What does it mean to be a feminist? There are well-known women who have "made it" in a man's world. Their achievements both help to dispel the myths of male supremacy and encourage other women to challenge the second-class status assigned by this
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... and ain't i a woman?: Taking safety seriously Victorian Premier Joan Kirner is so outraged by recent violent attacks against women in public places she is considering a range of initiatives to protect women. These are said to include
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Alissar Gazal came to Australia from Lebanon in the early '70s. She is currently active in the Bring the Frigates Home Coalition in Sydney. "My first step towards recognising myself as a feminist probably occurred when I suddenly realised that
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Born in Fiji, Asha Ramzan is a qualified clinical nurse educator. She has worked at the Newcastle Working Women's Centre running a counselling service for women. Active in the women's movement for many years, Asha is currently involved in the
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One of Hobart's most vocal feminist activists is Kath Gelber. Kath has been involved with women's groups both on and off campus. She is also a member of the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance. "For me, being a feminist means getting
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In The Hidden Face of Eve, Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi cautions Western women against contrasting their situation with that of women in the Arab world and acquiring a "feeling of superior humanity, a glow of
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Monica Harte is a tram driver and job delegate for the ATMOEA in Melbourne. She played a leading role during the 1989-90 tramways dispute and ran as an independent candidate in the Thomastown by-election in February 1990. Beginning in 1979, Monica
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What did the Gulf War achieve? The liberation of Kuwait? The triumph of democracy over dictatorship? A safer, more equitable and peaceful world? It may be too early to draw a final balance sheet, but some of the most lasting effects
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"President George Bush has urged alternatives to abortion, such as adoption, and said that the easy availability of abortions in the United States challenged the basic value Americans placed on life. He urged Americans to turn to
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I remember being at a Palm Sunday march in Perth in the early 1980s and coming across a group of very brightly clad women who were chanting and banging tambourines. As we were marching, a male cop on a motorbike came alongside and
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Natalie Mikkelsen studies arts/law at Monash University and is a member of the Monash Greens as well as the Women's Collective. She has also participated in the Aboriginal Legal Service and the movement against the Gulf War. "Feminism describes
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Correction A word was omitted from Terry Flew's article on the antiwar movement in last week's 91̳, changing the sense. Referring to the movement, the sentence said, "I hope it is limited", which should have read, "I hope its future is
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James Basle How can an organisation purporting to represent students fail to take a clear stand on a major issue of concern to students — and, indeed, to the whole country? Although the Gulf War was preceded by a five-month build-up, it
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Connie Fraser joined the Women's Action Coalition in 1972 and has been active in the women's movement ever since. She also writes poetry and has had one book, Other Ways of Looking, published. "Feminism is not just relevant — it's basic to
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With the price of oil set to rise dramatically worldwide, coupled with current environmental concerns, it might be time for Australia to have a serious look at alternative fuels. Australia currently imports about 250,000
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In October 1988, Kerry Browning was arrested and charged with bombing cars from the South African and US embassies in Canberra. Despite the devotion of massive resources by the police and ASIO, they have still to come up with any serious evidence
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Well, a tragic personal week with some devastating news from the tax department. Yep, the tax department decided it wouldn't tax race course winnings. Now why should this upset Lucky Kev, I hear you asking. It's obvious, isn't it?
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An undeserved sentence to povertyPart of the recession we had to have which hasn't received much attention in the "mainstream" media is the increasingly harsh treatment of unemployed people by the government. Singled out for
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Lara Pullen first became involved in politics in 1986 when she was 17 years old and living in Cooma, NSW. Since then she has moved to Canberra and has worked in rape crisis and domestic violence centres and in the community housing sector and has
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Mina O'Shea is a year 12 student at Sydney Girls High. A founding member of Secondary Students Against the War, she is also active in the Environmental Youth Alliance, Sydney High Environment Group and Resistance. "When I was in kindergarten, our
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Message of support [The following message was sent to the 91̳ launch in Melbourne on March 2.] Like most political activists, I have long lamented the lack of a good, solid left-based publication here in Australia tackling the important
News
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Peace Camp a 'unique experiment'BRISBANE — The Gulf Peace Camp, which ended its stay 2 km from the Iraqi-Saudi Arabian border on January 28, was "an amazing and unique experiment in non-violent struggle", camp member Jerry Smith
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SYDNEY — From Friday July 12 to Sunday July 14 women from all round Australia will gather here to attend a National Lesbian Conference at the University of Technology. Clare Gallagher from the organising committee hopes that up to a
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Illawarra Steelers and State Rugby League player Rod Wishart and women's surf champion Jenny Gill were among the 190 participants in the inaugural Swim for Guatemala in Wollongong on February 23. Jointly oragnised by the Committee in Solidarity with
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Aborigines claim Cape York landBRISBANE — A furore broke out in Queensland when it was discovered that Aborigines are seeking more than 60 million hectares of Cape York land (including the proposed Cape York space base site)
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BRISBANE — Fifteen months after the election of the first state Labor government in 33 years, women's abortion rights are still outlawed, termination of pregnancy being the only medical procedure controlled by the Criminal
