ROCKHAMPTON — The conservation movement lost one of its dearest friends and most valuable members when Ann O'Brien lost her battle with a brain tumour and passed away peacefully on December 12.
Ann was a dynamo in all she did. An Englishwoman we
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With more allegations emerging of full fee-paying students receiving preferential treatment and soft marking and universities accepting bribes, Australia's tertiary education system appears to be in a state of serious decay. The
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One of the main claims made about the capitalist system by its defenders is that it is based on freedom of choice. If this was true, then the capitalist rulers in the United States and other countries would not go to such
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SYDNEY — Over 100 unionists, students and political activists packed into the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre here on January 25 for the second meeting of M1 Sydney. Although a large and politically diverse crowd, by the end of the
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Questions have been raised by some on the Australian left and, more recently, by ruling class commentators in the wake of the December release of the Howard government's defence white paper: Did the Australian government's 1999
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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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"I love the idea of women being women and men being men. [Charlie's Angels] is a way to put forward to girls that you can do anything, achieve anything, be anyone." Cameron Diaz, star of the film Charlie's Angels. Charlie's Angels was the surprise
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While corporate media reports focused on "history" being made on the steps on Congress, where George Bush junior was sworn in as the chief executive officer of the world's most powerful state on January 20, there was far more
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Networker: Dreams of abundance In just a few weeks Canberra residents will have access to digital services that the rest of the world can only dream about, according to former Australian Capital Territory (ACT) chief minister Kate
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MELBOURNE — Despite it being a profitable enterprise, the Chef whitegoods factory in Brunswick faces closure by its new owner, Email. The company owns a competing factory and now, having bought out its opposition, is planning to
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Congratulations Happy 10th Anniversary! Aziz ChoudryGATT WatchdogAotearoa (NZ) Palestine A response to the letter, "Israel and Palestine" published in GLW #432. Zionists and their adherents are fond of claiming that they do not occupy
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'Never Race and class in the US: trust a son of a Bush'SAN FRANCISCO Never trust a son of a Bush. This was one of many signs at George W. Bush's presidential inauguration in Washington on January 20. Some 25,000
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George Walker ("Dubya") Bush wasted no time before signalling that his government will move rapidly to implement sweeping pro-big business measures and right-wing social policies. Bush and his cabinet are already training their sights
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Governments don't mind if their policies are unpopular with the majority of the population, as long as the only reaction they provoke is passive grumbling. What they don't want is for widespread grumbling to turn into active and
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A community service announcement With the year already well under way, I think we should note its significance. There's been the Year of the Pig before this and maybe the International Year for the Prevention of Bad Breath — but 2001 is chalked
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Affirmative action in the military has thrived under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Retired General Colin Powell, US Army, quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 31, 2000 The words that head this space were
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The United States' biggest corporations delivered more than US$35 million in 31 days to pay for George W. Bush's January 19-20 inauguration parties, the New York Times reported on January 18. Most of the money came in separate
News
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MELBOURNE — Protesters staged a sit-in on the roof of the Maribyrnong detention centre here on January 24 to protest the appalling conditions in the centre and the policy of detaining asylum seekers. Seven protesters climbed onto
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MELBOURNE — Chanting "Shame, Nike, shame!", Fairwear activists staged a lively demonstration at the Australian Open tennis tournament on January 23. The sportswear giant Nike sponsors the event and has reportedly signed Australian
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The federal government is seeking to use a two-day protest by over 160 asylum seekers held in the Port Hedland Immigration Detention Centre to justify an escalation of attacks on the human rights of refugees. According to the
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[The following is a slightly abridged version of a letter addressed to "all left parties and individuals" posted on the internet on January 25. It was signed by John Percy, national secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party, and Peter Boyle, the
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Diplomacy Once that clear political objective is established such as kick the government of Panama totally; not just kick the army out, but get rid of an entire government that's what we did in 1989 on 12 hours' notice, with
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BY TONY ILTIS& JUSTINE KAMPRAD MELBOURNE — Fourteen maintenance workers have set up a picket line outside the luxury Grand Hyatt Hotel after management locked them out on January 19. The lockout followed seven months of negotiations for an
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BRISBANE — Angry at the expulsion of two gay men from Southbank parklands for kissing in public, 100 protesters gathered at the park on January 14 for a public "kiss off" denouncing the idea that such public displays of affection
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Because: * The average women's earnings (including overtime) are around two-thirds what men earn. * Abortion is still part of the Crimes Act in most states of Australia. * Women are still largely judged by how they look, rather than what they
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MELBOURNE — The queer community hit the streets of St Kilda for the Midsumma festival's annual Pride march, which was given a militant, political colouring by a large, noisy contingent of anti-capitalist activists. Melbourne's Pride march, which
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The federal government announced on January 24 its preferred sites in South Australia for a controversial national dump for about 10,000 cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste — much to the disgust of environmental groups and
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BRISBANE — On January 25, two 91̳ Weekly distributors staffing a campaign stall in the Queen Street Mall were accosted by police and a Brisbane City Council employee and threatened with arrest if they did not move on. The
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PERTH — On January 23, ACTU secretary Greg Combet addressed 300 BHP workers at a mass meeting in Port Hedland. Combet told the workers that the ACTU was appealing the January 10 Federal Court ruling against unions in their
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Behind the facade of a growing "global village" lies the reality of brutal exploitation of the Third World by the corporations and banks of the First World. The mass media tells us that "globalisation" is bringing us together, when
