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Three women were taken into custody by Israeli state forces after a raid on the offices of the international peace group, the ISM, on Friday 9 May.
Twenty military vehicles, army jeeps and a large armoured personnel carrier surrounded the ISM media office. Two Americans and a Palestinian woman were arrested and computers were confiscated at the office in Beit Sahour.
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Maximum profile, minimum action
By Dan Katz
Less than two weeks have passed since the publication of the long awaited "road map" peace plan for Israel Peace Plan- officially a joint venture by the US and European powers - yet already it has disappeared from the diplomatic discourse.
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Every single part of Murdoch's vast empire of papers and media supported Bush and Blair's drive for war. On one man's say so, irrespective of what "public opinion" really was, they pumped out war propaganda. That is why it is so important that the labour movement and socialist groups have their own papers to get their message across.
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The slum area of Baghdad populated mainly by Shi'a Muslims, and known under the dictatorship as Saddam City, technically has reverted to its old name, Thawra (Revolution) City; in fact, its people call it Sadr City, after the Shi'a leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, who is emerging as one of the contenders for power in post-Ba'athist Iraq.
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By Vicki Morris
What has 4,600 members and puts the wind up FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist?
Not the scab outfit the Retained Firefighters Union, that's for sure - contrary to its claims, it probably only has a thousand members. The answer is... a website.
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(You alone know what is right?)
Weekly Worker is sometimes very bizarre indeed. Most of us become more calm and reflective when we sit down in a quiet corner to write. Some Weekly Worker writers who in person are mild and sane-seeming turn into crazies when they rev up to go into print.
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Quick victory, slow recovery
The pro-war camp crows about the speed and relatively low casualty rate of the war on Iraq. Estimates of huge casualties and an unquenchable tide of refugees were grossly exaggerated, the implication being that the anti-war movement was mobilised under false pretences. What this leaves out is that the effects of war last long after the fighting has stopped.
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By Pablo Velasco
Korean truck drivers' strike
A strike by 1,000 South Korean truck drivers has escalated into a national dispute after thousands of other drivers walked out in solidarity. The dispute began on 2 May in Pohang, with workers from the Korea Cargo Transportation Workers' Union demanding better wages and trade union rights. The strikes paralysed steel shipments from the city, the hub of Korea's steel industry.
Drivers in the capital Seoul and other cities such as Inchon came out in solidarity. The strike has held up car manufacturing, shipbuilding and other export industries. The strike shows the power a small number of strategically placed workers have in disrupting the economy.
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Speakers:
Catalina from CAT, Mexican workers' support group, Puebla, speaking about the recent dispute with Puma and the wage negotiations at the Mexmode plant,
Monina Wong - Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee,
+ Anton Marcus, a union organiser of free trade areas in Sri Lanka
Wednesday 21 May at 7.00, upstairs at
the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton (corner of Brixton High Street and Coldharbour Lane)
No Sweat steering group
Meets in central London,
2.00-5.00 Saturday 17 May
Venue details: 07904 431959
All welcome.
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By Dan Katz
Evian, a small French town on the border with Switzerland, will be the heavily guarded venue for the G8 summit, to be held at the start of June.
Protesters will assemble around an exclusion zone, converging on the French side around Annemasse and, over the Swiss border, in Geneva. Anti-capitalist camps and "villages" will settle on both sides of the border. Activists from dozens of campaigns and political organisations will attempt to blockade roads leading to Evian, and prevent delegates, many of whom will be staying in Geneva, from attending.
Four-counter summits - on debt, the WTO, pensions and privatisation, and on Iraq - will convene on Saturday 31 May. And on Sunday 1 June mass demonstrations will take place on both sides of the border. The protests will continue until 3 June when the summit is scheduled to end.
