World

Federico Fuentes Tension is rising in Bolivia, South America's poorest country, as a July 18 referendum on the future of the country's natural gas industry approaches. Nationalisation of the gas reserves was the central demand of the mass

Doug Lorimer As US and British occupation troops fought fierce street battles with rebel Shiite cleric Sayed Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in four cities, Iraqi resistance fighters assassinated Izz al Din Salim, the president of the

The following is abridged from a statement issued on July 10 by Friends of the Earth International. Friends of the Earth International, the Climate Justice Programme and Greenpeace have reacted angrily after the World Heritage Committee refused to

On July 24, 20,000 people rallied to mark President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's annual State of the Nation address to the Philippines Congress. Arroyo has survived a deep political crisis that resulted from revelations of widespread cheating during the

On February 22, the giant US-owned Freeport gold and copper mine in West Papua was forced to suspend operations following a demonstration by hundreds of people who live in the surrounding area. The demonstrators blocked the mine's access road after

Bert Brauer, Christchurch NZ National Party leader Don Brash's speech attacking Maori rights just before Waitangi Day (February 6) ignited a racist backlash. Racially motivated verbal and physical attacks, especially on Asian immigrants, have

On July 2, elections for a constituent assembly and a referendum on regional autonomy were held in Bolivia. A week earlier, Pablo Stefanoni spoke with President Evo Morales about the new assembly and Morales's first five months in government. The

Stuart Munckton According to a July 23 VHeadline.com report, campesino [peasant] leader Braulio Alvarez escaped with minor injuries after the car he was driving "came under a hail of bullets". Alvarez is a deputy in the National Assembly (AN) for

Doug Lorimer On February 15, the US House of Representatives adopted a resolution by 404 to 4 votes condemning "the government of Iran for violating its international nuclear non-proliferation obligations and expressing support for efforts to

Rihab Charida & Nikolai Haddad If the olive branch is the symbol of hope, then Israel's uprooting of hundreds of thousands of ancient olive trees from Palestinian land is a fitting metaphor for the current situation. With each passing day,

Shane Bentley The weeks of street demonstrations and strike days that forced the French government to withdraw the First Employment Contract laws in April occurred 70 years after another historic event — the wave of strikes and factory

On December 1, police crushed a World Aids Day march in Harare, arresting several of the organisers, including activists from the International Socialist Organisation and Women Aids Support Network. Hundreds of people joined the march, demanding