The left-wing Acehnese Peoples Party (PRA) will be holding its founding congress in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh at the end of February. Sydney University Southeast Asian Studies lecturer Max Lane spoke to Thamrin Ananda, chairperson of the Preparatory Committee of the PRA.
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What are the alternatives to the 聯last resort聰 plan 聴 the $1.9 billion desalination plant at Kurnell 聴 that NSW Premier Morris Iemma聮s Labor government is so keen to get moving on?
NSW Labor Premier Morris Iemma is digging in on the proposed desalination plant at Kurnell in NSW. Despite continuing public opposition, Iemma seems determined to go ahead with this expensive, electricity-guzzling project.
El Salvadoran President Antonio Saca鈥檚 right-wing government has proclaimed 2007 the 鈥測ear of peace鈥, inaugurating this move with an attempt to nominate the late Roberto D鈥橝ubuisson, founder of Saca鈥檚 ARENA party, with the highest human rights award in the country.
Police minister
The Beattie government must sack police minister Judy Spence immediately. She has presided over the most appalling downward spiral in the standards of police service delivery and police accountability and, in the finest Westminster
鈥淭oday a new epoch begins鈥, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared in his victory speech on December 3, having won the presidential election with the highest vote in Venezuelan history on a platform of deepening the struggle to build socialism. 鈥淭hat new era is the new socialist democracy. That era is the new socialist society.鈥
In scenes reminiscent of the police brutality against students who walked out of school against the Iraq war in 2003, hundreds of NSW police and officers from the NSW Public Order and Riot Squad (PORS) tried to stop peaceful rallies on February 22 and 23 when US vice-president and war criminal Dick Cheney arrived in Australia.
Twenty-four hours before British PM Tony Blair聮s February 21 announcement that his government would withdraw 1600 troops from Iraq in 聯coming months聰, Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer warned that any, even staged, withdrawal of US and allied foreign troops from Iraq would be a 聯victory for the al Qaeda terrorists聰.
An anti-war speak-out held on February 21, during orientation week at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), halted military recruitment on that campus for the day. The action was organised with the support of socialist youth group Resistance, Christian Students Uniting, the Bike Club, the UNSW Greens and the UNSW Environment Collective.
An official European Union report issued on February 20 revealed that one in six people in the EU live below national poverty thresholds. The February 21 British Morning Star reported that according to the European Commission鈥檚 social inclusion report 10% of people in the EU 鈥 one of the wealthiest regions in the world 鈥 live in households in which no-one has a job.
On February 21, the federal education minister Julie Bishop announced a proposal to introduce 鈥減erformance-based pay鈥 for teachers in public schools.
The following report is by a correspondent in Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe鈥檚 political situation has suddenly become pregnant with the possibility of uprisings, as ordinary people begin to defy police brutality. Unlike in the past when people were very scared of the police, now the situation seems to be different, with events bearing testimony to the mood of resistance. Just a drive around Highfield Township on February 18 was enough to see the return of the late 鈥90s fighting spirit among the poor people.
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