Progress report
"Prince Ranariddh claimed the King [Sihanouk] told him that he would only retake political power on three conditions: that there be one party, no media freedom, and no human rights organizations." — Sue Downie in the September
Issue 161
News
Next issue
Green Left Weekly is taking a one-week break because of meetings involving many of our staff and distributors; there will not be an issue dated October 5. We will return to normal publication with the issue dated October 12.
By Afrodity Giannakis
Social Security members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) recently voted on the DSS "in-principle" agency bargaining agreement for 1995. Although the agreement was accepted on a national level, in NSW it
Sydney Uni Resistance activist MARINA CARMAN travelled to Canberra last week to participate in the ANU Chancellery occupation, and here describes its success in organising students to campaign against fees.
After the first few hours in the
Pickets oppose uranium mining
By Janet Parker
SYDNEY — A "yellow-cake luncheon" was held outside the state Labor Party offices on September 22 to let the ALP know that there is strong opposition to allowing uranium to be
Toxic Melbourne
By Ben Reid
MELBOURNE — Greenpeace released a report here on September 12 detailing the dangerous amounts of carcinogenic and toxic chemicals that are being legally released into Victoria's environment. The
By Holly Doel and Sujatha Fernandes
SYDNEY — Try Sutrisno, commander of the Indonesian armed forces and vice president, arrived here on September 21 on his official visit. It has been suggested that Sutrisno's visit is a trial run for a
Hobart rally for gay law reform
HOBART — Despite extremely cold and wet weather, 600 people marched here for gay law reform on September 24. The loud and vibrant march and rally were organised by the Lesbian and Gay Human Rights
Timor solidarity groups meet
By Arun Pradhan
MELBOURNE — Against a backdrop of continuing human rights abuses in occupied East Timor and the visit of Indonesian General Try Sutrisno to Australia, solidarity groups from five
Unions recognise role of women
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — Celebrations for the centenary of women's suffrage continued in South Australia with activities from September 16 to 23 directed towards women in the workplace. 160
Opposition grows to freeway expansion
By Jeremy Smith
MELBOURNE — Three hundred and fifty people attended a demonstration organised by the Coalition Against Freeway Expansion (CAFE) here on September 18. The level of community
By Nick Everett
BRISBANE — "The process of democratisation will not come automatically; we have to strive for it." This is how leading human rights lawyer Buyung Nasution described the task facing the democratic movement in Indonesia.
By Alison Dellit
Not since the 1989 anti-HECS campaign in Melbourne, has there been a student struggle such as the "no fees campaign" at the Australian National University (ANU).
When ANU decided to impose a $5000 up-front fee
'Timor prospects good' — activist
By Bernie Brian
DARWIN — A well-known commentator on Indonesia and co-convenor of Aksi (Indonesia Solidarity Action), Max Lane, was here last week for a series of lectures.
On
World
MAASTRICHT, Netherlands — As international scientists confirmed earlier predictions that climate change will happen unless cuts to fossil fuel emissions are made, Greenpeace warned that governments are still taking little heed.
At the
By Norm Dixon
LONDON — A broad coalition of anti-militarists and East Timor solidarity activists has formed to oppose the sale of British fighter aircraft and other military supplies to the Indonesian government. Will McMahon, a
Indian homeland in Nicaragua threatened
By Darwin Juarez
A 720,000 hectare forest reserve in north-eastern Nicaragua, home to 95% of Central America's Sumu Indians, is under attack by a Canadian mining company, Nicaraguan
NEVILLE NAIDOO is secretary of the ANC Youth League, responsible for youth policy, development and the Youth League's input to the government's Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP). He was interviewed in Sydney for Green Left Weekly by
By Pip Hunter
The two-month-long strike which has crippled Nigeria's already weak economy was called off by unions earlier this month in response to the worsening crackdown by the country's military regime. They managed to slow Nigeria's
Passing the hat in Britain
By Terry Smith
News that Oxfam intends to embark on a program of poverty relief in Britain underlines the extent to which the Tories have devastated the welfare state.
The charity, best
By Mario Marcio Freitas-Nantes
In the 25 years following the military coup of 1964, the Brazilian population was progressively marginalised from the decision making that governs Brazilian political and economic life. This was achieved
The following is the text of a letter from the leader of the East Timorese National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM), Xanana Gusmao, to South African President Nelson Mandela, sent from Cipinang Prison, Jakarta on May 15. The letter, written in
A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on worldwide weapons sales to developing nations says the US was the top arms supplier in 1993. The annual report, entitled "Conventional Arms Transfers to the Third World, 1986-1993", was released on
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — By the standards of most countries in most epochs, the Russian government, led for almost two years by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, should have perished long ago. It has survived largely by resorting to
By Peter Montague
An internal memorandum by an official of the US Environmental Protection Agency has accused EPA of conducting a "fraudulent" criminal investigation of Monsanto, the St Louis chemical corporation.
The 30-page
Culture
Ladybird, Ladybird
Directed by Ken Loach
Screenplay by Rona Munro
Showing from mid-October at Dendy Cinema, Sydney
Reviewed by Peter Boyle
This is a sad tale of injustice at the hands of the British welfare bureaucracy.
Dateline: Menzies' Legacy
SBS, Saturday, October 1, 7.30pm
Reviewed by Frank Enright
It is rare that "elder statesmen" and good mates Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser disagree nowadays. The historical record of twice prime
The National Aboriginal Art Award
The Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Sept 5-October 2
Reviewed by Deb Sorensen
Submissions are received from throughout Australia for this annual event staged by the NT Museum
Handspan Theatre's production of Viva la Vida: Frida Kahlo is being presented at the Performance Space, 199 Cleveland St, Redfern (Sydney), from September 29 to October 9. Written by Karen Corbett and directed by Angela Chaplin, the play uses puppets
Poem: Refugees: Korea, 1951
By Ralph Kelly
Where are you going, my little friend,
What, nowhere to go?
No shoes on your feet,
Cold in the snow.
Where are your parents, my little waif,
Well, somewhere up
Isis
Self-titled CD
Reviewed by Nick Everett
"Post feminism don't you wish/ While rape exists that's still a myth.../ Look above my chest look me in the eye/ And join the rap against rape" — Rap Against Rape
Three
The Politics of Belly Dancing: A choreopoem
By Paula Abood
Reviewed by Rosanna Barbero
The Politics of Belly Dancing has concluded at the Performance Space in Sydney, and is now on its way to Wollongong and Canberra. It combats
Indigenous festival in Sydney
The second annual Nambundah festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts, to be held in Sydney September 26-October 9, aims to present the talent and diversity of indigenous artists to the Aboriginal
Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States
By Helen Prejean, C.S.J.
Harper Collins, 1994. 278 pp., $19.95
Reviewed by Stephanie Wilkinson
Whenever a United States death-row prisoner is
Editorial
Crumbs
The federal Industrial Relations Commission decision on September 21 has been hailed by the ACTU as a victory for the Accord process. The decision, which awarded a paltry $24 wage rise for workers in three stages, has been