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1975 and the 'end of reform'

REVIEW BY NANCY ATKIN 1975Melbourne Workers Theatre and the Canto Coro choirNorth Melbourne Town Hall Arts House, cnr Errol and Queensberry streetsWednesdays to Saturdays, 7.30pm, until June 7Tickets:$25 ($20 for union members, $15

IRAN: Rumsfeld puts Tehran 'on notice'

BY DOUG LORIMER "Iran should be on notice that attempts to remake Iraq in Iran's image will be aggressively put down", US war secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared on May 27. Rumsfeld's comment was part of a steadily mounting campaign to make Iran the

INDONESIA: Aceh war overshadows Jakarta peace conference

BY NICK EVERETT JAKARTA — On May 19-21, more than 60 peace activists from 26 countries met at Hotel Wisata to assess the challenges faced by the global peace movement and to develop a plan of action. The conference coincided with the Indonesian

WORLD ECONOMY: Stagnation fuels fears of deflation, trade war

BY DOUG LORIMER "The industrial economies are awash with excess capacity, most are experiencing disinflation and some are threatened by outright deflation. With unfortunate echoes of the 1930s, policy-makers are being tempted to use exchange rates

IRAQ: Resistance forces US about-face

BY ROHAN PEARCE On May 14, the US Army's Lieutenant-General David McKiernan announced that the almost daily attacks on the US-led occupation forces in Iraq were not being carried out by mere criminals after all, but by "regime elements". McKiernan

Budget petition presented to MP

MELBOURNE — On May 29, a group of activists from the Footscray Socialist Alliance presented a petition to the electorate office of Nicola Roxon, ALP federal MP for Gellibrand. The petition, signed by 300 residents of her electorate, called for the

Loose cannons

Down the toilet (and into Swiss bank accounts)? "The [US] Department of Defense, already infamous for spending $640 for a toilet seat, once again finds itself under intense scrutiny, only this time because it couldn't account for more than a

Action updates

Sorry Day Melbourne — On May 26, 400 people gathered at Federation Square to mark National Sorry Day and to remind people about the tragedy of the "stolen generations" — the many Indigenous children taken away from their parents by the

SCOTLAND: Putting socialism back on the agenda

ALISTER BLACK is an assistant national secretary of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), which had six comrades elected to the Scottish parliament on May 1. Black visited Australia in May. He spoke to Green Left Weekly's JOHN PERCY. What are the

UNITED STATES: Right to remain silent undermined

BY DALE MILLS "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law" — this advice, known as the Miranda warning, may no longer have to be given in all situations, the US Supreme Court ruled on

ZIMBABWE: Mass protests planned for June

BY TAMARA PEARSON Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and major civic organisations are organising an indefinite mass "stay away" (general strike), beginning on June 2, aimed at forcing the government of

NSW finally equalises age of consent

BY DALE MILLS SYDNEY — For years, NSW has had one of the most backward gay age of consent laws in the Western world. That changed with the May 27 passage of the Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Bill through NSW parliament. The bill reduces