PERTH - The WA branch of the Construction, Mining and Energy Workers' Union (CMEU) has developed into one of the most effective and progressive unions in Australia. Its leadership is refreshingly young, innovative and political.
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The provision of child-care services across Australia is currently under review by the federal Labor government, and services to children in NSW are being reviewed by the state Liberal government. These reviews, which both aim
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The international anti-Nestle boycott campaign is back. The first campaign, which ran from the early '70s until 1984, was one of the most successful and well known of its kind, bringing to the world's attention the company's
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In the preparations for the celebrations commemorating the 500th anniversary of Columbus' landing in the Caribbean, over 120,000 people were evicted from their homes in the Dominican Republic. It was an appropriate gesture.
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The Metherell Affair will almost certainly be the final nail in the coffin of the Greiner-Murray government. Whilst it is unlikely that a vote of no confidence will be successful within the next two weeks of parliamentary
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In 1961, Raul Macias a 16-year-old secondary student from Santiago, Cuba, went to the Sierra Maestra mountains to teach the peasants to read and write. "We were teachers but we were also students learning about life from the peasants, about how
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Aidex - 1 Aidex was an important event for the Left in Australia. 91̳'s coverage of Aidex has been overwhelmingly negative and some articles even argue the violence at Aidex was caused by demonstrators. Many people at Aidex and on
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BRISBANE - An East Timor video and cultural night was held in the Resistance Centre here on April 25, sponsored by Action Solidarity Indonesia (AKSI) and the East Timorese community. Traditional Timorese dancing was followed by a showing of the
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Our newest academic, Professor Yellowcake, formerly our great and beloved prime minister Nuclear Hawke, was honoured this week for the brilliant performance of singlehandedly, almost without even trying, taking his party's
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BERLIN - "Wir sind das Volk", chanted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in cities throughout the GDR (East Germany) in late 1989, letting the ruling socialist Unity Party (SED) bureaucrats know that "the people" was more than
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Several letters received this week (see page 8, the letters by Vandy Meyer and others, by Nick Ward and by Tom McLoughlin) appear to make this an appropriate time to explain once again what the 91̳ project is and
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The United Nations Earth Summit will be one of the largest political conferences ever, attended by around 100 heads of state and many more high government officials as well as about 30,000 delegates from around 160 countries.
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SYDNEY - While adults who work around lead are routinely screened for blood lead levels and precautions are taken to prevent lead poisoning, children are not protected or screened although they are more susceptible. Elizabeth
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MELBOURNE - Supporters of the Irish Republican movement commemorated the 76th anniversary of the Easter Rebellion against British rule at Melbourne general cemetery. The 70-strong crowd marched on April 19 to the graves of
News
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ADELAIDE - Aboriginal and trade union activist Peter Robin passed away on April 14 at the age of 51, after suffering a stroke. He was farewelled by a trade union funeral march through Semaphore on April 22, which ended in a ceremony at the
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ADELAIDE - The state government, faced with growing resentment over its plan to reduce public transport in order to save money, has been forced to back down. But its latest proposal aims at making the drivers pay for retaining
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PERTH - Indigenous people from the Philippines met with Aboriginal people here on April 12 to discuss their shared struggle to regain their land. Both Aboriginal people and the Aytas people have been denied control of their
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CANBERRA - Queanbeyan City Council has refused to support Desiko's bid to hold a thinly disguised Aidex arms exhibition in Queanbeyan. Desiko, with support from National Party MP for Monaro Peter Cochran, was proposing to hold an
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PERTH - On April 15 internal struggles within the WA State School Teachers' Union (SSTU) took another poor turn when the state executive sacked general secretary Peter Quinn. The sacking came without warning while Quinn was on
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Melbourne war tax resister Robert Burrowes has had an unusual win in his long campaign against military spending. The Federal Court found him guilty of contempt of court on April 22 - but the judge assessed no penalty against
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BRISBANE - Outgoing officials of the Queensland Transport Workers Union awarded themselves pay-outs totalling more than $500,000 just a week before a newly elected administration took control. Some estimates put the amount at
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ADELAIDE - The 14th Dalai Lama, political and spiritual leader of Tibet, will visit Australia from April 29 to May 12, with one of his aims to publicise questions of human and national rights in Tibet, which has been occupied by China since 1949.
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BRISBANE - State legal centres held a stop-work meeting on the steps of the government executive building on April 23 following notification to legal centres of cuts of $500,000 to funding statewide. Despite a Labor Party
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BURNIE - Vicious and intimidatory moves by Tasmania's largest employer, Associated Pulp and Paper Mills (APPM), have set the stage for what looks like a long and bitter struggle for union rights and workers' dignity. APPM is
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ADELAIDE - More than 100 young people from across Australia took up the challenge to salvage a livable future at the third national Environmental Youth Alliance Australian Conference, held here over the Easter weekend. A
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PERTH - About 100 construction workers were exposed for three hours to a liquefied petroleum gas leak here recently. The workers eventually walked off the job complaining of giddiness, stinging eyes and sore throats, despite
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SYDNEY - The May 2 snap by-election in the electorate of Davidson, even if won by the Liberals, will not relieve the state of siege afflicting the NSW minority government of Nick Greiner. The by-election will be followed by an
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WOLLONGONG - Striking clerks from the offices of the engine drivers and building workers unions (FEDFA and BWIU) have been asked to lead the South Coast May Day march. Local unionists are outraged at the treatment of the clerks,
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ADELAIDE - Fears have been raised that a fire at the Port Stanvac oil refinery in southern Adelaide on April 10 may have emitted toxic gases, polluting surrounding suburbs and residential areas. The Noarlunga City Council,
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On the bright side "There are no specific allegations against me of either corruption or illegality and I look forward to carrying on with the job." — Terry Metherell after the announcement of an Independent Commission Against Corruption
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BRISBANE - "Cameras perched on poles monitor the movement of thousands of passers-by. "Speaking your mind here can cost you dearly, as much as a week's wage. "Only the select few can express themselves here, with the
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MELBOURNE - Police were out in force with batons and riot gear for the second Student Day of Action on April 15, after having arrested a number of activists in early morning raids the day before. Five members of the
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HOBART - The Tasmanian House of Assembly on April 16 passed a bill granting police increased power of arrest and prescribing mandatory fines for peaceful protest. The bill, introduced by Liberal minister for police Dr F.
