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Issue No. 249 03 December 2004  
E D I T O R I A L

Moral Majority
Unions NSW is currently hosting one of the world�s great thinkers in Robert Reich; academic, commentator and Clinton labour secretary; a man with a mind as big as the dilemmas progressive politics face right now.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Minority Report
New federal ALP industrial relations spokesman Stephen Smith on the hostilities in store for the labour movement.

Industrial: Girl Power
Tim Brunero looks at how women are making their mark in a once-male dominated trade.

Unions: Made in NZ
Jim Marr looks behind the rhetoric to uncover what the Howard Government has in store for Australian workers.

History: Spirit for a Fair Go
Paddy Gorman looks at the importance of Eureka on the Australian political psyche.

Economics: Fool's Gold
Tom Bramble identifies some contradictions in Howard's economic miracle.

Politics: Worth Fighting For
One of the Left's most influential figures of the last 40 years gives his theory of power ...

Health: The Force Behind Medibank
Public health has always been a core activity for the union movement, writes Neale Towart

Legal: Robust Justice
Former ACTU executive member and textile union leader Anna Booth argues that Alternate Dispute Resolution is one way around the looming assault on union rights.

International: After the Revolution
Has China entered a post-revolutionary phase - and where will it take the world, asks James Goodman

Poetry: The Sound of Unions
Ah, the hills are alive, with The Sound of Unions, muses resident bard, David Peetz

Review: Bad Santa
Billy Bob Thornton's newest role puts the 'nick' in Saint Nicholas and reveals the Satan in Santa, writes Tara de Boehmler.

N E W S

 Moral Crusade to Save Family

 20 Dead � Stockmarket Applauds

 Karen Gives Howard a Paint Job

 Buckeridge Bill Blocks Entry

 Casual Beach Closures

 Railworkers Scull Costa

 Racism in the Dock

 Go Home Alone � And Other Survival Tips

 Vet Beats Bullet

 Cleaners Clean Up

 Weekend Work Wiped

 Miners Go to the Movies

 Feds Attack Low Paid

 Activists What's On!

C O L U M N S

New Matilda
How Labor Lost the Plot
In his contribution to Australia's new political zine 'New Matilda' , Father Michael kelly argues the ALP is in search of a soul.

The Soapbox
Outside the Tent
Labor exile Lindsay Tanner is warning the ALP to be careful who it gets into bed with.

The Locker Room
Sons Of Beaches
Phil Doyle gets the perfect wave, and waves back

Politics
The Westie Wing
150 years since the struggle at Eureka, the fight to achieve social justice, equality and responsible government is just as vital as ever in the neo-conservative Australia, writes Ian West.

Postcard
Postcard from Harare
Ken Davis, from Union Aid Abroad, on how unions are at the forefront in the battle for democracy in Zimbabwe

L E T T E R S
 Leadership Skills
 Not A Casey Fan
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Activists

Activists What's On!


James Hardie Community Protest

Support shafted dying victims of Hardie's toxic legacy at the community protest outside the Australian HQ of the disgraced building products maker. We protest 'til they pay!

Where: James Hardie gates, 10 Colquhoun Street Rosehill

When: Everday, Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm

This protest is supported by ADFA, CFMEU, AMWU and the MUA.

Eureka Celebrations

In Victoria The VTHC are organising celebrations. They are as follows:

Saturday 4th December: 2.00pm Eureka Diggers March. It is proposed that a bus will leave Carlton at aprox 10.00am, and leaving Ballarat at 4.00pm.

Sunday 5th December: 12 noon: Eureka Memorial Committee Dinner at Ballarat.

For more information: http://www.eurekaballarat.com/index.php

NSW Eureka Stockade 150th Anniversary Event

Sydney Event. December 5, 2 PM. Gaelic Club, Devonshire St, Surry Hills.

"Still Fighting for Democratic Rights"

For the 150th anniversary of Eureka Stockade the Communist Party of Australia is launching two important publications on Eureka. The first is booklet written by Bob Walshe on the political meaning of Eureka for today and a folio of lino cuts about the rebellion.

Warren Smith of the MUA will chair the event and main speaker will be Dr Drew Cottle historian from University of Western Sydney. The significance of Eureka for Australian unionists is immense. All welcome and entry is by donation.

Aceh

Sat Dec 4th, 9am-1pm, UTS Broadway,Achehnese Community of Australia (ACA) seminar on human rights abuses in Aceh. Speakers include Ed Aspinall,

Justice John Dowd, etc. Contact Vacy (02)9949-3553. .

