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No to war spending

On August 27, outside a "Defence White Paper community consultation", Stop the War Coalition held a protest. Inside, peace activists made up about 40% of an audience of about 100.

Small victory for G20 protesters

A county court judge reduced the sentences of four G20 protesters on appeal on August 28. The four, along with other activists, received severe penalties last April in relation to altercations with police at a protest against the G20 meeting held in Melbourne in November 2006.

Gillard pledges to keep ABCC

Building unions, legal representatives and building workers met with ALP parliamentarians in Canberra on August 25 to lobby for the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

On the box

Black Coffee: Gold in Your Cup — Coffee drinkers are questioning the origin of their coffee, the living conditions of those who produce it, and the misery of the slaves who were in the original coffee trade. SBS, Friday, September 5,

The making of "the news"

Flat Earth News: An Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion & Propaganda in the Global Media
By Nick Davies
Chatto & Windus, 2008
408 pages, $54.95 (hb)

United States: Thousands rally for Nader

Four thousand people turned out for a campaign rally for independent presidential candidate and long-time anti-corporate and consumer rights activist, Ralph Nader in Denver, according to an August 29 CQpolitics.com report.

Afghanistan: Malalai Joya vs Washington's warlords

Afghanistan lives in fear of US-sponsored warlords.

Venezuela: The struggle for industry to serve people

On August 27, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the end of negotiations with former owners Ternium over the nationalisation of the Sidor steel factory, stating that the government would “take over all the companies that it has here”, insisting Ternium “can leave”.

The Black Power era

The role of music in the early civil rights movements is fairly widely known.
PUDEMO People's United Democratic Movement t-shirt.

Swaziland: The struggle for democracy

The following is a heavily abridged talk by Mario Masuko at the Zimbabwe-Swaziland Solidarity Conference held in South Africa, August 10–11, 2008. Masuko is president of Peoples United Democratic Movement (Pudemo).

Venezuela: Indigenous land battle faces violent attack

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has intervened in a land dispute in the Sierra de Perija region, near the countryÂ’s north-western border with Colombia, where the Yukpa indigenous people have occupied 14 large estates to demand legal title to their ancestral lands.