1096

鈥淲hen one farmer kills themselves you can call it suicide. But when a quarter of a million farmers kill themselves, how can the government call it suicide? It is genocide. These farmers are being killed by design.鈥 So opens Cotton For My Shroud, a documentary about embattled Indian farmers and the assault on traditional rural agricultural life waged by Monsanto and the political class in its pockets.

The Organization of American States has announced it will hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether to suspend Venezuela for violating the OAS Charter. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said on May 31 that Venezuela had suffered "grave alterations of democratic order."

Ian Angus at global launch of 鈥楩acing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System鈥. Sydney, May 13.
Thousands of people from a diversity of local campaigns came out to protest Premier Mike Baird and corporate control over democracy in NSW. Some of the issues raised included included stop westconnex, stop the council amalgamations, anti-CSG, save tafe and other services and opposing the the new police powers like the anti-protest laws among others. The rally was organized by March Australia - Sydney. Here are some photos of the rally:
The Victorian branch of the Country Women's Association (CWA) has voted in support of marriage equality at their latest conference. The CWA's decision contrasts with its conservative image and defies stereotypes of rural communities as being less accepting of LGBTIQ people. The motion was titled "That the CWA of Victoria Inc advocates for equality for all Australians under the Commonwealth Marriage Act".
La Trobe University has become the first university in Australia to commit to full divestment from fossil fuel companies. Vice-chancellor John Dewar said that over the next five years, La Trobe will 鈥渄ivest from the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies ranked by the carbon content of their fossil fuel reserves.鈥 He said the University was also committed to transparency and 鈥淎ccordingly, we will also disclose the carbon exposure of our investments and provide annual reports of our divestment progress over the next five years鈥.
The overthrow of Brazil鈥檚 President Dilma Rousseff in an institutional coup by right-wing forces has been justified by allegations of corruption 鈥 even though issue Dilma is being impeached on is use of a relatively normal government spending mechanism.
The Malcolm Turnbull Coalition government's economic spin is that they are managing a 鈥渢ransition鈥 from 鈥渟trong resource investment-led growth to broader-based drivers of economic activity鈥. This, it claims in the 2016 budget papers, is a transition to more 鈥渓abour-intensive sectors, such as services鈥. Hence the Coalition's mantra: 鈥淕rowth and jobs鈥. Sounds nice, but what does this mean for the different classes in Australia?
Ating Guro vigil outside Comelec office. Manila, May 27. Photo: Partido Lakas ng Masa. Supporters of the Ating Guro (Teachers Dignity) partylist held a three-night vigil outside the offices of the Philippines Commission on Election (Comelec) on May 24, to protest apparent irregularities in counting votes after the May 9 general election.
First Nations Socialist Alliance Senate candidate for NSW Ken Canning visited the Bankstown campus of Western Sydney University on May 9 to inform students about why we need a people's movement. The meeting was organised by the Resistance Club. He raised several key issues including the fact that despite former Labor PM Kevin Rudd's 鈥淪orry鈥 speech Indigenous children are still being forcefully removed at a higher rate than ever before.
Chasing Asylum Directed by Eva Orner Chasing Asylum is a new documentary that shows the Nauru and Manus Island detention centres for the 鈥淗ell on Earth鈥 and 鈥渉uman dumping grounds鈥 they are.
Austria elected its president on May 22 in the second round of voting, with the neoliberal green candidate Alexander Van der Bellen narrowly beating far-right Freedom Party (FP脰) candidate Norbert Hofer with 50.3% of the vote. The FP脰, a right-wing populist and authoritarian German nationalist party of former leader J枚rg Haider, was founded in the 1950s. It was a political party for ex-Nazis who never broke with their Nazi tradition.