MAY 2002
-
Wednesday, 29th May,2002
JORGE SAMPAIO INTERVIEW
Last month, the Portuguese confirmed a
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trend in Europe and handed government
to a centre-right alliance. Portugal,
which sees itself as racially
tolerant, will have a say, as a member
of the European Union, on the tough
new measures being proposed to manage
illegal immigration. Visiting
Australia recently was, Portugal`s
President Jorge Sampaio. I spoke with
him in Melbourne. -
Wednesday, 29th May,2002
RETURN OF THE KILLER PHAGE
Next month, scientists from the United
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States, Britain and Australia will
meet to try to find a way to combat
bio-terrorism. At issue is the
question of protecting both the
civilian and military sectors in the
event of a biological attack. The
weapon they will examine is not
something new, it’s a forgotten arm of
science, only kept alive in the former
Soviet Union. And it has a wider
implication in the battle against the
super-bugs - bacteria, resistant to
all known forms of antibiotic. In the
year 2000, 7,000 people died in
Australia alone from resistant
bacterial infections. But as Nick
Lazaredes reports, there is new hope. -
Wednesday, 29th May,2002
TARIQ ALI INTERVIEW
For the past eight months the catchcry
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has been - September 11 changed
everything. The sight of jets, piloted
by Muslim men determined to sacrifice
themselves and thousands of others,
defined a new era for many people
around the world. But author Tariq Ali
sees it differently. He calls
September 11 just a `blip` in history.
In a controversial new book, Ali
describes hardline Muslim religious
beliefs and the foreign policy of the
US as competing fundamentalisms. His
radical perspective has caused a very
public split between Ali and his
renowned colleague on the political
left, author and journalist
Christopher Hitchens. Tariq Ali is
visiting Sydney for the Writers`
Festival, and I spoke with him earlier. -
Wednesday, 29th May,2002
EAST TIMOR - NEW FUTURE, HIDDEN PAST
In the 2.5 years of UN administration
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in East Timor, the UN has been
criticised for failing to pursue those
responsible for the atrocities of
1999. With new president Xanana
Gusmao`s commitment to reconciliation
with Indonesia and its former militia,
there are fears that justice will be
equally elusive in an independent East
Timor. Dateline`s Mark Davis reports. -
Wednesday, 29th May,2002
ATTACK OF THE KILLER BACTERIOPHAGE
This week on DATELINE, Nick Lazaredes
reports on groundbreaking research
that addresses the worldwide problem
of antibiotic resistance. At the
Eliava Institute in the former Soviet
Republic of Georgia, scientists have
been able to destroy super-resistant
bacteria that no longer respond to
antibiotics.The scientists’ weapon
is bacteriophage – bacteria-eating
viruses able to kill their hosts by
reproducing inside them. Bacteriophage
have an impressive structure: They
have a head in which its DNA is
stored, six legs which attach
themselves to the bacteria and a tail
that works like a hypodermic syringe
inserting its genes deep within the
bacteria. A specific phage will only
target a specific bacteria, making it
an ideal alternative treatment when
antibiotics are failing.In the
Institute’s heyday in the 1950s
technicians manufactured up to two
tonnes of bacteriophage a day to
distribute throughout the Soviet
Union. The viruses were widely used to
treat infections in childcare centres,
kindergartens, schools and the
military. The Institute’s commercial
arm produces phage preparations aimed
at controlling salmonella, E Coli,
staphylococcus and a variety of other
bacteria.The Institute’s latest
product, which is rapidly gaining
international attention with its
remarkable healing properties, is
called Bioderm. Bacteriophage are
embedded in a thin polymer film that
is placed in and around a wound. Over
a period of days, armies of
bacteriophage go on a bacteria-
destroying rampage – clearing even the
most stubborn infections.Bioderm
has been used on all manner of skin
infections and ulcers, but perhaps its
most remarkable success has been in
the treatment of burns. It can treat
infections that are often responsible
for killing people in the first few
days after suffering severe burns or
exposure to radiation. Today the
Institute attracts scores of desperate
western patients who have heard of its
achievements.When Georgia gained
independence from the Soviet Union
over a decade ago, its funding was
abruptly terminated, leaving it
without such basic needs as water and
electricity. Today the scientists are
reduced to using ancient equipment in
primitive conditions. Nevertheless,
despite its lack of funds and
worldwide recognition, the scientists
have recently been working on viruses
to combat anthrax and solutions to
protect animals and crops against
bioterrorism.American scientist,
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Dr Elizabeth Kutter, is helping to
fund the Institute. She says
scientific conservatism and a
reluctance to invest in the necessary
mass testing of bacteriophage has so
far prevented the involvement of giant
pharmaceutical companies. -
Wednesday, 22nd May,2002
COLOMBIA - A NATION HELD TO RANSOM
On Sunday, Colombians will vote to
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elect a new president. After a
complete breakdown in peace talks
between the government and the FARC
leftist guerillas, Colombia is facing
a bloody future. Just today, nine
people were killed and 33 wounded as
the rebels and government forces
exchanged fire. As for the elections,
the man most likely to win, Alvaro
Uribe, is promising all-out war and
has surged ahead in the polls. The
only moderating influence, anti-
corruption campaigner Ingrid
Betancourt, has been kidnapped by the
FARC. Although politicians from around
the world have demanded her release,
neither FARC nor the government seem
inclined to act. Bentley Dean reports. -
Wednesday, 22nd May,2002
BOAT PEOPLE - COVER-UP OR STUFF-UP
Few people would remember the name
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Sundous Ismael, but her face will be
familiar to many. She was the mother
who lost three young children when the
refugee boat on which the family was
travelling to Australia sank last
October. The disaster took 353 lives.
