People Before Profit blog

Tyre, Under Siege

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:44:00 +0000

Israeli jets hurl rockets at Tyre, the Queen City of the Sea, formerly known as Sur. She has endured against the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, and the hated Crusaders who defiled her land.

Israel forgets that David was once friend and ally of this seafaring people and makers of purple cloth whose city was visited by Herodotus.

Ancient Tyre was reduced to rubble when its people stood up against Alexander the Great; Once again, it stands strong, against the onslaught from Israel, Gone are the lovers who walked peacefully in this country skirting the blue Mediterranean. Now there is only mourning under the great sad stars at night.

Luis L. Tijerina

Poet Sanchez to be missed

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 08:22:00 +0000

SAN ANTONIO — Chicano activist and poet Trinidad Sanchez Jr. passed away at age 63 on July 30 as a consequence of two strokes suffered 12 days earlier. Sanchez was best known for his poem “Why Am I So Brown?” and the collection of poems bearing its title.

Trino, as he was affectionately called by friends and admirers, was a prolific poet who also gave numerous workshops and lectures including in the San Antonio Independent School District. He hosted open mic poetry readings throughout San Antonio. His poems appeared periodically in the People’s Weekly World.

His “Why Am I So Brown?” addresses childhood insecurities about ethnic identity among Chicano youth. The collection of poems with the same name is widely used as a textbook in literature classes.

During a 1997 interview, he informed me that he began attending poetry readings in the early 1970s in San Antonio but did not begin to write until 1981 when he lived in Detroit. At that time his activism and poems dealt with Central American issues. That was also when he began a 10-year involvement with a poetry group called Horizons in Poetry. “It was in the African American community,” he said. “Most of the participants were African American, and they taught me how to shout my poems. They also taught me how to raise issues and bring them into my writing.”

Touching on the subject of the role of the poet, he told me, “I believe we are called to be prophets.”

“We are called to announce and denounce,” he said. “Denounce the injustice in our community and in the world and also announce. Sometimes all a poet does is denounce, but we also need to challenge ourselves. OK, if that’s the way the world is, how do we want to see it? We need to be for something so that we can make the world a better place.”

Because Sanchez had no medical insurance, three fund-raisers were organized on his behalf, with the poet and music community rushing to offer help.

Shortly after his death, his wife Regina Chavez y Sanchez circulated via e-mail an essay Sanchez had written on a visit he had made to Camp Casey — the war protest encampment at Bush’s ranch last year. In it he saw hope in unity even across religious lines: “I returned for the prayer service. This was a very powerful moment as all denominations were asked to step forward and others of the same denomination were asked to join the prayer leader for the prayer for peace. Three Muslims were present and stood to share their prayer for peace.”

Where are those oil profits going? Corporate greed

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:56:00 +0000

'It’s a blowout.” No, silly — not the tire on your car.

“It’s a blowout,” said a Wall Street money expert about Exxon Mobil’s second- quarter oil profits.

You want to hear something crazy? Exxon Mobil makes all those profits even though they refined less gasoline in the second quarter. And just how much did they rip us off for in the months of April, May and June? Let’s take a look.

How does the number $10.36 billion grab your gut? (That’s $10,360,000,000.)

That is $79,059.83 for every minute of every hour of every day for three months! And that is in addition to the $64,000 per minute they raked in for January, February and March. Just think. What if each of these profit-minutes could be used for scientific research to help humanity?

Are you angry at these profits? Wall Street says the second half of 2006 will “best” the first half.

Please don’t pick on poor Exxon Mobil for their second quarter profits. Look at the other gluttons: Shell — $7.32 billion; BP — $7.30 billion; Conoco-Phillips — $5.1 billion; Chevron — $4.35 billion. The total for the five oil giants is $34.43 billion. That comes to $262,744.20 for every minute of every hour of every day for April, May and June. Isn’t this why they want to fight wars in the Middle East?

Whose fault is it that we have such outrageous profiteering? Why, it’s the other guys — India, China, they say. That’s who’s using the oil, they say. That’s who’s forcing up prices, they say. Forcing up prices? Baloney. It costs an average of $2.50 per barrel to extract oil. This includes oil from here, the Middle East, shale rock, etc.

George W. Bush’ new treasury secretary Henry Paulson says it’s China. So it must be right — right?

High oil prices are well on the way to wrecking the economy. Evidence of this process shows up in economic reports every day.

Add insult to injury, salt to the wound? Dick Cheney’s Halliburton Company made record profits. It is the second largest oil industry servicing company in the U.S.

Had enough? Do something. Act now.

• Make oil profiteering an issue in your congressional election campaign Nov. 7.

• Demand oil profits be seized and used for mass transit.

• Help start a boycott of one oil company. Boycotts work.

It’s time to nationalize the oil industry as in other countries.

Pat Barile (pbarile@cpusa.org) is a member of the National Board of the Communist Party USA.

CARTOON

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:32:00 +0000

Neighbors challenge bio research lab

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:22:00 +0000

BOSTON — Opponents of a proposed bioterrorism research laboratory at Boston University Medical Center won a victory last week when a state judge ruled that the basis used to approve the so-called Biolab was “arbitrary and capricious.”

Responding to a lawsuit filed by 10 area residents who were concerned about the public health implications of the lab, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gant ordered further study and consideration of alternative sites and worst-case scenarios.

The lab has been a political football, with some local public officials, including Mayor Thomas Menino and Gov. Mitt Romney, supporting it.

The BU Biolab, part of the Bush administration’s “anti-biological terrorism” program, would be a “Biosafety Level 4,” or BSL4, facility, which would do research on highly infectious and deadly bacteria and viruses like Ebola and anthrax.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology lab worker told this reporter, “Even at Levels 1 and 2 you have to be careful of contamination. Having this lab in a place like Boston is scary. You can kill a lot of people if they [the pathogens] get out.”

Residents near the proposed lab site were further alarmed when, in 2004, three BU scientists were infected with a deadly strain of the tularemia bacteria at a BSL3 facility. The lethal sample was mixed in with a benign strain. In the 1950s, the U.S. military developed deadly forms of tularemia to use as a biological weapon.

One of the groups opposed to the Biolab, the environmental justice organization Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), says there are only three BSL4 facilities in the country. The best known is the Centers for Disease Control near Atlanta. The Bush administration is funding the construction of two more.

