Suiting Themselves, How Corporations are Driving the Global AgendaBy Sharon BederEarthscan, London258 pages, $55.50available in Australia from <http://www.dadirect.com.au> Escaping the Matrix, How We the People Can change the WorldBy
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US Socialist Worker's Eric Ruder looks at debates about the impact of the "pro-Israel lobby" on US foreign policy and the real reasons behind US backing of Israel's wars. In March, two academics touched off a firestorm of debate with a paper called
Protests were held in some 30 of Nepal's 75 districts on July 26, organised by the Citizens Movement for Democracy and Peace, an umbrella body of non-party organisations. The protest in the capital, Kathmandu, reportedly attracted 2000-3000.
In February, supporters of women's right to choose abortion succeeded in removing the abortion drug RU486 from politicians' control — including Christian fundamentalist health minister Tony Abbott — and giving it back to the medical
On July 24, 20,000 people rallied to mark President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's annual State of the Nation address to the Philippines Congress. Arroyo has survived a deep political crisis that resulted from revelations of widespread cheating during the
Peter Boyle The Australian Council of Trade Unions is asking the Fair Pay Commission for a $30 per week pay increase for workers on the minimum wage. At current prices, that would buy three kilos of bananas. This would roughly adjust the minimum
On July 23, defence minister Brendan Nelson announced that Canberra is willing to contribute armed Australian soldiers to a "robust" (meaning armed and prepared to carry out combat operations) international "peacekeeping" force to "stablise" Lebanon.
SYDNEY — Thirty people attended a forum organised by the Parramatta Peace Group on July 29 on the theme of "Iran and the myth of a nuclear threat". The keynote speaker, Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, restated the Greens' opposition to nuclear energy
Zoe Kenny In a July 24 speech to the Sydney Institute, federal ALP leader Kim Beazley threw his weight behind the pro-uranium wing in his party, which is itching to scrap the party's "no new mines" policy at next year's Labor Party national
Sashi Dharann, Melbourne A 24-hour candlelight vigil was held on July 24-25 in remembrance of the victims of the 1983 "Black July" anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka. "There is not one Tamil person who was not directly affected by these events, whether