People Before Profit blog

Turkey's sex workers seek to establish a union

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:24:00 +0000

Reposted from http://www.hurriyet.com.tr

Turkey's sex workers seek to establish a union ISTANBUL – Activists and sex workers in Turkey are working on a project to establish Turkey’s first sex workers union. They are hopeful about finding a solution to their problems and changing society’s approach toward sex workers. They will organize an awareness walk to bring attention to their issues

Turkey's sex workers seek to establish a union

An initiative to establish a union for sex workers in Turkey has been proceeding slowly but patiently for almost a year.

Several activists plan to establish a trade union to protect the health, security and education rights of sex workers in Turkey, where the majority of them work without licenses or social security.

“People should have the right to voluntarily chose to be a sex worker. One has to have sovereignty over his or her body,” said Buse Kılıçkaya, an activist from Ankara-based Pembe Hayat Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender, or LGBT, association. Kılıçkaya said if they can establish a union, it would be the first for Turkey’s sex workers.

Activists and sex workers are hopeful about establishing a union, believing that it will help acknowledgment of this type of labor as a viable profession and will protect their rights in many aspects.

“We are against forced sex labor,” said Kılıçkaya. “But this is the oldest profession on Earth and this will continue to be done by some people. This is why those people’s rights need to be protected.”

Prostitution is mentioned in the Turkish Penal Code and sex workers have to be registered according to the law. However, statistics show that many sex workers are unregistered and have no health or social security.

“Only 126 sex workers are registered in Istanbul, but the real number is much higher than this,” said Muhtar Çokar, a doctor who helps sex workers access free and easy medical support.

“The number of registered sex workers in Turkey is 3,500 according to police data,” said Çokar. “That is too small a number compared to Ankara Trade Chamber, which said there are around 100,000 unregistered sex workers in total in Turkey.”

Activists believe sex workers are exposed to discrimination from society as well as by state authorities. Transsexual and transvestite sex workers in particular are beaten and harassed by clients or sometimes by the police.

“There is a social consensus that if you are a sex worker then you deserve to be exposed to violence, sexual harassment and discrimination,” said Kılıçkaya, adding that this approach has to change.

Union needed “The first sex union was established in Argentina during the 1970s. Holland and Hungary also have unions for sex workers. Why don’t we have one?” asked Belgin Çelik, a Lambda Istanbul activist.

Although the majority of sex workers are biologically women, transsexuals and transvestites are usually more active in protecting their rights.

“Most woman work as a sex worker secretly, some of them have families, and cannot declare their names. Another reason is that transsexuals and transvestites were more commonly harassed, beaten and insulted,” said Kılıçkaya, explaining why they are more willing to unite and defend their rights.

The initiative’s meetings are closed to the press at the moment.

“The initiative may not bring about a union in the end, this is why the NGOs and political parties supporting the initiative have not declared their names,” said Sinem, a sex worker and activist from Pembe Hayat LGBT.

But the efforts of the initiative will be significant, since it will draw attention to sex workers’ problems, such as having social security or health insurance and a retirement salary.

‘Red umbrella walk’ against discrimination The activists will organize for the first time a walk titled “Red Umbrella” on March 3, International Sex Workers Day in Ankara, simultaneously with the entire world. The sex workers and NGO activists will try to voice the many problems of those who are not seen or approved by society but who are part of it and suffering.

Victim forces 3 robbers to seek police help

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:42:00 +0000

BEIJING, June 17 -- Three robbers had to get police help after their intended victim fought back with a knife in Foshan, Guangdong province, on Thursday.

One of the suspects cried after the victim stabbed him. He begged his partners to seek police help.

The victim also injured the other two suspects. The three were arrested after they were treated at a hospital.

The victim said he is an electric engineer and carries a knife with him.

UN details morphing drug markets

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:56:00 +0000

United Nations, Jun 25 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported Wednesday on the reduction of the markets of opium, cocaine and marijuana and the expansion of the consumption of amphetamines and ecstasy.

In its annual report the organization reported a reduction of 15 percent in coca crops, mainly in Colombia. The markets of opium, cocaine and marijuana decreased in Asia, Europe and North America.

The organization said 140 to 250 million people between 15 and 64 years of age took some illegal drug.

Does Sanford's fall equal Barbour's gain?

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Original source:

One of the most immediate fallouts from Gov. Mark Sanford's admission today of an extra-marital affair was his resignation as chair of the Republican Governors Association.

That speeds up the leadership hand-off of the RGA -- already in the works -- to Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi. As Ben Smith of Politico reports, the RGA quickly announced that Barbour would be taking over immediately:

'As a former RNC chairman and one of the best governors in the country, no one is better positioned to takeover as RGA chairman than Governor Barbour,' executive director Nick Ayers said in a statement.

The announcement comes just as Barbour kicks off a tour the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, fueling speculation about something Facing South covered last May: Barbour's emergence as a serious contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Sanford's fall seems to help Barbour in two ways. First, it enables the Mississippi governor to quickly take the reins of the RGA, which has emerged as a key platform for the GOP's attacks on Obama and Democrat-run Washington.

For Barbour, it also removes a key rival in a crowded field of GOP hopefuls eager to claim the mantle as the 'values voter' candidate for 2012.

One symbol of Sanford's fall: The South Carolina governor's removal as a featured guest at the 2009 Values Voter Summit, which is slated to be held in Washington, D.C. December 18-20.

Of course, Barbour still has stiff competition: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- who recently bemoaned our country's 'lack of morality' in a speech to the Southern Baptist Pastor's Conference -- and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- who grabbed headlines for calling David Letterman 'sexually perverted' -- are waiting in the wings.

Fury as West Bank building goes on

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:21:00 +0000

Original source:

Tel Aviv stands accused of deception by claiming settlement construction in the occupied territories is only continuing to cater for growing families already living there.

Palestinian presidential aide Yasser Abed Rabbo of the Palestine Liberation Organisation slammed Israeli politicians for 'playing a game of deception by what they call natural growth.'

Mr Rabbo pointed to data from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics which shows that, in 2007, 36 per cent of all new settlers had moved from Israel or abroad.

Israeli watchdog group Peace Now activist Hagit Ofran said that, while more recent data is not yet available, 'there are few reasons to think Israel has reversed the trend.'

Israel's hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put himself on a collision course with Washington, which has come out strongly against continued settlement expansion, by saying his administration will allow further construction to allow for 'natural growth.'

The United States is among those monitoring settlement activity and the US Consulate in Jerusalem said that its officials regularly visit settlements and take photographs.

