People Before Profit blog

Palestinians honor Holocaust victims

Sat, 30 May 2009 03:41:00 +0000

RAMALLAH, May 29 (IPS) - On a cool and overcast day, a procession of grim-faced people filed silently past pictures of heaps of skeletons piled high, of emaciated survivors with blank stares corralled behind barbed wire, barely clinging to life.

The memorial and museum commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II could have been in any of the many international capitals where the Holocaust is remembered.

But this time the memorial was taking place in a quite unexpected place; the Palestinian village Ni'ilin, west of Ramallah in the central West Bank, has established the first ever Holocaust museum in the Palestinian territories.

Ni'ilin's Hamas mayor Ayman Nafaa later led a group on a Palestinian version of March of the Living through the village's narrow and winding streets. March of the Living is an international educational programme, involving Jewish youngsters spending two weeks in Poland where they march silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau, which was one of the largest Nazi concentration camps.

Establishment of the Ni'ilin museum was the brainchild of Israeli-Arab lawyer Khaled Mehamid from the Israeli town Umm Al-Fahm. Four years ago he established a Holocaust museum in his hometown.

Mehamid approached Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, which provided the museum with pictures and materials in Arabic. Its directors now plan to start holding educational tours for students to the museum.

Mehamid had originally visited Ni'ilin to comfort the Palestinian family of a young boy who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a protest.

'I met the mayor and explained to him that the Jews have their own pain and that this is inextricably linked with the suffering of Palestinians today under Israeli occupation,' Mehamid told IPS.

Ni'ilin has lost four of its youths to Israeli bullets. Hundreds of the village's population of 5,000 have been arrested, wounded and beaten up during protests against Israel's illegal separation barrier which cuts through the village, separating farmers from their land.

The building of this wall, which the International Court at The Hague deemed illegal, has meant the confiscation of thousands of acres of West Bank land by the Israeli authorities for the benefit of the illegal settlements.

'Most of the village is dependent on agriculture for a living,' Hassan Moussa, a member of Ni'ilin's Popular Committee told IPS. 'Sixty farmers have lost land, 40 of them all of their agricultural fields.

'If you take into account their dependents and their employees, we are talking about 600 people directly affected by the land confiscation,' said Moussa.

In an effort to fight the continued expropriation of village land, Ni'ilin villagers, together with Israeli activists and international supporters, have been holding weekly anti-wall protests which have often ended up violently.

Moussa lost his 10-year-old nephew Ahmed Moussa after he was shot in the head with live ammunition by an Israeli sniper. The boy was not involved in any stone-throwing.

The following day Yousef Amira, 17, was left brain-dead and died a week later after he was shot in the head with rubber-coated steel bullets.

Arafat Rateb Khawaje, 22, was shot in the back with live ammunition last December. The same day Mohammed Khawaje, 20, was shot in the head with live ammunition. He died three days later.

Moussa was arrested last year while escorting the foreign media at a demonstration. No charges were brought against him, and he was eventually granted bail for 800 dollars, which has not been returned.

Moussa agrees with Mehamid that it is important for Palestinians to understand the tragedy that befell the Jews in Europe but which also created added impetus for establishment of the State of Israel.

Over 500 Palestinian villages were razed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were made refugees by the Israelis following the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948.

This followed the UN's 1947 partition of British Mandate Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian states.

The reaction of the villagers to the museum has been largely positive. 'But we have different attitudes here, and some of the people have questioned why we focus on the suffering of the Jews when that is over,' said Moussa.

'They say we should instead focus on our suffering which is current and unresolved, especially as we are being persecuted by the very same people who were themselves were persecuted.'

But both Mehamid and Moussa have been quick to explain to dissenters that establishment of the museum is not purely for altruistic reasons but serves the Palestinian cause.

'We believe the Israelis have used the Holocaust for political reasons, to garner the sympathy of the international community,' Mehamid told IPS. 'This has been done for both the establishment of the state and for the continued building of settlements and illegal expropriation of Palestinian land and other natural resources,' he added.

It is only through understanding the genuine suffering of the Jews, and how this suffering was used politically, can Palestinians fight back on an even playing ground, said Moussa.

'We acknowledge Hitler's massacre and in return we would like the Israelis to acknowledge our rights,' said Mehamid.

