Imperialism & war

  • No Australian support for another war on Iraq

    Stop the War Coalition released this statement on August 29. *** Sydney Stop the War Coalition opposes the Australian government’s moves to involve Australian military forces in another US-led war on Iraq. Spokesperson Pip Hinman said: “The [Tony] Abbott government’s motives are more about trying to shore up support for itself rather than any professed concern about Sunni and Christian communities.

  • No air strikes on Iraq and Syria, peace group

    "The last thing Australia needs is a holy war," Nick Deane, spokesperson for the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN), said. "Our federal government should reject completely any consideration of sending our air force personnel to drop bombs on Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria, or sending our troops or SAS into combat in those countries. We know now only too well the inevitable civilian casualties from such actions.

  • Gazans celebrate ceasefire

    Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets as celebration broke over a long-term truce agreement was reached on August 26. As news spread that the seven-week Israeli assault on Gaza may have ended with a long term cease-fire agreement, the population of the battered strip flooded to the streets to celebrate. The deal calls for an indefinite halt to hostilities, immediately opening Gaza’s blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt and extending the fishing zone for Gaza's fisherfolk.

  • Gaza shows Zionism's 'original sin'

    The morning after Lailat al-Qadr, the death toll in Gaza was approaching its first 1000. Al-Qadr ― the night before the last Friday in the holy month of Ramadan ― is believed to be the night when the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. I spent this special night with friends in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah after taking part in the “48K March” for Gaza. The march began in Ramallah and went to Qalandiya checkpoint.

  • WikiLeaks' Quito cables lay US interference bare

    Since Ecuador's president Lucio Gutierrez was ousted from power in 2005, relations between Ecuador and the United States have deteriorated with the Andean nation’s increasing rejection of US hegemony. The government of Rafael Correa, first elected president in 2006, has embraced regional integration, moving closer to its neighbours ― in particular Venezuela and Bolivia ― and further away from the US. Economically, the Correa administration has pursued policies that break with the neoliberal doctrines Washington had imposed on Latin America.

  • Israel: Palestinians arrested, beaten for protesting

    As a Palestinian political activist living in present-day Israel, Tareq Yassin, 23, has grown accustomed to racist intimidation and threats of violence. Yassin, secretary of the left-wing Hadash political party’s student wing at the University of Haifa, has been repeatedly targeted for his activism. Yet last month was the first time he was subjected to vigilante violence by right-wing Israelis.

  • From Ferguson to Oakland, injustice is being resisted

    In the past few weeks, several large protest movements have rocked the Untied States political establishment and the elites it represents. These social explosions seem limited and separate, but they symbolise the growing contradictions of US society and the possibilities of mass struggles in the near future.

  • Oakland activist: How we blockaded the Israeli ship

    In an action that has reverberated around the world and inspired pro-Palestinian activists, five days of pickets by activists prevented a ship from the Israeli shipping company Zim Integrated Shipping Services from unloading almost any of its cargo at the port of Oakland.

  • Venezuela unveils 'Hugo Chavez' shelter for Gazan children

    The Venezuelan government has released images of the “Hugo Chavez” shelter, where incoming Palestinian child refugees of the Israeli assault of the Gaza Strip will be housed, Venezuela Analysis said on August 16. President Nicolas Maduro made the pledge last month to shelter Palestinian children who were orphaned and wounded as a result of the conflict, Venezuela Analysis said on August 16. Israel's ongoing assault has killed more than 2000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

  • Protest demands Saudi regime frees dissident cleric

    Protesters took to the streets of Melbourne on August 16 to condemn human rights abuses by Saudi Arabia and to call for the release of Shia cleric Ayatollah Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, who has been sentenced to death by crucifixion and beheading for calling for religious freedom in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is both an absolute monarchy and a theocracy. The regime promotes a Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam, notorious for narrowly defining Islam and intolerance toward other beliefs.