People Before Profit blog

Letters - August 8, 2009

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:18:00 +0000

A faith inspired vision of health care justice

It is not often that we religious leaders speak with one voice across the state, but we are compelled to do it now.

How could we not do so, when nearly fifty million American residents are without health care, when people are being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions and when a major cause for bankruptcy is personal and family medical debt?

The many religious traditions we represent have long advocated for reform that makes quality health care affordable and accessible for all. But year after year, decade after decade, the American people have been denied this essential coverage and frustrated repeatedly by special interests. That must stop and it must stop now, because accessible health care is not only right but the key to economic security and opportunity.

We urge people of all faiths and people of no religious affiliation but with a deep sense of conscience and justice, to join us in telling our congressional representatives to approve legislation that gives all people the opportunity to choose an affordable private or public health insurance plan.

The time for all of us to act is now. Please do your part.

The Health Care

Justice Campaign

Champaign IL

The Health Care Justice Campaign is a project of the Campaign for Better Health Care, www. cbhconline.org.

Get out of Afghanistan

The elongated occupation of Afghanistan faces rising difficulties because its justification is so dishonest and, thus, its aims so shifty and unclear. It can never be officially acknowledged that this ugly venture is really part of a grand chess game for control of the region’s fabulous energy resources.

An initial rationale for invading Afghanistan was, of course, to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, but that goal quickly dissipated when, by most accounts, the Pentagon let the presumptive al Qaeda boss slip away into Pakistan, even though he’d been reportedly located and surrounded.

A subsequent justification cited the invasion’s supposed liberation of Afghan women, invoking a wispy U.S. “obligation” in that regard. Despite the sentimental appeal of this excuse, the status of Afghan women has changed very little, particularly outside of Kabul where the government holds virtually no sway.

Now, the U.S. mission has morphed into a full blown exercise in nation building, all the while trying to defeat a growing domestic resistance centered on the region’s dominant Pashtun tribe. To that end, troop levels have surged and casualties mounted. Defense Secretary Gates says there’s no end in sight and has obliquely hinted that circumstances might require a ground assault into Pakistan, where U.S. aerial bombings have already become routine.

The mythic Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu, is said to have advised, “There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.” President Obama and his generals should dwell on Sun’s venerable wisdom, before they hypocritically shed more blood on behalf of international corporate energy interests.

Cord MacGuire

Boulder CO

Indonesia’s deadly Kopassus

Indonesia’s Special Forces (Kopassus), more than any other in the Indonesian military, stands accused by the Indonesian people of some of the most egregious human rights violations.

The history of Kopassus human rights violations, its criminality and its unaccountability before Indonesian courts extends back decades and includes human rights and other crimes in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere. The crimes of Kopassus are not only in the past. A recently published Human Rights Watch report details ongoing Kopassus human right violations in West Papua.

In 2008, the Bush administration proposed to restart U.S. training of Kopassus. The State Department legal counsel reportedly ruled that the ban on training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole.

See the letter signed by more than 50 U.S. organizations opposing training for Kopassus: http://www.etan.org/news/2009/07kopassus.htm. Additional background about the crime of Kopassus here:

http://www.etan.org/news/2008/04brikop.htm.

John Miller,

Brooklyn NY

John Miller is national coordinator of the East Timor & Indonesia Action Network.

Day care for all

I just opened up my July 11-17 edition (I’m behind) and read of the ceasing publication of the print edition message. Sad.

Nevertheless, I still send this suggestion to you.

William Greider’s article in the May 25 edition of The Nation states among other things, “The extensive family-centered social systems in Europe suggest opportunities for U.S. reforms.”

Of course he’s talking about day care, maternity leave, vacations, health care, etc., etc.

With the party’s contacts through out Europe, couldn’t the paper come up with a full page (easily distributable) comparing the low-standing U.S. to the European nations and their benefits in those areas above?

Those bread and butter issues are the kinds of things that capture people’s attention and show them that the U.S. is not the #1 nation (except in war-making) as they might believe.

