The resolution of the 3 billion-nucleotide sequence of the human genome should be a time of great celebration of human scientific endeavour and ingenuity. It opens the possibility of eliminating 4000 genetic diseases that afflict
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A human being can change In the desertI saw a creature, naked, bestial,Who, squatting upon the ground,Held his heart in his hands/And ate of it. I said, Is it good, friend?It is bitter — bitter, he answered;But I like itBecause it is
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Gary Gray It was with much sadness that we learned of the premature death in Aberdeen, Scotland, of Gary Gray (40), exiled from his loved ones here in Australia. In 1997, Gary was deported from Australia, where he was a friend and comrade to many
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Put a face to the word "corruption" and who does it look like? The customs agent taking a tenner with your passport? The council official accepting a brown paper bag? The politician banking hefty "campaign contributions"? But why is
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The magic carpet For the first time, John Winston Howard has talked publicly of retirement. We at Life of Riley Enterprises are much distressed to hear such talk. Having just designed a range of John Howard puppets it is a great shock to our
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Networker: Why are musicians poor? Why are musicians poor? In "No Remorse", a 1983 Metallica track, the heavy metal band sang, "We are ready to kill all comers/ Like a loaded gun right at your face." Seventeen years later, the band is still
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The human genome project has spent some 5% of its budget on studying the ethical, legal and social issues surrounding the availability of genetic information. It has identified many issues but come up with very few answers. The issues include: * Who
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How real are reforms to the 'international financial architecture'? Since the world economic crisis of 1997-98, the leaders of the world's most powerful nations have been working furiously on plans to "strengthen the architecture of the
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BY MARYCLARE MACHEN& NATALIE BLOK MELBOURNE — Women are dying within hours, days and months of leaving prison in Victoria, according to community activist and member of STOP (Surviving Time Outside Prison) Catherine Gow. In 1999, in a
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The National Eating Disorder Information Center (NEDIC) in Canada conducted a study of nine- and 10-year-old children's fears. It found that most children were more afraid of getting fat than of losing a parent, getting cancer
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Several years ago, a Melbourne woman was critically injured in a car crash in Greece. She suffered third-degree burns to 70-80% of her body. The usual treatment for serious burns, skin grafts, was not possible. The doctors could save
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BRISBANE — The Maryborough community will experience the fruits of the Queensland government's increased capital expenditure in regional areas when the first sod is turned and construction of a new $97 million high-security
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Write on: Letters to the editor Unemployment The never-ending chant that social security recipients should not receive "something for nothing" is astonishing. Payments to disabled and unemployed people constitute compensation for their
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Government health policy reinforces corporate powerThe Coalition government's Lifetime Health Cover policy has apparently worked where its previous efforts to increase private health insurance coverage have failed, thereby
News
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Global action conference an important step forward MELBOURNE — International solidarity, workers and the environment, women in the global marketplace and First-Third World relations were just some of the issues discussed at the Global Action
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Protests build as asylum seekers grow desperateSYDNEY — On the afternoon of July 29, riot police were used to force more than 50 asylum seekers at the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney's western suburbs onto buses to be
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No mandatory detention for asylum seekers!In an attempt to remind federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock of his responsibility to provide protection for asylum seekers, a group of 27 non-government organisations has called on
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'Angry voices' against imperialism Angry voices against imperialism BY SUSAN AUSTIN BRISBANE — "It is in countries like Indonesia that people are really feeling the impacts of the big international financial institutions", Indonesian
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Police: selling 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ is 'suspicious behaviour'LISMORE — A local activist was accosted by police on July 26 and subjected to a public search and questioning for selling 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly in the street. The activist reports
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Global Sisterhood Network dinner planned MELBOURNE — A women's dinner will be held here to raise funds for Piglas Kababaihan (Women Breaking the Chains) in the Philippines. The dinner is planned for Thursday, August 10, 7pm, at Il Gambrero, 215
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ScreenSound agreement near CANBERRA — Delegates and members at ScreenSound Australia of the Community and Public Sector Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance are to meet on August 1 to
