Write on: Letters to the editor
Gullible press
Many thanks to 91自拍论坛 and Phil Shannon for his review in
issue 407. Even more so than he normally does, Phil produced an analysis
that is politically thought-provoking and insightful
-
-
BY JONATHAN SINGER Establishment newspaper headlines still proclaim Australia's 聯powerhouse economy聰, but have workers really benefited from all the increased wealth of the past decade? Measured by growth in gross domestic product (GDP),
-
Making a difference? On June 8, Australian Democrat Senator Natasha Stott Despoja described her experiences of being a woman politician. She was addressing the launch of the New York-based Women's Environment and Development
-
The seizure of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu on June 5 by armed militants of the Malaitan Eagle Force (MEF) demanding his resignation triggered a deluge of simplistic commentary in the capitalist media arguing for
-
Actively Radical TV 鈥 Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9-11pm. Ph 9565 5522. Access News 鈥 Melbourne community TV,
-
A mass break-out by 700 asylum seekers imprisoned in three separate detention centres in South Australia and Western Australia has left federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock desperate to salvage his government's widely
-
SYDNEY 鈥 New laws introduced by the NSW Labor government, with the support of the Coalition, to ensure the security of the Olympic Games are draconian and present a threat to civil liberties, participants in a June 13 seminar,
-
It was worth it A friend wrote recently, informing me of the pain his grand-daughter is experiencing. She is bi-racial and lives in a neighbourhood in England where only a few children look like her. Children taunt her about
-
聯As a group, indigenous people are disadvantaged relative to other Australians with respect to a number of socio-economic factors, and these disadvantages place them at a greater risk of ill health and reduced well-being
-
In her article replying to Margaret Allum's "and ain't i a woman" column on biological parenthood (GLW #405), Helen Riley (GLW #408) makes some sweeping claims which demand a reply. Of greatest concern is that Riley's basic
-
D-Day for Dairy farmersJuly 1 is D-day for dairy farmers around Australia 鈥 not only is that the start-date for the GST but it's also the date scheduled for the final deregulation of the dairy industry. Overnight,
-
Peanut butter and pineapple rings Did ya see it? I certainly did. You wouldn't catch me missing an event like that. Not in a million years. Came right up the main street, it did. In cooee of our front gate. The kids were so THRILLED. Their
-
Defying warnings from Jakarta, the week-long Papuan People's Congress ended on June 4 with a declaration that West Papua was no longer part of the Republic of Indonesia. The congress was extended for a day because of debates over the wording of
-
When the military took control in Fiji on May 29, Commodore Frank Bainimarama claimed he was acting to restore 聯normalcy聰. But on June 16, the military arrested Felix Anthony, national secretary of the Fijian Trades Union Congress (FTUC), for
News
-
Salmat strike ends SYDNEY 鈥 Ninety members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's printing division, employed at Salmat Laser Printing Services in Chester Hill, returned to work on June 5 after nine days on strike. The
-
Asbestos scare in ParramattaSYDNEY 鈥 The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has banned construction work on the old David Jones site in Parramatta here after discovering asbestos. CFMEU state secretary Andrew
-
Fijian community leader calls for democracy's restoration BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS BRISBANE 鈥 鈥淔ifty two homes have been broken into. Families are fleeing into the bush. Cattle are being slaughtered and police vehicles are being used for
-
Student union refuses affiliation to political clubs BY RUTH RATCLIFFE CANBERRA 鈥 Citing its policy of refusing to affiliate any club deemed 鈥減olitical鈥, the University of Canberra Union n(UCU) has rejected an application for
-
Honeymoon mine assessment begins BY JIM GREEN Canadian company Southern Cross Resources has released its environment impact statement for the proposed Honeymoon uranium mine in north-east South Australia. The operation involves
-
Western Mining present eviction notice to Arabunna BY JOHN NEBAUER ADELAIDE 鈥 Western Mining Corporation has handed an eviction notice to Arabunna traditional landowners camped near Lake Eyre in protest at the company's uranium mining
-
Tax staff reject pay offer BY CHRIS SLEE Australian Tax Office staff have narrowly rejected a new agency agreement proposed by management. Their union described the offer as inadequate and paltry. ATO management offered a pay rise
-
SYDNEY 鈥 The New South Wales branch of the National Union of Workers has severed its ties with the NSW Labor Party in protest against the ALP state government's refusal to help the union in its legal battle with Davids Holdings.