I know your staff is swamped. I’ve made this suggestion before and before. But it’s a winner and the process shouldn’t be that hard to at least start.

Lawrence H. Geller

Via e-mail

Special note

The People’s Weekly World does not publish the first week of August. We will be back the following week with the edition dated Aug. 15-21, a change in how we currently date the paper. However, the website, which you can access with www.pww.org OR www.peoplesworld.org, will have daily news and analysis through that week.

Lastly, when we roll out the new website on Sept. 1, our name will officially change since we aren’t a “weekly” anymore. It will be People’s World.

As of January 2010 this newspaper will have a new weekly print format, a downloadable edition of the People’s World. This edition will contain some national stories and a local story (in English and Spanish) and can be distributed locally.

I have received a few dozen requests so far from subscribers who have no Internet access to receive this new format through the mail. If you have no online access, please call me at (773) 446-9920 x201.

Everyone else, I urge you to sign up now to receive pww.org headlines delivered directly to your email. It’s easy and quick. Go to www.pww.org – or - www.peoplesworld.org. You don’t want to miss all the extensive DAILY coverage.

Teresa Albano

Chicago IL

We want to hear from you!

By mail: People’s Weekly World 3339 S. Halsted St.

Chicago IL 60608• e-mail:

Letters should be limited to 200 words. We reserve the right to edit stories and letters. Only letters with the name and address of the sender will be considered for publication, but the name of the sender will be withheld on request.

Follow us on twitter and facebook – www.twitter.com/peoplesworld, www.facebook.com/peoplesworld

Devils and details

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:12:00 +0000

Republicans – and some “Blue Dog” Democrats are bound and determined to stop any kind of health care reform, having made their deal with the devils of the insurance/medical industry giants.

So far two different bills have passed in major committees in Congress. But those bills have stalled in two other equally important committees. Of particular note, the Senate Finance Committee stands as the final major hurdle to producing a final bill.

Both bills contain a lot of the same important reforms: investments in health information technology, ending discrimination by insurers against policy holders who have preexisting conditions and making insurance coverage portable from place to place and job to job.

Plus, both bills expand choices of insurance plans by creating a market place of options, including a publicly-funded and run insurance plan.

While some details about the public option differ, it seems that people who earn between 133 percent to 400 percent of poverty (or individuals earning less than $43,000 or a family of four below $89,000) will be eligible for a sliding scale of discounts in the public insurance plan based on income. (People below that level would be eligible for an expanded Medicaid program.)

Essentially, most people choosing the public insurance plan would pay similar premium rates and expenses that a typical retired Medicare recipient pays now. Both bills mandate that beneficiaries of the public option have the same choices of doctors and care they would have in a private plan.

The president favors three key reforms that will pay for the program. First, end federal overpayments to the profiteering Medicare Advantage programs created by the Republicans and the Bush administration in 2005.

Second, fix Medicare and Medicaid repayment procedures to create parity and fairness across the country.

Third, limit tax deductions for the very richest one percent of Americans, a tax code reform that would restore the levels signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Not only are these funding mechanisms important to making sure the public option is viable, they are important to remedying the very worst economic policies adopted by the Bush administration: deregulation, the creation of bloated and expensive privatized programs and tax cuts for the rich paid for by the rest of us.

General strike in Honduras targets coup government

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:59:00 +0000

GRANMA INTERNATIONAL Havana. July 24, 2009

TEGUCIGALPA (PL).—The three principal labor unions in Honduras are maintaining a general strike in the state sector for the second day this Friday, supported by road blocks put in place by the popular forces repudiating the coup d’état.

The country remained paralyzed yesterday for several hours due to the closing of several strategic routes by demonstrators, workers leader Juan Barahona informed Prensa Latina.

Barahona, president of the United Workers Federation, described the first day of the strike as a success, taking into account the road blocks and occupation of various state institutions by workers.

The popular actions cut off the country’s principal ports on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as highways connecting the capital with the northern part of the country.

