Politicians' perks shows corruption is systemicThe fall-out from the so-called "Colston affair" reveals the massive gap between the lifestyles of politicians of all stripes and those of the vast majority of working
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Murder investigation sparks backlash against womenPERTH — The disappearance of one woman, and the murder of two others from Claremont, a wealthy suburb, over the past 15 months has sparked a regressive "safety" campaign.
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Ron Guignard (GLW #270) takes issue with my argument that "a society free of the profit motive . . . can be built only on the basis of abundance of the things people consume" (from my critique of Ted Trainer's The Conserver
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The lack of financial accountability of MPs revealed by the "Colston affair" highlights the fact that — contrary to the myths perpetuated by establishment political commentators in the capitalist media and in academia, as well
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With preparations for the May 8 joint staff-student national day of action well under way, indications are very positive for a considerable student campaign against the implementation of fees and cuts on campus. In the four weeks
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Four Penan tribes people were arrested and tortured by the Malaysia police field force on March 13, when they were trying to negotiate with the logging company, Samling, near their village at Long Kerong. One, Jangin Jalong, was beaten at the
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Them and usThem and us My political opinions are well known. I have seen them many a time inscribed on walls and heard them shouted with much bravado during street marches. I, who have for many years presided over the destinies
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Legalising discriminationLegalising discrimination Outraged that unmarried women and lesbians have exercised their rights under law, right-wing groups are arguing for amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act to legalise discrimination in
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As part of a drive to channel money away from the public sector and into private hands, the government is looking for further ways to cut funding to higher education. After cutting $2.3 billion from university operating grants
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The Wallis Inquiry recommendations, released on April 9, head back towards the days of 19th century unfettered capitalism. While Wallis recognises that bank profitability is already in the "middle to upper range", the thrust of
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The changes to Medicare already introduced by the Howard government include slashing new doctors' access to Medicare provider numbers, abolition of rebates for reversal of sterilisation, reduced rebates for some IVF procedures and for psychiatric
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Students win reinstatement of councilSYDNEY — It seems university vice-chancellors country-wide have learned a valuable lesson from the national day of action on March 26. The effectiveness of both the rally and the
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Events like the mass suicides of cult members in California recently are symptoms of an acute social sickness of extreme conditions of human alienation. There are other, more "ordinary", examples of this alienation in our daily lives. These
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Internet industry jitters over government billThe Australian internet service industry is concerned about its future, following the passage of federal telecommunications legislation in late March. The legislation, which
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After the end of World War II, everybody predicted that the capitalist economic system would be coming to an almost instant sticky end. The world Communist parties knew it; the US establishment feared it and ran an intensive
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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, 10pm, and Saturday, 7pm. Access News — Melbourne
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Sexist language? I am writing in response to Lisa Macdonald's comments on gender-specific terminology in "What's in a name?" (GLW #268). She was correct in pointing out that "language reflects rather than shapes reality". I also agree that it
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Latin American Action launched BRISBANE — Australian Aid for El Salvador organised a public meeting on April 12 to acknowledge the success of the FMLN in the March 16 general election in El Salvador and to launch a new organisation.
