People Before Profit blog

Clashes erupt in Iraq over Sunni paramilitaries

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:28:00 +0000

While violent clashes took place in Baghdad between Sunni “Sons of Iraq” leaders and Iraqi government forces over the weekend, some former Baathists are involved in secret talks with the government, Iraqi sources report.

At least 18 people were wounded in Baghdad’s Fadhil neighborhood Saturday and Sunday in fighting between supporters of U.S.-sponsored Sunni militias and Iraqi government forces, after Iraqi troops arrested Adel Mashhadani, the commander of the Sunni force in the neighborhood, according to news reports.

Ali al Dabbagh, a government spokesman, said Mashhadani had led a secret Baathist cell — referring to Saddam Hussein’s Baath party — and was creating an anti-government force, Leila Fadel of McClatchy Newspapers reported.

'He killed and terrified the people, he was creating his own forces and leading a Baath party group,' Dabbagh said. 'We support the Sons of Iraq but we will not agree to these people who are killing.'

The U.S. military said Sunday in a statement that Mashhadani — who was on the U.S. payroll for at least a year — is suspected of criminal acts including extortion and killings.

According to Fadel, Mashhadani, an outspoken critic of the government, “ruled his district as a personal fiefdom.”

The U.S. last year made deals with thousands of former armed insurgents, many with ties to the Baath Party, providing them with arms and cash to patrol neighborhoods, first in Anbar Province and then in Baghdad.

Iraqi Communist Party spokesperson Salam Ali warned last year that some of these former Baathists, with the help of U.S. cash and weaponry, were turning into local “warlords.”

On Sunday, with Iraqi soldiers sealing off their Baghdad neighborhood, the paramilitary members surrendered, gave up their weapons and agreed to allow U.S. and Iraqi troops to search homes for more arms. They turned over 10 Iraqi soldiers they had been holding late Saturday night, said Ali Abdel Razak, a deputy leader of the Sons of Iraq in Fadhil.

The government said it would not release Mashhadani, but Abdel Razak said tribal leaders from Anbar to Baghdad were involved in negotiations.

Mashhadani was the second Sunni leader arrested in Baghdad in less than a week. Last Tuesday Raad Ali, another top leader of a Sunni paramilitary, was detained in a midnight raid in the Ghazaliyah neighborhood.

Unlike Mashhadani, according to Fadel, Raad Ali and his men “seemed eager to join the Iraqi government and move from the margins to the mainstream of Iraqi society.”

Awakening groups accuse Iraqi troops and police of torturing members of their groups who have been detained.

But another major issue for these groups appears to be financial.

The 100,000 Awakening Council/Sons of Iraq “volunteers” hired by the U.S. were paid an average of $300 a month, a large sum for Iraqis. The Iraqi government said it would integrate many of them into government security forces or provide other jobs.

Fadel reports that members of the Sons of Iraq patrolling in Baqouba complain that they haven't been paid in three months. The same complaint is also heard in Baghdad.

'They said we'd be in the police or army, and the opposite happened,' said Ahmed Farris Awad as he stood guard in the middle of a street. 'They started detaining us. But we are still doing our duty.'

Meanwhile, the Aswat al-Iraq (Voices of Iraq) news agency reports that some members of the dissolved Baath party are involved in secret talks with the Iraqi government. It follows recent calls by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for reconciliation with former Baath members.

The Baath party itself is banned under Iraq’s Constitution.

One Baathist leader told Aswat al-Iraq that “there is no wrong in entering the political process and trying to get Iraq out of its current situation employing diplomatic and peaceful ways.”

“Everyone knows that we negotiated with the government and we may return to take participate in the political process,” he pointed out.

At the same time, Aswat al-Iraq reported, other Baath leaders have rejected Maliki’s reconciliation call.

The Iraqi Communist Party has described a “process of metamorphosis” among the Baathists. “They no longer represent the Baath Party as an entity — it is beset by splits and bickering,” Salam Ali said. “Many of them have come to the conclusion that their methods have left them isolated and they need to get into the political process before it’s too late. People close to such groups are concerned about their political future when the Americans leave.”

This weekend’s clashes in Baghdad appear to be part of this overall political power struggle, playing out day to day in the streets.

suewebb @ pww.org

Caribbean strikes win peoples victories

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Labor militancy and popular mobilization in Martinique and Guadeloupe led to strike settlements last month remarkable for wide-ranging, decisive benefits for racially oppressed working people. Victories there occurred amidst a wave of protests elsewhere, especially in Europe, against lay-offs, rising prices and plunder in financial sectors.

The patterns of centuries prevail in French Caribbean colonies cast as part of the French mainland. White descendents of slave owners control most land, businesses, jobs and government offices in both islands. Unemployment in Guadeloupe is given as 23 percent, in Martinique, as 27-30 percent. Levels of extreme poverty are estimated at 13 percent and 17 percent respectively. Overall prices in both islands for basic items exceed those for similar goods in France by 30-60 percent.

A 44 day strike in Guadeloupe, led by the League Against Profiteering, ended March 4 with the Jacques Bino Agreement, named after a labor leader killed at the barricades on Feb. 16. Following his death, the French Communist Party sent a high level delegation to meet with trade union officials on the islands. “Nicolas Sarkozy and his government have a contemptuous and irresponsible attitude towards the Caribbean people,” noted the Party’s press release, which asked, “How many deaths will it take for [Sarkozy] to regain his lucidity and finally give satisfaction to the claims of trade unions.”

In Martinique, the February 5 Collective, a coalition of unions and social movements, brought a strike beginning that day to a successful conclusion on March 14. The settlement there paralled the earlier one on Guadeloupe. In both instances, low income workers gained $250 in monthly income. Higher earners won lesser, but still substantial, increases. Taxes on the rich were increased; a youth job program promised, and food and transportation costs reduced. A moratorium was placed on foreclosures, evictions and utilities. French officials committed to making Creole an official language.

In Fort-de-France, Martinique, some 20,000 people celebrated, many chanting in Creole, “Martinique stand up.” For weeks, demonstrators into the thousands had marched in both colonies day after day against hardship, exploitation and racial oppression. The great majority of the strikers were descendents of slaves brought from Africa to harvest sugar. Slogans and banners targeted the wealthy, white elite known as “bekes.”

French news reports of “intimidation” in Guadeloupe by “mob pressure” were denounced as racist by strike sympathizers. Strikers were well organized, peaceful and disciplined, despite provocations from 5,000 French riot police, according to reports. Strikers and supporters created soup kitchens, food, culture and self-defense committees and organized picket lines and barricades.

French prosecutors charged Elie Domota, leader of the heavily involved UGTG labor federation, with “fomenting provocations.” Domota, however, warned that either the French government will “respect and implement the agreement, or they will leave Guadeloupe.” He promised, “We will not allow a band of Béké to re-establish slavery on our soil.”

In both islands, the general strikes evolved, according to the UGTG web site, into “a true class struggle movement.” The strike demands reflected “the will of the Guadeloupe people.”

In La Reunion, France’s island colony in the Indian Ocean, tens of thousands of strikers demonstrated off and on over the same period. Their demands echo those of workers in France’s Caribbean islands. So far, the trade union coalition propelling the mobilization in La Reunion has been unable to reach agreements with the French government. Strike leader Gilles Leperlier pointed out that half of La Reunion’s inhabitants are poverty-stricken and a fourth are unemployed. He suggested that France is confronted by “a vast movement challenging the situations of privilege, a social and political movement that will not stop until the overseas territories have taken in hand their own destiny.”

The UK Guardian reported that gratification at anti-colonial, anti-capitalist victories achieved in the Caribbean buoyed up many of those participating in the general strike in France, March 18, that attracted, according to estimates, 2 to 3 million people.

atwhit@roadrunner.com

40,000 reasons the G20 must act

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:25:00 +0000

NEW YORK, Mar 29 (IPS) - This could be the moment when a fatal blow is delivered to the world's tax havens. Or it could be another largely cosmetic change that allows offshore financial centres such as Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein to deflect attacks on the system by sacrificing the few tax miscreants that governments catch in their nets.

