Simon Butler

Venezuela: a revolution in motion

Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: The History and Politics of the Chavez Government
By Gregory Wilpert
Verso, 2007
352 pages, $49.95

Failing to kill Fidel

Executive Action: 634 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro
By Fabian Escalante
Ocean Press, 2006
RRP $28, 229 pages

United States: Cuban Five appeal dismissed, Posada exhibits artworks

On June 5 the Eleventh Circuit of Atlanta’s Court of Appeals upheld the federal convictions for conspiracy against the Cuban Five — five Cuban citizens held in US prisons since their arrest on September 12, 1998.

Union secretary to be expelled from Labor?

SA Unions secretary Janet Giles may face expulsion from the ALP for giving a speech critical of the ALP state government at a fundraising dinner organised by the Communist Party of Australia (CPA).

Class war and the 'American redneck\'

Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War
By Joe Bageant
Scribe, 2007
$32.95 (pb)

Unions rally to save WorkCover

After a spirited march through the Adelaide CBD, 1500 unionists rallied on the steps of the South Australian parliament on April 1 to protest the state Labor government’s plans to dismantle the workers’ compensation laws.

Mitsubishi closes — workers sacked

On February 6, senior management announced the pending closure of the Tonsley Park Mitsubishi plant. Citing $1.5 billion in losses over the past decade, Mitsubishi Australia executive Robert McEniry explained to the Australian on the same day that the closure “was a commercial decision and a commercially responsible decision”.

Nothing new under the NT sun

The Unlucky Australians
By Frank Hardy
One Day Hill, 2006
$24.95

Some glimpses of revolutionary insight - and then darkness

Revolutionaries
Revised and Updated Edition By Eric Hobsbawm
Abacus, 2007
368 pages, $27.95(pb)

Venezuelan revolution 'the answer to humanity's crisis'

Venezuelan charge d’affaires Nelson Davila was the feature speaker at a seminar and film showing co-sponsored by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network and the Australia Cuba Friendship Society on August 11. More than 60 people attended the event, which discussed the gains of the Venezuelan revolution and its impact on the struggle for social justice throughout Latin America.

'Land rights - yes! Uranium - no!'

Eighty people gathered on the steps of Parliament House on August 4 to mark Hiroshima Day, chanting “Land rights — yes! Uranium — no! Johnny Howard has got to go!”

After Canberra is nuked

Underground
By Andrew McGahan
Allen & Unwin, 2006
304 pages, $29.95 (pb)