World

  • Call for freedom of Israeli nuclear whistleblower

    In late September, I was one of 16 international activists from Britain, the US, Canada, Belgium and Australia who converged on Israel to draw international attention to the plight of Mordechai Vanunu, who has been in solitary

  • Police department scandal rocks Mexico City

    MEXICO CITY — A major human-rights scandal involving the city's police department continues to pick up steam following the arrest on November 18 of three top military commanders of elite police units. The police force has been

  • 'Asian contagion' brings Brazilian austerity

    'Asian contagion' brings Brazilian austerity On November 10, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced a package of 51 austerity measures to shore up the real, the dollar-backed currency he designed in 1994 when he was finance

  • Protests mark APEC

    Protests mark APECHuman rights and solidarity activists' protests at the APEC summit, November 22-25 in Vancouver, Canada, focused on the failure of governments in the Asia Pacific region to deal with human rights problems caused

  • The new scramble for Africa

    In 1884-85, the European powers sat down at the Berlin colonial conference to formalise Africa's carve-up into colonies. The orgy of brutal invasions that preceded the conference was aptly dubbed "the scramble for Africa" by the

  • Algerian civilians hit from both sides

    NEW YORK — An Amnesty International report released on November 19 documents a spiralling increase in violence in Algeria, which has claimed up to 80,000 lives since 1992. Amnesty called for an international investigation into recent massacres and

  • West Papua: Indonesia's brutal colonialism

    West Papua: Indonesia's brutal colonialismLife in "Irian Jaya" — the name the Indonesian government gives to West Papua — is akin to the colonies of Spain in Latin America, or Europe in Africa. The land and its fruits

  • Suharto blocks East Timorese asylum seekers

    Suharto blocks East Timorese asylum seekersThe Indonesian government is refusing to allow six East Timorese sheltering for more than three months in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta to leave for Portugal. Indonesian authorities

  • Turkey's new left party holds congress

    Turkey's one-year-old Liberty and Solidarity Party's (ODP) annual congress on October 26 was attended by thousands. The ODP brings together various strands of the Turkish left which have fought against repressive regimes for

  • Communist Refoundation after the Italian governmental crisis

    In early October, Italy's Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC) withdrew its support for the ruling Olive Tree coalition government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi because of the cuts contained in the government's draft 1997-98 budget. However, after