Decisions at the G20 government leaders meeting in London Apr. 2 will set the direction.

Financial centres with bank secrecy laws are blamed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents 30 developed economies, for hiding some 5 to 7 trillion dollars offshore so the profits they produce evade taxes. This costs the U.S. 100 billion dollars in taxes annually, says Michigan Senator Carl Levin, who has introduced legislation to combat offshore tax evasion. The numbers are guesses, as bank secrecy masks the figures.

Officials in Germany and France, the two western countries that have pressed hardest for reform, believe the offshore system not only deprives them of taxes, but helped cause the financial crisis. Germany's Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said, 'These tax havens are also places where unregulated financial market deals are made.' A leaked French government paper agrees that 'Uncooperative jurisdictions may threaten the global financial stability by creating regulatory loopholes and opacity.'

Offshore centres, worried what may happen in London, are falling all over themselves promising to cooperate with the major powers on the trail of tax cheats. But the holes in the tax havens' promises are as big as those in Switzerland's famous cheese.

The issue is dramatised by the case of UBS. The bank, to settle a charge that it promoted tax fraud, agreed to turn over the names of some 300 clients to the U.S. Treasury. But it has balked at turning over another 47,000 names of U.S. account holders suspected of tax evasion.

And that's the point. Tax havens, including the aforementioned as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, Andorra, the Cayman Islands, Monaco and others, are agreeing to sign bilateral tax information exchange agreements. OECD spokesman Nicholas Bray told IPS on Thursday, 'The situation is changing daily, with new announcements from jurisdictions around the world that they are ready to commit to the international standards.'

But the OECD's tax standards call only for cooperation with foreign tax authorities if there is a particular and justifiable case. Bray said that means 'Inquiries by tax authorities based on reasonable and justified suspicion of tax evasion, individuals and companies - no fishing expeditions, no automatic exchange of information.'

The section on companies opens many possibilities. Not only could governments go after individuals using shell companies to carry out fake transactions to cheat on taxes, but they could pursue real companies who move their profits offshore via transfer pricing to evade home country levies.

Transfer pricing occurs when a company sells to an offshore intermediary at a fake low price (paying low taxes on low profits) and then sells from the intermediary into the market at the real higher price, assigning the true profits to the tax haven - which levies no tax. Or if a company assigns excessive profits to an offshore sales or service subsidiary.

Grace Perez-Navarro, head of OECD's International Cooperation and Tax Competition Division, said that if France, for example, had a tax haven subsidiary that the government suspected was used for transfer pricing, it could request information about the subsidiary's offshore accounts.

That could have impact in developing countries Trade between companies, often done for transfer pricing to evade taxes, is at least half of global trade. Grand Cayman is Brazil's second largest trading partner - obviously a transfer-pricing way station. Brazil this year amended its transfer-pricing regulations and expanded the legal definition of tax havens. Christian Aid in London says that tax evasion costs developing countries estimated 160 billion dollars in tax a year, a lot more than they get from global aid.

However, under the agreements signed, governments have to go after suspects about which they already have evidence – and that evidence may be in the accounts. The Swiss Bankers’ Association said in a statement that 'the privacy of foreign clients not under suspicion will continue to be protected by Swiss bank-client confidentiality.' And, 'An automatic exchange of information is excluded.'

It's impossible even for rich governments to investigate and provide evidence to tax havens about more than a very small number of their tax cheating citizens and companies. Requests for administrative assistance take money, staff, legal expertise and time. Many believe that automatic exchange of information is the only really effective way to end pandemic tax evasion.

And where do such bilateral agreements leave developing countries with limited resources or bargaining strength? The Isle of Man has signed 14 agreements, of which only two are with non-OECD countries. Will such arrangements be acceptable to G20 members Brazil and India?

Bray said, 'This is an ongoing issue, which will have to be resolved by more diplomacy. The UK is trying to encourage the idea of multilateral agreements, I believe.'

The other part of the equation the G20 must deal with is how tough the sanctions are that it endorses.

The leaked French working paper makes the strongest proposals. They include that G20 members punish countries deemed to be 'uncooperative' by breaking off bilateral tax conventions. This would discourage corportions from using those financial centres.

Equally important, the French would put some onus on a G20 country's own financial institutions. They would require those banks to spell out in their annual reports if they worked with non-cooperative financial centres and would make supervisory authorities take this extra risk into account in the capital requirements for the banks.

The paper says, 'Clear reporting mechanisms should be put in place in order to increase the accountability of the management in business decisions leading to operations located in non cooperative jurisdictions.' It says banks should be required to report accounts of their customers located in tax havens and the related capital flows.

The French suggest refusing to allow payments to a blacklisted haven to be deducted from taxable income. They propose requiring international financial institutions to end their activities in blacklisted havens. Finally, they suggest restriction or ban of money flows to and from that offshore centre - which would essentially end G20 banks and company operations offshore.

The British are an unknown factor. About a third of the world's tax havens are British dependences. It is currently reviewing the policies of what it acknowledges are 'British offshore financial centres.' So when Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the U.S. Congress recently, 'How much safer would everybody's savings be if the whole world finally came together to outlaw shadow banking systems and outlaw offshore tax havens?' the question was why hasn't he dealt with British tax havens.

The answer sits in London, where financial institutions exist in a seamless web with the offshore centres.

Other key G20 members also have tax haven concerns: China has attempted to crack down on tax evasion, India loses a great deal of tax money through Mauritius, and Russian officials are intimately aware of how the oligarchs moved assets and cheated on taxes through Cyprus, Switzerland, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

As for the Americans, U.S. banks already inform tax authorities about how much interest they are paying on clients' accounts. Barack Obama co-sponsored the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act as a senator and has endorsed it as president. It would allow the U.S. to bar its own banks from doing business with foreign banks that refused to cooperate with U.S. tax authorities.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress Thursday that the U.S. would 'launch a new, initiative to address prudential supervision, tax havens, and money laundering issues in weakly regulated jurisdictions.' He said, 'President Obama will underscore in London on Apr. 2 at the Leaders’ Summit the imperative of raising standards across the globe and encouraging a race to the top rather than a race to the bottom.'

However, the U.S. has provided no specifics about where it stands on the key issues.

*Lucy Komisar is an investigative journalist who writes about the offshore bank and corporate secrecy system. Her articles are posted at http://thekomisarscoop.com/.

40,000 reasons the G20 must act

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Original source:

Thousands of campaigners marched through London on Saturday in the run-up to the G20 summit to demand action on poverty, climate change and jobs.

Over 40,000 marchers accompanied by brass bands and drummers walked the four miles from Embankment to Hyde Park.

Union banners from GMB, UNISON, Unite and RMT were on show as protesters moved past the capital's landmarks in a carnival-like atmosphere before gathering for a series of speeches.

Many protesters carried banners bearing slogans including: 'Put the children first' and 'Climate emergency' and there were loud boos and whistles as the crowd passed 10 Downing Street.

The Put People First march, backed by an alliance of 150 groups including unions, charities, greens and faith organisations, was held amid anger at the £19 million cost of staging the G20.

People came from all over the country and families with children in pushchairs were among those marching.

Jyoti Fernandes, an organic farmer who travelled from Somerset with her four children, said: 'We are here to remind people that we have to look after our land and look after our food.'

Protester Kevin Stevens ignored police warnings for City workers to keep a low profile and came dressed in a pinstripe suit as a banker.

'I thought I might prove all the talk about attacking City workers is nonsense,' he said.

Bryan Simpson, who had travelled from Glasgow, said it was going to be a summer of rage for the working class, who 'are expected to pay the price for the debts of the banks.'

As marchers arrived at Hyde Park, Unite union leader Derek Simpson said: 'I think it's an important message, but whether it will get through to the people meeting in London I don't know. Anyone who sees the numbers on this march should realise how important it is.'

