene. Their origins lie in the political and "straight-edge" scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s,

Write on: Letters to the editor

Mbeki and AIDS In my article in GLW #475 I wrote that some of the pseudo- scientists that South African President Thabo Mbeki has used to defend his AIDS denialism are members of the Klu Klux Klan. Brian Souter (Write On, GLW #476) writes that

Red Earth kicks Custer's arse

When Worlds CollideRed EarthThird Mesa Music<http://www.tribalstew.com> REVIEW BY BILL NEVINS ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Peruvian Christian Orellana's well-amped peace pipe cuts through the rattle and gibber of a crowded south-western

CENTRAL ASIA: US war machine digs in for long stay

BY NORM DIXON Under the cloak of the "war on terrorism", the United States is rapidly moving to establish a permanent military presence across the strategic Central Asian region which, until the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, was off-limits to

LATIN AMERICA: A not-so-happy new year

BY LUISA ARA The intense mobilisations in Argentina in December have placed Latin America in the spotlight. Despite rigorous application of neo-liberal economic policies and tax adjustments demanded by the International Monetary Fund, no Latin

Immigration maintains a white majority

BY SARAH STEPHEN Australia's immigration intake is non-discriminatory and fair, according to federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock. Yet a comparative analysis of immigration figures indicates that Australia, more markedly than any other

ACEH: Total support for general strike

BY MAX LANE There has been almost total support in Aceh for the three-day general strike called by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for January 16-18 to protest against the decision of the Indonesian government to re-establish an Aceh Military