George Bush invaded Iraq for power, prestige and oil. Whilst the catastrophe of the occupation has dealt a huge blow to the prestige of US imperialism around the world and its power in the Middle East has been severely undermined, US and British oil companies are still set to get their hands on Iraq’s oil.
By Alistair Tice, Socialist Party (more…)

SP Newsletter No.167
In February a UN-sponsored international committee of scientists, the IPCC, issued Part One of a report that concluded that climate change had started, as a result of human activity (principally the burning of fossil fuels: coal, gas and oil), and was likely to get worse. Part Two was released in Brussels on 6 April and spelt out the consequences of unmitigated global warming. (more…)

In a twist of history, the Minister of Information and Communication in Nepal’s new government is the former spokesman of the Maoist People’s Army, Krishna Bahadur Mahara. Along with four other Maoists, he was sworn in at a ceremony on Sunday 1 April. The oath, lead by 85-year-old Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, was broadcast on national television, which Krishna Bahadur Mahara is in charge of from now on.
By Per-Ã…ke Westerlund, Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (CWI Sweden) (more…)

In March an ACNielsen poll showed that 56 per cent of people disapproved of the Howard governments’ decision to give the green light to the proposed take over of Australia airline Qantas. Amongst Qantas workers the figure is closer to 100 per cent. This is mainly due to the concern people have about cuts to jobs, wages and services.
Editorial from the April edition of The Socialist newspaper (more…)

The Communist Party (Marxist) has had majority support in West Bengal and has run the state for 30 years. Much of its support has come from the landless peasantry who were granted what they thought were permanent land rights under a popular but very limited land reform. Now, with the leaders of this party choosing to side with big multinationals in a big drive to set up Special Economic Zones, has moved to take back the tenuous rights of these people.
By Nirmala Krishna, New Socialist Alternative (CWI in India), Bangalore (more…)

SP Newsletter No.166
It takes a special sort of leader and a special sort of campaign to make the NSW state Labor Government re-electable – but Peter Debnam and the NSW Liberals managed it! Despite State Labor’s awful record on health, transport, education, and water the Liberals made them look like the pick of the bunch. (more…)

Two hundred years ago parliament voted to end the brutal slave trade. That was after the British empire had been built on the bones of millions of Africans torn from their homes. Today, William Wilberforce, figurehead of the British abolition movement, is portrayed as the liberator of the slaves. This article explains that other mighty forces, especially slave uprisings, were behind the 1807 act.
By Hannah Sell, Socialist Party (more…)

Carbon Trading is often put forward as the solution to global warming. In reality, it is just a licence to pollute. The thrust behind the proposals to use Carbon Trading as the solution is twofold, firstly it extends the idea of the free market as being able to solve all problems and secondly it tries to put the blame on individuals rather than on big business.
By Gary Duffy, Socialist Party Sydney (more…)