UK Social Struggles Newswire Archive
Seminar on CSR shows the importance of monitoring companies
08-08-2004 12:37
Venezuela Prepares for Recall Vote
08-08-2004 11:21
Venezuela, sitting on the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East, may be on the brink of major political upheaval. A presidential recall referendum could see the removal of the socialist Chevaz government and the installation of an oldguard power block that proposes repairing relations with Washington, and restructuring the oil industry. This comes after a botched US backed coup in 2002 cost the opposition the trust of many while a two-month general strike last year ruined the economy but left Chavez stronger than ever...Venezuela Tense Over Referendum
08-08-2004 11:13
Authorities are ready to arrest people who dump nails on highways, cut down trees, slick streets with oil and burn tires to create turmoil and stop people from voting.e-voting furor
08-08-2004 11:06
The world's fifth largest producer and exporter of oil will be using a e-voting system produced by an american company in a presidential recall referendum called for by the Venezuelan elite and backed by Washington. Despite the use of a paper record of votes, some people claim to have found security flaws and weak cryptography. "Computers can be made to produce any outcome that you want without anybody really knowing that's what was done," said one US observer. One thing is clear, who ever wins the vote, the use of the untested e-voting system will leave room for doubt from either side about the results...Unrest in Venezuela likely
07-08-2004 11:45
The president, Hugo Chavez, will face a revocatory referendum on his tenure on August 15th. The date was announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on June 8th, after it ruled that a campaign by the opposition to garner signatures from 20% of the electorate in support of a petition demanding a referendum had been successful. The result of the referendum is uncertain, as are its implications for the Chavez regime. Whatever the outcome, there is a high probability that the losing side will challenge it, either in the courts??whose neutrality is disputed by both government and opposition??or on the streets. Political instability and a policy environment subservient to the government's priority of self-preservation therefore appear likely to persist for some time...electronic voting
07-08-2004 11:39
In this year's U.S. presidential elections, electronic voting systems will be used by an estimated 30 percent of those who vote. If you were the type to validate the partical political system by voting, would you trust your vote to these systems?This year, a US company sold 20,000 of its election machines and licenses for their software to Venezuelan authorities for $63 million and won a $27-million contract for service during the recall vote against Hugo Chavez which takes place in August. This controversial and critical referendum may end up putting the technology on trial...
Referendum on the Revolution
07-08-2004 11:29
It took a while for Venezuela’s political opposition to figure out the best way to get rid of a president it doesn't like. First it tried general strikes, then a coup last year, then the shutdown of the country’s main industry, then an unconstitutional petition drive. Now, about two years after its campaign began, it's opting for the only constitutional way to oust an elected president: a recall referendum...Venezuela Counterpunch
07-08-2004 11:20
On August 14, 2004, Venezuelan voters will decide on a referendum, which has the utmost world historic and strategic significance. What is at stake is nothing less than the future of the energy world, the relations between the US and Latin America (particularly Cuba), and the political and socio-economic fate of millions of Venezuela's urban and rural poor. If Chavez is defeated and if the Right takes power, it will privatize the state petroleum and gas company, selling it to US multinationals, withdraw from OPEC, raise its production and exports to the US, thus lowering Venezuelan revenues by half or more. Internally the popular health programs in the urban "ranchos" will end along with the literary campaign and public housing for the poor. The agrarian reform will be reversed and about 500,000 land reform recipients (100,000 families) will be turned off the land. This will be accomplished through extensive and intensive state bloodletting, jailing and extrajudicial assassination, and intense repression of pro-Chavez neighborhoods, trade unions and social movements. The apparently "democratic" referendum will have profoundly authoritarian, colonial and socially regressive results if the opposition wins.Social housing under attack
05-08-2004 16:03
The rot set in under Thatcher, Blair now seems determined to finish off what little is left of social housing.Gays in Zimbabwe flee mob attack.
05-08-2004 15:15
Gay flee exhibition after mob attack at book fair in Zimbabwe.'Experienced Iraqis not wanted'
05-08-2004 14:02
Fighting for a second term in office, George W. Bush is beset with the accusation that he waged war on Iraq, toppled its government and occupied the country without a legitimate casus belli. Ahead of the war, Bush and his acolyte, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, argued that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the West because President Saddam Hussein had a hidden arsenal of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.Invitation to the Dissent! Network Gathering in Edinburgh 17th - 19th September
05-08-2004 12:08
The G8 (Group of eight most industrialised nations) Summit will be held at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, about 40 miles/70 kilometres away from Edinburgh, in Scotland from 6-8th of July 2005. In past years, everywhere they have tried to meet they have been met with a massive response from the world's social movements. Now, in Britain, a network of groups and individuals is emerging that resists the Summit, and forms a lasting movement against capitalism.
The next Dissent! Gathering will take place in Edinburgh on 17th-19th September 2004.
Come along and get involved!
Resisting ID Cards Gathering, Manchester
05-08-2004 10:01
A gathering to organise resistance to the Government's plans to introduce identity cards and a national population database is taking place in Manchester on September 11th 2004.Changing Sex, Changing Islam
03-08-2004 21:47
In Iran, transsexuals, changing sex, have been changing Islam as well, under its still theocratic government.Cambridge boatpeople revolt!
03-08-2004 21:46
Cam residents step up campaignPublished on 03 August 2004
HOUSEBOAT owners have stepped up their campaign against plans to ban them from part of the River Cam in the winter.
Action Alert: Help Cancel Showcase of Chinese Army
03-08-2004 15:55
Every year, Scotland hosts an event called the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, that showcases military bands from around the world. The prestigious event is attended by 217,000 people and broadcast around the world to a television audience of millions. This year, the Tattoo organizers have invited the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).Resisting Identity Cards Gathering, 11/9/04
03-08-2004 12:35
A gathering to organise resistance to the Government's plans to introduce identity cards and a national population database is taking place in Manchester in September. With ID cards firmly on the cards, and iris scans and a national population database just around the corner, it’s time to get moving for those of us who believe we need to resist these scary and dangerous developments.