Meanwhile, thousands of people began to move toward the Nicaraguan border. Constitutional President Manuel Zelaya affirmed yesterday that he is to return to his homeland overland from Nicaragua.

Many people called Radio Globo, a radio station that is keeping its microphones open for the people, to report that they had been victims of repression by the army forces who attempted to halt their movement.

In addition, a new problem has presented itself to the de facto government headed by the entrepreneur Roberto Micheletti: police discontent over delays in paying their wages, which has provoked a strike by some agents from a station in the capital.

Daniel Molina, an official police spokesman, tried to downplay the issue, assuring the press that it was merely related to administrative problems.

Nevertheless, officers interviewed by TV Channel 36 – the only station with a critical stance toward the June 28 coup – said that they will not attend to their duties until their complaints are resolved.

The problems arising in this repressive body, which includes the special Cobras squadron, comes in addition to the regime’s international isolation and the wave of popular condemnation that will completes its 27th day this Friday.

The leaders of the National Front against the Coup stated last night that the popular struggle will continue until the coup leaders are defeated and constitutional order and Zelaya are restored.

During the blocking of the northern exit of the Panamericana Highway in the capital yesterday, the crowd was urged over loudspeakers to leave in convoys for the border with Nicaragua to await Zelaya.

Translated by Granma International

Young Republicans elect a new leader who's under fire for racist remarks

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:18:00 +0000

Original source:

The Republican Party has been trying to revamp its image as more inclusive of diversity -- but the newly elected leader of the party's youth branch may set that effort back.

At their annual convention in Indianapolis last week, the Young Republican National Federation elected as their new chair Audra Shay (in photo) of New Orleans, the group's former vice chair at large. Shay, a 38-year-old Arkansas native, defeated Rachel Hoff, the group's director of media relations, by a vote of 470-415, according to The Daily Beast.

The online news site has been covering the story in depth, revealing racially offensive comments made by Shay on Facebook:

Specifically, a thread where one of her friends posts that 'Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist... Muslim is on there side [sic]... need to take this country back from all of these mad coons... and illegals,' and Shay responds eight minutes later with: 'You tell em Eric! lol.'

When two Facebook friends including the head of the African-American Young Republican Chapter complained about the racist remarks, Shay reportedly responded by unfriending them. She later released a statement disavowing her support for the remarks and pointing out that under her chairmanship the Louisiana Young Republicans raised $90,000 for a minority outreach media campaign.

But the Daily Beast also reported that in October 2008, following news that Sarah Palin was being hung in effigy outside a home as an offensive Halloween decoration, Shays posted to Facebook, 'What no Obama in a noose? Come on now, its just freedome [sic] of speech, no one in Atlanta would take that wrong! Lol.'

She later added, 'Apparently I could not spell last night. I am wondering if the guys with the Palin noose would care if we had a bunch of homosexuals in a noose.'

US mining-giant employees ambushed in Indonesia

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:18:00 +0000

Original source:

Gunmen have ambushed employees of US mining giant Freeport in the Indonesian province of Papua, killing a security guard and wounding five others.

The attack was mounted near the spot where police units were investigating the fatal shooting a day earlier of an Australian national working for the transnational.

Papua police chief Bagus Ekodanto pinned the blame on separatist rebels who denounce Freeport as a symbol of Jakarta's rule.

The Indonesian government does not allow foreign media to freely report from Papua, where it has deployed tens of thousands of troops.

The Grasberg mining complex, a global supplier of copper and gold that began operations under the Western-backed Suharto dictatorship, has been a constant source of friction with local Papuans angered over the outflow of profit to foreign investors.

Two US citizens were killed in an ambush in 2002 near the huge open-pit Grasberg mine.

'Slumdog' child star moves into new Mumbai flat

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:31:00 +0000

(Xinhuanet) -- The 'Slumdog Millionaire' child star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and his mother moved from slum shanty into their new apartment in Mumbai, according to media reports Wednesday.

'I was shocked when I saw this house,' Azharuddin, 11, said Tuesday. 'I want to thank Danny Boyle for giving us this flat.'

