News

Bolivian uprising rocks the elite

Four weeks of strikes, protests and blockades have thrown the South American state of Bolivia into turmoil, and forced president Carlos Mesa to offer his resignation.

Revolt in Bolivia has come from the grassroots

The Bolivian rebellion is the latest uprising to hit the region. The Latin American version of "regime change" is proving a major headache for the US, the multinationals keen to exploit the region’s resources and their allies in the region’s ruling classes.

Kifaya activists in Egypt defy the thugs

Over 1,000 Egyptian campaigners have defied police terror to protest at state backed violence against democracy activists.

New alliance poses a challenge in Germany

Following a disastrous defeat for the governing SPD, the equivalent of Britain’s Labour Party, in its North Rhine and Westphalia heartland, it has called for early elections in a desperate move to ward off rebellion in its ranks.

Why the support for the SPD has faded away

The SPD won only 37.1 percent of the votes in North Rhine and Westphalia, down 5.7 points since the last state election five years ago.

Schröder’s policies have led to growing bitterness

The SPD’s crisis has been sharpened by resistance to Schröder’s policies.

Egypt — the ‘democracy’ the US wants to spread

Laura Bush, wife of the US president, visited Egypt last week to shower praise on the country’s regime. She described Egypt’s dictator, Hosni Mubarak, as "bold and wise", claiming that he was "taking the first step" towards democracy.

Poll stitch-up in Beirut

The first round of voting in Lebanon’s elections has exposed the reality behind the "new dawn for democracy" in the Middle East.

Eyewitness to the Cairo violence

Egyptian police and ruling party thugs turned 25 May, the day of the "historic referendum", into a public show of power and violence.

Strike against telecom privatisation in Pakistan

A massive strike by telecom workers in Pakistan is threatening to derail the government’s privatisation programme which would cut up to 4.2 million phone lines. Over the last two weeks over 55,000 workers at the Pakistan Telecom Company Limited (PTCL) have been involved in strike action. The government’s first response was to postpone the privatisation in the hope of demobilising the workers, and then to announce that privatisation was back on. At the time of writing, the unions had just announced the resumption of the strike.

Great Andean revolt confronts neo-liberals

The long drawn out crisis in the Andean countries of Latin America developed rapidly in the early months of 2005, producing extraordinary popular mobilisations.

New defeats for the right in Uruguay

Elections for governors and councillors took place across Uruguay, South America, on 8 May. Right wing parties were crushed in almost half of the districts of the country.

Killings in Uzbekistan reveal Bush's hypocrisy

George Bush’s government smears its opponents as "supporters of tyranny". Yet recent events in the central Asian republic of Uzbekistan have exposed how the US government backs one of the world’s most repressive regimes.

Discontent grows in Aceh and in Indonesia

Six months after his election, the cracks are well and truly appearing in the promises and policies of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

A new party in Germany that will ‘draw a line in the sand’

A new left wing party is contesting the regional elections in North Rhine and Westphalia in Germany this Sunday.

General strike against occupation in Iraqi city of Ramadi

Iraqis in the city of Ramadi and neighbouring towns held a general strike last weekend in a protest against a blockade by US troops. The strike was called as US troops mounted a major offensive on villages and towns along the Euphrates river up to the border with Syria.