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Protests slam Gulf 'allies'BRISBANE — Popular opposition to the US-led war against Iraq was expressed in a rally and march here on Sunday, February 19, sponsored by the Gulf Action Coalition. Feature speaker at a rally in the
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Carpenters union leadership in doubtMELBOURNE — The leadership of the Victorian branch of the Association of Carpenters and Joiners has been changed twice in the last few weeks following revelations that large sums of money have
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The days are now shorter in Kuwait. Sometimes in early afternoon the sun is blocked out by clouds of black smoke from the hundreds of burning oil wells. Kuwaiti Oil officials estimate that it might take up to four years to put out
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MELBOURNE — Conditions for workers at Shell's Geelong plant are to worsen seriously under proposals put forward late in February by the plant Award Restructuring Steering Committee. The steering committee was made up of
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Peace, it's wonderful "The Prime Minister welcomed yesterday the suspension of hostilities in the Gulf and made it clear Australia expected to play a big role in the lucrative reconstruction of Kuwait ... "Mr Hawke was consulting senior
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An Australian military official helped cover up the involvement of Australian-supplied Iroquois combat helicopters in the brutal execution of six Bougainvilleans by PNG troops in February last year, according to the second part of a
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Secondary students denounce US warMELBOURNE — About 100 people attended a rally outside the GPO called by Secondary Students Against the Gulf War on Friday, March 1, to highlight that, for the people of the
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PERTH — The state government's plans for tourist development of Rottnest Island are meeting determined opposition from Aboriginal people are fighting to protect burial sites and to turn the old jail into a museum. From 1838
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PERTH — "Equity, Equality and Participation" was the theme of the inaugural Trades and Labor Council annual conference. Held days, February 15-16, the conference was a new and welcome concept for a union movement lacking any
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BRISBANE — Women on campus here are fighting to maintain services and rights that are under attack. The women's rights area at the University of Queensland is threatened by a student executive that has
Analysis
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One side effect of Australian involvement in the Gulf War hasbeen the vicious attacks on the independence of the ABC. ABC chairperson Bob Somervaille's February 27 announcement of plans for anexternal panel to review complaints against the national
World
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The World Council of Churches wound up its mammoth seventh assembly in Canberra on February 20 without discussing or taking a position on East Timor. The WCC's silence on the issue, after its loud and commendable protests on the
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A humble 37-year-old former parish priest is Haiti's president. Survivor of five assassination attempts, repudiated by the Catholic church hierarchy, expelled from the Salesian order, Jean Bertrand Aristide amply defeated Marc
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MOSCOW — The first thing that struck Dr Yelena Shomina about Anzhero-Sudzhensk was that the snow was black. A geographer, she was in the Kuzbass region — Western Siberia's "Ruhr Valley" — early in December to attend a
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BERLIN — Nationalism has had a frightening upsurge in many European countries in the wake of the collapse of the Eastern bloc. Germany is no exception, and fear is widespread that not all of the "evil spirits" of 50 years ago have
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The following statement was released by the Sydney office of the African National Congress on February 24. Should South Africa be readmitted to the international sporting family? The ANC is of the opinion that sporting sanctions imposed against
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In this second part of an interview with Steve Painter and Jim Percy, Soviet Socialist Party member Boris Kagarlitsky discusses the role of democratic issues and demands in Soviet politics today.
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In Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, women's role in society is undergoing a re-evaluation as profound as that which took place in the late 1940s and '50s, when women were brought en masse into the job of constructing socialism. TRACY SORENSEN
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MATSUI YAYORI is a journalist and co-founder of the Asian Women's Association, which is conducting a program on Women and Development to raise the consciousness of people in Japan on the realities of women in other Asian countries. Matsui is the
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Women's problems in Nicaragua stem largely from the country's poverty. Fifty years of military dictatorship ensured that the majority of women were excluded from all aspects of public life. While the Sandinista government encouraged
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While the world's attention was focussed on the carnage in the Middle East, on February 23 the Thai government was overthrown by the country's military forces. Many outside Thailand reacted with something of a yawn, saying
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GREAT LAKES, USA — A fire/explosion at the Chemical Waste Management facility on Stony Island in the Calumet River, near Chicago, around 12:30 a.m. on February 13 broke the door seals on the kilns burning hazardous waste and released undisclosed
Culture
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I had one too — an oral history of abortion in South Australia before 1970 by Barbara Baird is a study that grew out of the public debate about a private member's bill introduced (and narrowly defeated) in South Australia in
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SYDNEY — Jane Mitchell is an escapologist. She earns her living escaping from a laundry sack tied securely with 15 metres of rope by volunteers. "To be tied in a dirty smelly laundry sack is hell on earth", she said after
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SYDNEY — A world first for women is taking place in an electric purple office in the inner city suburb of Glebe. The Women's Economic Think Tank, or WETTANK, has been set up by a group of women with expertise in economics to
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Leningrad Cowboys Go America Directed by Aki Kaurismaki Academy Twin, Sydney Reviewed by Kim Spurway This is a quirky, offbeat comedy that may not appeal to everyone. It is the story of the Leningrad Cowboys, a Finnish band trying to break into
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Dances With Wolves Directed by Kevin Costner Staring Kevin Costner Reviewed by Jacqui Kavanagh Set in the 1860s, Dances With Wolves offers a refreshing alternative to the usual Hollywood stereotyping of indigenous Americans and glossing over of