As John Howard's federal Coalition government faces increasing public criticism over its cuts to welfare, employment services minister Tony Abbott has resorted to invoking both the Pope and Karl Marx in defence of the
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SAN FRANCISCO — Who won the November 7 US presidential election? Democrat Al Gore or Republican George W. Bush? As of this writing, it's still too close to call. Based on the peculiar electoral college system, if Bush wins the state
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Maqsood Alshams was released from Sydney's Villawood Detention in April after 16 months of imprisonment and abuse. He was interred under Australia's racist mandatory detention policy for asylum seekers. Maqsood sought asylum in Australia because he
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The new movement against corporate globalisation has been built around a series of mass civil disobedience actions dogging the gatherings of some of the main institutions of global capitalism. As a result, these institutions are now
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If you want an example of classic government whitewash, you need look no further than the report of the Telecommunications Service Inquiry which was released by the was released by the government on October 12. The outcome of the
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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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Once upon a time the majority of commonwealth schools funding went to public schools. Successive Labor and Liberal governments have ensured this is no longer the case. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the proportion
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The Australian delegation to the crucial climate change conference at the Hague has been awarded a "Fossil of the Day" award because of its persistent efforts to widen loopholes in the Kyoto protocol. On November 15, more than 100
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Accidental good Writing more than a century ago, Frederick Engels commented that the outcome of scientific and technological development always has unexpected consequences. He gave the example of the discovery of alcoholic distillation
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Newcastle student election I've just discovered your article, "Students outraged by Newcastle Uni election decision", by Melody Coutman & Alison Dellit. Articles such as this have broken my faith in 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ as a reliable source of information.
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The following are remarks made by US Greens presidential candidate Ralph Nader to the National Press Club on November 8: The Green Party is alive and well. This campaign has established the Greens as a viable political force. We are now third
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SAN FRANCISCO — Their hands sewed the clothes you're wearing, and the ones in your closet. They picked the vegetables on your plate and cut the meat in your refrigerator. These hands stuffed chips into the motherboard of your
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In recent years, the backlash against feminism has made significant ground — as evidenced by the resurgence of blatantly sexist advertising, government cuts to child care funding, and the propensity of morally conservative ideas fed to us in films
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BY STEPHEN O'BRIEN Any participants who hoped for a radical anti-globalisation message at the "Make it here or jobs disappear" November 15 rally in Newcastle would have been disappointed. The 3000-strong rally was billed as part of the movement
News
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CANBERRA — With the ACT Liberal government targeting public spaces such as nature reserves, ovals, lake shores and parklands for privatisation, nearly 400 people rallied in opposition on November 18. Community groups from across
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MELBOURNE — Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) members employed in Victoria's privatised power generation industry defied threats of legal action to meet at Morwell on November 16. Workers from all four power
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WOLLONGONG — Left-wing students at Wollongong university fended off a challenge from the right-wing and regained control over the Student Representative Council (SRC) in elections held on October 24-26. The left won all office
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The recent purchase by Foundation Health Care of the Medihelp medical centre chain means 1000 general practitioners, about 5% of all those in Australia, will be contracted to Foundation. Foundation managing director Ken Jones
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It will be worth watching the business section of the news on May 1, 2001, local Resistance organiser Sam King told a public meeting in Adelaide on November 11. The meeting, organised by Resistance and the Democratic Socialist
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BRISBANE — A pregnant diesel fitter, sent on unpaid maternity leave by her employer Mount Isa Mines, has successfully appealed to the Queensland industrial commission against the giant company. The commission on November 16 ordered
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Canberra — The Burmese embassy will be the site of a demonstration on November 30, the deadline set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for forced labour to end in Burma. The ACT Trades and Labour Council (TLC) will
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BY MICHELLE BREAR& FEDERICO FUENTES SYDNEY — Staff members and students from University of Western Sydney picketed all seven UWS campuses on November 9 in protest at the proposed restructuring of the university. The strike was the second held in
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For the third consecutive year, the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory is on the agenda of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC), the international body charged with protecting the World Heritage values of
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SYDNEY — An estimated 80,000 people marched from Redfern Oval to Sydney Town Hall on November 12 to demand the inclusion of the South Sydney "Rabbitohs" football team in the 2001 National Rugby League competition. The massive
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SYDNEY — The federal governments' education funding bill has been passed by the Senate with 23 amendments. If the bill is passed by the House of Representatives, it will result in windfall increases to elite private schools like
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CANBERRA — Members First candidate for deputy president of the ACT branch of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), Deborah Lally, is focusing her campaign on the lack of action taken by the ACT and national union
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SYDNEY — A new Palestine Human Rights Campaign was launched at a meeting of Palestine solidarity activists on November 18. The group will provide a coordinating centre for activities here in solidarity with the Palestinian
