Pitiless merchants
"I have always thought it would be easier to redeem a man steeped in vice and crime than a greedy, narrow-minded, pitiless merchant." — Albert Camus
The Georgia Diagnostics and Classification Centre confines more
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Actively Radical TV — Community television's progressive current affairs program tackles the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 4pm-7pm. Late Night Movie: Raspad (1990) — Set your video.
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SYDNEY — As a part of the Democratic Socialism '96 conference, Resistance has initiated a pre-conference action around the demand "No uranium mining! No mines in Kakadu! No uranium sales to Indonesia!". The action, to be held outside the offices of
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On March 21, Greenpeace released an urgent appeal to the G7 and European Union heads of state demanding a commitment to nuclear safety. A Nuclear Safety Summit will be held on April 19-20, attended by the heads of state of the G7 nations (US, UK,
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Domestic violence On March 21, Jean Lennon was shot by her ex-husband outside the Family Court in Parramatta, Sydney. She died within hours from bullet wounds to the head and abdomen. The custody case regarding their four
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91̳ Weekly is taking a one-week break at Easter, skipping the issue that would have been due on April 10. The next issue will be dated April 17.
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The following is an excerpt from a briefing paper prepared by JOHN HALLAM of Friends of the Earth, Sydney, in 1994. It provides useful background information to Energy Resources Australia's current push to begin uranium mining at Jabiluka in Kakadu
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By Brendan O'Reilly Security issues are important. They must be, because they're secret. Not just secret, taboo. So secret that even when they are "discussed" in our "free press", names and precise terms must not be used. Talk must involve foggy
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Based on highly reliable international contacts, leaked documents and horoscopes from several TV magazines, Nostradamus' Media Watch presents a highly accurate forecast of political events across the globe. Mad cow disease in royal family
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West Papua is becoming big trouble for its Indonesian masters, with an unprecedented amount of politically motivated action occurring in the past months and OPM leader Kelly Kwalik emerging as a popular hero of the liberation
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Australia's history as a political laboratory is extraordinary. In 192O, half a century ahead of Europe and the United States, the silver and zinc miners of Broken Hill won the world's first 35-hour week. Long before most of
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Stalinism I vehemently reject Robert Dampf's suggestion (Write on, GLW #223) that we not criticise Stalinism too harshly lest we hurt some comrades' feelings. Indeed, his logic smacks of the reactionary palliations of the fascist regime of Mr
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A major intellectual property issue for indigenous people has arisen recently with the report that the US patent office has issued a patent over the genetic material of a foreign citizen, an indigenous man of the Hagahai
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'Greater unity and common purpose' JOHN MAITLAND is the president of the Mining Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and joint national president of the CFMEU. He spoke to 91̳ Weekly's DICK NICHOLS and JENNIFER
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Last week we received a short letter from a 91̳ Weekly reader in Adelaide, accompanied by a donation of $10 for our building maintenance fund. The letter captures, in just a few words, the reality and the spirit that form the basis of a
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'Grassroots organising and direct action' STEPHEN SPENCE is the South Australian convener of the Greens, state secretary of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and a member of the United Trades and Labour Council executive. He was
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Free East Timor campaign MELBOURNE — Around 30 people attended an Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) March 15 public meeting to launch its campaign for a national day of action on August 25 and to hear an
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By Tim E. Stewart DARWIN — To remind us how rugged the Northern Territory is, the NT News ran a front page story last month titled "Berserk buff bull killed by rifle fire". Reading this Murdoch tabloid you'd be forgiven for thinking Darwin is
News
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Consumer resistance "Paying somewhere in the order of $10,000 to guarantee an Olympic seat is going to turn a lot of people off the idea of attending." — Dr Rob Hall, director of the Centre for Visitor Studies, on a poll which showed
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The following is a message sent by Canadian students to students in Australia and New Zealand struggling against attacks on education. The message was received through Bruce Cronin from the New Zealand University Students Association. The Communist
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An Amnesty International delegation, in Australia until March 30, found that "the overall human rights situation" for Aboriginal people in this country "remains serious, particularly regarding the
