People Before Profit blog

International notes

Fri, 26 Mar 2004 04:19:00 +0000

Colombia: Coke workers on hunger strike

On March 15 Coca-Cola union workers in Colombia began a hunger strike in front of Coke bottling plants in several cities, including Barrancabermeja, Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, and Medellin.

“If we lose the fight against Coca-Cola,” said union leader Juan Carlos Galvis, “we will first lose our union, next our jobs and then our lives.”

Last September Coca-Cola FEMSA closed production lines at 11 of its 16 bottling plants. Since then they have pressured over 500 workers into “voluntarily resigning” in exchange for a lump-sum payment. Most union leaders have refused to resign and the company has escalated pressure against them.

The union is demanding that Coca-Cola FEMSA should relocate displaced workers within the affected plants, or to other plants.

Faxed messages can be sent to Lori George Billingsley, media relations issue director at the Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, at (404) 598-5051, demanding the Coca-Cola Company, which owns almost half FEMSA’s voting stock, call on FEMSA to meet the union’s demands.

Haiti: Demand jail for death squad leaders

The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) demanded, March 19, that FRAPH death squad leader Louis Jodel Chamblain, and Jean Pierre (alias Jean Tatoune), be arrested and jailed, saying both should be sentenced to life for their participation in slaughtering Haitian people, the Haitian Press Agency AHP reported.

The two are accused of participating in the murder of many police officers and civilians during the fighting which led to last month’s coup d’état against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

FRAPH is also accused of participating, along with the army, in the slaughter of over 5,000 people during the earlier 1991-1994 coup d’etat. Jean Tatoune was found guilty of participating in the Raboteau (Gonaives) massacre of April 1994, in which dozens of people were killed.

The NCHR said there will soon be an investigation of the case of the Lavalas activists who were apparently locked in a container before being drowned at sea at Cap-Haitien Feb. 22 when the city was taken over by the armed gangs.

Cuba: Orbis to create eye bank

Dr. Rhona M. Duggan, head of the international ophthalmology project ORBIS, has confirmed that Orbis will continue its support of Cuba and announced that the project will establish an eye bank on the island with the cooperation of prestigious U.S. institutions.

Duggan praised the quality of Cuba’s health services and the high level of training of its specialists. She expressed satisfaction at the teaching, academic and scientific exchange among experts from 14 countries in the eighth program on the island, and said it had been a privilege to work with the Cubans and gain so much experience.

Established in the U.S. in 1982, ORBIS International’s principal aim is to train doctors, nurses and technical personnel. To date it has offered its services to 72 countries free of charge.

Namibia: 14 years of independence

The coastal town of Walvis Bay was the site of last weekend’s celebration of the 14th anniversary of Namibia’s independence, and the 10th anniversary of Walvis Bay’s reintegration into the country.

“The obvious significance of the celebrations is that 14 years ago, on March 21, the Namibian people after a long and bitter struggle proclaimed freedom,” said Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab. “The event is so significant and historic that we will always remember and tell the future generations about it. There is no single other date on the national calendar as important as March 21.”

After independence, it took more than three years of negotiations with South Africa before Walvis Bay and the offshore islands were reintegrated into the country.

Australia: New law cuts basic labor rights

The Australian Council of Trade Unions last week submitted a complaint to the International Labor Organization over the Howard government’s proposed new law that the ACTU says would seriously restrict building workers’ ability to bargain collectively.

The bill would allow governments to interfere in the relationship between employees and employers as they bargain over wages and conditions, the ACTU said.

The law would reduce labor action to a 14-day “window,” which would lead to more intense and disruptive labor action, the union federation said. “For example, a simple event such as a site information meeting among employees would automatically trigger the 14-day ‘window’ and workers would then be forced into a strike situation when they were not seeking any such conflict.” The ACTU noted that the bill also contradicts the Howard government’s recent agreement with Washington over “free trade,” which calls on each side to respect labor rights.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (cpusainternat@mindspring.com).