Australia had said it knew nothing
about the vessel until after it
foundered. But a former Australian
diplomat claims someone in Canberra
must have known and should have acted
to save those who perished. That
allegation has been backed up today by
some surprising revelations at the
Senate`s children overboard inquiry.
Dateline`s Geoff Parish has more. -
Wednesday, 15th May,2002
XANANA GUSMAO INTERVIEW
The question of justice is just one of
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the problems that East Timor`s
President-elect, Xanana Gusmao will
have to confront. From midnight on
Sunday, the guerilla leader-turned-
statesman will face the fact that he
is leading the poorest country in all
of Asia - on a par economically with
Rwanda. I spoke with Xanana Gusmao
from Dili, a short time ago. -
Wednesday, 15th May,2002
OECUSSI BOY
At the stroke of midnight on Sunday.
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East Timor will become the world`s
newest nation. The historic
independence celebrations in the
capital, Dili, will be watched by a
stellar cast of dignitaries including
Megawati Sukarnoputri, Nelson Mandela
and Bill Clinton. Shortly we`ll hear
from President-elect Xanana Gusmao,
but first a remarkable and little
known tale from East Timor`s darkest
days. It`s the story of a young boy`s
death-defying journey to save his
community from a massacre by pro-
Indonesian militia. Army Chief,
Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove
describes the boy`s adventure
as "something out of a Rudyard
Kipling.” Journalist Bernadette
Connole and award-winning film-maker
David Bradbury recreated the young
boy`s epic trek for Dateline. -
Wednesday, 15th May,2002
HAMAS RISES FROM THE RUBBLE
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
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says Yasser Arafat`s Palestinian
Authority must be reformed, as a
condition of any resumption of peace
talks. In a tough speech to the
Israeli parliament, Mr Sharon
said "there can be no peace with a
corrupt terror regime which is rotten
and dictatorial." But that may turn
out to be academic, with the radical
Hamas organisation poised to supplant
the current Palestinian leadership.
Just as Ariel Sharon`s Likud party
refuses to accept a separate
Palestinian state, Hamas is determined
to wipe Israel out. Tonight, Matthew
Carney goes inside Hamas to meet its
leaders, whose power seems to grow
with each suicide attack. -
Wednesday, 15th May,2002
THIS WEEK: GENERAL COSGROVE AND THE BOY HERO
As East Timor prepares to for
independence next week, Dateline
reports on a courageous boy who risked
his life
crossing Timor to ask Australian
General Peter Cosgrove to save his
people.
Lafu lives in the former Portuguese
colony of Oecussi, which - by a quirk
of colonial history - is now an East
Timorese province surrounded by
Indonesian-controlled West Timor. The
massacre of 55 people in Oecussi
before the independence vote prompted
fears of further bloodshed as pro-
Indonesia militia went on a rampage
after the poll.
A secret meeting of village elders
decided to send Lafu through militia
territory and border checkpoints to
Dili, to plead for help from the
international forces (INTERFET) led by
General Peter Cosgrove.
Lafu reached the military stronghold
of Atambua before the militia finally
caught up with him and roughly
interrogated him. But having
convincingly lied to them, Lafu
watched them get drunk on money they
had stolen from him and then escaped.
When Lafu reached General Cosgrove he
gave him a note asking for help, which
was hidden
in his sandal. To Lafu’s despair
General Cosgrove could not promise an
immediate army response, but provided
him with a satellite radio to contact
resistance fighters.