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The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney prompted an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on March 3 to pose the question, "What's the point of being gay?". Increased acceptance in some workplaces, more mass advertising aimed
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The following is an abridged version of a statement circulated in the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union (NTEU) concerning the recent agreement between the Melbourne University administration and the uni's NTEU branch, which links a 12%
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Hell no!Hell no! By Brandon Astor Jones "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." — Steve Biko (1946-1977). BAJ: What is your name? BLD: Bobby Lee Daniels. BAJ: Can you tell
News
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UWA to remain affiliated to NUSPERTH — A referendum at the University of Western Australia April 14-16 has resulted in the UWA Student Guild remaining affiliated to the National Union of Students. The resounding"yes"
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Anti-racism movement formed in Adelaide ADELAIDE — On April 9, an inaugural general meeting established the Celebrating Diversity Coalition (CDC) to replace the Anti-Racism Alliance. Attending were more than 30 anti-racism activists and
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Women workers threatened by industrial lawsMELBOURNE — One hundred striking workers at Michaelis Bayley Footwear in Footscray, manufacturers of Homy Ped shoes, have been subjected to police violence and legal threats
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Unions confront MIM over safetyBRISBANE — The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the electricians' union are locked in a battle over safety with Mount Isa Mines at the central Queensland Oaky Creek
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Public meeting on Aboriginal rightsADELAIDE — The federal government assault on native title is the endgame of the assault on Aboriginal rights since European invasion, a public meeting on the Wik debate and Aboriginal
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Clyde refinery flare worries residents@box intro = SYDNEY — Residents living near the Shell oil refinery in Clyde, in Sydney's west, are sceptical about management claims that a much larger, brighter and noxious than usual
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NEWCASTLE — Well-known environmentalist Dr David Suzuki addressed a packed house here on April 14. Some 1300 people turned up to hear him give the first Citizenship and Governance lecture. Suzuki began with a grim assessment
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HOBART — Tasmania's Legislative Council has finally agreed, in principle, to repeal the state's notorious laws which make homosexuality an imprisonable offence. At the time of writing, however, the upper house was still debating
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SYDNEY — National Challenge, the umbrella group embracing rank-and-file activists within the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), is offering members an alternative leadership in the upcoming national union elections. The
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Why would you need more than one? "There is a limit to how many blank cheques you can ask for." — James Sensenbrenner, chair of the US House of Representatives' science committee, worried about cost overruns on the US$30 billion international
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Kennett to privatise public transportMELBOURNE — The Kennett government has announced plans to sell off the entire state public transport system by the end of next year, creating six companies — two rail, two tram, a
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University delegation in East TimorMELBOURNE — A meeting between East Timorese guerilla leader David Alex and a delegation of Melbourne students in February was filmed by University Students for East Timor (USET). Six
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WA parliamentary gallery occupiedPERTH — For a few hours on the night of April 15, parliament for once reflected its title as "the house of the people", when 120 trade unionists armed with banners, balloons and their
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Victorian CPSU leader opposes strike actionMELBOURNE — Sue Mountford, secretary of the Victorian branch of the Community and Public Sector Union, argued against setting a date for strike action in support of the union's
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Pollution law exemption condemned@box text intro = BRISBANE — Environmentalists have slammed a plan by the Queensland government to exempt the mining giant Mount Isa Mines from stricter national air quality standards to be
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Brisbane anti-budget rally plannedBRISBANE — A rally and march to protest against the Howard government's cutbacks and anti-worker policies has been set for budget day, Tuesday, May 13, at 12.30pm in King George Square. The
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Solidarity forums for BougainvilleCANBERRA — On April 14, around 45 people attended a public meeting and film showing organised by the Bougainville Freedom Movement. The film graphically detailed the environmental
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NTEU supports national day of actionSYDNEY — Meetings of the NTEU branches at Sydney and New South Wales Universities last week decided to support the National Day of Action on May 8 to defend public education. A meeting of
Analysis
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Hands off native title! @box text intro = Politics and law have come a long way since the High Court rejected terra nullius in the 1992 Mabo case. Given the distance travelled, it seems remarkable that the prime minister should threaten that
World
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Sudan rebels on the move againAfter a brief lull, rebels opposed to the Arab-chauvinist regime in Khartoum have resumed their offensive in the south of Sudan. In early March, Sudan Peoples Liberation Army fighters liberated
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Another nuclear accident in JapanYet another nuclear accident struck Japan on April 14, and the nuclear operating authority once again failed to report it to the central government immediately for possibly crucial emergency
