World

  • BRAZIL: Mayor's murder indicates political polarisation

    PORTO ALEGRE — The second World Social Forum occurred at an important time in Brazilian politics. On January 19 Celso Daniel, mayor of Santo Andre in Sao Paulo state, was found murdered. Daniel is the second mayor belonging to the

  • ACEH: 'Australia is helping the army to kill my people'

    "It was extremely disappointing to see Australian Prime Minister John Howard shake hands so enthusiastically with Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Doesn't he know how her government treats the people, not just in Aceh, but

  • ZIMBABWE: Mugabe targets socialists

    HARARE — The Zimbabwe government's repression against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and other activists continues as the March 9-10 presidential election nears. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his ruling

  • AFGHANISTAN: Civilian massacres mount despite US victory

    US forces in Afghanistan continue to inflict deaths and injuries on civilians, long after US air power has driven the Taliban regime from power and scattered its al Qaeda allies to the four winds. The latest slaughter occurred on

  • BRAZIL: Debates at the World Social Forum

    intro = PORTO ALEGRE — For a second year, the World Social Forum (held January 31 to February 5) attracted an incredible range of social movements, labour unions and political groups from all over the world. The spirit of

  • ISRAEL: 10,000 back 'refuseniks'

    TEL AVIV — Around 10,000 people rallied here on February 9 to back the growing numbers of Israeli reserve soldiers who are refusing to serve in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A year ago, at a rally called by much the same peace and human

  • Class showdown looms in Venezuela

    CARACAS — Venezuela's wealthy elite is using every resource at its disposal to force President Hugo Chavez Frias to retreat or resign. Their offensive reached its highest point yet on January 23, when their "March for Freedom and

  • ARGENTINA: IMF and the US keep the pressure up

    Under severe pressure from the Bush administration and the International Monetary Fund, the five-week-old government of Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde has chosen the "lesser evil" of floating his country's currency, the peso,

  • SCOTLAND: Socialist MP puts up school meals bill

    GLASGOW — The latest report released by the National Child Helpline (NCH) Scotland on January 22 shows that 310,000 children (42%) across Scotland are living in poverty. It also shows that nearly half of all children live in

  • BRITAIN: Socialist Alliance targeted as press sees red

    LONDON — On January 28-29, 2500 workers at South West Trains, which daily brings 250,000 commuters to Central London, struck over pay and against the demotion of local union leader Greg Tucker. Over the same two-day period,

  • Israel: 'Refuseniks' oppose Sharon's terrorist war

    "We hereby declare that we shall continue serving in the Israel Defence Forces in any mission that serves Israel's defence. The missions of occupation and oppression [in the occupied territories] do not serve this purpose — and we shall take no part in them."

  • UNITED STATES: 'They are all Enron, we are all Argentina'

    Predictions made by mainstream media commentators and spokespeople for the ruling elite that the movement against corporate tyranny would die in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks were disproved by the successful protests