Venting my spleen
I cannot claim to possess oodles of imagination. But I have my moments. Sometimes I can envisage such bizarre delights that I can entertain myself for hours. Perhaps I really am a creative type person. An artist. A political
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An insider's view of the Maritime Union Until July 1998, BOB CARNEGIE was a branch organiser with the South Queensland branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). He was also a longtime member and former Queensland president of the Maritime
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Thirty years of scientific research have established that the most powerful predictor of human disease is economic inequality. The main public health problem of our time is growing inequality of income, wealth and status. The New York Times reported
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Virtually perfect? Reading about Webbie Tookay, the new "internet model", engineered to eradicate the need for "real" women to model clothes on the internet, I recalled a cartoon I saw many years ago when I was first noticing, and becoming
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They jail trade unionists in Indonesia Last week, 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's MAX LANE spoke to Indonesian labour leader DITA SARI, who was released from jail on July 3 after serving three years of a five-year sentence for organising workers to fight for
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John Laws 1 So John Laws and other shock jocks, such as Jeremy Cordeux, are being investigated for doing deals with corporate interests in exchange for favourable comments on their products and services? The general population may be vaguely
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Adelaide Rally — Wed Aug 11, 12.30pm, Victoria Square, City. Ph 8212 3155. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly forum — "Sink or swim? The unions' struggle against Reith's second wave". Wed Aug 25, 7pm, Resistance Centre, 1st fl, 34 Hindley St, City. Ph 8231
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Eric Wicker is a longtime trade unionist on the Wollongong waterfront who has been charged with a criminal offence — demanding property with menaces, or, to be blunt, extortion. Eric was the honorary president of the Port Kembla
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Protests called by the ACTU against Reith's "second wave" of anti-union laws ("A Bill to amend the Workplace Relations Act" — WRA) have begun, with rallies in Perth on August 10, Adelaide on August 11 and Melbourne on August
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Shared space #4 By Brandon Astor Jones This is the fourth in a series of poems that I feel the need to share here. In essence this space has belonged to the author of each poem. It is my hope that readers have been as moved by them as I am. A
News
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BRISBANE — The "net bet" fiasco, involving Queensland treasurer David Hamill and deputy speaker Bill D'Arcy, is threatening to throw the Queensland Labor government into crisis. Hamill has had to stand down pending the results
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School bursar dispute continuesCANBERRA — Locked-out school bursars met with ACT education minister Bill Stefaniak on August 3 and came away empty handed. Stefaniak maintained he would have a proposal for the Community and Public
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NSW firefighters fight inequitiesSYDNEY — A mass meeting of members of the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) voted on August 6 to continue a campaign of industrial action over inequities in death and disability
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Southern Cross Uni dispute continuesLISMORE — On August 4, staff at Southern Cross University stopped work for the second time since enterprise bargaining negotiations broke down in May. Staff unions and the Student
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Indonesian unionist starts Australian tourMELBOURNE — An Australian tour by Indonesian unionists from the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI) is under way. Romawaty Sinaga, the head of the international
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The National Union of Students (NUS) was formed in 1987. From its inception, it has been dominated by members of the Labor Party, particularly members of the National Organisation of Labor Students (NOLS). How the left should approach NUS has been
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SYDNEY — On the evening of August 3, residents from the north shore of Sydney Harbour were overwhelmed by a "gassy" smell. Hundreds of calls were received by emergency services. The stink was caused by a spill of 80,000 litres
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Court 'backs down' on RFAPERTH — Under mounting pressure from opponents of old-growth forest logging, a large majority in Western Australia, the Court government has announced changes to the WA regional forest agreement (RFA).
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New police blitz to increase intimidationWOLLONGONG — "Operation Midia" is a new law and order blitz by the Shoalhaven Local Area Command, which is using with gusto new powers given to police by the NSW Labor government. Cops
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Gatton students defend their collegeAbout 200 students from the agricultural college in the small town of Gatton, about an hour's drive from Brisbane, opposed a University of Queensland administration proposal to close the
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Hiroshima Day events took place around the country on August 6-7, commemorating the victims of the US nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Current campaigns were also highlighted, including the Jabiluka uranium mine in Kakadu
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Australian Prisoners' Union formedOn July 17, prisoners' rights activists launched a new organisation, the Australian Prisoners' Union. The launch took place at the 15th anniversary function for Breakout, a design and printing
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People in the progressive left usually claim to be anti-racist. Therefore, I was appalled by the blatant racism of a large group of socialist women at the recent National Organisation of Women Students Australia (NOWSA) held in
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WA forests: for a green-worker alliance Western Australia's regional forest agreement (RFA) has given a glimpse of what an Achilles heel the environment continues to be for the capitalist system. From the very start of negotiations, the threat to
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Pilger film a hit ADELAIDE — The premiere screening on July 31 of John Pilger's latest documentary, The Timor Conspiracy, was a huge success. The 200-seat Mercury Cinema was filled. About 40 people had to be turned away. The crowd responded
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HOBART — The salmon industry used the opportunity of a federal cabinet meeting here on August 3 to mobilise opposition to the government's decision to allow uncooked salmon to be imported. Around 500 people rallied in Franklin
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Women's edition banned at Griffith University BRISBANE — The centrespread of the women's edition of the Griffith University student newspaper, Gravity, has sparked controversy. It features a picture of women's genitals with by a poem by Jen Clark
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Where does anti-Semitism come from? The first point to make is that anti-Semitism has changed over time. Throughout much of Jewish history, many Jews have been traders and money lenders. This is primarily because of the geographic
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HOBART — Thirty people protested against the reactionary policies of John Howard's Coalition government during a federal cabinet meeting here on August 3. The lively action contrasted with the larger but very tame salmon
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Union demands transport industry inquiryBRISBANE — Hughie Williams, Queensland state secretary of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), has called for an urgent inquiry into the road transport industry. This follows another fatal
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Exhibition exposes ships of shame By Ana Kailisand Claudia Beltran PERTH — The Global Mariner exhibition is an awesome multimedia display of issues facing seafarers worldwide. The ship Global Mariner was purchased by the International Transport
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Supermax prisoners win challengeBRISBANE — The Queensland Supreme Court ruled on July 28 that the Maximum Security Unit (MSU) at the Woodford Correctional Centre near Brisbane was operated unlawfully for nearly two years.
