World

  • SOUTH AFRICA: The SACP-ANC political merry-go-round

    BY DALE T. McKINLEY JOHANNESBURG — "SACP in clash with ANC" and "ANC warned not to follow path of ZANU-PF" were some of the headlines that have graced the pages of South African newspapers following the latest political spat between the ruling

  • UNITED STATES: Laser beam may blind people

    According to a report published in the July 27 New Scientist, US defence contractors are developing a laser weapon for fighter aircraft that may be powerful enough to blind people on the ground, even if they are relatively far from

  • INDONESIA: Dissident parties work together

    JAKARTA — On July 22, several political parties organised a seminar to discuss the contemporary implications of the July 27, 1996, attack by pro-Suharto thugs on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). During

  • ECUADOR: Blood on the bananas

    SAN FRANCISCO — Bonita, the word for beautiful in Spanish, is not a bad description for the nearly flawless bananas available from fruit and vegetable markets across the United States. It is also the name printed on stickers

  • NICARAGUA: Sandinistas back to red and black

    MANAGUA — The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) returned to its anti-imperialist symbols and messages at the celebration of the 1979 revolution here on July 19. Pink and yellow, which had been the FSLN's colours in

  • Ralph Nader: 'US should let Cubans breathe'

    During a tour of Cuba, Ralph Nader, Green Party US presidential candidate in 2000, on July 9 stated that he was opposed his government's economic blockade of Cuba, which he said doesn't give Cubans "a chance to breathe".

  • RUSSIA: Capitalism loses its shine

    MOSCOW — For 10 years now, a chorus of politicians, journalists and sociologists has been telling the Russian people a story as simple and appealing as Little Red Riding Hood. It goes like this: society was deformed by

  • UNITED STATES: Bosses increase pressure on dockworkers

    Dockworkers' union leaders on the US west coast continue to negotiate with management for a new contract. The existing contract, which expired on July 1, is being extended on a day-to-day basis. In 1999, when the International

  • Sun, sand and socialism Tommy Sheridan's Cuban diary

    VARADERO, Cuba — "The most beautiful land the human eye has beheld" was how Christopher Columbus described Cuba when he "discovered" it on behalf of the Spanish royals in October 1492. Despite several hundred years of Spanish colonisation and US

  • MEXICO: Farmers win first round in airport fight

    MEXICO CITY — The first major conflict between the mass movement and Mexico's President Vicente Fox's administration has ended in a qualified victory for those opposed to the construction of a new international airport for the

  • UNITED STATES: Should we blame the 'Israel lobby'?

    The United States is the most powerful and important backer of the state of Israel. A common explanation for this support is that the "Israel lobby" within the US exercises huge influence over Washington. There is a powerful network of Zionist

  • INDONESIA: Megawati betrayal may split PDIP

    JAKARTA — President Megawati Sukarnoputri's support within her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) is falling as she increasingly associates with the political figures from the era of the Suharto dictatorship. Almost