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High school walkout against N-dump called ADELAIDE — The socialist youth organisation Resistance has called a high school walkout for 11am on August 16 against the proposed nuclear waste dump at Lake Eyre in central South Australia. The walkout
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BHP should 'put money where mouth is'SYDNEY — The Mineral Policy Institute (MPI) has condemned mining giant BHP's unwillingness to take any responsibility for the destruction wreaked by its Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea, in
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Planned US rocket base in WA sparks oppositionThe United States military is planning to establish a rocket testing range in Western Australia, linked to its contentious plans for "missile defence" systems. Royal Australian Navy
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DETYA staff reject non-union agreementCANBERRA — Staff at the federal Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) have overwhelmingly rejected a draft non-union agreement in a blow to management's attempts to
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HOBART — Calls for a moratorium on the rapid increase in timber plantations in the state have increased, following a 200-strong public meeting, organised by the Wilderness Society, in the Town Hall on July 26. The area covered
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Thousands march against racism — again Thousands march against racism — again HOBART — In the biggest march in Tasmania for at least 25 years, 15,000 to 25,000 people participated in the "Walk for reconciliation" over the Tasman Bridge on
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Hiroshima Day to launch new anti-nuclear coalition MELBOURNE — At the August 6 rally here to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, unions, churches, environment, peace, ethnic and community groups will unite to launch the
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BY ROBERT MILNE& PETER JOHNSTON DARWIN — After months of stalling and damning criticisms from the United Nations, the so-called mandatory sentencing "compromise" between Prime Minister John Howard and Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis
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Cuba solidarity in HobartHOBART — Cuba's revolution has been able to survive because it has tapped the "creative potential" of millions of working people, Democratic Socialist Party leader Dick Nichols told participants in a
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SYDNEY — On the July 14, Isobel Coe, an elder from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, established a new embassy in Victoria Park, opposite the University of Sydney. The embassy was established to highlight how Aboriginal
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Rules on refugee services criticisedBRISBANE — Federal government laws and regulations restricting refugees' access to work, housing and medical services came under sustained criticism at a Refugee Action Day here on July 23.
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Students plan activist left tickets BY JAMES CAULFIELD& RUTH RATCLIFFE CANBERRA — Student activists here are laying plans to end conservative domination of the student associations at the University of Canberra and the Australian National
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National interest "I can tell you one of the reasons why we work so hard ... is not to make things easy for the Labor Party." — Treasurer Peter Costello quoted in the July 28 Australian Financial Review. Vital "For a guaranteed high standard
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Three more S11 groups formed RAY FULCHER, STUART MUNCKTON& EMA CORRO MELBOURNE — Preparations for the S11 protests against the World Economic Forum, scheduled to occur here from September 11-13, are gathering pace, with three new campus S11
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Jobs threatened by market testingCANBERRA — The announcement the Liberal government to market test every public sector function with the intention to outsource to the private sector threatens thousands of jobs. The first jobs
World
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CUBA: A million people march against US blockade HAVANA, July 26 — Cuba's President Fidel Castro headed a march of more than 1 million people past the US Interests Office here to demand the end of the US blockade of Cuba and Washington's economic
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SEOUL — On July 29, more than 13,000 workers and students amassed in the city centre to mark one month since the Kim Dae-Jung regime violently cracked down on striking workers from the Lotte Hotel and the Public Health Insurance Office. Using
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RUSSIA: Gazprom Vega workers contaminated by radiation The following appeal was issued by the workers of the Vega department of Gazprom. We are workers in a department of the Russian Gazprom [natural gas] corporation. For 10 years we have been
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SOUTH KOREA: Growing calls for revision of US troops' status SEOUL — As relations between the two Koreas change, the presence of 37,000 US troops in South Korea is being questioned. Ruling-class politicians have moved to control and contain this
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INDONESIA: Protests commemorate 1996 crackdown Protest actions took place in several Indonesian cities on July 27 to commemorate the 1996 attacks on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) and the crackdown on the
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MANILA — Protest rallies in Metro Manila were violently dispersed by police and marines on July 24. The rallies were called by progressive groups to denounce the state of the nation address (sona) by President Joseph Estrada at the Philippine