Films, Politics and Learning Conference

Organization: OVAL Research, Faculty of Education, University of Technology 6 & 7 Dec These nights aim:

- To bring together radical film-makers, radical film buffs, and radical educators.

- To inspire educators about ways they can use film in their work.

- To inspire film-makers about ways they might facilitate learning about politics.

- To foster discussion and advocacy about this field of practice.

We are seeking videos and films under 2 categories:

1. Agitprop: protest, guerrilla, activist, political, subversive short films /videos.

2. Participatory film-making: community films/videos as social intervention. The only format accepted is DVD.

Send copies with entry form to Celina McEwen, The Centre for Popular Education, UTS, PO Box 123, BROADWAY NSW 2007 AUSTRALIA. Deadline for entries is September 30, 2004. Entry forms can be downloaded from www.cpe.uts.edu.au/pdfs/FPLentry.pdf

For further information email Celina on (02) 9514 3847 or [email protected]

waterloo fights back

There will be a rally of residents and concerned citizens in Sydney�s inner-city Waterloo on Monday 6 December 2004 as alarm spreads over the NSW Government�s intention to demolish the area�s famous 1950s public housing towers.

The distinctive towers, sometimes referred to as �pillars of despair�, are home to more than 3,200 households and regularly top statistical surveys as the densest concentration of the poorest people in Australia. The residents are a mix of the frail elderly, aboriginal families, single mothers and the sick, including a significant number of HIV positive gay people. The Carr government, while announcing its intention to transform the socially depressed area into a multi-billion dollar residential and commercial showcase as part of its $5 billion Redfern-Waterloo Strategy, has not provided one word of assurance to those about to lose their homes.

�The towers might not look like much but a real estate opportunity to the politicians of Macquarie Street, but they are home to a lot of people,� spokesman for community group RED watch Geoffrey Turnbull said. �While the Carr government has mouthed platitudes about community consultation, in reality no one who lives in the Redfern Waterloo area has been consulted at all.�

A rally co-ordinator, local journalist Trevor Davies, said many of the area�s elderly had no idea what was happening. �Some of these people have lived their entire lives in Waterloo and are very frightened of what might happen to them,� he said. �Arbitrarily turfing people out of their homes in the name of progress without so much as a word of consultation or reassurance is causing enormous hardship. Not surprisingly, they feel they are being literally bulldozed out of the way.�

Admired local community advocate, the Anglican Church�s Reverend John Rev John Mcintrye said, �any proposed displacement of 3,200 households is outrageous and must not happen .We are seeing Sydney at its cruellest, and the city�s powerbrokers at their most heartless,� he said. �It doesn�t have to be this way.�

Where: 10am �Waterloo Green� (between Matavai and Turanga) between Phillip and Raglan Streets, opposite George Street, Waterloo

The war continues...Human rights do not ...

Vigil - Fri December 10, Town Hall Square, 5.30 pm - 6.30 pm

December 10 in International Human Rights Day

Iraq Human Rights Facts:

* Some scientific estimates put Iraqi casualties at over 100,000 since the invasion began on March 20, 2003 (Lancet report)

* Twenty Iraqi medical staff and dozens of other civilians were killed when a missile hit a clinic on 9 November

* It is estimated that half of Fallujah�s residents fled before the recent assault on that city

* In August 2004 the Iraqi interim Government reintroduced the death penalty

* The detention of American conscientious objectors such as Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia.

* US inflicted torture and degradation of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib

* �The occupation of Iraq has led to the revival of (extremist) Islamic groups in Iraq who are terrorising the whole society� -Union of Unemployed in Iraq

* Iraqi�s regularly detained incommunicado with no access to family, lawyers or even the Red Cross

* THIS INFORMATION SOURCED FROM AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORTS UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. SEE http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-irq/index FOR MORE REPORTS OF ABUSE *

Organised by the Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition

www.nswpeace.org; [email protected]

The Motorcycle Diaries

* Sunday, 12th December, 3:45pm

Film preview and fundraiser

Based on the books "The Motorcycle Diaries" by Ernesto Guevara and "Travelling with Che Guevara" by Alberto Grando. Thefilm follows aninspiring journey of self-discovery and traces theyouthful origins of arevolutionary heart.

AETFA will be presenting this film preview as a fundraiser for Education in East Timor at Palace Nova Cinemas Rundle Street City 3:45pm Sunday 12th December

Tickets $12/$9 concession

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL

Please phone...

Mark - 8277 7356 (after 6pm M-F, or on weekend) or email bookings - click here)

Visit by Comrade Claus

December 25, everywhere.


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