Back in Oecussi Lafu’s urgent pleas on
the radio spurred INTERFET’s
preparations to secure Oecussi. The
helicopters arrived to cries of “Viva
East Timor” and “Viva Lafu”. They
arrived just in time to avert a
massacre – men had been beaten and
handcuffed and were awaiting execution
by the militia.
General Cosgrove later remarked. “I
think the kid was a rather marvellous
example of the stoic and brave East
Timorese people.”
That’s Dateline, this Wednesday May
15th at 8.30 pm.
Also this week: HAMAS’ DEFIANT LEADERS
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar says “After
the operation in Jenin every operation
can now be justified against what is
called Israel.”
Asked about the suicide attacks that
triggered Israel’s West Bank invasion,
Hamas leader Aziz Ranstisi says, “We
are very pleased. You know we have
failed in the past but practice makes
perfect.“
Middle East Correspondent Matthew
Carney gains rare access to four of
the five top Hamas political leaders,
all now targets for assassination by
Israeli Defence Forces. These men
make up the central decision making
body of Hamas – the radical Islamic
movement which has claimed
responsibility for the majority of
suicide bombings in the current
intifada, including the killing 16 of
people in Rishon Lezion last week.
The men say that Hamas will not accept
any Middle East peace deal that
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat brokers with America. Hamas
leader Ismail Hanihyah says “We take
into consideration the interests of
the Palestinian people as a whole and
not the interests of Yasser Arafat.” .
Commenting on an Israeli attack that
killed a Hamas commander and five
militants, Abdel Aziz Rantisi
says, “We mourn the loss of any member
of the military wing but ultimately no
one is indispensable. We have a quick
regrowth in our cadre. So this
strategy of killing key people is not
going to work.”
Hamas’ power is now so great that
Yasser Arafat cannot challenge it
despite Israel’s constant pressure to
do so. Last December an attempt to
arrest the Hamas leaders interviewed
in this report resulted in gun battles
between hundreds of Palestinian police
and their own people, who had come out
to protect the Hamas leadership.
Some Hamas leaders are
calling for Yasser Arafat to step
aside. “How can any Palestinian man
co-operate with his enemy to put
colleagues, fathers, brothers in jail
to satisfy Israel or the US? I think a
new era should be established with a
new leadership.”
Read more...
That’s Dateline, this Wednesday May
15th at 8.30 pm. -
Wednesday, 8th May,2002
ARMS AND THE MOVIE
Since the Gulf, war has been almost
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impossible for journalists to cover
first-hand. Most are prevented from
ever seeing the frontline. But in the
interests of propaganda, the US
military has allowed Hollywood
directors access to the action in
Afghanistan. They are there to gather
ideas and information for movies,
which may stoke the fires of American
nationalism. But the military has
others uses, too, for Hollywood`s
expertise. In one project, they`ve
hired a group of special effects
designers to come up with combat
systems for future conflicts. Bronwyn
Adcock reports on film designer, Ron
Cobb and his wide-screen military
vision. -
Wednesday, 8th May,2002
TURKEY - WAITING TO DIE
They are young and waiting to die -
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they`re Turkey`s death fasters. And
their action began when political
prisoners protested against being
isolated in new jails. The government
response to that protest was so brutal
that it inspired sympathisers outside
the prisons to join the fast. But in
the war between the Turkish state and
radical left-wing parties, no protest
is too macabre, and no reprisal too
terrible. Olivia Rousset reports. -
Wednesday, 8th May,2002
THIS WEEK: TURKEY’S DEATH FASTERS
Across Turkey more than 100 people are
starving themselves to death for their
political beliefs. In the last 18
months, 50 people have died and
hundreds more have survived but have
brain damage.
Olivia Rousset reports on the longest
running hunger strike in history.
Members of outlawed communist groups
are using the hunger strike to protest
against changes in the Turkish prison
system.
Until recently, Turkish prisons
consisted of dormitory-like cells
where members of illegal political
parties were able to freely recruit
and organize. New prisons are
designed to have only one to three
people in each cell. The
political “families” formed in the old
prisons have been broken up and
inmates are not allowed to mix with
prisoners from other cells.
Prisoners` objections to these new
conditions include fears that
isolation from comrades will increase
the incidence of torture and
harassment by the guards.
To move 2000 prisoners to these new
jails and end the hunger strikes,
10,000 military police stormed prisons
throughout Turkey. The operation
resulted in 26 deaths, scores of
injuries and prompted six inmates to
burn themselves to death.
After “Operation Return to Life” the
numbers involved in the hunger strikes
tripled.
