Issues Follow Follow

Last week the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan and spokesman for the regime, was released from the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay and sent home — a free man — at the request of Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

There were some glimmers of progress, but overall the tone of this summit has been bleak and depressing.

A mobilisation by Barrow Unite Against Fascism stopped the British National Party from handing out leaflets in Barrow-in-Furness last Saturday.

Sunday 3 July Jafallah Mari, the only Qatari prisoner, has fallen in the hunger strike. He was taken to hospital. His weight was 120 pounds, now reduced to 103 pounds.

I know many people were uplifted by the agreement at the UN summit of a "Responsibility to Protect" citizens against genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

To clear the way for proposed legislation threatening prosecution for anyone who "glorifies" or "justifies" terrorism, home secretary Charles Clarke is now burrowing through the history books working out what can be described as "terrorism" and what can be termed a justified rebellion against tyranny.

Clive Stafford Smith is worried that time is running out. The human rights lawyer represents the increasingly desperate residents of Guantanamo Bay, currently on hunger strike as a protest about their treatment.

A new film charting the history of Rock Against Racism (RAR) premiered on Thursday of last week at an electric gig in London. RAR was part of the movement against the Nazi National Front in the 1970s.

The ferocity of the recent loyalist riots in Belfast astounded commentators, but came as no surprise to anyone who lives or works in Protestant working class areas.

One of the best things about the current anti-war movement is the range of people involved. Nuns, Muslims and atheists march together in good-humoured unity. But one face that hasn’t been very visible is Lenin’s. If he appears at all, it is on banners alongside Stalin and Mao Zedong — company he would have detested.

To understand what is happening in Venezuela you have to go back to 1989 when there was a rebellion which became known as the Caracazo.

The chasm between the hopes of millions of workers for a decent retirement and New Labour’s plans to make us all work longer was laid bare at the TUC conference last week.