World

  • Venezuela: Big stakes in November elections

    Following the December 2 constitutional reform referendum defeat — the first for the forces of the Bolivarian revolution since the election of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 1998 — and facing popular discontent at the problems holding back the advance of the process of change, the pro-revolution forces face a big challenge in securing an overwhelming victory in the November regional elections in order not to lose ground to the US-backed opposition.

  • South Africa: Behind the xenophobic killings

    South Africa, up until the recent outbreak of xenophobic violence, was one of the rare, relatively stable African countries where refugees like myself could expect their basic rights to be protected.

  • Manuel Marulanda — 1930-2008

    Pedro Antonio Marin, better know as Manuel Marulanda and “Tiro Fijo” (Sure Shot), was the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Peoples Army (FARC-EP).

  • Bolivia: Indigenous leaders beaten and publicly humiliated

    Bolivia may have its first-ever indigenous president, but racism is alive and well in this country, as demonstrated by the public humiliation of a group of around 50 indigenous mayors, town councillors and community leaders in the south-central city of Sucre.

  • Britain: New Labour crashes in Crewe

    The New Labour government headed by PM Gordon Brown sank deeper into crisis after it lost the Crewe and Nantwich by-election — occasioned by the death of the sitting MP Gwyneth Dunwoody — to the Conservatives on May 22.

  • Israeli soldier: 'Body a day'

    Breaking the Silence is an organisation of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies from soldiers who have served in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the start of the Second Intifada in September 2000. A number of these testimonies are posted on its website, http://breakingthesilence.org.il.

  • Nepal: Republic begins, monarchy ends

    On May 28, Nepal entered a new era when the constituent assembly — in its first meeting since the April 10 elections — overwhelming voted to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy and declare Nepal a democratic republic.

  • Clean development mechanism — a discredited strategy

    The world’s biggest carbon offset market, the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM), is run by the United Nations, administered by the World Bank and is intended to reduce emissions by rewarding developing countries that invest in clean technologies.