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Rolling over the membership

By Pat Brewer The current factional brawls in NSW and Victoria are an all too familiar scenario in a party which lacks real democracy. Party members of branches and affiliated unions have little real influence over policy formation, and no

Dirty tricks in PSU national election campaign

By Steve Rogers CANBERRA — Incumbent national officials in the Public Sector Union have embarked on a campaign of red-baiting and dirty tricks prior to national union elections in mid-May. The cause of their concern is a campaign being run by

Poll 'free and fair'

Poll 'free and fair' By Norm Dixon JOHANNESBURG — International observers have pronounced the elections free and fair. While acknowledging widespread complaints about the Independent Electoral Commission's "incompetence",

Comment on a debate

Comment on a debate The ongoing population debate is an important one, which I'm glad the paper is allowing to happen so fully. Many important ideas are leaping from it — like when Athena (goddess of wisdom) sprang directly from the mind of

Loose cannons

Ringing endorsement "Whatever my personal feeling is, I'm not going to go out and vilify the leader, no matter what I think of him." — NSW right-wing ALP MLA Peter Anderson, after losing his preselection. Anderson was reported to be upset with

Forums on East Timor banned

By Jon Land The Indonesian government has clamped down on the activities of East Timor solidarity and human rights groups in response to international attention to the plight of the people there. The release of John Pilger's film Death Of A

Anti-union repression exposed

Anti-union repression exposed Repression of trade unionists is increasing worldwide, with 92 killed last year, says the International Federation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in a report published on April 28. The report says that some 2300 trade

Write on: letters to the editor

Old and proud Is Green Left Weekly promoting ageism? Surely not — yet I notice your advert for "Cultural Dissent" describes dissenting alternative culture as "youthful". Which seems to imply that all old people are naturally too

Radio highlights

American Music and Popular Culture — Rock 'n' Roll — A folk art born and living out its entire existence at the height of commercialism, rock 'n' roll is the first popular music idiom where the intended market is defined by age rather than race

People's Justice Alliance formed

By Catherine Gow MELBOURNE — Prison privatisation plans for Victoria are the most sweeping of any Australian state. Almost 40% of Victorian prisoners will be in a private prison if the Kennett government's plans go ahead., Victoria will also

South Africans give ANC a landslide

By Norm Dixon JOHANNESBURG — When the election results were at last announced on May 6, the African National Congress had swept in with 62.7% of the national vote and 252 seats in the 400-seat national assembly. The ANC won landslide victories
Hemp

What's wrong with hemp?

In 1925, there was an international conference on drugs which focused particularly on opium. But it also looked at Cannabis sativa. Egypt was the chief mover in persuading other nations that Cannabis sativa should be banned.