A foreman at one construction project in Maaleh Adumim said on Monday that US officials had been there recently, walking around and taking pictures.

Jerusalem-born Yaffa Shkibai, who has lived in the Maaleh Adumim settlement for 26 of her 50 years, called on Jewish settlers to 'continue building and not be afraid of the US,' adding: 'If we bend, they'll kick us out of here.'

Do the Geneva Conventions still stand up?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:37:00 +0000

DAKAR, 23 June 2009 (IRIN) - One hundred fifty years ago the battle of Solferino left 40,000 soldiers and civilians either wounded or killed. With too few doctors on hand, Swiss civilian Henry Dunant helped villagers care for the victims. Underscoring the direct and dire impact of war on civilians, his experience led him to found the International Red Cross Movement, which celebrates its anniversary on 24 June.

The Red Cross Movement initiated a convention to establish the laws of war, which was eventually passed in 1949 as the Geneva Conventions, which set out to protect combatants, prisoners and non-combatants in conflict. Additional protocols in 1977 stipulated protection of civilians in international and internal conflict.

Ambiguity has grown over what constitutes a war and what is a criminal attack, over who is a party to conflict and who is a civilian. IRIN asked humanitarian and legal experts how conflict has changed in the 21st century and whether the Geneva Conventions and the additional protocols still hold when it comes to protecting civilians in conflict.

How has conflict changed in the 21st century?

Mary Kaldor is a professor and director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her books include The Imaginary War (1990), New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era (1999) and Global Civil Society: An Answer to War (2003).

The battle of Solferino was very different from contemporary conflict – warring parties then tended to be armies that attacked each other and the main parties to conflict were states. Now the main violence is committed against civilians.

Now wars are sometimes not even declared to be wars, so people could argue the Geneva Conventions do not necessarily even apply. We see a mixture of organized crime, wars and human rights violations – the Sierra Leone conflict being a typical example of that.

Photo: Abdullah Shaheen/IRIN A child injured in conflict in Afghanistan (file photo) In current counter-insurgency wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, the United States has said it cannot distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Knut Doermann is a legal adviser at the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva and is author of Elements of War Crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Perhaps it is true to say that the complexity of situations has increased today. When you have non-state armed groups splintering into different groups for instance, how do you interact with each of them? Do they have sufficient knowledge of the law?

Distinction [between a civilian and a party to the conflict as outlined in Additional Protocol 1 in 1977] is increasingly complex. Civilians lose their protection when they take direct part in hostilities, but what does this mean? Between giving food to a soldier and killing a soldier there is a vast grey zone.

Hugo Slim is a humanitarian scholar and visiting fellow at the Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at Oxford University and author of the 2008 book, Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War.

People have been hurting each other in war in much the same way for thousands of years. As technology changes we will need to continue to adopt new conventions and protocols on new weaponry. This is already the case as we can see with the new cluster munitions treaty [passed in December 2008], the 1997 international treaty to ban landmines and the 1997 chemical weapons convention.

Do the Geneva Conventions and protocols go far enough to protect civilians in conflict, or does the 21st century need something different?

Knut Doermann: The Geneva Conventions are an indispensable tool to protect civilians in international conflict. Their great benefit is that they are universally ratified and so recognized by all. Their core provisions – such as the obligation not to attack civilians – are undisputed, even for non-state parties. When the additional protocols were negotiated in 1977 it was against a backdrop of guerrilla warfare which by its nature involves intermingling with the civilian population, so this is not new.

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN Cluster bombs in Lebanon (file photo) What is more challenging is respect for the conventions. Too often you see lack of political will [or] lack of knowledge or training to respect the rules. International tribunals can create a deterrent effect and bring perpetrators to justice, but states must first meet their obligations.

International scrutiny of conduct in an armed conflict situation is an important aspect with a view of improving compliance with international humanitarian law. In order to be effective and credible, such scrutiny must not be – or be perceived as being – selective.

The principle of distinction may require more clarity. To try to clarify the grey zone, the ICRC has put out guidance on what it means to take direct part in hostilities.

And we worked with 17 states to develop the 2008 Montreux document which describes international law as it applies to the activities of private military and security companies.

Mary Kaldor: The last thing we want to do is throw away international humanitarian law (IHL), but it has to be complemented by international criminal and human rights law to capture some of the aspects that IHL cannot. For instance, you can argue that it is a military necessity to kill a civilian in war to bring about a greater good; but under human rights and domestic law the only justification for killing a civilian would be self-defence.

Hugo Slim: The Geneva Conventions go far enough. The spectrum of violence has always been murky – the ICRC uses the terms “international conflict”, “internal conflict” and “internal disturbance” to qualify them – these should cover most murky areas.

But we do need more clarity on the question of civilian ambiguity and what constitutes direct participation in conflict. This could require an additional protocol, or a new guidance note.

The truth is, when the Geneva Conventions do not work it is not because people are trying to find a loophole in the law, but because they are rejecting values of distinction and proportionality.

Francoise Saulnier is legal director of Médecins Sans Frontières and has been framing the NGO’s legal responsibility in conflict for 18 years. She is author of The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law.

Any criticisms [of] humanitarian law that derive from the war against terror are unfair. Asymmetrical conflicts – international and internal, guerrilla warfare and terrorism – have been a part of…conflict for centuries. These international conventions have already taken into account and arbitrated the various dilemmas experienced during decolonization wars and the civil wars that occurred after independence in many developing countries. As such, they tackle all forms of insurgency and counter-insurgency military operations.

Irans public bus workers union call for solidarity actions on June 26

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:35:00 +0000

The following is a June 18 statement from Vahed Syndicate (Public Bus Workers Trade Union) on the suppression of rights and liberties in Iran.

In recent days, we continue witnessing the magnificent demonstration of millions of people from all ages, genders, and national and religious minorities in Iran. They request that their basic human rights, particularly the right to freedom and to choose independently and without deception be recognized. These rights are not only constitutional in most of the countries, but also have been protected against all odds.

Amid such turmoil, one witnesses threats, arrests, murders and brutal suppression that one fears only to escalate on all its aspects, resulting in more innocent bloodshed, more protests, and certainly no retreats. The Iranian society is facing a deep political-economical crisis. Million-strong silent protests, ironically loud with un-spoken words, have turned into iconic stature and are expanding from all sides. These protests demand reaction from each and every responsible individual and institution.

