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COLOMBIA: MP flees Uribe's death squads

BY ROBERTO JORQUERA According to independent left-wing Colombian MP Gustavo Montealegre Almario, Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe Velez, is the leader of the country's right-wing paramilitary death squads groups. Montealegre told Green Left

Humanitarian crisis in Palestine

BY SOBHI ALBADAWI& NOREEN NAVIN SYDNEY — Mustapha Barghouthi, president of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, gave a presentation on the situation in Palestine at the Trades and Labor Council on September 20. Barghouthi was in

COVER STORY: Bush's Iraq war threat based on lies

On September 24, British Prime Minister Tony Blair presented his much-anticipated "dossier", Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction, to the parliament. Supporters of a US attack on Iraq had promised that Blair would provide the definitive "evidence" that

Thousands march against war

BY ANDY GIANNIOTIS SYDNEY — Around 2000 people marched on September 26 to oppose the coming US-British war on Iraq and to demand a stop to Israel's US-backed war against the Palestinian people. The rally was jointly organised by the

Labor's real plan for Telstra

BY ALISON DELLIT On September 19, federal ALP leader Simon Crean, accompanied by Labor's candidate for the Cunningham by-election, Sharon Bird, announced that the party would vote against the Coalition's proposed changes to Telstra's price controls

CFMEU set to win pattern bargaining campaign

BY MICK BULL MELBOURNE — The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Federated Engine Drivers and Fireman's Association (FEDFA) have reached an in-principle agreement with the Master Builders Association (MBA) over

Loose cannons

Santa's little helpers "The HIH royal commission has heard the company threw extravagant Christmas parties for staff a little over a year before the company collapsed. The commission has been told HIH spent almost $1.2 million on Christmas parties

'No justification for new war'

BY SUE BULL& GRAHAM MATTHEWS MELBOURNE — A public meeting against war on Iraq on September 26 attracted 250 people. The meeting was organised by the Victorian Peace Network. Featured speakers at the meeting were Dr Scott Burchill from Deakin

NETHERLANDS: US brands exiled Filipino leftist 'terrorist'

BY BEN COURTICE On August 9, the US State Department designated the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New Peoples Army (NPA) as “foreign terrorist organizations” and implored other governments to do the same. On August

VENEZUELA: Struggle for power intensifies

BY STUART MUNCKTON A Reuters news-wire report from Caracas on September 19 tells of a joke circulating among wealthy Venezuelans: George Bush wakes from a 10-year sleep to find that Saddam Hussein has embraced democracy. "What about Venezuelan

West Papua's struggle revealed

Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for IndependenceBy John MartinkusQuarterly Essay, issue 7Black IncOrder at <http://www.blackincbooks.com> REVIEW BY VANNESSA HEARMAN The latest issue of Quarterly Essay features an essay by

Socialist Alliance Vic registration close

BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS MELBOURNE — By September 30, 471 Socialist Alliance members had returned letters to the Victorian electoral commission confiming their membership. The commission must receive a further 29 positive responses by October 4