Most of the news on Venezuela in the week since the April 14 presidential election focused on the efforts of losing candidate Henrique Capriles to challenge the results. But another campaign, based in Washington, was quite revealing 鈥 and the two were most definitely related.
Without Washington's strong support 鈥 the first time it had refused to recognise a Venezuelan election result 鈥 it is unlikely that Capriles would have joined the hardcore elements of his camp in pretending the election was stolen.
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It must be great to have the ability to simply declare people you don't like 鈥渋llegal鈥. This is the Liberals鈥 response to 鈥渂oat people鈥.
I get that the Liberals hate dark-skinned foreigners with the gall to arrive at our borders and ask for asylum rather than staying where they belong, getting bombed by our military in Afghanistan or tortured by a regime we support in Sri Lanka.
But it actually takes more than simply hating something to make it illegal. You usually find it requires an actual law to be broken.
A 700-strong march wound its way through the medieval streets of Freiburg, in the south-west German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, on April 20 to protest against the imminent resumption of deportation flights from the state.
The theme of the protest was 鈥淭hose who want to stay should stay鈥.
Those targeted for deportation are Roma refugees who fled Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and their German-born children.
Three interesting pieces of information were released over the past week. Overall, they warn of a decline in women鈥檚 equality and in quality of life for the majority.
First, JP Morgan said women鈥檚 employment figures this year have sharply fallen from about 390,000 last year to less than 360,000 鈥 the drop is as sharp in rate (but not in overall numbers) as during the global financial crisis (GFC).
While there has been employment growth since the GFC first hit there has been an overall shift in hiring from full-time to part-time work.
The owner of the eight-storey Bangladesh factory complex that collapsed on April 24 killing at least 362 people has been arrested at the country's border with India. Three owners of garment factories in the collapsed building on the capital's outskirts have also been arrested. They are suspected of forcing staff to work, ignoring safety warnings.
Two government engineers involved in approving the building's design have also been detained.
NSW Premier Barry O鈥橣arrell signed onto Prime Minister Julia Gillard鈥檚 national education reform agreement on April 23.
Many saw this as a windfall for public education, but little analysis regarding the detail has been made. On the surface it would seem that $5 billion over the next six years will be spent on students in NSW. However, it appears to be at the cost of tertiary education, namely university and NSW TAFE.
The Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) is contesting four seats in the May 5 general elections, one federal parliamentary seat and three state assembly.
The PSM won two of these seats in the 2008 election: Jeyakumar Devaraj, or 鈥淜umar鈥 as he is better known, won the federal parliamentary seat of Sungai Siput from a high profile former minister. PSM chairperson Nasir Hashim won the Selangor state assembly seat of Kota Damansara.
Prospects for left unity will be one of the key discussions at the NSW state conference of the Socialist Alliance on May 12. The Socialist Alliance will also discuss their election campaign and taking the people 鈥渂efore profits鈥 message to a wider audience.
There has been more collaboration on the left in recent times. These are positive steps, and form part of the unity process that the leaderships of Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative initiated last year.
The other major report and discussion will focus on the Socialist Alliance's participation in the federal elections.
Does Australia really need another party for the billionaires? Aren't the Liberal and Labor parties enough? Surely both have proved that they are loyal servants of the rich?
But when a billionaire mining tycoon like Clive Palmer sets his mind on becoming prime minister, he just goes out and buys himself his own instant party, the "United Australia Party", which he announced will contest 127 House of Representative seats and all Senate seats in the coming federal election.
Lock the Gate Alliance released this statement on April 23.
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The Lock The Gate Alliance has slammed mining giant Rio Tinto after its Hunter Valley subsidiary Coal and Allied appealed to the Supreme Court to allow the Warkworth Extension coalmine project to go ahead.
The project was rejected by the NSW Land and Environment Court last week after the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association challenged the NSW government's approval of the mine.
Socialist Alliance members hit the front page of the Fremantle Herald as part of the campaign for free speech at Notre Dame University in Fremantle.
The university 鈥 a private institution 鈥 maintains strict control over many aspects of student life, including the student association. The only way student clubs can get any recognition is by affiliating to the university. But the university won't allow clubs who violate "Catholic social teachings" to affiliate.
After being forced to admit that 鈥渃lean coal鈥 will never happen, the coal industry has fallen back on an old argument to justify itself 鈥 that Australia cannot live without the industry because it does so much for the economy by providing jobs and creating wealth.
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