As previously expressed in a statement published on-line in May of this year, since Syndicate Vahed does not view any of the candidates support the activities of the workers’ organizations in Iran, it would not endorse any presidential candidate in the election. Vahed members nevertheless have the right to participate or not to participate in the elections and vote for their individually selected candidate.

Moreover, the fact remains that demands of almost an absolute majority of the Iranians go far beyond the demands of a particular group. In the past, we have emphasized that until the freedom of choice and right to organize are not recognized, talk of any social or particular right would be more of a mockery than a reality.

The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company fully supports this movement of Iranian people to build a free and independent civil society and condemns any violence and oppression.

In line with the recognition of the labor rights, the Syndicate requests that June 26 which has been called by the International Trade Unions Organization ‘Day of action’ for justice for Iranian workers to include the human rights of all Iranians who have been deprived of their rights.

Recession fuels dating violence, curbs prevention

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:48:00 +0000

Original source:

(WOMENSENEWS)--A survey released earlier this month finds that teen dating violence rates are higher than ever, with the economic crisis apparently worsening rates of abuse of between parents and among teens.

Those June 10 results come out as school budget cuts hinder education programs focused on preventing dating violence.

The survey, commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. and Family Violence Prevention Fund, found that nearly half (44 percent) of teens whose families have experienced economic problems in the past year have witnessed verbal or physical abuse between their parents, and 67 percent of those teens have experienced abuse in their own relationships.

Overall, nearly 1 in 3 teens (29 percent) reported experiencing sexual or physical abuse or threats of such abuse in dating relationships and nearly half (47 percent) reported experiencing controlling behavior from a boyfriend or girlfriend.

The survey also found that almost two-thirds of parents whose teens have been in dating relationships believe their children have never experienced abuse, despite numbers that suggest higher rates.

Most parents are not talking to their children about teen dating violence, according to the findings, with 80 percent of teens turning to friends for help. Only 25 percent of teens reported taking a course on teen dating violence in school. 'Parents Need to Learn'

'Parents need to learn. They're so oblivious,' says Monique Betty, 19, who suffered dating violence in middle and high school.

Providers of services to prevent dating violence, who have seen an increase in teens reporting abuse, believe the rise may stem from growing awareness of the issue.

'I hope that it is more that kids are able to identify it better, because there has been more education and awareness around it,' says Lucy Rios, director of prevention at the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Among other growing educational efforts, Liz Claiborne reports having distributed 4,600 free copies of its 'Love Is Not Abuse' curriculum nationwide.

National teen dating violence education leader Break the Cycle will market a DVD-based curriculum with testimonies from survivors and experts for under $100 to schools across the country, starting this fall. The organization, which has its headquarters in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., will also distribute 1,000 free copies in Southern California.

An online educational video game is also in the works in Rhode Island. Video Game Teaches Safety

Using a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Providence-based domestic violence nonprofit Sojourner House, along with the youth advocacy group Young Voices and the Rhode Island Department of Education, is developing an interactive game that will allow teens to navigate through dating violence scenarios in a high school setting.

Ten other sites received grants from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, including an organization in Idaho, where Monique Betty, the survivor of dating violence, will provide mentorship to students in middle school.

Such innovative projects rekindle hope, but Ann Burke, whose daughter was killed by an ex-boyfriend in 2005, wishes nationwide implementation of school curricula on teen dating violence was going better.

Burke pioneered the passage and implementation of a law requiring teen dating violence education and policy in Rhode Island and worked closely with the state's attorney general Patrick Lynch, a Women's eNews 21 Leader 2009.

She says similar laws or resolutions in at least nine other states have been 'watered down' by the budget crisis.

Such resolutions tend to recommend rather than requiring education.

As Rhode Island schools struggle with crippling budget cuts, Burke has single-handedly trained over a thousand school staff members, including more than half of the state's health teachers, through the privately funded Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund.

Amy Littlefield is a freelance writer who lives in Los Angeles.

Chavez lambasts big pharmaceutical firms

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:10:00 +0000

Original source:

Venezuela plans to scrap some pharmaceutical patents and allow domestic manufacturers to produce generic drugs.

Commerce Minister Eduardo Saman declared at the weekend that Venezuela's socialist government would annul patents on some medicines under a reform of existing intellectual-property laws.

Mr Saman explained that Caracas believes that the needs of Venezuelans suffering from diseases such as cancer or Aids must take priority over the profits of powerful drug corporations.

'We cannot allow transnational medicine companies to impose their rights on the Venezuelan people,' Mr Saman declared on state television.

'Patents have become a barrier to production and we cannot allow barriers to manufacture medicines, fertilisers, herbicides and agro-industrial products,' he said, adding that the country will 'revise all the doctrines and laws related to patents.'

Venezuela's pharmaceutical-business chamber president Edgar Salas responded by claiming that abolishing patents could prompt the world's largest drug manufacturers to stop exporting medicines to Venezuela.

'This could create obstacles to importing the newest medicines,' Mr Salas warned.

But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that while 'a song is intellectual property, an invention or a scientific discovery should be knowledge for the world, especially medicine.

'That a laboratory does not allow us to make a medicine because they have the patent? No, no, no.'

Mr Chavez recently hit out at Swedish packaging maker Tetra Pak, saying that its patents on cartons were limiting production in Venezuela.

Speaking on his weekly Alo Presidente TV show, Mr Chavez said: 'We have aluminium and paper. Why can't we make that material here?

'What are patents? That's universal knowledge. We don't have to be subject to capitalist laws.'

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan premier called on the international community yesterday to respect Iran and the election 'triumph' of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

'We call on the world to respect Iran because there are attempts to undermine the strength of the Iranian revolution,' Mr Chavez declared in his weekly radio and television address.

He accused the Western mass media of 'trying to stain Ahmadinejad's triumph and through that weaken the government and the Islamic revolution,' adding that they 'will not succeed.'

Iran opposition: Even violence wont keep us from continuing

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:21:00 +0000

Translated by Henry Crapo (l'Humanite) The celebrated cinematographer, now international spokesman for the movement of Mir Hossein Moussavi, provides us his analysis of the events of recent days

'You can be sure that even violence won’t keep us from continuing.' The great Iranian cinematographer (Kandahar or Safar e Ghandehar (2001)) Mohsen Makhmalbaf has become international spokesman for the reform candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi, whose 'defeat' in the presidential election last Friday has lit the powder kegs in Iran. After having visited the European Parliament to plead for refusal of the election results, the movie-maker replies to our questions. Meanwhile, the anti-Ahmedinejad demonstrations continue in the streets of the capital and other large Iranian cities.

