SYRIZA member and journalist Afrodity Giannakis spoke in Melbourne on July 22 on Greek socialists' struggle to clear a new path out of the wilderness of austerity.
SYRIZA is Greece's largest left-wing party. Giannakis described Greece as "a society stripped of democratic illusions, where workers are compelled to labour for months on the promise of future wages while shipowners evade taxes through tailored loopholes.
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“This political force should be liquidated,” said Pavlo Petrenko, Ukraine’s justice minister, quoted in the July 9 edition of Capital (Kiev’s equivalent of the Australian Financial Review). Petrenko was referring to the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU). For a time in the 1990s, it was the most supported party in Ukraine and it still won 13% of the vote at the 2012 parliamentary poll. -
Israel's latest military onslaught, Operation Protective Edge, resumed on August 8 with fresh bombings that killed a child and injured 15 other Palestinians, teleSUR's Gaza correspondent Noor Harazeen reported that day. It came after Israel refused Palestinian demands to lift its crippling siege — an essential move to give the battered Gaza Strip any hope of recovery. -
The following statement by the Network in Defence of Humanity -- in defense of Palestine and encouraging people to join the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targetting Israel -- has been signed by Bolivian President Evo Morales, former Honduran president Mel Zelaya, Nobel peace prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, Cuban musician Silvio Rodriguez and many more (see list below). -
Palestine solidarity activists in Britain declared victory on August 4 after the National Executive Council of the Nation Union of Students voted to pass a motion in solidarity with Palestine, and for an arms embargo against Israel, Electronic Intifada reported the next day. The NEC motion condemned Israel’s lethal assault on and blockade of the Gaza Strip.
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Ecuador has announced the opening of an embassy in the occupied territories, joining 40 other nations with diplomatic missions in Palestine. The Ecuadorian government has also called for an end to the slaughter in Gaza. The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño tweeted on Monday that "Palestine lives in tragic moments: the moral obligation of the world is to end the slaughter in Gaza and to promote a lasting peace with justice," as well as announcing the opening of the embassy.
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One hundred years ago, fighting broke out among the great powers of Europe, launching what has become known as World War I. The brutal conflict, which lasted more than four years, proved to be a decisive turning point for humanity and the socialist movement — its effects still felt strongly today. -
Irish singer Sinead O’Connor has joined the growing list of artists who respect the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to isolate Israel, cancelling a show in Israel scheduled for September 11.
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Latin American television TeleSUR has launched an English-language website to provide a global, English-speaking audience with a “Latin American perspective” on world events, IBT.com reported on July 29.
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"While a 22-23 July Gallup poll found that a slight majority of Americans believe that Israel's latest assault on Gaza is justified," Middle East Monitor noted on August 3, "amongst those under the age of 30, more than twice as many Americans say that Israel's aggression in Gaza is unjustified (51 per cent) than those who say it is justified (25 per
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The Party of the European Left is a continent-wide amalgamation of far-left, radical and socialist political parties and groups. It includes the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) in Greece, Die Linke in Germany, the United Left in Spain, the Left Front in France and many others. -
Representatives from Irish republican party Sinn Fein are touring Australia from August 30 to September 7, speaking at public meetings in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.