The attempted political assassination of Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on January 8 opened a new debate about the depth of political divisions in the United States. It has included hot button issues of gun control and mental illness.
Giffords amazingly survived a gunshot wound through the head, but six of her supporters at the sidewalk meeting died. It included a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge. Thirteen people were wounded.
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Georgia prisoner strike demands
Over December 9-15, prisoners in a number of prisons in the US state of Georgia organised a strike via contraband mobile phones. The prisoners refused to perform prison labour in protest at a range of unjust conditions they face. BlackAgendaReport.com said on December 15 that one in 12 Georgians were in prison.
The December 20 Huffington Post published the prisoners' demands, which are listed below.
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If it is Your Life
By James Kelman, Penguin Books 2010
280 pages, hardback
拢18.99
This is Scottish author James Kelman鈥檚 first collection of short stories since The Good Times in 1998.
Right from the very first sentence you know you are back in the distinctive world of Kelman鈥檚 fiction: 鈥淲hen I presented myself at the Emergency section of the Social Security Office I knew things could go wrong but I was not expecting a leg amputated.鈥
At last someone has dared to defend the oppressed people of the British banking community. Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays bank, who himself has to suffer the trauma of an 拢8 million bonus, said yesterday that the bankers鈥 鈥減eriod of remorse and apology should be over鈥.
And you feel his pain, because the first words to cross your mind when you see a banker are 鈥渞emorseful and apologetic鈥.
Aboriginal leaders in Sydney and around Australia, together with the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) and other community organisations, have called for a memorial to be built in the Block in Redfern, for all Aboriginal people who have died in custody.
To this end, a march will be held on February 14, seven years to the day that a young Aboriginal boy, TJ Hickey, was allegedly rammed by a police vehicle during a pursuit and killed.
After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to resign and flee to Saudi Arabia on January 14 due to a mass uprising.
Hundreds of protesters rallied in support of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks and its editor in chief, Julian Assange, in Sydney on January 15. Other rallies also took place in major cities around the world.
The rally, which began at Sydney鈥檚 Town Hall, was addressed by several key speakers. The protesters later took to the streets for a loud and lively march, which went past the US consulate and ended at Hyde Park.
Time for People's Bank
The very modest proposals to introduce more competition among banks by Treasurer Wayne Swan are generally judged as inadequate.
We need to have a bank that introduces real competition, modest fees for its customers and pays its executives salaries that befit an egalitarian society, not the outrageous packages the CEOs of the four pillar banks extract from society.
A true fifth pillar would be a new Peoples' Bank. Show us what you are made of Wayne Swan.
Klaas Woldring,
Pearl Beach, NSW
NCCA & boycotts
Australia Day is traditionally the most racist day of the year for Aboriginal people.
When people celebrate on January 26, there is no escaping the fact they are celebrating the day that one race of people invaded another race of people鈥檚 country and took control of Aboriginal lands and tried to dominate Aboriginal people.
Invasion Day, as it should be called, celebrates the dispossession of land, culture, and way of life of Aborigines.
One government 鈥 that of Bolivia 鈥 stood alone against the world at December鈥檚 UN climate conference in Cancun, Mexico. It dared to reject an agreement endorsed by 191 other nations.
And Bolivia was right to do so. Cancun was a step backwards for action on climate change.
Pablo Solon, Bolivia鈥檚 ambassador to the United Nations, explained his country鈥檚 stance in the December 21 Guardian: 鈥淭he text replaces binding mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions with voluntary pledges that are wholly insufficient.
The Socialist Alliance (SA) has criticised recent state government changes to the Liquor Control Act as an infringement of civil liberties.
Under the changes, police have the power to issue 鈥渂arring orders鈥, which ban an individual from licensed premises without incurring a criminal conviction.
鈥淕iving police the power to issue barring orders to patrons of licensed premises is tantamount to dishing out punishment before a person has been found guilty,鈥 said SA spokesperson Alex Bainbridge.
Resistance members joined a protest march through Sydney on January 15 in support of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.
Rally goers chanted "Down with hypocrisy, we want democracy" and "Wikileaks is here to stay, we'll defend it all the way" as they marched from Town Hall to Hyde Park.
Resistance member and Socialist Alliance NSW Legislative Council candidate Patrick Harrison said: "Wikileaks must be defended, governments can't be allowed to get away with lies 鈥 the people of the world need the truth."
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