Huma : The opposition contests the election results. Why ?

Mohsen Makhmalbaf : Events developed in a very suspicious manner since the beginning. Some hours after the polls closed, reliable information reached us, and also the offices of the minister of the interior and of the supreme guide of the revolution (the Ayatollah Khamenei) indicating the victory of Mr. Moussavi. The supreme guide simply demanded that 'the announcement should be made with some discretion.'

But later, when Moussavi was preparing his victory speech, the generals of the revolutionary guards (the pasdarans, the regime’s powerful praetorian guard) arrived in his offices carrying a letter from the supreme guide explaining that he could not accept the victory of the green camp (anti-Ahmedinejad). For their part, the commandants let it be understood that Moussavi was ordered to keep a low profile. He refused to accept this order.

How should we believe, in fact, that the incumbent president who, in the first election had just managed to gather five million votes, had managed a landslide of 63% this time, after four years of economic failures, inflation, social crisis and an impoverished population ? What’s more, information reached us from various polling stations that were far from agreement with the official results. In short, the election had been cut off, and must be reorganized, but under the control of independent observers, or observers of the other candidates. This is what we demand (and, according to my information, this is also what the European Parliament demands). But for us, the affair is worse than a simple manipulation of votes. We are witness to a veritable coup d’état in Iran.

Huma : What coup d’état, and who are the authors ?

Mohsen Makhmalbaf : On election eve, there was actually a coup d’état in my country, organized by the outgoing president, Ahmadinejad, aided by the supreme guide and the commanders of the forces of the guardians of the revolution, also with the benediction of the Russian government.

For proof I point to the way events developed, and the fact that after the stuffing of the ballot boxes and the hurried announcement of the results, the government didn’t hesitaate to impose a blackout for the following day, cutting telephone communications and arresting opponents. Today we face a government born from a coup d’état, and we don’t accept this. The people show this every day with their demonstrations.

Huma : How important was the role of the people’s active opposition and their daily demonstrations ? This seems totally to have changed the situation.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf : For decades already the Iranian people have been excluded from the political life, and forbidden any participation. So for a long time it was not interested in politics and its issues. This time, the people decided to play the game, and turned out en masse to the urns (a level of participation of 80%). And look what the regime has done with their votes. So we can’t, and we won’t, retreat. The two reform candidates, Misters Moussavi and Karoubi, have both declared that they will not abandon their legitimate demands. And even if they do, the Iranian people will not stop this time. Not before having won their demands. Our movement is non-violent, but we will use all means at our disposal (demonstrations, strikes) to reach our demands that our votes, and the implied changes, be respected. It’s the new Persian springtime.

Huma : What is it that the demonstrators really want ?

Mohsen Makhmalbaf : The Iranian political system is, for the most part, I’d say 80%, a dictatorial regime directed by the supreme guide. He controls and directs the justice system, the army, the institutions. Ever since the islamic revolution of 1979, with very rare exceptions, as in the surprise election of Mr. Khatami in 1997, the Iranian people were firmly excluded from public affairs. Now, the people finally react. Iranians demand the right at least to chose, among preselected candidates, to whom to confide the reins of power. In brief, to be able to change their minds.

We should also say that there has been a fracture in the political elite itself, among the leaders of the country. An important member of this body, a pure product of the inner circle, like Mr. Rafsandjani for example, is no longer in phase with the present leadership of the country. And, in another way, people of different opinions, who have until recently had little in common, now find themselves in the same camp, to defend their votes and their rights. I believe they will now, together, oppose the dictatorship.

Huma : Just how far are the demonstrators and the opposition willing to go ? Would new elections bring some calm to the situation ?

Mohsen Makhmalbaf : There was a coup d’état in Iran last Friday. But we must understand that the presence of people in the streets goes way beyond a simple demands for correcting a faked election. To begin with, it is surely the case that we must reorganize a presidential election under democratically controlled conditions. We won’t be satisfied with vague promises.

It remains to see whether the government will bypass the citizens’ demands and use violence against the people. I have no doubt but that the movement will continue to grow. The Iranians have had thirty years to test the Islamic revolution. Today, they show their profound disenchantment and discontent. And they cause the powers of state to tremble to their foundations.

South Africa: Serious shortage in antirevtroviral funding

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:09:00 +0000

JOHANNESBURG, 19 June 2009 (PlusNews) - A one-billion rand (US$123 million) shortfall in South Africa's public sector antiretroviral (ARV) programme could jeopardise treatment programmes as soon as September, a health expert has warned.

Mark Heywood, deputy chairman of the South Africa National AIDS Council (SANAC), commented on the lack of funding at the relaunch of the national AIDS Charter on 18 June.

The charter written in 1992 became the founding document of the AIDS Consortium, one of the country's largest such organisations, which redrafted the charter to reflect progress in combating the disease, and close any remaining gaps in the human rights of those living with HIV. Among the additions were an increased focus on vulnerable groups, and the inclusion of traditional leaders and their role in the epidemic.

'We've made major strides, and one of the strengths of the charter was that it guided our progress on the national strategic framework at a time when people were still stoned to death ... when kids were still taken out of school and people were chased out of their homes for being HIV-positive,' Heywood told IRIN/PlusNews.

'But I'll tell you what we haven't achieved ... we don't actually have ARV treatment for most of the people who need it.' Given the major shortfall in funding, Heywood said, the country was likely to see ARV shortages similar to those in Free State Province last year.

In early November 2008, Free State experienced a shortage of essential medicines, including ARVs; a provincial moratorium barred new patients from getting the life-prolonging medication, resulting in a waiting list of over 15,000 people.

At public clinics in Edenvale, outside Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal Province, there might be enough drugs currently, but staff shortages were preventing patients from accessing ARVs, Heywood said.

In view of situations like these, it was crucial that the newly launched charter be redrafted urgently to reflect people's right to sustained ARV access, as well as children's rights to adequate sex education and access to condoms.

An estimated 700,000 people are on treatment in South Africa, but an estimated 1,000 die daily as a result of AIDS. 'We don't actually have political commitment from government to deal with the epidemic,' Heywood said. 'As a chairperson of SANAC, I don't see it; I don't see the [necessary] urgency.'

Minnesota lawmakers ask Congress to offer public health option

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:56:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Thirty-two Minnesota legislators have signed a letter supporting the Public Insurance Option as a key part of affordable health care for all Americans. President Obama has said a public insurance plan option to essential to reform health care, but some members of Congress are balking.

