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There are two starkly different election processes underway right now, but most readers will probably have only been reading about one of them: the US presidential elections, which Forbes magazine estimates will likely cost as much as US$3.3 billion all up! In Cuba, just 145 kilometres from the coast of Florida, a very different election process is taking place.

“The death rate in Iraq in the past 12 months has been the second highest in any year since the invasion, according to figures that appear to contradict American claims that the troop ‘surge’ has dramatically reduced the level of violence across the country”, the British Independent daily reported on January 7.

Work Choices hit the most vulnerable sections of the work force hardest — among them, young workers. With the Howard government now history, the challenge for young workers is to reclaim what was lost under these hated laws, to extend their rights at work, and actively participate in the rebuilding of the unions as organisations that put workers’ rights first. Bea Bassi, coordinator of the Socialist Alliance’s NSW Trade Union Committee, urges the next generation of workers to get active in the union movement.

The Rudd Labor government has confirmed pre-election announcements that it will move to censor access to the internet. Originally announced by former ALP leader Kim Beazley in March 2006, the plan is outlined in a November 2007 document Labor’s Plan for Cyber-Safety. It states: “A Rudd Labor Government will require ISPs [internet service providers] to offer a ‘clean feed’ internet service to all homes, schools and public internet points accessible by children, such as public libraries.”

Headlining this year’s Big Day Out is Rage Against the Machine. RATM stands out as one of the few bands to achieve mainstream success while putting an openly anti-capitalist message.