World

Rohan Pearce On June 5, militia aligned with the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) declared victory in their struggle to control Mogadishu, capital of the east African country of Somalia. The militia had routed the grossly misnamed Alliance for the

Jorge Jorquera Over the next year, the people of Venezuela will once again go to the polls on at least two occasions — in December 2005 for parliamentary elections and December 2006 for presidential elections. If Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian

Norm Dixon On September 16, at least 800,000 government workers, including 300,000 teachers, took part in what the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) described as the "largest strike in South Africa's history". Members of eight public

Kim Bullimore On June 13, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation called on Israel to launch an immediate, independent investigation into the explosion on June 9 that killed seven Palestinian civilians picnicking on a northern Gaza

Margarita Windisch & Susan Price, Caracas One thousand delegates crammed into the Teatro Teresa Careno to hear President Hugo Chavez open the first Latin American Conference of Enterprises Recovered and Controlled by Workers, held on October

Michael Karadjis Beginning late last year, tens of thousands of Vietnamese workers downed tools at dozens of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in southern industrial zones around Ho Chi Minh City, demanding implementation of a 40-48% wage rise

Rohan Pearce & Alison Dellit The appalling end to the hostage crisis in Beslan, Russia on September 4, which left more than 300 dead, had people all over the world horrified. The killing of so many children helped neither the Chechens fighting the

Robyn Marshall & Bill Mason On May 27, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's main revolutionary guerrilla movement, marked 42 years of struggle. Speaking from a jungle camp, Raul Reyes, secretary for international

Pablo Stefanoni, La Paz Bolivia is once again on the path of political uncertainty, after the Constitutional Tribunal (CT) on September 22 ordered the Congress to modify the electoral law (used to convoke the December 4 general elections) to

The National Institute for Women (INAMUJER) aims to fight for equal opportunity and equality before the law for Venezuelan women. Green Left Weekly's Rachel Evans and Coral Wynter spoke to Corina Fumero, INAMUJER's assistant for international

Jonah Gindin & Robin Nieto Despite rumours that Venezuela's right-wing opposition would boycott the regional elections scheduled for October, on August 24, at a meeting of labour leaders belonging to the social-democratic Accion Democratica,

"We are not going to sign the TLC [Free Trade Agreement] with the United States", Hugo Rodriguez, secretary of the Chamber of Senators and director of the Uruguayan Socialist Party, which is part of the Frente Amplio government, told Green Left