World

BY MARTIN ILTIS MELBOURNE — "In the new period, new struggles, we need new heroes", East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao told those attending the launch of his autobiography here on May 4. He was explaining why he did not think he
BY JULIA PERKINS JAKARTA — After marching with thousands of other workers on Parliament House here on May 1, 1500 workers from the Indian-owned textile company Texmaco camped outside overnight to protest against their treatment by their employer
May Day around the world A different sort of May Day May 1, the annual day of action to mark working-class struggle and internationalism was celebrated in many countries this year with greater enthusiasm and broader participation than has been
SRI LANKA: Army faces serious defeat In the wake of a string of dramatic military victories by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan government has appealed for foreign military assistance. Some 35,000 Sri Lankan troops have
COLOMBIA: US to intensify support for terror state By Joseph Raso United States policymakers are preparing to substantially increase their materiel backing for Latin America's premier human rights violator. A $1.6 billion package for Colombia,
ZIMBABWE: Uninformed 'solidarity' It is difficult to imagine why the Communist Party of Australia's Guardian published an article about the events in Zimbabwe (“Demonising Mugabe to protect white farmers”, April 19) that lacks the most
BY CHRIS ATKINSON MELBOURNE — "The year 2000 is the year of emergency", Xanana Gusmao, the chairperson of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), told 500 invited guests at the May 4 opening of the Melbourne office of the CNRT's
VIETNAM: The inspiration hasn't faded When, on April 30, 1975, a single tank of Vietnam's National Liberation Front (NLF) rolled over the gates of the presidential palace in Saigon, it not only ended a decades-long war, it also ended any idea of
PHILIPPINES — The following is abridged from an account of the situation in Mindanao distributed on May 3 by the Revolutionary Workers Party of the Philippines (RPMP). The situation in our country, especially in Mindanao, is becoming worse. Trends
Buddhist monks in Upper Burma are threatening a national uprising on May 25 if the repressive State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) does not agree to a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her Committee Representing the People's
Largest strike in Norway for 14 years BY MARGARET ALLUM The largest strike in Norway for 14 years began on May 3, when almost 85,000 private sector workers rejected a new contract. Two-thirds of the union's rank-and-file membership voted against
RUSSIA: Down with the new code of slavery! MOSCOW — The following call for solidarity, issued last month by the coordinating committee of the All-Russian Campaign in Defence of the Labour Code, is addressed to "all progressive organisations of