World

New patents for terminator seeds

New patents for terminator seeds The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) has announced that it has uncovered 36 new patents describing a wide range of techniques that can be used for genetic sterilisation of plants and seeds. The

The struggle for gay and lesbian rights in Indonesia

DEDE OETOMO is coordinator of Gaya Nusantara, a national gay rights group in Indonesia. He is currently visiting Australia and will address the Indonesian Solidarity Dinner at the Resistance Centre in Sydney on February 19 (details below). Last

Critical new evidence in Mumia Abu-Jamal case

Critical new evidence in Mumia Abu-Jamal case By Jeff Mackler SAN FRANCISCO — Speaking at a January 23 national leadership conference in New York City, held to prepare the April 24 mass demonstrations demanding a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal,

US has another kind of drug problem

By Peter Montague A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association in April 1998 estimated that adverse reactions to prescription drugs kill about 106,000 people in the USA each year — roughly three times as many as are killed by

Russian teachers stage national protests

By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — For the head of administration in the Bykovsky region of Volgograd province on January 28, there could be no doubt that local teachers were angry at having been denied their pay since August. The teachers barricaded him

May-June marches for a people's movement in Europe

By Eva Cheng COLOGNE — The mobilisations for a new round of Euromarches against crushing unemployment and other attacks of the ruling classes against working people were kicked off here by a well-attended preparatory conference of close to 640

East Timor: now!

East Timor: independence now! By Jon Land The announcement by the Habibie regime on January 27 that it is prepared to "relinquish" East Timor as part of Indonesia marks a new turn in the struggle for independence. For the first time in the

Sri Lankan elections 'a fraud'

Sri Lankan elections 'a fraud' The January 25 Wayamba provincial elections in Sri Lanka have been condemned as a "fraud beyond all imagination orchestrated by the PA [People's Alliance] government". Speaking on the day of the poll, the New Left

Chiquita's banana monopoly

By Ken Cotterill In 1996, Chiquita Brands' CEO Carl Lindner donated $US500,000 to US President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign. Now he wants some return. Lindner's gripe is that several Caribbean states in the Windward Island group — Grenada,

Oil giants, military attack Niger delta communities

While the west is lauding the Nigerian military dictatorship's "transition to democracy", the regime has launched a campaign of murder and rape to crush an uprising by the peoples of the Niger River delta in the south.

German left debates its orientation to social democracy

By Eva Cheng COLOGNE — The Social Democratic Party's (SPD) September victory, coming to government in alliance with the Greens, ended 16 years of rule of the conservative Christian Democratic Party and raised hopes that it might turn its back on

Crisis-hit Russians look to the stars

Crisis-hit Russians look to the stars By Irina Glushchenko MOSCOW — Suddenly, the Russian capital has been overrun by rabbits. You can find them in the markets, on the newsstands and in the toyshops. The reason? In Chinese astrology, 1999 is