People Before Profit blog

The Little Tramp redux

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 08:26:00 +0000

“We have more power because we know more. They’ve given me earplugs for the noise at least.”

The speaker of those words is Venezuelan metalworker Miguel Moreno. He had recently attended a showing of Charlie Chaplin’s classic 1936 film, “Modern Times,” that resulted in his making some demands at his workplace.

The film showings are the latest project of President Hugo Chavez’s government aimed at empowering the workers by informing them of their rights. The project is being sponsored by a new agency of the Labor ministry which says Venezuelan workers need all the power they can get, citing the more than 1,500 workers that are killed and the thousands injured yearly in industrial accidents.

The mover and shaker behind the film showings is Jhonny Picone, a top Labor Ministry official. He says the grim and dehumanizing factory conditions depicted in the film are the “norm” in Venezuelan factories.

Under Picone’s leadership the film has been shown 1,000 times in 14 states and has educated workers as to their health and safety rights.

Chavez’s detractors in the business sector complain the film is an example of the president’s simplistic, outdated and business-unfriendly policies. Sound familiar?

But for 29-year-old minimum wage worker Roberto Maldano, who works at a poultry plant, the Little Tramp has also made a difference. “Charlie Chaplin ends up crazy, and I feel that way too sometimes,” he said. After watching the film and hearing the talk given by the Labor Ministry officials, he felt empowered enough to demand gloves and soap from his employer-and got them.

Welcome back, Charlie.

Puerto Rico is a colony, not a commonwealth

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 08:14:00 +0000

In a recent article in a left periodical about the fiscal crisis in Puerto Rico, the author attributed the woes of the island nation to misdirected economic policies of the “Puerto Rican Commonwealth’s government.” The piece treats the government as an independent entity with powers to resolve its social and economic problems. It does not deal except in a very minute and passing manner with the colonial reality of the island.

To call the island nation of Puerto Rico a “commonwealth” is to condone U.S. imperialism’s use of Puerto Rico to further its dastardly goals in Latin America and its use of the youth of Borinquen as cannon fodder for its wars of conquest and domination. Puerto Rico is nothing more than a colony of the United States, and its working class is shackled by this relation since it cannot change its situation. As long as this relationship exists, the island is held hostage to capitalism and all the ills this brings.

The United Nations Decolonization Committee has recognized this dilemma since 1972, when it resolved that Puerto Rico had the right to “independence and self-determination.” It does not take much to realize what the status of Puerto Rico is — even if one does not want to accept the fact that the U.S. government itself has admitted as much. Let’s take a look at this reality.

The U.S. presence is most clearly expressed through: a) U.S. military presence, b) judicial control by the U.S. Congress, president and courts, and c) economic control by U.S. corporate and financial institutions.

The United States directly controls the following areas of Puerto Rico’s national powers: communications, currency, trade (national and international), transportation, citizenship/naturalization, immigration and emigration, foreign travel (passports), customs laws and tariffs, labor relations, wage laws, census (population, agriculture, commerce, industry), defense/military service/internal security (FBI, CIA), international relations, banking systems, health standards (slaughterhouse, food products, medicines), Social Security/unemployment and disability benefits, environmental laws, prices, penal system and court system.

The political structures used by the U.S. to govern Puerto Rico encompass and affect all social, economic and political aspects of life on the island, and control and restrict external relations between Puerto Rico and other countries.

Amilcar Cabral, the great African liberator, in a speech to the First Tricontinental Conference of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America in Havana, Cuba (1966), emphasized that “both in colonialism and neocolonialism the essential characteristic of imperialist domination remains the same: the negation of the historical process of the dominated people by means of violent usurpation of the freedom of development of the national productive forces.”

Under these circumstances Puerto Rico’s working class does not just struggle against the exploitation inherent in a capitalist system, but also struggles for its national liberation, in defense of what it sees as its national patrimony — for example, the struggle against the privatization of the phone and shipping companies in Puerto Rico, the struggles to preserve the national language of the people, and against the death penalty and wiretapping (both prohibited by the Puerto Rican Constitution). In essence they struggle for the right to be able to determine their own destiny without the shackles put on them by imperialism. Therefore, during the recent budget crisis certain unions understood that the correct position was to make the rich and the multinational corporations pay for the crisis, not the working class and the poor.

Other unions and federations, like the AFL-CIO and some of its affiliates and some Puerto Rican unions, that responded to pressure from colonial and U.S. economic interests supported the sales tax — let the workers pay for the crisis of colonialism. They took the pragmatic solution that can only lead to more crisis and suffering in the colony, and not the long arduous road to change that will benefit the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. working class.

The proof is in the pudding. We are not talking about a commonwealth nor a free associated state but about the oldest colony in the world — Puerto Rico. Unless progressives realize this, their analysis about the economic and social condition of the island will be flawed, to say the least, and they will be ignoring their duty to oppose the imperialist policies of their ruling class everywhere.

