Dutch prosecutors fired the opening salvo on May 31 in a notorious case involving a Swiss-based oil trader which dumped hazardous waste in Ivory Coast, the British Morning Star said on June 1. The dumping was allegedly to save itself the paltry sum of 鈧400,000 (about A$576,000).
The article said prosecutor Luuk Boogert accused oil trader Trafigura AG and local authorities of putting 鈥渟elf-interest above people鈥檚 health and environment鈥 at the criminal trial in Amsterdam. The ship had docked at Amsterdam en-route to Ivory Coast.
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In early March, after a three-month media bombardment about the country鈥檚 economic crisis, the Greek government 鈥 backed by conservative opposition parties, the European Union (EU)and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 鈥 announced harsh austerity measures for ordinary people.
These included unprecedented salary, pension, job and public services cuts and large-scale privatisation. The government offensive entails an enormous income transfer from workers and pensioners to big business and the State Revenue Office.
On May 28, it was reported that the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was considering allowing a certain form of female circumcision, involving 鈥渞itual nicks鈥. RANZCOG later said it was a misrepresentation, and that 鈥渁nyone suspected of performing such genital mutilation should be reported to authorities鈥, the Sydney Morning Herald said the same day.
But if we reject all forms of female circumcision, why is it that male circumcision remains so acceptable?
The United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, called, on May 31, for the international community to bring to justice those responsible for Israel鈥檚 deadly raid on a ship bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, Countercurrents.com said that day. The raid killed at least nine people.
Sanna Andrew is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Fremantle, Western Australia, in the coming federal elections.
She joined the Socialist Alliance in 2007. She is a qualified social worker and has worked in community-based mental health service provision for more than a decade.
Andrew is also an active member of the Australian Services Union (ASU) and sits on the executive council as a representative of the Social and Community Services Sector division.
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The Idea of Communism
By Tariq Ali
Seagull Press 2009, 126 pages
This short book is the first in a series called 鈥淲hat Was Communism鈥, which aims to explore the practice of Communism in the 20th century.
Tariq Ali鈥檚 main thesis is that 鈥淭he failure of official Communism in the 20th century and the restoration of capitalism in Russia and China 鈥 far from negating some of the premises that underlined the project in the first place, emphasises their continuing importance鈥.
Hundreds of Aboriginal workers in the Northern Territory are demanding real wages for construction work that they are compelled to do under 鈥淲ork for the dole鈥 schemes.
Eighty rallied on June 2 outside state parliament house in Darwin to demand jobs with justice.
Elders from Kalkaringi community say people in their community are being forced to work for up to 30 hours a week on construction sites or they will have their Centrelink payments cut.
The Qatar-based media network Al Jazeera has published on its website a series of harrowing eyewitness accounts from survivors of Israel鈥檚 military raid on a flotilla of ships bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. An example is published below. To read the full list, visit .
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Haneen Zabi, member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament): 鈥淲e were expecting the Israeli army to stop us, to prevent us from entering but surely we didn't expect such a war against us.
Thousands of workers across France protested on May 27 against President Nicholas Sarkozy鈥檚 planned attacked on the French pension system.
The protests were called by a coalition of union confederations, including the General Confederation of Labour (CGT); French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT); United Union Federation (FSU); National Union of Autonomous Unions and Solidaires. They came after the government failed to withdraw or modify the planned changes to the pension system following protests on March 23 and May 1.
The government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in crisis, following the resignation of Germany鈥檚 president Horst Koehler on May 31.
Koehler 鈥 a former head of the International Monetary Fund, and German president since 2004 鈥 resigned after a public backlash against comments he made connecting the German economy with increased overseas military deployments.
Venezuela foreign minister Nicolas Maduro said on June 2 that Venezuela鈥檚 announced cancelling of Haiti's debt of US$395 million with Petrocaribe was now official.
Petrocaribe is a program under which the Venezuelan government offers discounted oil, to be paid back over long-term low-interest loans, to Caribbean and Central American nations.
Maduro made the announcement after the World Summit on the Future of Haiti. The summit was held in the Dominican Republic with the participation of representatives from 50 countries.
It鈥檚 been dubbed the 鈥渟uicide express鈥 by Chinese media, LabourStart.org said in an appeal to support workers in a Chinese factory at which there has been a spate of suicides by its workforce.
鈥淭welve workers, all between 18 and 24 years old, have committed suicide, at the production facilities of Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwan-owned enterprise based in Shenzhen, southern China.
鈥淔oxconn is a key supplier to various leading brands including Apple. International brands constantly drive down prices and demand shorter delivery time when placing orders.
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