Global Call To Action Against Poverty co-chairman Kumi Naidoo told the rally that the G20 had a duty to act.

'Today we have to say the choices the poor people face and middle-class people face are intolerable and therefore we will not accept timidity from the G20 when they gather next week,' he said.

Comedian Mark Thomas believed the protest marked 'the start of a grass-roots movement.'

He said: 'This is a moment. This is the first time people have had a chance to come out on to the streets in a big way.'

ActionAid's Claire Melamed said her organisation was delighted with the turnout.

'We're really pleased. We are hearing every day about people losing jobs and not being able to feed their children as this economic crisis deepens.

'We want the G20 to listen to us. This began as a financial crisis and it's turning into a humanitarian one.'

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber told the crowd that never before had such a wide coalition come together with such a clear message for world leaders.

'The old ideas of unregulated free markets do not work and have brought the world's economy to near-collapse, failed to fight poverty and have done far too little to move to a low-carbon economy,' said the TUC leader.

After the demo, Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted that he would answer protesters' concerns.

Speaking in Chile at the end of a pre-G20 tour, Mr Brown said: 'We will respond at the G20 with measures that will help create jobs, stimulate business and get the economy moving.'

'People come first' say progressive leaders

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:42:00 +0000

VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile, Mar 28 (IPS) - Countries must put people first if they are to prevent the economic recession from becoming a social recession, concluded the two-day gathering of self-styled progressive world leaders that ended Saturday in this Chilean resort city.

This can be achieved by means of policies that boost growth, reinforce social safety nets and stimulate job creation, says the first point of the declaration of the Sixth Progressive Leaders Summit.

The meeting was attended by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg , Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Cristina Fernández of Argentina and Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay.

Chile's socialist President Michelle Bachelet hosted the summit, which opened Friday with a seminar on 'a progressive response to the global crisis,' organised by the Policy Network, an international think tank, and Chile's Instituto Igualdad (Equality Institute).

Brown and Biden also took advantage of the opportunity to make an official visit to Chile.

Other participants in the gathering were Organisation of American States (OAS) secretary general José Miguel Insulza, and the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena.

The progressive leaders summits, the first of which took place in 1999 at the instigation of then U.S. President Bill Clinton and then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, bring together heads of state and government and other high-ranking government and international officials with ties to socialist, social democratic, labour and democratic parties around the world.

This weekend's summit was the first to be held in Latin America.

The meeting drew international attention because it preceded the gathering that the leaders of the G20 (group of 20 developed and emerging countries) will hold in London on Apr. 2 to discuss the world economic crisis.

The participating leaders were asked at the summit's final press conference about the protests that took place in several European cities ahead of the G20 meeting on Saturday.

'I would hope the protesters give us a chance, listen to what we have to say and hopefully we can make it clear to them that we're going to walk away from this G20 meeting with some concrete proposals,' said Biden.

Speaking at the plenary session on Saturday, Brazil's President Lula sent a 'message' to the other G-20 leaders: We cannot avoid discussion of a solution for the futures markets, otherwise we will just go back to the oil and commodities crisis on futures exchanges all over the world, he said.

The summit also drew attention because it was the first visit to Latin America by a high-level representative of the Barack Obama administration.

Asked whether the United States was considering lifting the embargo against Cuba, as part of a new stage in relations between the United States and Latin America, Biden said: 'No. Obama and I made it clear during our campaign that we thought there's a need for transition in our policy toward Cuba. We think the Cuban people should determine their own fate and they should be able to live in freedom and have some prospect of economic prosperity.'

In his address to the summit, Biden explained to the leaders the main points of the economic recovery programme being implemented by Obama. He added that he hoped the U.S. recession would come to an end this year, although he acknowledged that unemployment would likely remain high despite a recovery of GDP.

'People come first' was one of the catch phrases of the summit.

The leaders spoke of the need for global solutions to global problems, like the economic crisis and climate change, as well as the need to regulate markets, strengthen the state and reform multilateral lending institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Brown said the new global rules, for the market and governments alike, should be based on values like equity and responsibility.

Lula and Zapatero stressed that the other pillar of the new global architecture should be 'solidarity.'

The second point of the summit's final declaration raises the need to build the foundations of a new economy in which prosperity can be broadly shared, while the third talks about reforming domestic regulation of financial institutions and the international coordination of that regulation.

With regard to the third point, President Fernández of Argentina said it is not only important to reform the international lending institutions, but that it is indispensable for member countries to commit themselves to following their rules and resolutions, which does not presently occur, she said - an allusion to the most powerful nations.

Biden said, 'We do need rules of the road. We acknowledge that. And we will play by the rules. But one of the things I would say to all of us is when the rules are broken don't just expect us to enforce the rules. Let me say that again - when the rules are broken, as they repeatedly are, we are reluctant, as an international community, to enforce the rules, whether they be in Iran or whether they be in other countries in the world.

'Once the rules are set, we will abide by them (and be) part of the effort to draft them, but when they're broken there's a need for all of us to step up,'' he said.

In the summit declaration, the leaders also stated the need to avoid protectionism and to successfully conclude the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Round of trade talks.

They also said the international financial institutions, including regional ones, must play an important role in the prevention of disastrous economic consequences for emerging and developing countries, while advocating reforms of these institutions, which could require increased funding, they added.

The declaration also mentions the urgent need for a coordinated response to climate change and for expanded investment in clean energy sources, in order to set out on the route towards a global economy low in greenhouse gas emissions, while expressing the hope that the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen will reach a successful agreement.

Acción, the Chilean umbrella group that brings together 70 NGOs, reported that it sent a letter to the leaders meeting in Viña del Mar, proposing a series of measures to be implemented by leftwing and centre-left governments.

Among other things, Acción expresses the need to guarantee democratic governance of the economy 'by regulating financial activities, creating new fiscal instruments, establishing restrictions on speculation, prohibiting 'casino-style' financial instruments and guaranteeing that the funds from private and public savings are effectively channeled towards productive activity.'

The progressive leaders summits have been held in Berlin (2000), Stockholm (2002), London (2003 and 2008), Budapest (2004) and Johannesburg (2006).

Morales to call for new world order in Doha

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:27:00 +0000

La Paz, Mar 29 (Prensa Latina) Bolivian President Evo Morales on Sunday is flying to Doha, Qatar, for the Second Arab-South American Summit, where he will advocate for a new multilateral world order to face the current global financial crisis.

Bolivia lacks economic and military power, but it does have initiatives aimed at dealing with the financial, food, energy and environmental crises, Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said at a news conference.

According to the official, Morales will express his ideas while addressing the Arab and South American leaders attending the Doha meeting.

Morales has insisted on the need to build a new world order to replace the failed economic and social policies imposed by the capitalist system, he added.

He has also urged to take a responsible stance to counter the negative effects of climate change and to launch a crusade to nationalize public services as electricity, water, education and public health.

Nestl stands accused of rights violations in connection with possible sell-off in Korea

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Reposted from www.iuf.org The IUF wrote to Nestlé corporate management, pointing out that while the company may react with silence or with the standard 'we do not respond to rumours' when dealing with the media, it has the duty to respond with openness and respect when approached by their employees and their union. The IUF reminded Nestlé that the refusal to provide the union with the information they seek and the failure to give reasonable notice of changes in operations constitutes a violation of principles set out in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Furthermore, Nestlé's own Corporate Business Principles speaks of the principle of 'staff relations based on trust, integrity and honesty'.

What followed was an admission that there was truth to the media reports but continued refusal to provide details and to enter into negotiations with the union over the implications for the workforce. This lead to growing frustration and anger among the union's 300 members.

The NKLU has formed a 50-member strike committee and launched mass membership meetings, daily protest actions at the Nestle factory and protests at the headquarters of Nestle Korea in Seoul.

Mass membership meeting at the factory

The IUF filed a complaint against Nestlé on 19 March under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, citing the refusal to provide information and the failure to provide reasonable notice of changes in their operations which would have major effects upon the livelihood of their employees (Art. IV 6) as breaches of the Guidelines.