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SYDNEY — Friends of the Earth and the Movement Against Uranium Mining organised a picket of the offices of uranium miner ERA on April 26, the sixth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster (see page 18). Photograph by Jenny Long.
Analysis
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While the US and British governments continue to undermine the credibility of the United Nations by using it as a vehicle for their political vendetta against the Libyan government, Time magazine and the Pan Am company have come up with evidence
World
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Following the recent nuclear power station accident at Sosnovyi Bor near Saint Petersburg in Russia, global confidence in nuclear power continues to decline, as do the number of power stations being built. Yet in Asia, the
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On April 14, INFIGHT, the Indonesian Front for the Defence of Human Rights, issued the following open letter to Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating as he began his visit to Indonesia. This marks the first visit by an Australian Prime Minister
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PRAGUE - Czecho-Slovakia is slowly disintegrating under the impact of contrary forces. In Slovakia, there is a radicalisation against the restoration of capitalism. On the other hand, there is a growing willingness of the Czech
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MEXICO CITY - Investigations into the case of disappeared left activist Jose Ramon Garcia are uncovering a trail of responsibility and police spying that could become a major scandal. Garcia, a leader in the Cuautla, Morelos
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MOSCOW - As the Russian economy crumbles, unemployment is making a big comeback. And to an even greater extent than in the west, the first to suffer are women. According to research by the Union of
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By John R. Hallam Mishka and I entered Bangladesh from the north at Haldibari. Haldibari is a little-used entry point, one of only two between Bangladesh and India. We had been invited to Dacca by people from the Bangladesh Interreligious
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Australians concerned about the deteriorating health and human rights situation on the besieged island of Bougainville have formed a network to gather vital supplies and ship them there. A three-year military blockade of
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The plunge in the Tokyo stock market has dealt the banking sector some of the hardest blows. Banks' stock prices have fallen roughly twice as much as the average. Bank shares have fallen 28% in April alone. Shares in the
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Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakia's former dissident turned president, once told a reporter it was possible he could again become a dissident. For Dimitrina Petrova and her friends, founding members of Bulgaria's most famous opposition
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By John R. Hallam At 1.46 on the morning of April 26, 1986, the shift supervisor of the Chernobyl-4 reactor — part of the massive reactor complex close to Kiev, capital of the Ukraine — pressed a button in a routine end to what was supposed
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Most of Britain's relatively large but deeply divided left campaigned hard for a Labour victory in the April 9 election, even though they opposed Neil Kinnock's "consensus politics" and "new realism". The
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In June 1991 the Swedish Parliament authorised the government to apply for membership in the European Community. Only the Green Party and the Left Party were unanimously against this decision. Since membership of the EC means
Culture
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Hair Written by Gerome Ragni and James Rado Music by Galt MacDonald Footbridge Theatre, Sydney Reviewed by Barry Healy Hair is moving, dramatic, entertaining and confronting. Anyone expecting some kind of dewy-eyed recreation of flower power
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The Topp Twins are one of New Zealand's most successful acts, with a career spanning 10 years. Their music, combining beautiful harmonies with comedy and incisive social comment, has been heard at Australian venues including
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MELBOURNE - Shoppers in Bourke St Mall are being treated to some alternative entertainment in the form of street theatre during the Voices of Dissent Festival, which runs to May 3. On April 18, an alternative version of the
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AIDEX 91 - Inside the Australian Arms TradeReviewed by John Black Weapons and media are fully interlocked. Rupert Murdoch is on the board of United Technologies, one of the world's largest arms manufacturers.
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Now in its ninth year, the St Kilda Film Festival is the only festival devoted to recent Australian short films and documentaries. If the preview tapes are any indication, film goers will be treated to the usual
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Labor, Prosperity and the Nineties: Beyond the Bonsai EconomyFederation Press. 201 pp. $25 Politics and the Accord By Peter Ewer et al Pluto Press. 190 pp. $16.95 Reviewed by Mike Rafferty Steve Painter's
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Mining and Indigenous Peoples in Australasia Edited by John Connell and Richard Howitt Sydney University Press. 200 pp. $22.95 Reviewed by Emlyn Jones Scholars from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji examine the effect of mining on indigenous
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CosiDirected by Adam Cook Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen and Angela Matheson How could you go wrong? Louis Nowra breathes new life into that now thoroughly worked-over period in Australian history -