Boyle, the director of the film, and producer Christian Colson, will transfer the apartment to Azharuddin's name when he turns 18, provided he finishes school.

Officials from the trust — set up by the filmmakers to secure an education, housing and a living allowance for Azhar and his co-star Rubina Ali, 9 — are actively searching for a new home for Rubina as well.

The 50,000 U.S. dollars one-bedroom apartment is on the ground floor of a seven story brown concrete apartment building called 'Harmony,' which sits on a quiet cul-de-sac in the Santa Cruz West section of Mumbai.

'God has given me so much,' Azharuddin’s mother Shameem Ismail said. 'We will sleep very well tonight. There is no water leaking, no bad environment, no quarreling.'

She and Azhar will share the main room, while Azharuddin’s brother Irfan Ismail Sheikh, 22, and his wife will sleep on a mattress in the kitchen, she said.

Azharuddin’s mother said she doesn't want her husband in the new house because he does drugs, but she pledged to return to Garib Nagar, one of Mumbai's more wretched slums where they used to live, for visits.

Ukrainians seek to rename village after Michael Jackson

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:04:00 +0000

Residents of a Ukrainian village are seeking to rename it after the late pop singer Michael Jackson, media reports said Wednesday.

A lawmaker who represents the village said villagers in Oktyabrskoye, located in the Zaporizhia region in the country's southeast, had approached him with a proposal to rename the village 'Jackson,' an AFP report said.

'There are many fans of Michael Jackson there. They want to immortalize him,' said Oleg Kislitsyn, a deputy in the regional parliament.

Kislitsyn said he was in favor of the proposal.

hAccording to Zaporozhye Region's Reporter newspaper, one of the factions in the legislature has already discussed the proposal, and it could be put to a vote soon.

When asked what links existed between Oktyabrskoye and Jackson -- who died following a heart attack at the age of 50 on June 26 -- Kislitsyn said the world was in the process of 'globalization.'

He added: 'I am not a fan but I respect his work. He had an iron-clad will for victory.'

Pride Month: Suggested reading and viewing

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:19:00 +0000

These days you can find many LGBT titles at your local public library, nearby bookstore, and of course online. These include poetry, graphic novels and comics, classic and contemporary fiction and a whole lot more. Share your suggestions at pww@pww.org.

Books

“Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin” by John D’Emilio

“Queer In America: Sex, Media and Closets Of Power” by Michelangelo Signorile

“And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the Aids Epidemic” by Randy Shilts

“The Mayor Of Castro Street: The Life And Times Of Harvey Milk” by Randy Shilts

“Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military” by Randy Shilts

“Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked The Gay Revolution” by David Carter

— Anne Montegue

“Trouble with Harry Hay” by Stuart Timmons

— Barbara Russum

“Beyond the Pale: A Novel” by Elana Dykewomon This compelling novel about Russian-Jewish immigrant and lesbian life at the turn-of-the century is a multi-layered, odyssey of a lesbian woman forced to flee the horrific anti-Semitism of Russia to the challenges of an immigrant life in New York.

— Terrie Albano

DVDs

“Brother Outsider: The Life Of Bayard Rustin” by Sam Pollard (executive producer), Nancy D. Kates (producer/director), Bennett Singer (producer/director).

— Anne Montegue

“Paris is Burning” is a classic independent film by Jennie Livingston about the transvestite club underground in NYC circa 1990s. Very good movie!

— Valeda Dent

“Transamerica” directed and written by Duncan Tucker is a wonderful film about transexuality, humanity, community, family and love in America.

— Terrie Albano

WORLDNOTES: Canada, Russia, Iraq, Japan, Latin America and Cuba

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:58:00 +0000

Canada: Trade pact approved

The Canadian Senate approved a Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement June 17 as Canada’s first bilateral trade agreement ratified since 2002. Critics contrasted that action with the government’s reluctance to approve a Canada-Colombia trade deal because of human rights concerns.

