March 2004 Archive 

Your struggle is our struggle Our first impressions of the World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai were the noise, bustle, huge crowds and vast diversity of cultures and nationalities.

Broadcasting mouse Colin Leys describes how the Hutton report has left the BBC dangerously exposed to the demands of its corporate and Westminster enemies

The RMT shows the way To most Westminster pundits, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union’s opening of its political fund to organisations other than Labour and the union’s consequent expulsion by the party are a sideshow.

House of correction Almost uniquely among European legislatures, the House of Commons has real powers for scrutinising government excesses. The problem, says Adam Tomkins, is persuading backbenchers to use those powers

Let the people decide The farcical Hutton report will not restore public faith in the democratic process. One thing that might is introducing the jury system for future government inquiries.

From Mumbai with hope "Can you ask them to go?" an anxious volunteer pleaded with Gautam Mody, trade union organiser turned honest spin doctor for January’s fourth World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai. A group of politically motivated Buddhists were performing a dance outside the forum’s media centre and taking up a lot of space.

From bloodbath to whitewash April 2004 is the tenth anniversary of the genocide that killed a million Rwandans. Mark Curtis describes Britain’s role in the slaughter

Why Planting Trees for Carbon Guilt Doesn’t Add Up What do the production and distribution of Dido’s Life for Rent album; Formula 1 racing; and more environmentally conscious air passengers have in common? All have had trees planted or preserved to compensate for, or "offset", their carbon-emitting behaviour. Unfortunately, however attractive such an equation between problem (climate change-accelerating carbon dioxide emissions) and solution (plant trees) might be, it doesn’t actually work.