By Farooq Tariq
Instability, price hikes, growing unemployment and rising debts are the hallmark of the first nine month of Pakistan Peoples Party government. There are daily demonstrations across Pakistan on one or another issue by the masses.

LMND/Papernas: On Thursday (18/12/08), two helicopters flew in circles and used napalm, the kind used by the US troops in Vietnam, against farmers' settlement in Dusun Solok Bongkal, Beringin Village, Sub-District of Pinggir, Bengkalis, Riau. In seconds, about 700 citizens' houses were burnt down, along with the farming lands, productive tools, and furniture that could not be saved by their owners. Furthermore, about a thousand thugs and five hundred armed police personnel were deployed to evict the citizens. Police opened fire not only to scare the citizens, but also aimed at them, so that two citizens were shot. Ironically, a toddler named Fitri (2 years old) was so frightened that she fell into a well and died. During the incident, about 200 citizens were arrested and detained at Mandau Police station, and about 400 more are hiding in the forest of Kampung Dalam, while surrounded by hundreds of police and thugs who hunt them like outlaws. Apparently, the Indonesian Police cooperation with the US military results in the former's use of napalm in a scorched earth against people's houses.

Report by Bakht Gir Choudry
December 18, 2008: As a demand for 24-hour general strike for the restoration of Iftikhar Choudry, the deposed chief justice of Supreme Court, was made by spokesperson Labour Party Pakistan Farooq Tariq, there was non stop clapping for few minutes by the lawyers. The Lahore High Court Bar Association had invited Farooq Tariq as their main speaker on 18 December at the general body meeting held in Kiyani Hall Lahore. Hundreds of top lawyers of Pakistan have filled the hall.

Oppressed People’s Movement (Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas, Jerit), December 18, 2008: People's power has spoken once again! With the roars from a strong crowd of 500 people, the young militant cyclists, who from December 3 conducted their "Cycle for Change" campaign throughout Malaysia, pedalled bravely into the grounds of the parlaiment, which definitely belongs to them, "THE PEOPLE". After almost 16 days' journey through the states of Malaysia, they brought the people's demands to the ears of their representatives!
The six demands were: 1. Legislate a Minimum Wage Act; 2. Abolish draconian laws; 3. Adequate housing for the people; 4. Control prices; 5. Stop the privatisation of public services; 6. Revive local municipal council elections. The was one of the Jerit's ways of raising awareness about issues like food shortages, global food shortage, environmental problems, draconian laws and the financial crisis -- in an eco-friendly way to boot.

By Giles Ji Ungpakorn
Bangkok, December 15, 2008: The appointment of ``Democrat'' Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the new Prime Minister of Thailand is the final stage of the second coup against an elected government. After the deliberate chaos created by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seizure of the airports, the courts stepped in to dissolve the hugely popular governing Thai Rak Thai (Peoples Power Party) for the second time. [The constitutional court dissolved the party for fraud in the 2007 election that brought it to power.] The army chief then called a meeting of Democrat Party parliamentarians, along with some of the most corrupt elements of the governing coalition parties. It is widely believed that the army chief and others threatened and bribed MPs to change sides. Chief among them is ``Newin Chitchorp'', who was named by his father after the infamous Burmese dictator.

By Dipankar Bhattacharya
CPIML-Liberation, December 15, 2008: The recent siege of Mumbai for nearly three days by a small band of well-trained terrorists has almost universally come to be described as ``India’s 9/11’’. In terms of sheer audacity of planning and execution, the places targeted and the scale and range of people killed and injured, the Mumbai terror siege can surely be bracketed with the original 9/11, and in terms of the duration of the skirmish it can also claim to have left the original way behind.
The analogy between New York 9/11 and Mumbai 26/11 must not however be confined to these operational details. What is most important is to recognise the Mumbai attack was an extension of the same terror trajectory that struck New York seven years ago. What should we learn from this?

By Joe Collins
AWPA, December 9, 2008: Just days before International Human Rights Day, Indonesian police including Brimob attacked Papuan members of the GKIP church (Gereja Kemah Injil Papua/(Tabernacle Bible Church of Papua) in Nabire West Papua. 12 members were beaten, 5 students shot and wounded
AWPA (Sydney) calls on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to raise the human rights situation in West Papua with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Bali Democracy Forum (10-12 December ).

By Kelik Ismunanto
29 November 2008: After such a long period of time in a vacuum, uncertain of how to respond to change caused by neoliberal economic policies, little by little, democracy movement activists have been able to wrest back the political podium.

November 15, 2008
It's all too often that the US military accepts civilian casualties as a necessary evil. An internal Air Force report describes its excessively violent methods as well as how officials have been trying to placate surviving family members with money.
The wedding ceremony was winding down. The bride said goodbye to her family in the small village of Wech Baghtu in Afghanistan's troubled southern Kandahar Province. It was Monday, Nov. 3.