Some 700 state lawmakers from all over the United States signed a letter backing a public health insurance plan option, delivered to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

“Americans recognize that the private sector alone has proven incapable of creating a high-quality, fair, and accountable health care system that works for all families,” the letter says. “Therefore, a key priority for reform is the choice of a public health insurance plan that is available to businesses, individuals, and families.”

The action comes as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where Harkin is a senior member, is crafting its version of health care reform legislation. At the same time, the private insurance industry, its hired guns and anti-reform lawmakers have launched a multimillion-dollar propaganda and scare campaign to scuttle any proposed public plan option.

Harkin says the grassroots voices the state lawmakers represent are an important tool to fight back.

“The signatures of over 700 state legislators speak loud and clear for numerous Americans who want us to act now to give them a full range of choices of the best quality, affordable care our country can offer,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re shopping for a car or a washing machine or health insurance. Your best bet for getting a good deal is if two things are present: choice and competition. And that’s exactly why Americans need to have the option of a public plan as they shop for insurance under a reformed health system.”

On June 25, join thousands of union and health care activists on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., for the largest-ever rally for health care reform, the AFL-CIO said.

Minnesota lawmakers who signed the letter are:

Sen. Linda Berglin, Chair, Health and Human Services Budget Division Rep. Kathy Brynaert Rep. Jim Davnie Sen. Scott Dibble Rep. Al Doty

Rep. Patti Fritz, Member, Health Care and Human Services Finance Division Committee; Member, Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee Rep. Paul Garnder, Member, Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee Rep. Alice Hausman Rep. Jeff Hayden

Rep. Frank Hornstein Rep. Melissa Hortman Rep. Sheldon Johnson Rep. Phyllis Kahn Sen. Gary Kubly Rep. Carolyn Laine, Member, Health Care & Human Services Policy & Oversight Committee

Rep. Tina Liebling, Vice Chair, Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee Rep. Bernie Lieder Rep. Diane Loeffler, Member, Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee; Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Tony Lourey

Rep. Jerry Newton Rep. Carlos Mariani Rep. Michael Paymar Sen. Lawrence Pogemiller Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, Member, Health and Human Services Budget Division Committee; Member, Health, Housing and Family Security Committee Rep. Roger Reinert

Rep. Bev Scalze, Member, Health Care and Human Services Finance Division Committee Rep. Linda Slocum Rep. Loren Solberg Rep. Paul Thissen, Chair, Health Care & Human Services Policy & Oversight Rep. Jean Wagenius Rep. John Ward

The letter was organized by the Progressive States Network.

Denver area grocery workers vote down contract

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:09:00 +0000

Reposted from www.laborradio.org

Grocery workers in the Denver-area have shot down a new five-year contract proposal from King Soopers in an overwhelming vote.

Voting continued Tuesday for workers in Colorado Springs and today for workers in Pueblo.

A final tally of all of the regions along the states “Front Range” will be released later today.

The workers are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 and if the contract is rejected the union will need to return to the bargaining table with the supermarket to find a contract that suits the workers.

The union has expressed unhappiness with a two-tier wage system proposed in the contract that would provide fewer benefits to new employees.

The union has been fighting to keep the wage scale equal for all employees.

The union represents nearly 17,000 grocery workers in Colorado including employees at King Soopers, Safeway, and Albertsons. Contracts at all of those grocery stores expired on May 9 with Safeway employees voting to extend their contract to June 26.

Poll: Online news sources top all others

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:44:00 +0000

UTICA, N.Y. — As broadcast television network newscasts continue to lose viewers by the month, a new online survey by Zogby Interactive shows that the Internet is by far the preferred source for information, and that it is considered the most reliable source as well.

A majority of adults nationwide — 56 percent — said that if they had to choose just one source for their news information, they would choose the Internet, the poll shows. In a distant second place was television, as 21 percent said they would prefer that medium over online sources.

Poll question: If you had to choose to get your news information from just one source, which source would you choose? Responses: Internet 56% Television 21% Newspapers 10% Radio 10% Other/not sure 3%

Democrats were more likely to favor traditional sources of news than were Republicans. Among Republicans, 56 percent would prefer the Internet as their lone information source, while 50 percent of Democrats agreed. But when it came to newspapers, the difference was notable — 17 percent of Democrats would prefer newspapers as their only news source, while just 5 percent of Republicans agreed.

The survey, conducted using Zogby's proven interactive polling technology that has been under development since 1998, showed that 38 percent believe that news from the Internet is most reliable, followed by television, which is thought to be the most reliable by 17 percent of adults nationwide. Newspapers came in a close third, as 16 percent said they were most reliable. Another 13 percent said they believed radio news to be most reliable.

Q: Which information source do you believe to be most reliable? Internet 38% Television 17% Newspapers 16% Radio 13% Other/not sure 17%

Industry studies show that the vast majority of all American adults — 84 percent — have Internet access, meaning that most adults across the country have access to information from all four information sources tested in this survey, and all respondents participated to this survey online. A Zogby analysis of these and other similar polling questions showed that the Zogby online methodology had negligible impact on the findings of the survey.

Further, the poll reinforces the idea that the efforts by established newspapers, television, and radio news outlets to push their consumers to their respective websites is working — 49 percent of respondents said national newspaper websites were very important to them, and 43 percent said national television websites were important to them as a key source of news. Forty-one percent also said the websites of their local newspaper were important sources of information, while 34 percent said that a local television news station website was an important source for them.

By contrast, the political blogosphere was seen as much less important to most adults across the country. Just 28 percent said blogs that shared their political point of view were important, and 14 percent said they felt blogs from the opposite position on the political spectrum were important.

That the websites of traditional news outlets are seen by a wide margin as more important than blog sites — most of which are repositories of opinion devoid of actual reportage — could be seen as an encouraging development for the media at large.

And though social networking sites have had the media all atwitter with excitement, the Zogby poll shows that just 10 percent consider such sites as Facebook as important for news information, and just 4 percent think Twitter is important as a source for information.

The vast majority of respondents — 82 percent — said that, five years from now, they expect the Internet to be the most dominant information source. The television news platform was a weak second place, as just 13 percent said they still think television will reign supreme in the information wars.

And as notable major newspapers, including the Christian Science Monitor and the Denver Post, have ditched their print editions in favor of all-Internet publications, the Zogby Interactive survey shows that only one-half of one percent — 0.5 percent — said they thought newspapers would be the most dominant source of news in five years.

