As part of its effort to smash the MUA, the government has claimed that the situation on the docks is exceptional. With absurd stories about wharfies making huge salaries for doing nothing, it tries to convince workers in other
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Backlash, not harmony Could it be that, after decades of feminist campaigning for gender equality in work, Australian women no longer want to get out of the home, earn their own wages or test and increase their work skills? Between 1955 and
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The PM looked solemn. "It's time — much as I dislike that phrase — but it is clearly time to do the duty which our responsibility demands of us." He looked around the table at the seated businessmen, most of whom evaded his gaze.
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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. Ph 9565 5522. Access News —
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1968 was a momentous year for the left and the newly radicalising young people of the time, and a legendary year for the young rebels of today. A popular slogan was coined at the time: "We are the people our parents warned us about!"
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Since Australia's "night of nights" — the Logie television awards — current affairs and news programs of various television stations have been crowing about their Logie award-winning formula and presentation. It is precisely the formula nature
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"Following the long fight for the reinstatement of our men and the conclusion that has been reached, many of the women have been left feeling as though there is a huge emptiness in their lives. This outrageous and calculated
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Courts, governments attack right to protestIn a judgment which could have easily come from Jakarta rather than Melbourne, the Victorian Supreme Court on April 20 issued a draconian injunction against picket lines at the
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The destruction of life in the oceans has progressed farther than anyone had suspected, according to a new report in Science magazine (Daniel Pauly and others, "Fishing Down Marine Food Webs", Science Vol. 279, February 6, 1998).
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Anti-poisons campaign HOBART — A campaign is underway in Tasmania against the use of the chemicals 1080 and the triazines. These chemicals are used by logging corporations after clear-felling native forest and planting pine or eucalypt trees
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MUA's court victories a setback for HowardTaking advantage of a seemingly unlimited legal fund — legal expenses are a deduction from taxable income under Australian corporate law — Patrick Stevedores has appealed to
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[This is the abridged text of a paper distributed by the Democratic Socialist Party at the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference held in Sydney at Easter.] The economic crisis in Asia has exposed the myth that the so-called new industrialising countries
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Experience, not rhetoric By Brandon Astor Jones "Forty-four percent of Black teens who date said they [have] dated a White. Thirty-eight percent said they [have] dated a Hispanic, although, in this country, Whites overwhelmingly outnumber
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Aborigines challenge Century mine bridge BRISBANE — A temporary injunction halting a bridge providing access to the $1.2 billion Century Zinc mine, in far north Queensland, was lifted on April 15 by the Federal Court in Sydney. The case has been
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Police: allies of the working class?At an early morning visit to the Patrick picket line at Port Botany in Sydney, it was surprising to see so many supporters of the wharfies brave the rain and the cold to join the peaceful
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By Sarah Peartand Tom Flanagan Opposition continues to mount against the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine inside the Northern Territory's precious Kakadu National Park. Defying the clear opposition of the area's Aboriginal traditional owners, the
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Who's for waterfront reform? Recently, I had an opportunity to catch up with some professional stevedores at a city wine bar, whose name and location, for the moment, must remain a secret. They were not your standard blue-singlet-type docker,
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The real story Anybody present at the wharfies picket in Sydney is impressed by the amazingly powerful feeling of the place and the lack of colourful background in media reports — the grand old Sydney rock walls, the banners, the family meals and
News
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BRISBANE — Support for the sacked maritime workers and the MUA has grown stronger here over the last week with unionists and other members of the community mobilising at different events to protest against the government's and
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BRISBANE — Some of Australia's leading social change trainers will be here May 1-4 for the Queensland environment movement's first conference dedicated to training environmental and social change activists. The conference, hosted by the Queensland
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BRISBANE — The Brisbane Magistrates Court on April 22 banned a march by university students to Camp Solidarity and the MUA picket line at Fisherman Island. Although students agreed to 20 conditions set by the police, the magistrate
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Industrial action debated on South CoastWOLLONGONG — More than 200 union delegates on April 21 and 22 met to consider the waterfront dispute. The meetings voted almost unanimously to support the resolutions of the ACTU
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Philippines workers support wharfiesMANILA — More than 100 workers demonstrated outside the Australian embassy on April 24 in support of the sacked Patrick workers and demanding their immediate reinstatement with no loss in
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Just do it, Nike!SYDNEY — According to the footwear giant Nike's "Informed Consumer Update", Nike's factory workers in the Third World sometimes earn more than doctors and engineers in their countries. As well, Nike's policy of
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Could say that "I guess we still have some bugs to work out." — Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates, after the company's new Windows 98 system crashed during a demonstration at the Comdex Spring Computer Show in Chicago. Prefers secrecy "The
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Rally supports abortion rightsBRISBANE — Around 100 supporters of abortion rights rallied in the King George Square on April 24 as part of a national weekend of action for women's right to choose. The rally called on the
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MELBOURNE — Every day since the sacking of the Patrick workers, East Swanson docks have been filled with picketers. The largest picket line runs down Appleton Road and has become a festival of protest and solidarity. Information
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BRISBANE — Seventeen inmates from the 20-cell Maximum Security Unit (MSU) at the Woodford Correctional Centre in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland, refused food from April 4 in protest at conditions in the US-style
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WOLLONGONG — The slogan of the old Painters and Dockers Union — Touch one, touch all — will be the message carried on May Day by members of the Eric Wicker Defence Committee, which was launched on April 7 at a meeting of
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PERTH — Solidarity for the sacked maritime workers has been pouring in to the Fremantle picket line from fellow unionists, students and the broader community. Following the success of the workers' embassy established during last
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Sustainable Universities MonthThe National Union of Students' national environment department has named May "Sustainable Universities Month". A national campus-based campaign will highlight unsustainable university practices.
