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LIBERIA: US intervention no solution to crisis

BY LEE SUSTAR The rhetoric was about AIDS and poverty, but the agenda is oil and empire. US President George Bush's July tour of Africa highlighted the ways in which the US is consolidating its economic and strategic role across the continent —

Organised employer response to pattern agreement

BY GRAHAM WILLIAMS MELBOURNE — Victorian manufacturing workers are being hampered in their attempts to finalise enterprise bargaining negotiations. Across the industry, employers are consistently holding out on some demands. "There is a common

Killer Coke campaign launched

BY CHRIS SLEE MELBOURNE — On July 14, 40 people attended a public meeting to launch the Stop Killer Coke campaign, the aim of which is to pressure Coca-Cola to recognise union rights at its bottling plants in Colombia. Members of Sinaltrainal,

SOUTH AFRICA: Activists condemn Bush's imperial agenda

BY PATRICK BOND JOHANNESBURG — The petro-military-commerce safari to Africa that US President George Bush embarked upon July 7-12 may well succeed in the areas that progressive critics fear most. However, those critics, who protested in several

Young people plan resistance

BY ROHAN PEARCE SYDNEY — "War is the inevitable result of a system that places power and greed before solidarity and need", Lincoln Hancock, a Melbourne-based activist, told the July 11-13 Resistance national conference, held in Sydney. The

UNITED STATES: Expert: 'Depleted uranium use is a war crime'

Major Douglas Rokke joined the US Army in 1967 and served in Vietnam. In 1986. he became a nuclear, biological and chemical warfare instructor. After 1990, Rokke worked extensively with depleted-uranium (uranium-238) weapons, becoming one of the Pentagon's foremost experts in the field.

Styx march boosts movement

BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE& ANTHEA STUTTER HOBART — The campaign to end the woodchipping of old-growth forests took a major step forward when thousands of people marched through the Styx Valley on July 13. At last year's state election, it was clear

Socialist Alliance activist elected as labour council official

BY SUE BULL GEELONG — On July 8, Tim Gooden was elected assistant secretary of the Geelong Trades and Labor Council for the next five years. Socialist Alliance member Gooden was nominated by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union,

WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION: Services rules expansion threatens national sovereignty

BY EVA CHENG Of the myriad of global trade rules being negotiated under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is among the least understood. However, it is also among the most

Win for strikers in Burrup dispute

BY ANTHONY BENBOW DAMPIER, WA — A dispute that began with a company's arrogance towards a team of cleaners led to a week-long strike — and victory — for workers at Woodside's construction site on the Burrup Peninsula, near Dampier in Western

Belafonte, people's artists scorch lying US regime

"This man is, to me, a prophet!", declared Taos Pueblo recording artist Robert Mirabal on June 29 in welcoming legendary performer Harry Belafonte to the stage of the 2003 annual Taos Solar Music Festival.

Australia rides into the Solomons

BY THIAGO OPPERMANN All of Australia's politicians — from Prime Minister John Howard to Greens senator Bob Brown — agree that the Solomon Islands is ripe for some tutelage. That state "failed" and "anarchy" reigns as "warlords terrorise"