The BU Biolab would be the only one of its kind in the middle of a densely populated area. The lab site is in a neighborhood with a density of almost 17,000 persons per square mile. Other BSL4 facilities are in areas with 3,500 persons or less per square mile.

Community residents only found out about the Biolab plan in the spring of 2003, when another local environmental grouping, Safety Net, discovered that BU had applied for the necessary funding and permits.

Residents organized and compelled the university to hold community meetings. While BU tried to convince the residents of the safety of the Biolab, the neighbors were not convinced. They organized a campaign of letter writing and petitions to oppose the lab. Despite the protests, the Bush administration approved the funding for the lab in September 2003.

The closed way in which BU has operated, with no community input at the beginning, has led area residents to wonder if the lab will do more than research defenses against bacteria and viruses. ACE and Safety Net point out, “For 20 years, the federal government can mandate the research to be conducted in the lab and require classified research.” This could include development of biological weapons.

Opposition to the Biolab has spread beyond local community residents. In 2004, 165 scientists, academics, doctors and public health experts signed a letter addressed to the university, Mayor Menino and the Boston City Council opposing the lab project. Many organizations, including the two trade unions representing Boston Medical Center workers, have also opposed the project.

AFL-CIO to target 200 races

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:17:00 +0000

CHICAGO (PAI) — The AFL-CIO is putting money and, more importantly, people into 200 political races this fall, including “every statewide U.S. Senate and governor’s race,” federation Political Director Karen Ackerman says.

In an Aug. 8 interview with reporters covering the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting here, Ackerman said labor’s involvement will stretch all the way down to the state legislative level, plus at least six referendums and “more than 50 U.S. House races.”

The concentration on the governors is a change from past years. It’s occurring because of the inaction or negative action that workers and their allies face in the GOP-controlled government in Washington, Ackerman said.

As a result, “a lot of the federal issues,” such as the minimum wage, “have moved onto the state level” and action in state capitols is increasingly important to workers. In some cases, it’s on the ballot, including six state minimum wage referendums. The federation will be involved in those campaigns, too.

In one example, she noted that “Colorado has become very important to us because of the state Legislature and because it’s a potential right-to-work state.” In 2004, massive union efforts there won a pro-labor Democratic majority in the Legislature for the first time in 40 years — and blunted the right-to-work push of retiring GOP Gov. Bill Owens. Labor backs the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

The most-contested gubernatorial races Ackerman identified included Ohio (GOP open seat), Minnesota (GOP-held), Michigan and Wisconsin (both Democratic). Illinois, Pennsylvania and Oregon (all Democratic) and California (GOP) are also contested.

She called Ohio “the top priority.” It has a Senate race — pro-labor Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) versus Sen. Mike DeWine (R), three vulnerable House GOPers and two open seats.

Nationwide, the federation will emphasize repeated member contacts and education, aiming to maximize turnout of unionists, their allies and their families. Including the federation itself, family members and its community affiliates, that totals 12.4 million registered voters, Ackerman said.

That number does not count the Change to Win federation’s seven unions or the independent, 2.8-million-member National Education Association. NEA, the nation’s largest union, signed a pact with the AFL-CIO in February to encourage greater political coordination between the two.

CTW’s unions, with some exceptions, are working politically with AFL-CIO local and state bodies. AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, who co-chairs a joint political strategy committee with CTW Secretary-Treasurer Edgar Romney, said that the CTW unions agreed with all the targeted races.

Ackerman said general public dissatisfaction and the war in Iraq could have a big impact. The two are tied together, she added.

“Union members feel ‘enough is enough,’ and that policies of this administration are not working for them,” she said. “This is a moment unlike any we’ve seen in a long, long time.”

Failing soldiers at home, too

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:15:00 +0000

It’s well known that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld failed to protect the nation’s soldiers during the invasion of Iraq. Numerous news accounts and congressional reports have established that soldiers in Iraq fought without sufficient body armor, armored vehicles, bullets and even food. But a multi-million-dollar settlement this month between the federal government and American Amicable Life Insurance Company glaringly demonstrates that Secretary Rumsfeld failed to protect soldiers on the home front, too.

American Amicable agreed to pay $70 million to settle federal and state government complaints that it engaged in deceptive sales practices to sell questionable life insurance to thousands of young soldiers. As part of the settlement, the company was banned from selling its products on military bases for five years, which is one the lengthiest suspensions ever imposed in the military market. At issue was the company’s “Horizon Life” insurance product. It required payments over a period of 20 years. But its value wouldn’t surpass the total premiums until near the end of the policy, at which point a large number of the policies would have lapsed.

Last November the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative office of Congress, released a report detailing how six insurance companies were selling high-cost insurance policies to thousands of young service members at military bases across the country. The policies combined life insurance with a savings fund that supposedly had high returns, but included clauses that actually reduced the chance that soldiers would ever benefit. As a result, the GAO found that soldiers “were left with little or no savings in exchange for a small amount of expensive insurance coverage.”

What’s really troubling is that the report disclosed that Secretary Rumsfeld’s Defense Department allowed these companies to sell their products on military bases in violation of Pentagon policies. And although many soldiers complained after purchasing the life insurance policies, the Defense Department never informed the Securities and Exchange Commission or state insurance regulators.

Young soldiers, no doubt fearing death in Iraq, and not realizing that they received $400,000 in life insurance as part of their military benefits, wanted a life insurance policy to leave behind for their families. The Defense Department aided insurance companies in their efforts to profit from the fear of these newly enlisted service members.

The GAO found that some of the companies selling the insurance policies had been subject to previous disciplinary actions for violations of Defense Department regulations. Yet the Pentagon continued to give these companies access to military bases. Also, the report noted that the Defense Department didn’t inform insurance regulators of the problems, so regulators didn’t know that these dubious policies were being sold. Yet the GAO “found evidence that concerns over inappropriate sales to service members exist widely at various military installations.”

GAO investigators surveyed 175 Defense Department managers who supervise personal financial management offices on military bases. These offices provide soldiers with financial literacy and counseling services. They found that 25 percent of the managers believed that insurance companies were making misleading sales presentations on their bases. In some instances, the companies were pitching insurance policies to captive audiences in military housing or barracks. Yet this was a flagrant violation of Pentagon policy.

