I really need your help!
"I get by with a little help from my friends." — Paul McCartney Yes. Help is what I need. Immediate help.
Regular readers will know that I am currently working on three manuscripts, one of which is an autobiographical
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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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Networker: Plenty of shovels, not much gold Spare a thought for the world's billionaires. They can't make much money from the internet. While those who control the world's phone and broadcasting companies are doing very well, the majority of the
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Life in us yet Being a left activist and a feminist can be inspiring, sometimes frustrating, sometimes exhilarating, but it does not necessarily lead to exhaustion. Political "burn-out" is by no means inevitable. Many activists of the left
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MELBOURNE — The federal government's plan to change the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) to allow the Victorian Infertility Act, and laws like it in other states, to stand, has given the Victorian Labor government of Steve Bracks the
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Write on: Letters to the editor Support for S11 protest As chair of the International Committee of the United Trades and Labor Council of South Australia, I am proud to support the S11 protests against the World Economic Forum meeting in
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Welcome to the world of the conservative think tank, a world in which modern forestry "helps preserve wildlife habitat", "radioactive waste has a great advantage over other kinds of waste", "a camel is a horse designed by a committee",
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Four-year battle for reproductive rightsBRISBANE — With women's reproductive and abortion rights under attack across the country, Queensland activist and mother of three Jennifer Morgan is leading the struggle to
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Why Howard hates sole mothers and lesbiansWhen Prime Minister John Howard announced on August 2 that the federal government would move to allow states to outlaw single women's and lesbians' access to in vitro fertilisation
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Unsustainable non-developmentAt a recent talk, Noam Chomsky was asked "What are the motivations of the US push for sustainable development in the developing world?" Here was his answer. It's the first time I ever heard of that
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PERTH — Western Australia's infamous "prostitution bill" became law on July 29. Eagerly awaited by some and feared by others, the bill renders street sex work illegal. Any involvement in street sex work will bring heavy jail
News
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Supporters mobilise for Tent EmbassySYDNEY — Following reports that police were about to evict Aboriginal protesters from Victoria Park and close the Aboriginal Tent Embassy there, 150 supporters quickly gathered on August 11.
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No solution can come from elite, meeting toldBRISBANE — The crisis in Indonesia cannot be solved by "shifting deck chairs on the Titanic", the national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor
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SYDNEY — Thirty students from the University of Technology, Sydney were arrested and charged on August 9 after occupying the acting vice-chancellor's office. They were protesting University Council's rejection of official UTS
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The S11 Alliance has issued a call for trade unionists to support the non-violent three-day blockade of the World Economic Forum's summit at the Crown Casino beginning September 11.
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SYDNEY — Indonesian union leader Romawaty Sinaga, of the the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI), and Francisco Pascual, of the Philippine People's Development Resource Centre, are the two international guest
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Bondi speak-out on Olympic deceitSYDNEY — Riding the wave of protest against the volleyball stadium on Bondi Beach and against the numerous evictions imposed by profiteering property owners in the area, a lively speak-out
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Greenhouse bluesA report released by the Australian Greenhouse Office in July shows that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions jumped by 16.9% in the eight years to 1998. Under the Kyoto Summit commitments, Australia is supposed to
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Refugee forced into prostitutionA Colombian asylum seeker, who was forced into prostitution in Australia, has been refused a protection visa by the Refugee Review Tribunal. She may now be forcibly returned to her home country,
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Feel good "Black ink makes people feel there is a cover-up. To make readers feel good, the censored parts will be whited out ..." — A Thai defence ministry spokesperson on plans to re-censor a highly censored report on the crushing of the 1992
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Rod Quantock to host McDebateMELBOURNE — Some of the world's best minds and sharpest wits will grapple with the crucial issue of our time here on August 25, when they debate "Whether McDonald's should run the World Bank".
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SYDNEY — With no media attention or public discussion, the federal Coalition government is using the Olympics to justify sweeping new powers which allow the military to suppress domestic unrest in Australia. Under the pretext of
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Leaflet writer paid $2640 by Centrelink ADELAIDE — The Social Security Appeals Tribunal has ordered Centrelink to put Norm Barber back on the dole and pay him $2640. Centrelink had cancelled Barber's Newstart payments on March 30 after accusing
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BRISBANE — "The demonstrations in Seattle have opened a significant crack in the ideological stronghold of the international financial institutions", said Max Lane, addressing a public meeting of more than 100 sponsored by the
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FREMANTLE — A new Resistance Centre has opened its doors in this Western Australian port city. The office is the culmination of many months of concerted effort by members of the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance. Although
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ALP waters down native title policyAt its national conference in Hobart, the Australian Labor Party quietly discarded its commitment to the right of native titleholders to negotiate at the exploration stage of mineral projects
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Marxism on main streetNEWCASTLE — Resistance and the Democratic Socialist Party have officially opened their new office and bookshop here. Located in Newcastle's main street, at 472 Hunter Street, the building is close to City
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S11 activists targets Mcdonald's ADELAIDE — Thirty people demonstrated outside McDonald's in the Rundle Mall here on August 4 to protest against the multinational's attacks on the environment, underdeveloped nations and workers' rights. The
Analysis
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The law is an ass The Howard government will gain only limited comfort from the August 11 ruling in Darwin Federal Court by Justice Maurice O'Loughlin. In dismissing the suit of Lorna Cubillo and Peter Gunner, two representatives of the
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Every time the death knell tolls for some factory or industry in the old industrial towns of the advanced industrial world, the workers involved are torn between three basically irreconcilable reactions. The first is to fight for
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S11: high school activists debate tacticsMELBOURNE — Beginning September 11, this city will experience a myriad of anti-World Economic Forum (WEF) actions. There is a lot of discussion and debate about how to coordinate and
World
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Fiji: Why Canberra is soft on military rule The Australian government's expressions of delight and relief at the Fiji military's arrest of coup leader George Speight and hundreds of his supporters on July 26-27 signalled to the military brass that
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Colombia: US aid package for murderous military US President Bill Clinton on July 13 signed into law a massive aid package for the Colombian government. Approximately 80% of the US$1.3 billion has been allocated to Colombia's security forces in the
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ITALY: Appeals to release Chilean dissidentChilean leftists and indigenous activists have called for international help to force the Italian government to free Jaime Yovanovic, who is being held awaiting extradition back to his
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UNITED STATES: 'The poor will not be disappeared' PHILADELPHIA — While the smug elite of the US Republican Party gathered here in plush hotels and a huge new convention centre to celebrate their wealth and to anoint two rich white men to lead
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RACE AND CLASS IN THE UNITED STATES: Ralph Nader: 'Freedom is participation in power' SAN FRANCISCO — "Freedom is participation in power", Ralph Nader, US Green Party candidate for president, told delegates to the July national convention of the
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Kim appoints investigation panel SEOUL — South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung appointed a human rights investigation panel to investigate repression of the pro-democracy movement by previous military dictatorships and decide on compensation.