This is not the first time Nestlé Korea management faces a complaint under the OECD Guidelines. In 2003 a bitter conflict over negotiating rights led to a 145-day strike and lockout. Nestlé management threatened to shift production out of the country in blatant violation of the OECD Guidelines

Dollar days may be numbered, say experts

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:18:00 +0000

London, Mar 27 (Prensa Latina) The Presidents of Brazil and China, Russia and India have already agreed that a solution to the financial crisis could be to create global reserves based on a basket of the strongest currencies, putting an end to the reign of the US dollar.

The London-based economic online news service, Money Morning reported today that while exchange rates may improve again one day, the headlines on the main economies lead people to realize this is not likely to be any time soon.

The US has gone on a spending spree like no other nation in history. The debt, if social security obligations are included goes up to $11 trillion and counting, says Money Morning.

Chinese Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan has called for a “super sovereign reserve currency” that would be run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Russia, Brazil and India have backed the idea as well.

According to the online news service, losing the preeminence of the dollar might be healthier for the global economy in the long run, but it would not be very comfortable for the US, as it usually countered its debts by printing more new bills.

Money Morning says if the US no longer controls the world´s main currency, it suggests the loss of the position as the world´s most important country.

“If there´s a lesson from today,” says Chris Turner at ING Capital Markets, “it´s that the dollar is on thin ice and any loose talk will be quickly punished.”

At the moment the IMF runs on Special Drawing Rights, which are a basket of the world’s major currencies. “The IMF would be groomed as the planet’s central bank”, says The Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, “and the SDRs would gradually become an accepted means of payment –call it the globo.”

Any basket of currencies used to back the ‘globo’, alerts Money Morning, would include a far smaller number of dollars than central banks currently hold in their reserves. That would mean a big plunge for the dollar and serious upheaval for the global financial system.

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U.S.-Mexico border garners much attention from White House

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:38:00 +0000

In response to highly publicized wave of turf battles among drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border, the Obama administration issued an ambitious multi-agency $700 million plan this week to combat the violence. The on-going problem has caused more than 8,000 deaths since January 2008.

The violence has increased over the past few years wreaking havoc in Mexico that has even led to a series of kidnappings and home invasions in some U.S. border cities.

The initiative plans to boost existing efforts by Washington and Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s administration by adding manpower, money and technology to the southwestern border with the deployment of nearly 500 federal agents and support personnel.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also made a trip to Mexico where this is one topic under discussion.

Mexico is the largest trading partner for the U.S. Due to the current U.S. recession Mexico is suffering and undergoing its own disastrous economic crisis. Mexico’s export factories have lost some 65,000 jobs since October. Exports fell 32 percent in January, and automobile exports fell 50 percent in the first two months of 2009.

Critics argue Mexico’s conservative and right-wing administration under Calderon welcomes free trade and neoliberal policies highlighted by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

As a result such policies enforced by Calderon and markets dominated by major multinational corporations, millions throughout Mexico are unemployed and seek job opportunities to the north. Lack of jobs, the high cost of living and extreme poverty in most cases perpetuates the violence directly related to the warring drug cartels that offer financial stability to those struggling to survive, critics charge.

Many say American drug users have turned Mexico into a drug superhighway. As drug addiction rates in Mexico continue to increase, the vast majority of illegal drugs coming from Mexico will be injected, smoked or sniffed by Americans. And according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 90 percent of the guns used by Mexican drug cartels come directly from the U.S.

Secretary Clinton two-day trip on a broad diplomatic agenda will be followed up with future visits next month including one by President Obama.

Last week during a town-hall-style meeting in California, Obama outlined the problem.

“I don’t think we can do this piecemeal,” Obama said.

“I’m going to be working with President Calderon in Mexico to figure out how we get control over the border that’s become more violent because of the drug trade. We have to combine that with cracking down on employers who are exploiting undocumented workers.”

For more information on the violence and its roots, you can go to:

Drug cartel has political, economic roots: and

World crisis slams Mexico:

In a March 24th conference call Dan Restrepo, director of the Western Hemisphere Affairs, National Security Council explained to reporters one of the major themes behind the measure.

“At the end of the day there is nothing more important to President Obama than the U.S.-Mexico partnership,” Restrepo said.

Reports also point to Mexico taking offense to officials and pundits in the United States calling it a “failed state.”

The Mexican daily newspaper El Universal reported March 26 that the U.S. had submitted Cuban-born Carlos Pascual’s name to the Mexican government as the next ambassador to Mexico. Pscual has written extensively about “failed states” and served as the coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization in the State Department, a post that involved working with several agencies to develop strategies for broken countries like Afghanistan, El Universal reported.

U.S. political and economic analysts of the region have disputed the “failed state” claim. For example, Moody's Investment Service says that Mexico is not at risk of failure and will maintain its investment-grade rating.

plozano @ pww.org

Venezuelan and Chicago leaders discuss creating peoples power

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:07:00 +0000

CHICAGO – In an effort to share experiences led by grassroots struggles, leaders from Venezuela and local community groups here on the Southwest Side of the city came together to talk about what it takes to organize residents, fight for people’s power and encourage participatory democracy from the bottom up.

The March 24 event, “People’s organization to solve community problems: Venezuela and the U.S. – comparative experiences” was organized by the Salvation Army in conjunction with local groups here in the Lawndale area and the Venezuelan consulate.

“This forum is an opportunity to share experiences on how to organize communities,” said Luis Edgardo Ramirez with The Salvation Army.

Ramirez welcomed the distinguished panel along with the residents in attendance. He talked about how the Salvation Army center, and location of the forum re-opened five months ago after pressure from the community. The center had been closed for three years.

“Today we work to make fundamental change in our neighborhood and to build unity,” Ramirez said.

Programs to help local residents pay their utility bills and a weekly food pantry that serves 100 people are some of the initiatives provided by the center. Art classes including guitar lessons for youth are also provided.

Eric Hermosillo is the coordinator with the Southwest Community Block Club and presented some activities his group offers area residents. He said one of their aims is to ensure that fair city services are made available to members of the community such as youth programs and information about housing rights.

“We work with area residents to make and build positive relationships,” he said. Hermosillo said sharing experiences and learning about community development taking place in Venezuela will be helpful.

“I know community organizing is not an easy task and change does not happen over night,” he said. “But it must start from the bottom-up.”

Hermosillo said some of the achievements made by his group include getting much- needed speed bumps on local streets, issuing new stop signs and cleaning neighborhood graffiti.

“It’s important that communities work together and form more block clubs in order to create positive change,” Hermosillo said.

Carolina Rivera is a coordinator with the Southwest Organizing Project, a local group that develops community leadership and advocates for immigrant rights and fair housing programs.

Rivera mentioned how her group directs a parent-mentoring program for elementary and high school students.

“It’s very important when children see father figures in the class room with them,” said Rivera. “This is an opportunity as parents to be involved in the lives of our children that ultimately helps every student succeed,” she said.

Jesus Rodriguez-Espinoza, consulate general of Venezuela in Chicago introduced the Venezuelan speakers from the state of Lara. He said what’s happening on a local level in Chicago communities has a lot in common with what’s occurring in Venezuelan neighborhoods. “Grassroots projects in Venezuela could even inspire and encourage change here,” he said.

Edgar Carrasco is the mayor of Carora from the state of Lara.

“The only way to achieve social justice in Venezuela was to transfer power to the people,” Carrasco said. The first thing they did in Carora was to reform the local bylaws.

“It’s important to note that this process was mobilized by the entire community who actively participated in the reform movement in order to gain decision-making power,” Carrasco said. “Once we were in control of the budget, funds were allocated directly toward projects organized by the people. This participatory budget is what we now call ‘popular power.’”

Carrasco added that because of their success the national assembly in the Bolivarian government headed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez passed legislation in order to assist grassroots reforms across the country.

“This began what we call 'community councils' directed by the people and their priorities,” said Carrasco.

