Rio Tinto: the world's worst company?With a turnover of $10.8 billion in 1996, Rio Tinto is the biggest mining company in the world. Through its mines and subsidiaries, Rio Tinto wears many masks. Among them are: Hunter
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The pastoral industry's debt to Aboriginal people Since last December's High Court Wik decision, which confirmed that native title and pastoral leaseholds can co-exist, relations between Aboriginal people and pastoralists have been under renewed
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Making a difference "This special һƷ̽ broadsheet has been produced as a response to the Gulf War. Coverage of the war by the mass media has highlighted the need for a real alternative source of news and analysis." Those words appeared in a
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Resistance has been an integral part of һƷ̽ Weekly's success since it began publication in 1991. Resistance members have been involved in writing articles and are key to its widespread distribution. intro = һƷ̽ Weekly correspondent
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Cricketers hit out for justiceIt is sometimes in the most unlikely situations that class struggle bursts to the surface. An industrial dispute has developed in the green pastures of the "gentlemen's game", where the
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Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Thursday, 10pm and Saturday, 7pm. Access News — Melbourne community
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Pauline Hanson and her minders have toured Queensland to secure the support of the state's most rabid far-right and racist groups in preparation for the state election. One Nation has announced that it will stand candidates in every
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'Student Underground' relaunched BRISBANE — The radical high school newsletter, Student Underground, has been relaunched. The first four-page edition covers scapegoating youth, feminism in high schools, the Nike boycott, protection of the
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What's in a life? Five hundred words — more or less — is all it takes to live the life of Riley. For a short time each week, the good life and I are thought to be one. But don't believe a word of it. While on a daily basis I may manage a
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News briefs Young Liberal boycott campaign PERTH — The Young Liberals (WA) have threatened to boycott Body Shop stores for selling armbands in opposition to Howard's 10-point plan. Profits from the sale of armbands — which carry a range of
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Spikes of hyacinth By Brandon Astor Jones "Show me someone not full of herself and I'll show you a hungry person." — Nikki Giovanni. Although she has put on a little more weight these days, I can remember when Nikki Giovanni weighed less
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Tent city for native titleADELAIDE — Hundreds of people took part in a three-day tent city and three-day vigil in support of native title from November 23. More than 700 people signed the visitors' book. The action,
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Information nights tackle ignorance on WikBRISBANE — Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation in Queensland have begun a series of information nights in marginal federal electorates. Frustrated by the federal
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Whose WIN? The federal minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Senator Herron, is planning to set up an organisation which would ostensibly represent indigenous women. It's to be called WIN, or the Women's Indigenous Network. Senator Herron, in
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300 issues of һƷ̽ Weekly һƷ̽ stands up for the oppressed people's point of view. It has a perspective that is based on justice for the individual. It presents the facts that are not forthcoming in the mainstream papers and provides
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Necrophilia In regards to the recent review of the film Kissed, I am very concerned that the staff at һƷ̽ does not have the guts to tell the truth about wrongs in the art world as it does about other social problems. Being liberal does not
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Parliamentary gallery protestCANBERRA — On November 25, as federal parliament began the second reading debate on the Native Title Amendment Act, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation organised a
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In its 300 issues, һƷ̽ 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
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Damned if they do, damned if they don't: Working women and the Louise Woodward trialLouise Woodward, a 19-year-old English au pair, has been found guilty in the death of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen. A storm of
News
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Protest over arrests of Los Palos SixCANBERRA — Responding to a call by the Dublin-based East Timor Solidarity Campaign for worldwide actions to protest against the British government's jailing of six East Timorese
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Publication schedule Next week's һƷ̽ Weekly, dated December 10, will be the last for 1997. We will then take our summer break and resume publication with the issue dated January 21, 1998. To make sure you don't miss the end-of-year issue —
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Lenin was right "One of the first people internationally to define the Labor Party was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin when he described the Labor Party in 1913 as altogether bourgeois and altogether Liberal." — ALP leader Kim Beazley. Not far at all
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AIDS crisis far from overSYDNEY — On November 24, a black coffin was carried by AIDS activists from Circular Quay to Parliament House. A minute's silence was held as a mark of respect for the 5370 Australians who have died
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CES staff strike against individual contractsCANBERRA — Commonwealth Employment Service workers here struck on the afternoon of November 27 to protest against cuts in working conditions contained in an individual contract.
