Hidden agendas
Women are still an alarmingly long way from having reproductive rights. In recent years, the anti-choice movement has attempted to manipulate debates about women's health and contraception to its own ends.
Any discussion
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Based on highly reliably international contacts, leaked documents and horoscopes from several TV magazines, Nostradamus' Media Watch presents a highly accurate forecast of political events across the globe. New summit for hoods of state
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We have to rely on ourselves Kamala Emanuel Women are still facing oppression, manifest in many ways, in spite of the undisputed gains of the first and second waves of feminism. Domestic work is still carried out mostly by women, and in
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For Mary McNish, secretary of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, the "frightening thing" about the recent escalation in law-and-order hysteria "is that the government sees that it's their right to interfere with the hard-won justice system we've
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ADELAIDE — Seven members of the neo-fascist National Action organisation stormed into the Adelaide Resistance Bookshop on March 14, destroying posters and threatening Resistance activists. National Action threatened that if Resistance did not
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God is a woman! — Christians, Jews and Muslims have for millennia believed in a sole male god. Archaeology reveals that recent discoveries in the heart of Palestine suggest that the Canaanite goddess, Asherah, was revered as the co-almighty in
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Students and academics around the country will be striking on March 23 to protest against the introduction of up-front fees. The actions were called from the National No Fees Conference in late December, in response to new waves
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Glowing in the dark They are a weird mob, the NT politicians. Every time there is a crisis at the Ranger uranium mine one of them volunteers to drink water contaminated by radionuclides and a cocktail of other industrial strength contaminants.
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91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly recently received a very welcome donation from the Homeland Community in northern NSW. The community sent a cheque for $212.40, with a little note, offering the donation as a "tithe for your worthy paper". We would like to express
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WA Legal Service resists law and order pushPERTH — The WA Court Liberal government boasts a number of "firsts" in the law-and-order game. It was the first to conduct organised police operations against "loitering youth"
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Law-and-order hysteria, which in the US recently jailed a young man for life for stealing a slice of pizza, is in full flight in the run-up to the March 25 New South Wales elections. Labor and Liberal are falling over each other in what the NSW
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What lies behind the current hysteria around law and order? There are three groups that are always pushing law and order — property owners, police and politicians. Firstly, if you look at the country towns of western NSW with all their
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Dirty deeds, words and permissive silence"I have a very dear friend who is Burmese. She and her family have been here since she was two years old ... Paul and I were horrified when she told us ... that almost every
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MIKE KARADJIS, a youth worker in Sydney's western suburbs, is the Democratic Socialist candidate in the seat of Fairfield in the NSW election. He spoke to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's DAVE WRIGHT about the major parties' law and order push and its
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Labor's criminal responseSYDNEY — In a very heavy-handed response to crime in the western suburbs, one ALP parliamentarian seems to want to outdo the Los Angeles Police Department. In a glossy newsletter distributed
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The United Nations Environment Program on March 2 released nine reports detailing significant destruction of the Earth's protective ozone shield. UNEP scientists also recommended ways to limit ozone layer loss. The elimination of methyl bromide,
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Professor Tony Vinson, former head of the NSW prisons system before he was sacked by the Wran Labor government, works in the Department of Social Work at the University of New South Wales. An outspoken advocate for progressive reform of the criminal
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On February 20, the ABC screened a docu-drama dealing with an explosion which took place outside a Sydney hotel in the early hours of Monday, February 13, 1978. The Hilton, main venue for the Commonwealth Heads
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As the head of the Greens' Legislative Council ticket, long-term peace and environmental activist IAN COHEN has a good chance of being elected the first Green member of the NSW parliament on March 25. (He missed out by only a few hundred votes in the
News
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CANBERRA — Following elections which gave a parliamentary majority to neither major party, ACT Liberal leader Kate Carnell has formed a minority government. The Liberals won seven of the 17 seats in the ACT Legislative
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UNSW staff vote to support student strikeThe academic staff union at UNSW has voted to support the National Day of Action on March 23, by cancelling classes and holding a stop-work meeting. A well-attended meeting of
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Protest for East TimorADELAIDE — A noisy and vibrant crowd protested against military aid to Indonesia outside the Australian Defence Force Recruiting office here on March 17. The action was organised by Resistance, Aksi —
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Fight continues against school closureADELAIDE — More than 100 angry people packed the school hall of Port Adelaide Girls High on March 15 to hear education minister Rob Lucas attempt to justify the closure of the school.
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ADELAIDE — An amendment to the Metal Trades Federation of Unions' (MTFU) national executive recommendation, which would have set a minimum of 15% for wage increases sought in enterprise agreements, was narrowly defeated at
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A teachers' campaign targets minister ADELAIDE — As the SA public school system fights to protect its future, the South Australian Institute of Teachers has called upon education minister Rob Lucas to remember his pre-election promise.