LETTERS

Fri, 29 May 2009 08:31:00 +0000

Spell it out

I am a steelworker and subscribe to the People’s Weekly World. I like the paper a lot and post articles, like the ones on May Day, on our union bulletin board at work. But please do not refer to the Employee Free Choice Act as EFCA. People don’t know what that stands for and we need to keep saying that it will give workers the Free Choice to join a union without company interference.

Donna Buchanon

Cleveland OH

Labor law system is broken

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, commonly called the Wagner Act, outlawed anti-union activity, but opponents have weakened its provisions, and the fines are now so low that the law is routinely violated. An estimated 86,000 workers were fired for trying to exercise their legal right to organize during the George W. Bush administration.

The Employee Free Choice Act would reduce or eliminate the Bush crimes against labor. Under the Free Choice Act, fines would be raised to $20,000 per violation, back pay would be tripled when an employee is discharged or discriminated against during an organizing campaign, and the National Labor Relations Board would be required to seek a federal court injunction when companies have been found in violation of the law.

Seventy-three percent of the nation and a majority in Congress support the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill has the support of labor, civil rights organizations and numerous church groups. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops “firmly opposes organized efforts to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing.”

Catholics for Working Families, in one of its supporting statements, says, “The current labor law system is broken. Corporations routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and fire people who try to organize unions — and today’s labor law is powerless to stop them. Every day, corporations deny working people the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union.”

Lou Incognito

Philadelphia PA

Pakistan at a crossroads

I read the article “Pakistan at a crossroads” (www.pww.org), which I believe portrays the actual picture and the problems in Pakistan. After a long time, I’ve found such a good article, which has spoken the truth and keeping all other things constant: religion, country and social ideologies!

I appreciate your written words and hope to see your continuous hard true efforts for any country in the world. Cheers.

Mohsin Moosa

Via e-mail

After announcing a pittance $100 million to Pakistan, in the same breath Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also offered American Army assistance to be sent to Swat Valley, clandestinely, to help their Pakistani counterparts. America is only waiting for Pakistan’s request.

This is hair-raising news. A fundamentally unacceptable gesture to Pakistan.

No incumbent president or prime minister of our beloved country could dare invite such a devastation. All what America has done is part of her grandeur neocolonisation process in the areas and Pakistan has been the bearing the brunt for many decades of western hegemonial influence in the region.

Historically it was demonstrated how difficult it had been to evict American forces from Pakistan decades ago from their military base in Budabeer near Peshawar.

Sociopolitical turmoil will be of unimaginable proportions. It would be a situation of “from the frying pan into the fire,” for everybody involved. This poor developing nation would drift back many decades.

Dr. Muhammad Tariq Khokhar

London UK

WORLDNOTES, Venezuela, Iraq, Myanmar, Spain, Nigeria, Cuba

Fri, 29 May 2009 07:14:00 +0000

Venezuela: Nationalizing key industries

In line with bringing strategic industries under state control, the Venezuelan government last week announced plans to nationalize a gas compression plant, the Guyana Steelmaking Complex, two iron producing facilities, a briquetted iron plant and a ceramic tile producer. The National Assembly passed enabling legislation in early May. Venezuelanalyis.com provided no information as to financial terms by which transnational corporations would relinquish ownership.

President Hugo Chavez not only outlined plans for a “socialist industrial complex,” but also indicated that worker assemblies would be choosing managers for state-owned companies.

The government has already nationalized oil production joint ventures and telecommunication companies along with a bank, a cement factory and the 5,000-worker SIDOR steel plant.

Iraq: Corruption leads to food shortages

The Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation released a survey this month indicating that of 120,000 families qualifying for food assistance, almost 20 percent received no state-supplied food for 13 months and over 31 percent received none for 7 to 12 months. Trade Minister Abdul-Falah al-Sudani, accused of manipulating food imports, faces a no-confidence vote in Parliament where an oversight committee reported, “Billions of dollars have been wasted in this ministry.”

Iraq’s food rationing system, initiated in 1995 as part of the UN oil-for-food program, operated effectively until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Since then, according to IRIN news service, the system has performed poorly “due to insecurity, poor management and corruption.”

Myanmar: Democracy leader faces more jail time

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last year insisted that high-profile government opponent Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, be released. Her 13-year house arrest was to have ended on May 27.

She has been on trial again, however, since May 18. She now faces five years in prison in connection with an illegal visit earlier this month by U.S. citizen John William Yettaw. Aung San Suu Kyi’s expected conviction would block her run for president in 2010.