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Earlier this summer, a comprehensive school student from the north-east was refused a place at Oxford University, despite having exceptionally high examination grades. The Labour Party, in a populist outburst which even by their standards of cynicism
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AUSTRIA: Peak union plays dead Austrian peak union plays dead GRAZ, Austria — At a recent government-organised summit, it was proclaimed that the European Union target of a zero budget deficit could be reached only through joint national
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Hypocrisy, Republican style SAN FRANCISCO — The four-day Republican Party convention finally came to an end on August 4 with the formal nomination of Texas Governor George W. ("Dubya") Bush, as the party's presidential candidate in November.
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UNITED STATES: Greenpeace occupies Arctic-bound bargeGreenpeace activists in Alaska have occupied a massive barge carrying equipment bound for oil giant BP's Northstar development, a controversial artificial drilling island
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On July 21, the armed forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which rules Iraqi Kurdistan with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, under the protection of United States imperialism, forcibly closed the offices of the Independent Women's
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Over the last week, Indonesian students have been demonstrating almost daily in front of the central Jakarta home of the former Indonesian dictator Suharto. They are calling for Suharto — who was formally charged with embezzling state funds
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PACIFIC: US military a 'toxic criminal' SAIPAN, CNMI — Greenpeace has declared the United States government a toxic criminal for using the Pacific as a dumping ground for its poisons. Greenpeace and Tanapag villagers have re-fenced and signposted
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UNITED STATES: Anti-corporate activists go cross-country Fresh from protests against the Republican convention in Philadelphia, a coalition of pro-democracy groups set out cross-country on August 8 to share their message with unions and the rest of
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Pro-Jakarta militia operating out of refugee camps and other bases in West Timor show no sign of scaling down their attacks upon refugees or United Nations soldiers and humanitarian staff. The increasing number of clashes between the militia and UN
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After months of delays, false starts and a performance to rival Christopher Skase's "Now I'm sick, now I'm not", former president Suharto is finally to stand trial for embezzlement of Indonesian state funds. On August 3, the 79-year-old Suharto was
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CISLAC campaigns against US aid As US interference in Colombia has increased, now including a massive aid package to the Colombian military, Committees In Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean (CISLAC) made the decision at its June
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CUBA: Che photographer to sueThe man who took the photograph which turned Ernesto "Che" Guevara into an icon is planning to sue Smirnoff for demeaning the revolutionary's memory by using the photo to advertise its new, "spicy"
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INDONESIA: Dita Sari: new labour regulations inadequate On July 10, a new labour rights bill was unanimously passed by the Indonesian House of Representatives. It still requires President Abdurrahman Wahid's approval to become law. The Indonesian
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Shell chief to head renewable energy task forceThe chairperson of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been chosen to co-chair a new global task force on renewable energy. At its July summit in Okinawa, the G8 (group of eight rich,
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PAKISTAN: 'No more Hiroshimas' LAHORE — A seminar on the theme "No More Hiroshimas" was organised jointly by Lahore Peace Forum and Joint Action Committee for Peoples Rights on August 6 at Lahore Press Club. Despite severe rain, more than 200
Culture
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[This week's Life of Riley column defers to this profile of one of the great puppeteers of our time. Gepeto was among 280 protestors arrested by police outside the US Republican Party convention in Philadelphia last week. — Dave Riley.] The
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Progressive TV alive and well in MelbourneMELBOURNE — If the elite corporate current affairs dross is still driving you up the wall, then relax, comrades, for relief is at hand. Melbourne independent community television
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'We were our own censors' The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to KosovoBy Phillip KnightlyPrion, 2000574pp., $35 (pb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was in South Africa to report on
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Defiant history of workers' theatre movement Defiance: Political Theatre in Brisbane 1930-1962By Connie HealyBoombana Publications$21.90, 256 pp REVIEW BY DAVE RILEY This may seem like an obscure subject. Who nowadays is interested in theatre