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Dear Santa ... "The enduring values and beliefs my parents instilled in me as a child are what sustain me today." — NSW Premier John Fahey. Bulldoze 'em! "There is nothing valuable on that peninsula ... It is substandard, inhabited by
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Tarkine campaign continuesHOBART — On March 11, around 200 people attended a sleep-out/vigil in support of the Tarkine Wilderness direct action blockade, which is occurring in the north-west of
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Fight continues over agency bargainingCANBERRA — Community and Public Sector Union delegates and members in the Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health (HSH) in the ACT are opposing certification of the
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Polls indicate that Labor and Liberals are running neck and neck in the New South Wales election on March 25. Minor party preferences could decide the outcome, in particular in key marginal seats and the upper house. For this
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Journalists arrested in Jakarta Ahmad Taufik, chairperson of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), another member, Liston P. Siregar, and the outspokenly critical member of parliament, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, were arrested during a
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A closed meeting of government officials and invitees will shortly make policy decisions to introduce herbicide-tolerant crops, pastures and trees into Australia. Critics and the public are excluded. The decision will follow a March 15-16
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Indonesian activist speaksPERTH — Dita Sari, general secretary of the Indonesian Centre for Working Class Struggle (PPBI) was here last week as a guest of the International Women's Day Collective. "Women of the
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Rallies protest against marijuana lawsBRISBANE — Some 500 people rallied in King George Square for a "pot-nic" on March 18 as part of a national day of action called by HEMP (Help End Marijuana Prohibition). Speakers
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ADELAIDE — Miscellaneous Workers Union members have lifted bans imposed on public hospitals after four weeks of industrial action. Workers have been fighting for a $20 wage increase and a further $48 over the next two years. After threatening a
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Criticism of Pasminco expansion inquiryNEWCASTLE — A commission of inquiry, into a proposed $47 million upgrade of the Boolaroo Pasminco smelter, heard criticism on March 16 of a blood-lead survey
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ACT Greens in federal by-electionCANBERRA — The ACT Greens are standing James Warden, environmentalist, historian of politics and writer, as their candidate in the March 25 by-election for the seat of Canberra, formerly
Analysis
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Beyond the elections At a time of rising anger against the two major parties, in particular the Labor Party, many people are looking around for a progressive alternative. The many Labor betrayals on so many important issues will, we hope, result
World
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In January and February, JO BROWN travelled in Java and met activists in the Indonesian students' and workers' movements. Here she describes visiting the slum areas around Jakarta that are home to the new urban working class. The contrasts and
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MOSCOW — March 11 marked three months since federal Russian forces pushed into the rebellious republic of Chechnya in the north Caucasus region. At the time, Russian defence minister General Pavel Grachev boasted that a
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Canadian first nation wins forest protectionThe Haisla Nation of central western British Columbia have won a major victory in having a vast area of their traditional homeland permanently protected. The Haisla are the
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Fifteen members of a police security unit from the central Jakarta police command raided the offices of the PIJAR Foundation on March 9. PIJAR (Information Centre and Action Network for Reform) is an organisation of students and
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Sinn Fein condemns embargo Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican party, passed the following resolution at its February 25-26 national conference (Ard Fheis). "That This Ard Fheis unreservedly condemns as a disgrace the Dublin government's
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Buka figure disappears A prominent leader and pro-secessionist on the northern Bougainville island of Buka, Dennis Sareke, has disappeared. Great fears are held for his safety. The news of Sareke's disappearance was bought to the attention
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"We have advanced technology as well as experienced construction teams. The difficulty is how to resettle over 1.2 million evacuees." So runs a remark attributed to Chinese Premier Li Peng, published in the Chinese Daily
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JIM O'DONNELL is a member of the Democratic Left (DL) in Ireland and an organiser of the New European Left Forum. He was interviewed for 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly in Brussels by SARAH STEPHEN and CHOW WEI CHENG. Can you describe how the New European
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The FBI asks us to believe the following story: Last [northern] summer Qubilah Bahiyah Shabazz, Malcolm X's second oldest daughter, seeks out an old high school friend she hasn't seen in 16 years to carry out an assassination. Her
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RAMSEY CLARK entered the Cuban Red Cross building in Havana, where a shipment of insulin from the US company Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals was handed over in a modest ceremony. The first question put to him when we sat
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Human rights body criticises embargo The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a legal tribunal within the Organisation of American States, is urging the US government to end restrictions on the shipment of medicine and basic foods to
Culture
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The Truth (Ny Marina) The Justin Vali Trio Realworld through Larrikin Entertainment Reviewed by Norm Dixon By most accounts, the Justin Vali Trio were the surprise hit of the recent Womadelaide festival. Their new album tells you why. This
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As in many other places in the world, the left in the United States has gone through a lean period in recent times. Left publications have suffered and in some cases closed down. Socialist organisations, some very longstanding like
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Don't believe the hype! do you want more?!!!??! The Roots MCA/Geffen Reviewed by Sean Moysey I can see the value in what The Roots are trying to do: that is, mix "traditional" jazz sounds and instruments with hip hop/rap lyrics.
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The Contract State: Public Management and the Kennett Government Edited by John Alford and Deirdre O'Neill Deakin University Press: 1994 Reviewed by Chris Slee "Two years after being elected, the Kennett government has already begun to
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MELBOURNE — Despite the Kennett government's recent surprise decision to cut its funding by $20,000, one of Melbourne's oldest alternative theatre companies refuses to give up. In announcing its 1995 season, Melbourne
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The Porcupine By Julian Barnes Picador. 138 pp., $11.95 (pb) Reviewed by Dave Riley Just when I thought I'd give up novels for the telly and stick to periodicals rather than something more literary, Julian Barnes came my way. I view him as
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Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences By James R. Mellow Hodder & Stoughton, 1994. 704 pp., $29.95 (pb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon Ernest Hemingway: a splendid storyteller, but a pity about the politics. After reading Mellow's biography of
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Paul Keating em = By Denis Kevans You bignoted on Mabo I thought you were sincere, But what do I find when I peer in your mind At the turning of the year? A little mechanical masterpiece, With insects striking the gong,