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The latest surge in the spot price of crude oil (to US$139 a barrel — 87.4 cents a litre) dramatises the urgent need for society to wean itself off “black gold”. The longer we remain hooked the greater the devastation both to our environment and to the living standards of millions, especially the poorest peoples of the planet.
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.
Dear Prime Minister, Six months into your term you stated: "We have done as much as we physically can to provide additional help to the family budget, recognising that the cost of everything is still going through the roof, the cost of food, cost
The Toyota Motor Corporation, in a dead heat with US giant General Motors (GM), is now the most profitable car maker in the world. Last financial year TMC was valued at US$215 billion. This, however, didn’t stop the federal government from offering Toyota even more money.
The article below, by Jean-Guy Allard, is reprinted from Cuban newspaper Granma on June 16. According to a June 18 Xinhuanet.com article, thousands of people protested outside the US embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, against the decision and demanding Carlos Sanchez Berzain’s extradition — prompting the US to recall its ambassador to report on the situation. Bolivian President Evo Morales defended the protests, stating that the protest “isn’t any attack”, but “is the reaction of the people against US government policies”, which grant asylum to genocide suspects and protect criminals.
Fred Fuentes, who has spent a year working in Venezuela, will be a special guest speaker at the Resistance National Conference in Sydney, June 27-29. Green Left Weekly’s Trent Hawkins caught up with Fuentes just before he left Caracas for Australia.
Between July 5 and 9, hundreds of students and activists from around Australia are expected to attend the annual Students of Sustainability (SoS) conference at the University of Newcastle.
Under the title “First steps in closing the gap”, the Indigenous affairs budget papers reveal that Labor has committed itself to six bold targets. They’re commendable goals, but are they achievable? National Indigenous Times’ managing editor, Chris Graham, gives his assessment of how PM Kevin Rudd’s first federal budget will impact upon Indigenous people.
Brisbane’s very successful Green Left Weekly Winter Fiesta on June 14 helped take our 2008 Fighting Fund to $101,936. Since the last issue $7921 has been collected in the form of donations and proceeds from events like the Brisbane Winter Fiesta. Proceeds from fundraising events in Newcastle and Melbourne also made a significant contribution.
Fifteen activists calling for a rapid conversion to renewable energy protested at the $2600-a-head Queensland Coal Conference 08 on June 16.
The New Spirit of Capitalism
By Luc Boltanski& Eve Chiapello
Verso, 2007
656 pages, $79.95