The following is abridged from an interview with Cuba's President FIDEL CASTRO conducted in January by former UNESCO director general Frederico Mayor Zaragoza. The full text of the interview was published last month in Cuba's Granma newspaper.
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Union activists around Australia have decided to launch Unionists Against Corporate Tyranny (UACT) to unite and mobilise worker activists in a campaign against the global system that institutionalises massive wealth for the tiny few and inequality
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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 Sunday, 9-11pm. Ph 9565 5522. Access News — Melbourne community TV,
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As unifying slogans go, "Fair trade, not free trade" has a lot going for it: it's simple, it stands against the injustice of corporate-dominated trade masquerading as "freedom" and it poses at least the beginning of an alternative
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Write on: Letters to the editor Germaine Greer I couldn't agree more with most of Mary Merkenich's article (GLW, July 12) on Germaine Greer's book The Female Eunuch. When I read it years ago, I was a 47-year-old housewife and was learning what
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Secret police state laws revealedSYDNEY — The Olympic Games to be held in September have given the New South Wales Labor government the opportunity to quietly introduce legislation that gives police and security officers
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The male pill There won't be a feminist in Australia who was surprised by the general disinterest in the announcement by British researchers on July 17 that a 100% effective male contraceptive pill will probably be available within five years.
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Memo — Re: Globalisation Over there, people live in garbage tips. Over there, you work for next to nothing. Over there, life is cheap. The root problem over there is (a) there's too many of them over there, or (b) they're not over here.
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A few hours with me "It was a delightful visit ... [but] much too short." — Jane Austen 1775-1817 While reading bits and pieces of Jane Austen's work, the quote above impressed itself upon me. I agree with her; a visit is much too short. In
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Who the EFIC are you?"You see, before we advance monies to a company, we always insist on any funds being covered by [Britain's export credit agency] ... We can't lose. After 90 days, if the Iraqis haven't coughed up, the
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Networker: Negative for capitalists Negative for capitalists Investment guru Warren Buffet is used to making large sums of money for investors in his Berkshire Hathaway company. At the company's annual meeting at the end of April he announced:
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In 1964, only 29% of people in the United States agreed with the statement, "The government is pretty much run by a few big interests looking after themselves". By 1984, that figure had increased to 55%, and by 1998 to 63%. In
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Secondary students won't be intimidatedMELBOURNE — Over the last week, the establishment media have threatened young people with police repression if they attend the September 11 blockade of the World Economic Forum (WEF)
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People, get ready for S11MELBOURNE — Many trade unions, community groups, student associations, non-government organisations (NGOs) and even churches have declared an interest in turning the World Economic Forum's September
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"It's time", declared the PM of Danunda, staring straight into the TV camera. "This decision can no longer be postponed. It is a non-partisan decision, agreed between the government and the opposition after thorough discussions with
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Correction In the article "UN report shows poverty grinds on" in 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly #412, there was a typing error in one of the dates. The sentence in question should have read: "The distance between the incomes of the richest and poorest country
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While we might now make up half this country's university population, it's been a long, tough struggle for women to get decent access to tertiary education — and it still is. There was first a battle, more than a century ago, to
News
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Pie workers get the union of their choiceGEELONG — It took four days of lost pay for Beaumonts Pies and Cakes workers to get their union recognised by the boss. But they all reckon it was worth it. The workers had joined the food
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SYDNEY — Over the objections of many farmers present and despite the urging of environmental activists, the NSW Farmers Association voted at its July 18 annual general meeting to support the release of genetically engineered
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Workers protest student association mergerGEELONG — Staff at the Geelong Association of Students struck for three days, from July 18-20, in protest at the refusal of the association's board to discuss the impact of a planned
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BHP plans to sack 800 workersWOLLONGONG — Australia's fifth largest multinational company, BHP, has announced plans to contract out up to 800 maintenance jobs at its Port Kembla steelworks. The decision has been condemned by
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Mayor defends Townsville homophobiaTOWNSVILLE — Responding to televised accusations of rampant homophobia in his city, Townsville Mayor Tony Mooney has dug himself in further by blaming the messenger, claiming to be "outraged"
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Darwin council cracks down on free speechDARWIN — Darwin City Council has cracked down on free speech on the city's streets, fining Resistance activist Jo Ellis $50 for distributing 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly in a public place without
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PERTH — After months of campaigning by students and staff at Murdoch University here, including a nine-day occupation in May, the university's Senate has backed off from plans to cut courses, imposed in a management drive to
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Globalisation's myths revealedCANBERRA — The real "globalisation" battle was not to defend the rights of the nation-state against international institutions but to defend peoples' rights against neo-liberal governments and
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Greed "The blame mostly lies with a greedy Australian electorate." — Right-wing think tank Access Economics lamenting the reduced federal budget surplus because "the punters demanded that 'everyone be no worse off'" after the introduction of a
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Asylum seekers threaten hunger strikeSYDNEY — Infuriated by the conditions under which they're held and new repressive measures imposed by the department of immigration, asylum seekers at the Villawood Detention Centre here have
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It's unanimous: no more women's prisons!SYDNEY — Prisoners' rights group Justice Action has called for the state's corrective services minister Bob Debus to abandon plans to build a new women's jail at Windsor, after the Upper
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S11 Alliance pickets DownerBRISBANE — Armed with a leaflet declaring "Picket Downer! Shut Down the WEF!", 25 students braved the early morning to picket a function attended by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. The function,
