This book is a collection of 33 short biographies about the lives and actions of people who are deeply committed in changing the world...It includes spiritual activists who fight hard on issues from gay rights, environment, peace workers, child advocacy and land reformers...This book profiles members of the Communist Party – USA.

Every day, we are fed the rhetorical discourse of free trade, but the taxes which the United States applies to imports from the Third World are twenty times steeper than those applied to imports from developed countries. Every year, rich countries spend 300 billion dollars to subsidize agricultural productions which muscle South countries out of the market, while hypocritically talking about free trade

Sovereignty talks between Britain and Argentina were instituted in 1964 by the UN Committee for Decolonization and were haltingly underway when forty Argentine scrap metal workmen were sent by their foreman to the South Georgia islands on March 19, 1982 to dismantle a defunct whaling station. They landed without permission of the British Antarctic Survey base at Grytviken, raised the Argentine flag, sang their national anthem and refused to leave

President Bush nominated Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) for the top job at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a member of Congress, Cox has a long record of undermining protections for working families, retirees and their pension funds at nearly every opportunity.

Perhaps it is because the little cuddly monster is red. Maybe they fear his ideology of letters, imaginary friends, and childish creativity. The decade-long war the Republicans have waged against Elmo and his friends at Sesame Street and other PBS shows that inhabit the imaginations of millions of children may be nearing its end.

Clearly, the government’s efforts to limit civil liberties during wartime are a long-standing tradition. But so is the willingness of the American people to allow it. Hopefully, current discussions regarding the Patriot Act will encourage the public to respond differently this time.

The needs and interests of the youth of our country have been compromised by the dominant capitalist economy, and thus, compromising the gains that the ANC-led government have ushered for the past 11 years...Although the gallantry and [bravery] of the youth of 1976 laid a basis for a new wave of popular and mass protest against the Apartheid government, and actually brought it to its knees, those actions are at ... risk

It was in honor of the Haymarket Martyrs that labor and socialist representatives at a conference in 1889, the 100th anniversary of the French revolution, planned international demonstrations for the eight-hour day and labor’s rights for May 1, 1890, the historical beginning of May Day as the labor and socialist movement day of global solidarity.

"Our countries are included for exploitation but excluded from development.," Castro denounced in his message to the Doha Summit, which is calling for larger South-South trade exchange and integration.

The GSFP is made up of members of American families who have lost their loved ones in Iraq and it is headed by a mother -Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, California- whose son Army Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan was killed last year in Sadr City, Baghdad

The new president postponed the task of forming the government team in order to prioritize the social truce reached yesterday with the grassroots organizations of El Alto, a bastion of the social protest that laid siege to Mesa and resisted lifting it with the argument that they were not calling for another president.

Yes, in the right Hollywood context, death can be good, dirty fun - comic book-style staging robs sadistic scenes of their basic cruelty.Like Bond movies, violence is Tom and Jerry-style, albeit with convincing blood. The convention works well enough for the frequent outbursts of action, carnage and motorised mayhem punctuating the couple’s family feuding.

Bolton’s role in the Bustani Affair helped block alternatives to the Iraq war. It reflected his personal as well as the administration’s bullying style of "diplomacy" when it came to clearing obstacles to attacking Iraq and demonstrates his personal disdain for international law and institutions, especially the UN.

So far 1,700 US soldiers and tens of thousands, even as many as 100,000 Iraqis have suffered for this egregious display of politicking, manipulation of facts and fabrication of rationale in order to build public support, and cynicism. It is clear that a serious crime has been committed and the truth must be brought to light

“Our fundamental goal is a progressive, modern, civilized labor law that guarantees workers’ rights,” says Falah Alwan, president of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions of Iraq. “We have an incredible opportunity to build a progressive, independent labor movement that could be a model for the entire Middle East.”

Despite reports that President Bush has misled the public about the need for and the effectiveness of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Republican-controlled US Senate is considering renewal and expansion of powers authorized by this law.

Here's another of our occasional book round ups; this is number three, consisting of short notices, from many sources of works we haven’t been able to fully review. These are essentially reviews of book reviews. If any of you are inspired to read one of these books and want to write a full review for us, please contact pabooks@politicalaffairs.net.

The Bush administration demands higher standards of democracy from countries abroad than it is willing to practice here at home, insists a new report published by American Rights at Work, a non-partisan organization that advocates for workers rights...Unfortunately, Bush’s standard of democracy seems to apply only to countries that it doesn’t like or is trying to impose its agenda on

"We are an island in the state," [Javier Diaz,75-year-old retired guidance counselor in El Paso Public Schools] says. "El Paso is a proud blue collar town, but we are promoted as being little more than low wages, cheap labor, and not worth giving a damn about. We have a political elite in Texas that wants to just strangle common people like us that live in Segundo Barrio. That's why Basketball in the Barrio is so important..."

One of the principal thrusts of the new legislation is to force workers on to individual contracts called “Australian Workplace Agreements” (AWAs) thus eliminating collective representation. The new legislation will also make on-the-job access to workers more difficult for elected trade union officials.