According to reports from the Public commission for investigating the bloody events of 16-17th December in Aktau, young workers from the “OzenMunaiGaz” company who have been arrested in Zhenaozen are being thrown into the open yard at the remand prison and are having water thrown over them. The temperature is currently MINUS 17 CELSIUS. The torturers are attempting to get the workers to admit to rioting and to give evidence against their friends.

The occupation of Wall Street was spirited and energetic from the start. This ongoing occupation has drawn national and international attention, seen as attempt to stand up to corporate greed and challenge the domination of the big banks over our economy, our government and our lives. It's drawn inspiration from the mass youth occupations in Spain and Greece, as well as the revolutionary upheavals in Tunisia, Egypt and across North Africa and the Middle East.

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama repeatedly and specifically promised that “as President, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act and adhere to the Geneva Conventions.” While acknowledging the improprieties of detainee treatment under his predecessors, he asserted that “America doesn’t torture.” While these pledges were largely welcomed by a public wearied of the policies of the Bush administration, two years into the Obama presidency, Guantanamo and CIA “black sites” remain open.

The regional antiwar protests on April 9 in New York and San Francisco are part of the process of rebuilding an antiwar and anti-cuts voice. Socialist Alternative supports the call for the antiwar protests and is also hosting a speaking tour this spring with antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. Along with protests and meetings we need to build ongoing antiwar and anti-cuts campaigns that could also run independent candidates to be a voice during the elections for the opposition to the war and the cuts.

The UN Security Council’s majority decision to enact a militarily-imposed ‘no-fly-zone’ against Libya, while greeted with joy on the streets of Benghazi and Tobruk, is in no way intended to defend the Libyan revolution. Revolutionaries in Libya may think that this decision will help them, but they are mistaken. Naked economic and political calculations lay behind the imperialist powers’ decision. It is not a lifeline that could ‘save’ the revolution, in the real sense of the word, against Gaddafi. Major imperialist powers decided that they wanted now to exploit the revolution and try to replace Gaddafi with a more reliable regime. However the Libyan foreign minster’s announcement of an immediate ceasefire has complicated imperialism’s position.

The growth of the LGBT movement and the winning of important reforms like the repeal of DADT have re-opened old debates on demands and strategy. For example, Bash Back!, a national network of anarchist queer activists, opposes the repeal of DADT and equalizing marriage laws on the grounds that “state recognition in the form of oppressive institutions such as marriage and militarism are not steps toward liberation but rather towards heteronormative assimilation” (from Bash Back! Points of Unity).

On Monday December 13th the courtyard of Amazon.com’s headquarters was flooded with a cacophony of whistles and chants as 50 people protested against US government censorship of the whistle blowing organization Wikileaks. Despite the driving, cold rain the spirited protesters sent a clear and unambiguous message to Amazon.com that their decision to censor Wikileaks, by removing Wikileaks website from their servers, would not be met by silence.

On Tuesday, December 7, Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing organization WikiLeaks, was arrested after turning himself in to the Metropolitan Police Service in London. This is the latest in a series of attacks on the organization. The WikiLeaks website has been subjected to denial-of-service attacks. Corporations such as Amazon and PayPal have cut off services to WikiLeaks, while financial institutions such as MasterCard and Visa have been freezing their accounts. Whistleblower Bradley Manning was arrested in May, and faces a military court-martial and up to 52 years in prison.

Ten months after President Obama announced he would add 31,000 more United States troops to the war in Afghanistan, his surge is showing signs of failing. The mightiest military force in the world, with more than 128,000 troops and the most advanced weaponry on the planet, is losing to a ragtag force of an estimated 28,000 Taliban fighters.

The recent, celebrated ending of “combat operations” in Iraq is telling for what kind of “withdrawal” policy could be in store for Afghanistan.

Cindy Sheehan came to prominence in 2005 when she set up a protest camp outside of President Bush's ranch, waiting to ask him simply why he had to send her son to die in Iraq. In 2008 she ran for Congress as an Independent against the top Democrat Nancy Pelosi, winning an impressive 16% of the vote, beating the Republican, and coming in second place.

The Northwest Socialism Conference, held Saturday, May 8 at Seattle University, marked a big step forward for socialists in Washington State. More than a 140 people from all over Western Washington came to discuss socialism and the conference’s theme “Revolutionary Ideas for Changing the World.” The number of participants mushroomed over the course of three sessions throughout the day. An initial crowd of 75 grew to approximately 140 for the last session featuring a debate with a Tea Party member, forcing the conference to move to a larger room.

If there was any shred of doubt left as to the Democrats’ complicity in carrying out the brutal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama’s December announcement of deploying 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan erased that doubt for good, making their role startlingly obvious for all to see.

Just a year after being elected with massive hopes that he would end the wars launched during the Bush era, President Obama announced he is sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 21,000 additional soldiers he ordered there earlier this year.

The small antiwar protests that erupted across the country on December 1, as Obama announced the huge surge of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, had a significance far beyond their numbers.