Security forces are out in force throughout Rangoon. At its 14th Summit earlier this year in Thailand, the Association of South East Asian nations (ASEAN) sought UN leadership in monitoring human rights abuses in Myanmar. Presently 2,100 political prisoners are in jail there, according to ipsnews.

Spain: General strike hits Basque region

Two weeks after taking office as the first non-Basque nationalist to govern the Basque region since 1979, Prime Minister Patxi Lopez faced a general strike with separatist overtones. Support for the May 21 action came from the nationalist ELA and LAB labor unions and from nationalist political parties in the Parliament.

Socialist Lopez criticized the work stoppage as “politically motivated” and backed by “radical separatists.” Labor spokespersons cited by the French news agency AFP explained that the action was announced prior to Lopez’ election and was aimed at the economic crisis and 17 percent unemployment. Estimates placed worker participation at 10-20 percent, with public sector workers being heavily involved. Demonstrations took place in several cities. Major Spanish unions did not participate.

Nigeria: Delta conflict grows

The government’s resort to a military offensive prompted the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to declare “all-out war.” Naval gunboat assaults ensued. MEND forces responded last week by hijacking two oil vessels and attacking soldiers. Fighting took place close to a Chevron export terminal and a refinery processing 125,000 barrels of oil a day.

Nigerian oil output is down 20 percent since 2006 due to conflict. Groups belonging to MEND demand an increased share of oil revenues and greater autonomy for the impoverished Niger Delta. Criminal elements are incorporated into MEND, Al Jazeera reported. Government firepower, particularly from attack helicopters, has recently killed dozens of civilians and displaced thousands, according to Amnesty International.

Cuba: New economic difficulties

Economy and Planning Minister Marino Murillo explained last week that because of reduced export and tourist income caused by the global economic crisis, Cuba’s economy would expand by 2 percent this year, not 6 percent as predicted earlier.

Diminished foreign currency reserves and heavy costs for hurricane recovery compound matters. Additionally, electricity use during January through April ended up 3 percent above projections. Generating plants required 225,000 extra tons of imported fuel oil costing $90-100 million. State institutions accounted for 10 percent of the excess, while residential use fell 1.2 percent.

Juventud Rebelde newspaper indicated electricity conservation measures are on the way, also new authority for inspectors and measures against private diversion of electricity.

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

Students don hard hats in unique school-trades partnership

Fri, 29 May 2009 03:45:00 +0000

PHILADELPHIA — “We need the best people here. If you have a trade, a skill, no one can take that from you.”

This was the advice Frank Marsh of Iron Workers Local 401 gave to the 40 Philadelphia high school students who attended Youth Safety in Construction Day here May 22.

The unique event was organized by OSHA (the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration) and other Labor Department officials, city agencies, the LF Driscoll Construction Co., building trades unions, and the Philadelphia School District.

The students, male and female, from four vocational skills programs in different parts of the city, spent three hours on a “hard hat tour” of an 11-story construction site, soon to become the Fisher Translational Research Center on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. It was a memorable experience for these young people.

Divided into four groups, they saw the job from top to bottom. I joined a group that started at the top. On the 11th floor, we learned that falls are the most common cause of injury and death at construction sites, and got a “fall protection demonstration” from members of building trades District Council 21.

When we had worked our way down, part of it by the stairs and part in the lift elevator, to the loading dock, we learned the proper use of a safety harness and witnessed a “Rigging and Hoisting Safety Demonstration.”

The students were obviously well prepared to get the most out their experience.

Anthony Resikoff, from Swenson Skill Center, said he hoped to become an electrician because he had “always been interested in how things operated” around his house, from the ceiling fan to household appliances.

Carl Howard said he had “always liked to build things” and plans to go into engineering.

Three years ago, the Philadelphia School District and the building trades unions and contractors reached an agreement that students who graduate from a vocational program in the city’s public school system will be able to enter one of the city’s construction apprenticeship programs. Youth in Construction Day was part of an effort by the School District and the construction unions to make this program work and help public school graduates, including African American and Latino students, male and female, move into construction jobs.

This will require diligence on everyone’s part. It is widely recognized that the students aspiring to enter the building trades are, in a sense, pioneers.

Charles Lewis, who oversees the program for the School District, told the World that union apprenticeship programs do not generally start at regular predetermined times like college or university programs, and slots open and close quickly.

Jim Toohey of OSHA addressed the students before they headed out on the tour. “We are thrilled to have you here today,” he told them. He also said that he had spent four years in his apprentice program in order to become a union carpenter.

