World

Eva Cheng Although only a small fraction of China's numerous protests in the last decade have been documented by media, from those reports we have, the willingness of aged pensioners to defend their rights stands out. According to a 2002 China

Jim McIlroy & Coral Wynter, Caracas The second national congress of the National Union of Workers (UNT), the main progressive union federation in Venezuela, was suspended on May 27 after factional divisions led to a walkout by groups representing a

Death-row prisoner Stanley Tookie Williams faces execution in California on December 13. Having grown up in the face of poverty and racism in Los Angeles, African American Williams co-founded the Crips in 1971, which soon became the city's most

The Latin America-wide satellite television station Telesur is set to increase its broadcasting five-fold in 2006, reaching 10 million people worldwide, Telesur president Andres Izarra said on January 26 at the World Social Forum in Caracas. As well

Norm Dixon For at least 18 months now, Western governments have quietly stood by as the non-Arabic-speaking black farmers of the Darfur region in western Sudan have borne the brunt of a vicious ethnic-cleansing campaign carried out by

Jim McIlroy, Caracas The spirit of the Bolivarian revolution shone brightly in Plaza Bolivar on May 25 when several hundred people, mainly members of the local Colombian and Peruvian communities, rallied to support progressive candidates in the

At the Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in Brooks, more than 2300 workers have been on strike since October 12 to demand better wages and conditions. The United Food and Commercial Workers members are demanding an end to harassment, improved safety

Stuart Munckton On January 12, as part of Venezuela's commitment to provide cheap heating fuel to the US poor, an agreement was signed with Maine state governor John Baldacci to provide heating oil at a 40% discount to low-income residents in

Azad Arman, an Iraqi Kurd now living in Melbourne, recently spent three months in northern Iraq. A member of the International Socialist Organisation, an affiliate of the Socialist Alliance, Arman spoke to Green Left Weekly's Chris Slee. The

On May 14, Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez proposed a program to provide cheap heating oil to low-income communities in Europe. This follows a successful program in the US by Venezuelan oil subsidiary Citgo, providing subsidised heating

Stuart Munckton Venezuela's poverty rate is expected to drop from 47% in 2004 to 35% by the end of 2005, according to figures from Venezuela's National Institute of Statistics (INE). The figure was calculated to be at 38.5% half-way through this

TEL AVIV — Thousands of Israelis rallied on July 22, demanding an end to Israel's war on Lebanon and calling for an immediate ceasefire. According to the Palestinian News Agency, protesters urged Israeli soldiers not to fight in Lebanon, chanting