Radio National Overnight: The Spirit of Musgrave Park — Explores the significance for Aboriginal people of this small inner city park in Brisbane. ABC Radio National, Thursday, April 25, 1.30am.
Island Exiles — Stories from the people of the
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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, 4pm-7pm. Access News — Melbourne community TV, Channel 31,
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May 1 is May Day, and since the 1890s workers have marched and rallied on this day to demand better wages and conditions. All around the world, people will take to the streets to show that despite the austerity drive by conservative governments in
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During the federal election campaign, the Liberals' announced that they intended to cut $180 million from social security payments over three years by cracking down on so-called social security fraud. In order to cut people off
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Dr GEORGE ADITJONDRO was the first Indonesian senior academic to speak out against the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, and is an outspoken advocate of democratic reform and environmental policy in Indonesia. In exile, he now teaches at the
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Mick Young Stories about Mick Young must be legion. Once a delegation fighting to save Port Adelaide Adult Matric (Saint Ethelton Behind the Wire to its inmates) from being chopped by the Bannon and Hawke governments was invited to put its spiel
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Bills gets his 15 minutes Isn't that ... ? You know. The one who was governor general. Bill Hayden. Oh, you know him. The one who made all the fuss. I saw him on telly with whatisname. It is. It's Bill Hayden, I tell you. I'm sure of it. He
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PERTH — Thirty Curtin University students attended a Resistance public meeting on the theme "Life under the Liberals" on March 28. The meeting was called in support of a National Day of Action against voluntary student
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[The pesticide endosulfan is used extensively to protect cotton crops in Australia. The following report from the Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service documents serious problems with endosulfan in the United States.] In August 1995,
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Two recent studies show that organochlorine chemicals are found in measurable concentrations worldwide, even in regions far removed from sources of pollution. Organochlorines, such as DDT, PCBs and dioxins, have been linked to a range of negative
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ADELAIDE — As part of its campaign for freedom in East Timor and an end to the Indonesian occupation, the socialist youth organisation Resistance held a speak-out in Gawler Place on April 12. Passers-by stopped to
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Women, work and choice Bettina Arndt has used the excuse of "debate" to launch an attack on feminism and to gloss over the social pressures that impose the bulk of domestic labour on women. In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on April 9,
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The merciless bombing of Lebanon by Israel has again, as in 1993, resulted in the flight of 500,000 people from their homes in the south, while hundreds have been killed and wounded. According to medical authorities nearly all are
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Howard uses 'the family' to attack women's rightsDuring the federal election campaign, John Howard declared that helping the family was one of the Coalition's key tasks. He said that the family was society's "key welfare unit".
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Indonesia's intention to go nuclear was made public as far back as 1992. But domestic and international concerns over issues such as safety, waste disposal and economic viability seemed at the time to have persuaded the government
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The "Democratic Socialism 96" conferences, held in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane over the Easter weekend, and in Perth, Darwin and Canberra the following weekend, were a great success. More than 500 people participated in a wide
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SYDNEY — Peter Perkins, a delegate from the Sydney sub-branch of the Public Transport Union (PTU), says that enterprise bargaining agreements have laid the basis for the corporatisation of the public transport system in New
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Queensland University occupied BRISBANE — Two hundred and fifty students occupied the student union offices at the University of Queensland on April 18 in response to the student union's failure to represent them, in particular the union
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New plays launched BRISBANE — Lucky Hearts cooperative theatre group is presenting a new venture in alternative theatre from April 25 to May 18 at 588 Stanley Street, Woolloongabba, opposite the Mater Hospital. Shadowboxing, a one-person
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We need your help "I would like to open up a place where people who are hungry could come and got a shower, a change of clothes and a good hot meal." — The Reverend R.B. Cottonreader Few things in this life can be more demoralising than
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The bosses' media have been having a field day since the election of the Coalition federal government. Whether the target is the unemployed or Aboriginal people, the formula is much the same: set up a soft target with a story
News
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SYDNEY — Ten thousand people demonstrated on April 20 against the renewed bombing and continued occupation of southern Lebanon by the Israeli government. The rally was organised by the Lebanese Australian Solidarity Committee with
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ADELAIDE — The former federal Labor government's agenda of developing closer links between industry and education has been consummated in a deal between a South Australian high school and AWA Defence Industries. The $30,000 deal
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While the Indonesian military regularly massacres dissidents in West Papua, East Timor and Aceh, and the PNG military is fighting a war against the people of Bougainville to defend the interests of Australian capital, Australian policy is to support
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MELBOURNE — Workers at the Campbellfield Nestle factory remain on the picket line after 12 weeks of being locked out. The workers belong to the confectioners division of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). Workers
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CANBERRA — As Kate Carnell, chief minister of the ACT, begged the Legislative Assembly for an extra $14.2 million to fix the hole in the 1995-96 ACT budget, unions considered whether to reimpose industrial action. During the last few
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BRISBANE — The decision to place the "Pinkenba Six" police officers on probation after an internal inquiry into their dumping of three Aboriginal boys at Pinkenba in May 1994 has been denounced by civil libertarians and the
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ADELAIDE — The South Australian parliament may take a step towards public accountability following a decision by the upper house to view details of contracts related to outsourcing. Last year, in a deal worth $700 million,
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MELBOURNE — The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has announced plans to close all but two of its regional offices. Regional offices are smaller offices located mainly in rural areas. Staff in these offices have been given the choice of
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SYDNEY — In a historic united action, NSW teachers from state schools, TAFE colleges, independent schools and Catholic schools are set to strike on April 23. The central demand of the strike is for a 12%