José A. Soler (jsoler@umassd.edu) is director of the labor education center at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Chicagoans march to stop deportations

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 05:06:00 +0000

CHICAGO — Undaunted by record-breaking midday heat, tens of thousands of people marched for immigrant rights here July 19. Organizers said anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 people participated. It was Chicago’s third mass immigrant rights action since March.

Once again, labor unions, religious groups, elected officials and many immigrant rights organizations marched together, joined by thousands of workers, young and old, immigrant and non-immigrant. As they packed the hot streets carrying colorful signs and American flags, men passed out boxes of bottled water, Chicago firemen opened hydrants and children cooled off in the water.

Young people carrying clipboards asked the marchers if they were registered to vote. “One of the mottos is ‘Today we march, tomorrow we vote,’ so we have to take responsibility to actively make change,” said Jesse Iniguez, who said he registered 15 people at the beginning of the gathering. “We’re just getting started,” he added.

Spanish FM radio station “La Que Buena, 105.1” was a major sponsor, spearheaded by popular disc jockey Rafael Pulido, also known as “El Pistolero.” Broadcasting from Union Park, where thousands gathered before the march, the radio station entertained participants through loudspeakers. A banner above their stage bore a quote from Pulido: “We may not have it all together, but together we can have it all.” Pulido later told the World, “It’s a personal responsibility to pay back to the people, and as an immigrant to speak out for others.” He added, “We’re not illegal immigrants — this is what human beings have done for thousands of years who are only seeking to provide a better life for our families.”

As he waited to speak at the lakefront rally following the march, SEIU Local 1 President Tom Balanoff told the World, “This is an issue of human rights and labor rights. Immigrant workers help build our nation and treating them like criminals is wrong.”

Chicago Alderman Danny Solis agreed, saying, “We’re keeping the cause alive in order to tell Congress to do the work of the people and pass realistic solutions.”

Twenty-six year old Marco, who waits on tables, was born in Torreon, Mexico, and has been living in the U.S. for 11 years. This was the third immigration rally he attended since March. “I want to make my voice heard,” he said. Marco expressed disappointment with Bush’s war in Iraq and possible strike on Iran and asked why aid is not given to underdeveloped countries like Mexico instead.

Roberto Lopez, director of the immigrant rights group Centro Sin Fronteras and an organizer of the event, said the most important message was “to put a stop to deportations, and to stop the raids.” While Congress debates immigration policy, immigrant families continue to be victimized and separated, Lopez said. A moratorium on these repressive measures is needed now, he said.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) told the rally crowd, “We are here in Chicago saying clearly you cannot divide us! We need to continue to register and become citizens and vote.” Applauding the presence of youth, he said, “This is about future generations changing the course of history.”

Although smaller than earlier marches, the July 19 outpouring showed deep support for undocumented families here.

“Chicago has been at the epicenter for the last decade in defense of immigrant rights,” Gutierrez told the World. “We began in March and set a standard for the nation, and it is important that we continue until Congress adopts a fair policy for immigrant rights.”

Overthrow: Looking beyond the rhetoric

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 07:32:00 +0000

BOOK REVIEW

Stephen Kinzer has previously authored or co-authored definitive studies on the CIA’s overthrow of democratic governments in Iran (1953) and in Guatemala (1954). Now in his latest work, “Overthrow,” Kinzer widens the scope of his investigations to include a study of over a century of U.S.-organized or led coups, covert actions and invasions leading to regime changes in 14 nations. He believes that these actions have “weakened rather than strengthened American security.”

Our tale begins with the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in a rebellion organized by the American ambassador to Hawaii on behalf of American sugar planters in that island nation, and it concludes with the Bush administration’s invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. Kinzer observes that the United States overthrew the governments because they displeased our government for “various ideological, political, and economic reasons,” and these are all clearly cases “in which the United States arranged to depose foreign leaders.” The author charges that no other nation has engaged in such actions “so often, in so many places so far from its shores.”

Three eras of regime change

The author divides the regime changes into three eras: 1) the imperial era, beginning in the 1890s, 2) covert actions during the Cold War and 3) invasions ranging from Grenada in 1983 to Iraq in 2003.

The American imperial era “was propelled largely by the search for resources, markets and commercial opportunities,” and it resulted in the nation’s emergence as a world power. The era began with the theft of the Hawaiian Islands and ended with the spoils won in the Spanish-American War in 1898 — the seizure of the Philippines and Puerto Rico and American domination of Cuba, with little or no regard for the viewpoint of their inhabitants.

In the Philippines, the U.S. openly betrayed its former ally against Spain, the Filipino independence movement, and fought a bloody war (1899-1903) to crush any sentiments for independence. The war resulted in 4,500 dead American soldiers along with the deaths of 36,000 Filipino civilians and guerrillas.

Corporate power and imperialism

Kinzer points out how American expansion was greatly influenced by the rise of corporate power and its merger with political power. Corporations came to expect the government “to act on their behalf, even to the extreme of overthrowing uncooperative foreign leaders.” The author also explains how U.S. presidents normally explained the American role in the regime changes. They would either obscure the real reasons and insist they were protecting national security and liberating “suffering natives,” or they would simply deny U.S. involvement. Our leaders were never candid with Americans who expected their country to act out of pure motives.

