World

  • CHINA: Capital 'invasion' sparks concern

    Eva Cheng The consolidation of private capital in China at the expense of the state sector has taken another significant leap forward. "Mergers and acquisitions" (M&A) among Chinese companies and the gobbling up of Chinese entities by foreign

  • VENEZUELA: Chavez warns US against attack on Iran

    Jim McIlroy, Caracas In a series of fiery speeches on the closing day of the World Social Forum, January 29, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the US government that a US attack on Iran would be "10 times worse than Iraq". "Enough already

  • Report details suppression of union rights

    An annual survey of trade union rights violations published on June 7 by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions found that 115 trade unionists were murdered in 2005 for defending workers' rights, more than 1600 were violently assaulted,

  • SOUTH AFRICA: Activists fight eviction by ANC council

    Norm Dixon The African National Congress-led Johannesburg City Council is attempting to evict two of South Africa's leading activist organisations from their premises in the city's Newtown arts precinct. On July 1, more than 50 activists gathered

  • SCOTLAND: Soldier's mother tells Blair to quit

    Alex Miller The mother of 19-year-old Gordon Gentle, a Scottish soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Basra in June, has called for the resignation of British PM Tony Blair. According to the September 11 Scotsman, in an emotional speech to a

  • VENEZUELA: 'Waiting for our president

    Jim McIlroy & Coral Wynter, Caracas "We are waiting for our Commandante Chavez. That's why we are here. Together, we are going to win the 10 million votes!" That was the explanation of a member of Club of Grandmothers of Catia (a low-income western

  • SOUTH AFRICA: More promises won't appease furious poor

    Patrick Bond, Durban The ruling African National Congress will win the vast majority of seats in the March 1 elections for South Africa's city, town and district councils, given the lack of left electoral opposition. An ANC vow that half of its new

  • INDIA: Communist leader framed

    Dipankar Bhattacharya, the general-secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), has recently been charged with attempted murder for his role in leading a 2001 march against mass killings by the BJP-led government of Jharkhand state.

  • UNITED STATES: Solidarity in wartime

    David Bacon In a Service Employees Union hall in Boston, a hospital worker raises her hand. "If Saddam Hussein was such a bad guy", she asks, "why is the US enforcing his law banning unions in Iraq?" Since January, workers like this orderly have

  • VENEZUELA: Chavez calls for move away from capitalism

    Doug Lorimer In the wake of his victory in the August 15-16 presidential recall referendum in which he received the backing of 59% of voters, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on the country's private business operators to work with his

  • BOLIVIA: Pro-business 'strike' targets Morales

    Federico Fuentes Reporting in La Epoca, Daniela Otero wrote of the September 8 "pro-autonomy" strikes across Bolivia's four eastern departments (Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando): "The government and the leaderships of the civic committees with

  • BOLIVIA: Chavez and Morales sign agreements

    Alessandro Parma, Caracas New Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have confirmed eight agreements to create greater cooperation between the two countries. Chavez said the two governments are united in a "battle