Addressing Palestinians for the first time since he declared a state of emergency a week earlier, in a nationallly televised speech on June 21, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Hamas鈥 leaders as 鈥渕urderous terrorists鈥 who had carried out a 鈥渃oup鈥 in the Gaza Strip.
715
West Australian union official Joe McDonald has rejected calls by Labor leader Kevin Rudd for him to leave the ALP. He insists he will fight moves by the party鈥檚 national executive to have him expelled, setting the stage for an important showdown.
The ABC鈥檚 June 18 Four Corners program on Telstra was a damning expose of the anti-worker policies being implemented by Australia鈥檚 largest employer, Telstra. 鈥淭ough Calls鈥 featured interviews with the family, friends and loved ones of two former Telstra workers who were driven to suicide by the relentless pressure of Telstra management to meet unrealistic performance targets.
Not for the first time in recent years, politics in Bolivia has spilled out of the official institutions and onto the streets. With the constituent assembly entering into its decisive phase 鈥 less than two months from its official deadline to draft a new constitution to present to the people in a referendum 鈥 Raul Prada, a delegate from the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS, the party of Bolivia鈥檚 indigenous president, Evo Morales), told La Razon on June 18: 鈥渋t has become sufficiently clear that the issues this assembly is dealing with will not be resolved only inside the assembly, but rather outside鈥.
Many people in Aceh remain traumatised two years after a peace deal ended almost three decades of war. If left untreated this could trigger violence, according to a recent report by the International Organisation for Migration, the Indonesian government and the Harvard Medical School. Some 85% of nearly 2000 people interviewed were still plagued by fears and deep insecurity. The report said 35% of people interviewed suffered depression, 10% post-traumatic stress and 39% anxiety. Almost three-quarters said they had been exposed to combat, with 28% reporting they had suffered beatings and 38% that they had lost a friend or a relative in the conflict. 聯These memories are alive in the community, and they have the tremendous power to reproduce that violence聰, said Harvard聮s Byron Good. Limited resources remain a major obstacle for those requiring treatment, with most aid being dedicated to tsunami recovery and little to post-conflict rehabilitation.
On June 18, Vilma Espin Guillois, legendary guerrilla fighter and leader of the Federation of Cuban Women, passed Away in Havana. An official note issued by the Cuban government is abridged below.
The following are excerpts from a statement made by Cuban President Fidel Castro on June 20, the day after revolutionary leader Vilma Espin Guillois died in Havana.
On June 19, Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) general secretary Farooq Tariq was released from jail after being detained for 15 days by the Punjab government. His arrest was part of a crackdown on political activists following an escalation in Pakistan聮s pro-democracy movement after President Pervez Musharraf聮s decision to suspend Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9. Tariq, who is demanding a judicial inquiry into the detentions, will be a guest speaker at the Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum in Melbourne on October 11-14. The following is abridged from a statement issued by Tariq after his release.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope
By Tariq Ali
Verso Books, 2006
244 pages, $49.95 (hb)
Visit
By Tariq Ali
Verso Books, 2006
244 pages, $49.95 (hb)
Visit
Silencing Dissent
Edited by Clive Hamilton & Sarah Maddison
Allen & Unwin, 2007
279 pages, $24.95
Edited by Clive Hamilton & Sarah Maddison
Allen & Unwin, 2007
279 pages, $24.95
Close the Gap
Photo exhibition by Oxfam Australia
Waterfront Place foyer
Eagle Street, Brisbane
Until June 29
Photo exhibition by Oxfam Australia
Waterfront Place foyer
Eagle Street, Brisbane
Until June 29
On June 3, an elderly flower seller in the municipality of Chongqing was critically injured when council rangers violently cleared the area of street hawkers. In response, a thousand-strong riot erupted. Three days later, a similar incident occurred in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, when a riot of thousands of people forced a backdown from the authorities.
- Previous page
- Page 4
- Next page