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Yallourn Energy escalates anti-worker crusade

BY ROB MILLER MELBOURNE — In its latest attempt to crush unions, Yallourn Energy is once again attempting to provoke a dispute that will threaten power supplies in Victoria, this time by walking away from an in-principle agreement reached with

SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS activists take ANC government to court

BY RICHARD PITHOUSE DURBAN — South Africans spend their weekends at funerals of children and people in their 20s and 30s. In some hospitals doctors report that as many as 70% of their patients are HIV+. The country's best medical scientists

Abortion services threatened

BY KAMALA EMANUEL HOBART — Yet another crisis has hit the provision of abortion services in Tasmania: in the past month doctors performing the procedure in the state's public hospitals have withdrawn the service fearing possible prosecution. In

Fighting Australia's exploitative relationship with Asia

BY IGGY KIM Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, ASIET, has changed its name to Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, ASAP. ASIET was at the forefront of the campaigns in support of the East Timorese independence

Tolkien's 'feudal socialism'

BY JOHN NEBAUER JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy has defined the parameters of the fantasy genre since its first volume was published in 1954. It helped inspire fantasy role-playing that began with Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970s. It was

Anti-war teach-in a success

BY DANIEL OOI SYDNEY — On December 8, 80 people converged on the Resistance Centre in Chippendale for a day of films and discussion about the past and present anti-war movements. The "teach-in", organised by Resistance, drew participants from as

PALESTINE: Israel declares war on Arafat

BY AHMAD NIMER RAMALLAH — Commentary in the capitalist mass media about the measures taken by Israel against the Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the wake of the December 1-2 suicide bombings has been strikingly

UNITED STATES: 'We have Iraq on the radar screen'

BY NORM DIXON The US ruling class has seized the golden opportunity presented by the terrible September 11 mass murders in New York and Washington — exploiting and manipulating the US people's fear, horror and anger — to launch a permanent Cold

Protests expected at CHOGM

BY MARCEL CAMERON BRISBANE — The Queen and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will both attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in the Queensland resort town of Coolum from March 2-4, 2002. The elite summit was to

Labor for Refugees launched

BY MIKE BYRNE BRISBANE — A new group has been established in Queensland to influence the Australian Labor Party's policy on refugees and immigration. Queensland Labor for Refugees was launched on November 27 at a meeting attended by 35

UNITED STATES: Rio Tinto tries to choke Bougainville suit

BY MAX WATTS For 10 years the Bougainvilleans have fought, with bullets and guns, against the world's second largest mining multinational: Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto hid behind multiple veils. The war was — the media told us — a civil war between

Elfriede Burghardt, 1918-2001

BY STEPHEN O'BRIEN NEWCASTLE — A memorial service for long-time activist and socialist Elfriede Burghardt was held here on November 27. Burghardt was born in Germany in 1918 and grew up as part of an anti-fascist family living under the Nazis.