It鈥檚 time the Israeli government鈥檚 PR team made the most of its talents, and became available for hire.
Then, whenever a nutcase marched into a shopping mall in somewhere like Wisconsin and gunned down a selection of passers-by, they could be on hand to tell the world鈥檚 press: 鈥淭he gunman regrets the loss of life but did all he could to avoid violence.鈥
Then various governments would issue statements saying: 鈥淎ll we know is a man went berserk with an AK47, and next to him there鈥檚 a pile of corpses, so until we know the facts we can鈥檛 pass judgement on what took place.鈥
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Workers at the BHP Billiton Mt Arthur coalmine went on strike for about 26 hours on May 26 and 27. It was the first strike at the mine (formerly known as the Bayswater pit) in its 23-year operational history.
A striking worker from the mine said the reliability of coal supplied by the mine was a big selling point and the strike would damage the mine鈥檚 reputation.
The worker, who did not want his name used for fear of retribution, told 麻豆传媒 Weekly the dispute started when another worker arrived on the afternoon of May 26 and was told she had been sacked.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, called, on May 31, for the international community to bring to justice those responsible for Israel鈥檚 deadly raid on a ship bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, Countercurrents.com said that day. The raid killed at least nine people.
Sanna Andrew is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Fremantle, Western Australia, in the coming federal elections.
She joined the Socialist Alliance in 2007. She is a qualified social worker and has worked in community-based mental health service provision for more than a decade.
Andrew is also an active member of the Australian Services Union (ASU) and sits on the executive council as a representative of the Social and Community Services Sector division.
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Venezuelan trade unionist and community educator Alexis Adarfio Marin visited Australia last month, informing many audiences of the radical changes being carried out by Venezuela鈥檚 Bolivarian revolution.
Adarfio was a guest of the Search Foundation, which hosted a range of international guest speakers at its Australian Left Renewal Conference in Sydney over May 29-30.
In early March, after a three-month media bombardment about the country鈥檚 economic crisis, the Greek government 鈥 backed by conservative opposition parties, the European Union (EU)and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 鈥 announced harsh austerity measures for ordinary people.
These included unprecedented salary, pension, job and public services cuts and large-scale privatisation. The government offensive entails an enormous income transfer from workers and pensioners to big business and the State Revenue Office.
Venezuela foreign minister Nicolas Maduro said on June 2 that Venezuela鈥檚 announced cancelling of Haiti's debt of US$395 million with Petrocaribe was now official.
Petrocaribe is a program under which the Venezuelan government offers discounted oil, to be paid back over long-term low-interest loans, to Caribbean and Central American nations.
Maduro made the announcement after the World Summit on the Future of Haiti. The summit was held in the Dominican Republic with the participation of representatives from 50 countries.
The Qatar-based media network Al Jazeera has published on its website a series of harrowing eyewitness accounts from survivors of Israel鈥檚 military raid on a flotilla of ships bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. An example is published below. To read the full list, visit .
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Haneen Zabi, member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament): 鈥淲e were expecting the Israeli army to stop us, to prevent us from entering but surely we didn't expect such a war against us.
Thousands of workers across France protested on May 27 against President Nicholas Sarkozy鈥檚 planned attacked on the French pension system.
The protests were called by a coalition of union confederations, including the General Confederation of Labour (CGT); French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT); United Union Federation (FSU); National Union of Autonomous Unions and Solidaires. They came after the government failed to withdraw or modify the planned changes to the pension system following protests on March 23 and May 1.
The Idea of Communism
By Tariq Ali
Seagull Press 2009, 126 pages
This short book is the first in a series called 鈥淲hat Was Communism鈥, which aims to explore the practice of Communism in the 20th century.
Tariq Ali鈥檚 main thesis is that 鈥淭he failure of official Communism in the 20th century and the restoration of capitalism in Russia and China 鈥 far from negating some of the premises that underlined the project in the first place, emphasises their continuing importance鈥.
Hundreds of Aboriginal workers in the Northern Territory are demanding real wages for construction work that they are compelled to do under 鈥淲ork for the dole鈥 schemes.
Eighty rallied on June 2 outside state parliament house in Darwin to demand jobs with justice.
Elders from Kalkaringi community say people in their community are being forced to work for up to 30 hours a week on construction sites or they will have their Centrelink payments cut.
The struggle against inflation, corruption, and destabilisation in Venezuela鈥檚 economy is continuing.
In the last week of May, workers from nationalised companies marched to protest hoarding and price speculation and call for worker-run management, while national investigators arrested the former president of the state-run food company PDVAL for alleged involvement in the diversion of food from the market.
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