When fist-raising 1968 Olympian Dr John Carlos and I wrote his memoir, The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World, we didn't exactly expect the publishing date to coincide with a mass national protest movement for economic and social justice.
I've now heard about 100 variations of the joke: "It was really smart of your publisher to plan this whole 'Occupy' movement with your book release." It's an obvious comment, given that Carlos and I have made sure to visit every Occupy encampment we can on our national book tour.
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Contrary to some media reporting, the Occupy Sydney movement has a focused and coherent political agenda, researchers from the University of Sydney believe.
Based on 180 field interviews undertaken at the November 5 rally in Sydney, a research team from the University鈥檚 have discovered that the movement's position is focused on concerns about the social and political impact of capitalism on Australian and global society.
Aboriginal rapper Sky鈥橦igh admits she can be difficult to work with. 鈥淚 can come across a bit intimidating or 鈥榳eird鈥,鈥 she tells 麻豆传媒 Weekly, laughing. 鈥淪ome people can't handle that 鈥 I鈥檓 unpredictable as fuck.鈥
About 300 people rallied in King George Square on November 5 to support the worldwide Occupy movement, and assert the right of Occupy Brisbane to keep its encampment in public space. Following the rally, demonstrators marched to Post Office Square, Queens Park, and then across the Brisbane River to Musgrave Park in West End.
On election night in Tunisia, as it became clear that moderate Islamist party Ennahda had won most seats in the Constituent Assembly and would be forming government, many Tunisians feared for the revolutionary struggle that has continued since the uprising that overthrew Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January.
In the final count, Ennahda received just under 37% of the popular vote, and won 90 seats out of the 217-member assembly. The next largest vote was won by the centre-left Congress for the Republic Party (CPR), with 30 seats.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered the expropriation of the British agricultural company Agroflora.
The company is a subsidiary of Britain鈥檚 Vestey Group that focuses on the commercial production of beef.
Chavez said the company鈥檚 290,000 hectares of farmland would be expropriated and brought under direct 鈥渙perational and administrative control鈥 of the state through the country鈥檚 Food Security and Sovereignty Law.
This law allows the government to forcefully expropriate land in 鈥渆xceptional circumstances鈥 relating to issues of national food security and the public good.
Experts hired to probe an earthquake near Blackpool left their paymaster red-faced today when they ruled that its controversial "fracking" for shale gas was the most likely cause.
An independent report commissioned by energy firm Cuadrilla into possible links between drilling at its Preese Hall-1 well in Lancashire and tremors which hit the region earlier this year found that it was "highly probable" drlling was to blame.
The report's release coincides with a protest on November 2 that stopped work at the Cuadrilla site near Southport.
鈥淭he crisis of the capitalist system has provoked the indignados movement [the 鈥榦utraged鈥, as they are known in Spain] that has arisen in one country after another across the globe,鈥 Elisa Osori, a national directorate member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) said.
The PSUV is a mass party headed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. A revolutionary process in Venezuela is redistributing the nation鈥檚 oil wealth, bring industries and resources under public ownership and promoting direct, participatory democracy.
Ramy Essam has been featured on my Rebel Frequencies site before. The young folk-singer may best be described at "the troubadour of the Egyptian revolution".
Essam performed at the initial rallies demanding dictator Hosni Mubarak step down, and was kidnapped and tortured as a result. And yet he still writes and performs.
Furthermore, his own personal struggle to sing publicly demonstrates how much more work the revolution still has ahead of it.
The statement below was released by Tar Sands Action on October 31. The group is seeking to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, built to transport oil from the Athabasca tar sands in north-east Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the United States. Mining the Athabasca tar sands is one of the most environmentally destructive practices on the planet. For more information, visit www.tarsandsaction.org .
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Yesterday we got some of the strongest confirmation yet that efforts to stop the Keystone XL pipeline are having a long-term impact on the tar sands industry.
On September 30, 2001, in the midst of one of the worst economic crises in Argentine history, the owners of the Zanon ceramic factory announced plans to switch off the furnaces.
In response, union delegates occupied the plant in the southern province of Neuquen. The next day, workers arrived to join the occupation 鈥 frustrating plans to sell off the machinery.
A new manual by six Europe-based NGOs calls for an end to forest offsets, whereby carbon emissions in one country can be supposedly 鈥渙ffset鈥 by protecting forests in another.
Forest offset programs are largely organised through the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanism, which receives support from the World Bank and other financial institutions.
The report says there are two motivations for forest offsets: 鈥渞educing the pressure to do something about fossil fuel emissions and the short term profit motive.鈥
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