By Hugo Chavez

Address to the UN New York – September 20, 2006

First, and with all respect, I highly recommend this book by Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious intellectuals in America and the world, Chomsky. One of his most recent works: Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance (The American Empire Project). [Waves the book in front of General Assembly.] It’s an excellent work to understand what’s happened in the world in the 20th Century, what’s currently happening, and the greatest threat on this planet; the hegemonic pretension of the North American imperialism endangers the human race’s survival.
Continue reading Hugo Chavez Address to the United Nations →

By Linda E. Edwards

Comments on the speech by His Holiness Benedict XV1 at the University of Rothenburg on September 12, 2006.

Thank You, Editors of the Guardian Unlimited UK, for reproducing the speech in its entirety so that people everywhere who write and think in English could follow what was said.
Continue reading The Pope’s Lecture in Germany →

by Jeremy Page

The Government hopes that its offer of £580 will help to break an unjust hierarchy

THE Indian Government is offering 50,000 rupees (£580) to higher-caste people who marry spouses from the lowest castes in its latest controversial effort to dismantle the ancient Hindu social hierarchy.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment made the proposal yesterday amid a growing controversy over plans to expand quotas for lower-caste students at schools and universities.

The scheme is already under attack, with conservatives saying it will trigger social chaos and liberals arguing that few will accept the offer — and fewer will receive the funds.

The proposed bonus is a small fortune in a country where average annual income per capita is £280, and where official corruption is rampant.
Full Article : timesonline.co.uk

All around the world, from Sierra Leone to Sri Lanka, the violent legacy of colonialism can still be witnessed

By Richard Gott, The Guardian UK

Many of the present conflicts in the world take place in the former colonial territories that Britain abandoned, exhausted and impoverished, in the years after the second world war. This disastrous imperial legacy is still highly visible, and it is one of the reasons why the British empire continues to provoke such harsh debate. If Britain made such a success of its colonies, why are so many in an unholy mess half a century later, major sources of violence and unrest?
Continue reading The brutal story of British empire continues to this day →

A perilous excursion into the distant past, starting seven whole weeks ago

By Alexander Cockburn, counterpunch.org

As the tv networks give unlimited airtime to Israel’s apologists, the message rolls out that no nation, least of all Israel, can permit bombardment or armed incursion across its borders without retaliation.

The guiding rule in this tsunami of drivel is that the viewers should be denied the slightest access to any historical context, or indeed to anything that happened prior to June 28, which was when the capture of an Israeli soldier and the killing of two others by Hamas hit the headlines, followed soon thereafter by an attack by a unit of Hezbollah’s fighters.
Continue reading Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need To Know →

By Michael De Gale
mdegale@hotmail.com

The world gasped when Zinedine Zidane landed a devastating head butt squarely in the chest of Marco Materazzi during the final match of the 2006 World Cup game in Germany. What no one witnessed at that time was the psychological violence unleashed on Zidane, coloured athletes in every sport throughout their professional careers and peoples of colour the world over on a daily basis. Zidane’s head butt was not the source; it was the effect of racist behaviour that has been allowed to fester in professional sports and in society as a whole. It was a reaction to the cancer of racism that eats away at the moral fabric of societies, putting a strain on human relations and rendering harmonious co-existence among human beings virtually impossible.
Continue reading A Headbutt On Racism →