Rafael Enrique Colmenarez is a coffee farmer and producer as well as a community organizer from Lara. He talked about how reforms enacted by the Chavez government have helped small farmers like him make a living without having to compete with corporations in the big business.

“Communal banks directed by the government allow small farmers like myself to stay in business,” he said.

Former mayor of Carora and now state representative of Lara, Julio Chavez, spoke in detail about the Bolivarian movement in Venezuela and building a new society from below.

“There is nothing more important to us then the participatory democracy taking place in Venezuela right now,” Chavez said.

He noted that for too long the city of Carora was controlled economically by the power of the few.

Responding to attacks against the Venezuelan government in the U.S. Chavez asked, “When all the resources are directly put in the hands of the majority of the people, is that really a dictatorship?”

Chavez added, “Are popular clinics that provide free health care services to people who have never had them before really a sign of an autocratic society?”

Through our efforts social programs and missions are providing resources for more and more students to get a higher education that benefits the entire country, he said. “Everyday more people are joining a movement to solve problems facing all Venezuelans.”

Revolutionary laws such as land reform are providing small farmers to grow their own crops for the first time, which is supported by our government, he said.

“Maybe some people don’t agree with Venezuela or our president but how can our reforms refute the democratic process unfolding in communities all across our country. Power in Venezuela is in the hands of the people.”

The Venezuelan path was limited and did not have many options, he added. “We were forced to find an alternative that prioritized people’s concerns first.”

Chavez extended an invitation to audience members and all Americans to visit the towns and cities of Venezuela to witness what is taking place there.

U.S. delegations should organize exchanges from here to there to see that what we want is peace and democracy, he said.

“We understand that we need an alternative system other than capitalism. A structure that puts human beings first before the profits of corporate powers and it must start from the bottom-up,” Chavez said.

“Our path in Venezuela is not an easy one and faces many challenges but it’s always the people who have the final say in this movement or in any democratic process because ultimately ours is a fight to save humanity,” said Chavez.

plozano@pww.org

Make the rich carry the load

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:12:00 +0000

Original source:

Union leaders called on ministers to tax the super-rich and clamp down hard on tax dodgers on Thursday as thousands prepared to join Saturday's G20 march for jobs, justice and climate.

As Prime Minister Gordon Brown took his pre-G20 world tour to Brazil in a bid to forge consensus on tackling the global recession, union leaders argued that a more progressive tax system at home would pump billions into the Treasury and help stimulate Britain's economy.

Thousands of trade unionists, activists and concerned members of the public are expected to decend on London on Saturday to demand that world leaders put people first when they meet on April 2 to discuss the crisis.

Union leaders insisted that their proposed programme of public spending - including funds to tackle pay inequalities in local government, massive investment in manufacturing and money to build affordable homes - would create 287,000 new jobs and boost the economy by around 1.5 per cent of GDP.

The cost, they said, could easily be paid for by making the rich pay their fair share of taxes.

An estimated £18.5 billion is lost from the public purse every year as a result of the abuse of tax havens and the total cost of avoidance and evasion by corporations and rich individuals is even greater.

The richest 1 per cent in Britain have doubled their share of total income since the 1980s and now pocket more money every year than the entire wage bills for the NHS, state education and local government put together.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis stormed: 'It is scandalous that the people of this country are bearing the brunt of this recession while the bankers and super-rich continue to enjoy a protected champagne lifestyle.'

He pointed out that, under the current tax system, the richest pay a lower share of their income than anyone else and many big businesses and wealthy individuals use loopholes and City consultants to avoid paying any tax at all.

'Taxing the super-rich and clamping down hard on tax evasion and avoidance would enable the government to fund a vital stimulus to the economy and jump-start our recovery,' Mr Prentis argued.

Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson added: 'Our future depends on creating an economy based on the fair distribution of wealth - and that means closing the tax loopholes.

'It is time for the leaders of the G20 to act and end the culture of greed, which has led to the worst economic crisis of our times.'

Fellow Unite joint leader Tony Woodley, who will be addressing Saturday's rally, said: 'Support for the UK manufacturing base is our members' prime concern.'

Scottish TUC general secretary Grahame Smith said that Scotland's trade unions want the G20 to act 'not only to provide a short-term stimulus but also to ensure that the world emerges from this recession fairer and greener.' Plan that puts people first

Union proposals to boost the economy and create jobs through public spending include:

* £500 million a year to recruit an extra 10,000 social workers to bring child protection caseloads back down to manageable levels; * £1.5 billion a year for the NHS to employ 50,000 more hospital cleaners and reverse staffing cuts; * £2bn a year for local authorities to help to provide daily home care visits to 370,000 people now denied help. This would also create 80,000 jobs; * A one-off £12bn to allow councils and housing associations to build 80,000 more homes this year; * £2.8bn to help to tackle the long-standing injustice of unequal pay in England's local government and boost the spending power of hundreds of thousands of women; * A one-off £5bn to improve energy efficiency by upgrading 10 million homes without insulation, creating 20,000 jobs; * A £13bn government fund to boost the manufacturing industry.

Okinawa's administrator of land for U.S. military use decides to refuse to renew lease agreement

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:04:00 +0000

(Akahata is published by the Communist Party of Japan) The organization administering land for U.S. military use in the Igei District of Kin Town, Okinawa, on March 22 unanimously decided not to renew the land-lease agreement with the U.S. forces after April 2010. The move was prompted by the irresponsible Japanese and U.S. action regarding the recent stray bullet shot off base from the firing range of U.S. forces.

It is the first time since its establishment in 1986 that the organization, which is in charge of land in seven zones (about 326,000 square meters) in U.S. Camp Hansen, rejected a renewal of the lease contract.

The organization has criticized the Japanese and U.S. governments for their irresponsible attitudes toward the misfire incident that occurred late last year during U.S. live-fire training exercises. A bullet from the exercise hit a civilian car in a private residence in the Igei District.

U.S. Camp Hansen, extending just a few hundreds meters north of the residential area of the district, has 13 live-firing ranges, including five that are right next to the district.

The organization explained that the removal of the U.S. base is the only way to secure the safety of the residents and their properties in such a dangerous environment.

In a resolution adopted during their March 1 rally, Igei residents also demanded an immediate suspension of all live-fire exercises in Camp Hansen and a swift removal of all live-firing ranges.

Prior to this, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly had unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an immediate halt to the live-fire exercises and sending a letter of protest to the Japanese government.

Igei residents have been affected by stray bullet incidents from U.S. forces repeatedly. In one case, a 3-year-old kid was wounded while playing in the front yard of a home. In another, a stray bullet inflicted severe wounds on a 19-year-old girl in her home. There was also a case in which a bullet penetrated a water tank of a private residence.

However, the U.S. forces have never admitted that these were caused by U.S. bullets although there are many such victims of stray bullets, because admitting it will mean that the U.S. forces themselves admit the danger of their military bases. Thus, on the grounds that it is still unknown whether those were U.S. bullets or not, the U.S. forces keep on conducting their live-fire exercises.

- Akahata, March 24, 2009

Converting water into a commodity is the dominant trend

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:44:00 +0000

(l'Humanite) Translated by Anatoli

Ricardo Petrella, Secretary General of the International Committee for the Global Water Contract, condemns transnational business groups trying to grab the vital asset.

Q: What do you think of the United Nations’ attitude concerning water?

Ricardo Petrella: The water report to be presented at the World Water Forum in Istanbul confirms once again the link between poverty and the problem of access to water as it was set forth in 2006, when the United Nations development program was elaborated. As to the rest, the United Nations’ position is still influenced by the World Water Council (WWC). Controlled by multinational groups of that industrial sector, this private organization has succeeded in imposing itself as an unavoidable intermediary for a number of governments and international institutions. Moreover, it has achieved acceptance of the idea that attaching economic value to water is necessary for resolving the issues of access to water and sanitation.

