On October 16, the Mexicos national ombudsman, Jose Luis Soberanes Fernandez, delivered the recommendations of his report into the killing of two young men and the detention of another 207 people by municipal, state and federal security forces on May 3 and 4 in the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco. The clashes were sparked by attempts to remove flower venders without licences from a market.
688
Thousands of people flocked to the La Rinconada area, south of Caracas, on October 15, to hear socialist President Hugo Chavez inaugurate the new Ezequiel Zamora train line from Caracas to Cua, in the Valles del Tuy the first new above-ground train line constructed in Venezuela for more than 70 years.
We guarantee that all Venezuelans will receive free education, to the highest level, as a promise of the revolutionary government. This [event] demonstrates the importance that the [Bolivarian] revolution gives to education, Hugo Chavez declared on October 8. The Venezuelan president was officially re-opening the Andres Bello high school, situated in the metropolitan centre of the Caracas. The high school has been extensively renovated and upgraded to provide for a student population of 1700, the October 9 Ultimas Noticias reported.
Welcome to the new Green Left Weekly website. GLW is taking a one-week break our next issue will be dated November 8.
Ever since the federal Coalition government introduced Work Choices, the trade union movement has been united behind the demand that the legislation be repealed. The debate has been over what alternative industrial relations system the movement should advocate.
On October 15, more than 1500 people, including survivors, attended a memorial event on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin to mark the tragic sinking of the SIEV-X on October 19, 2001, in waters between Indonesia and Australia. The event featured Arnhem logs decorated by more than 260 school, church and community groups from around Australia to signify and honour the 353 Iraqi and Afghan asylum seekers who drowned. Organisers had hoped to display the logs for three weeks as a step towards establishing a permanent memorial to the worst maritime disaster in the region since World War II. Despite negotiating with the National Capital Authority since 2003 to ensure the project went smoothly, however, the NCA refused permission less than two weeks before the event. To support the campaign for a permanent memorial, visit <http://www.sievxmemorial.com>.
On October 16, 250 people attended an early morning community picket outside Botany Cranes to support sacked delegate Barry Hemsworth. Sixty picketers returned the following day, blocking cranes from leaving the company’s yard until they were moved on by police.
At a Just Peace meeting on October 20, it was proposed by Wade McDonald, a leader of the International Socialist Organisation, that all paper selling be banned outside an upcoming forum on Islamophobia co-hosted by Just Peace.
Caroline Lund, a lifelong fighter for socialism, workers’ rights and women’s liberation, died at her home in Oakland, California, on October 14, aged 62. She will be sorely missed by her friends and comrades in the US and around the world, especially her lifelong partner and comrade Barry Sheppard.
Millions of people on low-lying islands and lands in the Asia-Pacific region will become refugees in the next 40 years due to rising sea levels induced by climate change, according to a CSIRO report issued on October 8. The report was written by scientists with CSIROs marine and atmospheric research division, and was commissioned by aid and conservation agencies forming the national Climate Change and Development Roundtable.
According to an October 19 media release from the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), workers under the age of 15 are now signing Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs individual work contracts) under the Howard governments Work Choices legislation, which came into effect at the end of March.
No full-medal jacket
As the American-led Coalition of the Willing prepared to storm Baghdad 3½ years ago, some of our Armys top brass were privately condemning Australias involvement as a contemptible waste of money and effort. Not because some were quietly warning, presciently as it transpired, that Australia would be committing to a war without apparent end
No. They were angry that Canberra was willing to commit so much military capital (more than $1.6bn so far) to a war for which the Australian Army would receive precious little recognition. September 27 Bulletin magazine.
- Page 1
- Next page