Sept. 30, 2006

Deval Patrick won the Massachusetts Democratic primaries Sept. 19 against venture capitalist Chris Gabrieli and State Attorney General Tom Reilly.

MANCHESTER, England — Thousands of peace protesters descended on this northern British city last weekend to tell Prime Minister Tony Blair to “take your wars and privatization with you when you go.”

Thousands of people in Lares, Puerto Rico, lashed out at the United States last weekend while marking the anniversary of the colony’s first call for independence and denouncing the FBI for the shooting death of independence leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios a year ago

UNITED NATIONS — Convening under the theme of “Unfinished business: effective partnerships for human security and sustainable development,” the 59th annual UN Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations met here Sept. 6-8.

South Africa: Militants step up struggle against AIDS
Philippines: Resistance to human rights abuses
Palestine: Humanitarian crisis intenstifies
Haiti: Dealing with crushing debt
South Korea: Protests over U.S. base expansion

BERLIN — Although the German elections on Sept. 17 were in only two of Germany’s 16 states, they involved many key questions.

WASHINGTON — The struggle for the freedom of the Cuban Five reached a new level Sept. 23 when activists from 30 U.S. cities across the nation marched on the White House to demand their release. The march was followed by a public forum at George Washington University.

After a secret speech by Hungarian Premier Ferenc Gyurcsany, in which he admitted to having lied to Hungarians “morning, noon and night” about the state of the economy, was leaked to the press, Sept. 17, all hell broke loose.

HOUSTON — Demanding wage increases to $8.50 per hour, more work hours, and access to health care, a convention of 800 janitors voted overwhelmingly Sept. 23 to authorize their SEIU bargaining committee to call the city’s 5,300 union janitors out on strike if necessary.