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Scrafton's revelations just the tip of the iceberg

Sarah Stephen On August 16, we finally got confirmation that PM John Howard deliberately lied when he claimed, days before the 2001 federal election, that there was proof that asylum seekers on the Olong threw their children overboard. The welcome

VENEZUELA: Chavez triumphs over US-backed opposition

Lee Sustar, Caracas Venezuela's poor met the news of Hugo Chavez's referendum victory with joy. Thousands of people from the nearby barrio of Catia jammed the streets around Miraflores, the presidential palace, just as they did in April 2002 to

Venezuelan revolution is 'democracy in action'

Jim McIlroy, Brisbane The Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela is an "unprecedented revolution in participatory democracy", Leonel Vivas, Venezuelan ambassador to Australia, told an audience of around 70 people on August 7. When Hugo Chavez was

Student revolt - It can happen here

Simon Butler It Can't Happen Here: A Political History of Student ActivismBy Graham HastingsEmpire Times Press, Adelaide, 2003$30 (pb) On September 27, 1971, five student draft resisters who had refused to fight in the Vietnam War announced to

Charges dropped against protesters

Socialist Alliance member Alex Bainbridge and environmental activist Jimi Cocking outside the Launceston Magistrate's Court on August 17, after police dropped charges against them. The two activists had been arrested protesting against PM John

VENEZUELA: 'There's no going back to the past'

Roberto Jorquera Thousands of Venezuelans gathered outside the Miraflores presidential palace on August 16 to hear radical left-wing President Hugo Chavez claim victory soon after the National Electoral College (CNE) released the results of a

Horta explains Timor Gap proposal

Chris Slee, Melbourne East Timorese foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta, addressing a meeting of 500 people in Hawthorn Town Hall on August 13, explained his proposed solution to the disagreement with Australia over the Timor Gap. He outlined the

The human face of Australia Post

The postal division of the Victorian communications union has been under left-wing leadership since a sweeping victory for the members Reform ticket in July 2003. The division's secretary, Joan Doyle, discussed the state of her union's struggle at a

UNITED STATES: Democrats sabotage Nader-Camejo campaign

Barry Sheppard, San Francisco "The Democratic Party's campaign of dirty tricks to keep [independent left candidates] Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo off the presidential ballot constitutes the most serious threat to voting rights in the US since the

One lie among many

The revelation that PM John Howard knew asylum seekers were innocent of the charge of throwing their children overboard, even as he continued to tell voters that it was true, is hardly a shock to most of us. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, politicians

GERMANY: 'Monday demonstrations' triple in size

Norman Brewer, Bremen The number of people taking part in the weekly Montagsdemonstrationen (Monday demonstrations) across Germany has been tripling from week to week. On August 16, more than 100,000 people marched in more than 100 cities,

SOUTH AFRICA: ANC accepts 'marriage proposal' from apartheid's architect

On August 7, New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced that he would be joining the African National Congress and encouraged other NNP members to do likewise. Although the NNP will still exist — the ANC allowing dual membership