Around the world

An enormous anti-war demonstration, which one TV station estimated at 450,000 – strong, marched through London on 28 September.

EVERYONE SAW the copious media coverage marking the first anniversary of the 11 September attacks. But how many saw mention that this month also marks the twentieth anniversary of the massacre of at least 1,500 […]

UNDER PRESSURE at home and abroad, president Bush went to the UN on 12 September to call for action against Iraq.

On 22 September, the Social Democrats and Greens succeeded in defending their government position in the national elections but with a very small majority.

Joan Littlewood, the radical theatre innovator who transformed British drama in the 1950s and 1960s, died on 20 September, aged 87.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called a two-day general strike for 1-2 October, to protest against the ANC government’s privatisation programme.

"Time for a change in Germany", was the title of last week’s right wing magazine, The Economist (London). This reflected the wish of the international and German capitalists for a new coalition government of the […]

The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), the Nigerian affiliate of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), calls on the Nigerian working people and youth to oppose the planned military action by the US and its […]

Around 1,000 people gathered on 17 September at The Hague in the Netherlands to protest against the plans by the new coalition government (which includes the populist right wing Pim Fortuyn List) and to also […]

LAST FEBRUARY, 70,000 people went to the World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It was set up in opposition to the World Economic Forum of government ministers that took place at the same […]

TONY BLAIR said that he and Bush have decided to give Saddam Hussein "one more chance".

CWI analysis vindicated by events

At a special court hearing last Friday, a criminal court judge in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, suddenly decided that there were "no legal grounds" for holding workers’ leader, Saken Zhanusev, on remand (i.e. in prison) until his […]

The New Zealand general elections in July 2002 saw many unprecedented changes in voting patterns. The Labour Party was, with a small rise in support, able to remain in power by forming a new coalition […]

A THOUSAND people polled by The History Channel named the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon a year ago on 11 September as "the most memorable event in world history". This is […]

WILL THE United States go to war against Iraq? Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld appear determined to bring about a ‘regime change’ through a pre-emptive strike. They undoubtedly have the military power to destroy Saddam’s regime. […]

The last day of the Earth Summit completed the humiliation of the ANC government in what it had hoped would be its finest hour. ‘Civil society’ delegates walked out in disgust, Colin Powell was shouted down […]

ANC government harassment and sabotage cannot stop 30,000 marching. On Saturday 31 August, anti-globalisation activists were joined by thousands of workers, the unemployed and landless, who marched from the poor township of Alexandra outside Johannesburg […]

Four activists from the Karaganda Confederation of Free Trade Unions in Kazakhstan are currently under arrest and are facing serious charges. This is a continuation of the type of repression doled out to worker activists […]

From August 14-19, a delegation of comrades from the United Socialist Party (USP) of Sri Lanka made an historic visit to Jaffna via Vavuniya. This follows a recent ceasefire between LTTE (Tamil Tigers) forces, fighting […]

At least one quarter of the Czech Republic was flooded last week after flash floods. 14 people died because of the disaster (some of them did not leave flooded houses, and one died when a […]

New figures published last month by the Pesticides Residue Committee (PRC) for the British government have raised serious concerns over the safety of fresh fruit and vegetables, both imported and UK grown produce. The government […]

Months after the Dutch general elections, which saw dramatic gains for the populist right wing Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF), a new coalition government has finally been formed. The administration’s proposed policies are clearly to the […]

Text of a leaflet distributed to workers on strike on Monday 12 August 2002, by members of Maavak Sozialisti (Socialist Struggle)

Last week, the New Zealand Labour Party finalised negotiations with two minor parties allowing it to form the 47th parliament. With the Greens giving Labour leader Helen Clark no guarantee of support for the next […]

US PRESIDENT George Bush has rewarded his right-wing, anti-abortion Christian fundamentalist backers by blocking $34 million family planning aid to the United Nations Population Fund.

A new, positive development in the struggle for a genuine multi-party democracy in the country took place on Friday, 26th July, 2002, when the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, declared as unconstitutional, illegal, null […]

Farewell OAU. Welcome the AU! With enormous fanfair, pomp and pageantry, the African Union (AU), the new continental body being established by African states, was launched in Durban, South Africa, on 15th July, 2002. The […]

With a chant of  ’Genoa Libera’ 150,000 youth and young workers marched through the streets of Genova on Saturday. They marched to commemorate the year since the G8 summit which saw a police riot and […]

Cosatu’s announcement yesterday that it has lifted the suspension on the anti-privatisation programme and will be calling a two-day general strike on the 1st and 2nd October, is a direct result of the impact of […]

There has been a big stepping up of repression against the Workers Movement of Kazakhstan, a major working-class organisation. Criminal charges have been lodged against four members of its executive Saken and Ramil Dzhunosov, Ramil […]

FIGHTING BROKE out at last weekend’s annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree. Demonstrators threw missiles at police, resulting in 24 injured as well as two civilians. However, Drumcree is not the issue it was. The […]

The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) calls on the Nigerian working people, labour and youth organisations and activists to rise up to fight the recent decision by the so-called Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register […]

The signing last Friday afternoon of a deal with the government and employers by the leaders of the two smaller trade union federations in Italy – the Uil and Cisl – has sparked a new […]

Over 45,000 municipal workers from two of the largest locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are on strike.

THOUSANDS OF Argentinians marched on the National Congress building in Buenos Aires on 28 June demanding the resignation of caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde.

"THE ENEMY doesn’t value human life", said George Bush when launching his "war against terrorism". Neither it seems do his troops after they bombed and blasted a collection of villages in Afghanistan killing up to […]

The crisis surrounding Mirafiori car plant and the whole Fiat Empire is sending shockwaves through Italian society. In America they say, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the USA”. In Italy the same […]

Kashmir has been fought over by India and Pakistan ever since British imperialism’s divide-and-rule partition of the subcontinent in 1947. The Kashmiri people have been brutally oppressed, denied democracy and self-determination, and suffered two wars […]

A GENERAL strike and mass protests in Peru, South America have forced the government to shelve its privatisation plans.

International solidarity needed!

Up to 5,000 protesters endured rain, thunder and lightening to participate in a four hour, mass "No One Is Illegal" march as part of the two day "Take the Capital" protest in Ottawa against the […]

The BBC current affairs programme, Panorama, recently broadcast a two part investigation on Northern Ireland that revealed more details of the dirty undercover war carried out for decades by the ‘security forces’. Most of the […]

As the spiral of violence in the Middle East escalates, possibly towards a wider war drawing in the surrounding Arab countries, US President Bush continues to show the incapacity of the leading imperialist power on […]

It has now become clear that the Austrian TUC is preparing for a de-mobilisation of the bus workers action. High up union officials have led the protests and a meeting of the TUC national body […]

"The sad statistics about African economic performance have become so familiar as almost to lose their ability to shock: that, for example, more than half the population lives on less than $1 a day, 250 […]

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Seville last Saturday in a massive anti-capitalist protest. The government and the police desperately tried to play down the turnout. The local police claimed up to 60,000 […]

Public bus transport throughout Austria is at a standstill today (25/06/02) as 3,000 drivers take strike action for 48 hours. The strike is in protest at an attempt by the right wing government to sell […]