In Marikana, South Africa, at least 35 striking miners were shot dead by police and another 78 wounded on August 16. The incident, which was caught on tape, took place as police were trying to clear striking miners from a hilltop outside of the Lonmin mine. In response to authorities firing stun grenades and tear gas, a number of miners began to charge. Without warning, dozens of officers opened fire with automatic weapons.
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The aricle below is an August 18 editorial in .
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No event since the end of Apartheid sums up the shallowness of the transformation in this country like the Marikana massacre.
What occurred will be debated for years. It is already clear the mineworkers will be blamed for being violent. The mineworkers will be painted as savages.
Carolus Wimmer is a widely respected Venezuelan political scientist, educator and writer, lecturer and columnist nationally and internationally.聽Elected to the Latin American Parliament in 2005 he served as Vice-President from 2008 to 2011.
After an armed attack killed 16 Egyptian guards on the border with Israel in the Sinai Peninsula, President Mohammed Morsi sacked defence minister and head of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) Mohammed Tantawi, and his second in command, Sami Anan.
The move is part of an ongoing battle that has taken place between the Muslim Brotherhood 鈥 main political force that emerged after the overthrow of former dictator Hosni Mubarak 鈥 and SCAF, which took governmental power after Mubarak stepped down.
The highland agricultural community of Santa Rosa de Cajacuy, in Peru鈥檚 central Ancash department, has been severely affected by a toxic spill from the BHP Billiton and Xstrata-operated Antamina mine.
Antamina is one of the world鈥檚 largest sources of copper and zinc. It relies on a 300 kilometre high-pressure pipeline to pump resources from the mountains to coastal port facilities.
鈥淚n this time of crisis, when they are expropriating the people, we want to expropriate the expropriators, namely, the landowners, banks and big retailers.鈥
With these words Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, leader of the Andalusian Union of Workers (SAT), United Left (IU) member of parliament in the Andalusian regional parliament and mayor of the rural town of Marinaleda, justified the August 7 seizure of food by SAT members from two stores of the Mercadona and Carrefour supermarket chains 鈥 the Coles and Woolworths of Spain.
Venezuela and the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) have backed Ecuador against 鈥渢hreats鈥 from Britain, after Ecuador granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on August 16.
ALBA is an anti-imperialist bloc of eight nations that includes Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia.
Swedish authorities want to extradite Assange from Britain to investigate allegations against him of sexual assault.
Within a week of the government-appointed Houston panel鈥檚 recommendation that Australia return to the 鈥淧acific solution鈥 for asylum seekers, the toxic atmosphere of John Howard's 鈥渃hildren overboard鈥 era resurged powerfully in Australian politics.
On the same day the Houston report recommended indefinite refugee detention on Nauru and Manus Island for all asylum seekers arriving by boat, 67 asylum seekers taken aboard the Singapore-bound MV Parsifal were the subject of a tense stand-off at sea.
Coal seam gas (CSG) advocates are running a fear campaign against a backdrop of soaring electricity prices in New South Wales. They claim that unless CSG development in NSW goes ahead, household gas bills will triple.
This is a frightening idea, given the stress already caused by electricity price hikes.
Over the past four years on top of inflation. Users face a further 18% price hike this year.
Papua New Guinea's new cabinet was named on August 10 by re-elected Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. It marked the end of the election period that ended the country's long-running political crisis.
The election period began in June and was extended in some areas due to violence, delays, fraud and voting problems.
on August 17.
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The Howard-era racist 鈥淔ortress Australia鈥 is being rebuilt with the passing of laws to persecute asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat.
The adoption of offshore processing means that Labor and the Coalition have united to, in effect, withdraw from the implementation of the UN refugee convention.
Socialist Alliance has announced its preferences for the Wali (North) ward of Marrickville Council in the local government elections on September 8.
Community activists Pip Hinman, Josie Evans and Jill Hickson will contest the election with the platform of 鈥淧ower to the people!鈥 and 鈥淐ommunity and environment before developers鈥 profits鈥.
Although New South Wales has an optional preferential system for local government elections, Socialist Alliance will allocate preferences to all candidates in the ward.
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