No, it’s only the beginning!
”The finance crisis, where did it go? The danger for a financial collapse is over, but many problems still remain”. This comment by Johan Schück, a leading Swedish economics commentator, echoed the mood of capitalist pundits globally at the beginning of June.
By Per-Ã…ke Westerlund, CWI Sweden

In a higher than normal turnout for a referendum, 53.1%, the Lisbon Treaty (the renamed EU Constitution), was clearly rejected on Thursday by 53.4% to 46.6%. As the ‘no’ side trailed in every opinion poll until one poll last week, this is a major shock for the political and business establishment in Ireland.
By Kevin Mcloughlin, [...]

Postal workers staged a 12 hour wildcat strike at the Dandenong letters centre in Melbourne’s south east on Thursday night. The strike has disrupted the delivery of about four million mail items across Victoria.
By Socialist Party reporters Melbourne

SP Newsletter No.217
For the second time in six weeks the Reading Room of the Fitzroy Town Hall was the venue of an old style community meeting. Over 80 people were packed in to hear speakers and discuss the best way to stop the Victorian Labor Government’s plans to build a tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway [...]

Victoria’s best community radio station, 3CR (855AM) is currently holding its annual fundraising event – Radiothon 2008. The Socialist Party calls on all of our supporters to dig deep and donate to this important community asset.

The recent United Nations conference in Stockholm on the future of Iraq, featuring Condoleezza Rice, was a propaganda show for US imperialism and the government in Baghdad. The message was that “security has improved”. Millions of refugees are supposed to return while big business can do business in Iraq again. Per-Ã…ke Westerlund, from our sister [...]

Lynn Walsh, Editor of Socialism Today, reviews The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, By Charles R Morris.
Angry shareholders at the annual meeting (27 May) of Société Générale denounced the management for turning the bank into a casino.

Two dozen workers at Auckland Airport’s foodcourt staged a lightening strike on Saturday June 7 in protest about their working conditions. The strikers marched through the foodcourt demanding workplace rights and were applauded by many members of the public. Employers and security staff tried unsuccessfully to silence the upbeat strikers.

The English Premier League continues to grow in popularity here in Australia. Now that the season has drawn to a close, with the battle for the Premiership title having been fought between the usual clubs, John Reid, author of ‘Reclaim the Game’ reviews the current state of football in England. John is also a member [...]

In a powerful invocation of the memory of the brutal 1989 Beijing crackdown, nearly 50,000 Hong Kong people gathered in Victoria Park on Wednesday for a torchlight vigil to remember the fallen, and demand democratic rights and an end to one-party rule in China and Hong Kong.
By CWI reporters Hong Kong