World

Greek workers shut down hospitals, schools and public transport again on March 5 in protest at the government's “socially unjust” spending cuts.

The article below is abridged from the British Morning Star.

The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund is a San Francisco-based grassroots organisation founded in 2004. It is working with Haitian organisations to provide relief in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, Republican President George W. Bush launched illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush enacted “anti-terrorism” policies under which people could be labelled “terror suspects” without evidence and abducted, jailed and tortured in secret.

The call published below is being promoted by the Global Justice Ecology Project. The GJEP said in 2004, it “traveled to Chile for meetings with [indigenous] Mapuche organizations fighting the devastating impacts of industrial timber plantations.

On February 18, Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in a military coup. A military junta calling itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, headed by Major Salou Djibo, took power.

The article below is by Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a member of the socialist Turn Left Thailand group. He was forced to leave Thailand after being charged under Thailand's anti-democratic lese majesty (insulting the monarch) laws. Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who despite his corrupt record still enjoys support from much of Thailand’s poor, was overthrown in a 2006 coup by royalist army officers. For more information, visit Wdpress.blog.co.uk.

The statement published below is a call for protests when US President Barack Obama visits Guam, Indonesia and Australia in late March. It was released by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Workers (New Zealand), Power of the Masses Party (PML — Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labor Party Pakistan, and Socialist Alternative (Australia).

Since the 1959 Cuban Revolution overthrew the US-backed Batista dictatorship and began a process that ended US economic exploitation of the Caribbean island, Cuban has been repeatedly attacked by its powerful neighbour. There have been many terrorist attacks organised or launched from US soil against Cuba.

Manju, one of the 254 Tamil refugees aboard the Jaya Lestari in Merak, Indonesia, is due to have her baby on 5 April.

Chile earthquake 'chilling' ... for capitalists "The massive earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday, and put nearly a quarter of the world on tsunami alert, is a chilling reminder that investing in insurance companies is high risk." — Adele

On February 26, parliamentarians from the left-wing party Die Linke were expelled from the Bundestag (the national parliament) for holding a protest against the war in Afghanistan.