World

  • Solidarity grows for general strike in Swaziland

    Swaziland police have arrested trade union and opposition leaders in an attempt to intimidate the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) into calling off an indefinite general strike which began on February 3. Police opened fire

  • Neo-fascists on the rise in France

    Support for the French neo-fascist organisation National Front (FN), headed by Jean-Marie Le Pen, has increased dramatically over the past few years. The election, on February 9, of FN Mayor Catherine Megret in the southern French city of Vitrolles

  • Squeezing workers won't help Korean economy

    South Korean President Kim Young-sam justifies the ongoing attacks on the democratic rights of the country's workers on the basis that they must make sacrifices to bolster the "competitiveness" of South Korean products. He suggests

  • FMLN prepares for Salvadoran elections

    FMLN prepares for Salvadoran electionsOn March 16, Salvadorans go to the polls to elect a new 84-member Legislative Assembly and 262 local councils. The Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN)

  • Revolt against austerity topples Ecuador's president

    Last August, President Abdala Bucaram netted 54% of the vote. In office, the populist president recorded an album and gave concerts, auctioned his moustache in a benefit for the poor and launched a subsidised powdered milk

  • Indonesian nuclear project stalled

    Indonesian nuclear project stalledMinister of research and technology B.J. Habibie's determination to develop Indonesia's nuclear power industry hit another snag on December 12. Instead of being "rubber-stamped", a bill to give

  • European EMU under attack

    European EMU under attackIn preparation for the June 1997 Amsterdam summit, at which a treaty will be signed members of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the 15 states have begun negotiations on revising the

  • Chatting with Jakarta taxi drivers

    Chatting with Jakarta taxi driversJAKARTA — "This traffic jam is caused by the stupidity and corruption of the government! They can't even do simple things like fix up the traffic, let alone respond to the people's

  • Five years of Russia's new capitalism

    MOSCOW — In late January in Russia, the economic figures from the previous year are released. Supporters of the government have done their best to put a favourable gloss on the latest numbers, but the truth cannot be concealed

  • Long struggle of south Sudan gains strength

    Since early January, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in a joint offensive with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — an coalition of northern political groups opposed to the military dictatorship — has captured a

  • Interview with Zairean opposition leader &&

    JEAN-BAPTISTE MULEMBA MAKUBI, spokesperson of the Coalition of Democratic Organisations of the Zairean Diaspora (CODEZAD), was interviewed by ALAIN MATHIEU in the December 19 issue of the French left weekly Rouge. In France, CODEZAD represents the

  • Bakun Dam threatens Sarawak people, rainforest &&

    Last October, the Bakun Dam project contracts were signed in Malaysia between the Swedish-Swiss Asia Brown Boveri (ABB) consortium and Ekran Berhad. The US$5.5 billion Bakun Dam, masterminded by the timber tycoon and executive