Last month’s police massacre in the Peruvian Amazon “slipped under the radar,” according to straight.com. The slaughter of over 100 indigenous activists came after peaceful demonstrators had been protesting for two months against their neo-liberal government’s implementation of the Peru-U.S. free trade agreement.

Canadian companies account for half the natural resources extracted from Peru, according to Stewart Trew, trade spokesperson for the progressive Council of Canadians group. “The silence in Canada has been incredible,” he added.

Russia: Workers protest plant closings

Worker demonstrations against factory closings and wage arrears have proliferated recently, according to mosnews.com.

Protesting workers at a closed-down porcelain factory in the Sverdlovsk region faced police repression when they blocked a highway June 23. Earlier last month, it took a visit from Prime Minister Putin to induce owners to reopen three factories near St. Petersburg, an action enabling highway demonstrators to return to work.

Tungsten workers in the Vladivostok area received long-unpaid wages after threatening to stop road traffic. Protests at a Zlatoust metal plant and a tractor plant in Rubtsovsk yielded similar results. Laid-off workers at the Petrovsky Alcohol Factory are planning a protest march to Moscow on June 30.

Iraq: Kurdish region to vote on new constitution

With their own government and parliament in place since 1991, Kurds in Iraq have maintained control over three provinces. That parliament last week overwhelmingly approved a new constitution to be voted upon as part of parliamentary elections set for July 25. It puts forth claims to additional provinces, including oil-rich Kirkuk, much to the displeasure of the Iraqi government and Arabs who settled in the region under the Saddam Hussein regime, according to Agence France-Presse.

If it persists with plans to buy a British company investing in Kurdish oil fields, the national Iraqi government may force the Chinese state oil company Sinopec to abandon Iraqi fields elsewhere, Reuters said.

Presently Kurdistan has its own flag, anthem and national day.

Japan: Differences over North Korea

Dissent greeted a government-proposed measure aimed at implementing the recent U.N. Security Council Resolution against North Korean nuclear testing. Despite the resolution’s prioritization of non-military and diplomatic efforts, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party advanced plans last month for the Japanese military to provide logistical support for U.S. forces inspecting North Korean cargo ships.

Communist Party parliamentarian Kasai Akira demanded the government pursue “a peaceful and comprehensive solution and avoid measures likely to intensify military tension between Japan and North Korea.” Japan Press service cited ruling party statements that “Japan needs to make preemptive strikes against enemy bases.”

Proposals have been introduced to bolster Coast Guard capabilities for cargo inspections in Japanese ports.

Latin America: ALBA is growing

Meeting in Carabobo, Venezuela June 24, ALBA welcomed Ecuador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda into the now nine-member alliance. The group adopted the name “Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas,” replacing “alternative” with “alliance.”

Venezuela and Cuba formed ALBA in 2004 to overcome submission to the international market economy, orchestrated by U.S.-controlled financial institutions.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa urged moving beyond economics toward becoming a “political project” based on “solidarity, integration, and being the owners of our own destiny,” a redirection evident in the final summit declaration, according to venezuelanalysis.com.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela sought delegates’ support for restructuring the United Nations and Organization of American States. The summit established ministerial commissions.

Cuba: Economic crisis affects agriculture

Granma newspaper last week reported that the proposed return of oxen to planting and harvest operations would save money and improve capabilities for working small land parcels. Some 265,000 oxen are presently available.

Austerity planning necessitated by waning credit and falling export and tourism revenues has affected agriculture, already charged with building up domestic production. Authorities have cut supplies of extra grains to consumers, despite pending recommendations for increased daily caloric intake. The Trade Ministry, rather than the Agricultural Ministry, now buys food from producers.

Inter Press Service reported that almost 40 percent of Cuba’s excessive amount of idle land has recently been leased to farmers. Potato and tomato harvests are up this year, while production of pork and eggs is down.