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Between 10,000 and 15,000 PDI supporters massed on the streets of Jakarta outside the parliament on April 15, demanding that the elected leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Sukarnoputri, be allowed to participate in the May 29
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The subversion trials of 14 Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) activists are now dragging into their fourth month and the Indonesian government is moving quickly to bring them to a "conclusion". On March 26, the Jakarta daily
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Reprinted here is an abridged version of Pam Corkery's February 20 maiden speech to the New Zealand parliament. Corkery left her 19-year career in broadcasting to stand for the Alliance in the October general election. Her media career — in both
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Swept from the scene in 1991 along with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Communist League of Youth (in its Russian abbreviation, Komsomol), was later reconstituted as a political youth group aligned with the Communist Party of the Russian
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'Odd couple' in South African water privatisation planThe Congress of South African Trade Unions has hit out at moves to privatise parts of South Africa's water supply, saying it would "never be acceptable". A surprising
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New US nukes targeted at Third WorldThe US government is stepping up the technological and nuclear arms race against the Third World. In early April, six radar-evading B-2 "Stealth" bombers were officially commissioned into
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Kinshasa paralysed by general strikeMillions heeded the call by the moderate opposition to turn the Zaire capital into a ville morte (dead city) on April 14 and 15. Workers, shopkeepers, market vendors, students and even the
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Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on April 17 rounded up enough votes in parliament to pass legislation forcing the landowners in Okinawa to renew leases of the 12 US bases when they expire on May 14. More than 3000 landowners
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Belgian troops tortured, murdered SomalisLeaked photographs and eyewitness accounts reveal that elite Belgian paratroopers assigned to the United Nations US-led "Operation Restore Hope" mission in Somalia in 1993 engaged in
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After 50 hours of negotiations, on April 11 the US and the European Union reached a tentative agreement on the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996, known as "Helms- Burton". The EU is suspending until October 15 a complaint it brought
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London march for social justiceLONDON Around 10,000 people marched here on April 12 to call for social justice and to expose the anti-working class pro-big business policies of John Major's Conservatives, the Liberal
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On March 31, Chandrashekar Prasad and Shyam Narain Yadav were shot dead in the north Bihar district town of Siwan while addressing street corner meetings to build a strike called by the Communist Party of India Marxist
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Indian United Front government fallsIndian parliamentary politics has again entered a situation of uncertainty after the Congress party withdrew its support for Prime Minister Deve Gowda and his United Front
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Spratly talks in stalemate China and Vietnam's April 9-11 negotiations in Beijing over the disputed ownership of the Spratly Islands ended in stalemate. Tension rose again after Beijing set up an oil rig in March which Vietnam strongly protested
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MOSCOW — Want to make a pile in post-Soviet Russia? Now that privatisation is mostly complete, the readiest ways of having big roubles drop into your lap belong to the past. But riches can still be yours. The Russian
Culture
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The Fertility of Objects and other playsBy Raimondo CorteseGriffin Theatre Company, The Stables, Sydney Review by Brendan Doyle "A compelling trilogy about the dangers of seduction." Sounds promising, doesn't it? But what we get from Raimondo
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The Cabaret From HellWritten and Directed by Terry BurganThe Dispensary Cafe, Sydney Review by Brendan Doyle The Devil's ratings are down. His cabaret show needs a lift, while God's Sunday gigs are sold out for eternity. How long can the
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New play by Frank Otis MELBOURNE—As part of his recovery from a traumatic background of sexual assault and psychiatric illness, Frank Otis wrote his first play, And now I lay me down to sleep, which was produced last year and played to packed
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Chilean band a hit in Brisbane@box text intro = BRISBANE — Chilean band Illapu transformed the staid Performing Arts Complex Concert Hall into a Chilean carnival on April 13. The seven-piece ensemble left Chile,
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Suffrage Days: Stories From The Women's Suffrage MovementBy Sandra Stanley HoltonRoutledge, 1996. 309 pp., $39.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon The movement for the women's vote early in this century, argues Sandra Holton in Suffrage Days, is
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A grand sweep of history and class conflict World's Endby T. Coraghessan BoyleBloomsbury, 1996. 456 pp., $16.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon If the obsessively introspective focus of most novels these days either puts you to sleep or has you
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Get on the BusDirected by Spike LeeWritten by Reggie Rock BythewoodWith Charles Dutton, Ossie Davis, Andre Braugher, DeAundre Bonds, Thomas Byrd, Gabriel Casseus, Albert Hall, Harry Lennix, Hill Harper, Bernie Mac, Wendell Pierce, Roger Guenveur
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Children of the Resistance: The current situation in East Timor as seen through the eyes of two Australian touristsBy Rebecca Winters and Brian KellyAustralians for a Free East Timor, 1996. 36 pp., $6 Review by Jon Lamb Children of the