270

Week of action launched for Indonesia and East Timor

By Sarah Peart On March 24, seven East Timorese youth were shot dead and 42 wounded, four severely, during a peaceful demonstration inside the Mahkota Hotel in Dili. The 200-strong rally of students from the University of East Timor had been

The National Front in action

By Sam Wainwright PARIS — It is certainly not exaggeration or scaremongering to call the National Front (FN) fascist. Of course, given France's experience of Nazi occupation, the FN hotly rejects the label. But its leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen,

Indonesians to boycott rigged elections

Indonesians to boycott rigged elections By Max Lane The militant section of the Indonesian pro-democracy movement has launched a campaign to galvanise the general sentiment to boycott the May 29 general elections into an active movement to

China plans to shrink state sector further

China plans to shrink state sector further The leaders of the Communist Party of China have arrived at a "unified view" on further reducing the weight of the state sector in the economy, according to Fan Hengshan, a senior official of China's

Strasbourg says no to the fascists

By Sam Wainwright PARIS — The shock of seeing Jean-Marie Le Pen's fascist National Front (FN) win the mayoral elections in the town of Vitrolles, the fourth town to fall under its control, has sparked widespread concern and debate about the

Inspection savaged in Victoria

By Sue Bolton MELBOURNE — A survey of 78 local governments conducted by the Victorian state parliamentary Labor Party, results of which were made public on April 9, revealed a massive drop in the number of food inspectors. This follows the

Moving protest in Indonesian courtroom

Moving protest in Indonesian courtroom On April 7, members of the Struggle Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights (APDHAM) entered the courtroom where Dita Sari and Coen Pontoh were being tried. It was the day on which they would read their

Mobutu's days numbered as rebels take key cities

By Norm Dixon "We're advancing, we're heading for Kinshasa. That is our objective ... this is the time for Mobutu to go", declared rebel leader Laurent Kabila on April 8 before a crowd of 50,000 cheering supporters in Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of

Alternative forum at environment conference

By Stephen O'Brien NEWCASTLE — Community activists are organising an alternative to the "Pathways to Sustainability" conference, which will be held here on June 1-5. The official event, one of a series of international follow-ups to the Rio de

Loose cannons

Only BMW drivers are human? "My wife is not obliged to withdraw from the human race because you will attack her." — Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale, replying to opposition questions about his wife being given free use of a BMW for a year;

Not a new problem

By Allen Myers Government inspection of foods arose from experience: as industrial capitalism developed, it became clear that only fear of the law could restrain some capitalists from selling adulterated and/or poisonous goods. In his book The

A Hollywood surprise

Devil's OwnDirected by Alan PakulaWith Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Margaret Colin, Treat Williams Review by Sean Healy When I first saw the shorts for this film, I thought, "Oh no, another Hollywood anti-republican film" and was sharpening my pen