Kumarangk demonstration planned
By John Nebauer
ADELAIDE — Activists opposing the building of the bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) are planning a series of peaceful actions, following a green light to construction work given by the courts
Issue 383
News
By Melanie Sjoberg
The national officials of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), threatened by a rank and file ticket in the union's elections, have resorted to rumour-mongering in an effort to protect their cosy bureaucratic niche. The
By Chris Spindler
GEELONG — After six days on the picket line, 10 workers at the Geelong site of Metalcorp Recyclers won the right to be recognised as a union site and to take action on health and safety concerns. They achieved an enterprise
By Jonathan Singer
Industrial relations minister Peter Reith is preparing a "third wave" of federal anti-union legislation even before parliament has finished dealing with his "second wave". The second wave legislation to amend the federal
Performance pay takes a tumble at ANTA
By Phil Shannon
CANBERRA — The practice of paying performance bonuses rather than wage rises in the Australian Public Service was dealt a small but significant blow recently. Staff in the Australian
Pangea unwelcome in Perth
PERTH — Four hundred people attended a Pangea Unwelcome rally, held at the Esplanade here on October 27. The midday rally, across the road from Pangea's new office, was organised by the Anti-Uranium Coalition of Western
ACT cuts college funding
By Nick Soudakoff
CANBERRA — Secondary colleges in the ACT plan to cut courses and student services, and increase class sizes, because of a $1.8 million funding cut by the ACT government. Canberra's eight colleges
Unionists 'living underground'
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Unionists on October 27 held a picket outside a public hearing of the Senate inquiry into the federal government's second wave workplace relations bill, being conducted in the City Hall
Public service anger over performance pay bonuses
By Phil Shannon
CANBERRA — Staff in the commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care will soon be voting on their next certified agreement. An unpopular attempt to introduce performance pay
Left activists discuss the green movement
By Sarah Peart and Ben Courtice
MELBOURNE — On October 27, Green Left Weekly hosted another lively debate as part of its Politics in the Pub series in Comrades Bar. More than 40 people gathered to hear
Wollongong University elections
By Andy Gianniotis
WOLLONGONG — Wollongong University student representative council elections were held October 19-21. The Collective Action ticket won the main SRC positions uncontested, most general
ueensland teachers plan strike
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — State school teachers here are considering a strike or work bans in an effort to force Education Queensland to negotiate on the pay claim the union lodged almost four months ago.
NTEU strikes to 'stop the rot'
By Andy Gianniotis
WOLLONGONG — Academics at the University of Wollongong struck on October 26-28 to protest against the erosion of working conditions and quality of higher education. The strike, dubbed "Stop the
By Robyn Marshall
BRISBANE — The National Tertiary Education Industry Union (NTEU) won an important victory at the University of Queensland on October 28. The academic, research and teaching staff voted decisively (62.5%) against UQ management's
World
By Jon Land
On October 25, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution adopting the proposal by Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the creation of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). It is expected that
On October 22, Green Left Weekly's SAM KING and EDI RUSLAN spoke in Jakarta with NELSON CORREIA, a representative of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST), about the party's view on East Timor's new transitional government. The PST is pushing for
By Lucy Chubb
As New York City health officials struggle to curb the spread of encephalitis among its citizens, Physicians for Social Responsibility warned on September 21 that outbreaks of this and other mosquito-borne diseases will be on the rise
By Lilliam Riera
Cuba's favourable geographic position, with little change in the sun's intensity from January to December, permits it to tap a clean and renewable energy source throughout the entire country equivalent to 20 billion tons of oil
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — Early in September, the main theme of political forecasts in Russia was the supposedly imminent resignation of President Boris Yeltsin. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of Yeltsin, however, regarded all this
Mexican students' epic struggle in danger
By Phil Hearse
MEXICO CITY — Commandeered buses flying red and black flags and Che Guevara portraits sped through the city on October 2, ferrying students to a demonstration commemorating the 1968
Stay of execution for Mumia Abu-Jamal
On October 26, federal Judge William Yohn granted the framed African-American journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal a minimum six months' stay of execution, bringing the possibility of a retrial
Human rights 'under attack' in Aceh
By Martin Iltis
MELBOURNE — Despite the winning of freedom in East Timor, the people of Aceh in Indonesia still face an uncertain future and human rights are still under attack, according to Acehnese
Philippine left unites and claims the streets
By Reihana Mohideen
Manila — A broad alliance consisting of the "white forces" of the Catholic Church, the "yellow forces" of the supporters of the former president Cory Aquino and the "red forces"
Indonesian trade union seeks legal recognition
Indonesia's economic crisis has, over the last two years, dramatically increased levels of unemployment and reduced the capacity of Indonesian workers to meet basic living costs. At the same time, the
Johannesburg workers march against privatisation
By Norm Dixon
Around 20,000 members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) paralysed the streets of Johannesburg on October 26 to protest against the African National
Culture
By Dorothy Flynn
Mzwakhe Mbuli, the "people's poet of South Africa", faces new charges of robbery and shooting on the eve of an appeal. Mbuli's supporters have denounced the new charges as a further frame-up designed to silence the respected
Black 47: not your usual diddly diddly dee
Live in New York CityBlack 47Gadfly RecordsE-mail <gadfly1@aol.com> for details or order from <http://www.black47.com> Review by Bill Nevins
1847 was the year of starvation that drove
Queen Cheryl's Song
By Peter Hicksand Geoff Francis
Seems the dummy-spitting season in the ALP starts around January each year — and ends in December. Reithy's best mate has gone and done it again. We wish her every success in her new post, but
Karl Marx: the personal and the political
Karl Marx: An Illustrated HistoryBy Werner BlumenbergVerso, 1998175 pages, $49.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon
Karl Marx's mother complained her son wrote Capital rather than made it. She was disappointed
A timely look backwards
Stop Uranium Mining! Australia's decade of protest, 1975-85By Greg AdamsonResistance Books, 199947pp., $4.95 (pb)Available at Resistance Bookshops, or send payment (plus $2 postage) to PO Box 515, Broadway 2007 Review by
'Take today what tomorrow never brings'
Review by Leigh Hughes
The Battle of Los AngelesRage Against the MachineEpic Records through Sony After a long absence, Rage Against the Machine has blasted back onto the political music scene with its
Resistance!
By Alex Robinson
BRISBANE — Activists picketed the Law Courts here on October 25 about homophobia in the legal system after two men convicted of bombing the Townsville Aids Council office were sentenced to only nine months in prison. Joanne Ball,
On October 29, thousands of women and their men supporters took to Australia's streets in Reclaim the Night marches. Reclaim the Night was started in the 1970s by women in England who were told by the police to stay inside after a string of violent
By Kylie Moon
BANKSTOWN — On October 27, the students association at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) Macarthur Bankstown campus organised a rally as part of a campaign around a student log of claims. A rally of 300 students on October 20
By Ema Corro and Marina Carman
Many people the world over make a choice not to eat meat — because they don't like it, because it makes them feel sick or because they can't afford it. While not all vegetarians hold this view, some argue that
Kathy Newnam and Marina Carman
November 7 is the anniversary of the victory of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin combined practical leadership of that revolution with important theoretical contributions to socialists'
Comment by Zanny Begg
SYDNEY — Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) was established to organise against attempts by the Liberty Christian Ministry (LCM) to hold a "Coming out of homosexuality" conference here on September 25. The conference
SYDNEY — Student activists organised a protest here on October 30 when they got wind of the following policy motion being put to a vote at a Liberal Party convention at the University of New South Wales: "That the Liberal Party calls upon both the