World Notes are compiled by W.T.Whitney Jr. (atwhit@roadrunner.com)

The hemispheric significance of the Honduras events

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:25:00 +0000

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has announced he will return to his country this weekend, accompanied by a distinguished group of Latin American and International figures including Organization of American States Secretary General José Miguel Insulza and the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador. He had originally planned to return on Thursday July 2, but postponed his arrival to allow for an ultimatum the OAS have given to the acting president of Honduras to expire. Although the illegal regime set up by the people who carried out the coup have threatened to arrest Zelaya if he returns, my guess is that the coup is done for, and that Zelaya’s return will be a march of triumph.

How did the events in Honduras, one of the smallest and poorest countries in Latin America, suddenly acquire what Marx would have called “world historical” importance? This was not the first military coup d’etat to occur in the region, after all, or in Honduras itself.

The Honduran drama has become the stage on which a momentous conflict is being acted out in miniature, a conflict that has hemispheric and worldwide implications. The stupid move by the Honduran military to revert to an old fashioned barracks coup d’etat has made everything come to a head in Honduras.

The Washington Consensus

Since the collapse of Soviet and Eastern European socialism 18 years ago, Latin America and the Caribbean, like other poor Third World regions, has been subjected to ferociously exploitative economic policies that can be subsumed under the titles of “Washington Consensus” or “the neo-liberal package”.

The Washington Consensus promotes development through free trade and foreign investment. The “free trade” part is a scam as the trade is not free, but rigged in favor of the wealthier countries and international monopoly capital. NAFTA, set up between Mexico, the United States and Canada, is an example, as DR-CAFTA, set up between the United States and the Central American countries plus the Dominican Republic, is another.

This model requires the following from participating poor countries:

That they open up their economies to penetration by foreign multilateral corporations, changing their laws and even their constitutions to get rid of not only trade protectionism, but also labor and indigenous rights, environmental protection, tax laws and other measures that might be deemed to be prejudicial to the interests of foreign investors.

*That they privatize their economies in order to permit foreign and domestic capitalists to realize profits from every aspect of the nation’s economic functioning, including the health care and educational systems, public transportation, water for drinking and irrigation, and many other things.

*That they carry out a program of austerity to cut the government’s payroll, this being a special requirement if a country wants help from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

There have been rebellions against this neo-liberal package since January 1, 1994, when NAFTA came into force and indigenous farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, arose in arms specifically to fight against it. DR-CAFTA has led to major protests in all countries involved. There are currently big disturbances over the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement. The big project of the Bush administration, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has evidently only succeeded in creating unity among forces in several countries of the area which oppose it.

Resistance to Neo-Liberal Policies Grows

Cuba alone has toughed out this whole period of neo-liberalism, a tribute to the brilliant historic leadership of the Cuban Revolution, the fighting qualities of the Cuban people, and the agility of the Cuban model of socialism in adapting itself to all kinds of internal and external challenges.

But while Cuba was toughing it out in conditions of great difficulty and hardship, the “old mole” of class struggle in the rest of the hemisphere was digging away. In country after country, the cause of the working class and the masses was reviving strength and moving toward a series of breakthroughs.

First, the election of Hugo Chavez as president of oil-rich Venezuela in 1998 created a situation in which a larger, potentially wealthy country could begin to link up both with Cuba and with the people’s movements hemisphere-wide to start developing an alternative to the neo-liberal, Washington Consensus model. That nations could develop their resources, trade and industry without impoverishing their workers and poor farmers, and in fact with their active and enthusiastic participation, became an idea which riveted the attention of people in every Western emisphere country, and beyond.

In quick succession, more or less left-leaning governments then began to come to power in one Latin American Country after another. The election of presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil (2003), Nestor and then Cristina Kirchner (2003), Tabaré Vazquez in Uruguay (2005), Evo Morales in Bolivia (2005), Michelle Bachelet in Chile (2006) Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua (2006), Rafael Correa in Ecuador (2007), Fernando Lugo in Paraguay (2008), Mauricio Funes in El Salvador (2009), all represent turns to the left in their respective countries.

