As 91̳ Weekly goes to press, the United States is preparing further bombing and missile attacks on Iraq. This has done little, however, to stop the establishment media in Australia parroting US President Bill Clinton's claim
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The right to choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is under heavy attack again from conservative forces. On September 11 the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference and Australian Catholic Health Care Association were admitted as "friends of
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Hemp rally SYDNEY — Around 150 supporters of the legalisation of hemp gathered in Prince Alfred Park on September 12 to hear speakers and music as part of a national day of action organised by HASH (Honest Australians Supporting Hemp), National
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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 Thursday, 7pm. Access News — Melbourne community TV, Channel 31,
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The federal government has already eliminated more than 15,000 jobs in the Australian Public Service (APS). At least another 10,500 are to go by June 1997. Telstra workers are staring at job losses on a similar scale. Faced with
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Senate and the budget The question of the senate and blocking the budget has been raised in the Victorian Student movement. At the meeting of the Student Unionism Network on the 10th of September, the International Socialist Organisation moved that
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Pedro Lay arrived in Australia at the end of 1994 as an asylum seeker from East Timor. He was just 12 years old when the Indonesian army invaded East Timor in 1975 and, like other students at his high school, he joined Unetin, a
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Sectarians help HowardOver the recent round of CPSU mass meetings, militant opposition to the losing approach of the Wendy Caird leadership would have acquired more authority in the minds of disillusioned and angry CPSU members
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GeekGirl () — Self-described as: "A fair dinkum attempt at engaging the reader/spectator to think about issues of media ownership, control and autonomy. We have a blast with: Jayne Loader
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PERTH — A draconian new censorship bill, which has already been passed by the WA Legislative Assembly, is almost certain to become law, given the Court government's majority in both houses. Perth lawyer Barry Ebedes said the
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Last week many were outraged when government funds, via the Australian Council of the Arts, were used to finance the reviewers writing for the newspaper lift-out, the Australian's Review of Books. Among those criticising the move were smaller
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Despite the ongoing crackdown against PRD (People's Democratic Party) members and other pro-democracy activists, when John Howard meets with President Suharto this week, you can be sure that promoting Australian business interests
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EAG contesting elections CANBERRA — The main tickets running in this year's Students Association elections at the Australian National University include Labor and Liberal Party tickets and the Education Action Group (EAG). The EAG consists of
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The death of John Pat, in the western Pilbara town of Roebourne in Western Australia on the night of September 28, 1983, sparked the Aboriginal deaths in custody campaign. This year's commemorative march in Sydney, on September 28, will focus on the
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Resistance runs for NUS delegatesNEWCASTLE — Resistance is running a team of three candidates for NUS delegates from Newcastle Uni. "Students are facing major attacks from the Howard government, and we would benefit
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Twenty years ago, when I was part of a team working on a major project with the Wool and Textile Division of CSIRO in Geelong, I first heard of the idea of robotic sheep shearing. Having watched shearers at work, I understood a
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SYDNEY — Elections for the Sydney Uni Student Representative Council are under way. In the context of the potential for a big education campaign, Resistance has decided to run in the elections in order to build the
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Costing too much "usury n.,pl.-ries. 1.The act or practice of lending money at excessive interest rates. 2. An exorbitant or illegal [or inhumane] rate of interest." — Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary Be especially mindful of those who
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Amanda Vanstone, (Lib) Employment Minister: Oops! Sorry. There I go again. You know me. I'm as blunt as they come. But hang on. Don't go rushing to judge us too harshly now. It's still early days. We are burdened with this terrible — truly
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Nearly 25% of the Australian population lives in rented accommodation. Almost all will be affected by the federal government's proposal to slash $500 million (50%) from its housing budget. The government
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CANBERRA — At the centre of a heated debate here in the campaign against the Liberals' attacks on education has been the question of whether or not students should occupy the ANU chancellery building. Members of the
News
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Anger over racismBRISBANE — Racist comments made last week by Queensland Liberal Party backbencher Ted Radke have caused anger among students at MacGregor State High School. Radke told school cleaners in his electorate that
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Hindmarsh Island bridge campaign plansADELAIDE — Aboriginal and community activists opposed to the construction of the Hindmarsh Island bridge are planning some high-profile actions for November. A public meeting is scheduled
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Tasmanian case goes to High CourtOn September 10, Tasmanian activists took their campaign to repeal state anti-gay laws to the High Court. The court has been requested to hear a case which will seek to declare the laws invalid on
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PERTH — On the afternoon of September 6 Mark Allen, an organiser with the WA Builders Labourers, Painters and Plasterers' Union (WABLPPU), fell to his death on a demolition site in East Perth. Mark was 23 years old. The grief
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Victorian union leaders defend membersMELBOURNE — A Victorian branch meeting of the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union on September 5 unanimously endorsed a state
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CANBERRA — A series of meetings of Community and Public Sector Union members in the national office of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs last week discussed the federal government's attack on the
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Tax management threatens staffMELBOURNE — Management in the Australian Taxation Office is trying to intimidate staff into breaking bans imposed in response to a plan called "ATO Business 2000", which involves job cuts, massive
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The Coalition government is attempting to squeeze maximum political mileage from the adoption of a resolution it submitted to the UN General Assembly on September 11. The resolution called for the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban
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CPSU NSW branch electionsWOLLONGONG—Elections for the NSW branch of the CPSU (a federation, on paper only, of the national CPSU and state public service unions included in the State Public Services Federation) were conducted
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Night exams for studentsHOBART — Students at the University of Tasmania have been avidly collecting signatures on a petition against a proposal to shorten the exam period from three weeks to two, forcing students to take some
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Public housing coalition formedMELBOURNE — One thousand people joined a demonstration here on September 11 against the Howard government's plan to decimate public housing. The demonstration was organised by a
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BRISBANE — With election fever high at the University of Queensland, there have been a number of discussions about the way forward for the campaign against the Liberals' attacks on education. It is important to unite to fight
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Stop press The Australian Bureau of Statistics last week released a study which showed that rich people were more likely to have a personal computer at home than poor people. The story made the front page of the Financial Review. No beating
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SYDNEY — The Waterloo incinerator in Sydney's south-east is still operating despite increasing pressure to have it shut down from the state government, the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and other critics. The
Analysis
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As the Coalition government gears up to push its budget through the Senate, the strategy of the ALP in opposition is becoming clearer. The budget process has allowed an increased public profile for the ALP, attempting to win back some political
World
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A large area around Greenham Common air base in Britain was seriously contaminated by radioactivity at some time before 1961, according to a article in the July 20 New Scientist. Greenham Common was the site of a long occupation
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Oil company sued over Burma The US oil company Unocal is being sued to block construction of a US$1.2 billion pipeline in Burma. The Centre for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, on behalf of the Federation of Burmese Trade Unions, charges the
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SWAPO and the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) were close allies during the struggle for liberation. These links date back to the early 1970s, when exiled SWAPO leaders in Tanzania established the Secretariat for Labour.
