The sixth plenum of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist 鈥 UCPN(M)) began on November 20 in Gorka District. It was the largest meeting in the party鈥檚 history; more then 7000 local members are taking part in discussions.
The Nepalese revolution is in a state of limbo. The current government resigned in May, but continues in a caretaker fashion, as no alternative has come forward.
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Mulrunji Doomadgee died in police custody on Palm Island in November 2004. Despite reviewing findings highly critical of police by coroner Brian Hine at the third Coronial Inquest in May, on November 23 the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission (CMC) found there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the officers involved.
The public finances of Ireland will, for the next three years at least, be subject to 鈥渞egular reviews鈥 by external monitors working on behalf of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU) and the British and Swedish governments.
On November 21, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen and minister for finance Brian Lenihan, after a week of shocking lies and deceit, said they would accept the IMF/EU bailout.
It later emerged that the G7, made up of the seven most powerful countries in the world, had met to give its approval to the deal.
Chilean activist Manuel Olate Cespedes was arrested in Santiago on October 29 after the Colombian government alleged he is linked to left-wing guerilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Below is an abridged statement issued by the Latin America Social Forum (LASF) Sydney that calls for Cespedes鈥 release and opposes plans to extradite him to Colombia.
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The LASF (Sydney) wishes to express its opposition to the arrest and detention of Manuel Olate Cespedes.
We also express our grave concern regarding Colombia鈥檚 request to extradite Cespedes.
About 150 members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University have been stood down after taking part in lawful and protected industrial action.
The union put a ban on the transmission of student results after more than two years of negotiations failed to make progress on improving job security, pay and other conditions for staff. A key sticking point in the negotiations is management鈥檚 unregulated use of fixed-term contracts and casual employment.
Irish election officials said on November 26 that Sinn Fein candidate Pearse Doherty had won a long-awaited by-election in Donegal with an overwhelming 40% of the vote.
The election was blocked for months before it was forced on Prime Minister Brian Cowen by the Irish courts.
Cowen faces a struggle to win votes on raising taxes and cutting spending when the 2011 budget is unveiled in parliament on December 7.
It should come as no surprise that Latin America, a region converted into a laboratory for ongoing experiments in social change, has increasingly become the topic of discussion and debate among the broader left.
The Independent Education Union (IEU) has launched a campaign for pay equity for early childhood teachers. In the months leading up to the NSW elections in March 2011, the campaign will include rallies, postcards and an email bombardment of the Labor and Liberal parties.
Early childhood teachers working in community-based preschools and childcare centres earn up to 20% less than teachers working in state government preschools and independent and Catholic primary schools.
A full-time early childhood teacher can earn $14,000 a year less than other teachers.
A rising tide of homophobic aggression in Uganda has divided religious leaders. At the root of the problem, Western missionaries have been spreading anti-gay sentiment and dividing the community.
Homosexuality has been illegal in Uganda since British colonisation in the late 19th century. However, many Ugandans trace the current crisis to March 5, 2009, when right-wing evangelical missionaries from the US held a three-day conference at the Triangle Hotel in Kampala.
On October 23, the Age reported that increased alcohol prices are driving many young people to switch to the party drug ecstasy, according to drug researchers, nightclub owners and young people themselves.
鈥淚t is cheaper and convenient to use pills鈥, said Professor Jake Najman, director of the University of Queensland鈥檚 Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre. 鈥淎 lot of young people are making that choice to switch between alcohol and ecstasy. Pills can be cheaper, there is no question.鈥
Workers with disabilities are speaking out against the Supported Wage System (SWS), which encourages employers to legally underpay workers with disabilities.
The federal government鈥檚 Job Access program markets SWS as a progressive innovation by burying it among more egalitarian policies such as funding improvements to workplace accessibility.
The Job Access website says the SWS is 鈥渁 process that allows employers to pay less than the award wage by matching a person's productivity with a fair wage鈥.
The 190th Annual Meeting of Southern Baptists, held on November 16 in Columbia, South Carolina, approved a resolution calling its pastors to preach against homosexuality 鈥 鈥渢o uphold the biblical standard of human sexuality against all onslaughts鈥 鈥 but also to 鈥渓ove and show compassion toward homosexuals and transgendered persons鈥.
Mixed in with this 鈥渉ate is love鈥 doublespeak is a great deal of defensiveness about the loss of social status by the US religious right.
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