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GEELONG — After four weeks on strike, the morale of workers at EP Robinson, a wool scouring plant here, is still high. According to Shearers and Rural Workers Union (SRWU) Assistant General Secretary, John Morgan, the
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MELBOURNE — On March 14, students attempting to establish a Macedonian club at Melbourne University were harassed and forced to pack up their stall by members of the Hellenic club. The three women staffing the Macedonian stall
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Workers in the CRA-owned Novacoal's Vickery mine have been on strike since August over the company's attempt to try to force the introduction of 12-hour shifts into an already dangerous industry. Novacoal has been pressing
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BRISBANE — The Queensland Coalition government has threatened to scrap a 12-week paid maternity leave agreement for state public servants, claiming the deal would blow a $50 million hole in the state budget. Implementation of the
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MELBOURNE — Following the passing of the Helms-Burton bill in the United States, which tightens the US embargo against Cuba, Latin American solidarity activists here held the first meeting of the End the Embargo campaign on
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WOLLONGONG — In the latest episode in a dispute over management of stormwater from the Illawarra escarpment north of here, NSW transport minister Brian Langton has allegedly threatened to close the south coast railway line because
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The peak groups representing Aboriginal people affected by the proposed Century mine and the expansion of the Weipa bauxite operation in far north Queensland have begun consultation with the major trade union representing
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Award workers at CRA-owned Comalco's Weipa bauxite mine and kaolin plant went on strike again on March 27 over the company's insistence that they individually sign an enterprise agreement. Unionists won the right in February
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BRISBANE — Chanting "Save the rainforest, end logging now!", some 100 demonstrators picketed the Heritage Hotel, where Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir was meeting Australian PM John Howard on March 29. Several protesters
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Some 2500 students rallied and marched in opposition to the Victorian government's Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) legislation on March 28. The rally was part of a national day of action demanding student control of student affairs. Victoria and WA
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MELBOURNE — As expected, the March 30 state election returned Jeff Kennett's Coalition government with a slightly reduced majority. The ALP gained a very modest two-party preferred swing of 2.4%. However, fuelled
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HOBART — More than 50 forest activists held a meeting here on March 21 to launch the campaign to save the remaining south-west Tasmanian wilderness from woodchipping. Tasmanian Greens' parliamentarian Peg Putt and Geoff Law
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MELBOURNE — At a stop-work meeting of State Public Service Federation of Victoria members here on March 29, child protection workers who had been on strike since March 8 voted to return to work so that the Employee Relations
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CANBERRA — When the Carnell Liberal government came to power in the February 1995 ACT elections, its main stated goal was to make the health system more "efficient" and "effective". It has now been revealed that there has been an
Analysis
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The establishment media in Australia are unanimous in portraying the presidential election in Taiwan as a "rebuff" for Chinese government attempts to intimidate "democracy" on the island. In this context, the US decision to send two carrier battle
World
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In its article "In the Land of the Sugar Loaf Mountain: Filth-belchers become paragons", the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published a song of praise to the German multinational concerns, which, allegedly, are just as environment-conscious in
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Tonga: The deputy editor of the weekly Taimi 'o Tonga is detained for 26 hours and two pro-democracy letter writers jailed for even longer without charge. Eventually the editor is charged with "threatening" a civil
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The second All Inclusive East Timorese Dialogue, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations concluded in Austria last week. Following are excerpts from a statement issued by the National Council for Maubere Resistance on March 26. The meeting
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In a recently published environmental survey of the Jerusalem area, Jad Ishak, general director of the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem, analysed the Israeli strategy of land appropriation and expressed his concerns about
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The Indian Election Commission recently set April 27, May 2, 7 and 21 as the dates for holding parliamentary elections in Jammu and Kashmir. India's direct rule over this area, imposed six years ago, is due to end in April.