The Defense Department is required to protect soldiers from deceptive sales. Department of Defense Directive 1344.7 places various restrictions on financial corporations who market products on bases. Among other provisions, the directive explicitly prohibits sales from occurring as part of group meetings and requires that sales presentations be made by appointment with individual service members. If a company is found to be in violation of this policy, Defense Department officials can temporarily suspend solicitation privileges, or even ban the companies from operating on a base.

The life insurance companies selling these products were clearly in violation of the directive. Yet Defense Department officials were unwilling to stop them. In fact, rather than disciplining the companies, most were rewarded. Last summer, five of the six companies selling the dubious policies were approved by the Defense Department to begin conducting business on military bases overseas.

In recent years many new recruits to the military have come from financially strapped, if not poor, circumstances. Joining the armed services has been a way to provide for their families and pay their bills. Yet these young and financially inexperienced recruits have been the very soldiers that Rumsfeld, as the head of the Defense Department, helped unscrupulous insurance companies take advantage of. The nation certainly doesn’t need another reason to ask for Secretary Rumsfeld’s resignation, but it has one.

WORLD NOTES

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:03:00 +0000

China: Wal-Marts to be union shops

After 25 members of the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) in Fujian Province established the first labor union in one of Wal-Mart’s 60 retail outlets July 30, China’s Xinhua news agency said unionists at four other stores quickly followed suit.

Last week Wal-Mart said it would work with the ACFTU on representation for its 28,000 workers.

For two years, the ACFTU has campaigned to push Wal-Mart into accepting the union into its stores in China — a legal requirement for employers of 25 or more workers. The ACFTU, with 150 million members and 1.2 million branches, aims to organize 60 percent of foreign companies this year. Wal-Mart’s large foreign retail competitors have already accepted the union.

An ACFTU official warned Wal-Mart “not to take revengeful measures” against workers who join unions, and promised to take action if Wal-Mart resists the organizing process.

Chile: Workers strike at major copper mine

Two thousand miners at the world’s largest copper mine, La Escondida in Chile, went out on strike Aug. 7. Two days later the police used water hoses against the strikers as they demonstrated in Antofagasta, the regional capital.

The mine produces 8 percent of the world’s copper, and its production represents 2 percent of Chile’s economic output.

The BBC said the miners are seeking a 13 percent wage increase plus a $29,400 bonus — justified, they say, by soaring world prices, tight supplies and record profits for an international consortium of mine owners. The owners, who have brought in 300 scabs, have offered a 3 percent wage hike and a $15,600 bonus.

Union Secretary Pedro Marin told Reuters, “This isn’t just about us, it’s about all Chilean miners.”

Elsewhere, miners are on strike at Canada’s Voisey’s Bay nickel mine and at copper and steel mines owned by Grupo Mexico.

South Africa: Women commemorate historic march

Hundreds of women, joined by political leaders, gathered in Pretoria Aug. 9 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Anti-Pass March by re-enacting the milestone event in South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle.

The cry, “You strike a woman, you strike a rock,” from 20,000 multiracial marchers in 1956 became the rallying call for South Africa’s women’s movement.

The commemoration was organized in observance of August as Women’s Month in South Africa. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka opened the event, declaring that “Today we stand tall as women, and we have so many changes in our society because of those women.”

The square where the events occurred has been renamed to honor Lillian Ngoyi, who delivered the women’s petition to the prime minister’s door. BuaNews said songs, banners and signs testified to women’s present demands, including disability rights, high quality health care for women and action against domestic violence.

Sweden: Emergency closes nuclear plants

Sweden recently shut down four of its 10 nuclear power plants after emergency power stations at the Forsmark nuclear power plant failed for 20 minutes July 26 following the loss of outside electrical power.

Problems with the back-up power system had gone undetected for 13 years, Greenpeace said. A former plant director called it “pure luck there wasn’t a meltdown.”

The closed plants provide 20 percent of Sweden’s electricity.

Nuclear engineers note other incidents throughout the world in which generators have failed after storms or floods. Drought conditions elsewhere in Europe have forced nuclear plants to reduce output due to shortages of water required for cooling. Alternative energy advocates point out that wind and solar facilities do not depend on antiquated centralized power grids.

The Bush administration, concerned about energy production in an era of declining oil supplies, is renewing the campaign for nuclear power.

Venezuela: Opposition unifies behind Zulia governor

Political parties opposing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in elections set for Dec. 3 have united behind the candidacy of Manuel Rosales, governor of the state of Zulia.

Rosales, reported as close to U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield, is a prime mover in the separatist campaign emanating from Zulia.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council cleared a constitutional roadblock by allowing Rosales to resign temporarily as governor in order to run. Meanwhile, Sumate, a group that has organized against Chavez for several years with monetary help from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, canceled its plans for a primary election.

Opinion polls ranked Rosales as the most appealing opposition candidate. Surveys noted on Venezuelanalysis.com give Chavez a 55-60 percent approval rating.

Acción Democrática, Venezuela’s largest opposition party, urges abstention in the December voting.

World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney Jr. (atwhit@megalink.net).

Partial recount in Mexico reveals more fraud

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:55:00 +0000

MEXICO CITY — Strengthening popular demands for a vote recount to rule out election fraud, a partial recount ordered by Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal last week uncovered evidence of widespread irregularities.

The recount was the result of a legal challenge launched by the leftist coalition For the Good of All — composed of the Democratic Revolution Party, Workers Party and Convergence — which asked the judicial body to order a vote-by-vote recount of the July 2 election results. The tribunal ruled Aug. 5 that there was sufficient evidence of irregularities to recount votes in only 9.7 percent of polling places.

While the tribunal has not released any official results, some observers present at the recount reported that in the 11,839 (out of 130,000) polling places where it took place, judges discovered there were 49,000 more votes cast than there were people who actually voted; ballot boxes had illegally been opened; votes for coalition candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had not been counted; and National Action Party (PAN) presidential candidate Felipe Calderon was credited with 14,847 more votes than he should have been.

In other cases the aggregate polling place vote totals were less than the numbers of ballots cast, the observers said.

On the other hand, PAN claimed the partial recount demonstrated few irregularities.

Obrador’s coalition maintains that the partial vote recount confirms the legitimacy of its demands that all votes be recounted to rule out fraud. The coalition vowed to continue with its campaign of peaceful disobedience to pressure authorities to recount the vote. The coalition also announced that it would be presenting evidence to the tribunal that electronic fraud also played a role in awarding Calderon a false victory.

