THE DEAD bodies are mounting in Afghanistan, but this horror has almost become routine in Bush and Blair's war. The civilians slaughtered by US bombs do not make headline news in most of the media. The warmongers dismiss it with the announcement days later of a "stray" bomb.
THE GUARDIAN newspaper has quite rightly come in for a lot of flak for its failure to report the great anti-war demonstration in London a fortnight ago. The paper has also been carrying articles that seek to play down the opposition to the war. "Students Shun 'Stop The War' Movement" was the headline of a piece that claimed students are too worried about money or having a good time to take a stand against the war.
GEORGE BUSH has had to change his tune on which country is a "rogue state" to keep his coalition together. Take China. Bush, and many of the hard-right Republicans, came to power last year declaring that China was a "strategic competitor". There was his sabre rattling with the Chinese during the spy plane crisis six months ago.
ARIEL SHARON, the Israeli war criminal prime minister, has launched a new offensive against the Palestinians. He is using the aftermath of the assassination of far right Israeli politician Rehavam Zeevi by Palestinian militants on Wednesday of last week.
AS BUSH ordered the first bombs to be dropped on Afghanistan, a US think tank declared the guerrilla movements in Colombia the greatest terrorist threat in the western hemisphere. The US government agrees and has showered military aid on the Colombian state. The $1.3 billion Plan Colombia package pretends to be about fighting drug trafficking.
Thousands of students in universities and colleges across Britain are mobilising against the war. The war is producing some of the biggest meetings on campuses that have been seen in years. "We reckon nearly 500 students took part in the teach-in at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London throughout the day," says Sandy Nicoll, a member of the university's staff, about the day-long event last Saturday.
THREE HUNDRED low paid health workers across ten Glasgow hospitals began an all-out indefinite strike on Tuesday of this week. The 300 medical secretaries are fighting to upgrade their pay and improve their terrible working conditions.
HUNDREDS MORE job centre workers in the PCS civil servants' union joined the indefinite strike for safety at work on Monday of this week. Workers at the government's new Pathfinder offices in Streatham and Brent in London have entered the eighth week of their strike against the removal of safety screens at work.
AN EMPLOYMENT tribunal has unanimously agreed that Post Office management unfairly dismissed CWU union activist Mick Doherty. Mick, chair of the N/NW London CWU branch, was sacked after allegations of his involvement in football violence before last year's UEFA cup final in Copenhagen.
SIX DAYS of strike action by 900 members of the UNISON union have forced Sefton council on Merseyside to reopen two of the care homes it shut. The income from the sale of a third site has been ring-fenced to be reinvested into social services, and a site is to be found for a new children's home.
STRIKE action planned at Scottish Power this week has been called off to allow negotiations with management. The decision was taken at a stewards' meeting addressed by officials from the AEEU, GMB and TGWU unions.
Mark New, a leader of the Dudley hospitals workers' strike and the candidate of the United Left, has been elected to the national executive committee (NEC) of public sector union Unison. Mark was elected by health workers in the union for a "health" seat on the union's NEC.