Analysis
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No support for US militarism! The Australian government's support for "baby Star wars" — the US government's proposed National Missile Defence (NMD) system — must be opposed. Much of the criticism of NMD has focused on the stupidity of the
World
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HANOI — "Sovereignty is about pointing your guns at invading aircraft. Trade liberalisation has nothing to do with sovereignty." This was the confident response from a visiting Canadian "expert" to a concerned Vietnamese official's question during
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EAST TIMOR: Unanswered questions on transition As East Timor moves towards full independence under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the obligations and conduct of the UN, international aid
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As two of its warships docked in the east Javanese port of Surabaya on July 20, the administration of US President Bill Clinton made official its re-establishment of military ties with Indonesia, after a temporary suspension during last year's
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SAN FRANCISCO — Is it wrong for the state to murder its own citizens? In the United States, the answer is no. If you're convicted of murder, capital punishment (as the death penalty is euphemistically called) is carried out by the state. This has
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Four years ago on July 27, television images of the Indonesian military bashing and kicking helpless protesters exposed the world to the brutality of the Suharto dictatorship. The Australian government's and the Jakarta lobby's carefully cultivated
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SOUTH KOREA: Workers mobilise against repression SEOUL — On July 20, more than 20,000 people rallied in 14 cities in a national day of action organised by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). It was in response to two recent police
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PHILIPPINES: Protesters disrupt Congress MANILA — Five members of the Philippines Socialist Party of Labour (SPP) were detained on July 18 in the Batasan (parliament) hall. The SPP members interrupted a special session of Congress called to pass
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On July 21, the armed forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) ordered the closure of the offices of the Independent Women's Organisation (IWO) and its women's protection centre in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan. The armed PUK thugs gave the
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PACIFIC: 'We want to be nuclear free and independent' The failure of another United States missile test at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands highlights the folly of the new arms race in space, notes the Suva-based Pacific Concerns Resource
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A coalition of seven US consumer and environmental groups announced this month the formation of a major new US campaign to keep genetically engineered ingredients off grocery store shelves, unless they are thoroughly safety tested and labelled. As
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At least one protester was killed, more than 100 were injured and 57 were arrested when Indonesian security forces attacked an 800-strong protest in South Sumatra on July 20. The detainees were beaten in jail. The action was organised by the National
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Twenty thousand heavily armed police, six navy warships and a two-kilometre nautical exclusion zone may have allowed the world leaders, including United States President Bill Clinton, attending the G8 summit in Okinawa to rest easy, but it wasn't
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SYRIA: Baath Party renounces socialist agenda The ruling Syrian Baath Party held its ninth convention on June 17 to appoint Hafez al-Assad's oldest surviving son, Bashar, as its new general secretary, thus paving the way for his official election
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INDONESIA: Activists demand an end to corruption On July 20, huge banners, which dwarfed the activists who daringly scaled the walls of Indonesia's parliament building in Jakarta to hang them, announced the demands of the People's Democratic Party
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International news briefs Rio Tinto workers resume blockade JAKARTA — Coalmining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) stopped operations on July 18 for a second time in less than five weeks after striking workers resumed their blockade in the
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SYRIA: al-Assad junior ascends the throne HOMS — Syria's government-imposed 40 days of mourning for President Hafez al-Assad came to end on July 20. During that period, I was told, brides were forced to wed in black by the Syrian police. Most
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EAST TIMOR: The meaning of reconciliation DILI — On July 19, an Indonesian investigation team arrived here to interview witnesses to the worst atrocities that took place from April to September last year. These include the Liquica massacre in
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A group of unions has demanded President Abdurrahman Wahid disallow a new labour rights bill, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on July 10 but needs the president's approval to become law. While the new bill gives workers
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DURBAN — On July 9, 5000 people, many wearing "HIV Positive" T-shirts gathered at the Durban city hall to demand equitable access to HIV/AIDS treatment. The march preceded the opening of the 13th International AIDS Conference, held here on July
Culture
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Wanted: your videos of protest Undercurrents, the British-based alternative media group, wants your videos for a new series of programs, Undercurrents Global Views 2000, focussing on "international direct action and diverse global issues". "Get
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Theatre, money and privilege The Great GatsbyNew Theatre, Newtown, SydneyJuly 15-September 2 REVIEW BY BRENDAN DOYLE The Sydney theatre establishment functions as a sort of club. If you're a member, you get the public funding. Hence Barrie Kosky
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The puppet in Pakistani politicsRight-wing thugs disrupted and closed the showing of a political satire, Jhoot ke Palende (Bunch of Lies), at Lahore's Al-Hamra Arts Council on June 16. The play, scheduled to run from June 15-19,
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Bougainville shows its courage and community An Evergreen IslandFrontyard FilmsMade by Mandy King and Fabio Cavadini Showing Tuesday, August 1, 7pm at the Side On Café, 83 Parramatta Road, Annandale, Sydney REVIEW BY MARK ABBERTON In 1989,
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Globalise this! GlobalizationInsurgeChatterbox/Phantom RecordsOrder at <;. REVIEW BY SEAN HEALY There have been plenty of bands who've been radical and angry in their early albums, only to turn to mush. Insurge
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Tear out your eyes OedipusBy SenecaDirected by Barrie KoskySydney Theatre CompanyThe Wharf REVIEW BY MARK STOYICH Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4BC-65AD) was tutor and close friend to the emperor Nero, until Nero told him to kill himself, so who better
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Exploding like a sonic Molotov cocktailThe surge of interest in "world music" and the development of compelling popular music forms like acid jazz, trip-hop, breakbeat and hip hop have made most rock bands look uninspired by