Covert actions during the Cold War marked the second era of U.S regime changes. These acts were heavily influenced by anti-communist ideology and included the overthrow of democratically elected governments in Iran, Guatemala and Chile (1973). Kinzer notes that “each of these coups was launched against a government that was reasonably democratic” and each “led to the installation of a repressive dictatorship.” The author asserts that the United States made the great error of assuming that nationalist challenges were part of “the Soviet threat.”

In addition, Kinzer explains the economic motives of the U.S. leading to the covert overthrows of these governments. First, in Iran a democratic government had nationalized British oil interests in 1951 (U.S. oil companies later received a large share of the holdings). Second, in Guatemala another democratic government had redistributed unused land owned by the American-owned United Fruit Company to thousands of landless peasants. Third, in Chile, two U.S.-owned copper companies as well as the national telephone company had been nationalized by the democratic administration of Salvador Allende. In all three countries, the American imperial reply was similar: the violent overthrow of each government followed by years of bloody, repressive dictatorships.

Disposable allies

Finally, Kinzer examines a third period of American regime changes: the invasions from 1983 to 2003 which included Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan and Iraq. The author believes that these invasions should be understood both within the context of a century of regime changes as well as exemplifying the idea “that Americans have a right and even an obligation to oppose regimes they consider evil.” And of course, the U.S. media demonized the leadership of these nations while conveniently ignoring the fact that Noriega in Panama and Saddam Hussein in Iraq had once been very close allies of the U.S. government, and American oil interests had ignored the atrocious human rights violations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, while lobbying for the rights to lay an oil pipeline across that country.

Kinzer has written an informative and hard-hitting expose of the hidden motives driving American foreign policy during the past century. Readers who are unaware of the duplicitous policies and explanations for U.S. diplomacy are in for a rude awakening. The work exposes the carefully woven layers of lies surrounding American ruling-class actions of regime change, and is especially useful due to the wide scope of events that are covered.

The book deserves a place on the bookshelves of every student of history and activist — especially alongside a copy of Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.”

Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq By Stephen Kinzer Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2006, hardcover, 384 pp., $29.95

U.S.-S. Korea unions link up vs. free trade pact

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:07:00 +0000

Worried about the failure of “free trade” deals for workers and farmers, U.S. and South Korean unions are joining forces to oppose the proposed Korean-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

The U.S. and the Republic of Korea held their first round of talks on the pact in Washington last month. The second round, in Seoul, ended acrimoniously July 14. President Bush “fast-tracked” the trade deal — enabling U.S. envoys to negotiate an agreement that can be submitted to Congress for a yes-or-no vote without amendments — but his fast-track authority runs out in mid-2007.

If passed, the pact would be the biggest for Washington since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, and it would unite the world’s largest and 10th-largest economies.

But it’s the harsh results of NAFTA for millions of U.S., Canadian and Mexican workers, farmers and indigenous people that have the unions concerned.

In a joint statement the AFL-CIO, Change to Win Federation, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Federation of Korean Trade Unions said, “Over the last 12 years, NAFTA has accelerated and deepened corporate mobility and flexibility, while costing more than 1 million jobs and job opportunities in the U.S., putting increased downward pressure on U.S. wages, and undermining environmental and public health protections. In Mexico, workers’ wages have fallen or stagnated in real terms, while inequality has worsened, and the number of people in poverty has grown.”

The unions are demanding that any trade agreement guarantee workers’ rights — in particular the right to organize, environmental standards and protection of public services.

In June a delegation of Korean unionists came to Washington during the first round of free-trade talks. This month, a delegation from the AFL-CIO and the ILWU (the West Coast longshore union) went to Seoul for the second round. There, some 25,000 farmers, laborers, office workers, students and others demonstrated, while negotiators for the two governments held talks at a posh hotel on the other side of the city. Police attacked the demonstrators with steady water cannon bursts after some of the protesters pushed on buses and threw sand at police standing atop the vehicles.

The U.S. union delegation reported that at their July 10 joint press conference in Seoul, with 100 union members in attendance, more than 3,000 South Korean riot police showed up and “sought to intimidate” them.

“Police surrounded the stage and the 100 or so people who came for the press conference,” wrote ILWU communications specialist Marcy Rein on the AFL-CIO blog. “Police pushed and shoved people with their shields for a while, then pulled back and allowed the press conference to go on for a few minutes, then charged the crowd, yelling. They brought a tow truck to take the stage away.”

“We mounted the stage in the midst of a melée,” said Amy Masciola, international campaigns coordinator for the AFL-CIO Organizing Department.

Though the police completely disrupted the press conference, the labor leaders managed to make their statements from the stage, even if few observers could hear them.

The FTA is big news in Korea, said Masciola. “Everyone is talking about it.”