Given the falsifications found, the coalition will also ask the tribunal to annul the 11,839 polling place vote totals that were counted. In these polls, Calderon won 1.8 million votes against 800,000 for Lopez Obrador. If the tribunal rules in favor of annulling the polls, and these votes are subtracted from each candidate, Lopez Obrador will be the winner.

On Aug. 21 the tribunal begins evaluating votes that were not clearly marked, with the goal of deciding who to award the votes to. The tribunal will also begin resolving disputes in the elections for the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. The judicial body has until Sept. 6 to declare its final results.

However, some analysts doubt the Federal Electoral Tribunal’s ability to make an independent decision on the vote count. A source in Mexico’s intelligence services told the World in an interview that four of the seven judges on the tribunal “respond to the interests of Calderon.”

In addition, the government of President Vicente Fox was able to pressure the tribunal into not ordering a full vote recount, telling judges that their careers would go nowhere if they made the wrong decision. Six of the seven judges are set to retire from the tribunal next year, their terms coming to an end, said the source.

Calderon, the presidential candidate supported by the Bush administration, maintains that Lopez Obrador’s demand for a vote recount indicates that he does not respect the voters’ wishes and is trying to annul the elections.

On Aug. 14, the Mexican television network Televisa showed a video of officials from the Federal Electoral Institute illegally opening, altering and mixing up election materials in this city’s District 5 on July 11. The video has strengthened Lopez Obrador’s charges that illegal tampering with the vote took place.

Meanwhile, thousands of people remained camped out on streets in downtown Mexico City, their numbers growing daily. Farmers in nearby states are delivering food to the protesters.

Lopez Obrador’s supporters, in peaceful actions, continue to disrupt operations of large businesses that financially support PAN, which refuses to recount the vote. These businesses are also spending millions of dollars on television commercials arguing against a vote recount.

Justice Dept. exonerates FBI in Puerto Rico killing

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:54:00 +0000

People from different sectors of Puerto Rican society are criticizing a report issued last week by the inspector general of the Justice Department, that absolves the Federal Bureau of Investigation of any wrongdoing in the killing of independence leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios.

Ojeda, who was 72 years old and suffered from heart problems, was shot by FBI agents and left to bleed for 18 hours in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 23 of last year.

People are especially angry that the report cites the FBI agents involved in the attack with pseudonyms instead of their actual names, except in the case of five high-ranking officials.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) cleared the FBI even though the OIG said the decision to attack Ojeda’s residence was “flawed” and they “found problems in the decision-making.” The OIG said at least five shots directed at Ojeda were not properly accounted for, but that it was “unable to determine whether they were fired in compliance with the Deadly Force Policy” of the Justice Department.

The report also admitted that Ojeda, who was regarded by the FBI as a fugitive from justice, attempted to give himself up by having Jesús Dávila, a reporter for the New York City daily El Diario-La Prensa, serve as an intermediary.

While the FBI has said it was planning to arrest Ojeda in the early morning hours of Sept. 24, instead of Sept. 23 — the latter being Grito de Lares, the anniversary of the 1868 Puerto Rican rebellion against Spanish colonialism — the report says the FBI planned to capture him as he attended the Grito de Lares celebrations.

Another inconsistency in previous FBI statements and the report shows that the federal agents threw a “flash-bang” grenade toward the house on the day of the raid, which resulted in Ojeda firing back. Previously, the FBI said they opened fire only after Ojeda fired first. Flash-bang grenades produce an intense explosion and blinding light.

Manuel Rodriguez Orellana, secretary for North American relations for the Puerto Rican Independence Party, said the report was “an admission which is tantamount to a justification for murder.” He also criticized the colonial administration in Puerto Rico for “doing nothing to protect the life of a Puerto Rican patriot.”

Dr. Hector Pesquera, co-chair of the Hostos National Independence Movement, agreed with Rodriguez, saying the FBI “came to kill” Ojeda.

In an interview with El Nuevo Dia, Edgardo Ojeda Serrano, Ojeda’s son, blamed Luis Fraticelli, the head of the FBI office in San Juan, for the death of his father. He charged Fraticelli denied his father medical assistance for 18 hours.

While the pro-independence organizations protested the report, they were not the only ones to do so. In an editorial, the pro-statehood daily newspaper El Nuevo Dia called for the firing of Fraticelli.

On another issue dealing with the FBI in Puerto Rico, the federal agency cleared itself of violation of civil rights charges rising from the Feb. 10 raid on the homes of pro-independence activists in Puerto Rico. The FBI was accused of violating the rights of journalists who were sprayed with pepper spray as they covered the raid in Rio Piedras, near San Juan.

Puerto Rican Secretary of Justice Roberto Sanchez Ramos said his office will continue to investigate the FBI’s role that day. Sanchez Ramos has complained that the FBI has refused to give his office information he deems necessary to continue his investigation and has filed a suit in federal court to force the FBI to cooperate.

New Orleans notebook: One year after Katrina

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:45:00 +0000

NEW ORLEANS — As a former New Orleans resident with fond memories of this great city, I was horrified as I drove in one year after Katrina. On the outskirts, the fields of dead trees and boarded-up buildings barely hinted at the shocking scenes to come.

New Orleans’ nickname is “the city that care forgot.” Today, I would call it “the city that capitalism forgot.”

Many restaurants are still shut down in the French Quarter. The devastated Ernest Morial Convention Center is open only to a tenth of its capacity. Downtown, I saw new and old office buildings boarded up. Some of the grand old department stores along Canal Street are shut. The old NAACP building is closed. Oddly, the gambling casinos by the Riverwalk are fully operational.

I drove through the famous Garden District. The Tulane University Center and dormitories were boarded up, with reconstruction ongoing. Many houses in the area had signs of damage.

The population is now less than half of the pre-Katrina number.

I drove out to the Lower Ninth Ward. None of the streetlights were working. All businesses along St. Claude were boarded up.

The Lower Ninth Ward, a major cultural center, is the home of world famous artists and musicians. Due to its geographic separation, rich multiracial and multicultural working-class heritage, and governmental neglect, residents have developed a history of activism.

The Martin Luther King Elementary School for Science and Technology housed a branch of the New Orleans Public Library, the first full-service library in the ward. It provided an array of adult classes including GED, reading, math and computer skills.

