Olympics: 'the world will be watching'MELBOURNE — All those who want to see justice for Aboriginal people should raise their voices and protest during the Olympic Games in Sydney in September, veteran Aboriginal activist Gary
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WOLLONGONG — Since its reopening in February, emissions from Port Kembla Copper's smelter here have made life miserable for residents in nearby suburbs. For those with health problems, it has often been life threatening. The main
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Maralinga: 'old test sites never die'On April 16, ABC Radio National's Background Briefing lifted the lid on the troubled clean-up of the Maralinga region of north-west South Australia, contaminated by British nuclear weapons tests
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An innocent person is executed By Brandon Astor Jones Tens of thousands of black men, women and children were hanged, burned, shot, or tortured to death by mobs in the United States between 1882 and 1986; of these crimes, only the tiniest
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Anti-choice brigade's emotional blackmailA predictable list of right-wing commentators lined up last month to heap praise on the latest ideological onslaught against women's right to choose abortion. Melinda Tankard Reist's new
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Welfare rights need political defenceIn its forthcoming budget, the federal Coalition government plans to announce more programs trialing extended "mutual obligation" provisions for all unemployed people, sole parents
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Networker: I want my MP3 "I want my MP3" is allegedly the cry of consumption maddened, music-loving teenagers in Japan. For internet marketeers, this is the stuff of fantasies — a commercial purpose for the internet. For those who have missed the
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PERTH — An election in Western Australia is certain within the next 12 months, maybe even within the next three, and another Labor loss seems likely. The release of Labor's state industrial relations policy won't delay the
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SYDNEY — The latest International Olympics Committee representative to grace this city with a whistle-stop tour has probably managed to do more to harm the Olympics cause than several years of organisers' blunders. Anita de
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Establishment economic analysts and media commentators are concerned that the federal government's 2000-01 budget surplus, projected three years ago to be $10.7 billion, was only $500 million in November. Some economists have
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Whether the setting is a remote Aboriginal community, a New York ghetto or a housing estate for Algerian migrants on the outskirts of Paris, the governments of all the major industrialised countries are turning to outright repression
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Kow-tows Indonesia's interception of Australian aircraft and its contemptuous response to protest raises the question of why we continue to have Australian forces protecting such democrats as Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir. It also
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Life of Riley: Elian, the bogyman's here Elian! Elian! Where is that boy? Elian, you come to your uncle this minute! Dammit. I got the US government on my doorstep and the friggin' kid's no where to be found. Elian! Elian! Oh, he's like this
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Dangerous dating Nearly one-third of 12 to 20 year olds participating in a 1999 federal government survey reported experiencing some form of physical violence during dating relationships. Almost half of those aged 19 to 20 reported violence.
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Why the government won't solve the rural crisisThere are two rural crises in Australia. One is an economic and social crisis: the majority of people in rural and regional areas face decreasing living standards. The other is a
News
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Tax workers start industrial campaignMELBOURNE — Unionists at the Australian Taxation Office have voted in favour of a campaign of industrial action, including bans and a part-pay stoppage on May 11. Members of the Community and
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NEWCASTLE — Accusing Prime Minister John Howard of attempting to "whitewash the past" and arguing that his stance on reconciliation has "nothing to do with justice or equality for indigenous people", the newly formed Indigenous
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May 1 'carnival against capitalism'Aiming to take May Day, the annual workers' day, back to its militant roots, hundreds of mainly young radicals around the country demonstrated, marched, waved flags and chanted on May 1. In
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Incat workers denies pay rise despite huge profitHOBART — Shipbuilding company Incat made a $53 million after-tax profit in 1998-99 — $17 million more than the previous year — yet Incat boss Craig Clifford is denying a
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Moya Farrell, 1940-2000NEWCASTLE — Moya Farrell's activism began at university when she joined a protest outside a hotel in South Yarra, Victoria, which refused to serve Pacific Islanders. She proudly held up a sign which said,
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Public sector needs an industry-wide campaignMembers First, the rank-and-file group within the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), fully supports the struggle by Australian Taxation Office workers for better pay and
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loose cannons Please explain "We're going through hard times but like a piece of steel when you temper it, every time you heat it up and hammer it, it becomes harder." — One Nation Senator Len Harris quoted in Time magazine, May 1. Sounds
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Federation of Cuban Women Australian tour, July 22-30 You are invited to help organise the national tour of the Federation of Cuban Women! The Federation of Cuban Women, an outstanding champion of women's rights around the world, was organised
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Critical Mass blocks CityLink MELBOURNE — Critical Mass activists targeted the hated CityLink freeway project and Domain tunnel for their monthly cycle protest on April 28. Two hundred cyclists rode onto the tollway, blocking all five lanes of
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Threat of action forces progress at Uni of CanberraCANBERRA — After 18 months of stalling and evasion by management at the University of Canberra, enterprise agreement talks have progressed further in four weeks than they had in
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CANBERRA — Members First, the rank-and-file group challenging the incumbents in the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), believes it is ready for the union's national office bearer election, which opened on May 5 and run
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A May 1 decision by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has granted a $15 per week safety-net increase to those awards applying to workers forced to rely on the basic rate. The decision caused a collective whine from
Analysis
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The 'new' relationship In the wake of Labor leader Kim Beazley's meeting last week in Jakarta with Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid and PM John Howard's response to Wahid's announcement on April 27 that he was postponing his May visit to
