Campaigners in Wales are building for the Wales and the World conference, which includes speakers like journalist George Monbiot, Barry Coates from the World Development Movement and writer Colin Hines.
The rich and powerful from across the globe were to gather in the Swiss ski-resort of Davos this weekend. But right across the world their system is being challenged. At Davos protesters planned demonstrations outside the rulers' World Economic Forum.
"We've got to fight this all the way, and not let General Motors grind us down. We're marching. We're striking." They were the words of a Vauxhall shop steward in Luton this week. The car plant is owned by giant multinational General Motors (GM), the world's biggest manufacturing corporation.
Vauxhall Iis owned by the multinational GM. GM is the world's biggest industrial corporation. It made £130,000 million profit last year.
High ranking officers have branded as "naive" a senior black officer's report into the police's treatment of Delroy Lindo. He is a friend of Winston Silcott, who is still wrongly imprisoned for murder. Tariq Ghaffur, the Met's deputy assistant commissioner, said in his report that Delroy suffered "systematic harassment" by the police and "negative stereotyping". Delroy has been stopped and searched 37 times by police since 1992. "Nothing has changed with the police," said Delroy. "The Met want to blame Ghaffur because some of the truth has come out in the report."
New Labour's David Blunkett last week insulted every unemployed person in the country. His claim that jobs "are there for the taking" is a slap in the face to Vauxhall workers in Luton or Ford Dagenham workers.
Workers in the French port of Calais have shown exactly how to take on a multinational. Hundreds of workers at the Lu biscuit factory walked out on strike last week after the giant food multinational Danone announced it wanted to shut the plant. The workers were still out on strike this week, and a strike across Danone in France was planned for Thursday. Danone is a multinational company that produces drinks, yoghurt and other dairy products, and biscuits.
The death of Anna Climbie has shocked people across the country. Eight year old Anna died after horrendous abuse at the hands of her two "carers", Marie Kouao and Carl Manning, who were convicted last week for Anna's murder.
Multinational pharmaceutical companies are going to court to stop South Africans receiving cheaper AIDS treatment. It is the starkest form of profit being put before people's lives. Around 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have the HIV virus which leads to AIDS.
Socialist Worker sellers have been pulling out all the stops to build Saturday's demonstration against the closure of Vauxhall's Luton plant. They set up a stall at the university on Wednesday last week and collected scores of signatures on the petition to save the plant. 28 copies of Socialist Worker were sold and 1 student joined the Socialist Workers Party. 5 students came to a meeting the next night at which 2 joined the SWP. On Saturday 83 copies of Socialist Worker were sold in the town centre and another 5 people joined the SWP. Elsewhere in the build-up to the demo 9 copies of the paper were sold outside Vauxhall Ellesmere Port and 8 at the ex-Rover Longbridge plant.
"The strike at Dudley hospitals is one of the longest running disputes in the history of the NHS. It shows the determination of the workers involved, and the support they are winning is extremely exciting." That is how journalist and campaigner George Monbiot described the strike by 600 ancillary workers in Dudley in the West Midlands.
Scottish Teachers are being asked by their union leaders to vote for longer working hours and the right of management to control every minute of their lives. This is what the pay and conditions deal we are being balloted over really means.