As I arrived at the school, Doris Hicks, former principal, informed me that I just missed a rally of 300 people “demanding that they open the Martin Luther King Jr. School and library, which have been closed since Katrina.” Heaps of rubble were piled in front of the school, with more visible inside.

Hicks told the disappointed crowd that the Louisiana Department of Education planned to relocate the school temporarily “sometime after Labor Day” to an old building that people described as “rat infested.” One official expressed the hope that the school would reopen in January 2007.

Eric Johnson, a former sixth grade teacher who grew up in the ward, told me he thought the failure to reopen the school was “politically motivated.” He noted that “all of the schools in the more affluent, white neighborhoods are being reopened. This is a predominantly Black neighborhood, and these are the ones that are being affected.”

King School suffered no major structural damage, and “it would not take that much to fix this building,” he said. “It would be easy to bring in modular buildings so we could reopen this community.” Instead, he said, they are being offered use of a building that had substandard conditions before the storm.

“They’re not giving us the tools to reopen,” said Johnson. “Here we are a year later, and they have yet to begin the work to either clean out or repair a building, a place for us to start school. We were one of the few schools in Orleans Parish that had an acceptable rating and was actually a well performing school. It’s kind of odd that you do not provide for one that was producing to come back, one that already had a proven track record.”

Johnson, a member of the United Teachers of New Orleans union, has been unemployed since Katrina. He tried unsuccessfully to land an elementary teacher’s job in Dallas. “There were plenty of our children there, but the systems wouldn’t hire us with our Louisiana credentials,” he said.

“I just wish they’d let us get back here. I enjoyed teaching. I figure if these children had an opportunity, these problems they’re having now wouldn’t be as big of a problem.”

The Ninth Ward was one of the first neighborhoods in New Orleans where African Americans were homeowners, Johnson noted. Now 95 percent of the people are homeowners, but they can’t afford to buy another house, and they are not being permitted to rebuild, he said.

Rentals pre-Katrina were as low as $300. Now people cannot find anything for less than $1,500. That plus many bureaucratic hurdles are making it impossible for residents to return.

“New Orleans will feel the effect of this,” said Johnson. “These are the workers. They are the backbone of the tourism business. You can’t rebuild this community without the workers. The problem is that on a worker’s wage, you cannot afford to live here.”

Johnson worries that the nation is forgetting about the effects of Katrina. If New Orleans fails, so does Louisiana, he said. “How can the other 49 states go with a failing one? You got to pull everyone together.”

National Clips

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:38:00 +0000

CRAWFORD, Texas: Barbecue for peace

Beneath a banner reading, “A mother’s loss, a nation’s pain” over 150 peace activists and local Crawford neighbors shared barbecue Aug. 12 just outside President Bush’s ranch, where he was vacationing. Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan, who vowed to maintain a vigil until Bush meets with her, was convalescing with the family of Texas’ best loved son, singer Willie Nelson, after she was rushed to a Waco hospital suffering from the effects of a 37-day fast and dehydration in the 100-plus degree heat.

Some local residents were angered when Sheehan, through a third party, purchased 5 acres to host the peace vigil. Even so, about a half dozen showed up at the barbecue, wearing “This is Bush country, by George” T-shirts. “You can have dialogue, but you’ll never agree,” said Crawford resident Valerie Duty, rib in hand. “Both sides agree about bringing the troops home safely. The difference is the way we go about that.”

Antiwar protester Jim Goodnow believes having a small group of Bush supporters attending the barbecue is a positive step. “If we can get away from the name-calling and see each other as Americans, that will be how we heal this nation,” he said.

Peace activists will maintain their vigil through Sept. 3.

LOS ANGELES: State AFL-CIO votes to defend abortion rights

Breaking a long-standing position of neutrality on the issue of abortion, the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, voted to oppose a November ballot question, Proposition 85, that would require parental notification before a minor could have an abortion. The federation represents 2.1 million workers in 1,100 local unions and is the largest in the country.

The executive board had voted 13-11 to recommend that delegates at the federation’s 26th biennial convention, July 25-26 in Los Angeles, remain neutral on the measure, as the federation did last year when voters defeated a similar ballot measure, 53-47 percent. Reflecting the fact that many labor leaders are women, and health care unions support abortion rights, the delegates insisted that a full vote be taken on Prop. 85. On an overwhelming voice vote, delegates overturned the executive board’s recommendation.

Shelley Kessler is executive secretary of the San Mateo Labor Council, one of the councils who submitted a resolution calling for opposition to Prop. 85. That opposition “may create some tensions,” but the federation had to take a stand, she said. “We want to be very thoughtful about getting engaged to the detriment of the overall labor movement, but this was bait. We cannot allow attacks on human civil rights, regardless of whether people are in unions or not, to go unchallenged.”

The Catholic Church, which has worked in coalition with the state federation, said it would continue to stay on board with labor on immigrant rights and organizing. “It would be unrealistic to expect every group to believe the same way we do about every issue,” said Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese. “It doesn’t preclude us from working together on those areas where we do share common concerns.”

LAS VEGAS: Homeless advocates plan court battle

Amid the bling and endless buffets of the casinos, it is against the law to provide food for free to homeless families in city parks here. Since the City Council passed an ordinance to this effect, July 19, city marshals have been handing out citations to homeless advocates and even to a local radio reporter who gave doughnuts to a hungry family while covering the story.

On Aug. 10, the Food Not Bombs movement protested the ordinance at City Hall and at Huntridge Circle city park. They handed out fruit, bread and water to homeless men and women in the desert heat. Patrick Band, Robert Edmonds and Suzie Oliveira were cited for breaking the law. “All people in our community have a right to our parks, not just the wealthy,” said Joe Sacco, a Food Not Bombs activist.

Earlier in August, the Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court asking that the ordinance be ruled unconstitutional. The ACLU called the law “vague and overboard.” Gary Peck of the Nevada ACLU said, “Because of its very nature it’s going to be enforced selectively.”

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696@aol.com). Jim Lane contributed to this week’s clips.

Thousands rally in support of health care workers

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:34:00 +0000

CHICAGO — Wearing union-made green T-shirts proclaiming, “We Fight, We Win,” thousands of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees members joined Resurrection Health Care workers in a rally here Aug. 9 outside St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital. Together with AFSCME Council 31, community allies and religious leaders, they demanded that the hospital chain recognize their right to form a union.