In fact there are now only three major right-wing regimes in Spanish-speaking America: those of Felipe Calderon in Mexico, Alan Garcia in Peru and Alvaro Uribe in Colombia. And the Peruvian government seems to be on the ropes.

Not all these governments are equally left wing. Chavez of Venezuela, Morales of Bolivia and Correa of Venezuela consider themselves to be full-blown socialists and are implementing very radical policies: nationalizing foreign and domestic industries, radically upgrading labor laws, recognizing the rights of indigenous people and, above all, helping with massive grassroots politicization and mobilization efforts of their peoples, instead of repressing them.

The Kirchners of Argentina, Lula of Brazil, Bachelet of Chile and some of the others are in reality social democrats, not revolutionaries, in their internal policies. Not all of these governments are stably installed, and it is not impossible that there may be major reverses in one or another country, as the midterm elections in Argentina just showed. But they all have the merit of, to a greater or lesser degree, supporting the initiatives of the radicals, and of opposing US efforts to crush the Cuban Revolution.

The Bolivarian Project What are these initiatives? There are a number of projects afoot to create a horizontal integration of the Latin American and Caribbean economies as a counterpoise to the historic domination of the whole area by US corporations and imperialism, i.e. the “Washington Consensus” itself. This is seen as a realization of the dream of the liberator of South America, Simon Bolivar, whose frustrated comment when he was near death, having failed to achieve the continental unity he saw as essential, was “we have been plowing in the sea”. (Hemos arado en el mar).

Possibly more than 180 years after the liberator’s death, nearly two centuries of coups, military adventurers, senseless fratricidal wars that on occasions nearly decimated entire countries, and seemingly eternal foreign domination, the Bolivarian project is now becoming a reality. This is inspiring action by millions of people throughout the region.

The centerpiece of this Bolivarian project is ALBA – The Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America. The anagram means “dawn” in Spanish. ALBA is a trade and economic development cooperation organization started by Venezuela and Cuba which is now beginning to encompass the whole Latin American and Caribbean region, with some African countries also expressing an interest in joining. The current membership list of ALBA is: Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela, with more countries showing interest.

What has ALBA achieved? Its main achievement so far has been to blow the US sponsored FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) out of the water, by offering countries of the region a much more attractive trade pact that does not undermine their sovereignty or impose on them neo-liberal policy requirements that would impoverish their people and wreck their local industries, all in the name of outside investment.

Beyond that, creative solutions have been found to the debt problems of the poorer members of ALBA. Venezuela has been providing oil at bargain prices to the member states of ALBA, while Cuba has been deploying tens of thousands of teachers, health workers and technical personnel to help with literacy and public health campaigns, and other aspects of national development. All of this is being done without privatization, without austerity measures and without opening up the countries to voracious foreign corporations. The latest ALBA project is to create a common currency for all the participating countries, tentatively to be called the SUCRE.

In most of the participating countries there is opposition to ALBA from the oligarchy and other right-wing groups. And the ALBA countries, like everybody else, are threatened by the current world financial crisis. But the growth of ALBA has now reached the point that the United States will have to find a constructive way to deal with it.

The Left and ALBA

With the exception of Cuba, none of the presidents of the ALBA countries and of the other leftward trending states are led by a Communist Party. The most radical of them combine, rather, populist, nationalist-anti-imperialist and socialist ideas. They have made, and will continue to make, various kinds of mistakes. However, almost everywhere the main communist and workers’ parties have understood the importance of the overall “Bolivarian” dynamic, and, whatever their specific disagreements with the governments in power from time to time, are giving it their support. Most of the Marxist left in Latin America sees that in the foreseeable future, participating in the Bolivarian dynamic is achieving more than isolated armed struggle or sectarian self-isolation.

US Workers and ALBA

Right-wing propaganda in our own media try to portray the Bolivarian project as an evil plot by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to somehow harm the United States. But in fact this dynamic works in favor of US workers, and thus of the great majority of our country’s people. US capitalist employers try to control the wage demands of workers here by, among other things, threatening to export jobs to low-wage countries in Latin America, frequently using this threat as a union-busting tool.