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Sandinistas gain in Nicaraguan poll The latest poll of Nicaraguan voter intentions by the Costa Rican polling firm CID-Gallup shows former president Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) gaining on the right-wing former
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In August 1983, Soviet fighter planes shot down a South Korean civilian airliner which, on a flight from Alaska to Seoul, went hundreds of kilometres off course and passed over restricted Siberian territory. The event was portrayed by the US Reagan
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An important local development in the current election campaign is the decision by a striking Detroit newspaper worker to run as an independent labour candidate for Michigan State Representative from the 32nd District, north of
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People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists I Gusti Astika Anom and Wilson were captured by the police in Java's third largest city, Semarang, on September 9. Five other PRD activists were caught with them but have since been released. Wilson and Anom
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A two-year study of dioxin in the US Great Lakes has concluded that 86% of dioxin sources could be eliminated without economic sacrifice, and possibly with economic gains. The study was conducted by a team of researchers at
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A part of Israel's strategy to make its exclusive control of Jerusalem a fait accompli is the pressure being applied for all Palestinian Authority activity to cease in the city as a precondition to Israeli withdrawal from
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The hypocrisy of the US government's claim that its cruise missile barrage on Iraq was to protect the rights of the Kurdish people in the US-proclaimed "safe haven" in northern Iraq is more obvious than ever following Washington's
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MOSCOW — The dramatic worsening of President Boris Yeltsin's health has caused the crisis of power to intensify. When an autocrat is sick, sharp struggles break out in the ruler's entourage. Every grouping tries to seize and
Culture
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Out of My Mind: From Flower Power to the Third Millennium: the Seventies, the Eighties and the NinetiesBy Richard NevillePenguin, 1996. 216 pp., $16.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon Take one ageing hippie from the '60s, add three decades of
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If you have attended a left political event around Sydney in the last eight years, you almost certainly have heard PETER HICKS singing his and GEOFF FRANCIS' songs about Bougainville, East Timor, Sydney's airport noise, plus working-class songs which
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Body of EvidenceThe One Extra CompanySt George's Hall, 354 King St, NewtownUntil September 29Reviewed by Lisa Macdonald If you, like me, are into good crime fiction, then try to get along to Body of Evidence. Celebrating 20 years of performance
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The Cuban Excludables. The Cutting EdgeSBSTuesday, September 24, 8.30pm (8 SA)Previewed by Jill Hickson This is a very moving portrayal of human rights abuses in the United States against Cuban immigrants who were among those in the Mariel boat lift
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Dole Coat They made them wear their coats of pride, dyed as mark of "shame", symbol of outstretched hand of poverty and loss. Worn on fields of death, splattered with courage's blood and hardship's grime, a badge of honour
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The Future Eaters: A First Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and PeoplesBy Dr. Tim FlanneryReed Books, 1994. 421 pp. with illustrations, maps, references, $29.95Reviewed by Connie Frazer Forget the petty tales of kings and dictators. This
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Plaza Del Chelmsford In the Plaza del Mayo in Argentina, The Mothers of the "disappeared" stand With their white hankies in their hand, And say: "We want our loved ones Back as they were." Mary, the mother of Jesus, Did see her beloved
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Coke or Pepsi It's Coke or Pepsi for government you pick, One of them's named Michael, the other one's Mic. No matter who you in the Lodge do stick It's Coke or Pepsi you get to pick. Vote for Sprite in the Upper House Or why don't you
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Hoop DreamsDirected by Steve JamesProduced by Peter Gilbert and Federick MarxAt Greater Union CinemasReviewed by James Goodman Arthur Agee and William Gates were ordinary black US 12-year-olds when the Hoop Dreams film crew entered their lives.
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The author Jack London is remembered — if he is remembered at all — for his wildlife adventure stories. But there is another dimension to Jack London. I can remember that my mother was greatly affected by his book The
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True Stories: Black Gold, Kindred SpiritsABC TVThursday, September 26, 9.30pm (9SA)Previewed by Jennifer Thompson The ABC is bringing an important slice of working-class political history to lounge rooms in the story of the Wonthaggi coal miners in