ILWU organizer Agustin Ramirez said many Koreans are concerned about how free trade will impact their lives negatively. “They see cheap rice from the U.S. destroying their rice industry, the way cheap U.S. corn destroyed farmers in Mexico. They see their pharmaceutical industry destroyed and fear laws encouraging energy-efficient cars will be out and SUVs will come into play. Members of the theatrical union worry that laws supporting local production of movies will be weakened.”

It was over pharmaceuticals that Korea and the U.S. cut short their second-round talks. South Korea has a list of drugs which are reimbursable under the country’s health insurance system. U.S. negotiators called that unacceptable and discriminatory. Apparently, say observers, the U.S. drug companies are anxious to get into the Korean market unfettered.

Besides pharmaceuticals and agriculture, the status of South Korean goods manufactured in North Korea is seen as another sticking point in hammering out the agreement. South Korea is building an economic development zone in the North as a jointly agreed-to step towards the country’s reunification.

talbano@pww.org

Gay Games shine bright in Chicago

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 05:18:00 +0000

WHAT’S REALLY GOOD

Gay Games shine bright in Chicago

CHICAGO — The VII Gay Games Sports and Cultural Festival began on July 15 and continued to rock this city through the week until July 22, with over 12,000 athletes, gay and straight, from more than 70 countries competing in 30 different sports.

At Washington Park, on the city’s South Side, softball team leader Nicol Juratovac, 38, from San Francisco was on a break with her teammates gearing up for their next match. Being part of the Gay Games “builds a lot of camaraderie and makes you feel visible in a world that makes you feel invisible,” she told the World. “As gay people we feel significant” during the games, “in a world that makes you feel insignificant.”

Juratovac is a firefighter back home, as well as an organizer for the annual Gay Pride Parade. She said the games are inclusive of all people.

Sports competitions included softball, tennis, ice hockey, diving, beach volleyball, basketball, bowling, swimming, cycling, billiards, wrestling, track and field, darts, dance sport, martial arts, badminton, figure skating, water polo and more.

The weeklong festival also included band, cheerleading and color guard performances, chorus, an arts festival, as well as a series of community-organized social events and celebrations. Many celebrities, like comedian Margaret Cho and singer Cindy Lauper, performed as well.

Rochelle Ventura, 41, an African American from Rockford, Ill., was a spectator at the softball games. “I’m going to enjoy this day very much,” she said. “I need a million dollars, but I need this day more. Meeting people, having fun and good times is better than money.”

The opening ceremony kicked off at Soldier Field, the lakefront home stadium of football’s Chicago Bears.

Volunteer David Connolly was moved during the opening ceremony and told the World that “seeing people openly hold hands,” gay and lesbian, “at Soldier Field was amazing.”

The closing ceremony of the games is scheduled to take place at Wrigley Field, home of baseball’s Chicago Cubs, located in the heart of the city’s largest LGBT neighborhood.

The first Gay Games were held in San Francisco in 1982 with 1,350 participants. They were originally conceived by Dr. Tom Waddell, an Olympic decathlete. Subsequent Gay Games have been held in San Francisco in 1986 with 3,500 participants, Vancouver in 1990 with 7,300 participants, New York in 1994 with 12,500, Amsterdam in 1998 with 13,000 and Sydney in 2002 with 11,000.

As many as 40,000 visitors toured the Windy City and were joined by nearly 60,000 area residents, making it the biggest games yet. Organizers saw the games as a good opportunity to showcase Chicago as a gay-friendly destination.

The Federation of Gay Games is the international governing body that promotes the quadrennial competition with its founding principles of “Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best.”

Rebecca Alvarez, 24, was rooting for her partner who is a pitcher and her mother who is a catcher on the women’s softball team from Chicago called “Bobbie’s Girls.” She pointed out that as a gay community “people isolate us,” and this event allows people to “get together and unite, to show support and that we are fighting for equality.”

Robert Martinez, 37, from California, a Mexican American, told the World that in straight sports leagues the men talk too much trash, whereas in the Gay Games, it’s more of a community.

Martinez said he is unhappy with how the Bush administration treats gay and lesbian people and their rights. Bush “talks about spreading freedom around the world,” he said, “yet he restricts our freedom within the states — that’s contradicting.” Martinez added, “We’re still here and not going anywhere, we’re only getting stronger.”

For more information visit: www.gaygames.org.

Weapon of mass destruction

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:57:00 +0000

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that Iraq, with a population of about 26 million, in the year 2000 had a total of 195,374 new cases of cancer and 126,677 cancer deaths, most of them children.

From 1990 to 1999, the cancer rate rose 242 percent in southern Iraq alone and birth defects increased tenfold.

Before the 1991 Gulf War, children made up 13 percent of cancer cases. By 2002, 56 percent of all cancer cases were in children under 5.

Of the 580,400 U.S. troops that served in the six-week Gulf War, 11,000 had died by the year 2000, and 325,000 are on permanent disability for physical or emotional injuries. Only 269 died in combat, while only 457 were wounded.

In 2001, I visited the Basra Children’s Hospital in Iraq. All rooms and hallways were overflowing with children dying from various forms of cancer. Many others were dying from diarrhea due to sewage-polluted water. Water refineries had been bombed during the war. The bombing of water treatment plants, power plants and the like are considered a war crime according to the UN.

