If Bradley Manning had committed war crimes rather than exposing them, he wouldn't be in so much trouble.
He might even be hailed as an American hero. Instead, he's held at a military prison in Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, facing more than 20 charges, including "aiding the enemy".
Manning is the private who allegedly leaked sheaves of classified material to WikiLeaks while working as an army intelligence analyst in Iraq.
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A union representing 20,000 oil and gas workers in Nigeria announced on January 12 that it would shut down all production from January 15 unless the government restored a petrol subsidy it scrapped on January 1.
The Pengassan union said if the government refused, it would be 鈥渇orced to go ahead and apply the bitter option of ordering the systematic shutting down of oil and gas production鈥.
Pengassan president Babatunde Ogun had told members to 鈥渂e on red alert in preparation for total production shutdown鈥.
The global political crisis 鈥 a natural outcome of the continuing economic crisis 鈥 finally made it to Russia last month before getting derailed by the country's traditional hibernation in early January.
A year ago, uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt began the wave of popular mobilisations across the Arab world that has become known in the West as the 鈥淎rab Spring鈥.
A desperate individual protest in a provincial Tunisian town 鈥 the self-immolation of fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi to protest police harassment and lack of economic opportunity 鈥 triggered a region-wide revolt against economic and political injustice.
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) ,was acquitted on January 9 by the country鈥檚 High Court of the second round of politically motivated 鈥渟odomy鈥 charges. He was jailed for six years under the former Barisan Nasional (BN) government of Mohamed Mahathir on similar charges.
Police dispersed jubilant opposition supporters outside the court using the excuse that three small bombs had exploded nearby.
The global economic meltdown is yet to hit Australia hard, but 2011 was still a busy year of struggle in this relatively sheltered, wealthy country.
The year began with an Australian citizen on the global centre stage. WikiLeaks cables embarrassed governments worldwide, revealing war crimes and treachery, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested without charge. He was detained for all of last year. His supporters fear he will be extradited to the US, where conservatives have openly called for his assassination.
Aboriginal man Terrance Briscoe, 28, died in Alice Springs police custody on January 5. But despite allegations from his family of police brutality, an independent investigation has been ruled out by the Northern Territory鈥檚 chief minister Paul Henderson.
Aboriginal rights campaigners in Alice Springs said Briscoe was found unconscious in his cell about 2am. He had been 鈥渢aken in 'protection custody' earlier that night after drinking with friends鈥.
Refugee rights activists representing groups and individuals from Darwin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Wollongong, Sydney, and the Blue Mountains met on December 3 to plan campaign activities for this year.
It was the first national gathering of refugee rights campaigners since federal Labor's 2007 election, and fittingly occurred on the same weekend as the ALP's national conference. Labor further entrenched its anti-refugee policies, in particular offshore processing.
The Inland Council for the Environment and The Wilderness Society Newcastle released the statement below on January 13.
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Environment groups are calling on Premier Barry O鈥橣arrell to take action and stop coal seam gas work in the Pilliga State Forest, as gas giant Santos today released a statement admitting that 10,000 litres of untreated coal seam gas water spilled into the Pilliga Forest in June 2011.
A Perth educator, author and long-time activist, Mary (Mairi) McKenzie, died on New Year's Eve at the age of 94.
Mary discovered early what life was like in a society with little welfare and few rights for workers and the unemployed. At the age of 10, she lost her mother to tuberculosis, making her effectively the mother figure for her seven younger siblings. At the age of 13 she left school to undertake their full-time care.
麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Chris Peterson spoke to Melanie Sluyter, an environmental activist from the United States who took part in Occupy Wall Street and is visiting Melbourne.
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How did you get involved in the Occupy movement?
held a protest in Pitt St Mall on January 14 to call for the repeal of the US National Defense Authorisation Act. Recently signed into law, the act gives the US government the legal power to detain its citizens indefinitely without trial.
The protesters also called for the closure of the US prison in Guantanamo Bay and the release of alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning.
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