Two articles reporting the October 11-14, 2007, Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum, held in Melbourne. The first written by Lisa Macdonald from Australia's Green Left Weekly and the second by Roger Annis from Canada's Socialist Voice.

By Farooq Tariq
There has been never any other better time in history of Pakistan for greater left unity than the present time. There is a great urge among all the left and progressive forces to unite on one platform.

By Jonathan Strauss

The theory of the labour aristocracy argues that opportunism in the working class has a material basis. Such class-collaborationist politics express the interests of a relatively privileged stratum of workers who receive benefits supported by monopoly superprofits. Karl Marx and, especially, Frederick Engels, first developed this theory. It is most closely associated with V.I. Lenin, however, for whom it became “the pivot of the tactics in the labour movement that are dictated by the objective conditions of the imperialist era”.[1]

Statements on the Burmese struggle for democracy from the Socialist Party of Malaysia, the Indonesian solidarity movement, the Australian Socialist Alliance and the Philippines' Partido ng Manggagawa.

Socialist Party of Malaysia

PRESS STATEMENT : 27 SEPTEMBER 2007

The SACP and COSATU have been fiddling with the same strategic and political choice for over 15 years now.

Living in Caracas, Venezuela, for a year during 2006, the most striking impression one gained is of a tumultuous mass movement, in which the social energies of the people have been released in an outpouring of revolutionary enthusiasm and creativity. One was constantly reminded of Vladimir Lenin’s description of revolution as a “festival of the oppressed”.

In August, the Appeal Court dismissed the Socialist Party of Malaysia's (PSM) application to be registered as a political party, with costs. All major newspapers in the country carried the news.

On February 24, 2006, a Friday, the Philippine media reported an aborted coup d’etat allegedly launched by rebel military forces against the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It was supposed to be headed by young officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) led by a former senator and colonel, Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan.

At the most recent general election, in July 2005, Lalit presented candidates in all twenty constituencies.1 In the ten days leading up to polling day, the national radio and TV station carried party political broadcasts in short slots recorded by members of parties participating in the election.

By Graham Matthews

Work Choices is the Orwellian name given by the Australian federal Liberal-National (conservative) Coalition government to its second wave of industrial relations legislation, passed through parliament on December 2, 2005, and proclaimed as law on March 27.