James Bovard might be called a libertarian conservative. In Terrorism and Tyranny, he has written a valuable answer to those in the Bush administration who advocate something like the worst of pre World War II imperialism as a policy to fight "international terrorism" in the world, regardless of its effects on the rights of Americans or the lives of the world’s people.

» Find more of the online edition.

Last Saturday’s federal election can only be regarded as a savage blow to all democratic minded and peace loving people, to workers and their trade unions, to other sections of the labour movement, to Indigenous Australians, and to many others, including Australia’s neighbours. It was a defeat for the environment. It was a significant victory for conservatism and extreme right-wing politics.

» Find more of the online edition.

One of the most remarkable aspects of contemporary international affairs has been the sharp deterioration of relations between the United States and the European Union, particularly the leaders of this grouping: Germany and France. A motor driving the EU over the years has been France, which over the years has not accepted wholly why its brand of imperialism should be subordinate to that of the U.S.

» Find more of the online edition.

Rudolph Giuliani unfortunately remains an ace in the hole for the Bush administration. We received a taste of this last March when John Ashcroft fell seriously ill, and Giuliani instantly appeared on the major TV news programs, grooming himself to become Ashcroft's obvious replacement. When incompetent CIA director George Tenet unexpectedly resigned, Giuliani's name immediately surfaced in the media as a possible permanent successor.

» Find more of the online edition.

In the elections held in Afghanistan last weekend, many reporters concentrated on the extraordinary spectacle of women queueing, their blue burkas billowing, at the polling stations. George Bush also hit upon this as proof of the success of the American presence in Afghanistan. But the Americans and the British did not go into Afghanistan to defend women's rights, however eagerly our politicians sell that picture back to us.

» Find more of the online edition.

We should be careful not become guilty of blowing out of proportion and then tagging hastily the causalities of the 9/11 attacks. Now, this is not to minimize the tragicness of the events or to create room for a loose framework for deterrence. Rather, it is to ensure that in the process of dealing with those groups lazily called American enemies we don’t end up becoming just like the people we hate to be like.

» Find more of the online edition.

In September, protesters gathered in Washington, DC to demand the elimination of debt for poor countries to allow them to save their resources to fight AIDS. In August, naked ACTUP demonstrators raised the call at the Republican National Convention. The call for debt relief to fight AIDS has been an important demand of the anti-AIDS community for several years. It is time the world takes this step.

» Find more of the online edition.

One of the late 20th Century’s most influential thinkers died last Friday (Oct. 8) in Paris. Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of "deconstruction" has influenced religion, psychotherapy, feminism, law, Marxism, literary criticism, architecture, art and cultural studies.

» Find more of the online edition.

The Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) hosted a fringe meeting at the British Labour Party Conference in Brighton on 29 September 2004, chaired by Harry Barnes Labour MP who is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and who opposed the war on Iraq.

» Find more of the online edition.