US President George Bush will add Sydney to the long list of cities that have greeted him with mass demonstrations demanding an end to the war on Iraq. PM John Howard will remember APEC as the summit that failed to bolster his domestic support.
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For Bolivia鈥檚 indigenous majority there is no going back. The election in 2005 of Bolivia鈥檚 first indigenous president, Evo Morales, marked a watershed 鈥 a before and after in Bolivia鈥檚 history 鈥 after more than 500 years of struggle against imperialism and colonialism. It marked a conscious step forward by Bolivia鈥檚 indigenous majority in its struggle for justice and equality.
聯Mission accomplished!聰, boasted NSW Premier Morris Iemma at the end of one of the most aggressive policing operations in Australia for many years. The last public official to use that phrase was US President George Bush, who had just invaded Iraq. Did Iemma mean to link the thousands of protesters in Sydney with the enemy population of Iraq?
On August 30, western Sydney charged US President George Bush with war crimes committed during the immoral and illegal occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush was also charged with the crimes of assault on the environment, crimes against civil liberties and against workers. A People鈥檚 Tribunal was held at the Parramatta Town Hall, and prosecuting witnesses included former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib, Dennis Doherty (from the Anti-Bases Coalition and the Communist Party of Australia), Kamala Emanuel (environment spokesperson for the Socialist Alliance) and Ninos Tooma (Iraqi activist).
Alex Bainbridge, chairing the Stop Bush/Make Howard History anti-APEC rally told the massing crowd that there were at least 10,000 people gathered at 11am at Sydney鈥檚 Town Hall. Despite an intensive campaign aimed at keeping people away, and provocative policing on the day, up to 15,000 people come out on September 8, asserting their right to protest against US President George Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Throughout the week, some people in Cochabamba had worried about how September 13, a date expected to involve confrontation between the supporters of the government of left-wing, indigenous President Evo Morales and the right wing, would turn out. People at work talked of a coup. Others remembered the protest on January 11 when three people were killed and some buildings burnt, worrying that the same would happen again. Some of the most right wing spoke of a campesino 鈥渋苍惫补蝉颈辞苍鈥.
聯The innovative offer by the government of Ecuador to refrain from exploiting its largest oil reserve, in exchange for international compensation for nature conservation, is attracting increasing support聰, according to an August 23 IPS article. The initiative relates to the untapped Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha (ITT) oil reserve, which is located in Yasuni National Park in the Amazon. According IPS, the park is one of the world聮s most biodiverse regions. It was created in 1979 and covers 982,000 hectares.
The United States government has almost perfected a method of intervention that is able to penetrate and infiltrate all sectors of civil society in countries that it deems to be of economic and strategic interest. In the case of oil-rich Venezuela 聴 in the middle of a process of transformation led by socialist President Hugo Chavez that is adversely affecting the interests of US corporations 聴 this strategy began to take form in 2002.
聯US combat deaths in Iraq have dropped by half in the two months since the buildup of 28,000 additional troops reached full strength聰, Associated Press reported on August 31. In the days following, most of the US corporate media repeated this claim. But what they didn聮t report was that the number of US combat deaths in June-August 聴 a total of 264 聴 made it the deadliest summer for US occupation troops since the war began in March 2003. Last summer, 169 US soldiers were killed in Iraq.
The Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP), a Marxist tendency in the Socialist Alliance, is now calling for the immediate withdrawal of the Australian troops from East Timor. A meeting of the DSP National Committee resolved to investigate the prospects for building a public campaign around this demand. Peter Boyle, the DSP聮s national secretary, explained the reasons for this decision to 91自拍论坛 Weekly
Protesters聮 defiance of the APEC security crackdown was clear from early on the morning of September 8 when the NSW police drove their shiny new $600,000 black water cannon, with sirens blazing, past us at Sydney Town Hall. We whistled, gave it the finger, and continued preparing for the biggest anti-war protest in Sydney in more than a year.
I'd like to thank the students from the schools,
For getting off their stools,
And coming out to protest against these tools.
The old, the young,
The weak, the strong.
No more pain,
Stop their reign.
Confront 鈥 get out there!
Walk
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