GLW issue 821, published 2009-12-09.

Fidel Castro on Copenahgen: 'A moment of truth'

The article below is a December 17 column by former Cuban president Fidel Castro

Beyond Copenhagen: left alternatives to capitalism

"Can a finite Earth support an infinite project? The thesis of capitalism, infinite development, is a destructive pattern, let’s face it. How long are we going to tolerate the current international economic order and prevailing market mechanisms? How long are we going to allow huge epidemics like HIV/AIDS to ravage entire populations? How long are we going to allow the hungry to not eat or to be able to feed their own children? How long are we going to allow millions of children to die from curable diseases? How long will we allow armed conflicts to massacre millions of innocent human beings in order for the powerful to seize the resources of other peoples?" — Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, speaking at COP15, December 16, 2009

Sydney 'welcomes' Israeli leader

SYDNEY — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's welcome for right-wing Israeli vice PM Silvan Shalom on December 3 was protested against by about 100 people in Martin Place.

Socialist councillor on Gaza play: 'Censorship of art is not an option'

A performance of Caryl Churchill’s play Seven Jewish Children was to be held at Fremantle’s multicultural centre Kulcha in November but was scrapped due to pressure from the Jewish Community Council of Western Australia (JCC). Churchill wrote the play in response to Israel’s brutal invasion of Gaza in December and January.

Australian News

Townsville in the firing line

The shooting of two Aboriginal boys in Townsville on November 25 shows that racism isn’t going away in the North Queensland town. The two boys, aged just 8 and 10, were playing in a park in Wulguru when they were fired upon by a drunken Townsville soldier wielding an air rifle.

Battle to save St Clair reserve heats up

Unchecked urban expansion has chewed up large areas of Adelaide’s productive agricultural land for poorly planned and poorly designed housing developments, with no amenities and little or no access to public transport.

Further Australian News

International News

Letter to Stephen Smith: Don't recognise Honduran vote or regime

Read the original letter to Stephen Smith here. To add your name to its demands, email weekly.greenleft@gmail.com

Afghanistan: It's Obama's war now

The article below is an abridged editorial from the US Socialist Worker.

Further International News

Comment and Analysis

Copenhagen: words versus deeds

December’s United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen were a key topic of discussion at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Trinidad and Tobago in late November.

Workers' control and the climate emergency

In September, the Victorian district committee of the mining and energy section of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) adopted the recommendations of the Crisis in Power report written by Dave Kerin.

Further Comment and Analysis

Editorial

The system behind the madness

On the face of it, 2009 is drawing to an end with a new outbreak of political madness.

Letters

Write on

Rudd's climate cheats/strong> The Australian negotiators in Copenhagen are being revealed as the leaders of a carbon cheat strategy. Kevin Rudd is trying to cook the books at Copenhagen by pushing for a loophole which would allow countries to

General

We kid you not

Rees would know ""Should I not be Premier by the end of this day, let there be no doubt in the community's mind, no doubt, that any challenger will be a puppet of Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi." — Former NSW premier Nathan Rees on the day the

Giving meaningful gifts this Xmas

In this final issue, we at GLW want to thank you for your strong support in 2009.

Further General

The Flame: Arabic language supplement...

Resistance!

Resistance against racism is necessary

A recent study by Foundation for Young Australians has shown that racism permeates Australian schools. Eighty percent of students from a non-Anglo background said they have been the subjected to racial prejudice. Even white Australians feel they have been subject to racism when at schools.

Climate change, public transport and young people

The state of public transport across Australia is not a new story: overcrowded, underfunded, overpriced and infrequent. In the outer suburbs, public transport is completely inadequate, at times, even non-existent.

Further Resistance!

Enviro students keep up momentum

Cultural Dissent

The assassination of Leon Trotsky

Stalin’s Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky By Bertrand Patenaude Faber and Faber, 2009 340 pages, $50 (pb)

Schiller's liberationist Ode to Joy

At Christmas time, 1989, Leonard Bernstein conducted a version of Beethoven’s 9th symphony in Berlin in which he changed one word in the well-known Ode to Joy in the fourth movement. "Freiheit" ("Freedom") replaced "Freude" ("Joy"), to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall that had occurred weeks previously

Further Cultural Dissent

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