In its 300 issues, 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly has published more than 16,000 separate articles, totalling more than 10 million words. Clearly, a proper history of the issues covered would run for many pages. Instead of such a history, we've selected a brief sampling of some of the themes of those 16,000 articles.
The news that war had broken out met with an instant response right through Europe ... as hundreds of thousands of people, sickened that their governments, which had so recently been arming and aiding Saddam Hussein's regime, were now railing against the "new Hitler" and endorsing the wholesale bombing of Baghdad. — "Massive opposition to war across Europe", February 18, 1991
"We, the oppressed, will inform the international community when to lift the sanctions." This was the plea that Elijah Barayi, president of the 1.2 million-strong Congress of South African Trade Unions, made to a gathering of Australian unionists on March 20 [1991]. — "'Don't lift sanctions', says South African unionist", March 27, 1991.
Over the past seven years, the Hawke Labor government's Accord with the union movement has delivered the biggest wage cuts in any OECD country. According to a recent study by Macquarie University economist Marc Lombard, the Accord and other Labor policies have doubled the gap between rich and poor in Australia. — "IRC decrees another pay cut", April 24, 1991
The environmental problem is a global problem, so immigration is not the issue. It is a question of distribution of resources and the way that resources are managed and organised. — "Campaigning against resource insecurity", May 1, 1991
... if life in cities is made miserable by the car, for many people life without one is worse. The outer suburbs of all Australian major cities (and all smaller centres) are poorly serviced by public transport ... Even the best public transport ... is maintained only at a level which assumes that most transport needs will be satisfied by the private car. — "Too many cars", May 15, 1991
To the economic irrationalists whose first question might be, "Where will the money come from?", the obvious answer is, "Where did the money go to?" What has happened to the millions of dollars slashed from the public sector in the past 15 years? Where did the money come from for the WA Inc fiasco and for the Victorian and South Australian financial disasters? Where did the money come from for the Queensland corruption scandal? — "How to create a million jobs", May 22, 1991
For 150 years the forests of the Otways have been exploited for their wood ... There has been a pattern of regrowth and then continued logging throughout this time. Now there is a new proposition — woodchipping. — "Woodchippers eye the Otways", July 10, 1991
Strategic points on the terrace about the building were heavily barricaded, and clustered between the barricades were makeshift shelters of steel rods and plastic sheeting. With charcoal from the campfires, opponents of the coup had covered the marble walls with slogans and savage caricatures. Conscious of the likelihood that people would be wounded, health workers had set up casualty posts. — "Moscow during the coup", September 4, 1991
"This was a premeditated, unprovoked and well-planned attack on the youth of Dili who had the temerity to stand up in the street and express their fervent desire for a free and independent East Timor. — "Eyewitness to massacre", November 20, 1991
CANBERRA — Protesters blockaded entrances to the Aidex '91 arms bazaar here on November 24. Car bodies and other materials were used to barricade the two main gates to the National Exhibition Centre, locking out army vehicles intended for the exhibition. — "Aidex bazaar blockaded", November 27, 1991
"It is a form of economic lunacy to be adding to our unemployed, to be bringing people into this country who can't get jobs", said the opposition's employment shadow minister, John Howard. This attack cynically relies on a widespread misunderstanding of the relationship between immigration and unemployment. — "Liberals scapegoat migrants", January 22, 1992
In the August budget of 1986, the Hawke government introduced a $250 "administration fee" ... Since then, the government has introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme ... Now, the proposition that full up-front fees are around the corner does not seem at all unrealistic. — "Slash and burn education", February 26, 1992
SYDNEY — About 70 people attended a one-day workshop here on February 22, organised by the New Left Party Lesbian and Gay Group with the support of ACT UP (Sydney), the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby and Lesbian and Gay Solidarity. The workshop ... aimed to inject some politics back into the Mardi Gras. — "Gay and Lesbian activists' conference", March 4, 1992
An important biological species — humankind — is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive elimination of its natural habitat. We are becoming aware of this problem when it is almost too late to prevent it. It must be said that consumer societies are chiefly responsible for this appalling environmental destruction. — From Fidel Castro's speech at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, June 24, 1992
The United Nations General Assembly delivered a sharp rebuff to Washington when it voted for a Cuban-sponsored resolution calling for the repeal of the Torricelli Bill. The bill ... tightens further the United States' 30-year-long economic blockade of Cuba. — "Australia abstains in vote against US blockade of Cuba", December 2, 1992
... even when oil is not visible in Shetland, it will still be there. It will still be there in the sediments on the seabed, still there in suspension in the water. Even the atmosphere people breathe will be highly carcinogenic. — "The real price of oil", January 20, 1993
This year the Sydney Stonewall Collective has issued a list of 12 political demands for lesbian and gay liberation, including an end to exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation, an end to arrests at beats under summary offences legislation, increased resources for HIV education, care, support and research, social and legal recognition of same-sex relationships and an end to violence ... — "The spirit of Stonewall", June 23, 1993
The replacement of the Soviet Union by the Russian Federation has removed the only brake on intervention by the North-dominated Security Council in the internal affairs of the countries of the South. — "War and the UN", August 4, 1993
