Tale of a numb bum
For the sake of argument, if I were to get you to sit there for a long time you'd end up with a numb bum. Of course, you'd need a fair share of reading matter or a particularly long movie or speech to warrant being sedentary
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Write on: Letters to the editor Vilifying Not content with vilifying many of the unemployed, conservatives have moved on to sole parent pensioners. In Sydney's Daily Telegraph of July 29, Michael Duffy whinged about people "receiving the single
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Feature letter: Biological parenthood I have keenly followed the debate on "biological parenthood" (GLW #405, 408, 409, 413). The argument that there is a "biological" imperative to bear and raise one's "own" children, while superficially
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The Coalition government is preparing to extend social security "mutual obligation" requirements even further, this time to disability pensioners and to those sole parents and non-working partners of the unemployed who receive
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Ruddock's hasty retreat BY FRED FUENTES & GAIL LORD SYDNEY — Immigration minister Philip Ruddock received an angry welcome from migrants and refugee rights supporters here on August 4, when he attended a "community consultation" at the
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Proscribed political line "[During Georgia's legislative sessions it is] illegal for legislators to accept campaign money (but not for donors to give it). The contributions are prohibited to help avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance
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Why have an ALP conference?Why does the ALP hold national conferences? With almost all the votes sewn up before the conference and virtually all the delegates being MPs, party apparatchiks and union officials, it cannot be to
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Networker: An Olympic performance In recent years, the Olympic Games have been a showplace for the latest technology. Computer technology companies compete to provide hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment and services free in
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South Australia says no to N-dumpWhat part of the word "no" does federal science minister Nick Minchin not understand? A poll conducted by Channel 7 in July last year found that 93% of South Australians oppose the siting of a
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Villawood under siege July 24: Hunger strike by 100 asylum seekers begins at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. A roll call occurs five times a day. Twenty Refugee Action Collective activists, outside the camp showing their solidarity, are
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The rise and degeneration of Polish SolidarityTwenty years ago, on August 14, a strike began at the Lenin shipyards in Gdansk, Poland, which led to the birth of the independent Solidarity trade union movement. This movement went on
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Perhaps most people would like to believe that state-sanctioned abuses of human rights occur only in Third World dictatorships. The reality, shamefully, is far different. The human rights of refugees in Australia are consciously and
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Dennis Shanahan, the Australian newspaper's political editor, wrote on the front page of the August 2 edition that John Howard's announcement that he will introduce amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act to
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"Riot police and detention centre security broke down the doors, gassed the hunger strikers, put them in steel handcuffs and threw them like animals into waiting trucks to be taken away." Is this a scene from Nazi Germany in the
News
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BY TRISH CORCORAN& HELEN BRANSGROVE SYDNEY — Angry about suddenly losing their jobs and their employer's refusal to pay their entitlements, 140 construction workers occupied the head office of Deemah Marble and Granite and then the office of
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Big protest, little politicsHOBART — "Greenies don't want to take away jobs, we want to save jobs and forests" was the best message that came from the platform of a rally against woodchipping here on August 2. The plea for
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Hiroshima Day BY JENNY LONG SYDNEY — Three hundred people gathered here on August 5 to mark the 55th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and to protest against war and the nuclear industry.
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MELBOURNE — More than 200 people attended the Global Action Conference, jointly sponsored by Friends of the Earth and 91̳ Weekly, held at Melbourne University on July 29. The conference comprised three plenary sessions and 11
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Impeccably neutral "[Australian Broadcasting Authority chairperson David Flint] has impeccable political connections — he is close to the Prime Minister — and is seen by the industry as neutral." — Anne Davies in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Indy Media Centres launched in Melbourne, SydneySYDNEY — Independent Media Centres are now up and running in Melbourne and Sydney, where they'll provide a protesters' eye view of protest actions at the World Economic Forum's
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Students prepare for the 'big show' BY ADAM BAKER BRISBANE — "On September 11 in Melbourne the big show is coming to town", Griffith University academic Richard Sanders told students at an August 1 forum here, which discussed the penetration of
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Latin America solidarity BRISBANE — Supporters of the Cuban Revolution danced into the early hours of the morning to the Latin sounds of DJ Sonido Tropicale here on July 29, in commemoration of the 48th anniversary of the July 26 attack on the
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Students occupy in IVF protestBRISBANE — Students from various political persuasions — socialists, Laborites, anarchists — united to protest against John Howard's plan to restrict access to in vitro fertilisation by
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SYDNEY — NSW Premier Bob Carr's Labor government appears hell-bent on committing 230,000 tonnes of predominantly old-growth timber from north-east NSW to be burned each year for charcoal at Gunnedah, the North East Forest Alliance
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Long walk at halfway pointThe "long walk" for Aboriginal justice, from Lake Eyre in South Australia to Sydney, has reached its halfway point. Starting from Lake Eyre on June 10, the walkers, who include Aboriginal elders and their
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ALP votes to support mandatory sentencing The ALP national conference voted on August 3 to withdraw its opposition to Western Australia's mandatory sentencing legislation. In a deal with the WA branch, the party changed its platform so that
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Military 'consultation' attract protestBRISBANE — "There will always be arguments for spending in other areas, but we have to make sure we are making the correct decision", said Prime Minister John Howard from a large video
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Campaign 2000 kicks into actionMELBOURNE — A 24-hour strike at white goods manufacturer Email on August 3 marks the first of possibly many industrial disputes here as manufacturing workers begin their cross-industry Campaign
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ALICE SPRINGS — On August 2, the third day of the National Conference of Community Legal Centres, delegates learned that Prime Minister John Howard had announced he would amend the Sex Discrimination Act to make it legal to deny
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MELBOURNE — In preparation for the S11 protests against the World Economic Forum meeting here in September, 91̳ Weekly has launched a new web site.