-
New DSP branch warms up for Olympic protests BY DANIEL JARDINE SYDNEY 鈥 Given mainstream media hype seeking to convince Sydneysiders that the Olympics would be a golden time for everyone, a forum on 鈥淲hy the Olympics won't benefit
-
"Get sorry today, unchain John Howard's heart" was the message on one banner amongst a sea of support for reconciliation and justice for Aborigines at marches in Adelaide and Brisbane, which followed the example of the May 28 half-million people
-
91自拍论坛 Weekly and the GST With the introduction of the GST on July 1, we will be forced to increase the price of 91自拍论坛 Weekly. This will be the first price increase for GLW since August 1995. Through the GST, the government
-
Nike admits guiltMELBOURNE 鈥 Unionists and anti-outwork campaigners have described as a victory an admission by clothing and footwear giant Nike, in Melbourne's Federal Court on June 6, that it had failed to comply with the
-
Darwin protests against APEC BY LARISA FREIVERTS DARWIN 鈥 Media mongrels, APEC staffers and plainclothes police watched guardedly as 60 people gathered in Raintree Park on June 7 in a lively protest action against the Asia Pacific
-
MELBOURNE 鈥 Some three weeks after winning the ballot, Craig Johnston was on June 9 confirmed as the new Victorian state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. Johnston was delayed from taking office by court
-
Caught greed, bowled Satan 鈥淚n a moment of stupidity and weakness I allowed Satan and the world to dictate terms to me.鈥 鈥 Hansie Cronje, sacked as South African cricket captain after admitting to taking money from a bookmaker.
-
Teachers strike, plan more actionBRISBANE 鈥 Queensland's teachers struck for 24 hours on June 14 in support of demands by the Queensland Teachers Union for an 8% per year pay rise, decreased class sizes and more resources for
-
ADELAIDE 鈥 Five hundred people marched on Glenelg's Grand Hotel on June 4 to denounce an official government World Environment Day conference. Rally organisers called Adelaide's 鈥渙fficial host city鈥 status a farce
-
PERTH 鈥 鈥淜ierath says our existence is a 'planning mistake'. We've been here at Wattleup four decades, Hope Valley a century 鈥 that's long before the heavy industry at Kwinana. So which one is the 'planning mistake'?鈥
-
SYDNEY 鈥 Rallying under the banner 鈥淨uality service deserves quality pay鈥, community and social workers will strike and rally on June 23, closing down welfare services and agencies, most of them recipients of state
-
BRISBANE 鈥 Twelve health unions, led by the Queensland Nurses Union, are planning to step up industrial action in response to Queensland Health's refusal to budge in negotiations on a new enterprise agreement. Work
-
Abandoned Kakadu mines are still radioactive BY BRIAN TUPP A memo from the Office of the Supervising Scientist, leaked to environmentalists on June 6, has confirmed that abandoned South Alligator uranium mines are posing a radiation
Analysis
-
War drums in the Pacific Coming hard on the heels of George Speight's terrorist coup in Fiji, the Australian capitalist media's battalion of 聯analysts聰 were quick to pronounce the Malaita Eagle Force's (MEF) June 5 seizure of Solomon
World
-
Forum: Sri Lanka bans 'talk of peace' BY JAMES VASSILOPOULOS CANBERRA 鈥 Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has 鈥渂anned talk of peace and for the first time in Sri Lankan history if you criticise the president, laws are used
-
Fikile Majola, general secretary of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), on June 7 called on university workers and students around the world to offer urgent solidarity to the workers of the University of the
-
DILI 鈥 This city has been rocked by snap public transport stoppages since June 2 in response to a rise in the price of fuel. Small minibuses, 鈥渕ikrolets鈥, that provide cheap public transport around Dili, and private taxis have all taken part,
-
On June 13, the general strike that began a week earlier forced the Nigerian federal government to all but reverse fuel price increases it had announced earlier. On June 1, the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo had announced a surprise
-
SERBIA: Students lead anti-Milosevic protests Isolation, skyrocketing poverty, unemployment rates of almost 70% and an infrastructure devastated by NATO's bombing last year has left Serbia in a worse state than its notoriously poor neighbour
-
HANOVER, Germany 鈥 Scientists have found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause bacteria and even fungi to mutate. One aim of Expo 2000 in Hanover last month was to popularise GM (genetic