The Keating government's draft legislation on land rights, released on September 2, quashes hopes that the government would strengthen the High Court's limited recognition of Aboriginal "native title". In fact, the effect will be to limit even further the possibility of court action by Aborigines to gain land. — "Keating retreats on Mabo", September 8, 1993
In Mexico, a new revolutionary organisation, the Frente Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (FZLN) has been born. Made up mainly of indigenous people, it demands land, democracy and an end to the repression and massacres carried out by the military against the peasantry. — "Zapatista uprising in Mexico", January 19, 1994
On 18 April Justice Newman of the NSW Supreme Court ... confirmed that abortion remains illegal in NSW. Abortion is, in fact, illegal in every state except South Australia. — "Repeal all abortion laws now!", April 27, 1994
The terrible events of the past three years in the territory of the former Yugoslavia show what a cynical fraud Washington's New World Order really is. — "For a united, independent Bosnia", June 1, 1994
World Environment Day, June 5, was marked by marches, rallies, and festivals in Australia's major cities. Nationally more than 1000 young people, including large numbers of high school students, mobilised to highlight their concerns. — "World Environment Day", June 8, 1994
On July 6 the whale protection ship Whales Forever was rammed by the Norwegian Coastguard vessel Andenes, ripping open a section of the hull and damaging a fuel storage compartment. — "Whaling clash on high seas", July 20, 1994
Two thousand five hundred scientists working for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a statement on September 14 that told the world what we didn't want to know: carbon dioxide levels are on the rise and the world's climate is at a serious risk from human activity. — "Greenhouse alert: global warming is a global warning", October 26, 1994
SYDNEY — "Australians can be made to understand the problem with trading with Indonesia's genocidal generals", renowned author and film maker John Pilger told a 450-strong meeting here on December 2 ... Organised by 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, the public meeting at Trades Hall was packed to well over capacity, evidence of the strength of feeling in Australia that East Timor has a right to independence. — "Pilger calls for escalation of East Timor campaign", December 7, 1994
The blockade of Parliament House by 4000 timber workers has narrowed the terms of the export woodchipping licence debate to a question of "jobs versus environment" ... The timber companies are able to meet their demand for woodchips from plantation timber. They do not do so only because they are being subsidised to destroy irreplaceable old growth forests. "Jobs and forests: how to save both", February 8, 1995
DHAKA — The International Women's Day Committee, consisting of 19 different women's organisations, planned a Reclaim the Night march on Tuesday, March 7. On Wednesday they organised marches and discussions in 10 different districts outside Dhaka, and on Friday a rally with singing, dancing and theatre in a large park. — "International Women's Day in Bangladesh", March 29, 1995
CANBERRA — The results of ACT and national by-elections in the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) have thrown a scare into the ruling ALP faction. In the ACT, CPSU Challenge candidate Greg Adamson easily won the assistant branch secretary position. In the same ballot, National Challenge candidates Catherine Garvan and Derek Macpherson more than halved the majority of Progressive Caucus candidates. — "National gains for Challenge in CPSU elections", June 21, 1995
The Australian government's gentle protests over French nuclear testing plans cannot conceal Australia's role in creating and maintaining the nuclear danger. — "Uranium: leave it in the ground!", June 28, 1995
The ideological backlash against feminism tries to convince women that formal equality is enough, that equal pay legislation means equality. Feminists know this is a lie. Garner's arguments contribute to that lie. — "Where Helen Garner goes wrong", August 23, 1995
Both the establishment media and the major party bosses have attempted to characterise the racist pre-election statements of National Party candidates Bob Katter and Bob Burgess, disendorsed Liberal Party candidate Pauline Hanson and former ALP member Graham Campbell, as somehow "exceptional" ... The media spotlight on the so-called maverick racists has almost totally obscured the fact that the Liberal Party contested these elections on a policy of instituting a two year waiting period before new migrants can obtain social assistance ... — "Profiting from racism", March 13, 1996
People in Britain must by now be asking if John Major is afraid of sitting down in an inclusive political process to discuss real and fundamental political, democratic and constitutional change in all the relationships in this island and between the people of Ireland and Britain. Until now the British government has refused to address the injustices and inequalities which led to conflict. — Gerry Adams, "Britain's failures to make peace", March 13, 1996
In response to the racist Liberal, National and Labor parties, Aboriginal activist Yaluritja (Clarrie Isaacs) and Arun Pradhan, activist with Asian Australians Against Further Intimidation and the Democratic Socialist Party, have launched a campaign — Racism No! — in the South Metropolitan upper house electorate. — "WA elections: Racism No! Justice Yes!", December 4, 1996
I write this letter in a narrow and miserable cell in a jail in Surabaya. This regime has chosen me as the lone woman among 15 people on trial for subversion. The People's Democratic Party has many women activists, especially from among the workers. We think that one of the measures of the progress of the movement here is the participation of women activists, both quantitatively and qualitatively. — Dita Sari, "An IWD message from Indonesia", March 19, 1997
MELBOURNE — Since August 20, more than 100 students have been occupying the RMIT Strategic and Financial Planning Department on the fourth floor of Kay House on Swanston Street. Students are protesting against the introduction of up-front fees for 12.5% of RMIT undergraduate domestic students in 1998. — "RMIT occupation: fighting fees", September 3, 1997