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Members of the Democratic Socialist Party, Resistance and others inspired by the growing anti-capitalist movement will meet for the 19th DSP congress, to be held in western Sydney from January 3-7. The theme of the
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SYDNEY — On November 18, the Sydney and Parramatta International Women's Day (IWD) collectives held a speak-out in conjunction with the Committee in Defence of Iraqi Women's Rights (CDWIR) to raise awareness about the plight
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MELBOURNE — Five hundred owner-drivers rallied on the steps of Parliament House on November 13. They parked their trucks in the street and blocked traffic for an hour. They were demanding that the Victorian Labor government's Fair
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BALLARAT — Bans imposed by trade union members at Ballarat University have broken the stalemate in negotiations between management and staff. The bans, which came into effect on November 13, were imposed on exam supervision
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Blind justice "The George Speight coup was unsuccessful in its attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Mahendra Chaudry." — excerpt from Fijian High Court ruling on the legality of the Speight-army coup last May. Stop
Analysis
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It is time for the opponents of Israel's colonialist war against the Palestinian people to mobilise in support of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat's demand that a United Nations force be sent to protect the unarmed and defenceless
World
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JAFFA — The al-Aqsa intifada has succeeded in altering agendas both in Israel and the region. In Israel, it has drawn Arab citizens into the struggle for the first time, while pushing the Labour Party rightward. In the wider
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The human impact on climate change is more certain than ever before and the Earth's main surface temperature is predicted to rise further than previous estimates, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The
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BY FIONA GRAHAM& COLIN FOX GLASGOW — A recent opinion poll on voting intentions reflects the Scottish Socialist Party's (SSP) consistent increase in support among the Scottish electorate. The poll, reported in the Herald on September 4, shows
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The leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has increased its strength in Nicaragua's municipal elections held on November 5, raising the possibility of it winning back power in next years' presidential and
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AMMAN — The outcome of the “emergency” Arab summit convened to adopt a unified Arab position towards the Palestinian uprising did not come as a surprise to most Arabs. But it was a great disappointment to those who had hoped
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On October 29, 26 million Brazilians voted for municipal governments in cities where no candidate had won an absolute majority after the first round of voting on October 1. Brazil's left-wing Workers Party (PT) won 13 of the 16 cities where it had
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HAVANA — On November 14, a rally of 12,000 people took place outside the US interests section, Washington's unofficial embassy in Cuba. The rally was against the US blockade and was televised that night throughout Cuba and
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BY SUE BULL& TIM GOODEN UTTAR PRADESH, India — As Australian activists debate the tactics of blockades following the September 11-13 protests in Melbourne, we could learn a great deal from the Indian practice of gherao (meaning blockade or
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Newly elected Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova immediately demanded that Kosova's independence be recognised following his party's success in the October 28 Kosova municipal elections. US State Department spokesperson Richard
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SEOUL — The annual National Workers' Rally, held on the weekend of November 11-12, showed signs that the decline in militancy that has plagued the South Korean labour movement this year is reversing. The leadership of the Korean
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Prime Minister John Howard, under pressure, once described the successive Australian governments' approaches to East Timor as “bipartisan wrong policy”. Yet this hasn't influenced his views on the self-determination struggle
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BY TIM GOODEN& SUE BULL DELHI — Workers are locked out of a car manufacturing plant, scabs are brought in and workers are told to sign individual contracts before they can return to work. The new contracts require workers not to participate in
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Hundreds of commemorations of the first anniversary of the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are being organised for around November 30. In Seattle, the street protests outside, and the activities of
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@head = INDONESIA: Activists plan anti-globalisation conferenceJAKARTA — Leaders of the struggle against neo-liberal globalisation here are preparing a major gathering of activists to discuss strategies to stop the imperialist
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HAVANA — "We affirm our conviction that the Cuban people have the unquestionable right to construct their own model of economic, political and social development, to decide their own future without interference or aggression and to
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JAKARTA — On November 14, six members of the Central Leadership Council of the People's Democratic Party (KPP-PRD) announced the formation of the Democratic Socialist Association (PDS). The six members are Coen Hussein Pontoh, Dhyta
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More than 60,000 municipal workers around South Africa on November 15-17 staged strikes and marches to oppose the privatisation of local government services being pushed through by mainly African National Congress-controlled councils. In
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Mass strikes and protests have shaken Africa's last absolute monarchy. A movement, led by the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), political and student groups, has been demanding labour and democratic reforms. In response,
Culture
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REVIEW BY WULLIE MCGARTLAND Let's Get FreeBy Dead PrezLoud RecordsOrdering details at <; You could be forgiven for thinking that hip hop nowadays is all about flashy cars, big guns, scantily clad women and men
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REVIEW BY RICHARD PITHOUSE The Poors of ChatsworthBy Ashwin DesaiMadiba PublishersSouth Africa, 2000 DURBAN — Ashwin Desai describes his book, The Poors of Chatsworth, as "journalism, an account from the frontlines of the [South African]