International notes

Fri, 19 Mar 2004 05:53:00 +0000

Iraq: Journalists charge U.S. intimidation

Following the recent detention of several journalists from South Korea by U.S. occupation forces in Baghdad, the International Federation of Journalists March 15 accused the U.S. occupation authorities of trying to “control and intimidate” the media.

IFJ General Secretary Aidan White called the U.S. military’s March 6 detention of three Korean Broadcasting System journalists on suspicion of carrying explosives “absolutely unacceptable.” The journalists were handcuffed and held despite confirmation of their identities by the Korean Embassy in Iraq. They were finally released after no traces of explosives were found in their luggage.

“It is very difficult not to interpret this as a direct attempt to intimidate the media,” White said.

The Journalists Association of Korea and the IFJ are demanding the occupation authorities and the Bush administration apologize and make public the “internal regulations” on which the journalists were held.

Zimbabwe: Mercenaries with intriguing links

Leaders of the mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe March 7 have some intriguing ties to Western intelligence services. The 64 mercenaries, detained when their U.S.-built plane landed at Harare, allegedly planned a coup against the president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. They included men from South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and one Zimbabwean with a South African passport. Another 15 supposed plotters were arrested in Equatorial Guinea.

The Johannesburg Mail & Guardian last week said one alleged ringleader, Simon Mann, was a former British special forces soldier and a founder of a private military firm close to British intelligence. Another, former South African special forces operative Nic du Toit, is a director of a private military firm whose founder allegedly had CIA ties until his mysterious death in 2001.

The plane, registered to a Kansas company, was sold earlier this month to Mann’s offshore company, Logo Logistics, which worked closely with the firm Executive Outcomes, formed in 1989 by former apartheid special forces operatives.

Cuba: Protest ban on doctors’ travel

The Bush administration has barred 70 medical professors, doctors and other experts in brain injury from attending an international symposium on coma and death taking place this week in Cuba.

“This decision ... will harm the ability of American health care providers to provide cutting edge health care to U.S. citizens” and is a political payoff to the Florida far-right, said the Center for International Policy, Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba, the Latin America Working Group and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development in a letter to Secretary of State Powell and Treasury Secretary Snow. Professor Alan I. Leshner, executive director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, expressed alarm at the travel ban and at the ban on publication of articles by individuals from countries under U.S. sanctions.

Japan: ‘Spring Struggle’ the biggest ever

Bannai Mitsuo, secretary general of the Zenroren trade union federation, told a March 5 rally in Tokyo that this year’s Spring Struggle by trade unions demanding a wage increase for all workers and an end to pension cutbacks was the biggest ever, with concerted actions at more than 1,300 locations throughout Japan, and the largest worker participation. “This points to the worsening living conditions in sharp contrast with the record profits made by large corporations,” he said.

Bannai also urged Spring Struggle participants to take part in the March 20 international peace actions, as well as in a national strike April 15 to oppose the harmful revision of the pension system.

Japan Press Weekly reported that on the same day, members of the Liaison Council of Civil Aviation Workers’ Unions demonstrated in Tokyo to protest their companies’ cost-saving measures while failing to defend safety.

Venezuela: Gov’t launches big jobs program

The Venezuelan government announced March 12 that it is launching a program to create 1.2 million jobs within the year, Venezuelananalysis.com reported. Participants in “Mision Vuelvan Caras” (Returning Faces) will receive a scholarship of $90 per month while they receive technical training. The program aims to cut unemployment to 5 percent by 2005 by prioritizing training of the country’s unemployed and underemployed, starting with graduates of the free literacy and adult education projects which the government has instituted.

The program is “the continuation of initiatives of this government dedicated to building the capacities of the people that have traditionally been excluded, where we all participate and decide what we want for our communities,” said Luis Hernandez, coordinator of the Puerto Fermin Neighborhood Association.

About half the program’s work will be devoted to agriculture, with emphasis on overcoming food shortages, especially in meat products.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (cpusainternat@mindspring.com).