Twenty-two year old Fikret was
imprisoned for taking part in a street
protest for free education. He was
charged with being a member of a
terrorist organisation. Like many
others, he has continued his hunger
strike after his release from prison,
in solidarity with his comrades still
in prison. He has gone for more than
360 days without solid food and knows
he is about to die.
Friends and family of inmates have
also joined the death fast. Ahmet
Kulaksiz’s two young daughters, both
politically active university
students, started fasting after
visiting their uncle in jail. They
died within months of each other last
year. When Ahmet wrote a book about
the death of his “two flowers” he was
charged with supporting terrorist
organizations.
The house where the daughters died is
one of four so-called “houses of
death” on the outskirts of
Istanbul. “Sympathy fasters” lived in
these houses until they died. Within
Turkey news coverage of the hunger
strikers is extremely limited and
without access to prisons, the
international media based reports on
the strike around the houses. Last
November the government’s Special
Forces raided the houses.
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That’s Dateline, this Wednesday May
8th at 8.30 pm. -
Wednesday, 1st May,2002
BRENDON CHRISTIAN INTERVIEW
The South African Government
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astonished many observers recently
when it reversed its position on the
supply of a vital drug to HIV-positive
pregnant women. Until then, President
Thabo Mbeki had denied access to
nevirapine and other anti-retroviral
drugs on the basis that they were
toxic. But a High Court decision, as
well as pressure from South Africa`s
elder statesman, Nelson Mandela, may
have influenced his turnaround. One of
the many people who have been
agitating for a change in the
government`s position is lawyer
Brendon Christian from South Africa`s
AIDS Legal Network. I spoke with him
on a recent visit to Australia. -
Wednesday, 1st May,2002
FARHAN BOKHARI INTERVIEW
Pakistan`s state-run media is calling
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today`s referendum an emphatic victory
for President Pervez Musharraf.
General Musharraf, who seized power in
a coup 2.5 years ago, went to the
people for an endorsement of his rule.
He asked them for a 5-year extension
of his term to continue his reforms
and establish democracy. But tonight,
despite official accounts of
Pakistanis rushing to the polling
booths, there are claims of a low
voter turnout and charges of
irregularities. I spoke earlier with
Farhan Bokhari, the correspondent for
the UK`s `Financial Times`, in
Islamabad. -
Wednesday, 1st May,2002
ISRAEL - SHARON`S RIGHT HAND MAN
Today, Israel again blocked a UN fact-
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finding team from investigating
allegations of a Palestinian massacre
in the Jenin refugee camp. Israel
agreed to the UN mission in principle
two weeks ago. But its hardline
Security Cabinet has thrown up
objection after objection to the terms
of the probe, prompting outrage from
the Palestinians. Their anger is aimed
at PM Ariel Sharon, but he is not
alone in his campaign to crush
Palestinians dissent. Matthew Carney
reports on the growing power of Effie
Eitam, Sharon`s new right-hand man. -
Wednesday, 1st May,2002
THIS WEEK: SHARON’S RIGHT-HAND MAN
Matthew Carney, DATELINE’s Middle East
correspondent this week won a Logie
for Most Outstanding Special Report in
A Public Affairs Program for his
report on murder and collaboration in
Israel.
This week he returns to Israel to hear
one of Ariel Sharon’s most influential
advisors outline his radically right-
wing vision for the future of Israel.
New minister Effie Eitam wants all
Palestinians to be taken from their
homelands in the West Bank and Gaza
and relocated to Jordan and Egypt. The
West Bank and Gaza would then be
reoccupied and Palestinians offered
some autonomy but not a Palestinian
state or any democratic rights.
Three weeks ago Mr Eitam was elevated
from army general to the security
council of the Israeli Knesset
(Parliament). Mr Eitam’s far right
National Religious Party has just five
members in the Knesset, but wields
enormous power.
Mr Eitam backs Israel’s Messianic
Zionists, a minority sect that
believes the Messiah will only return
when the entire West Bank has been
settled by the Jews. Central to this
belief is that the Jews’ first temple –
Temple Mount (on which stands Islam’s
Al Aqsa Mosque) – must be returned to
Jewish control.
The majority of Israelis see Mr Eitam
as an extremist but in the face of
continuing suicide bombings he is
gaining popularity.
Meanwhile, if the Labour Party finally
decides to abandon the Unity
government, which Mr Eitam is pushing
to the extreme right, any hope of a
negotiated settlement with the
Palestinians will be impossible.
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That’s Dateline, this Wednesday May
1st at 8.30 pm.
