World

As part of a the struggle for a new, participatory and democratic socialism, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the mass party led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has called for a national debate on the role of the corporate-owned private media.

In response to the fatal clashes between indigenous protesters and the Peruvian government, Venezuela’s foreign ministry has released a statement expressing its solidarity with both the security forces and the indigenous people killed. Venezuelan indigenous affairs minister Nicia Maldonado called the Peruvian government’s violent repression “terrorism”.

On May 13, the Nigerian military began a military assault, including land, naval and air bombardments, on the oil-rich Niger Delta. Thousands of people are reported to have died, with entire villages destroyed.

The Bolivian people, led by the government of President Evo Morales, are continuing their campaign to bring former president Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada and members of his cabinet to justice over the government-ordered massacre of dozens of protesters in 2003.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the nationalisation of six companies on May 21. “There will be no discussion”, he said.

Mass protests by indigenous communities continue to spread throughout Peru. This is despite a violent crackdown by police and military forces following President Alan Garcia’s declaration of a 60-day state of emergency in the Cusco, Ucayali, Loreto and Amazonas regions on May 9.

The rightward shift of the apartheid Israeli state has continued with a new law proposed that would make it a crime to commemorate the founding of the Israeli state as al Nakba (the catastrophe — which is how Palestinians remember the event).

On May 24, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa marked national independence day ceremonies with a promise to “radicalise and deepen” the “citizens’ revolution” his government is seeking to lead.

Addressing the 400-strong May 21 workshop with workers from the industrial heartland of Guayana, dedicated to the “socialist transformation of basic industry”, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez noted with satisfaction the outcomes of discussions: “I can see, sense and feel the roar of the working class.”

In a call for action to stop the humanitarian crisis facing hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians, a group of young Tamil Australians have initiated the statement below. Published at Fastuntoaction.wordpress.com, they are calling for as many people as possible to add their name.

In recent weeks, there have been a number of articles in the corporate media globally, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian, on the creation of a new international union organisation — Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine.

Hundreds of thousands of workers answered the call of the European Trade Union Confederation with protests on May 16. The protests were in support of the ETUC’s “Fight the Crisis: Put People First” campaign and its efforts to win the adoption to win a “new social deal” for Europe.