News

Diamonds stained by blood of the Bushmen

THOUSANDS OF Bushmen have been removed from the lands where they have lived for many generations and taken to resettlement camps.

Imprisoned for refusing to join the slaughter

For three days I have been held in the court prisons of Corinth.

Trade unionists and turtles—united at last

PARK WARDENS on the tiny Galapagos islands have won an environmental victory after two weeks of strikes.

A new unity forged on the Dutch streets

ONE OF the largest demonstrations in Dutch history took place last Saturday as 300,000 people, mainly trade unionists, marched against attacks on pensions and workers’ rights.

Pressure on Bush’s other ‘deputy sheriff’

AUSTRALIA’S Tory prime minister, John Howard, is one of George W Bush’s staunchest backers.

US and UN troops stand by while the poor suffer

OVER 1,000 people have died in Haiti as a result of floods and landslides in the wake of Hurricane Jeanne. Tens of thousands more are now at risk as epidemics threaten the country.

The crisis nobody wants to talk about

FIGURES WERE released last week detailing coming mass slaughter and social destruction in South Africa.

Strike against the diamond empire

DIAMOND MINE workers in Botswana, southern Africa, have been fighting a bitter battle over wages which has seen mass dismissals, forced evictions—and great solidarity.

The West has bled Sudan dry

Without understanding the role and impact of capitalism and superpower intervention in Africa, the responses evoked by horrors such as that unfolding in Darfur, western Sudan, will often be mistaken.

Venezuelan referendum: ‘The people want to deepen their revolution’

Venezuela’s recall referendum took place on Sunday 15 August. Some 58 percent of people voted no when asked if Chavez should go.

I’m sorry, you haven’t a Clwyd

BLAIR’S specially appointed apologist for the war on Iraq found herself in an tight spot on Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday of this week.

Caught between a rock and a very hard place

YASSER Arafat’s Palestinian Authority was thrown into crisis last weekend.

Mood against government shown in left vote

THE ELECTIONS across Europe showed the same phenomenon-people punishing the government, whether it was centre right or centre left. In France the opposition Socialist Party took 30 percent of the vote as the right wing governing party of president Jacques Chirac slumped to 16.8 percent.

Disaster in Darfur

A catastrophe is unfolding in western Sudan Charlie Kimber explains why

200,000 Say no to Bush in Rome

The US president's attempts to use the D-Day anniversary to win support for his war went badly wrong as protesters took to the streets of Rome and Paris

Zambia: where capitalism cuts lives ten years short

"WE WILL not force countries onto our programmes."

Lebanon erupts at rising prices

Rising petrol prices sparked protests in Beirut in Lebanon last week, where six demonstrators were killed by the army in the suburb of Hayy El Seloum in the south of the city. The army tried to disperse a protest led by taxi drivers by shooting live ammunition in the air. Protesters retaliated by throwing stones. The army then opened fire, killing protesters.

Turmoil is another blow to US hawks

THE SEIZURE and killing of foreign employees in Saudi Arabia last weekend has underlined the depth of the crisis the US faces across the Middle East. Shockwaves spread through the world's oil markets in the wake of the attack. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter and the only country currently with the capacity to boost output to drive down prices.

Germany's biggest anti-cuts march

GERMANY SAYS its biggest ever mobilisation for social justice and against cuts in social benefits took place on Saturday. More than 500,000 people, mostly workers, took to the streets-250,000 in the capital, Berlin, 120,000 in Cologne and 150,000 in Stuttgart. The German demonstrations were largely focused on the government of Gerhard Schršder, a coalition between the SPD (equivalent to the Labour Party in Britain) and the Greens.

Israel's nuclear whistleblower

MORDECHAI VANUNU was jailed for 18 years for exposing the truth about Israel's secret nuclear weapons programme. He is due to be released a week next Wednesday after serving the full sentence. In 1986 Vanunu revealed to the Sunday Times that Israel had produced some 200 nuclear warheads, making it the world's sixth largest nuclear power.