Colombian left unites to beat rightists
Colombian politics, notable for corruption, bossism and violence, took a positive turn Oct. 28 when candidates of the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), Colombia’s new, left-progressive coalition party, won local electoral victories. Leaders are looking to 2010, when the party will contest the re-election of President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. protégé.
LETTERS: November 10
Compromising position Genocide is genocide Remembering Ish Flory More jobs Che’s hair Important facts to the story
Hollywood writers strike forces re-runs
The first strike by Hollywood writers in 20 years began Nov. 5 with picket lines set up coast to coast. The strike has already disrupted soap operas, talk shows, and, more important, the flow of advertising money into network coffers.
Still refusing to talk, hog boss sues union
On Oct. 15 management at Smithfield’s Tar Heel, N.C., plant broke off negotiations with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and a day later filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the union which includes within it petitions to silence community, religious and other groups that have been supporting the 14-year struggle to unionize the plant.
WORLD NOTES: November 10
Guatemala: Colom wins presidency East Timor: Students, farmers protest industrial agriculture United Arab Emirates: Migrant workers resist Burundi: Workers strike national government France: Unions up in arms
Chinas party congress stresses balanced growth
The 17th Congress of the Communist Party of China was held Oct. 15-19 in Beijing. Over 2,200 delegates, representing 73 million party members, discussed far-reaching goals for economic, political, social and international work. Amendments were made to the party’s constitution. Lastly, central committee members were elected by secret ballot and a new top leadership was announced.
Death penalty widely seen as fatally flawed
Only 15 minutes before Earl Wesley Berry was to be executed by lethal injection in Mississippi’s Parchman state prison, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution. The high court has recently blocked three executions.
NATIONAL CLIPS: November 10
CHARLESTON, W.Va.: Protest demands hate crime charge HOUSTON: Commit a racist act, lose your job EVANSVILLE, Ind.: Voters ‘step up’ to halt climate change ATLANTA: Majority of Southern students are poor
Civil liberties advocates urge defeat of Mukasey
WASHINGTON — Defenders of the Bill of Rights called on the U.S. Senate, Nov. 6, to reject Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s choice to replace the disgraced Alberto Gonzales for U.S. attorney general. They cited Judge Mukasey’s evasive answers on whether waterboarding — the practice of repeatedly bringing a prisoner to the point of drowning — is torture, suggesting that he will continue Gonzales’ practice of trashing the Constitution to satisfy Bush’s drive for total power.
Anti-immigrant tactic flops, Dems advance in Virginia
Democrats made significant electoral advances in Virginia Nov. 6, as the key Republican tactic of harping on undocumented immigration appears to have fizzled.
