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The TAC and the 'deputy sheriff'

Jess Melvin Prime Minister John Howard's refusal to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in South-East Asia (TAC) at the 10th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit — held in Vientiane, Laos, on November 29-30 — flows from

On the Box

Fortress Europe: Out they Go — With Europe tightening its refugee policy and border control causing thousands of deaths, human rights are in jeopardy and international law is being violated. SBS, Monday, December 20, 1.55pm. Chiefs: Sitting Bull

AIDS becomes feminised

Mark Stephens The latest AIDS epidemic update released by UNAIDS for World AIDS Day shows that the majority of the 40 million are now living with AIDS will soon be female. Over the past two years, the number of women living with HIV has risen in

Loose cannons

On schedule "I noticed today that the elections are on schedule for June the 30th." — Emperor George Bush II, November 20, referring to the US-dictated January 30 Iraqi parliamentary elections. Free enterprise "A third or more of the

Craig Johnston: Letter to the Cuban Five

The following is a letter to the Cuban Five, who were charged with espionage and sentenced to long jail terms in the US. My name is Craig Johnston. I am in prison in Australia for crimes against the capitalist state. Myself and 16 other trade

March against deportations

MELBOURNE — On December 10, 300 asylum seekers and refugee-rights activists marked Human Rights Day with a march to draw attention to the plight of refugees, in particular the threatened deportation of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, some of whom

In brief

On November 26, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a controversial new law on responsibility in radio and television. The legislation regulates broadcasts that promote violence, sexual exploitation and racism. This has been controversial in a

CANADA: Asylum hearings begin for war resister

Jeff Shantz, Toronto December 6 marked the opening of asylum hearings for US war resister Jeremy Hinzman, who deserted the army because of his opposition to participation in the assault and occupation of Iraq. Hinzman was among the first of a

End the occupation of Iraq!

With the US presidential election out of the way, Washington has now begun the escalation of the war in Iraq — a war that has already cost the lives of at least 100,000 Iraqis and almost 1300 US soldiers. During the year-long US election

BOLIVIA: MAS emerges as biggest party

Fred Fuentes Writing in the Miami Herald, the day after Bolivia's December 5 municipal elections, Tyler Bridges commented: "Bolivians overwhelmingly rejected their traditional political parties in electing 327 mayors ... with the Movement Towards

The enduring human spirit

Ice RoadBy Gillian SlovoLittle, Brown, 2004544 pages, $29.95 (pb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON On the first day of December, 1934, Leonid Nikolayev brought the crisis of the Russian Revolution to a head. Nikolayev, an idealistic communist disillusioned

A woman's place is in the struggle: 'Gender mainstreaming' or sleeping with the enemy?

Sections of the international women's movement today call for gender equality and women's participation in Iraq's "reconstruction". Forums and conferences are organised calling for women's representation in the post-invasion administration and gender