Supreme Court refuses to hear case of Cuba 5

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:07:00 +0000

WASHINGTON -- The United States Supreme Court today refused, without comment, to hear the case of the “Cuba 5,” Cuban citizens jailed by the federal government in a case that has generated intense international criticism of the U.S. judicial system.

The five Cubans -- Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labaniño and Fernando Gonzalez -- were arrested by federal agents in Miami in 1998, and accused of spying on violent ultra-right-wing Cuban exile organizations in the United States. Gerardo Hernandez was also accused of murder because of a supposed relationship to the shooting down of two airplanes which had been sent by the Brothers to the Rescue exile organization to buzz Cuban cities and drop leaflets on Cuba.

The five Cubans were arrested and charged even though the Cuban government had passed on some of the information they had gathered to FBI as proof that exile groups they were monitoring were planning terroristic acts in violation of U.S. law

The Miami trial of the five was denounced by many in Cuba, the United States and worldwide as a travesty, in which the virulently anti-Castro and anti-Cuba atmosphere of South Florida politics and media was allowed to influence the court at every stage.

In 2001, all five were convicted of being foreign agents. Gerardo Hernandez was also convicted of first-degree murder because of the shooting down of the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes, even though evidence to convict him was shaky to nonexistent. Gerardo Hernandez was given two life sentences, Labaniño and Guerrero each got a life sentence. Fernando Gonzalez received a 19-year sentence and Rene Gonzalez was given 15 years. They have been serving these sentences under harsh conditions in federal penitentiaries. Several have been denied the right to receive visits from their wives.

The five appealed their sentence on the grounds that the original trial should have been moved away from the anti-Castro atmosphere of South Florida. In 2005, a three-judge panel of the Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta ruled in their favor and ordered a new trial; however, the Bush administration got this reversed by the entire appeals court, which granted only new sentencing to Labaniño, Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez.

In the meanwhile, the case of the Cuban Five has generated an international campaign which has garnered the vocal support of Latin American governments and many thousands of prominent and non-prominent citizens of scores of countries. The U.N. Human Rights Commission has condemned the actions of the U.S. government in the case.

In Cuba, the five are considered national heroes, as the groups on whom they were collecting information included violent terrorist networks whose past attacks on Cuba had resulted in death and destruction, including a bombing attacks during the 1990s.

Cuban President Raul Castro has hinted several times that there might be some sort of humanitarian exchange in which the Five would be released as well as some people serving time in Cuba.

The Obama administration today hailed the Supreme Court decision, claiming that the original conviction of the Five was justified. However, the collective presidency of the Cuban National Assembly (Cuba's Congress or Parliament) issued a strongly worded statement, saying among other things that:

“The U.S. Supreme Court announced today, without any explanation, its decision not to review the case of our five comrades who are unjustly imprisoned in that country for struggling against anti-Cuban terrorism that is sponsored by the U.S. rulers. The judges did what the Obama administration requested of it.'

Further, the Cuban statement quoted defendant Gerardo Hernandez:

“Based on the experience we have had, I am not surprised by the Supreme Court decision. I have no confidence at all in the justice system of the United States … I repeat what I said one year ago, June 4 2008, that as long as one person remains struggling outside, we will continue resisting until there is justice”.

Thousands are now struggling outside, with many thousands more to come.

As Congress shapes health care bill, opportunities and dangers for progressives

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:53:00 +0000

Congress is approaching the end of its first month in this cycle of grappling with the nation’s failed health care system. There is huge opportunity to win a significant improvement to our system and a major political victory against the far right, but, there is grave danger that the progressive health care movement will be outmaneuvered, reforms will be cosmetic and the far right will be able to make a comeback. A progressive victory depends on our political work right now.

Right wing wants to use health care to break Obama presidency

Last November, we struck a stinging blow against the most reactionary, most cynical, most corrupt section of the far right. A broad, multiracial, people-led coalition drove the election of the first African American president in our nation’s history and won majorities in both chambers of Congress. This victory not only stopped the regressive agenda of the Bush years on its heels, but also opened the door to a myriad of possibilities to advance a worker-friendly agenda, including immigration reform, expansion of collective bargaining rights, sustainable energy policy, environmental protection, greater education funding, and of course, health care reform.

Nonetheless, it is critical to understand that our victory last November has not been consolidated and in next year’s midterm elections, we could lose what we gained.

The electoral ground is slightly in our favor and, according to pollsters, Republican Senate seats are slightly more vulnerable than Democratic seats. The far right knows this and they are resolved to break the back of the Obama presidency. They have chosen health care as the issue to defeat the president and turn the electoral winds in their favor in 2010. Their comeback would make it much more difficult for us to advance a truly worker-friendly legislative agenda.

Their choice to fight the president’s popularity on health care imbues the issue with a dual nature. On one hand, we are fighting to expand access to quality and affordable care for everyone in America; on the other hand, we are fighting to defend the gains of last November. Success or defeat of the president on health care will determine our success or defeat on many other issues.

For progressives, this means that it is very important not to attack Obama, even though he does not espouse all our values. We know that President Obama is not a socialist, but he is a great improvement over the Bush regime. By helping consolidate his victory, it will be easier to push him to support a more progressive agenda.

What’s going on now in Congress

Health care reform is being discussed simultaneously in the House and in the Senate. The Senate has two committees with jurisdiction: Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). The Finance Committee is chaired by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and the HELP Committee is chaired by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

The Finance Committee has not yet proposed legislation, but it has published a recent outlining its policy visions for the bill. We can expect that the bill that emerges from Finance will be quite conservative.

The HELP Committee has put out a 615-page bill, . There are major unfinished pieces of the HELP bill, but it will likely emerge as more progressive than what we can expect from the Finance Committee.

In the House, three committees have jurisdiction: Ways and Means, chaired by Charles Rangel, N.Y.; Health and Education, chaired by George Miller, Calif.; and Energy and Commerce, chaired by Henry Waxman, Calif. These three committees decided to work together to produce one bill and together are being called the “tri-committee.” They recently published a short that indicates their vision for a bill. The tri-committee report promises a bill that is more similar to what the Senate HELP Committee proposes instead of the more conservative Finance Committee white paper. Essentially, at this point, we still do not have fixed bills. Out of the three bills we are expecting, we have one unfinished bill and two white papers. There is still a long way to go before the final language of these bills is finalized.

Congressional mathematics

As these various bills are written and debated and as we push for the most progressive bill possible, it is important to understand the composition of the House of Representatives.