Busloads of delegates and guests from AFSCME’s 37th International Convention at McCormick Place packed the rally site, carrying signs, singing, dancing and chanting slogans.

Shirley Brown, an African American who has worked as a housekeeper at Resurrection’s Westlake Hospital for the last 10 years, told the crowd that without workers like her, not even the best doctors or the fanciest equipment could heal patients. At Resurrection, she said, they spend money on marble floors for the lobbies but skimp on basic supplies she needs to do her job.

“Sometimes in our struggle I feel lonely,” Brown said. “They try to scare me. They try to isolate me. They want me to feel like there’s no hope. But when I look out and see this sea of green, I don’t feel lonely. I feel like I have every single member of AFSCME right there with me, telling me to never give up.”

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told the crowd, “Resurrection can’t fulfill its mission as a Catholic health care institution by trampling on the rights of the very people who are being asked to carry out that mission every day.” He added, “We are here and we are not going away until the workers are able to form a union. The millions of AFL-CIO members are behind you.”

Since 2002, nurses, housekeepers, technicians and staff of all eight Resurrection Health Care hospitals, working with AFSCME Council 31, have been leading a union campaign called “Health Care Employees Acting at Resurrection Together.” They are asking management to meet with them as partners to address the quality of patient care and a fair process under which they could organize.

Resurrection’s management has responded with a fierce anti-union campaign through tactics of intimidation and harassment, creating an atmosphere of fear and tension among employees.

“Shame on you, Resurrection Health Care,” exclaimed AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson. She told the workers, “You deserve decent wages, to be treated with dignity and respect, and to have the freedom to join a union.”

William Lucy, AFSCME’s international secretary-treasurer, declared, “You cannot intimidate AFSCME. You can piss us off, but there will be a union here at Resurrection and its name will be AFSCME. We do not go away, we will stay forever.”

“I’m here because it’s the right thing to do,” Quincy Boyd, president of AFSCME Local 2730 from St. Louis, told the World. “Too many state workers are living in poverty.” Boyd said an increase in the minimum wage is desperately needed. He said the rally represents “unity, solidarity and coalition,” and shows that members of AFSCME really care. “It’s time for justice, it’s time for peace and to show the world we have a real voice,” he added.

AFSCME Council 31 distributed a statement saying the workers are concerned about the “growing corporatization of the hospitals, shifting resources away from bedside care to cosmetic improvements and system expansion.” The statement goes on to say, “It’s time for a real dialogue about the issues that concern us, the people who do the work that keeps the hospitals running.”

Gerald W. McEntee, AFSCME’s international president, ended the rally saying, “Sisters and brothers! We are here today to stand with the workers in their fight to improve patient care, to put people before profits.” He said it is wrong to intimidate workers who are only demanding what is right and fair.

McEntee pointed out that when frontline hospital workers speak out, working conditions and patient care both get better.

Resurrection has “allowed corporate greed to trump public need,” he said. “But we are not giving up. We are proud to be here, because the workers are not backing down. I know you can take us home and Council 31 will lead the way.”

WHATS REALLY GOOD

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:06:00 +0000

A giant Fidel lights Quito

The Ecuadorian Youth Coordinating Office for Solidarity with Cuba put up a huge sign with the name of Cuban President Fidel Castro lighting up the sides of the Pichincha volcano in their country’s capital, Quito. It was a tribute to Castro’s 80th birthday, Aug. 13. Manuela Garcia, secretary of the youth group, told reporters the sign was a way to express the support felt by Ecuadorian young people for the Cuban leader and to thank him for the help he gives other countries. Garcia’s group along with students, farmers organizations, social justice clubs and political parties marched in the center of Quito to celebrate Castro’s birthday and to reject the U.S. blockade of the island.

Students ‘need books, not prisons’

In New York City, the Urban Youth Collaborative and the Youth Justice Board are demanding that public high schools end the “criminalization” of students and institute a more “peaceful atmosphere” with campus security on school grounds.

“We’re students, not felons. We need books, not prisons,” chanted more than 100 UYC members who packed the city Department of Education headquarters recently. The students were protesting metal detectors and police presence on school grounds. They gave the DOE a report card with failing marks. Meanwhile, the YJB has been creating Student Safety Advisories at five high schools, composed of students who identify safety problems in the schools by talking to their peers in collaboration with administrators. Both groups feel student involvement in policy decisions is necessary. “There are so many policies about student life and teenagers, and we don’t get to say anything about it. We should be the ones to OK the policies,” said Elizabeth Canela, a YJB member.

Event calls for cease-fire ‘peace by piece’

The Arab Student Association at George Mason University in Virginia organized a program on Aug. 5 called “Peace by Piece” in the Middle East to raise money for humanitarian aid in Lebanon. The event attracted more then 300 guests and raised over $17,000. One of the speakers was political science professor Bassam Haddad, who teaches at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and was in Beirut filming a documentary when the attacks started. He asked how the international community, led by the U.S., could remain “silent” about the devastating casualties of the Israel-Lebanon conflict and “unable to declare an immediate cease-fire,” which he called the only short-term solution to the war.

— Pepe Lozano (plozano@pww.org)

Ani DiFranco: Political isnt just business, its personal

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 08:11:00 +0000

As months, weeks, hours, even as nanoseconds haul by in this day and age, making that metal against concrete screech, there is nothing like the relief of the annually anticipated Ani album. No need to clear the dance floor, no need for dancin’ shoes, actually no need for shoes at all — this album is for your introverted listening pleasure. There’re no crazy beats, no pumped up rocky-road ice cream, just Ani’s stoned outcry, which tops any cherry on my menu.

Since she had to flee her recording studio in New Orleans three days before the levees broke, she had no time to retrieve her instruments, and improvised the rest of this album in her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y. There, the hellishly handsome, and hopefully single, bassist Todd Sickafoose helped her out with acoustic bass, piano, Wurlitzer, pump organ and some trumpet and strings. And although there were only “two” tiny peeps working on this album, it came out sounding incredibly intricate yet enriched in simplicity.

Partners in crime, her voice and guitar, sing of relationships that can never be, politics that can never see the light of day, and a society that has so much to offer. On the title track she speaks of reprieve for us girls, but on the next song over “half of divinity is trying to make harmony with only one voice,” and she shouts out to the other half that we have to be “up to the task of turning the wheel of human history at long last.” So, support the revolution: buy the damn CD — it’ll make you think a little; it’ll make you breathe a little deeper, subconsciously knowing there might not be as much air left for your next breath.