Cuban 5 hearing raises hopes

Fri, 19 Mar 2004 05:18:00 +0000

Supporters and the defense team for the five Cuban political prisoners in the United States expressed guarded optimism after their appeals hearing in Miami on March 10.

Although the panel of three judges that heard the appeal can delay their decision on the case for several months, many courtroom observers agreed that the defense arguments were very strong, while the prosecution was extremely weak.

One of the defense attorneys, Paul McKenna, told reporters following the hearing that prosecutor Christine Heck-Miller failed to produce any evidence implicating Gerardo Hernández in the downing of two planes shot down by MIG fighters in February 1996. Gerardo is serving a double life sentence based on this charge alone.

In addition, McKenna pointed out that the judges appeared concerned with the severity of the sentences handed down to all of the defendants – from 15 years to life – again with no proof that the Cuban Five posed any danger to U.S. national security.

The defense has maintained that far from posing a danger, the information gathered by Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, René González, Fernando González and Ramon Labañino and given to the FBI before their arrest actually served to protect both Cuban and U.S. citizens from terrorist activities originating in Miami.

Defense attorney Leonard Weinglass was also cautiously optimistic upon leaving the courtroom, explaining that “the accused have asked nothing more than a change of venue (from Miami), which does not cause a real inconvenience to the government.”

Weinglass explained that the basis of that appeal is that it is impossible for a Cuban citizen to receive a fair trial in Miami – a bastion of extreme anti-Cuba, right-wing forces.

International notes

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 05:38:00 +0000

Palestine: Women suffer under Israeli occupation

Living conditions facing Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza – including their access to health, education, food and employment – have sharply deteriorated over the past several years. A March 8 report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says Palestinian women “have been deeply affected by movement restrictions, military incursions, and house demolitions, particularly in Rafah, where almost 10,000 Palestinians … have been made homeless” because of Israeli actions.

The report says 52 pregnant women gave birth at military checkpoints since 2002, and that 19 women and 29 newborns died at those checkpoints between September 2000 and December 2002. Nearly 38 percent of Palestinian mothers report that access to health services has become difficult, with 44 percent attributing that to the Israeli siege and 28 percent citing the lack of money to pay for health services.

The UN agency called on the Israeli authorities “to provide safe and unconditional access to health services, education, employment, food and other supplies,” the Palestinian Authority to improve services, and called on all parties to uphold international humanitarian law protecting civilians, including women.

Greece: Election results, U.S. military exercises

Parliamentary elections on March 7 resulted in the right-wing New Democratic Party gaining a majority of deputies (165), thereby entitling it to form a new government. The incumbent party, the social-democratic PASOK, lost 41 seats, dropping to 117. PASOK’s losses reflect popular frustration with its failure to deliver on reforms, according to various observers. The Communist Party of Greece gained one seat, bringing its total to 12, while the left-leaning Synaspismos party held its own at six.

Meanwhile, some 2,000 security personnel, including 400 U.S. soldiers, are slated to start a two week anti-terrorism exercise as part of preparations for the August Olympic Games.

Very little has been made public concerning the politically sensitive maneuvers, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini said last week. The government has refused to reveal the exact legal status under which the U.S. military personnel will function.

WFTU: Solidarity with working women

In its greeting to working women on International Women’s Day, the World Federation of Trade Unions condemned the extreme insecurity and poverty experienced by millions of women and their families, especially in countries affected by war, military occupation and civil conflicts. The WFTU especially highlighted the urgent need for international solidarity with women and children in Israeli-occupied Palestine, U.S.-occupied Iraq and those who are victims of economic blockades against their countries, as well as women trade unionists and activists who suffer brutal violation of trade union and human rights in countries such as Colombia.

The WFTU called for an end to all forms of discrimination against women, especially in workers’ rights and compensation; adequate protection for women in agriculture, handicrafts, the informal sector, and special zones where labor law does not apply; for support to family life; and above all, for peace and security in the world.