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Capitalist economists, media magnates, business people and politicians tell us that we are moving towards a "globalised" world economy in which capital and investment can move around freely and the Third World can compete in a "free" international
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The disruption of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Seattle for three days last November by thousands of people, and the follow-up protest actions in Washington in mid-April showed the increasing anger about the blatant inequality and
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On April 21, the federal treasurer Peter Costello announced the cancellation of the bilateral debt owed by Nicaragua and Ethiopia to Australia as part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) program to reduce the debt of heavily indebted poor
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SYDNEY — Resistance believes that the level of community anger about the Olympics Games here lays the basis for large protest actions, and has pledged to mobilise high school and university students for protests during and leading up to the
World
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May Day around the world A different sort of May Day May 1, the annual day of action to mark working-class struggle and internationalism was celebrated in many countries this year with greater enthusiasm and broader participation than has been
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SRI LANKA: Army faces serious defeat In the wake of a string of dramatic military victories by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan government has appealed for foreign military assistance. Some 35,000 Sri Lankan troops have
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KURDISTAN: Solidarity helps stop attacks on communists The following is abridged from a letter sent on April 20 by Rebwar Ahmed, secretary of the central committee of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq, to all those organisations which supported
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JAKARTA — After marching with thousands of other workers on Parliament House here on May 1, 1500 workers from the Indian-owned textile company Texmaco camped outside overnight to protest against their treatment by their employer
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COLOMBIA: US to intensify support for terror stateUnited States policymakers are preparing to substantially increase their materiel backing for Latin America's premier human rights violator. A $1.6 billion package for Colombia,
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VIETNAM: The inspiration hasn't faded When, on April 30, 1975, a single tank of Vietnam's National Liberation Front (NLF) rolled over the gates of the presidential palace in Saigon, it not only ended a decades-long war, it also ended any idea of
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Buddhist monks in Upper Burma are threatening a national uprising on May 25 if the repressive State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) does not agree to a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her Committee Representing the People's
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ZIMBABWE: Crisis showcases reasons for IMF, World Bank protests In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe appears to have taken leave of his senses, potentially plunging his country of 12 million people into civil war. What does this have to do with
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Largest strike in Norway for 14 yearsThe largest strike in Norway for 14 years began on May 3, when almost 85,000 private sector workers rejected a new contract. Two-thirds of the union's rank-and-file membership voted against
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MELBOURNE — "The year 2000 is the year of emergency", Xanana Gusmao, the chairperson of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), told 500 invited guests at the May 4 opening of the Melbourne office of the CNRT's
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MELBOURNE — "In the new period, new struggles, we need new heroes", East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao told those attending the launch of his autobiography here on May 4. He was explaining why he did not think he
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PHILIPPINES — The following is abridged from an account of the situation in Mindanao distributed on May 3 by the Revolutionary Workers Party of the Philippines (RPMP). The situation in our country, especially in Mindanao, is becoming worse. Trends
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Led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the workers of South Korea's four main automobile manufacturers have launched a united campaign to resist a government plan to allow the sale of Daewoo Motors, one of the four, to a foreign
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ZIMBABWE: Uninformed 'solidarity' It is difficult to imagine why the Communist Party of Australia's Guardian published an article about the events in Zimbabwe (“Demonising Mugabe to protect white farmers”, April 19) that lacks the most
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INDONESIA: Budiman Sujatmiko: democracy is yet to be won BUDIMAN SUJATMIKO, chairperson of Indonesia's People's Democratic Party (PRD), has been active in the movement for democracy in his country since 1988, when he was a student at
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Thousands of people protested in Indonesia on April 1 against policies demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for loans — these include cuts to subsides on fuel, public transport, electricity and education. An increase in
Culture
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Infotainment LifestyleDavid BeniukUm & Ah through PhantomAvailable from Fish Records, order at <; or send $29 to PO Box 29, Wollongong East 2520 Review by Grace Eliot Many 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly readers will be
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Media spotlight on a socialistThe newspapers of the establishment do, from time to time, cover the activities of those fighting against the system that the rich and powerful uphold. Occasionally, the media even interview them.
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A 'wogs'-eye view of white Australia Review by Peter Johnston and Bill Posters Looking for AlibrandiStarring Pia Miranda, Greta Scacchi and Anthony LaPagliaDirected by Kate Woods This charming movie is a coming-of-age drama that leads us through
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The perfect pretext Review by Sean Healy The Legacy: Murder and Media, Politics and PrisonsWritten, directed and produced by Michael J. MooreScreening on SBS, Sunday, May 21, 8pm In life, Polly Klaas was a pretty normal, 12-year-old, white girl;
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Jane Austen with sex and politics Mansfield ParkStarring Frances O'Connor and Harold PinterDirected by Patricia Rozema Review by Jonathan Strauss I haven't read the Jane Austen novel of the same name, upon which this film is based, as well as her
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OthelloBy William ShakespeareQuasimodoBondi Pavilion, Sydneyuntil May 14 Review by Brendan Doyle There are productions that stay with you long after you have left the theatre. This version of Shakespeare's classic tale of jealousy is one of them.