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Australia quietly resumes military aid to Indonesia It took the July 24 murder of Leonard Manning, a New Zealand United Nations soldier in East Timor, to remind the world that the Indonesian military hasn't changed its spots. But just four days
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Spotlight on Indonesia Students arrested at Golkar congress Hundreds of students demonstrated in front of the national parliament on July 20 on the second day of a Golkar party congress. Golkar, the party of former President Suharto, has many
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Race and class in the US: Big Brother is at it againBureaucracies, dictators and the ruling capitalists don't like internet technologies to be in the hands of the common people in the United States, or anywhere around the world. As
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Women in Cuba must continue to organise to defend and extend the gains of the revolution, Nancy Iglesias Mildenstein told a meeting at Newcastle University on July 27. Mildenstein, a leader of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC),
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BY DENISE COMANNE& ERIC TOUSSAINT The G7's Cologne summit in June 1999 announced debt relief of up to 90% for some of the poorest countries. One year later, on occasion of the G7 plus Russia's July meeting in Okinawa, the Committee for the
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PALESTINE: Camp David signals PA leadership's capitulation RAMALLAH — The media hyperbole and fanfare surrounding the summit meeting between the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the United States at Camp David in Washington
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Cuban women warmly welcomedMELBOURNE — Seventy people enjoyed a night of political discussion, delicious food and solidarity with the Cuban Revolution at Victorian's Trades Hall on July 22 to welcome Bertha Acosta and Nancy
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HONG KONG — Trade unions have become more active in recent times in defence of wages, conditions and democratic rights, according to leaders of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. Speaking to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly on July 25, HKCTU organising
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Message from Indonesian peasants' union Fransisca Christianti, secretary-general of Indonesia's National Peasants Union (STN), sent a message to Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor thanking all the Australian and international
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The Polisario Front said on July 27 that it was "frustrated by underground manoeuvres" aimed at derailing the United Nations peace plan in Western Sahara. Kamal Fadel, the Australian representative of the Western Sahara independence movement, warned:
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EAST TIMOR: Militia threat continues The confrontation on July 24 between pro-Jakarta militia forces from West Timor and a detachment of New Zealand soldiers from the United Nations peace-keeping force — the third such incident along the western
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Australian Cuba solidarity activist acknowledged Melbourne-based long-time Cuba solidarity activist and director of Ocean Press, David Deutschmann, was presented with the Friendship Medal in Cuba on July 21. Jose Ramon Balaguer, head of the Cuban
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HONG KONG — "Our election campaign is based on a transitional program aimed at gaining the attention of the working masses of Hong Kong", Leung Kwok-hung, candidate for the April 5 Action socialist organisation, explained to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly on
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KOWLOON — "One of the main campaigns being carried out by Greenpeace Hong Kong is against pollution in Hong Kong harbour, as well as river and air pollution", Kevin Li, a member of the International Rivers Network and Greenpeace Hong Kong, told
Culture
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The Diplomat Gil Scrine Films, in association with Film Australia and Emerald Films, presents The Diplomat, a film which follows East Timor's Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta in the final, tumultuous stages of his 24 years roving the world
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Social action conference planned SYDNEY — YOUTH RIGHTS ADVOCATES and community development groups will come together here in November for a major international conference, Education and Social Action. The conference, to be held at the University
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S11 street theatreIn the lead up to the anti-World Economic Forum protests in Melbourne on September 11, I'm keen to work up a scripted routine for street performance — for rallies, pickets, campaign meetings, etc. Through a
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Valuing humanity and nature Being and WorthBy Andrew CollierRoutledge, London, 1999136pp., $42.95 (pb) REVIEW BY NEVILLE SPENCER The field of ethics is possibly the least developed area of philosophical debate. This is even more the case in
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Reggae has been an important world music ever since the release of Bob Marley's Catch a Fire back in 1973. For obvious reasons, it has always had a particular resonance in Africa and in marginalised communities and countries
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Pilger online Hidden Agendas: The films and writings of John Pilger<; Award-winning journalist and film-maker John Pilger has waged a moral war against Western governments for the past three decades. Unrelenting
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When the oppressed express themselves The Filth and the FurySex Pistols documentaryDirected by Julien TempleAt major cinemas REVIEW BY STUART MUNCKTON Julien Temple's documentary on legendary British punk band the Sex Pistols, The Filth and the