The head doctor told us the children would all die because of U.S.-imposed sanctions. Due to the sanctions, medicine and parts to repair the water plants could not be obtained. He gave us dozens of pictures of the hundreds of deformed babies born in the area.

Here in the U.S., I have been in touch with Birth Defect Research for Children. This organization has compared the number of birth defects in children born to Gulf War veterans with the number for the average American family. Their research surveyed almost three dozen birth defects normally caused by exposure to radiation and revealed that babies born to the veteran parents had two to four times as many of certain specific defects.

What can be the cause of all these cancers and birth defects? Medical experts throughout the world agree that the depleted uranium used in our weapons and military equipment is responsible, despite U.S. officials’ claims that they have no idea as to the cause.

Starting in the 1960s, the U.S. government began investigating ways to utilize the countless thousands of tons of uranium left over from our atomic power plants and the manufacture of our atomic weapons. They mixed the uranium with other metals and cheaply produced the densest metal ever known. Put into everything from small artillery to the largest of bombs and into the armor of our tanks, it will penetrate almost anything.

But there is one enormous disadvantage. When the weapons or tanks explode, countless millions of dust-size toxic uranium particles are dispersed into the air, soil and water, to remain there for literally billions of years. Carried aloft by winds and sandstorms, even very small amounts inhaled by anyone are likely to result in various types of cancer.

The radioactive particles also directly affect the DNA and the reproductive system to create any of over 3,000 known birth defects.

At least 320 tons of depleted uranium were used in the Gulf War, mostly in southern Iraq.

Since 2003, we have used over 2,000 tons — over six times the amount used in 1991. Our troops, the innocent Iraqi people and the children not yet born are the victims of our government’s illegal and inhumane use of depleted uranium. Truly these are weapons of mass destruction.

Bud Deraps (peacebud@earthlink.net) is a World War II Navy veteran in St. Louis.

The Beautiful Game

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:28:00 +0000

The 2006 World Cup has ended. Italy is world champion, France is second and Germany is third.

No other world sporting event is truly an international tournament like soccer’s World Cup.

The World Cup tournament began in Uruguay in 1930, spearheaded by Jules Rimet, the president of the French Football Federation. He said, “Soccer could reinforce the ideals of a permanent and real peace,” as he pushed to organize an international event that would not discriminate between professional or amateur status.

The Second World War put a 12-year stop to the competition. It resumed in 1958 and rapidly advanced to its undisputed status as the greatest single sporting event of the modern world.

Held alternately in Europe and the Americas, the World Cup broke new ground with the selection of Korea and Japan as co-hosts for the 2002 edition.

Soccer — or football as it’s called elsewhere — has been dubbed “the Beautiful Game.” In 1977, Brazil’s Pelé, one of soccer’s greatest superstars, entitled his autobiography “My Life and the Beautiful Game.” In it, Pelé wrote, “I dedicate this book to all the people who have made this great game the Beautiful Game.” The Beautiful Game has put the global public under its spell as billions tune in to witness the players’ amazing athletic talent and fancy footwork.

While the aspirations of the athletes and Rimet to make the World Cup into a forum for sportsmanship and peace, racism and crass corporate profiteering have marred the Beautiful Game. Racist harassment at the beginning of this year’s Cup made worldwide news. (It’s important to note this was challenged by athletes, fans and FIFA officials.) Italy has been embroiled in a soccer scandal directly related to right-winger and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, involving millions of dollars. France has a multiracial team attacked by right-wingers as not being “French.”

And then there was the head butt. During the 2006 finals the captain and superstar of the French national team Zinedine Zidane head-butted Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the chest after they exchanged words. Speculation has abounded whether the Italian called Zidane a “dirty terrorist.” Zidane, who was born in Marseille and is the son of parents who migrated to France from Algeria, was ejected from the game and Materazzi denied the charge. Zidane has apologized for his action, especially to the millions of children who watched.

Sports are not above — but a part of — the world political situation. As online journalist Larry Chin said, the word “terrorist” has turned into the ultimate epithet. “For this, we must thank the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney administration … their endless war, and the disinformation apparatus that continues to monger ignorant fear in every corner of the world, and deep in the brain synapses of every person on earth.”

We hope by 2010, when the World Cup will be held in South Africa — the first time on the African continent — the world situation will be different and improved. South African President Thabo Mbeki said, “The 2010 Soccer World Cup belongs to the many Africans who in many parts of the world engage in a continuous struggle against racism and xenophobia. Africa’s time has come. Come home to Africa.”

The Beautiful Game in Africa can be all that with successful struggles for peace, democracy and equality by the world’s people. And we pledge to do our part in the U.S.

Demand rises for recount in Mexico

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 05:18:00 +0000

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute has declared Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party (PAN) winner of the July 2 presidential election by the narrowest of margins. However, evidence is mounting that the election commission and Calderon’s party rigged the vote to ensure that he prevailed over his rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, candidate of the left-oriented Coalition for the Good of All.

