In July last year, millions of Red Shirts 鈥 a mass movement of the poor 鈥 turned out to vote for the Pheu Thai party (PT), headed by Yingluck Shinawatra.
The party won a landslide majority despite attempts by the military, media and elites to block the party's victory. The election result was a slap in the face for the military and the 鈥減arty of the military鈥 (the misnamed Democrat Party 鈥 DP).
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Almost a year after the Scottish National Party鈥檚 (SNP) landslide victory we have a date 鈥 Autumn 2014 鈥 for the most important referendum in Scottish history.
Scotland will vote on whether it stays in a union [the 鈥淯nited Kingdom鈥漖 dominated by the right wing 鈥 a state that invaded Iraq, imposed nuclear weapons on the Clyde and destroyed Scotland鈥檚 industrial base 鈥 or become an independent nation. As such, it would have the power to fundamentally change Scotland for the better and reflect the left of centre political terrain instead of being dominated by the Tory home counties.
It took about 20 minutes after the last official US combat troops crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait for the Potemkin village of 鈥淚raqi stability and democracy鈥, carefully built by the occupation, to fall apart.
The regime of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki brought a terrorism indictment against the vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, who promptly headed north to autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, where the central government鈥檚 hand doesn鈥檛 reach. Purges of university professors and arrests of political figures not favoured by the Maliki regime have begun.
If Bradley Manning had committed war crimes rather than exposing them, he wouldn't be in so much trouble.
He might even be hailed as an American hero. Instead, he's held at a military prison in Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, facing more than 20 charges, including "aiding the enemy".
Manning is the private who allegedly leaked sheaves of classified material to WikiLeaks while working as an army intelligence analyst in Iraq.
A union representing 20,000 oil and gas workers in Nigeria announced on January 12 that it would shut down all production from January 15 unless the government restored a petrol subsidy it scrapped on January 1.
The Pengassan union said if the government refused, it would be 鈥渇orced to go ahead and apply the bitter option of ordering the systematic shutting down of oil and gas production鈥.
Pengassan president Babatunde Ogun had told members to 鈥渂e on red alert in preparation for total production shutdown鈥.
Landowners in the Kerry Valley, near Beaudesert in south-east Queensland, have launched a peaceful blockade against Arrow Energy鈥檚 attempt to begin exploratory drilling for coal seam gas (CSG) in the Scenic Rim region.
The protest was organised by the community group . The blockade follows the success of similar blockades against CSG drilling that took place in the Liverpool Plains and Gloucester last year.
Few Australian political protests can claim to have made an impact as great or as lasting as the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. First set up on the lawns of Old Parliament House in January 1972, the embassy has been a focal point for the struggle for Aboriginal rights. Four Aboriginal men, Michael Anderson, Billie Craigie, Tony Koorie and Bertie Williams, launched the embassy in response to then-prime minister Billy McMahon鈥檚 refusal to grant Aboriginal land rights. Instead, McMahon had offered to lease stolen land back to Aboriginal people.
If you are an activist peacefully campaigning for a clean energy future, the federal Labor government believes you are a legitimate target for secret surveillance.
Fairfax News鈥 Phillip Dorling on January 7 that resources and energy minister Martin Ferguson had asked for federal police help to spy on anti-coal campaigners. Even worse, documents released to Fairfax after a Freedom of Information request showed Ferguson acted after urging from coal industry lobbyists.
The global economic meltdown is yet to hit Australia hard, but 2011 was still a busy year of struggle in this relatively sheltered, wealthy country.
The year began with an Australian citizen on the global centre stage. WikiLeaks cables embarrassed governments worldwide, revealing war crimes and treachery, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested without charge. He was detained for all of last year. His supporters fear he will be extradited to the US, where conservatives have openly called for his assassination.
Aboriginal man Terrance Briscoe, 28, died in Alice Springs police custody on January 5. But despite allegations from his family of police brutality, an independent investigation has been ruled out by the Northern Territory鈥檚 chief minister Paul Henderson.
Aboriginal rights campaigners in Alice Springs said Briscoe was found unconscious in his cell about 2am. He had been 鈥渢aken in 'protection custody' earlier that night after drinking with friends鈥.
Refugee rights activists representing groups and individuals from Darwin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Wollongong, Sydney, and the Blue Mountains met on December 3 to plan campaign activities for this year.
It was the first national gathering of refugee rights campaigners since federal Labor's 2007 election, and fittingly occurred on the same weekend as the ALP's national conference. Labor further entrenched its anti-refugee policies, in particular offshore processing.
The Inland Council for the Environment and The Wilderness Society Newcastle released the statement below on January 13.
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Environment groups are calling on Premier Barry O鈥橣arrell to take action and stop coal seam gas work in the Pilliga State Forest, as gas giant Santos today released a statement admitting that 10,000 litres of untreated coal seam gas water spilled into the Pilliga Forest in June 2011.
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