Justifying Empire: Blair's 'hard' and 'soft' power
The Prime Minister recently claimed that fighting wars was a necessary part of building the 'soft power' Britain needs to tackle climate change and poverty. It was no co-incidence that his speech came just before George Bush announced he was to send more troops to Iraq, says Liz Davies. Read article 
The War on Terror comes to Africa
Just as the Horn of Africa was a key battleground in the Cold War, so Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia is not just a local conflict, but also an important move in the USA's strategy in the War on Terror. Nick Dearden looks at recent developements in the light of previous US interference in the region. Read article
Fairtrade and Global Justice
The sales of Fairtrade products have rocketed in the last few years as the range of products has steadily grown. Corporations who once dismissed Fairtrade are now keen to get in on the act. How much is this simply PR similar to the 'greenwash' that oil companies are coming out with, wonders James O'Nions, and is Fairtrade really a route to global justice anyway? Read article
Good Morning Beirut
As Israel continues to bombard Lebanon, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure as they are doing in Gaza, Bilal El-Amine writes from Beirut on Hizbullah's tactics and Israel's horrific response. Read article
Life on the other side of Palestine
The Jordan Valley on the eastern side of the West Bank is rarely visited by the western media. Here Palestinians try to scratch out a living alongside lush plantations built on land Israeli settlers have stolen from them. It is full of compelling evidence that Israel intends never to allow a Palestinian state to emerge, writes Nick Dearden. Read article
Newham Unites against Police Terror
The terrifying police raid in Newham at the beginning of June was justified by both Tony Blair and Ken Livingstone as the price 'we' have to pay to keep Britain safe. The people of Newham, who unlike Labour politicians are the ones actually paying that price, see it rather differently. And now, says Kevin Blowe, a history of community activism has led to widespread unity and demands for police accountability. Read article
Bolivia's Peoples' Trade Agreement
With the election of Evo Morales in Bolivia, the demands of protesters against an Andean Free Trade Agreement were turned into proposals and formed the basis of a Peoples' Trade Agreement with Venezuela and Cuba. Signed in May, it constructcs trade policy based on principles of solidarity, complementarity and co-existence with the environment. Nick Buxton argues that the agreement provides an opportunity for the global justice movement to move beyond the defensive on trade and deserves our full support. Read article
Alerta que camina! Bolivarian dreamin in Venezuela
RAN's Yasmin Khan was in Caracas in January for the part of this year's World Social Forum which took place there. In the end though, it was the concrete changes being brought about by Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution which most interested her. What does this model of social change consist of, and could it be applicable across Latin America? Read article
The moral quicksand of the moral high ground
Whilst most of the left threw themselves into opposing the attack on Iraq, a small group, mostly journalists and bloggers, stood four-square behind the US Empire. Some of those associated with this 'pro-war left' have now issued the Euston Manifesto. Mike Marqusee argues that it is both banal and dishonest. Read article
The Emerging New Euroleft
From Norways Left Socialist Party to Rifondazione Comunista in Italy, a new European left is emerging. However, the success of such parties has not been even across the continent. Hilary Wainwright argues that the new Euroleft does best, and holds out most hope for the future, when it has grown in dynamic relationship with European social movements. Read article
Saharan Fish and the EU
A decades-old, impoverished refugee population, tens of thousands of settlers, a 1000-mile wall, a stalled peace process and now an intifada in an occupied territory. This is not a description of Palestine, but a territory known as Western Sahara, writes Nick Dearden. Read article
The French revolt against Flexploitation
Naima Bouteldja argues that France's student protests are part of a wider revolt against the elite's support for a Thatcherite project, and as such are related both to last November's rioting, and to the 'non' in the vote on the European constitution. We should not expect them to be the last of such confrontations... Read article
WTO in Hong Kong: Another victory for the Multinationals
The World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting held in Hong Kong in December saw a whole series of protests, both by NGOs on the inside and Asian farmers' organisations on the outside. Yet despite all this, the meeting ended with exactly the bad deal for developing countries that trade activists had warned against, says Dave Timms... Read article
Iraq Beyond Sectarianism
Beyond daily bombings, incursions, and illegitimate governance, there are spaces of resistance, social power, and reconciliation in Iraq. Ewa Jasiewicz explains how the US occupation has helped institute structures of repression, sectarianism, social violence and alienation that exist in occupied Iraq today; but she also explores the spaces of hope and self-determination. Read article
Internationalism in Palestine
A year ago, activist Max Watson left London to work as assistant editor on News From Within, the english language journal of the Palestine-based Alternative Information Centre. The AIC is a joint Israeli/Palestinian initiative whose work facilitates that of other grassroots campaign groups. Now back in the UK, Max recounts his experiences as part of a small but inspiring network of internationalists fighting against house demolitions, the apartheid wall and the occupation.. Read article