-
SEOUL 鈥 The May 31 to June 4 general strike by South Korean workers has deepened differences between the reformist Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and militants seeking to build a counter-offensive against President Kim Dae Jung's neo-liberal
-
"The only solution I can see is to hold a series of long and costly negotiations in exotic locations, in order to put off finding a solution", reads the caption of a Climate Action Network (CAN) cartoon lampooning the 12th session of the
-
AMSTERDAM - "The policy demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for loans leads to an increase in poverty. Subsidies on electricity, education and public transport are being cut ... There's already 80 million Indonesian people
-
DENIS HALLIDAY worked for the United Nations for 34 years as a specialist in Third World development. In August 1997 he was appointed the UN's chief relief coordinator in Iraq where he supervised the "oil-for-food" program until his very public
-
The following speech was presented by world renowned playwright HAROLD PINTER at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on April 18. I am deeply honoured to receive this degree from Aristotle University. I have always felt a strong
-
LAHORE 鈥 The leader of Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) and Labour Unity Rawalpindi, Bashir Botter, who was arrested on May 26, has been released on bail. However, the charges against him 鈥 organising 鈥渋llegal鈥 strikes and demonstrations,
-
WINDSOR, Ontario 鈥 On June 4, 3000 people demonstrated against a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Windsor, Ontario. The OAS, which is based in Washington, involves the heads of state of all countries in the
-
World Bank gives go-ahead The World Bank board on June 6 approved a controversial plan to build an oil and gas pipeline from southern Chad, in central Africa, to the coast of Cameroon. The pipeline is a joint venture between oil
-
UNITED STATES: Left internet site censored Since 1993, the Burn! internet site has been an important source of solidarity for militant liberation movements. Burn! hosts the web sites of groups in the front line of struggles in Chiapas
-
MANILA 鈥 On June 9, some 3000 Moros (an ethnic group in the Philippines) from 45 villages in Metro Manila held a prayer-rally at the Maharlika village in Taguig. The rally was hosted by the Pagragn National Movement, a new coalition of Moro
-
'Stop the war!' The Eritrean community rallied in Brisbane on June 6 chanting "We want peace, stop the war!" and demanding humanitarian assistance from the federal government for those suffering in Eritrea. Since Ethiopia began a massive military
-
The Peoples' Forum 2000 and the mass protests which followed, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in early May, were born of suffering, anger and betrayal. Twelve hundred people attended the forum to share their stories of hardship and
Culture
-
A Month in the CountryBy Brian Friel, after TurgenevSydney Theatre CompanyDrama Theatre at the Opera HouseUntil July 15 Review by Mark Stoyich Three examples of recent translations of foreign classics have given Sydney audiences a chance to see how
-
Review by Marina Carman Elite transition: from Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa By Patrick Bond Pluto Press, London, 2000 318pp, $47.95 For anyone disappointed with the fruits of the post-apartheid period in South Africa
-
Kumarangk 'Karaoke and Kake' ADELAIDE 鈥 Once upon a time, a large number of people who spoke out against a proposed bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) were sued by the developers of a marina on the island. Defamation Magic turned them
-
"Los ojos de me memoria. Minds eye dances. They can only take your soul if you let them." 鈥 Priscilla Baca y Candelaria "Poetry is the sacred way to touch the fabric of peoples' souls in a way that lets them take the stage and
-
And pigs might fly It was crisis day in the parliament The house was hushed and still. A member rose with a question 聯Are we doomed to go downhill?聰 聯I am confident of an upturn聰, The PM made reply. 聯If workers pay is held at bay,
-
Springsteen upsets cops with Diallo song"Standing on the stage at Madison Square Garden momentarily shrouded in darkness, Bruce Springsteen sang the words '41 shots' nine times last night. The words begin his new song deploring the
-
DARWIN 鈥 On June 2, artist Dadang Christanto's exhibition titled 鈥淩econciliation鈥 was opened with a powerful performance and installation. Christanto, who was born in Indonesia in the late 1950s, uses simple