Lopez Obrador has refused to concede the election.

According to the election commission, Calderon, the candidate favored by the Bush administration, received 15.3 million votes, while Lopez Obrador got 14.8 million. Roberto Madrazo, candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, reportedly won 9.3 million votes. Two minor candidates shared the rest.

In the wake of reports of widespread voting irregularities, more than 500,000 people demonstrated in downtown Mexico City on July 8, demanding a recount. Similar actions took place in other cities. Members of Lopez Obrador’s Party of the Democratic Revolution, which is part of his electoral coalition, said irregularities had been reported at about 55,000 of the 130,000 polling places.

Some polling places had insufficient ballots and turned voters away. Meanwhile, piles of marked ballots, tally sheets and other election documents were discovered in landfill sites in the state of Mexico, Veracruz and Mexico City.

Widespread discrepancies in vote tallies were reported. Many polling places posted totals that didn’t match the figures used by election commission. Ballots are counted at each polling place and the results are posted for everyone to see. The ballots and tally sheets are then delivered to the Federal Electoral Institute.

Arturo Espinosa, 56, a researcher for the British Broadcasting Service’s Mexican office, said at his polling place, in District Venustiano Carranza, local officials said 1,800 persons had voted. However, he learned the next day that the federal commission reported only 1,000 had voted there, meaning 800 votes had gone missing.

The Party of the Democratic Revolution cited many cases where Lopez Obrador’s vote was higher than what the commission reported. In one electoral district in Veracruz, election commission computers reportedly removed 3,373 votes from Lopez Obrador’s tally and 4,000 from Roberto Madrazo’s.

According to Jesus Cantu, a former director of the electoral commission, “A high percentage of the electoral acts [results] — I’m talking about 50 percent or more — have some type of error.” He said at least half of the ballot boxes needed to be opened and the votes recounted.

Bolivar Huerta and Francisco Portillo of the physics and mathematics departments of the Autonomous University of Mexico said the election commission’s final vote count was achieved by “cybernetic fraud achieved by means of an algorithm.”

They said early in the day the commission’s computerized vote tally pegged Lopez Obrador and Calderon as jointly gathering 71 percent of the vote, a percentage that never changed as the day wore on. The share of the vote tally for the other candidates also remained fixed. “There is no logical explanation to justify this,” Huerta said.

They also noted that in the states where Lopez Obrador won, his vote percentage was always proportionately less than those of his running mates for the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, whereas in states where Calderon won, his votes were always greater than the legislative candidates aligned with him. “For Lopez Obrador there was an algorithm that removed hundreds of thousands of votes, and another algorithm that moved to Calderon votes that he received in district counts.”

Analysts report other unusual occurrences. For example, on July 2 Calderon announced that he would win over Lopez Obrador by a margin of 0.6 percent. On July 6, the election commission said that Calderon won by a margin of 0.58 percent. How was Calderon able to guess his margin of victory so accurately?

Calderon’s brother-in-law, Diego Zavala, owns the company that supplied the software the commission used to compute the vote.

Charging numerous voting irregularities, Lopez Obrador and the Coalition for the Good of All, trade unions, farmers’ organizations and others are demanding that the Federal Electoral Institute recount all the votes. The commission is refusing to do so, maintaining that the elections and the vote count were fair. Calderon and his party, PAN, are backing the commission. PAN accuses Lopez Obrador of trying to annul a fair election.

On July 9 Lopez Obrador’s coalition asked Mexico’s federal electoral tribunal to order a recount of the presidential votes in Mexico’s 300 electoral districts. The tribunal has the power not only to declare a presidential winner but also to annul an election. It has until Aug. 22 to make a ruling.

Calderon has offered Lopez Obrador and the coalition various cabinet posts if they accept the results. They have declined Calderon’s offer.

The coalition is forming committees for the defense of the vote across the country to pressure the election commission and President Vicente Fox, whose mandate ends December 1, to recount the vote. More marches and rallies are planned.

Lopez Obrador’s coalition won the governorship and local legislative race in Mexico City, retaining the left’s hold on those offices.

Bush retreat fails to silence demand: Close Guantanamo!

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 06:30:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — Fighters for justice and peace greeted a Pentagon memo asserting that 1,000 or more detainees at secret U.S. military prisons around the world are protected by the Geneva Conventions. They called for the closing of the Guantanamo detention facility.

The White House announced that it has withdrawn part of Bush’s 2002 executive order in which he asserted that the detainees are not covered by the Geneva Conventions. Bush had asserted his authority to imprison them indefinitely without criminal charges and try them before military tribunals devised exclusively by himself, without congressional approval.

Gael Murphy, co-founder of CodePink Women For Peace, told the World, “There is very quick movement in the right direction on this issue. We are continuing to call for the closing of Guantanamo. It would send a message around the world that we as a nation do not support illegal detentions, torture, renditions. We also call on the government to close Abu Ghraib and to end illegal sweeps, detention and torture in Iraq.”

