Capturing global input?

[nomihn0]

I'd like to accept mouse gestures and keyboard shortcuts as input to a
program. The nature of this program requires that these commands be
issued regardless of the currently active window. Here's the rub: I
need a platform-independent solution.

Java supports with its MouseInfo class, but I'd like a Python
equivalent without turning to Jython.  Is this possible?

Thanks in advance.