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In the week before the opening of the Kyoto conference on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, scientific studies of temperatures around the world appear to show that 1997 will be the hottest year since human beings began
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Doctors' hunger strike continuesSYDNEY — The hunger strike by 40 overseas-trained doctors entered its 11th day on November 28. They are camped outside NSW Parliament House. The doctors are members of the Australian Doctors
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MELBOURNE — Now that the Victorian government's WorkCover bill is before parliament, and unions have had a chance to scrutinise it, it has been discovered to be worse than predicted. In addition to removing the right of injured
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BRISBANE — The National Union of Students (Queensland) held its state conference here November 24-25. The affiliation of the University of Queensland has substantially changed its balance of forces, many more left delegates being
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Opposition to nuclear reactor growsSYDNEY — Citizens Against a Nuclear Reactor (CANR) has been formed to oppose the federal government's plans to build a new nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights. CANR is calling on the government
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By Wendy Robertsonand Keara Cortney SYDNEY — Forty people attended a "Stop the Jabiluka mine" information and planning night at the Wayside Chapel here on November 24 to discuss ways of increasing the activist base of the campaign. The night
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Hinchinbrook 'beach being built' Video evidence collected by the Friends of Hinchinbrook and the North Queensland Conservation Council shows that Cardwell Properties, the Hinchinbrook developer, is constructing a beach on the foreshore and over
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Plantation sell-off threatens native title A federal government push to privatise publicly owned forest plantations poses a serious threat to native title rights, the Queensland Greens declared on November 25. Spokesperson Peter Sykes said that the
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Rally opposes uranium mining, woodchipping, greenhouse emissions HOBART — About 150 people staged a lively march through the city streets here on November 28 to protest against plans to mine uranium at Jabiluka in Kakadu. The protest, organised
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Memorial to Robert WalkerCANBERRA — More than 50 people met on November 23 to commemorate a plaque and plant a tree in memory of Aboriginal poet Robert Walker, who died in custody in 1984. Robert Walker died in Fremantle
Analysis
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Editorial: How to defend native title How to defend native title As opposition mounts to Howard's native title amendment bill, the government is desperate to claw back support by raising the bogey that native title claims will be made over
World
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'Asian contagion' brings Brazilian austerity On November 10, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced a package of 51 austerity measures to shore up the real, the dollar-backed currency he designed in 1994 when he was finance
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In 1884-85, the European powers sat down at the Berlin colonial conference to formalise Africa's carve-up into colonies. The orgy of brutal invasions that preceded the conference was aptly dubbed "the scramble for Africa" by the
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In late September, I was one of 16 international activists from Britain, the US, Canada, Belgium and Australia who converged on Israel to draw international attention to the plight of Mordechai Vanunu, who has been in solitary
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Fallout on Tahitian nuclear tests Following the publication in Papeete, Tahiti, of the results of the independent inquiry into the consequences of the nuclear tests on the Tahitian people, several members of Hiti Tau, a Polynesian
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Thirty-eight trade unionists protesting against the visit of Indonesian President Suharto to South Africa were arrested in Cape Town on November 20. The protesters, members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), who
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MEXICO CITY — A major human-rights scandal involving the city's police department continues to pick up steam following the arrest on November 18 of three top military commanders of elite police units. The police force has been
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Protests mark APECHuman rights and solidarity activists' protests at the APEC summit, November 22-25 in Vancouver, Canada, focused on the failure of governments in the Asia Pacific region to deal with human rights problems caused
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Conference urges international workers' unitySAN FRANCISCO — An important conference took place in mid-November: the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against NAFTA and Privatisations. The nearly 400 participants came
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MOSCOW — In the first decade of the next century, a series of reactor blocks at Russian nuclear power plants will reach the end of their designed service life. Government officials will then have to choose between two grim
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On October 26, municipal elections were held in Colombia. The international media were at pains to convince the world that Colombia's bipartisan political system was one of the most advanced "democracies" in Latin America. The
Culture
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Music across cultures Reviewed by Sujatha Fernandes Star RiseNusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael BrookFeaturing remixes by Joi, Talvin Singh, Asian Dub Foundation, Sate of Bengal, Aki Nawaz, Black Star Liner, Nitin Sawhney, Earthtribe, the Dhol
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For My Comrade Today I come to visit you, comradeto wake you up in the morning. You hear the loud voicesfrom the machine gunsand the voices of crying shakes you, comrade I come to visit you, ComradeTo knock on the window of your heart;To the
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A new voice, worth listening to Capital Volume 1By Anthony MacrisAllen & Unwin, $16.95 Review by Maree Roberts This, Macris' first novel, represents a fresh voice in Australian fiction. Not the usual middle-class-angst voice or the
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Murder, bigotry and the holidays River's EdgeBy Cath PhillipsBlackwattle Press149pp, $15.95 TrashtownBy Robert TaitBlackwattle Press224pp, $16.95 Reviewed by Kath Gelber At this time of year, many of us are on the lookout for some light
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DSS and other thingsTribe of NewSend $25 to PO Box 95, Wyongah, NSW 2259 Review by James Smith Unfortunately, being a musician often involves an intimate, intense and often dysfunctional relationship with Centrelink, usually resulting in feelings
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Comedy consortium bids for rights to JesusMELBOURNE — Highly regarded local entrepreneurs Rod Quantock, Fred Rowan and Lynda Gibson (better known for their comedy appearances on stage and TV) are preparing a bid to secure
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Black UnityPharoah SandersImpulse through MCA/UniversalThe reissue of the Pharoah Sander's classic 1971 album Black Unity documents another step in this brilliant, underrated artist's evolution. It is also a jazz snapshot of the mood