The United Nations Independent Special Commission of Inquiry released its report on October 17 into the violent conflict in April and May in East Timor. The 79-page report found that the 聯frailty of state institutions and the weakness of the rule of law聰 were to blame for the conflict that erupted following the sacking of almost 600 soldiers from the Timorese Defence Force.
688
Nearly 40 years after his death, John Coltrane remains one of the most important figures in jazz history.
Al Gore聮s documentary An Inconvenient Truth has helped focus attention on the threat posed by fossil-fuel driven climate change. Gore聮s film was met with a predictable barrage of criticism by right-wing pundits. For example Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt wrote in a September 13 article that the 聯former US vice-president聮s ludicrous scaremongering contains exaggerations, half-truths and falsehoods聰.
Union Solidarity-led community picketers halted the construction of the Otway gas plant for a day on October 20. The picketers came from Melbourne, Geelong, Warrnambool, Hamilton and Portland to support the workers at the site.
For two years, construction at the site has proceeded without a single day of industrial action. In June, a site agreement was negotiated between unions and the construction company, Technip.
Biofuels such as ethanol have been presented by alternative energy entrepreneurs and many environmentalists as a 聯clean, green聰 alternative to fossil fuels. But recently a growing chorus of scientists have warned of the dangers of biofuels.
鈥淟iberal Senator Gary Humphries has attempted to reignite a 50-year-old political fear of reds under the bed鈥, reported the Canberra Times on Thursday October 12. The article was referring to an October 10 speech in the Australian Senate, during which Humphries launched an attack on socialist Cuba and Australian supporters of the Cuban Revolution.
Tamil struggle I
The article "SRI LANKA: Tamil struggle born from oppression" by Chris Slee (GLW #685) was well written and well researched. He does not feel threatened by any parties when he calls a spade a spade.
He is exactly right when heTamil struggle I
The article "SRI LANKA: Tamil struggle born from oppression" by Chris Slee (GLW #685) was well written and well researched. He does not feel threatened by any parties when he calls a spade a spade.
On October 15 Ecuador went to the polls. Having seen eight presidents in 10 years, three of whom were overthrown by a population frustrated by the corruption, ineptitude and nepotism that characterise Ecuador鈥檚 elite, the chances of any government lasting out its mandate seem pretty slim. However, the challenge could be in getting one of the pool of 13 presidential candidates even legitimately elected.
On October 17, a US federal appeals court upheld the US State Department鈥檚 2004 designation of Kahane Chai, an Israeli-based spin-off of US ultra-Zionist Rabbi Meir Kahane鈥檚 Jewish Defence League (JDL), as a 鈥渇oreign terrorist organisation鈥.
On October 16, the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance聮s IRIN news service reported that electricity and clean water are now 聯luxuries for most Iraqis聰. For example, Baghdad, a city with 6 million residents, gets no more than four to six hours of electricity a day.
October 12 was marked in Venezuela as the 聯Day of Indigenous Resistance聰 to the arrival of Spanish colonisers. On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus first landed in South America, beginning more than 500 years of genocide and oppression of the continent聮s indigenous inhabitants. The day is a national public holiday in Venezuela and was previously designated Christopher Columbus Day.
On May 1, the day the Bolivian government announced the 聯nationalisation聰 of the country聮s vast oil and gas reserves, I went out to witness the symbolic takeover of a former Bolivian refinery that was privatised in the late 聮90s.
- Previous page
- Page 4
- Next page