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The article below is by Brian Senewiratne, who is from Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese ethnic majority and a long-time Tamil rights activist. For his uncompromising stance against the long-term oppression, and current brutal military offensive, against the Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority by the Sinhalese chauvinist regime, he was recently barred from entering Malaysia and was singled out and victimised by Canadian and Australian immigration officials.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez argued on March 27 that the economic measures his government has adopted, to confront the global economic crisis, contain “not one neoliberal element”, unlike those adopted by the previous governments.
Teachers’ salaries in Venezuela have increased 550% since 1999, education minister Hector Navarra said on March 23, according to the March 24 Diario Vea.
The article below is by Salim Vally, a leading member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee in South Africa and a veteran anti-apartheid activist. A longer version is posted at http://www.links.org.au. Vally will be a featured guest at the World at a Crossroads conference, in Sydney, April 10-12. For more information, or to register, visit ;http://www.worldatacrossroads.org.
A new left alliance has formed in Britain to stand in the European Union elections set for June 4.
“The trouble makers are out in force again”, George Monbiot wrote on April 1 in the Guardian Online.
It has become common practice for many bosses to tell potential employees they must have an Australian Business Number (ABN) to secure a job.
The article below is abridged from a March 31 Ma’an News Agency report.
In a disturbing development, US President Barack Obama has announced that Pakistan is now a main focus for the “war on terror” — foreshadowing an increasing expansion of the US-led war in Afganistan across the border.
Bolivian President Evo Morales denounced the decision of the April 2 G20 summit to inject more than US$1 trillion into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a means of combating the economic crisis, comparing it to leaving a wolf to care for a flock of sheep, according to an April 3 AFP report.
The Dump Connex campaign was launched on March 30, Palestinian Land Day. It was initiated by the Coalition of Palestine Support Organisations, which organised the Melbourne protests against the Israeli assault on Gaza in January and February.
Kavita Krishnan is the national secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association and a former president of the All India Students' Association. She is also a central committee member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) and editor of Liberation magazine. Krishnan will be an international guest at the World at a Crossroads conference in Sydney, April 10-12. For more information, or to register, visit World at a Crossroads.