The House has 435 representatives, 257 Democrats and 178 Republicans. To pass a bill, 218 votes are needed. The 78 most progressive democrats form the Congressional Progressive Caucus. On the other side, the 51 most conservative Democrats form the Blue Dog Caucus. Even though there are 257 Democrats in the House, if we take away the 51 Blue Dogs, only 206 are left. This is insufficient to pass health care reform. Conversely, a conservative proposal would lose the 78 members of the CPC, leaving only 179 votes. This means that for a progressive bill to pass the House, we have to get 12 Blue Dogs or Republicans to vote with us. This is the political battle before us.

We will only get these 12 votes through intense political pressure (preferable) or compromise (less preferable). The onus is on progressives to create the political pressure that win sufficient votes in the House. A very dangerous possibility emerges if the Republicans decide to drop their oppositional stance and join with the Blue Dogs to propose a right-wing alternative measure. The 178 Republicans and 51 Blue Dogs together control 229 votes — enough to pass a bill despite the Progressive Caucus.

On the Senate side, the math is even more challenging because there are fewer progressives and more conservative Democrats.

Another important factor to consider is the fast timeline for reform. Congressional leaders want committees to vote on their respective bills by the end of June and the full chambers to vote on combined bills before their August recess. The House and Senate versions will have to be reconciled in August and September, and if a reform bill passes, the president will likely sign a bill by October. This is a very fast-paced schedule.

Tactics on public option and single-payer

A very emotional issue dividing progressives has been whether to hold off support for a robust public option in order to support the preferred solution, a single, national public health insurance program that covers everyone and eliminates the private insurance industry. Supporters of this single-payer approach have felt excluded from the discussion and are justifiably angry.

The pro argument for holding off for this single-payer approach is that we know this is the best solution. The con argument is that this approach effectively takes us away from the conversation that is happening in Congress because it is not possible currently to gather sufficient votes for a single-payer solution. Exclusively supporting single-payer also puts the Obama presidency and all other progressive issues at risk because we would no longer be actively working for a solution that can lead to an Obama victory to consolidate last November’s gains.

Public option must be allowed to succeed

That said, it’s important that the public option be allowed to succeed. We need to fight for a plan that is national, that is available everywhere from day one, that is government appointed and publicly accountable, and has bargaining clout. Otherwise, the public option will not be able to put pressure on the private companies to “keep them honest”, as our president described. The Congressional Progressive Caucus has outlined a series of to ensure that the public option delivers the best possible service. Conservatives have proposed many modifications to protect their friends in the private insurance industry. Their latest attempt is to replace the public option with many state and regional insurance co-ops. These co-ops would be small and unable to put pressure on the private companies to ensure better quality and lower costs.

The work right now is to push Congress to write the most progressive bill possible with as robust a public option we can get. We have a lot of work to do to force conservative Democrats to support a public option in the House and Senate. Also, it is very important for all progressives, single-payer and non-single-payer alike, to join in and fight for this reform. The only way we can win is for there to be broad unity in our camp. A loss on this reform will not only close the way for a public option, but it will also make it a lot harder for us to push for a single-payer system. A loss will also compromise all our other issue areas.

The organization formed in Obama’s campaign, Obama for America, has stayed active. Rebranded as “Organizing for America” (OFA), its activists are pledging to go door-to-door all over the country to build support for health care reform. OFA is a great venue to start building pressure on conservatives to support reform that will lead to quality, affordable health care for all. Health Care for America Now, a coalition of over 1000 progressive organizations, is also mobilizing for a progressive reform proposal.

Flavio Casoy is a first-year medical resident in the Bay Area.

Vietnam: Doi moi and the World Crisis

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:38:00 +0000

(Translated by Guy Langloy)

(l'Humanite) The world is shifting its base. In Asia, Latin America and other continents, the devastating effects of this historical crisis of capitalism do not necessarily lead to pessimism, but rather quite the opposite. There are economies that are not only resisting but also innovating in bold new ways. For example, let us consider Vietnam.

Having been in charge of exchanges and cooperation between the Poitou-Charente region of France and Vietnam for the last fifteen years, I have had the opportunity intimately to know a country that, in spite of forty years of war, has been able to record an amazing growth. I was able to measure in each aspect of its economy the degree of its progress and to examine the nature of persisting or emerging problems. As a Communist, I found of particular interest the fact that long before the collapse of the so-called East European “socialist” countries, Vietnam had already embarked in a search for new perspectives : “Doi moi” or Policy of Renewal [1].

Vietnam has evolved in a spectacular fashion. The growth rate is close to 7% and standard of living has doubled. National policy is based on a “socialist oriented market economy” whose objective is to meet the pressing needs of education, employment and social progress for a population that has grown from forty million to eighty and will reach one hundred million in the future. However needs increase faster than growth itself. They stimulate development while creating new contradictions…

Vietnam has not bled its agriculture by placing it under the domination of financial institutions. Old inequalities persist and new ones develop even if the UNDP [2] report recognized that Vietnam is one of the rare countries in the world where poverty is receding. Bangladesh and Madagascar offer a stark contrast. It is amazing that the media has been silent on this subject.

We are at the opposite end of liberalism. Political choices come within the scope of globalization but do not follow the legitimizing theories of capitalism regarding the liberalization of capital transfers or the privatization of common goods. The market is a means not an end. New questions emerge with accrued importance : on one hand secure a durable development that is not wasteful of natural resources, on the other hand give new dimensions to the relationship between the State, society and individuals.

This development program was of course affected by the financial world crisis. A 23% inflation rate over 2008 has threatened the standard of living of the people. Local media has reported that 14 enterprises employing 4000 workers may close in Ho-Chi-Minh City. This obviously has an impact on the objectives and tendencies of the development policy. However, it must be noted that the march forward has not been stopped. The growth rate has stabilized at 6.2%, rice production has surpassed the harvest of 2007 by 2.6 million tons. Although the trade deficit had deepened, it was compensated by a strong growth in investments : the creation of new jobs was therefore possible. The Stock Market dropped but did not affect industrial development. Economy and trade are stabilized.

Even if the world crisis reaches new heights that could impact Vietnam, we are very far from global tendencies. Why ? First, Vietnam made political choices that do not feed into the mechanism of the crisis. It was affected by it but did not create it. It even has means to protect itself from it. Vietnam needs foreign investments but its base is its domestic market. It has kept a global power over its economy and finance.