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “After more than four years of lawlessness, the Defense Department took a big first step toward complying with federal law by stating that it will comply with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions when holding detainees.”

The Pentagon’s July 7 memo, written by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, was in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld two weeks ago that the detainees are protected by the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The justices ruled that Bush’s planned military tribunals are illegal and must not proceed.

Romero pointed out that even as the Pentagon memo voiced verbal compliance with that high court ruling, “a top Justice Department lawyer urged Congress to ‘ratify’ the military commissions that the Supreme Court invalidated two weeks ago.”

Romero added, “It’s time for the government to stop trying to weasel out of obeying the Supreme Court and federal law.”

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, July 11, Bush administration lawyers demanded that Congress enact a law to, in effect, nullify the high court ruling so they can forge ahead with their rigged tribunals. But CodePink women, who have been on a “Troops Home Fast” since July 4 demanding an end to the Iraq war, were sitting directly behind the Bush-Cheney lawyers. The women held signs that read, “Close Guantanamo.”

David Swanson, a leader of Progressive Democrats of America and a co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, which seeks Bush’s impeachment told the World the Bush administration is engaged in verbal games to appear in compliance with the high court while continuing to torture and abuse detainees. “What disturbs me is the headlines in the media that the Bush administration ‘agrees that detainees are covered by the Geneva Convention.’ But the Pentagon’s top lawyer, Daniel Dell’Orto, says they are already in compliance and always have been. It’s laughable and scary that The Associated Press would print that without adding. ‘That’s a blatant lie.’ We’re talking about people locked in cages, paraded around naked, people the Red Cross says have been tortured.”

Swanson is helping promote antiwar activist and Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan’s plan to move Camp Casey from near Bush’s ranch at Crawford, Texas, to the Capitol Mall starting Sept. 5. It is being renamed “Camp Democracy.” Said Swanson, “Camp Democracy is a way to bring the voice of the people to the seat of power, to force our government to pay attention. The American people overwhelmingly oppose torture, oppose this government’s shredding of the Bill of Rights. One step among many to restore democracy is to close Guantanamo.”

Michael McGuire, media spokesperson for Witness Against Torture, said the Bush administration’s verbal antics in response to the Supreme Court ruling remind him of Bush’s notorious “signing statements.” Said McGuire, “Congress passes a law and Bush signs it, attaching a ‘signing statement’ in which he says, ‘This is what I think the law says.’ The law says what he wants it to say.”

He pointed out that the Bush administration approved “water-boarding” as a method of interrogation. “They strap a prisoner to a board and push him under water until he drowns. Then they resuscitate him. Yet they claim that is permitted under Article 3.”

McGuire continued, “We say close Guantanamo. Close all the secret prisons. That would be a very important step toward ending this administration’s regime of torture and inhumanity.”

Even as Bush pretended to be compliant with the high court, he renominated William J. Haynes II, a Pentagon lawyer for a seat on the federal appeals court. Haynes played a major role in devising Bush’s torture policy. He explicitly advised interrogators to use attack dogs to terrorize detainees.

Twenty retired military officers sent the Senate Judiciary Committee a letter expressing their “deep concern” about Haynes’ fitness for the federal bench. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, ranking Democrat on the committee, said, “It is astounding that the administration would continue to press his nomination. Mr. Haynes has displayed a shocking failure of legal and moral leadership.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) pointed out that low-ranking military personnel have been prosecuted for using attack dogs during interrogations. “It is striking that as these soldiers were being prosecuted, you were being promoted. … What message are we sending if we promote you to the second highest court in our land?”

U2s Bono Backs Insidious Propaganda: Videogame With Venezuela Invasion Theme

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:17:00 +0000

WASHINGTON D.C. - U2’s Bono, well recognized for his campaigns to reduce poverty and treat AIDS in Africa is backing a videogame which promotes the invasion and destruction of Venezuela in order to check “a power hungry tyrant” who has “seized control of Venezuela and her oil supply.” Bono has failed to respond to concerns raised by the Venezuelan Solidarity Network about his funding of this project.

“Mercenaries 2: World in Flames,” created by Los Angeles based Pandemic/Bioware Studios, simulates a mercenary invasion of Venezuela in the year 2007. Pandemic is a subcontractor for the US Army and CIA funded Institute for Creative Technologies, which uses Hollywood techniques to mount war simulations in California’s high desert in order to conduct military training. “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames” simulates destruction in downtown Caracas, and promises to leave no part of Venezuela untouched.

Elevation Partners is an investment firm that Bono helped create in order to exploit marketing opportunities between U2 and its fans, including projects from Pandemic/Bioware Studios. Pandemic states that as a partner in Elevation Partners, Bono “has visibility into all projects at Pandemic and Bioware.”

Pandemic’s target market is young men of military recruitment age and indeed this is not Pandemic’s first military adventure. MSNBC reported that the videogame “’Full Spectrum Warrior’ was created through the Institute for Creative Technologies in Marina Del Rey, Calif., a $45 million endeavor formed by the Army five years ago to connect academics with local entertainment and video game industries. The institute subcontracted work to Los Angeles based Pandemic Studios.”

