The statement below was released by Asian left groups on June 25. To add your organisation’s name, email international@socialist-alliance.org.
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Israel stands increasingly isolated after its manufactured confrontation on May 31, 2010, with the peace flotilla, in which nine Turkish activists on the Mavi Marmara were murdered. So now is the time to increase the pressure on Israel to lift the siege of Gaza.
Israel’s criminal blockade of Gaza aims to collectively punish 1.5 million Gazans for their choice of government.

By Maqsood Mujahid

By Tony Iltis, Green Left Weekly
June 27, 2010 -- On June 25, ABC News Radio reported 79 occupation soldiers had been killed so far that month, the highest number in any month since the October 2001 US-led invasion.
On June 23, US President Barack Obama sacked the commander of US-led occupation forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal — but not for the rising body count.

[Rally for West Papuan independence in Port Vila, Vanuatu, March 5. Vanuatu will officially sponsor the case of West Papua in the International Court of Justice. Photo: Asia-pacific-action.org.]
By Ash Pemberton, Green Left Weekly
June 27, 2010 -- Indonesian military forces have stepped up their campaign of repression in West Papua in recent months. But leaders of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) continue to defy Indonesian demands to surrender.
The campaign for West Papuan independence has been amplified by the continuing repression and lack of improvement of living standards under the current “special autonomy” system.

Green Left Weekly, June 26, 2010
The deaths of three Australian commandos in a helicopter crash on June 21 should bring home the message: it's time to leave Afghanistan.
The deaths bring the total number of Australians killed in the occupation to 16. This, not to mention the countless thousands of Afghan deaths, should be enough reason to call an end to Australian participation in this war.

[Tamil solidarity rally, Sydney, April 2009. The situation is grim for Tamils in Sri Lanka, but one bright spot is the growing organisation and mobilisation of Tamils in the diaspora. Photo: Peter Boyle.]
By Chris Slee, Green Left Weekly
June 27, 2010 -- More than a year after its victory over the pro-independence Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) continues to hold large areas of land in the predominantly Tamil north and east of Sri Lanka as “high security zones” (HSZ).
Many of the Tamil inhabitants who were evicted from these areas to create the HSZs during the decades-long war are still unable to return to their homes.

By Raul Connolly, Green Left Weekly
June 27, 2010 -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on June 22 the formation of a three-member panel to advise him on whether Sri Lanka committed crimes during the last months of its war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Reuters said that day.

Merak refugee Bahirathan (pictured) drowned on June 8 while attempting to reach Australia. He is seen here holding the Australian Offshore Humanitarian Visa application in his right hand.
June 19, 2010 -- Green Left Weekly’s Niko Leka spoke to refugee advocate Saradha Nathan. Last year, Nathan travelled to Indonesia with other refugee advocates, to inspect conditions in Australian-funded detention centres there and take aid and visa application forms to the Tamils stranded on the boat at Merak.
She spoke about the fate of those refugees, some of who are now in detention, and some who recently tried again to come to Australia — with fatal consequences.
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On June 7, a boat ferrying asylum seekers to a larger boat bound for Australia capsized. Seven Tamils died after being in the water for almost 12 hours. Two survived.
Two of those who died had been on the Jaya Lestari, the boat that was stranded in the Indonesian port of Merak for six months, after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called Indonesian authorities and asked them to “intercept” them en route to Australia.

[At least a dozen workers at Foxconn, the company that manufactures the iPhone for Apple in China, have committed suicide in the past year, putting a spotlight on China’s workplace practices. Image: Photochopz.com.]
By Chris Maisano -- June 20, 2010
The next time someone tells you that Marx or Marxism is outdated because capitalism is not as exploitative as it was in the 19th century, just crack open your copy of Capital, turn to the chapter on the working day, and compare its vivid depiction of the brutalisation of the British working class to the state of the working class in China today.

Introduction by Danielle Sabai and Pierre Rousset
June 20, 2010 -- The crackdown on the opposition in Thailand and the abuses of the regime have not been met with the solidarity response and the international condemnation that the situation requires. The regime can thus freely operate and stifle the democratic movement.
News from Thailand is alarming: hundreds of people detained for violations of the emergency decree, including children; injured people chained to their hospital beds; several assassinations of local leaders of the Red Shirts have taken place. The country is moving deeper into an authoritarian and military regime. The elite are even considering postponing the elections for six years, thus giving Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva the possibility of leading the country for ten years against the will of the majority of Thai citizens.