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Venezuela: Chávez urges opposition to acknowledge results of referendum
By: El Universal, February 9, 2009
President Hugo Chávez said the he would immediately recognize an eventual defeat in next February 15 referendum of his proposal to establish endless reelection of all elected offices, and he asked opposition leaders to act the same way. "I would like to hear the same statement from opposition leaders," Chávez said. "We believe in people's will," the Venezuelan ruler stressed. "We must recognize the results and keep on marching." In the same vein, Chávez also called dissenters to recognize him as the President of Venezuela. In his view, this would a significant step forward towards better understanding. "There are some sectors, however, that do not recognize me, that hate me and want to chop me," Chávez said.
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Venezuelans campaign on term limits amid rising tension
By: NY Times, Simon Romero, February 8, 2009
In the final days before a referendum that will determine whether President Hugo Chávez can run for re-election indefinitely, campaigning has taken on a noticeable, and sometimes ugly, edge. The campaign on a referendum to allow President Hugo Chávez to run for re-election indefinitely has intensified, with both supporters, pictured, and opponents holding rallies on Saturday. Antigovernment protests have intensified in some cities, despite government pressure, and pro-Chávez vigilantes have attacked institutions like the Caracas mayor's office and the Vatican's diplomatic mission.
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United States: 1.5 Million demand right to unionize
By: OneWorld US, February 6, 2009
Thousands of U.S. workers and their allies -- bringing with them 1.5 million signatures from supporters -- rallied in Washington, DC this Wednesday to back a bill that would reinstate workers' freedom to form unions and bargain, reports a coalition of international labor unions.
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Venezuela: University students refuse to play along with government "show"
By: El Universal, February 6, 2009
Student leaders Thursday said that they will not play along with the "show" and the "smoke screen" staged by the government with the detention of Miguel Ponte, a student at the Metropolitan University (Unimet), a private university in Caracas, after raiding his house early Thursday morning. According to Alejandro Mejías, one of the student leaders, these actions show "that we are doing fine. We are on the right track, because the government is trying to intimidate us with this type of actions. They are trying to criminalize us." 
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United States: 14 arrested in West Virginia trying to stop Massey's mountaintop removal "madness"
By: Sue Sturgis, Facing South, February 5, 2009
Demonstrating environmental activists' growing willingness to take nonviolent direct action in the fight against dirty coal, 14 people were arrested yesterday for trespassing during a protest at a mountaintop removal mining site in West Virginia. The action took place on Coal River Mountain in Pettus, W.V., where Massey Energy plans to begin a mountaintop removal operation that will involve blasting over underground mines and near the Brushy Fork Impoundment -- a dam holding some 7 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge.
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Colombian women against violence
By: Andrew Willis Garcés, Upside Down World, February 4, 2009
Alejandra Miller Restrepo, Cauca regional coordinator of Ruta Pacifica de la Mujeres, talks about this thirteen-year-old movement of Colombian women against violence. The group is famous for groundbreaking direct actions joining campesino, black, indigenous and urban women in massive mobilizations or "rutas," often held in locations controlled by armed groups who target women.
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El Salvador: Pressure from Pacific Rim mining company intensifies, anti-mining activist's home robbed
By: CISPES/Uside Down World, February 4, 2009
The community of San Isidro, Cabañas in El Salvador has been the site of a powerful resistance movement against gold mining since 2006, effectively shutting down the El Dorado mining site and winning a victory against the Canadian-based Pacific Rim Mining Company. The militant resistance in San Isidro is a reflection of broad-based popular opposition to mining across El Salvador, the force of which has prevented the right-wing ARENA government from approving the environmental permits for Pacific Rim to begin gold exploitation.
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Ask the Ecuadorian government to protect the rights of environmental and human rights defenders
By: Ecuador Solidarity Network, February 3, 2009
The Ecuador Solidarity Network, an organization based in Canada and the United States joins human rights and indigenous peoples organizations in calling on Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to recognize campesino and indigenous groups opposed to a new mining law and large scale metal mining as acting in defense of their economic and social rights as recognized by international treaties and in Ecuador's constitution.
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Guadeloupe: A new social movement
By: Fabienne Flessel, Global Voices, January 29, 2009
Guadeloupe has been in a state of social unrest for about a week now after a call for action was launched by l'UGTG [Fr], a local trade union which defends the interests of Guadeloupean workers. The move aimed to express the dissatisfaction and frustration of Guadeloupean people after years of shady price fixing and skyrocketing prices for household products.
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Anatomy of an investigation: The Colombian state's war against civil society
By: Garry Leech, Colombia Journal, January 26, 2009
Aidee Moreno Ibagué recently learned that the Colombian government is investigating her for the crime of rebellion. But Moreno Ibagué has not taken up arms against the state. She does not plant bombs in Colombia's cities. Nor does she carry an AK-47 assault rifle in the jungles of rural Colombia where leftist guerrillas have been fighting to overthrow the government for more than four decades. She is a lawyer who lives in the capital Bogotá. More specifically, she is a human rights lawyer...
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