World

The British government has lost three court cases in its own judicial system over the right of the original inhabitants of the Mauritian islands of Chagos (which includes the strategic US military base on Diego Garcia), to return. The case is currently before the House of Lords Judicial Committee — the court of ultimate appeal.

The following statement was released by a number of European socialist groups affiliated to the Fourth International. For the list of organisations, visit http://internationalviewpoint.org.

With the victory of an unlikely opposition candidate in the June 29 election for prefect (governor) of Chuquisaca, the number of opposition-controlled prefectures increased to seven out of nine.

The Peruvian capital of Lima, faced with rapidly rising costs of living, was the epicentre of the protests on July calling for fulfilment of social and wage agreements signed by the government on July 9. Although only one violent incident occurred, some 200 demonstrators were arrested.

The British lawyer Gareth Peirce, celebrated for defending victims of miscarriages of justice, wrote recently in relation to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Reprinted from Granma International, July 11. For more information on the case of the five Cuban anti-terrorists jailed in the US for their role in infiltrating Miami-based anti-Cuban terrorist groups, or to find out how to get involved in the campaign to free them, visit http://freethefive.org.

Pakistan is once again a focal point of an imperialist agenda and the so-called war against terrorism.

ALP defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon has used his first visit to the US to call for an escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

Below is a July 10 statement from the Committees in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). For more information, visit http://cispes.org.

“As a product of four weeks of meetings between the different currents in the National Union of Workers (UNT), together with important union federations, we have democratically decided, in consultation with the grassroots, that [on September 19-21] we will hold a national congress.

Below is an open letter from Herman Wainggai of the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

The British government has been slammed by the European Court of Human Rights for secretly and illegally monitoring every single telephone call, fax message and e-mail between Ireland and Britain for years.