But if the Latin American countries can create their own model of development which does not depend on providing cheap labor for rampaging multinational corporations who are meanwhile laying off their employees in the United States, this game is over.

There is a long way to go yet before we have the level of international labor solidarity that would completely put a stop to these divide-and-conquer games. That is why I was so delighted to see that the AFL-CIO put out such with the Honduran workers who are facing repression for demanding the return to power of president Zelaya. The Honduran unions are organizing a general strike, for which we must find ways to provide significant solidarity.

Who wants to kill the bees?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:17:00 +0000

Translated by Shelagh Rothero

(l'Humanite) The bee may have inhabited the earth for more than 80 million years- long before Man-and has survived all the upheavals of our planet, but its present situation has become a focal point for all countries involved in intensive agriculture. Although there are many reasons which could to explain the phenomenon, the most likely protagonist is to be found in the use of phyto-pharmaceutic products and particularly powerful pesticides especially the systemic neuro-toxics used to coat the seeds, such as the well-known Gaucho or Regent.

These hyper-powerful molecules coat the grains of seed and there are dozens of grams in one hectare. They protect the root system and remain in the plant system up to the time of flowering so that destructive pests are eliminated.

The research carried out by the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) [1] and also the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) has found that the presence of these molecules in pollen, even in minute doses, is enough to have a adverse effect on untargeted insects such as the bee, and that their durability in the sun can last for many years.

Poisoning takes place at the time of planting because part of the coating is dispersed into the air and spreads out, killing the pollen gatherers, also when the plants come into flower and the bees collect the nectar and pollen.

Beekeepers fought an unprecedented battle in the media and through the courts in order to persuade the market to suspend the authorisation of Gaucho on sunflowers in 1999, on maize in 2004 and of Regent in 2004. .

In spite of four victories won in the Council of State by the beekeeping unions (notably the UNA) the phyto-sanitary firms, who were concerned about the financial consequences, used considerable means of persuasion such as lobbying and refused to accept their responsibility. Instead, they continued to promote these molecules which are poisonous for the bees and the environment.

In the meantime, faced with the high mortality rate in apiaries the length of the Rhine valley, the German government suspended authorisation for putting any of these products on the market, with the exception of colza in 2008.

The Bayer Corporation has compensated the beekeepers, refusing to recognise the harmful properties of the molecule and blaming the quality of the drilling machines.

Italy, faced with many thousands of dead colonies on the wide plain of the River Po, withdrew authorization for these products in 2008.

France, a leader in matters of authorisation, approved the use of Cruiser in maize in 2008 despite opposition from beekeepers and environmental organisations who had taken part in the Environmental Round Table [2].

The bee produces honey but also has a highly important role to play as a pollinator in the processes of biodiversity and agricultural production.

According to the last research carried out by INRA and CNRS, 35% of the available resources on the planet rely upon insect pollinators, especially the bee. This applies to 65% of our food diversity. Without the bee there would be less fruit, fewer vegetables, fewer seeds and less oil-producing plants. In the global plan, the volume of trade created by the bee is estimated to be 152 billion euros.

Farmers and Beekeepers are complementary. If a constructive dialogue were to be established between farmers and nurserymen, market gardeners or greenhouse operators, it is still a sensitive issue for those of growers of maize strongly in favour of the expanding production.

Victim spots muggers using Google maps

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:42:00 +0000

Dutch twin brothers who mugged a teenager in the northern town of Groningen were arrested after being caught on camera by a car gathering images for Google's online photo map service, police said.

The pair stole the 14-year-old boy's mobile phone and 165 euros (230 U.S. dollars) in cash last September.

'The picture was taken just a moment before the crime,' a police spokesman said.

In March, the victim recognized himself and the two robbers while surfing Google Maps, which has a 'Street View' feature allowing users to see images of buildings. The images are usually taken by a camera mounted on a car.

After an investigation by the police, one of the 24-year-old twins confessed to robbing the boy.