South Africa: Gov’t questions Haiti coup

South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said last week that if Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been forced from power against his will, it would have “serious consequences and ramifications for the respect of the rule of law and democracy the world over.” She added, “The international community must not be seen to be wavering in its commitment to democracy and respect for the rule of law, particularly in the face of anti-democratic forces.”

Zuma said she fully supported the position of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in demanding the United Nations investigate the Haitian president’s removal.

China: First Chinese-Braille computer

Two companies in Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China have developed a computer allowing the blind and partially sighted to access the Internet with a Chinese-Braille keyboard. The new Tongchuang Blue Sky computer is equipped to code and decode Chinese and Braille, and has voice software to read the screen to the user.

Blind users can now learn to send and receive e-mails within two days, said the inventor of the Chinese-Braille keyboard, Hou Qingyou, a teacher of blind students whose own vision is limited.

Some 9 million people in China suffer serious eye diseases, and over 5 million of them are blind.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (cpusainternat@mindspring.com). Julia Lutsky contributed to this week’s notes.

International notes

Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:43:00 +0000

Sudan: Ceasefire extended

The Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM/A) Feb. 28 extended their ongoing ceasefire for another month, while they continue to negotiate a final peace agreement. As a result of the 20-year civil war in southern Sudan, some 2 million people have died and another 4 million have been displaced.

A SPLM/A spokesman told the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks a final accord is anticipated soon.

The talks, now taking place between Sudan’s First Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha and SPLM/A leader John Garang, have made significant progress, with agreements signed last year on security arrangements and on wealth sharing during the proposed six and a half year transition period. Among remaining issues is the future of the oil-rich Abyei region, which the government sees as a key oil source but where a large part of the population identifies with the SPLM/A.

Korea: Joint march at Olympics

Korean athletes from North and South will march together in the opening ceremony at the Summer Olympics in Athens, and will work toward fielding a joint team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, officials from the two Olympics Committees announced at a press conference in Athens on Feb. 25.

Both sides said they will hold working-level talks as soon as possible to finalize details for the joint march. These talks are expected to become regular sports talks between North and South.

Athletes from throughout the peninsula marched together for the first time in 2000, under a “unification” flag. The new agreement is expected to produce a new phase in relations between the two Koreas. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge confirmed last week that the Korean martial art taekwondo will not be excluded from future Olympics, and promised full support to inter-Korean sports exchanges.

Colombia: Spraying called harmful, useless

Three non-governmental organizations – the Latin America Working Group, EarthJustice, and the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense – are charging that aerial spraying of Colombia’s coca crops should be halted because it harms local farmers and the environment, and it is not affecting the availability of cocaine in the U.S.

Aerial spraying done under the U.S. “Plan Colombia” has devastated small farmers’ food crops alongside the coca, the report charges, while at the same time environmental guidelines for use of the extremely dangerous herbicide are consistently violated.

The report also contends that the program has not significantly affected the price, purity or supply of cocaine in the U.S.

United Nations: Global trade benefits are uneven

A two-year study by the International Labor Organization, released March 2, shows that capitalist globalization has widened the gap between rich and poor countries as well as within countries. The ILO study found that the opening of borders, new trade agreements and the founding of the World Trade Organization failed to speed the growth of the global gross national product, which lagged behind previous decades’ economic performance.

The report, “A Fair Globalization,” was prepared by 20 officials and experts. It found that 188 million people, or 6.2 percent of the labor force, are unemployed worldwide, while the gap between rich and poor countries has widened, with nations making up 14 percent of the world’s population accounting for half the world’s trade and foreign investment. It said globalization has harmed women in the developing countries more than men. (See related People before Profits column, page 8.)

Marianas: Nuke survivors need help

On the 50th anniversary of March 1, 1954 – the day the U.S. tested its most powerful hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll – many Marshall Islanders are furious over Washington’s ending of funds for a medical program for nuclear test victims and its reluctance to fulfill a request for $2 billion in compensation. Many islanders still cannot return to their original homes, while some who did return have suffered from “low level” radioactive exposure.

