On the face of it, 2009 is drawing to an end with a new outbreak of political madness.
Editorial
For environmentalists, Indigenous rights activists, feminists, socialists and all progressive people, Latin America is a source of hope and inspiration today. The people of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and El Salvador, among others, are showing that radical social change is possible and a better, more just society can be imagined and built.
On November 15, Indonesian authorities said they had shot and wounded two Afghan refugees they said were trying to escape after their boat was intercepted three days earlier.
The big nuclear push is on. The nuclear industry is trying to re-brand yellowcake as “green”.
One of the infamous “double-speak” slogans of the nightmare totalitarian regime in George Orwell’s 1984 was “war is peace”. The Nobel jury appears to have based itself on this principle of inverting reality with its decision to grant this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama.
If we are going to meet the crisis posed by global warming, governments must take strong and urgent measures to cut emissions now. We need to build a sustainable economy and we need to do it fast. Delay will result in dangerous and unstoppable climate change.
The July 1 Australian carried an extraordinary attack by Ilan Grapel on Green Left Weekly and its monthly Arabic insert the Flame titled “A willing ally to Hamas’s hatred”. Both publications are guilty of a “radical anti-Israel stance”, Grapel said.
Bosses do not provide safe and healthy workplaces for their workers out of the goodness of their hearts. Capitalism’s drive for short-term profits means workplace safety is a cost that can cut like any other.
Greens Senator Bob Brown moved the following motion to the Australian Senate on May 12: “That the Senate, in regard to the massacre of civilians, including hundreds of children, in the Tamil homelands of northern Sri Lanka, calls on the government to take decisive action commensurate with the need to immediately halt this unnecessary bloodshed.”
On April 29, PM Kevin Rudd announced an extra 450 troops would be sent to Afghanistan to participate in the latest US-led “surge”.
One of the great crimes of modern times is occurring on the island of Sri Lanka without a word of protest from governments the world over. The Tamil people are facing genocide.
As the only weekly newspaper in Australia to regularly house news, discussions and debates on capitalisms crises and socialist solutions, Green Left Weekly is proud to be hosting the World At A Crossroads conference, to be held at Sydney Girls High, over the Easter weekend (April 10-12).
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