According to WWC, attributing commercial value to water would encourage private groups’ interest and make it possible to implement investment necessary for mitigating both problems. Such a concept is dangerous. It gives a blessing to converting water into a commodity. Far from reducing the problem of access to water, it is likely to aggravate it. Once water becomes a precious economic asset, the risk of water-related conflicts increases.

Commercial value of water turns this element essential for human life into a commodity similar to fossil energy. Some want to push it even further and to quote a global water price, as is the case for oil. I ask myself the question—has anyone observed an increase of oil prices encouraging more economical use of the energy or relieving international tension?

Q: What do you recommend?

Ricardo Petrella : I support the idea of a global water contract. The point is to have a political contract based on recognizing water as a vital asset of common global patrimony. Water is not the same kind of natural resource as others. It is irreplaceable, having no substitute. It is a vital factor for any living being. Any human has a right, both individual and collective, to get access to this vital asset. To assure such access, one has to dismiss reasoning in terms of water being subject to national sovereignty, and to recognize common and shared jusrisdiction of peoples living in the same hydrological basin.

Q: Will you attend the World Water Forum?

Ricardo Petrella: No, I am not going to endorse this forum arranged by the WWC. Appropriation of the issue of water by a private group is like privatizing a public space. I think that intermational meetings of this kind should be arranged and sponsored by the United Nations directly.

WORLDNOTES: India, Iraq, Southern Africa, Turkey, Haiti, Cuba

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:35:00 +0000

India: New left electoral coalition formed

Before general elections starting April 16, nine left parties met March 15 to shape a coalition to oppose both the centrist alliance headed by the Congress Party, in power since 2004, and the coalition led by the rightwing BJP party.

At a press conference the next day, General Secretary Prakash Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) released an election manifesto reflecting the program of the left front coalition. Key components, according to The Hindu newspaper, were reversing neo-liberal policies, social support for the poor, defending secularism, relief for oppressed sectors and foreign policy independence. Last year four left parties including the CPI(M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) abandoned the Congress-led coalition to protest the U.S.-India nuclear power deal.

Iraq: Marshland crisis continues

The Saddam Hussein regime ousted rebellious inhabitants of southern Iraq’s marshlands by drying up the Middle East’s largest wetland ecosystem. Water and some people returned after the successor government removed dams and sluiceways.

Since 2003, however, water levels have dropped 50 percent. Marshland waters are now plagued with sewage, high salinity and pesticides. Azzaman news says thousands of families are leaving again.

Restoration may cost billions of dollars, IRIN news said. UN official David Shearer observed March 12 that marsh people “are some of the poorest and most badly provided with basic services.”

Iraqi officials have announced plans to remove remaining dams and canals.

Southern Africa: Trade talks contentious

Negotiations are coming to a close for an economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the European Union and Southern African Development Community members South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana. Temporary arrangements have prevailed following a missed deadline in December 2007.

At a meeting in Namibia joined by Angola and Mozambique, the EU conceded protection for African industries and continuation of export taxes. Most favored nation provisions, to pass on to the EU any beneficial terms reached with developing nations, remain contentious. Withdrawal of holdout South Africa from the EPA would represent a challenge, according to the South African Business Day web site. Opponents protest as incipient re-colonization any arrangements seeming to favor established European economies.

Turkey: Water Forum reconvenes

Without immediate action, a global water crisis is certain, says a UN report delivered at the 5th World Water Forum, convened March 16 in Istanbul. Causative factors, according to 26 UN agencies contributing to the report, include climate change, population increase and human migration.

“Water is the principal medium through which climate change will affect economic, social and environmental conditions,” declared UNESCO head Koïchiro Matsuura. Food availability is crucial, according to IRIN news, with agriculture accounting for 70 percent of fresh water use. Some 3,000 liters of water are required daily to feed one person. The week-long gathering attracted activists, scientists, and business and government representatives. Protesters accused the Forum of colluding with companies to promote water privatization.

Haiti: Aristide party fights for election participation

In early March, a court reversed the Provisional Electoral Council’s disqualification of Lavalas party candidates in April 19 senate elections. The action coincided with demonstrations for Lavalas leader and ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, timed with the arrival of ex-U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to re-evaluate UN troop deployment in Haiti.

Haiti Liberté cited a protester’s warnings of further demonstrations should Lavalas be excluded. He and others demanded Aristide’s return from exile, five years after a U.S.-supported coup. Last week a visiting U.N. Security Council delegation praised Lavalas, presently divided into two factions, for contesting exclusion from the senate elections. Election council procrastination has left 12 senate seats vacant since 2007.

Cuba: Bonds tightened with Central America

Salvadoran President-elect Mauricio Funes and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias each announced plans on March 18 to restore their countries’ diplomatic relations with Cuba. Implementation for El Salvador will wait until June 1 when Funes assumes office.

Then all Latin American and Caribbean nations will have full relations with the island, a turn-about from nearly five decades ago when Washington induced all except Mexico to spurn Cuba. “The world,” Arias declared, “is diametrically distinct from [then]. We must adjust to new realities.”

Meanwhile last week Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis signed far-reaching commercial agreements with Cuba.

The Cuba News Agency noted that over 1,000 Panamanians have either graduated recently from Cuban universities or are studying there now. Lewis expressed appreciation for Cuban assistance in combating illiteracy and for the presence in Panama of 33 Cuban ophthalmologists who have recently performed thousands of sight-restoring operations.

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

Northern Ireland unites to prevent return of The Troubles

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:22:00 +0000

BELFAST, N. Ireland — Several thousand Catholics and Protestants united in a silent protest here after last month’s killing of two soldiers and a policeman two days later. Two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men were seriously wounded.

The separate attacks by paramilitary sects caused wide-spread worry that Northern Ireland would plunge into sectarian bloodshed again. Known as The Troubles, the 40-year conflict had left 3,700 dead.

More than 2,000 people gathered at lunchtime in front of Belfast City Hall to oppose the worst violence since 1998, the year both sides’ politicians struck the Good Friday peace deal (also known as the Belfast Agreement) that sought lasting compromise through a Catholic-Protestant government.

Thousands more gathered in the predominantly Catholic border cities of Londonderry and Newry, where some splinter groups reportedly remain active in the shadows despite overwhelming public opposition.

“No going back,” read placards at all the protests.

In Belfast, as a lone bagpiper played a lament, the crowd — among them firefighters and postal workers, former paramilitary convicts and child-cradling mothers — fell silent for five minutes. Some wept.

“I’m a Catholic. I grew up in an area where the police were the enemy. Now things have changed so completely for the better,” said Aidan Kane, a paramedic who came to the rally with his 6-year-old boy on his shoulders. “If my wee lad here wants to be a policeman when he grows up, I’d be proud. I shouldn’t have to worry that some nut might shoot him for serving his community.”

Patricia McKeown, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, chief organizer of the protests, said she hoped the silence of the crowds would “be a silence that thunders around the world.” The union congress organizes in both the north and south.

The Communist Party of Ireland issued a statement condemning the attacks. Calling the armed attacks “failed methods of struggle” the party said, “it is a barren strategy that will lead us nowhere except to further deaths, imprisonment, unnecessary suffering, and division.”

The party welcomed the “recent mobilization of working people by the Northern Ireland Committee of the ICTU” as an important statement by working people that they do not want a return to violence, that the new political institutions set up under the Belfast Agreement must be made to work, and that no group has the right to abrogate the will of the people.”

The party sought to distance itself unequivocally from the violence. “As an anti-imperialist party committed to securing national unity and sovereignty” the Communists called for an end to the attacks. “We repudiate their approach as tactically and strategically futile and both anti-people and anti-republican.”

The statement also called for the full implementation of the peace agreement. “While the condemnation of these armed attacks is important in itself, there is also a great responsibility on those forces that support the Belfast Agreement to push forward to secure its full implementation. The Belfast Agreement and the institutions deriving from it are not the end of the process, nor the end of struggle, but rather they provide a forum from which new struggle and new demands must be made.”

