91������̳

World

• Pakistani socialist arrested

  On the afternoon of May 4, a contingent of police arrested Farooq Tariq, the general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan, in his Lahore office. LPP members in Lahore and Karachi held demonstrations protesting Tariq’s arrest. The party has been targeted for its pro-democracy activities, particularly its role in the ongoing movement for the restoration of the chief justice of Pakistan’s High Court, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
• Greening Venezuela's revolution

  Some 53 million light bulbs in more than 5 million homes have been replaced with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, according to an April 21 Bolivarian News Agency report. This marks the successful completion of the first stage of Mission Energy Revolution, a social mission inaugurated by Venezuela’�� government in November. As well the free replacement of energy inefficient bulbs with environmentally friendly ones, the mission aims to help develop the use of alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power.
• Indonesia: Thousands rally on May Day

  Tens of thousands of Indonesian workers commemorated May Day across the country demanding an end to contract labour and outsourcing, and for May 1 to be declared a national holiday.
• Venezuela takes on oil multinationals

  “Thousands of Venezuelan workers took control of foreign-owned oil fields yesterday as Hugo Chavez stepped up his battle with Washington in a new wave of nationalisation and an announcement that the country was leaving the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund [IMF]”, reported the British Guardian on May 2.
• Iraq: Bush troop 'surge' boosts death toll

  “At least 104 US soldiers died in Iraq in April, capping the deadliest six-month period for US forces since the war began more than four years ago”, the May 1 Sydney Morning Herald reported, adding that April was “the deadliest month so far this year and the sixth deadliest of the war. It also brought to five the number of consecutive months when the American death toll has surpassed 80, the longest such stretch of the war.”
• Protesters clash with police in Macau

  Police clashed with protesters in a May Day demonstration in the Chinese territory of Macau. Around 2000 protesters demonstrated against state corruption and lack of jobs for local workers, which they blame on the use of foreign labour. They were
• Eviction resisters test property rights

  Greedy property developers and corrupt government officials have forcibly driven tens of thousands of people across China from their homes. Most of these homeowners weren’t in a position to resist the developers’ strong-arm tactics.
• Crunch comes in French presidential election

  The first striking thing about the initial round of the French presidential election, held on April 22, was the extraordinarily high turnout — nearly 85%. You have to go back to the 1965 election to find a slightly higher figure. This was a sign of the increasing politicisation of French society in recent years, as was the fact that more than 3 million new electors registered to vote.
• US Supreme Court attacks abortion rights

  In the latest move against the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion in the US, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 on April 18 to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. The act was signed into law by US President George Bush in November 2003.
• Behind the victory against prison torture in Turkey

  Tayad is the Association of Solidarity with the Families of Prisoners and is part of the Front for Rights and Liberties (HOC) in Turkey. Both organisations were instrumental in supporting Turkish “death fasters”, who recently had a significant victory against the abusive regime. 91������̳ Weekly’�� Rachel Evans spoke to Mesut Eroksuz, an Australian representative of Tayad.
• US May Day protests: Immigrant workers demand rights and dignity

  Hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers, mostly from Latin America, protested for their rights on May Day in cities and towns across the United States. For the second year in a row, the immigrant rights movement chose May 1, International Workers’ Day, to raise their demands.
• Exit Yeltsin

  Following the April 23 death of Boris Yeltsin, various polling organisations conducted surveys on how Russians regarded his actions. Asked what they saw as Yeltsin’s main achievement, 33% of respondents answered: “He left office voluntarily in December 1999.” All his other achievements were within the statistical margin of error. The majority of those surveyed did not consider that Russia’s first president had any achievements at all.
• Strong result for Bove in Kanaky

  The result for Jose Bove in the April 22 first round of France’�� presidential election in the “overseas territory” (the polite term for colony) of New Caledonia, known as Kanaky to its indigenous inhabitants, was interesting. Bove came in fourth with 5.88%. But in the predominantly Kanak provinces of the North and the Loyalty Islands, his scores were respectively 10.89% and 14.55%. The main reason was the active support given to Bove, who has frequently visited the territory, by the Union of Kanak and Exploited Workers (USTKE).
• Cairo conference calls for resistance to imperialism

  More than 1500 activists from the Middle East and around the world met in Cairo from March 29 to April 1 under the banner, “Towards an International Alliance against Imperialism and Zionism”. The conference — the fifth held in Cairo since 2002 by the International Campaign against US and Zionist Occupation — brought together Islamic, nationalist and socialist forces from the region, together with delegates from anti-war coalitions in Canada, Korea, Venezuela and Europe.
• Behind the victory against prison torture in Turkey

  Tayad is the Association of Solidarity with the Families of Prisoners and is part of the Front for Rights and Liberties (HOC) in Turkey. Both organisations were instrumental in supporting Turkish “death fasters”, who recently had a significant victory against the abusive regime. 91������̳ Weekly’s Rachel Evans spoke to Mesut Eroksuz, an Australian representative of Tayad.