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Letter from the US: Anger over CIA and crack trade

Anger over CIA and crack trade By Barry Sheppard A few months ago, the San Jose, California, Mercury News ran a series of articles documenting how the Nicaraguan contras pushed crack cocaine in the United States as a way to fund their war

Pakpahan defended in Jakarta

Pakpahan defended in Jakarta Fifty members of the student group PIJAR demonstrated in front of the Indonesian High Court on November 26 to protest the court's decision to reinstate the four-year sentence originally passed on labour advocate Muchtar

Ban on homosexual foster parents

Ban on homosexual foster parents By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Ian Dearden has accused the state Coalition government of breaching the state's own anti-discrimination legislation by proposing to ban

Christmas spirit

Christmas is a difficult time to ignore, even for the most conscious anti-consumer. Toy stores ascend to their annual frenzy and, in true X-files style, large men in red suits begin to colonise most department stores. When else but Christmas would

Action updates

Canberra anti-racism rally CANBERRA — Five hundred people rallied on November 23 in the centre of Canberra as part of a national day of action against racism. The action was organised by the Anti-Racist Coalition and issued the demands: defend

Environment movement at the crossroads

By Marina Cameron US President Bill Clinton's call while visiting Australia for binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets highlighted yet again the bankruptcy of the Australian government's environment policies. Of course, Clinton's

Why Lady sang the blues

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & GrillA Musical Play by Lanie RobertsonPerformed by Joy YatesDirected by Crispin TaylorEnsemble Theatre, Sydney, until December 14Reviewed by Trish Corcoran Ensemble Theatre is a peculiar location for showing the life of

Poem: Pauline Hanson

Pauline Hanson Ignorance profound clichés abound pitiful renown unfunny clown. Most who are as unwise as you seem clever by being mute, but that doesn't suit and so you flail against those who fail to be what it is you'd

US demands its way on UN secretary-general

By Eva Cheng "I've invested a lot of time and energy into trying to ensure that there would be a dignified and appropriate withdrawal", US Secretary of State Warren Christopher told Washington Post editors in a June luncheon. "That seems not to be

Meeting forms new party

By Jane Beckmann NEWCASTLE — Up to 60 people met here on November 23-24 and formed a new party of the left called the NewLabor Party. Participants and observers came from Melbourne, Sydney, Lismore, Wollongong, Canberra and Brisbane, and included

Seeking a politically useful post-modernism

The End of Capitalism (as we knew it)By Katherine Gibson and Julie GrahamBlackwell, 1996. 299 pp., $39.95Reviewed by Greg Ogle This book is written for political economists and activists who are interested in overthrowing, replacing or opposing

Not romantic, but progressive

Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil WarBy James M. McPhersonOxford University Press, 1996. 258 pp., $41.95 (hb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon The United States Civil War still tends to evoke the romantic figures of the dashing Rhett