Recognizing “the growing and deepening economic and social crisis being experienced by all working people in our country, north and south” the party called for “greater unity among all workers” and “securing greater economic and social integration” between the two.

Visa campaign launched for Cuban Five families

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:49:00 +0000

Prisoners need to see their families. The United Nations Human Rights Commission urges a minimum standard that prisoners be allowed “regular” communication with family “by correspondence and by receiving visits.”

The International Free the Five Committee recently urged the United States government to grant entry visas to relatives of the five Cuban men jailed in U.S. prisons since 1998. Known as anti-terrorist fighters, they are collectively called “The Cuban Five.”

Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez were arrested in 1998. They were charged with putting U.S. national security at risk and other charges, but they stated before a jury that were only monitoring Miami-based anti-Cuban terrorist organizations. They are currently serving harsh sentences ranging from 15 years to double life terms.

The committee’s request was made in a letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder, and signed by world outstanding personalities.

The letter especially urged Washington to grant visas to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva to visit their husbands, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, respectively.

“We are aware of these two women have requested visas nine times, and the State Department has repeatedly denied their petition, based on arbitrary arguments,” the letter states.

UN General Assembly chairman Miguel D’Escoto, Nobel Peace prizewinners Rigoberta Menchu and Adolfo Esquivel, US writer Noam Chomsky, and members of the Argentinean organization Grandmothers and Mothers of Plaza de Mayo are among the personalities signing the request.

On April 10, Perez and Salanueva have an appointment in the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to request their visas. This will be the tenth time that Perez will request a visa to see her husband. During a decade, the U.S. government has denied this couple the possibility of seeing each other.

The international committee urges the public to contact Secretary of State Hillary Clinton no later than April 10 to request the following:

• To immediately grant a humanitarian visa to Adriana Pérez to visit her husband Gerardo Hernández and put an end to the violation of the right of family visits.

• To grant visas for the other members of the family of the Cuban Five.

Contact information: U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20520 Fax number: 202-647-2283. Phone number: 202-647-4000.

The Committee also asks individuals to contact the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, to request the following:

To immediately grant a humanitarian visa to Salanueva. On July 2008, Olga was (unjustly) classified as “permanently ineligible.” Ask Napolitano to exempt Salanueva of that condition by granting her a humanitarian visa to visit her husband Rene González.

Contact information: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528,

Fax number: 202-282-8401, Comment line: 202-282-8495. Operator Number: 202-282-8000

Copies of the requests can be sent to High Commissioner for Human Rights:

InfoDesk@ohchr.org.

No more troops to Afghanistan

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Afghanistan is increasingly in the spotlight, as the time approaches for the Obama administration to make public the results of its comprehensive review of strategic policy there.

Interviewed March 22 on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” President Obama defined his administration’s mission there as “making sure that al Qaida cannot attack the U.S. homeland and U.S. interests and our allies.” But he emphasized the approach must be diplomatic and economic as well as military: “So what we are looking for is a comprehensive strategy. And there’s got to be an exit strategy. There’s got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift.”

The president earlier ordered an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, to join the 38,000 U.S. and 30,000 NATO soldiers already there.

These developments are taking place amid growing opposition to troop increases in the U.S. and Afghanistan. A mid-March USA Today/Gallup poll found 40 percent of Americans saying sending U.S. troops to Afghanistan was a mistake in the first place — up from 30 percent earlier in the year. A January ABC News/BBC poll of Afghans in all 34 provinces found only 18 percent saying U.S. and NATO troops should be increased, and 44 percent calling for lower troop levels.

Asked what he would advise Obama, Foreign Policy in Focus analyst Conn Hallinan replied, “The worst thing he can do is to send more forces.” Hallinan traced the current crisis to NATO’s 2005 surge, and the outrage house raids, bombings and use of helicopter gunships kindled among local villagers.

“In 2005 there was virtually no insurgency” in [southern Afghanistan’s] Helmand Province, and there were fewer than 2,000 NATO troops,” he said. “Today 10,000 NATO troops are there and Helmand is arguably the most dangerous province in Afghanistan.”

Likening the situation to “a giant Rubik’s cube,” Hallinan said solving the puzzle requires fitting many complex elements together, and must involve all the country’s neighbors.

An immediate opening, he said, is a Taliban peace proposal recently delivered to the U.S. via Saudi Arabia.

“The Obama administration has made a couple of good moves,” Hallinan said. One, he said, is sending only 17,000 new troops instead of 40,000 as earlier contemplated, and the other is to draw Iran into the process.

He said the danger of counterinsurgency tactics was shown by the March 22 raid in which U.S. and Afghan troops said they killed five suspected militants and detained four others, but the district mayor said the raid instead targeted his house, killing two of his guards, a cook, a driver and another man.

Last year Afghan civilian casualties soared by 40 percent to more than 2,100.

“The first thing I would tell the president is that he needs to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and arrange for the U.S. to work with the United Nations to bring in a transitional peacekeeping force that is armed only for protection; all bombings, detentions and shootings must cease immediately,” said Sonali Kolhatkar, co-author of “Bleeding Afghanistan” and co-director of the Afghan Women’s Mission, a U.S.-based non-profit funding health, education and training projects for Afghan women.

“I would also recommend that he pour the same amount of money that went into the military, into rebuilding infrastructure, with Afghan-led efforts to build schools and hospitals, and literacy projects for women as well as vocational training that can hopefully help the Afghans move away from the opium and poppy trade.”

Kolhatkar also urged support for Afghan-led efforts to hold the “war criminal” warlords now in Parliament accountable, adding that surveys have shown Afghan people favor creating a war crimes tribunal.

“Once these men are out of the Parliament, then real democracy can flourish,” she said. “And that’s the only thing that’s going to bring real peace.”

Meanwhile, national organizations are ramping up their pressure on the Obama administration to change course. Saying there is “one campaign promise Barack Obama must break: his commitment to increase troop levels in Afghanistan,” United for Peace and Justice points out in its fact sheet, “Escalation: Bad for them, bad for us,” that even military think tanks like the Rand Corporation “agree that political, local law enforcement and peacekeeping solutions are a more effective alternative to increases in foreign military force.”

mbechtel@pww.org

Israel urged to reopen Gaza borders

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:20:00 +0000

Original source:

The UN pressed Israel on Wednesday to implement a security council resolution which calls for the reopening of crossings into the devastated Gaza Strip.

UN undersecretary-general for political affairs B Lynn Pascoe said: 'The intolerable situation at Gaza's crossings remains the key impediment to bringing help and hope to the people of Gaza.'

Israel launched a 22-day air and ground offensive against the densely populated coastal enclave on December 27, ostensibly in an effort to halt rocket fire on its southern communities and arms smuggling into Gaza.

It caused an estimated £1.4 billion in damage to infrastructure and homes and killed up to 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians.

Ten Israeli soldiers died and three Israeli civilians were killed in rocket attacks.

Mr Pascoe pointed out that 'very little concrete progress has been made on key issues' outlined in January's UN security council resolution 1860, which calls for a durable ceasefire, free access for relief workers and the re-opening of crossings for the unimpeded delivery of goods and construction materials.

Israel has banned the entry of building materials, spare parts and other industrial goods that are essential to rebuild the territory.

And the quality and quantity of food and other imports allowed into Gaza 'are insufficient compared to needs,' warned Mr Pascoe.

Top UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry was in Gaza on Wednesday and his meetings with business leaders and representatives of civil society 'have underscored the desperate need for a new approach to Gaza based on a ceasefire, open crossings, rejuvenation of the private sector and Palestinian reconciliation,' Mr Pascoe declared.

'Without this, the many unresolved issues combined with the absence of an active negotiations track and continued suffering could portend a quick return to violence,' he warned.

Mr Pascoe called on the so-called diplomatic quartet - the UN, US, European Union and Russia - and the rest of the international community to 'act with unity of purpose to help stabilise Gaza and reinvigorate the peace process.'

Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers stormed the Askar and Balata refugee camps east of Nablus on Wednesday night.

They seized seven men and placed sacks on their heads before whisking them off to unknown locations.

Troops also entered Jenin and deployed patrols in the city.

Iraqi Communist leader analyzes his countrys politics, struggle for democracy

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:29:00 +0000

BAGHDAD (Niqash) — The “Madaniyoun” List, also known as the “Democratic Stream,” is a political gathering of three Iraqi secular forces: the Arab Socialist Movement, the National Democratic Party and the Iraqi Communist Party. Niqash (a website on Iraqi politics, media and culture) met the leader of the grouping, Communist Party leader and Member of Parliament Hamid Majeed Mousa, to discuss the movement and Iraq’s political developments.

Niqash: Is “Madaniyoun” a name of an electoral list or a larger political movement?

Mousa: Madaniyoun is not only an election front but also a movement and an initiative to gather democratic forces together to occupy their genuine role in Iraqi society. This stream has been marginalized although some of its members have played a tangible role in society. It was already weakened by the former regime. Unlike other movements, democratic forces did not possess a strong infrastructure when the former regime fell and the country’s political life regained public momentum.

The Kurdish movement, for example, has had a semi-state in Kurdistan since 1991, and this allowed it to build a base and infrastructure, to advance and become more influential. As for Islamic forces, it is true that Saddam fought against them, but he did not dare to shut down all the husayniyat (Shia religious centers), mosques, centers and schools used by the religious authorities. So these forces have maintained their infrastructure and institutions which can be described as cadre premises. The democratic movement however, did not find such support and backing, they did not receive any external support and at the same time they have suffered the repercussions of the collapse of the socialist camp.

Niqash: Do you mean financial support?

Mousa: I don’t mean just financial support but also moral, political and propaganda support. The existence of the socialist camp had moral significance. When America invaded the country, we heard them preaching democracy, but for many reasons, they did not provide democratic streams with any support and they did not facilitate the return of these streams to political life so that they could exercise their role. Yes it is true that they brought down Saddam's regime but they were biased and favored certain parties and forces at the expense of others and provided them with the necessary support to develop.

Niqash: But is it not true that the U.S. simply behaved in a pragmatic manner having discovered that people aligned with religious forces?

Mousa: There are different reasons and we do not blame anyone; we are just stating facts. We are not competing with any party to gain U.S. sympathy. These are facts. As democrats, we will take our independent decisions and we will not depend on any party to regain our position, but this requires time and it also requires that we develop new methods.

Niqash: The recent election saw a decline in the popularity of religious parties but you did not benefit from this opportunity. Did secular forces miss their chance?

Mousa: No, we didn’t miss it. We, being realistic as politicians, want to avoid rapid progress and jumping over reality. It is true that there were lots of complaints, lack of services and unstable conditions which led many voters, who previously voted for religious parties, to express their frustration and dissatisfaction by voting for other parties. But this does not imply that their votes should automatically go to democratic and secular streams. This will require time and effort. There is a superficial conviction that if voters reject one party, they will automatically vote for its opponent. The change in the mood of voters will provide democratic forces with an opportunity and with optimistic prospects. However, this has not materialized and more effort and time is still needed.

However, the reconstruction process has not yet started and so citizens have not yet settled and completely rid themselves from traditional loyalties and are not yet free to choose those who can best serve their interests. Under-development, illiteracy and sub-identities still impact people.

Niqash: Do you mean that voters were not able to distance themselves from religious influences during the last elections?

Mousa: If voters are to take their own decisions, they should liberate themselves from subordination and traditional loyalties. To be able to have a job, people need to become members of one of the existing parties; to protect themselves, they need to hide behind a militia or armed group of one party or another. Thus people are not yet able to freely choose their representatives. This is an objective and essential element.

We do not want to say we did not make mistakes. We admit that our knowledge of competition in elections was limited because modern democratic traditions are new to us. We did not reach out to all people, we did not use methods that would attract voters who support our cause and there were gaps in our mobilization methods. We admit our mistakes.

Niqash: How do you evaluate the electoral system adopted during provincial elections?

Mousa: The first problem that hindered us from winning seats was the new election law. It was unjust and unfair and it was drafted by influential people to serve their own interests. People were not aware of its real impacts but they have now started to feel them.

In the new law, forces that did not reach the electoral coefficient [total number of votes divided by number of seats in each province] did not win any seat and their votes automatically went to forces who achieved this coefficient. This means that 30 percent of the votes all over Iraq went to winners who did not deserve them at all. The method of seat distribution decreased our share of seats in many provinces. In the past, each district of Iraq had 41 seats with the exception of Baghdad. We won one or two seats in some provinces. But now the number of seats was reduced to 27, 28 and 29; i.e. the coefficient was raised.

In Kut, for example, those who achieved the coefficient do not represent more than 35 percent of votes. Sixty-five percent of votes did not win seats because they did not reach the coefficient.

The result was that those who deserved to win two seats won nine. What kind of democracy is this? Babel, Karbala and Kut provinces will be governed by a minority rather than a majority. This is a violation of the country’s constitution.

Niqash: What alternative system should be adopted?

Mousa: The previous election law stated that vacant seats, after distributing seats among winners, should be distributed among remaining forces, i.e. should go to those who were not able to reach the coefficient. In this way, those who achieved the highest number get the first seat, the second goes to those who ranked second, and so on. Thus we can achieve a diverse and pluralistic representation of all political forces, rather than a monopoly. So instead of 35 percent, representation will reach 100 percent.

Niqash: This is an example of the proportional representation system guaranteed in previous elections.

Mousa: Yes, this fact has adversely affected democratic streams and prevented them from gaining good votes with the exception of Mosul and Salahuddin, where we were able to win one seat in each of those two provinces. In other provinces, despite the number of votes we won, and although we were able to win 2 to 3 percent of the total votes, we are not represented. This percent would have qualified us to win a seat if the old electoral system was applied, but the current unfair system deprived us the opportunity of being represented in all provinces. If the old system was applied, the Communist Party and Madaniyoun would have achieved good results.

----- This interview originally appeared at www.niqash.org.

Women and men: equality drags its heels

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:30:00 +0000

Translated by Karen Grimwade (l'Humanite) Achieving equality between women and men remains a struggle. In the family, at work or in politics, discrimination persists.

Despite the fundamental progress women have fought hard to achieve over the last forty years, a report by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), presented yesterday by Pierette Crosemarie, reveals that inequality is still crippling our society.

“There is still work to be done”, stated the rapporteur and CGT trade unionist, who fears the effect the economic crisis will have on women. Whether it be part-time work, developed in the 90’s and which today is overwhelmingly feminine (82% of part-time employees are women), or the decision of the Laval government in 1935 to dismiss those wives of government employees working in the public sector, history has shown that women have a lot to fear from recessions.

A full-time minister

“We want equality in politics and we want it now.” The CESE’s delegation for women’s rights and equal opportunities between men and women has had enough. Good will is exasperating. “Binding measures” should be put in place to rapidly achieve equality and the Government must set the example by no longer excluding women from high level positions and once again appointing “a full-time minister exclusively responsible for questions of professional equality”.

When it comes to good will that leads nowhere, the professional world has got plenty. The principle of “equal pay for equal work”, reaffirmed in four laws since 1972, goes unheeded. In the private sector, women with equivalent qualifications are paid 19% less than men. In public hospitals this gap grows to 27%. Most of the agreements signed in companies regarding this question have “no substance”. “It is discrimination, pure and simple”, says Pierette Crosemarie. The glass ceiling preventing women from accessing positions of responsibility doesn’t even have a crack in it : only 8% of the heads of large companies are women. The CESE recommends setting indicators and target figures to be attained in terms of reducing gender gaps, and also aims to transform the performance “model” used in companies by minimising the “time present at work” criterion.

Reimbursement of contraception, nursery places, sex education at school, highly selective and gender specific school guidance, lifelong learning…There are many battles which women still have to fight “for the overall good of society”.