My old, shabby radio had been wrecked for years now; skipping CDs, ruining countless cassettes, and giving me “false security” whenever I had the sudden urge to — rock out! Despite failed attempts, though, I wiped the dust clean, and popped in Ani’s “Reprieve.” Now, this is but one event in a string of many, many others that leads me to believe that despite her modesty, or rather, her intentional confidentiality, Ani is using some psychogenic, psychedelic — psycho powers to control the universe, ’cause in seven years my radio hasn’t budged.

Yes, ladies and gents, for only $16.95 (prices may vary), you too can have the healing powers of Ani nicely packed on an interactive compact disc all to yourselves.

Enjoy.

CDREVIEW

Reprieve

Ani DiFranco

Righteous Babe Records, 2006

CARTOON

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 07:59:00 +0000

UN panel slams U.S. on death penalty, racism

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:45:00 +0000

UNITED NATIONS — After reviewing information provided by the U.S. government and dozens of nongovernmental organizations, the UN’s Human Rights Committee (HRC) has issued a scathing condemnation of human rights abuses in the U.S.

The July 28 HRC report, issued in Geneva, Switzerland, condemns the disenfranchisement of ex-convicts in many U.S. states. Perhaps most notably, it points out the racist nature of the death penalty and calls for the U.S. to put a moratorium on all executions.

Noting the inadequate response by the U.S. government to the effects of Hurricane Katrina, it adds, “50 percent of homeless people are African American although they only constitute 12 percent of the U.S. population,” and says the U.S. must take measures to end this “de facto and historically generated racial discrimination.”

The report says segregation is still rampant in U.S. schools, leaving “wide disparities in the quality of education across school districts in metropolitan areas, to the detriment of minority students.”

The U.S. was required by law to submit human rights data to the UN under the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but it did so late, seven years after the information had been asked for. The delay by itself showed contempt for the UN and constituted a violation of international law, critics said.

The consequences of President Bush’s “war on terror” drew much of the HRC’s fire. The report says there is “credible and uncontested information” that the U.S. has detained people secretly for “years on end.” Even when detention is acknowledged, the report says, the prisoners are kept incommunicado, violating the UN covenant.

The HRC demanded that the U.S. immediately abolish all secret detention facilities and grant the Red Cross access to any person detained in any armed conflict.

The report also condemns the “use of interrogation techniques such as prolonged stress positions and isolation, sensory deprivation, hooding, exposure to cold or heat, sleep and dietary adjustments, 20-hour interrogations, removal of clothing and of all comfort items, as well as religious items, forced grooming, and exploitation of detainees’ individual phobias.”

The report expresses concern that U.S. personnel convicted of torture at camps in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq have received “excessively light” sentences. It condemns the Bush administration’s practice of “rendition,” sending a detainee to another country for torture.

The HRC also hit the violations of civil liberties and immigrant rights in the U.S., singling out the Patriot Act and the REAL ID Act, along with reports of National Security Agency spying on private e-mail and phone calls.

Racial profiling was also condemned, as well as discrimination against women and against the GLBTQ community, “including by law enforcement officials.”

The HRC was particularly concerned about the millions of undocumented workers living in the United States, and was troubled that the U.S. provided nearly no information on their status. It also expressed worry about the “increasing militarization of the Mexican border.”

The committee directed the U.S. to fix its human rights record and report back by 2010.

WORLD NOTES

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:42:00 +0000

Mexico: Mayan people losing out

Mexico’s low intensity warfare against Zapatista-led Mayan communities in Chiapas has aggravated the suffering of indigenous people there.

According to a study released in June by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), 55 percent of them are malnourished — in the case of children, 64 percent — and rates for tuberculosis, non-immunization, illiteracy, and women dying during childbirth are among the highest in the world.

PHR and two local groups surveyed 17,931 individuals in 2,997 households in 46 communities over a six-year span.

PHR attributes the fall-off in people’s health to alienation on the part of indigenous people from government-based service providers and growing divisions among indigenous communities fostered by the occupying Mexican army.

Philippines: Labor activists kidnapped, killed

On Aug. 1, in the Philippine state of Pampanga, men in civilian clothes, said to be soldiers with the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion, kidnapped union leader Benigno Mateo outside the plant where he worked in San Fernando.

On the web site of the National Federation of Labor Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno, Elmer Labog, the union’s secretary-general, reported that 60 trade unionists have been abducted since 2001. Others have been killed.

Activists say the disappearances are part of a government and military campaign to repress unions and leftist groups.

Labog recently testified before a Senate committee urging that the government make good on the right of contractual and temporary workers to join unions.

Only 10 percent of the 35 million Philippine workers belong to unions, and Labog says rampant intimidation prevents most workers from exercising their constitutional right to organize unions.

Lebanon: Israeli attacks ruin environment

Environmentalists Against War report that Israeli air strikes two weeks ago destroyed five oil holding tanks at a power plant near Beirut, plus barriers intended to keep loose oil from running into the Mediterranean. Their web site reported Aug. 2 that an estimated 110,000 barrels of oil have washed up on beaches and rocks along 55 miles of Lebanese coastline. Sea-borne oil is expected to reach Syria, Cyprus, Turkey and eventually Greece.

Continuing Israeli air bombardments have put clean-up efforts on hold. UN environmental specialist Achim Steiner told reporters, “The longer the spill is left untreated, the harder it will be to clean up.”

Lebanon, much praised for efforts to protect the environment, now faces long-term damage to its fishery and tourist industries. According to environment minister Yaacoub Sarraf, “Our whole marine ecosystem facing the Lebanese shoreline is [probably] dead. … What is at stake today is all marine life in the eastern Mediterranean.”

Bolivia: Morales remains popular

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales gained a 75 percent approval rating in an opinion poll reported July 30 in the La Paz weekly La Epocha. Carried out in five cities without data from rural areas where Morales’ support is high, the survey may have underestimated his support, Prensa Latina said.

In the poll, 61 percent of those surveyed think that Bolivia’s future is bright, and 65 percent give Morales high marks for anti-corruption measures. Commentators said agrarian reform was seen as crucial to Morales’ appeal. Another poll, reported May 30 by Angus Reid Global Scan, gave the president an 81 percent approval rating, up 13 points from April.