The four atolls said by the U.S. to be “exposed” during the U.S.’ 67 nuclear weapons tests – Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap and Utrik – have received part of a promised $270 million compensation package, and Bikini and Rongelap have received additional cleanup funds. But the U.S.-funded Nuclear Claims Tribunal says this is only a fraction of the compensation these islands deserve.

Since September 2002 the Marshall Islands has had a petition before the U.S. Congress for $2 billion more in compensation. The administration has yet to respond.

India: 50 million go on strike

A nationwide general strike Feb. 24 involving 50 million people shut down government offices, schools and banks and halted public transport. Rail and flight operations stopped in India’s major cities and several ports were shut down.

The strike was called to demand restoration of the right to strike – recently banned by the Supreme Court of India – and against the anti-people economic policies of the government. The Center for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and other left unions called the strike.

“The working class asserted its right to strike in the face of a prohibition by the Supreme Court,” CITU President M.K. Pandhe said.

Police used force against strikers in Delhi, Orissa, Hariyana and Pondichery. Hundreds of postal workers rallied outside Mumbai’s (Bombay’s) main post office, said Reuters. “Not a single letter will be delivered in Mumbai today,” said Mangesh Parab, an postal union official.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (cpusainternat@mindspring.com). M.K.N. Moorthy contributed to this week’s notes.

Canadian leader wavers on gay marriage

Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:30:00 +0000

VANCOUVER – In a blow to equal rights, one of the first acts undertaken by Canada’s new Prime Minister (PM) Paul Martin has been to backslide on the previous government’s commitment to allow same-sex marriages.

Last summer, the Liberal Party government led by Jean Chretien announced that it would legislate equal marriage for same-sex couples. It drafted legislation extending marriage to gay couples and sent it to the Supreme Court along with three questions: Is equal marriage legislation the jurisdiction of Parliament? Is it consistent with the Charter of Freedom and Rights? Is freedom of religion adequately protected?

They did this to provide comfort to Canadians who are unsure about the issue and fear that clergy will be forced to marry same-sex couples. The Supreme Court was expected to present its ruling in April. However, on Jan. 28 the PM and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler announced that they would submit a fourth question to the Supreme Court, namely, asking it what it thinks of simply maintaining the current definition of marriage, which restricts the institution to opposite sex couples.

Cotler maintains that the federal government still favors expanding marriage rights to same-sex couples. “We are reaffirming our position in support of same-sex marriage. This is unwavering,” he told reporters. However, critics claim that the government is backing down from its previous promise.

According to Bob Gallagher, coordinator of the lobby group Canadians for Equal Marriage (CEM), the new question “will delay the Reference (Supreme Court ruling) between six months to a year. Second, it will open up many legal issues during the hearings and ruling. And lastly, it will assure that the Supreme Court ruling, and any possible legislation, will be after a spring election.”

According to Gill Machildon, executive director of the gay rights group EGALE Canada, “The Justice Minister said the government is committed to equal marriage for same-sex couples. However, our communities will certainly be scratching their heads and wondering whether they can trust the PM to maintain his support for equal marriage legislation.”

Cotler admits that the new question will delay the Supreme Court ruling until the fall of 2004 and delay any legislation that the government might introduce until 2005. Martin denies that he is stalling on the issue until after an expected spring election.

The other matter that concerns CEM is Martin’s decision to allow a free vote in Parliament when legislation approving same-sex marriage is finally submitted instead of requiring his fellow Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs) to support the legislation as a human rights issue. “They refuse to ensure that the legislation passes. This situation assures that the issue of same-sex marriage (and lesbian and gay rights generally) will be a hot button issue in many ridings across the country.” Many Liberal Party MPs oppose allowing gay couples to marry.

The CEM (www.equal-marriage.ca) has initiated a country wide campaign on the issue. According to Gallagher, “the passage of equal marriage legislation, and the equality balance of Parliament, will depend on our intervention in dozens of riding battles during the federal election.”

The author can be reached at tpelzer@spring.ca.