832

February 4 marked 11 years since Hugo Chavez first assumed the presidency in Venezuela, following a landslide election victory that swept the country’s discredited traditional parties out of power.
At Easter, many people will eat a lot of chocolate. What they won’t necessarily know is that much of it is produced using child slave labour in Third World countries.
Socialist Alliance ran two candidates in the Tasmanian state elections on March 20. Melanie Barnes in the Hobart seat of Denison and Jenny Forward in the Kingston seat of Franklin campaigned for urgent action on climate change and to increase funding to public services.
The Danish government is Australian activist Natasha Verco and US citizen Noah Weiss, who are standing trial and facing a potential 12-and-a-half-year jail sentence for organising a protest during the December United Nations climate summit. This follows a global trend.
“Save Straddie: National park, not mining”, was the main banner displayed outside the Queensland Supreme Court building on March 26, as Friends of Stradbroke Island, other conservation organisations and Indigenous residents of the island protested against moves to establish an industry to quarry and remove sand from the island.
On March 1, elected Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) members became the only Malaysian politicians to publicly declare their assets.
Johnny Ray’s Downtown
By Perry Keyes
CD, Laughing Outlaw Records
www.perrykeyes.com, $24.95
PERTH — Construction, mining, maritime and metal workers rallied outside the Sheraton Hotel on March 23 while chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Sam Walsh, hosted a business breakfast for Rio bosses.
Adelaide is Australia’s festival city. Its arts festival is currently in swing. Polite debate, aesthetics and high-octane wine are putting the world to rights. With one exception. Adelaide is where Rupert Murdoch began his empire.
Jorge Enrique Medina Delgado, a member of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), was assassinated on March 17 in San Antonio del Tachira in the opposition-controlled state of Tachira.
Australians are being invited to join a special delegation to Venezuela this September to witness an important event for the country’s pro-poor Bolivarian revolution.
The Greens' 21% vote in the March 20 Tasmanian election represents the most serious shake-up yet to the two-party domination of electoral politics. Australia has been dominated by the Liberals and the Australian Labor Party, two parties loyally representing the interests of the corporate rich.