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State powers and the 'war on terror'

BY MANOJ ABEY SYDNEY — In the wake of the September 11 World Trade Center bombings, the federal Coalition government announced that it would introduce a spate of new "security measures" to deal with the threat of terrorism in Australia and

IRELAND: Asylum seeker bashed, deported

Alabi Ayinde is in a coma in a Lagos hospital in Nigeria after being brutally deported from Ireland. As far as is known, all Ayinde's injuries were inflicted by Irish immigration guards. On March 28, Ayinde and five other Nigerians were put on a

NETHERLANDS: 'A spectacular miscarriage of justice'

BY NORM DIXON The terrible miscarriage of justice perpetrated on January 31, 2001 — when three Scottish judges in a juryless court pronounced Libyan citizen Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi guilty of the murder of 270 people in the December 21,

Pakistani socialist begins speaking tour

BY PETER ROBSON& JIM MCILROY "The US war on Afghanistan provided no solution to the problems of the region", Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan, told a lunchtime meeting at Newcastle University on April 3, as he began a

ITALY: Towards a final showdown with Berlusconi?

BY DICK NICHOLS BOLOGNA — What did it take to get up to 3 million people — of all ages, from widely different social backgrounds and from every corner of the country — to the March 23 demonstration in Rome against billionaire media

Bishops condemn war on Palestinians

BY KERRYN WILLIAMS CANBERRA — Auxiliary Catholic Bishop Pat Power and Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulbourn George Browning issued a statement on April 1 condemning the Israeli assault on the Palestinian people. "At a time when Christians

ISRAEL: 'Moderates' collapse as Sharon uses iron fist

BY ROHAN PEARCE Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has found a short-term solution to the political crisis within Israel's ruling circles, brought on by the second intifada. He has seized on the recent spate of suicide bombings to stifle dissent over his

Airport sale means more noise, higher prices

BY ALISON DELLIT The federal Coalition government does not let itself be deterred from carrying through a policy just because it is disastrous. Just a few weeks after aviation privatisation claimed as its victims the jobs of 14,000 Ansett workers,

ITALY: More than 2 million march in Rome

BY VITTORIO LONGHI ROME — Italy is getting ready for a massive general strike, the first for 20 years, against Silvio Berlusconi government's labour law "reform". On April 16, at least 11 million workers will strike. This general strike call

Write on: Letters to the editor

Palestine I David Murray (Write On, GLW #485) writes, “The methods of the Palestinian terrorists, whose only desire is to have all Jewish people thrown into the Mediterranean, is a dead end which socialists everywhere should clearly

Loose cannons

Loose cannons Freudian slip “But there needs to be a focused, coalition effort in the [Middle-East] region against peace.” — US President George “The Crusader” Bush, March 30. Bribery “The head of the Federal Government's royal

'Poodle' nuclear regulator approves reactor

BY JIM GREEN SYDNEY — The head of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), John Loy, approved construction of a new 20-megawatt nuclear reactor in the southern suburb of Lucas Heights on April 5. ARPANSA