What's new at Links - Indonesia, Malaysia, Venezuela/Colombia/Ecuador; Peru; India; Cuba Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:24:56 -0500 (CDT) [Keep in touch with Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal. Subscribe free to the weekly ``what's new at Links'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373] Indonesia: Students launch nationalisation campaign By Katarina Pujiastuti March 1, 2008 -- Beginning last Monday, the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) held two-day demonstrations in Jakarta to campaign for the nationalisation of oil, gas and mining industries. On the first day, about 150 students representing several campuses in Java and Sumatra protested against ExxonMobil in front of the commercial building that houses its headquarters. The richest energy company was targeted because it recently attacked Chavez's anti-imperialist government by taking legal action to freeze the assets of the Venezuelan state's oil company, PDVSA. ``Therefore, LMND made a good decision in protesting in front of Exxon's headquarters, as the company rightly symbolises foreign corporation in the extractive sector'', said Rudi Hartono, an LMND leader. * 1 comment * Read more Malaysia: Socialist Party wins two seats By Peter Boyle The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) won two of the four seats it contested in the general elections on March 8. Dr Jeyakumar, a central committee member of the PSM defeated a senior leaders of the ruling Barisan Nasional, Minister of Works Samy Vellu, in the seat of Sungai Siput in Perak. Last August I visited Sungai Siput with Jeyakumar and other PSM comrades. Their strong base among plantation workers (mostly descendants of indentured labourers brought from India in the British colonial era) was very obvious. PSM president Dr Nasir Hashim won the state Legislative Assemby seat of Kota Damansara in Selangor. Today is a great day for all Malaysian opposition parties including PSM, declared the partys website. * 4 comments * Read more US/Colombia hands off Venezuela and Ecuador! Act now to stop war in Latin America Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network March 5, 2008 -- What only a few days ago seemed like a remote prospect has suddenly become a real possibility. The Colombian militarys brutal massacre of 21 (at last count) guerrillas with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Peoples Army (FARC-EP), including Raul Reyes, the FARC's chief negotiator and spokesperson, in Ecuador on March 1 marks a dramatic leap in the United States' plan to potentially trigger off an armed confrontation between Colombia and Venezuela. * 7 comments * Read more Repression in Peru intensifies By Hugo Blanco March 4, 2008 -- Not long ago repression in Peru was more a matter of laws than actions. Now, however, APRA's legislation (APRA is President Alan Garcma's party), with basic support from the ultra-rightist Unidad Nacional party, and from the party of Fujimori, who is now being tried for massive crimes, and with no consequent parliamentary opposition, is being used to launch a full assault against the people. * Read more India: CPI(M) -- Reconciling `anti-imperialist' rhetoric with `neoliberal constraints' Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) * Read more Cuba: Prelude to succession By Nelson P. Valdis The transfer of political power away from Fidel Castro was planned years ago. Preparation for it went into effect when he fell ill, and by the end of July 2006 Fidel provisionally delegated power to his brother Razl. What had been provisional became permanent on February 18, 2008. But this was no longer a personal delegation of power; rather, the decision would depend on what elected officials at the National Assembly decided. Over the years, there has been much speculation, and many imaginary scenarios have been concocted, regarding the end of the charismatic leader's rule. But what these various alternative scripts did not consider was the possibility of several preludes to succession. * 2 comments * Read more Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au