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Brisbane coalition calls national day of action

After organising a very successful rally of 5000 people on November 2, the Brisbane Anti-Racist Campaign (ARC) has called for a national day of action against racism on November 23. Roberto Jorquera told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly that the call came from

Looking out: Will you rebel?

Will you rebel? "It is not rebellion itself which is noble but the demands it makes upon us." — Albert Camus Consider the following list citing mistakes that have been made by an entire nation mired in the self-righteous and pretentious pit

Racism and the Melbourne Cup

Racism and the Melbourne Cup By Jorge Andres Australian history likes to recall its underdogs and battlers. Everyone seems to recall the game that Collingwood won against all odds, the horse that came from nowhere and the painter on the Harbour

ALP wins another union

The defeat of the Bill Ethel leadership in the elections of the Western Australian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is a blow to the already too small left wing in the union officialdom. The prize goes to the Labor Party,

University of Melbourne staff gear up for a fight

By Jeremy Smith MELBOURNE — Members of the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union at the University of Melbourne have resolved to resist management's attacks. Emerging out of negotiations with the university on October 25, the NTEU Single

and ain't i a woman?: Chipping away at women's rights

There was little surprise in the announcement on October 29 that the Affirmative Action Agency's already limited ability to tackle discrimination in employment and education was to be weakened even further. The agency, which implements the 1986

Conference on East Timor attacked

By Max Lane On November 9, the second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET II) opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in defiance of calls by the Malaysian government not to proceed. On November 7, the government took its first action to prevent

African blues or the blues in Africa?

Radio MaliAli Farka ToureWorld Circuit through FestivalReviewed by Norm Dixon When Ali Farka Toure's sublime music first became widely available outside his west African homeland of Mali, in the late 1980s, it created quite a stir among blues freaks.

Gross distortions of reality

Pathways to AsiaEdited by Richard RobisonAllen and Unwin, 1996, $24.95Reviewed by James Goodman Beginning in the mid-1980s, "looking north to Asia" emerged as the official Australian answer to intensified globalisation. Australian living standards

The short inspiring reign of King Ludd

Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and their War on the Industrial RevolutionBy Kirkpatrick SaleQuartet, 1996. 320 pp., $21.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon "Luddite" is used these days to deride anyone who resists the march of technology. Those

Right to choose victory in South Africa

By Norm Dixon The South African parliament has overwhelmingly passed a new law that entrenches the right of women to free, safe abortion. The Termination of Pregnancy Bill has been hailed as one of the best reproductive rights laws in the world.

Action updates

Telstra sell-off condemned BRISBANE — Members of the Community and Public Sector Union gathered outside Telstra House on November 6 for a lunchtime picket to oppose government plans to privatise the country's telecommunications giant.