Analyst John Crabtree, at www.opendemocracy.net, attributes Morales high popularity steps taken May 1 to nationalize oil and natural gas resources, to fund social services, to cut the salaries of high government officials and to redistribute land to small farmers.

Nigeria: Oil barons edgy as Delta turmoil grows

The International Crisis Group issued a statement Aug. 3 to promote its new report “The Swamps of Insurgency: Nigeria’s Delta Unrest.” Appearing on allafrica.com, the report offers advice to the Nigerian government, oil-consuming nations and oil companies aimed at countering “the risk of violent meltdown in the Niger Delta.”

According to the report, poverty, corruption, and crime have for 25 years fueled an increasingly “militant threat to the stability of the region and to the country’s reliability as a major oil producer.” Nigeria has become Africa’s largest oil supplier and is tenth in crude oil production worldwide.

The report calls for governmental reforms, international aid and cooperation between oil companies and community-based organizations. It views with alarm the emergence recently of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. The insurgent group is demanding troop withdrawals, release of imprisoned leaders and the sharing of oil revenues with Delta populations.

World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney (atwhit@megalink.net).

Mexicos voters reject token recount

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:39:00 +0000

MEXICO CITY — Falling short of widespread demands for a full vote recount, the Federal Electoral Tribunal here ruled Aug. 5 that it would only recount votes in 9.7 percent of polls. The decision sparked widespread outrage.

The ruling is a response to an appeal launched by the left-wing coalition For the Good of All, which asked for a ballot by ballot recount of the July 2 vote.

The coalition presented evidence to the tribunal that there were errors and falsifications in 72,000 out of 130,000 “acts” (vote tallies at local polling places), as well as in the final, aggregate vote count. For example, in many local polling places, observers said, the vote tally for coalition presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was much higher than the federal election commission said it was.

The tribunal ruled there was insufficient evidence to justify a full recount. The results of the partial recount were expected Aug. 12.

Political analysts suggested that the government of President Vicente Fox ordered the tribunal — whose members were appointed by the governing National Action Party (PAN) — to order a recount of only a small percentage of the vote in order to appease growing public sentiment for a vote recount.

A source in Mexico’s military intelligence services told the World in an interview that the Fox government pressured the tribunal into ruling against a full vote recount, telling its members their careers would not go anywhere if they made the “wrong decision.”

Julio Hernandez Lopez, a columnist for the left-wing daily La Jornada, reports that a source told him that he overheard PAN leader Cesar Leal telling a newly elected PAN senator Aug. 3 over dinner in a luxury restaurant in Polanco, a wealthy neighborhood here, that he had “closed a deal with the electoral tribunal to open a reduced percentage of select ballot boxes.”

According to Alberto Barranco, columnist for the center-right daily La Universal, Mexico’s business community also influenced the tribunal’s decision. Barranco wrote, “In the business orbit there is information circulating that some (business) magnates are collecting money to secretly deliver to the judges of the tribunal.” He said the plan involves awarding each judge about $900,000 for voting against a full recount.

Lopez Obrador said he does not accept the tribunal’s ruling and vowed that he will continue with his campaign of peaceful civil disobedience to force authorities to recount the vote. The tribunal’s ruling was also condemned by trade unionists and civil organizations.

Much of Mexico City’s downtown is occupied with tens of thousands of protesters who are camped out on the streets. Every day, more people arrive from across Mexico. On Aug. 8, hundreds of protesters took over toll booths leading into the capital, waving new protesters through.

In the meantime, evidence of widespread electoral fraud continues to mount. Six board members of the election commission in the state of Sinaloa said 40 percent of the vote tallies contain mathematical errors. They called for an investigation. Election officials in five other states have stepped forward with similar charges.

Chavez makes world tour

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:38:00 +0000

Fresh from the Mercosur Summit in Argentina, where his country was admitted to full membership, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez left July 23 on a world trip to strengthen alliances, secure trade deals and gain support for Venezuela’s bid to join the UN Security Council.

The first stop was Belarus, followed by Russia, Qatar, Iran, Vietnam and Mali. It was Chavez’s fourth visit to Russia, his fifth to Iran. Plans to visit North Korea did not materialize.

In Belarus, after paying homage to the Soviet victory over Nazi fascism, Chavez and President Alexander Lukashenko pledged to cooperate within the UN and the Movement of Nonaligned Countries. On July 24, they signed seven economic agreements and agreed to share technology. The two countries shared trade worth $16 million in 2005.

Politics had a high profile. In Russia, at a July 27 press conference, Chavez declared, “The biggest threat which exists in the world is the empire of the United States. … It is a senseless, blind, stupid giant which doesn’t understand the world, doesn’t understand human rights.”

Reporters quoted an anonymous Russian official as saying, “The positions of Russia and Venezuela on the majority of international problems are close or coincide.” President Vladimir Putin gave backing to Venezuela’s run for a Security Council seat.

Russian companies will be exploring new gas and oil fields in Venezuela. Discussions took place on joint engineering, metallurgical and space programs.

The two countries also signed a $3 billion arms deal, intended to strengthen Venezuela’s defenses against the possibility of a U.S. military invasion.

After a stopover in Qatar, Chavez proceeded to Iran. The two countries have arrived at 86 commercial agreements since 1999, and Iran has put $1 billion into the Venezuelan energy, construction and tractor-building sectors. Now Iran’s state-owned oil and gas company plans to invest $4 billion more to develop oil and gas fields in Venezuela and to form two joint petrochemical ventures, one of them in Indonesia.

Iran will also construct a refinery in Venezuela and begin assembling automobiles there. Joint ventures have been set up for making bicycles, medicines and industrial molds.

Chavez’s visit to Vietnam was the first ever for a Venezuelan head of state.

Crude oil is Vietnam’s largest export. The Venezuelan guests said Vietnam could gain $2 billion in additional income from sales of finished petroleum products. Chavez offered assistance in building a refinery. Negotiators also signed cultural exchange agreements and devised a legal framework for future trade relations.

Chavez told reporters that “independence and freedom” depend upon unity. “If we waited for solutions to come from developed countries, we won’t be able to solve our problems for 5,000 years.”

The final stop on his tour was the West African nation of Mali, where he signed a bilateral energy agreement with President Amadou Toumani Toure. On a radio program, Chavez said the peoples of both nations share a common destiny and could come closer together.