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Pakistan: Escaped by seconds — day four of underground life

November 7, 2007 -- On the third day of my underground period, I escaped arrest by seconds. It was because of inexperience. We live in a society full of high-tech methods to find a person.

Pakistan: Day two of underground life

Today is my second day in underground life. On November 3, when General Musharaf declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution, I was in Toba Tek Singh, a city around four hours from Lahore. This was to attend a meeting to prepare for the Labour Party Pakistan’s fourth national conference. The conference is scheduled to be held on November 9-11 in the city. Posters welcoming the delegates were printed and an invitation card to supporters for the open session of the conference was ready as well.

Socialist Alliance candidate addresses Melbourne MUA

The Victorian Socialist Alliance’s lead candidate for the Senate, Margarita Windisch, gave this speech to the monthly meeting of the Melbourne branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

Behind the blather

In the lead up to the federal election, your guide to what’s really happening behind the spin of the official campaign.

Wonthaggi residents protest desalination plant

On October 31, residents of Wonthaggi — the South Gippsland town that is near the proposed site of the Victorian Labor government’s proposed $3 billion desalination plant — joined environmentalists from Melbourne in a 100-strong protest on the steps of state parliament.

Students walk out: 'No pulp mill!'

Six hundred students from more than a dozen high schools and colleges walked out of school and gathered at Parliament House lawns in Hobart on November 1 to protest against Gunns’ pulp mill. The mill, planned for the Tamar Valley near Launceston, would be the biggest of its kind in the world and has been approved by both state and federal governments.

Don't let Gunns build the mill!

Woodchipping giant Gunns Ltd’s $1.4 billion pulp mill in northern Tasmania is just one example of how a corporation has sought to subvert and corrupt the legal and political process, all in the name of profits. Gunns has shown a reckless disregard for both the ecological and human health implications of the pulp mill.

Tariq Ali on Afghanistan: Six years of a war of terror

The US launched its first assault in the “war on terror” in Afghanistan six years ago. Today, the country remains one of the poorest places on Earth, ruled by a corrupt warlord elite. Tariq Ali, a veteran of the anti-war struggle for four decades, spoke to Sherry Wolf about the disastrous consequences of the US-led war — and what the future holds.

Countering climate change: Latin American left leads the way

A new UN report that tracks the world’s progress in achieving sustainable development goals, as recommended in the UN’s historic 1987 Our Common Future report, has painted a grim picture of across-the-board environmental deterioration.

RTN calls for more refuge funding

@9point non = SYDNEY — The November 2 Reclaim the Night rally, attended by 50 people, in Hyde Park demanded that the federal government increase funding to women’s refuge services by 40% and provide funding to assist women and children to stay in their homes once the violent offender is removed.

Maralinga's nuclear nightmare continues

Maralinga: Australia’s Nuclear Waste Cover-up
By Alan Parkinson
ABC Books, 2007
233 pages, $32.95 (pb)

UN condemns US blockade on Cuba -; again

For the 16th consecutive year, the United Nations has overwhelmingly voted for a resolution urging the US to lift its 47-year long economic embargo against Cuba.