Action updates
BRISBANE — About 150 people danced the night away on March 12 in a special women's performance night at Green It Up, the weekly political infotainment event organised by Resistance as a fundraiser for Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly. The evening was opened by Nora Richardson from Australian Aid For Ireland, speaking on women in Ireland and the recent abortion controversy. Performers included Clara and the Zetkins and local Brisbane talent Ruth Apelt. The talented Sister Moon ensemble entertained with songs and creative musical accompaniment. Gerry from Genital Equity gave a very entertaining sex education talk. Green It Up features a different theme every Thursday evening at the Celtic Club.
- "We don't claim that we will beat Indonesia militarily", Agio Pereira, former NT Fretilin representative, told a public meeting here on March 7. "We have achieved a stalemate where they cannot destroy our resistance. The momentum is in our favour." The meeting was organised by Action Solidarity Indonesia (AKSI) and Brisbane's East Timorese community. Brendan Greenhill of the Anti-Bases Coalition spoke on the Timor Gap Treaty. Other speakers included Telecom union state secretary Ian McLean and Vic Farrell from the Group Against Rainforest Destruction, who discussed the campaign to stop logging on the island of Siberut. AKSI and Brisbane's East Timorese Community meet every second Monday at 6:30 p.m. at 29 Terrace St, New Farm. For more info call 358 4875.
- Four members of the Catholic Workers Movement briefly occupied the army base of Canungra, 60 km south of here, on March 4 in protest at the training of Indonesian troops at the base. The protesters took over the office of a senior training staff member, scattered ashes and chanted prayers while army brass called police to have them removed. Activist Anthony Gwyther described as a "national sin" Australia's response to the Jakarta regime's massacre in East Timor. Two members of the same organisation, Ciaron O'Reilly and Moana Cole, have been jailed in the US for damaging a B-52 bomber in protest at the war in the Gulf.
MELBOURNE — A small but vocal demonstration greeted John Hewson on March 11 as he arrived to address a public meeting at Coburg Town Hall as part of the Liberals' campaign for the Wills by-election. Chanting "Tax the rich not the rest, no GST!", the protesters reminded Hewson that his Fightback! program was not popular.
- About 200 people marched through the city on March 12 demanding the release of Timorese political prisoners currently being tried for subversion in Jakarta and Dili. Speakers called attention to Australian diplomatic manoeuvres aimed at taking East Timor off the UN agenda. The march finished at the office of Garuda Indonesia Airlines.
- About 130 people attended a seminar on sex and feminism in the '90s at the Resistance Centre here on March 10. Women's movement activist and Democratic Socialist Party member Bronwen Beechey argued that, while incomplete, the social and political upsurge of the 1960s provided the context for women to ereotyping of the postwar decades. More recently, said Michelle Hovane, Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth had an important radicalising effect on young women. Monash University activist Natalie Mikkelesen discussed last year's campaign against sexual violence following a number of rapes on the campus. Discussion focused on how men can support women's liberation, and how the movement can broaden out in a period of relative political quiescence.
NEWCASTLE — Fifty people packed into the Resistance Centre to discuss Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth on March 11. Brisk discussion following the talk by Kylie Budge's included how advertising and the media shape women's oppression. Participants stressed Angela Davis' comment in the book that women needed to move from theory into action to challenge their oppression. Wednesday night forums on progressive issues are becoming lively arenas for alternative views in Newcastle. The forum concluded a week of activities for International Women's Day which included 300 participants in a demonstration, 40 at a champagne brunch, 30 at a women's video night organised by Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly and a formal dinner and art exhibition.