Its trump cards are political : the socialist oriented market economy is helping the country stay its course in spite of planetary turmoil. After the meeting of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the Prime Minister described in October the measures taken to counter inflation and trade deficit : a reduction in public expenditures, a raise of the interest rate but not at the expense of living standards, the anti-poverty campaign and rural development.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific [3] and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in their latest annual reports confirm the opinion of the World Bank President : Vietnam is “an example of success in the history of development” and should be switched into the category of countries with medium incomes.

Within the context of this historical crisis of capitalism, the re-emergence of old civilizations such as China, India and Vietnam is an important event for the future development of our humanity. Human values can only have a universal dimension when they integrate the inputs of all the peoples on this planet.

No militaricen a juventud

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:09:00 +0000

Activistas de paz de diferentes organizaciones abogan por eliminar $2 millones del presupuesto escolar de la ciudad de Nueva York que usan para programas de adiestramiento militar. El proyecto, anunciado el 23 de junio en una rueda de prensa en el Concejo Municipal de la ciudad, fue iniciado por Familias Militares Hablan Claro, grupo de familiares de soldados; las Abuelas por la Paz y Código Rosado, una organización de mujeres por la paz.

'Near-daily atrocities' have sparked Somali refugee crisis

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Original source:

The UN refugee agency has said that more than 100,000 Somalis have fled near-daily atrocities including rape, the shelling of civilian areas and general fighting since May.

A series of civil wars and the Ethiopian invasion and occupation from 2006 to 2008 has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and sent hundreds of thousands more fleeing for their lives in recent years.

About 200 people died during a surge of violence in Somalia since last month as rebels launched a major offensive against the government and African Union peace-keeping troops. The rebels accused the government of perpetuating foreign occupation by allowing the AU force to remain.

'It's a critical humanitarian situation, with regular atrocities being committed,' UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva. 'We are particularly concerned about how the fighting is affecting a population that has already endured several decades of war.'

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

BOOK REVIEW Studs Terkels Working soars to new life as graphic novel

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:36:00 +0000

Studs Terkel’s Working: A Graphic Adaptation Adapted by Harvey Pekar, edited by Paul Buhle NY/London: The New Press, 2009

Studs Terkel was synonymous with the everyman, heart of the hoi polloi. In one of his last interviews he repeated a story he enjoyed telling about encountering a couple of vocally anti-union Young Urban Professionals in his hometown of Chicago. Terkel, then already into his nineties, stared down the latest denizens of the ruling class, profoundly finishing them off in a manner which they probably never forgot. That was Studs.

Such a proponent of the working people was Terkel that he gave us “Working” some thirty-five years ago. The book, an oral history—no, really an oral contemporary account---of various worker’ lives continues to be cherished by the left as a document of who we are.

While the original book remains just that important, it’s been realized anew by the creative collaboration of underground comic book guru Harvey Pekar and rabble-rousing historian Paul Buhle, as well as a series of gifted illustrators who move these stories into an astonishingly visual realm. “Studs Terkel’s Working: A Graphic Adaptation” maintains all of the grit, energy and honesty of classic Terkel, but with the 20/20 hindsight that’s been at the heart of every Buhle tome thus far.

I have lost count of the amount of titles Buhle has authored and/or edited. After dozens of texts on left history, he’s been focusing his attention on comic art graphic histories of same, but these are far from the comics we read as kids.

Buhle’s partner in this endeavor is the rather legendary Harvey Pekar, who also served as the primary writer of Buhle’s “Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History. “Pekar, of American Splendor fame, describes his chosen role as one who writes of the “quotidian life,” that which is usually overlooked. If anyone could adapt the plainspoken tales of “Working,” it’s Pekar, and he does so here with all of the visceral edge he‘s known for.

Stand out segments include Bill Talcott, an organizer, with art and adaptation by Peter Kuper, another underground comic stalwart. The story of Talcott reveals the inner world of labor organizers, perhaps the ultimate among the overlooked. It brazenly presents Talcott’s gnawing need to fight injustice, an integral component of the job, but one which can be seen as quixotic if not obsessive by browsers. Kuper’s dark world, thick with barriers in every direction, depicts both the miners’ lives and Talcott’s tireless work to help the rank-and-file to realize its own strength.

In another segment, Lance Tooks breathes life into the noted tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman. No record company glitz here, Freeman was a regular guy who helped to create the “Chicago school” of Jazz in the 1920s and then performed with an endless array of big band legends. Tooks’ use of multi-media ranges from Hirschfield-style drawings to photos of album covers and old performance posters, interspersed with chunks of text and collage-like pastiche. All of the sense of motion offers a visual approximation of the collective improvisations Freeman was an integral part of throughout his career. One can almost hear “That’s a’ Plenty” or “There’ll Be Some Changes Made” soaring off of the pages.

Tooks also brings us the story of another musician, but this one is a local talent whose career was spent playing hotel piano bars. A self-taught player, Hots Michaels tells us that he considers himself to be a, “whisky salesman…I never thought of myself as an artist”.

All walks of life, from the glamorous to the painfully ordinary, “Working” also brings us the story of Nick Salerno, garbage man (adapted by Pekar with art by Steve Thorkelson). Salerno speaks about his job of 18 years, one that his children are ashamed of but which has allowed him to provide well enough for his family. His is a prideful tale, though its visuals largely depict the otherwise unseen world of back-alleys. Eye of the beholder.

While one may imagine that a book such as this—one which marries the stories of workers filtered through a left icon, with the harsh visuals of underground art edited by a radical historian—as one brimming with social uprisings. Surprisingly, this is not the case, and it’s a better book for it. Though Marxists and other progressives like to see the proletariat as the core of revolutionary possibilities, working people are often just trying to get by, week to week.

This book reminds us of the contributions of the overlooked, the very important “average” workers who keep society running, whether they pick up the trash, create art and culture, do domestic work, style hair or organize workers into unions. These are the stories—in startling words and pictures--of everyone from professional athletes to waitresses, stock brokers to postal workers, coal miners and farmers to box-boys and prostitutes. None of these workers are treated with the indignity they may encounter in their daily work-life. None of these people‘s stories are editorialized, brightened up or—worse—offered in a falsely “lumpen” fashion for the sake of radicalism. This is simply life for most of us.

As Terkel intended it, this is a portrait of everyday work and everyday workers presented to us in the immediacy of the moment. This graphic adaptation does Terkel proud and brings this brilliant study of the pre-eminent champion of the working class into the hands of a whole new generation.

John Pietaro (www.flamesofdiscontent.org) is a cultural worker and labor organizer from New York.