A fair analysis of the tumultuous political climate in Israel.

This looks controversial. Apparently the speaker has controversial views on Palestine. If anyone one knows more about this guy please post or send information to me and I will post it.

So much for a credible trial. The tribunal should be led by the UN and have the input of international experts who have experience in this. That way the outcome would contribute to a larger body of law or legal precedent, but this is not the case here. Justice should be for the people of Iraq and it should not serve the purposes of political rangling.

An important meeting took place durring the World Social Forum in Guyana where Marxists and workers exchanged information and ideas. Have a read.

On this page there are two short video clips of the sixth WSF in Caracas. It’s worth taking a look.

Interesting analysis of Evo Morales in Bolivia. It is not clear what Morales will do since he seems to be on the fence over a lot of things. …”We are going to guarantee the returns on their [oil companies] investment and their profits, but not looting and stealing.” I think this is an unwise approach and what it will do in the end is prove to the people that parliamentarian reforms can not transcend the capitalist system.

It seems that Castro is following Venezuela’s lead when it comes to offering aid to America’s poor. I think this is a smart move on the part of both countries as it will spark working class American’s interest in socialist countries. It helps the poor and no matter what the U.S. government looks bad. It will prompt the people to say, “why can’t our country do the same?”

The following is a transcript from Wolf Blitzer’s ’situation room’. It’s refreshing to see someone who doesn’t back peddle when really grilled about one’s public statements.

More in the World Social Forum in Caracas. Delegates at the forum are planning protests and mobilizations around the globe. I sincerely hope this organizing spreads to Canada and especially the Maritimes.

Canadian Feminist Judy Rebick writes about the World Social Forum. The article touches on some
of the discussions being posted in our comments section.

“”we will see that no political party, no matter how left-wing they are, has been able to take political power without succumbing to the dynamics of electoralism and moving to the right. What we need to build is a powerful united political movement, like in Bolivia, that will take power at the right revolutionary moment.”"…”Can this be achieved by peaceful means?”

More bloodshet in Iraq. This time it is a Canadian camera-man from the CBC.

Even thought the mine was on fire and the rooms filled with toxic gas, the miners didn’t panic; many played cards, took naps, and stayed put. What an occupation!

Graham has sent some pics from Caracas. Take look.

Asaf Rashid
January 28th, 2006, Caracas,

I heard the update from the comrades from Eastern Canada I´m travelling with, Graham, Michelle and Faiz. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias was indeed set to speak on the evening of the 27th at 7pm for the occasion of the World Social Forum (WSF). I heard a couple of other rumours about Chevez speaking at other times earlier–all invalidated–but this particular event was written down in the official programme in big, bold letters; I just never got that far into the programme yet. It was about 10 am when my my comrades told me this great announcement. We agreed to meet at 5 pm at the Bolivarian University. We figured that would be plenty of time to get to the Polliedro de Caracas, a stadium that was located a little out of the way… (click the link above for more)

“On December 7th CBC news reported that Leo-Paul Lauzon, an NDP candidate in Montreal, called for the nationalization of the oil and gas industry and said that we should look to Venezuela under Hugo Chavez for the way forward.”

This is a much more level headed assesment of the election. The NDP has one of two options, continue acting like Liberals or act to be a real socialist alternative for workers. Now is the time for the NDP to really differentiate itself in opposition to the Conservatives. It’s time for us
socialists to join this party so that we can truly rebuild this country.

Although I don’t think the U.S. has another fight in them for a few years, something has got to give when it comes to Iran. The geopolitics of oil is a scary thing.

“The Liberals ran from the left with the greatest political hypocrite in 100 years of Canadian politics at the helm talking ad nauseam about building the country he spent nine years as finance minister trying to dismantle. “

What’s going on in Haiti has to stop. If the allegations of UN troops committing war crimes is accurate, strong evidence needs to be collected and given to the press.

Government Safety officials walk out of a Senate hearing over mine safety because they’re too busy? The Whitehouse will let them get away with it too. There is something seriously wrong with this country.

It was 6:30pm on the evening of January 25th. The large assembly/conference room on the main floor of the Caracas Hilton started to fill, reaching near its absolute capacity at about a few hundred. The media folks, myself included, were getting ready to start recording. We were all waiting for, “A Discussion on independent media and the building of Independent World Television - Feraturing Gore Vidal”. Gore Vidal is a name well-known amongst the crowd of World Social Forum attendees; he´s an author who´s written a number of books about U.S. Imperialism…

This is part two of the article posted below.

A good overview of class struggle amongst miners in the U.S. over the last century. Cape Breton’s coal mines in Canada serve as Canada’s flash point for class conflict. A lot of Maritime radicalism grew out of the exploitation experienced there. I will try and find something more relevant to Canadian coal miners.

Hamas won in Palestinian elections. A party that was considered to radical to win has taken the seat of power. I think we can relate to that on a certain level here in Canada.

Although I do agree with Howard Zinn’s assesment of WWII I don’t think that an anti-war movement in itself will stop war. The capitalist machine drives war. The system has to change first. Do take note of the holocaust revisionist comment at the bottom of the article.

An interesting read about terrorist movements and why they will never work.

In case you didn’t know, Petttigrew lost his seat in parliament. You can thank Haiti Action Montreal for handing out thousands of flyers and and for protesting the appearance of this SOB wherever he showed his face in public.

Asaf Rashid

This is an early update on the Sixth World Social Forum (WSF) in Caracas, Venezuela. The WSF is the largest gathering of social and environmental Justice organizations in the world, with groups arriving from all over the globe, with main messages ranging from “another world is possible” to “another world is necessary”.

McKenna could lead the Liberals in Ottawa. If Mckenna’s track record in N.B. is any indication it wouldn’t be good for this country. Mckenna froze public wages, shrunk the civil service, made cuts to health care, and was openly hostile to unions. Anyone who hasn’t read the Polaris Institue’s paper on Mckenna, I’d encourge them to take a look.

The U.S. seems pretty optimistic about Harper. I wonder if they really know what the words ‘minority government’ means.

“On Thursday, December 6, an assembly of around 150 workers took place at the aluminium factory ALCASA, organized by the executive board of the plant. This is a factory that employs around 3000 workers, situated in Puerto Ordáz (Ciudad Guayana) in the industrialized Bolivar state in the eastern part of Venezuela.”

Remember ‘The Take’ by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein? This is an overview of Zanon since workers occupied the factory over 4 years ago.

Iraqi Unions are standing up to Breton Woods institutions that import neoliberal programs.

The Labour movement in the U.S. is seriously weak if Unions are resorting to non legal union organization. Labour is doing the right thing though because they are doing what they can for workers while, hopefully, pushing for better legislation. It is important to stress that worker associations are no substitute for unions.

Would it be worth putting the country through another election in 8 months to stop Harper? I think so.

A concise economic history of China. Don’t believe the hype that everyone in China is thriving because of this country’s pro captitalist bent. A highly centralized and bureaucratic CCP instituted capitalist reforms that didn’t strengthen their socialist programs. There is hope though; China has the largest working class in the world. They will create change but they need help.

“The highly competitive nature of Chinese goods is possible because they are produced with the most advanced technology (thanks to the huge level of investment over the last 20 years, of 600 billion dollars in 480 companies) combined with wage levels 10 or even 20 times lower than in Europe or the USA.”