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Uri Avnery, well-known Israeli writer and representative of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc), described how, over lunch with the president of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Arafat, he saw an Israeli gunboat blockading
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MOSCOW — As Russian agriculture continues to collapse, President Boris Yeltsin has tried to salvage rural support by ordering drastic changes in the country's land tenure system. A decree of March 7 sets in place a new Land
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WASHINGTON — Greenpeace on March 13 called on US President Bill Clinton to immediately halt planned NATO exercises, including weapons testing, off the coast of Florida in light of evidence connecting the US Navy to the killing of up to five
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Assimilation, French style, continues to function. Under the citizenship code, 100,000 foreigners each year disappear from the statistics. Mixed marriages, social mobility and cultural integration mean that assimilation occurs, as
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On March 7, the California legislature approved a bill overturning a scheduled state ban on the widely used and highly toxic pesticide methyl bromide. Methyl bromide was to be banned in California at the end of March; however, Governor Pete Wilson
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On March 9, the All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA), the mass women's organisation of the Communist Party of India — Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML), held a rally in Delhi to mark International Women's Day. This
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On the morning of March 27, more than 4000 workers from the Barindo, Daimaster and Nesiyo companies, joined by students from the People's Democratic Union (PRD), marched to the Jatim local parliament in East Java. They were
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Over the last few weeks, several peaceful demonstrations and solidarity actions in Nepal and Thailand against human rights violations in China were broken up by police, and demonstrators were arrested. According to Amnesty
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Since March 11, two of South Korea's six postwar presidents, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, have been on trial on mutiny and sedition charges. Under sharp focus is their role in the brutal massacre of thousands (officially 191)
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The alliance between the African National Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party is under pressure, National Union of Mineworkers president James Motlatsi indicated on March 15.
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The African National Congress-led government of national unity (GNU) signalled that there will be no significant change in post-apartheid South Africa's economic direction when it announced its third budget on March 13. The budget
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The following declaration, "Against Neo-liberalism and for Humanity", was issued from the indigenous community of La Realidad in Chiapas by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. The Democratic Socialism '96 conference in Sydney April 5-6
Culture
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Shanghai TriadStarring Gong Li, Li Baotian, Wang XiaoxiaoDirected by Zhang YimouScreens from April 4 at Dendy (Sydney & Brisbane), Kino, Longford (Melbourne), Luna (Perth)Reviewed by Eva Cheng Contrary to what the name suggests, Shanghai Triad is not
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HereticBy David WilliamsonDirected by Wayne HarrisonSydney Theatre CompanyDrama Theatre, Opera HouseReviewed by Allen Myers The story of Derek Freeman and Margaret Mead is the very stuff of drama. Research which has dominated a scientific discipline
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The State of HumanityJulian L. Simon (ed.)Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1995Distributed in Australia by Allen & Unwin608 pp., $49.95 (pb)Reviewed by Peter Montague The recent outpouring of hefty "feel good" books has not let up.
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Nelly & Mr ArnaudDirected by Claude SautetStarring Emmanuelle Beart, Michel Serrault and Jean-Hugues AngladeOpens April 4Reviewed by Margaret Allan Nelly & Mr Arnaud is an engrossing French movie which draws the viewer into the developing
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FlyBidngi BirdsReviewed by Trish Corcoran Fly is the debut album of the Bidngi Birds. The songs reflect the writers' awareness of and concern for the world around them. Issues are raised in the 14 tracks include women's rights, the environment,
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Daintree Web page (http:/ /) — Daintree in north Queensland is an amazing biological treasure that, despite having been declared a World Heritage Area, may soon be threatened. There is talk of a
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To Sappho, My Sister: Lesbian Sisters Write About Their LivesEdited by Lee FlemingSpinifex, 1995. 243 pp., $22.95Reviewed by Jen Crothers This collection from around the world, predominantly Canada and the US, documents the lives of lesbian sisters.
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Chomsky's PoliticsBy Milan RaiVerso, 1995. 225 pp., $95 (hb), $34.95 (pb)Reviewed by Alex Bainbridge Noam Chomsky is one of the most popular figures to whom a broad range of radicals look for contemporary political analysis. Large audiences at his
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Broken ArrowStarring John Travolta, Christian Slater and Samantha MathisDirected by John WooReviewed by Norm Dixon The scuttlebutt is that the United States Air Force refused all cooperation in the making of Broken Arrow. A good sign I thought, given
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China: No one is safe — Political repression and abuse of power in the 1990sPublished by Amnesty InternationalMarch 1996, 121pp, $12Reviewed by Eva Cheng No one is safe provides considerable information on how bad the human rights situation is in