Month: December 2004

The Indonesian ‘province’ of Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, is just 155 kilometres from the epicentre of last Sunday’s earthquake.

Despite the biblical scale of floods and destruction, the death along the Indian Ocean coastline was no ‘Act of God’.

Everyone in the region and tens of millions elsewhere in the world with access to some form of media is shocked and bewildered by what happened on the shores of the Indian Ocean on the […]

The tragic devastation wreaked by the earthquake and tidal wave in the Indian Ocean has killed tens of thousands of people. In Sri Lanka alone, the death toll has reached 13,000 and is still rising.

Imperialism and illusions related to European Union membership

After achieving our target of membership for 2003 we set a target for 2004 which we are well on the way to reaching.

There is an ongoing impasse in the peace process.

The situation in France is dominated by the offensive of the bosses and the lack of a real workers’ party.

50 years ago saw the outbreak of the Algerian revolution against French imperialism. But the fruits of that successful revolution have been stolen by the FLN regime and denied to the country’s workers and youth. […]

The Irish Times on Saturday, 18 December, included an amusing article by a journalist called Drapier in which he gave annual awards to members of the Irish parliament, the Dáil.

Joe Higgins, member of the Irish Parliament for the Socialist Party (cwi Ireland) denounces €53 million haul on land speculation. Transcript of the debate at Leader’s Question Time.

Since the last IEC our main national campaign was around the European and regional elections that were held simultaneously in June.

Compared with the high tide of open class struggle in 2003, 2004 has seen more limited strike actions, protests or, at most, rallies.

Chile

When most of the world’s mass media is firmly "embedded" into the thinking of governments and the big business interests that lie behind them, the publication of a collection of some of the greatest pieces […]

"IT IS a mess in Iraq". The UN special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, was certainly to the point. Elections, he said, would not be possible on the 30 January "if the circumstances stay as they are".

In the early hours of Monday 13 December, a café used by left organisations and community groups in Neos Kosmos in Athens was burnt down.

Contradictory factors have determined the way in which the CWI in the CIS (ex-Soviet Union) has developed over the last year.

Millions of public-sector workers are faced with huge cuts to their pensions – some from as early as April 2005.

With millions of people paying much closer attention to politics during the election season, Socialist Alternative played a very active role in the Nader campaign.

Against the background of increased attacks on living standards and working conditions, important sections of the working class in Germany have drawn the conclusion that an organisational and political alternative to the neo-liberal policies of […]

Report from the Socialist Alternative , the cwi in the USA, presented to the 2004  meeting of the International Executive Committee (IEC) of the cwi, held in Belgium 14 – 20 November.

Lo acontecido hoy, 30 Noviembre, es importante porque demuestra, una vez más, la voluntad de luchar de los trabajadores italianos contra los ataques a nuestras condiciones de vida que continúa llevando adelante el gobierno Berlusconi. […]

Exceeding all estimates, more than 50,000 people protested against the APEC summit and the presence of George Bush in the country on Friday 19 November in the streets of Santiago.

El siguiente material fue escrito para la discusión de la reunión del Comité Ejecutivo Internacional del CIT en noviembre con el fin de destacar la agitación social y laboral en China. Otros materiales que formaron […]

Frustrated leaders want to step up privatisation and deregulation

The work of our Democratic Socialist Movement has taken place against the background of significant changes in political consciousness produced by a rapid class polarisation.

Joe Higgins, socialist MP, denounces Bertie Ahern’s conversion to socialism.

cwi international conference.

After the debacle of the last government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA), politics is centred on the antics of the ‘communist’ parties (CPs) which are supporting the central government […]

Cracks in the two-party system keep appearing every year.

Reply to a letter dated 22 November 2004, sent by the CEO of the company to all the employees.

On the 30th of November in Italy there was the fifth general strike against the Berlusconi government. It stopped the country.

El Partido Socialista está orgulloso de anunciar Stephen Jolly ganó un asiento en el distrito electoral de Langridge en las elecciones de la municipalidad de Yarra City el Sábado.

The Socialist Party is affiliated to the cwi which organises in 36 countries across the globe. Today, when just 500 giant multinationals dominate the globe – employing 46 million people and controlling 45% of world […]

The Nader campaign provoked an important debate on the corporate character of the Democratic Party and the need to break from it, but it also inspired a discussion about how best to organize this break. […]

Was it worth voting for Kerry after all?

LSP/MAS organises biggest anti-fascist demonstration since the beginning of ’90.

On 9 November the highest court in Belgium confirmed an earlier court decision convicting three associations linked to the Vlaams Blok for racism.

Ahead of Taiwan’s elections on 11 December, Taiwanese socialist Huang Ding-wang who is living abroad gave the following interview to Laurence Coates of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (CWI Sweden).