World Social Struggles Newswire Archive

'I have some good news and some bad news,' the sergeant in the joke tells his men. 'The good news is that you are going to change your dirty socks. The bad news is that you are going to exchange them among yourselves.'

In an interview with Day.az, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Lluis Maria de Puig expressed his regret over the broadcast ban of foreign radio stations as well as concern over recent constitutional amendments. These changes seriously undermine the possibility for a democratic state in Azerbaijan especially because Azerbaijan took the responsibility to abide by the principles of democracy, respect for law and human rights when joining the Council of Europe.

At least 25 people were shot dead today in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo during a march to the presidential palace called by the city's mayor Andry Rajoelina after he declared himself the leader of a new transitional government at a political rally. In the past weeks, a power struggle between the mayor and the president Marc Ravalomanana has led to both violence and looting.

In the university town of Mérida, Venezuela, student political organizations have had a significant presence at marches both for and against a proposed constitutional amendment that will eliminate the two-term limit on elected offices if it is approved in a national vote this February 15th. The predominant discourse has been quite polarized between opponents and supporters of President Hugo Chávez, who plans to run for a third term in office and carry on the construction of “21st Century Socialism” if the amendment passes. However, nuanced voices have emerged from the campaign hype. Seeking to highlight the deeper analysis provided by these non-conformist voices, Venezuelanalysis.com interviewed student leader and social activist Carmen Pulido about the state of radical student activism and the amendment. Pulido regularly organizes student-labor solidarity activities and other political events along with a loose network of anti-capitalist university students. These students have been staunch supporters of many of the initiatives undertaken by Chávez’s ten year administration. Nonetheless, the students persistently retain their autonomy in order to push the “Bolivarian Revolution” led by Chávez toward what they see as a more just and revolutionary path.

All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project Conference Calls for Engineers, Scientists and Healthcare Workers to Build Community Survival Programs in Africa and U.S. - February 21-22, 2009

Over 50 demonstrators and rather more police blockaded the main UK depot of Israeli company Carmel Agrexco today, Sat 7 Feb, to demand a boycott of Israeli goods and in particular the flowers and fruit which they bring from Palestine, from Israeli settlements and from Israel.
Pictures copyright (C) 2009 Peter Marshall

A man who died in prison while serving time for a rape he didn't commit was cleared Friday by a judge who called the state's first posthumous DNA exoneration "the saddest case" he'd ever seen. . . .

Have you ever wondered why as children we’re taught the importance and value of sharing? I have and it seems somewhat misplaced; it’s not as if as adults we have any need for such a value.

The much-lauded childhood principle of sharing runs contrary to those principles we practise as grown-ups. As adults we are scared about what the next man has, we envy his lot. We are scared about what sharing might do to our children’s futures. Those very children who think sharing is so important. So while as children we equate goodness with generosity, as adults we try very hard to undo this philosophy. Bizarrely this seems to work.

Following the murder of two workers at a Mitsubishi plant, marches and meetings have involved more of the regional community in the union struggle, while six police have been arrested, and a range of commissions have been established.

My Lords, I, too, congratulate my dear and noble friend Lord Eatwell on initiating this debate and I also congratulate him on his speech. I start, as he did, with a quote.

"From time to time in human history there occur events of a truly seismic significance, events that mark a turning point between one epoch and the next, when one orthodoxy is overthrown and another takes its place ... There is a sense that we are now living through just such a time: barely a decade into the new millennium, barely 20 years since the end of the Cold War and barely 30 years since the triumph of neo-liberalism-that particular brand of free-market fundamentalism, extreme capitalism and excessive greed which became the economic orthodoxy of our time ... The global crisis ... has called into question the prevailing neo-liberal economic orthodoxy of the past 30 years-the orthodoxy that has underpinned the national and global regulatory frameworks that have so spectacularly failed to prevent the economic mayhem which has now been visited upon us".

Those words, said in the past week, came from a Labour Prime Minister-not ours, I regret, but Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister.

5th-7th February

RIOT AT BULLRING (Mexico)
SPECTATORS, POLICE ATTACKED DURING BULLFIGHTING CELEBRATION (Mexico)
UCLA VAN PAINT-STRIPPED (USA)
BAYER (HLS CUSTOMER) PAINTED IN SOLIDARITY WITH IMPRISONED ACTIVISTS (Uruguay)
SHOPS GRAFFITIED (Mexico)
FULL COMMUNIQUE RELEASED FROM ELF ACTION AT UNIVERSITY (Mexico)

A National Labor Relations Board regional director in Detroit Jan. 16 approved a settlement agreement with Starbucks Corp. resolving allegations of unfair labor practices by the Starbucks Workers Union (SWU), an affiliate of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), filed with NLRB Region 7 (Starbucks Corp. d/b/a Starbucks Coffee Co., N.L.R.B. Reg. Dir., No. 7-CA-51190, settlement approved 1/16/09).

Demonstration Against Judicial Corruption, Unlawful Imprisonments, Convention Rights Abuses and Institutional Failures in the UK; Every Saturday outside HMP Wormwood Scubs, Du Cane Road, London W12 0AE.

At 11pm UK time, (2? explosions) ,(40?) anti-authoritarians threw (50?) petrol bombs at the HQ of the main 'socialist' party in Greece, PASOK. Perhaps they deliberately sought BBQ pork because apparently 6-8 piggies got caught in the crossfire. It was short and sweet, and one minute later the police retaliated with one lone tear gas grenade (according to reports on athens.indymedia.org)

A study was recently published "showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election." Earlier researchers had "assembled university students with identical SAT scores and administered tests to them, discovering that blacks performed significantly poorer when asked at the start to fill out a form identifying themselves by race. The researchers attributed those results to anxiety that caused them to tighten up during exams in which they risked confirming a racial stereotype."

Leila, Soorena and Danoushm, on plane, off plane, back in Yarl's Wood
I can't believe what I'm writing here, but at 25 to six, twenty minutes after the plane should have gone, I had a phone call from Sourena on his phone. I couldn't hear a word he was saying, so asked if I could speak to someone with him. An officer said they were being removed from the plane and taken back to Yarl's Wood, and that's where they are today.

Having just spoken to Leila’s legal representative this morning he says the Home Office are ‘livid’ at what happened and want the flight rescheduling asap. It’s all still hanging on a thread…. He has spoken to Sourena. Evidently, all three of them were separated either in transit, for the flight or both, we are not sure – including 18 month old Sourena being separated from his mother! That is absolutely outrageous! Danoushm is still traumatized this morning, we hear. Sourena has scratches on his face. This is completely inhumane! Thanks to all who faxed/phoned on family's behalf.
Phil Townend
Leila, Soorena and Danoushm belong to Halifax
 http://www.ncadc.org.uk/Newszine103/Leila.html

When the Tax Payers Alliance refuse to condemn tax dodging by rich people and corporations, they're acting in the interests of the super-rich. This is strange since, it is because the wealthy dodge tax that ordinary taxpayers have to pay more taxes than they otherwise would do.

Environmentalist Sentenced to 21 Years as a “Terrorist”; Violent Racists Receive Half That
By Will Potter

One cannot emphasize enough the stranglehold Israel's lobbying infrastructure has on US foreign policy. The events of recent weeks undoubtedly attest to this. 'The special relationship' that has been historically fostered between the US and Israel in fact, is often a relationship of leverage, manipulation and intimidation, and often leads to the US supporting actions or resolutions that stand at complete odds with the interests of the American people.

New book describes young man's flight from war torn Africa. His hopelessness, refugee camps and eventual escape to the West.