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PERTH — For the first time since its inception in 1987, the Network of Women Students of Australia's annual conference will be held here this year. The conference will be held at Edith Cowan University (Mt Lawley campus)
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PERTH — Passenger and freight rail services came to a halt on April 15 as train control and support staff covered by the Australian Services Union (ASU) walked off the job for 24 hours. The action was triggered by the state
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Ay, there's the point! "The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Ms Philippa Smith, is highly critical of the Government's decision to slash up to 30 per cent from her budget, saying it will compromise her capacity to scrutinise government agencies." —
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Industrial relations minister Peter Reith is refusing to talk numbers, but the Coalition government is clearly planning massive redundancies in the public service. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) believes that at least
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On April 17, ACT Green MLA Kerrie Tucker moved in the ACT Legislative Assembly to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 in the ACT. The Greens' move, the first attempt in Australia to introduce such legislation, is supported by
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Four major environment organisations have called for an inquiry into uranium mining in Kakadu National Park. The Australian Conservation, the Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth and the Environment Centre of the Northern
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A representative of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in Australia, Otto Ondawame, has called for the withdrawal of all Indonesian troops from West Papua (called Irian Jaya by Indonesia). He also criticised the Australian government for
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GEELONG — Wool scourers at E.P. Robinson are entering their eighth week on strike with no resolution to the dispute in sight. An unfair dismissal case in the Industrial Relations Commission on April 18 was inconclusive and
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BRISBANE — About 50 people attended a picket against racism outside the office of the federal minister for Aboriginal Affairs on April 16. The picket was called by members of the Community and Public Sector Union and endorsed by 20
Analysis
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As poverty, wars and systematic human rights abuses around the world continue to create thousands of new refugees every day, over the last few weeks the Coalition federal government has signalled moves to significantly restrict Australia's refugee
World
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SANTO DOMINGO — Four left-wing parties in the Dominican Republic united to form a new party called the Revolutionary Forces (FR) on February 27. Revolutionary politics have a strong tradition in the Dominican Republic. This unity
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Olfat Mahmoud, Director of the Women's Humanitarian Organisation in the Burj el Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in the southern outskirts of Beirut has reported repeated attacks on the heavily populated southern suburbs of Beirut, adjacent to the
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The mural along the back wall of the national office of the Dominican Communist Party is painted by prominent artist Silvano Lora. It depicts the people's history of the Dominican Republic. It starts with a portrait of the former
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NEW DELHI — "Gulamiya ab ham nahi bajai bo, aazadiya hamra ki bhave le" — We won't be slaves any more. We've come to like freedom. Drumming vigorously on the back of the truck and singing this Bhojpuri peasant song, 15
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ISTANBUL — The multinational oil company Shell has systematically polluted a huge underground reserve of drinkable water in an aquifer near the city of Diyarbakir in south-east Turkey, where up to 2 million people live, Greenpeace revealed at a
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SANTO DOMINGO — November 25 is observed in many Latin American countries as International Day Against Violence Towards Women. The date marks the anniversary of the assassination of the three "Butterflies": Minerva, Maria Teresa
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Communists in the Dominican Republic have won respect for being incorruptible in a society where politics and principles are bought and sold. This respect is shown in the most surprising ways. We were on our way to the closing
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At midnight on April 14, a force of Papua New Guinea Defence Force soldiers and members of the pro-PNG Bougainville resistance crossed into the Solomon Islands and raided the village of Kariki, according to reports reaching the
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Alliance offers New Zealanders a choice A national conference of the New Zealand Alliance was held at Easter in Wellington. Here we reprint major excerpts from Alliance leader JIM ANDERTON's speech to the conference. We joined the Alliance to
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MOSCOW — Back in 1990 and 1991, the suggestion would have seemed absurd. Five years into the future, politicians wanting to rise to high office would no longer be proclaiming themselves "democrats" and pronouncing anathemas on
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Workers join forces with Timor activistsReaders of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly have followed the struggle against the Indonesian military's occupation of East Timor for many years. But here in the US, this important struggle is not
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The Dominican Revolutionary Forces (FR) and the Camaa&241;ista Revolutionary Union are calling for a boycott of the national elections in May. The current president, JoaquÃn Balaguer, has been in power for 22 of the last 30
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MANILA — A March 27 meeting here of 301 factory-based union presidents, representing 76,634 union members, launched a campaign to increase the take-home pay of workers by demanding the scrapping of income tax on workers. The
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VIENNA — Cancer rates are up to 200 times higher than average in areas contaminated by radiation from the 1986 explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine, according to a Greenpeace report titled Chernobyl: 10 years after, the
Culture
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Higglety Biggledy CabaretBy ThrottleDispensary Cafe, 84 Enmore Rd, EnmoreWednesday nights at 8pm until May 8Reviewed by Brendan Doyle After performing at the '95 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the recent Adelaide Fringe, Throttle returns to Sydney for
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The good fight of Elvis and Marilyn in cyberspace A short story by Craig Cormick She altered my life. And when she found me, I was sitting alone in my room in my underpants, with a large file before me, hacking at my profile. It's true. It's all
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Taxi DriverDirected by Martin ScorseseFeaturing Robert de Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel and Cybill ShepherdDendy Cinema, Brisbane, from April 18Reviewed by Giovanna Castellani This year is the 20th anniversary of one of Martin Scorsese's greatest
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ALICE WALKER, the African-American writer, sent a letter regarding Cuba to US President Bill Clinton on March 13. It is reprinted here abridged. Dear President Clinton: Thank you very much for the invitation to the White House while I was in
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Chairman Mao — the Last EmperorDirected and produced by Jeremy BennettABC TV, Wednesday, May 1, 8.30pm (8 in SA)Reviewed by Eva Cheng Jeremy Bennett believes that a monstrous tyrant controlled China single-handedly for 27 years following the 1949