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Queensland NTEU takes actionBRISBANE — Academics, students and general staff have taken action for better enterprise bargaining agreements at the University of Queensland, Griffith University and Queensland
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Lamentable "I would lament that." — Richard Butler, former head of the UN Special Commission on Iraq, replying to a magazine interviewer's question about whether the US government used the commission to spy on Iraq, something that Butler used to
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By Wendy Robertsonand Maria Voukelatos In her letter, Sitka asserts that Resistance was "busily at work trying to preserve white privilege and superiority" when we opposed the adoption of a quota system at NOWSA. Resistance opposed the system, not
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The classified version of the 1997 Australian defence policy document, leaked in the August 3 edition of the Bulletin, details a return to "forward defence". While the unclassified version made veiled references to concerns
World
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Web site launched for imprisoned South African poetThe Campaign for the Release of Mzwakhe Mbuli has a launched a web site to publicise the case the renowned artist. Mbuli is known as South Africa's "people's poet" for his daring
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The Iraqi government on July 31 lodged a protest with the United Nations against the destruction of seven samples of VX nerve gas found at the UN Special Commission on Iraq's (UNSCOM) Baghdad headquarters. UNSCOM ignored an Iraqi
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US fans tensions with ChinaTaiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's July 9 statement of a desire for "state to state" relations with China has increased tensions, leading to Beijing's July 31 seizure of a Taiwanese military supply vessel
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Herri Batasuna: for independence and socialism 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's CHOW WEI CHENG spoke to MIRIAN CAMPOS, from the international department of the left-wing Basque nationalist party Herri Batasuna, about recent developments in the Basque country
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European elections provide some shocks By François Vercammen The June elections to the European Parliament sent a major shock wave through the political system. In Italy, the presidents of four parties have resigned. Social democrats in
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South African workers confront 'comrade ministers'South African worker militants struggling against the African National Congress (ANC) government's austere economic policies, privatisations and job losses are discovering an
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Downer in Dili: what wasn't reportedDILI — The Australian government, forced to recognise that some form of political change in East Timor is inevitable whatever the result of the referendum, has been attempting to woo the
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Pacific islanders are organising to stop the passage of plutonium reactor fuel from Europe to Japan through South Pacific waters. Two ships carrying mixed uranium-plutonium (MOX) fuel will pass through the Tasman Sea in late August or
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DILI — Pro-independence forces and United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) workers are very confident that the referendum in East Timor on autonomy or independence, now scheduled for August 30, will go ahead
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The following is abridged from a statement by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). US trade unionists demonstrated outside Texaco's Washington office on July 30 to protest against labour and human
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Thousands of students return to East TimorDILI — As the massive Indonesian passenger ship the Dobonsolo left Jakarta on July 23, thousands of people filled its seven tiers. Hundreds more set up sleeping places on the open deck.
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Independence rally in West Papua An estimated 5000 protesters, many holding bibles, marched through the town of Mimika singing hymns as they marched to the office of the Mimika regent to demand independence for West Papua. The protesters shouted,
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Washington, Canberra hope to disarm FalintilFalintil, the armed wing of the East Timorese resistance, is under renewed pressure to disarm. Although Falintil has upheld a unilateral cease-fire and abided by security guidelines called
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Burmese students remember August 8August 8 is the 11th anniversary of the 1988 uprising in Burma. On the 8/8/88, the entire country rose up against the corrupt and brutal regime of General Ne Win, in power since a military coup in
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Some 300,000 people living in the Wanni region in northern Sri Lanka have been cut off from food and medical aid for more than a month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on August 2. The only route to the region, which is
Culture
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Education For Slavery or Liberation?By Jo WilliamsResistance Books, 199922pp, $2.95 Review by Kim Collins Jo Williams explains that the education system is one of the capitalist system's central means of disseminating capitalist ideology. It
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Intimate Union: Sharing a Revolutionary LifeAn autobiography by Tom and Audrey McDonaldPluto Press Australia, 1998Aspects of many of the dramatic shifts in the world's and Australia's politics and labour movement during the last
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Inside the Celtic Tiger — The Irish Economy and the Asian ModelBy Denis O'HearnPluto Press, London1998, 216pp. Review by Garret Mullan "Dublin is the new Paris" was the title of a recent article in the Observer newspaper. Ireland is a centre of
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Frida Kahlo's microscope of the psyche Frida: A Biography of Frida KahloBy Hayden Herrera Bloomsbury, 1998507 pp, $35.00 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon As Frida Kahlo was returning home from school one day in 1925 in Mexico City, a tram crashed into