(http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3131181#storyContinued)

One cannot escape the irony that today, July 5, Venezuela celebrates its independence—just one day after the US celebrated its own. The most enduring aspect of an independent country is assertion of its sovereignty and demand that the world recognize international laws protecting that sovereignty. Yet, amid relentless US threats against Venezuela, a US-based company, Pandemic, which collaborates with the US Army to promote war, plans to market a videogame which advocates a most violent violation of Venezuela’ s sovereignty.

Although Bono remains silent on the matter and Pandemic insists that “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames” is “a work of fictional entertainment” and “Venezuela was chosen for the setting of Mercenaries 2 (because it) is a fascinating and colorful country full of wonderful architecture, geography and culture,” members of the Venezuela Solidarity Network are appalled by the game’s openly racist, interventionist attitude. Says Chuck Kaufman, of Alliance for Global Justice, “if it’s ‘just a game’ and it’s all about selecting fascinating and colorful locales, why didn’t Pandemic select Dublin or Washington, D.C.? Because people would be outraged, that’s why. Pandemic is simply capitalizing on negative and inaccurate U.S. press stories about Venezuela and its leader, Hugo Chavez, in order to make a quick buck. It’s another piece of anti-Venezuelan propaganda that serves only the U.S. military, pure and simple.”

Gunnar Gundersen of the Oregon Bolivarian Circle says, “We have family and friends in Venezuela and many of us have walked and stayed in the places featured in the war game. To us, these are not just clever abstract pictures. They are scenes of a place we consider our second home. Please try to imagine how Venezuelans must feel viewing a bulky, blonde, military man laying waste to their country, a country that is finally rising above a 500-year history of oppression and exploitation by foreign powers.”

The Venezuelan Solidarity Network calls for Bono, who has appealed to the world on many occasions for peace and poverty reduction, to apply those same values to block the manufacture and distribution of this videogame.

Washington Post Questions Legitimacy of Hugo Chavez

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:01:00 +0000

The Washington Post ran a misleading Editorial June 28* arguing that Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez may not be a “legitimate democratic politician.” After countless elections and a recall referendum, the fact that this debate is still happening is ridiculous.

The editorial relies on four major flaws in presenting its argument:

An Inaccurate Anecdote. The Post uses the case of opposition mayor Henrique Capriles Radonski to make the point that the Venezuelan courts may be attacking political opponents. The accusation is not based on the facts (for more on the Capriles case and on Washington Post editorial coverage of Venezuela in general, please see our April 13th article: http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/news/04-13-06vio.html)

An Overblown Analysis. The Post overstates Capriles’ role in the upcoming elections, in order to make the case that his trial is politicized. He is simply not very influential in Venezuela. While Capriles may be popular within his sphere of influence, as mayor of Caracas’ smallest and wealthiest district, he has very little popularity among Chavez’s political base. If the Venezuelan government were seriously interested in attacking the opposition, they clearly would have focused one of the dozen candidates actually running against Chavez for president.

A Globe hopping Victim. The reason the Post editorial board knows about the Capriles case is because he was in Washington a few months ago on a publicity tour. The Post attempts to argue that the Venezuelan government is “despotic,” but if that were the case surely Capriles would have a hard time leaving the country for such campaigns.

An Oversimplified Case. The case of Henrique Capriles Radonski is complicated, and a legitimate subject for the courts to decide. Capriles spoke before a near-riot crowd during the 2002 coup attempt against President Chavez. His supporters say he was trying to calm them down, but his conversations, captured on videotape, indicate that he may have tried to leverage the situation to illegally invade a foreign embassy. In the end, the Venezuelan courts may find Capriles innocent. But the f act is that the charges against him are serious, and involve one of the most complicated and ugly days in modern Venezuelan history.

The Washington Post does not have to support President Chavez, but they do have a responsibility to accurately report what is happening in the country. To abdicate that responsibility is to perform a disservice to their readers and to the people of Venezuela who support their president by wide margins.

Your can help by responding with a letter to the editor. In this election year, it is crucial that misinformation about Venezuela’s electoral process not go unchallenged. Letters can be sent to letters@washpost.com, and must be less than 150 words.

SURVEY: Venezuela, U.S. Lead the World in National Pride Venezuela and the United States are the two most patriotic countries in the world, but for very different reasons, according to a new report from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

The study breaks down national pride into ten different indicators. Amazingly, Venezuela topped the world in four of the ten, including “fair and equal treatment of all groups in society,” as well as pride in the country’s history, arts & literature, and its accomplishments in sports.

Americans, on the other hand, lead the world in pride in political influence, military expertise, economy and democracy.

In only one category saw a country other than the U.S. or Venezuela at the top. France leads the world for pride in its social security program.

The study is remarkable, and tells a story of the way Venezuelans feel about their country that is not generally represented in the media. Please take a look at our complete analysis, complete with charts and links to the original study:

http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/news/norcsurvey2006.html

* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/28/AR2006062801948.html

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