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SYDNEY — A determined Aboriginal community would not be deterred by Olympics organisers' boast that "not one black toe would cross the Homebush Bay line", the Indigenous Social Justice Association's Ray Jackson told a packed public
Analysis
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Prompted by the 1997-98 world economic crisis and after two years of rapid growth, the fledgling international movement for a "Tobin tax" — a tax on currency transactions to help curb financial speculation — is seeking to speed up
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Globalisation's myths and victimsWhen I heard the World Economic Forum was to be held in Melbourne in early September, my mind raced back to an ABC interview I heard around six months ago with Pru Goward — the Prime
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Heroes of the planet?The scene could be the boardroom of any major corporation: long teak table, leather seats, grey suits, million-dollar views - and an air of suppressed panic. "Gentlemen, we have a problem. Our market research
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GST: rolling back the opposition In the month since the introduction of the Howard government's goods and services tax, the big-business propaganda machine — commonly referred to as the "mass media" — has mounted a sustained attack on the ALP's
World
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Spotlight on Indonesia and West Papua Independence activists killed in West Papua Two residents attempting to hoist West Papua's Morning Star independence flag in the coastal city of Sorong were shot dead by Indonesian police on July 28. More
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SOUTH AFRICA: COSATU bitterly condemns labour law changes The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on July 27 condemned the African National Congress (ANC) government's proposed amendments to South Africa's labour laws as "the most
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Lift the sanctions on Iraq!When asked in 1996 about the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children from United States-enforced sanctions against the country, US secretary of state Madeleine Albright declared "the price is worth it".
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FIJI: Why the military turned on Speight Following the arrest of coup leader George Speight and more than 360 of his supporters by the Fiji military on July 26, many mainstream observers are claiming that "normalcy" is returning in Fiji. However,
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Despite the announcement on July 31 by Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid that refugee camps in West Timor controlled by the pro-Jakarta militia will be closed, the fate of tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees remains perilous. The terror
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President Hugo Chavez was re-elected by a comfortable margin in Venezuela's July 30 general elections. Chavez won 59% of the vote, beating his nearest rival and former ally, Francisco Arias, who gained 38%. Chavez and Arias were both leaders of the
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SOUTH AFRICA: iGoli 2002 — is the future private? JOHANNESBURG — By December 1998, this city's glitter was tarnished by capital flight and a decade of bad management. South Africa's city of gold (iGoli) was deep in the red. While suburban
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FIJI: 'Indigenous rights' smokescreen for elite rule Terrorist leader George Speight has claimed that his gang's kidnapping of the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was to defend "indigenous" Melanesian Fijians' political
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On July 15, 100 people protested outside England's Harmondsworth Detention Centre in solidarity with the asylum seekers imprisoned there. Most of the inmates are from poverty and war-stricken Third World countries outside Europe. The protest was
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International news briefs WTO recognises asbestos danger World Trade Organisation officials are claiming a new trade ruling on asbestos proves that the body is not, as critics claim, stacked in favour of business interests. A WTO dispute
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LAHORE — The Dada Bhai Cement Factory in the Norrieabad District, in Sind province, has become the focus of attention of Pakistan's labour movement. Sixty of the factory's workers have lost their jobs for attempting to forming a union. Thirteen
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DENIS HALLIDAY is probably the world's most high-profile critic of continuing sanctions against Iraq. He should know. As United Nations assistant secretary-general heading the international organisation's humanitarian mission in Iraq he was
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CHILE: Pinochet's victims demand justice SANTIAGO — On July 5, I chanced upon a demonstration outside the national office of the Democratic Concertation, the ruling political coalition in Chile. Patricia Silva from the Association of Relatives of
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PORTUGAL: 'Globalise the struggles' SAN GIAO — A huge banner with the words "Globalizar as lutas" (Globalise the struggles) heralded the 17th youth camp of the Fourth International, held in San Giao in central Portugal, July 23-29. Around 400
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On July 27, peaceful student protesters in the central Java city of Yogyakarta were attacked by baton-wielding thugs. At least 21 people were badly hurt. The students were commemorating the military-backed attack on Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian
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Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori began his third consecutive term in power to the sound of massive protests in the country's capital, Lima, and the smell of police tear gas. Fujimori was inaugurated on July 28 for another five year term, alongside
Culture
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Rules of racism The Australian Arabic Council (AAC) wishes to bring to your attention the film Rules of Engagement, directed by William Friedkin and produced by Paramount Pictures, which will be distributed in Australia from August 17 by Village
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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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Fringe theatre gets a boost at last Rough CutsBelvoir St Downstairs, SydneyUntil August 13 REVIEW BY BRENDAN DOYLE Theatre in Sydney is still losing ground to the multiplex cinemas, television and the home computer. The subsidised,
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ADF gets five red stars Community MusicAsian Dub FoundationLondon Records<; REVIEW BY DANIEL SULLIVAN What could one expect from a band which has toured supporting Rage Against the Machine and worked
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BP rogue web site contest BP, the world's third largest oil company, has adopted the sun as its new logo and redesigned its web site (<;) to make it look like a clean, green environmental organisation. Greenpeace is
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MELBOURNE — Art met politics on August 3 when 30 people attended a public forum hosted by anti-sweatshop group Fairwear in Westspace, a gallery run by a collective of "activist artists". The forum was held during a Westspace
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Setting the record straight REVIEW BY BILL NEVINS God and the FBIJanis IanWindham Hill State executions, antisemitism, racial segregation, book burnings, war, government surveillance and the terrorising of civilians, firings, black-listings,