African American artist Gil Scott-Heron, whose political poetry influenced a generation of rap artists, sensationally announced the cancellation of his planned gig in Tel Aviv on April 24.
Speaking onstage at London鈥檚 Royal Festival Hall, Scott-Heron told the audience he 鈥渉ated war鈥 and told the packed audience his Israel tour date would not be going ahead.
Fans dismayed at the planned gig had earlier disrupted his concert. They repeatedly heckled the performer and asked him to cancel.
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Have you heard about the campaign called 鈥淔our Days in July鈥? Well, you are about to. From now until July 6 we are planning to ask: 鈥淲ill you join us in Alice Springs for a better future? Just four days in July, that鈥檚 all we are asking.鈥
Such a small thing to ask but imagine the momentum: it won鈥檛 stop at Four Days in July, it will be historic, people will talk about it for years to come. They鈥檒l talk about:
麻豆传媒 Weekly stands for putting people before profit. That includes rejecting the idea that anything that people need or enjoy should be subordinate to the drive for profit, be it health care, public transport or indeed sport. But unfortunately sport under capitalism is increasingly driven by the dollar, not people's enjoyment or community participation.
The following statement for May Day 2010 has been endorsed by socialist, trade union and progressive organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, including groups in Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines. .
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All over the world workers are organising鈥
David Lowe, a Townsville-based administration officer and union activist, was preselected by the Socialist Alliance Queensland state conference on April 17 to join Brisbane Aboriginal community leader Sam Watson on the Senate team for the upcoming federal election. Lowe is helping to establish a Socialist Alliance branch in Townsville.
Below, Lowe explains what prompted him to run with the Socialist Alliance.
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Venezuela鈥檚 principal trade union federation, the National Union of Workers (Unete), held the second session of its extraordinary congress on April 24, in a push to re-launch the federation.
Hundreds of trade union delegates from around the country gathered in Union House in El Paraiso to discuss and vote on new set of statutes for the federation and a plan to organise nationwide elections scheduled for July.
Over April 17-18, Tamils across Australia voted overwhelmingly in favour of the formation of an independent and sovereign homeland 鈥 Tamil Eelam 鈥 in the north and east of Sri Lanka.
In what was described by organisers as 鈥渢he most successful political event for the diaspora in Australia鈥, 99.38% of participants voted 鈥測es鈥.
Two hundred and seventy people gathered for the Resistance 2010: The World Can't Wait! conference in Thirroul, near Wollongong, over April 24-26. The national conference brought together young activists from all over Australia to discuss a broad range of political issues and to get organised in the face of an uncertain future.
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) concluded its five-month extraordinary congress on April 25 with the approval of highly anticipated party principles and statutes. This was just in time for primaries on May 2, in which millions of PSUV members will choose parliamentary candidates to run against a newly united opposition platform called the 鈥淒emocratic Alternative鈥 in September.
In protests around the country on Workers Memorial Day, April 28, thousands of workers came out to remember those killed on the job and to protest against the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
Speakers pointed out that since the ABCC was formed, deaths in the construction industry had risen from 3.14 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2004, to 4.27 in 2008. The rate peaked in 2006, at 5.6.
The Rudd government鈥檚 home insulation program, under which four workers died and there have been 120 house fires, also came under attack.
Bolivia's World People's Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth was radical, inspiring, uncompromising and exactly what was needed.
Up to 30,000 people from six continents took part in the summit, which was held in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba from April 19 to 22.
The huge oil spill from a BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico underscores the summit鈥檚 significance. About 800,000 litres of oil are spewing out a day. The company admits it may not be able to stop the leak for weeks 鈥 or even months.
On May 1 in Kathmandu, in a dramatic show of force by Nepal鈥檚 Maoists to demand a return to civilian rule and a democratic process of creating a new, pro-people constitution. With the government refusing popular demands for its resignation, an indefinite general strike has been called from May 2 in what the Maoists are calling a 鈥渇inal push鈥 to resolve the struggle for power between the poor majority and Nepal鈥檚 elite.
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