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MELBOURNE — Three hundred thousand casual workers in the manufacturing industry have won a boost to their conditions, following a successful legal claim by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) for improvements in
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The Democratic Socialist Party has written to other left parties and prominent left activists to initiate discussions around fielding common "Socialist Alliance" candidates in the coming federal elections. The DSP is seeking
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All over the world people are taking a stand against the tyranny of big corporations and their governments' international economic institutions. From Seattle to Indonesia, Melbourne to Prague, the IMF, World Bank and
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Adelaide IWD on the move ADELAIDE — The International Women's Day collective took to the streets here with a campaigning stall on January 27 to publicise the theme and demands for this year's rally. "This year's theme 'Women fighting for global
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CANBERRA — On January 24, the Australian Refugee Alliance and Amnesty International organised a protest of 80 people outraged at the treatment suffered of Bariya Ibrahim Magazu at the hands of the Nigerian government. The
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ADELAIDE — More than 80 people attended a speakout and candlelight vigil to mark Invasion Day on January 26. The meeting was held outside Government House, on what has become known to Aboriginal activists as Genocide Corner,
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The first full bench hearing of the Yallourn power workers' arbitration case begins in Melbourne on February 5 at 11.30am. The workers are asking for as many people as possible to come and fill the arbitration court. We must keep the
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By Sophie Fischer & Lauren Carroll Harris Women activists played a vital role in the S11 blockade of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne. Many were part of the organising collectives, were speakers, marshals, spokespersons, performing artists,
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In Melbourne last year on September 11, more than 20,000 people mobilised to shut down the World Economic Forum's Asia-Pacific meeting. The meeting's purpose was clear — for the chief executives of the largest 1000 corporations
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PERTH — The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee launched its prisoner rights campaign at a public meeting attended by 100 people here on January 24. "The time is long overdue for a broad-ranging and concerted community
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Three-hundred and sixty irradiated fuel rods were secretly shipped out of the nuclear reactor plant in the southern Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights on January 22. The irradiated (or "spent") fuel rods — vastly more radioactive than
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"The world economic order works for 20% of the population but it leaves out, demeans and degrades the remaining 80%. We simply cannot accept to enter the next century as the backward, poor and exploited rearguard;
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PERTH — The campaign to save Western Australia's old-growth forests has become a major issue in the February 10 state election campaign. On January 23, the ALP released its "controversial" policy which pledges to stop old-growth
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SYDNEY — A regional environment plan (REP) has been approved by the NSW Labor government that allows large-scale urban development on the 1535-hectare former Australian Defence Industries (ADI) factory site at St Marys, in
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MELBOURNE — Around 60 students and staff joined a speak-out at enrollment hall organised by Melbourne University Student Union and the National Tertiary Education Industry Union (NTEU). It highlighted for the thousands of first-year students
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BRISBANE — The Democratic Socialists have announced they will be running two candidates in the February 17 Queensland state elections, on a platform of "End corruption — Support socialism". The two Democratic Socialist
Analysis
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Editorial: Close the detention centres! Philip Ruddock, the federal minister for racism, has argued that last week's protests by asylum seekers at the Port Hedland detention facility were caused by a small group of troublemakers who were
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In the wake of mass protests against racial discrimination organised by indigenous rights activists during the white ruling elite's 1988 bicentennial celebrations, Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke sought to placate Aboriginal activists with the promise of a treaty between the commonwealth government and indigenous Australia by 1990.
World
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For the second time in 15 years, the Philippines people have risen as one to overthrow a corrupt leader. In 1986, millions gathered on EDSA, Manila's main avenue, to demand the resignation of dictator Ferdinand Marcos; on January 20
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Tamil groups are fearful that the Sri Lankan government will escalate its war in the country's north, following the January 24 expiration of a unilateral ceasefire by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The LTTE, which is fighting for an
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In an end of year "state of the nation" report, the central leadership council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) described economic developments during 2000 under the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice-President
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Undeterred by an unprecedented crackdown by Swiss police, several thousand anti-capitalist demonstrators have descended on the up-market ski resort town of Davos to protest the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) of top
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At the April Summit of the Americas meeting of government leaders, to be held in Quebec City, Canada, the United States will seek endorsement for the extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to the rest of the
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WASHINGTON, DC — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC) upholds the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return home as an integral component of a just and viable peace. No agreement, negotiations or parties which purport to trade
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On January 23, Budiman Sujatmiko, chairperson of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) led a delegation to meet the leadership of the Nahdatul Ulama (NU), the religious organisation which Abdurrahman Wahid led before his election as
Culture
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Mouth to MouthRory McLeodThrough Shock RecordsOrder at <; REVIEW BY JOHN GAUCI "I want my songs to keep memory alive. I suppose I'm trying to tell history from working peoples point of view. Politics to me is
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Eat Flowers & Kiss BabiesCountry Joe McDonald and the Bevis FrondWoronzow Records<; REVIEW BY BARRY HEALY If you are going to trip down memory lane, you should at least go with someone who knows the meaning of
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In his review of Clinton Heylin's Bob Dylan biography (GLW #433), Phil Shannon attacks Dylan on the basis that he sold out on his politics. Shannon fails to grasp that Dylan was never a political activist. His music took up
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REVIEW BY MARGARET ALLUM Links — International Journal of Socialist Renewal Number 17, January to April 2001New Course Publications, 128pp, $8 <; There couldn't have been a better time for this issue of