A huge transformation of agriculture is taking place in Venezuela, a transformation that has lessons for every other country in the world. I had the opportunity in July to visit the country and see the changes that are taking place first hand.
Venezuela鈥檚 Law of the Land and Agrarian Development, the Law of Food Sovereignty and Security, and the Law of Integrated Agricultural Health set out the agenda.
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The Obama administration seems to believe that the president has the authority to order the assassination of anyone, including US citizens, if they meet certain as-yet-undisclosed criteria.
One US citizen, accused terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, has been widely reported to be on a US government 鈥渒ill list鈥 鈥 making him just one of several US citizens the government is reportedly trying to kill without charge or trial.
Good and evil is back in vogue with the US far right.
Former president George W. Bush and the Republican Party attacked opponents of his invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan as aiding the 鈥渆vil doers鈥. And such evil should be tackled by whatever means necessary, no matter what the US constitution or international law says.
This tactic sent the many liberals and Democratic Party politicians running to the corners and lining up behind the war mongers.
A high court challenge to Australia's offshore processing, on behalf of two Tamil refugees whose asylum claims were refused, has questioned the legality of the refugee processing policy.
The case, heard in Canberra's High Court over August 24-26, occurred amid rising numbers of refugee claims being refused.
Australia imprisons refugees in offshore detention and denies them full right of appeal in Australian courts. Access to legal advice and fair processing is greatly restricted.
The lawyers acting on behalf of the Tamils labelled this practice unlawful and unconstitutional.
After a long hiatus, the Broad Left Collective has reformed in Wollongong.
Broad Left played a valuable role in circulating left and progressive news in the Illawarra community from its inception in 1987 until its dissolution over the course of 2002-3.
At a meeting held in June this year to discuss reforming the collective it was agreed that Broad Left could continue to play a valuable role in linking up left and progressive people and groups across the Illawarra.
On September 13, construction worker Ark Tribe will face Adelaide Magistrates Court yet again.
He is facing six months鈥 jail for failing to attend an interrogation by the construction industry police 鈥 the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), created by former Howard government as part of Work Choices, but left in place by the ALP.
In recent weeks, media commentary on the use of illicit drugs by professional sports players has exploded again.
The first cause was the recently retired Australian rules football star and recovering drug addict Ben Cousin鈥檚 documentary Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins. It aired on Channel 7 on August 25 and 26.
The second was the overdose on GHB of Travis Tuck, a player for Australian Football League (AFL) club Hawthorn, on August 27.
A 2006 episode of the ABC鈥檚 Lateline program led directly to the greatest human rights abuse in the past half century, said founder and former editor of the National Indigenous Times Chris Graham, at a public forum of 150 people in Sydney on September 3.
Review by Mat Ward
Fit to Print: Misrepresenting the Middle East
By Joris Luyendijk
Scribe Publications, 250 pages, $29.95
If you've ever felt like shaking your fist in anger at some of the reporting that comes out of the Middle East, this very honest book by a disillusioned Middle East correspondent will make you shake your head in wonder.
Joris Luyendijk says he had no journalistic experience when he was hired by a newspaper in his native Netherlands to report on the Middle East. He was taken on solely because he could speak Arabic.
It is a film that advocates peace, yet the head of the ABC decided it was too controversial to be viewed by the Australian public.
In May, the ABC pulled the plug on an independent film documenting daily life of Palestinians living under Israel鈥檚 military occupation in the West Bank.
Now, thanks to the power of public pressure, the ABC is reconsidering whether to broadcast Inka Stafrace鈥檚 documentary Hope in a Slingshot.
Letters are flying thick and fast to the ABC, asking the broadcaster to air Stafrace鈥檚 film.
The Socialist Alliance national office has produced its analysis of the August 21 federal election. It traces the precise mix by electorate of the increased Green, Coalition, independent and informal vote, produced as voters deserted Labor.
The differences among the seat-by-seat contests in an Australian federal election have never been so great. The general disillusionment with the two major parties expressed itself in quite different ways in different electorates and areas.
With the symptoms of social and environmental crisis all around us 鈥 runaway climate change, Third World poverty, seemingly endless wars 鈥 it is sometimes easy to feel discouraged about our ability to change 鈥渢he way things are鈥. We can forget that millions of ordinary people have many times over said 鈥渆nough is enough鈥 and come together to take action to change history.
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