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BRISBANE — On April 21, the MUA sent out an urgent message for more people to join the Fisherman Island picket line to stop goods loaded with scab labour leave Patrick's port. Within two hours, around 500 people, mostly trade
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Destruction of native forests continuesOn April 20, 70 protesters gathered around Harris Daishowa's woodchipping mill in Eden, preventing 40 trucks from entering the mill. Thirteen arrests were made. The protest was part of a
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Police violence at Indonesia solidarity protestCANBERRA — On April 24, more than 150 students and solidarity activists travelled from NSW and Victoria to meet local activists at the Indonesian embassy for an emergency rally in
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By Jane Beckmannand Alison Dellit NEWCASTLE — Maritime Union members here employed by Patrick have a long struggle still ahead of them. Patrick's Newcastle manager, Chris O'Brien, has said repeatedly that he would close the facility rather than
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PARRAMATTA — It may have been a long way from the picket lines on the Sydney wharves, but the police still felt the need to send a senior constable to monitor the situation as supporters of the MUA gathered at a public meeting
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HOBART — Hundreds of Maritime Union of Australia members and supporters marched through the streets of Hobart on April 23, then held a victory celebration as the news of the Federal Court's rejection of Patrick's appeal came
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As PM John Howard railed against the "use" of children on the MUA picket lines, toddlers were in the forefront of demonstrations outside public hearings of the Senate committee of inquiry into the impact of commonwealth government
Analysis
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Everybody is talking about waterfront reform — the federal government, Patrick Stevedores, P & O Ports, the ALP and the ACTU. "The need for waterfront reform" has been hammered in the media for so long that for several months, opinion polls have shown a majority of Australians supporting it.
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Editorial: The uses of racism The uses of racism Just over two years ago, John Howard coasted into office promising to make us all feel "comfortable and relaxed". That was only one of countless broken promises — all of which were intended to
World
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Iraqi Communists assassinated Two leaders of the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq (WCPI) — Shapoor Abdul-Kadir, a politburo member, and Kabil Adil, a member of the leadership committee of the party's Kurdistan organisation — were assassinated on
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Activist slams 'recolonisation' of PacificPowes Parkop is general secretary of Melanesian Solidarity (Melsol), an organisation that unites environmental, land rights, student and urban poor community activists throughout Papua New
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In recent years, many countries have been trying to denationalise a significant part of their public assets. Imperialist countries have been doing it, as have Russia, China and a number of Third World countries. That process speeded up
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Progressive party planned in South Korea In the face of escalating attacks against jobs and workers' rights following the International Monetary Fund bail-out last November, progressive forces in South Korea have come together to plan the creation
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Kazak leader on hunger strikeIn the last seven years in Kazakhstan, thousands of factories and state-owned enterprises have been closed, and unemployment has reached unprecedented levels. Those who are lucky enough to have a job
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PNG plans privatisation spree The Papua New Guinea government plans to sell many of its assets to reduce a 3.5 billion kina ($US 1.7 billion) debt. Prime Minister Bill Skate told Parliament last week the government would move to divest state-owned
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According to a statement circulated by the Rubina Jamil Working Women's Organisation (WWO) last week, on April 16 the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation offices in Kashmir Road, Guberg in Lahore were attacked without warning and demolished by
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Fiji's trade unions on April 23 staged a widely observed general strike to protest against the government's attempts to impose wage restraint and its refusal to stem the loss of jobs associated with economic "restructuring". More than
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At the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva, the British government — backed by the Australian and other governments — has been manoeuvring to prevent a strong resolution on East Timor from being adopted. On
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Last bastion of free speech under threatAnyone who has taken a taxi in Indonesia will tell you that taxi drivers are an endless source of information and the latest political gossip, and are a general "barometer" of public
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More than 50 Indonesian activists disappearedAccording to an April 14 report released at a media conference by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), 50 Indonesian pro-democracy activists have disappeared since January.
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On April 24, the Indonesian daily Kompas confirmed that Andi Arief, chairperson of Student Solidarity for Indonesian Democracy, which is affiliated to the outlawed People's Democratic Party, is now in police custody. Arief was
Culture
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A new direction for trade unionism Workers in a Lean WorldBy Kim MoodyVerso, 1997. 342 pp., $37.95. Review by David Bacon Last northern autumn, Italy's Party of the Democratic Left (PDS), which leads the country's new government of ex-Communists,
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A film of mesmerising power WalkaboutRestored original cutDirected by Nicholas RoegStarring David Gulpilil, Jenny Agutter, Lucien JohnScreening at Trak, Toorak, in Melbourne and Chauvel, Paddington, in Sydney this month. Then at Electric Shadows,
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Roll Away the StoneKelly Joe PhelpsRykodisc (through Festival) Review by Barry Healy Even the most avid fan of the slide blues guitar would have to admit it's a slightly surreal form of music. Strange timbres and harsh harmonics mix with the
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Left on-line WWWW (Wharfies on the World Wide Web) — The hottest topic on the web at the moment is the courageous struggle of the Maritime Union of Australia to defend its right to organise. Sites devoted to labour issues throughout the world
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We should thank Eric Singh (GLW #313) for reminding us that this year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. No doubt, as the drama industry cranks up, we are sure to be treated to a fact feast