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Anti-women campaigners in the Republican Party are dominating the discussion in mainstream politics and the Democrats' response has been to let them, says the February 29 Socialist Worker editorial that is reprinted below. * * * "Virginia is for lovers," goes the state's tourism motto. But if its right-wing politicians get their way, Virginia will be for turning women into human incubators.
After two decades of political deadlock, Africa鈥檚 oldest refugee population is losing faith in UN mandated peace negotiations. 鈥淣o one will give us our freedom 鈥 we must take it!,鈥 Sahrawi journalist Embarka Elmehdi Said told 麻豆传媒 Weekly. Said sees little hope for a peaceful resolution to the crisis that has gripped Western Sahara since its independence from Spain in the 1970s. A child when her family fled the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara in 1975, Said has spent most of her life in the Polisario run refugee camps on the Western Sahar-Algeria border.
Rural protests make up a large part of overall social unrest in China. But such protests had not received prominent international attention until the siege of Wukan, a village of 12,000 in Guangdong province, late last year. Just like the strikes in Honda plants in 2010, Wukan brought to light the deep-seated grievances of villagers in a dramatic way. The revolt featured the eviction of party officials and the police, the self-management of the village by villagers, and the stand-off against armed police in a siege for more than a week.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, which began in New York in September last year and rapidly spread to hundreds of cities and towns across the United States, continues organising against the greed and exploitation of the 鈥1%鈥. Occupy activists are mobilising against home evictions, supporting workers fighting for their rights and taking action against corporate exploitation and environmental destruction.
People marching across bridge

Despite the NSW government's promise to rule out sensitive areas to coal seam gas (CSG) activity, the long-awaited Strategic Regional Land Use Plan and Aquifer Interference Policy means 鈥渆very part of NSW is still up for grabs鈥, Jess Moore from Stop CSG Illawarra said on March 6. Liberal premier Barry O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 government policy is 鈥渁 disaster and a broken election promise鈥. Moore said 鈥渘o areas are off limits to CSG鈥.

A 鈥渇ree trade agreement鈥 being negotiated by Australia, the United States and other countries could have profound impacts on crucial public policy issues including food security, natural resource management, access to essential medicines, public assets and more. Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) 鈥 including Australia, the US, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam 鈥 are taking place in unprecedented secrecy.
Sarah Ross

More than 50 people rallied outside the Perth headquarters of British multinational corporation Serco on March 9 to protest against the company's ongoing push to privatise and take over public services. Serco runs Australia鈥檚 immigration detention centres and is responsible for implementing the oppressive government policy of mandatory detention.

Invisible Children staff

A telling quote in the film KONY 2012 says: 鈥淲ho are you to stop a war? 鈥 the question is, who are you not to?鈥 I think the question that the people behind KONY 2012, which went viral on the internet on March 7, need to be asked is: 鈥淲ho are you to start one?鈥 Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord鈥檚 Resistance Army in eastern Africa, is a bad man.

After eight months of campaigning by Victoria鈥檚 nurses to keep staff-to-patient ratios and win a wage rise there may be a breakthrough in the dispute. On March 7, the Ted Baillieu Coalition state government finally offered to begin new negotiations with the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) though a conciliation process overseen by Fair Work Australia.
The advertising industry is insidious. A massive US$464 billion was estimated to have been spent in 2011. Next year it is tipped to grow by another US$22 billion despite the ongoing economic crisis in Europe and the US.
Graphic that says 'We the corporate citizens united'.

Sometimes it takes a truly dramatic event to really make you face up to a serious threat.

Photos by Peter Boyle More than 500 women and their supporters marched through Sydney's CBD on March 10 for an International Women's Day protest.