According to figures cited in the local press (as of January 2008), the building trades present a mixed and varied picture in terms of racial diversity. Of the approximately 2,000 carpenters working on Philadelphia construction projects, around 400, or 20 percent, are members of a “minority” group. Of the 450 plumbers, only 56, or 12 percent, are “minority.”

Blue Cross millionaires scared to compete

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Original source: Truthout

The boys running the show at Blue Cross in North Carolina are running scared. They're worried that President Obama is going to treat them like autoworkers and make them actually compete in the market. The Blue Cross boys think that they belong in the same league as the Wall Street bankers and should just be allowed to collect their multi-million-dollar salaries without being forced to worry about things like competition.

The basic story is that Blue Cross of North Carolina decided to jump the gun on President Obama and Congress and start running television ads telling people how awful a public health care plan would be. According to the ads, people enrolled in the public health care plan wouldn't have a choice of doctors, would face long waiting periods for appointments and procedures and would not even be able to get a clerk to answer questions on billing.

That sounds pretty awful, but if it were true, you have to wonder why Blue Cross of North Carolina is so worried. After all, President Obama is not proposing that anyone would be forced to join a public plan. He just proposed that people have the option to buy into a public plan. Is Blue Cross of North Carolina really that terrified that it will be unable to compete with a public plan that doesn't let patients choose their doctor, subjects them to long waits and doesn't answer questions about billing?

Of course, if the ads being planned by Blue Cross of North Carolina were accurate, then it would not be concerned about a public plan. The reason that Blue Cross of North Carolina is running the ads is that it knows the ads are not true. There is no reason to think that a public plan will offer less choice, require longer waits or provide poorer service than a private plan, like Blue Cross of North Carolina. And there are reasons for believing that a public plan might cost considerably less.

Specifically, the administrative expenses of a public plan like Medicare are far lower than the expenses for Blue Cross of North Carolina. According to its Annual Report, Blue Cross of North Carolina spent almost 15 percent of its premiums on administrative expenses in 2008. That came to more than $1.8 billion. This money would have been enough to cover the costs of insuring almost 600,000 kids through the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Just five years earlier, Blue Cross of North Carolina spent more than 22 percent of premiums on administrative expenses.

By comparison, Medicare spends only about 2 percent of its revenue on administrative expenses. Unlike Blue Cross of North Carolina, Medicare doesn't earn profits and doesn't pay high salaries to its top executives. According to the Raleigh News and Observer, Robert J. Greczyn Jr., the chief executive of Blue Cross of North Carolina, earned $3.2 million in 2007. That's enough to pay for a year's worth of SCHIP for 1,000 kids. Other top executives also drew salaries well in excess of $1 million, a pay range that exceeds the top levels in the public sector by an order of magnitude.

Given the high salaries that Blue Cross of North Carolina pays its top executives and the other administrative expenses that it bears as a result of being a private sector plan with high overhead, it is not surprising that it would be afraid of a public plan. A public plan would likely charge much lower prices, thereby pulling away a large share of Blue Cross of North Carolina's business. Insofar as it was able to hold on to its patients, Blue Cross of North Carolina would probably be forced to lower its prices - slashing its profit margins - in order to be able to compete. This is not a happy picture for any business: fewer customers and lower profit margins.

The answer, of course, is tough love. We just have to tell Blue Cross of North Carolina than it will have to learn to compete. If it can't beat out a public plan in market competition, then the public and the economy would be better served if it went into another line of business.

Bankers may have enough political power that they can milk the government without limits. However, this may not prove to be true for the health insurers. If President Obama continues to push for a public plan, the good folks running Blue Cross of North Carolina and the other insurers may actually have to work for their paychecks.

Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Chavez expropriates more private firms

Sun, 24 May 2009 03:53:00 +0000

Original source:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered the nationalisation of major iron and steel firms, accelerating his drive to bolster the country's industrial base.

Mr Chavez, who has already brought many of Venezuela's biggest industries into public ownership, announced on Thursday that steel companies Matesi, Consigua, Ceramicas Carabobo and Tavsa would be nationalised.

Matesi, a joint venture between Luxembourg-based steel pipe-maker Tenaris SA and Venezula's Sidor, produces 1.5 million tons a year of hot-briquetted iron products.

Tavsa, another Tenaris-owned company, is Venezuela's only maker of seamless steel pipes for the oil industry, producing 80,000 tons a year.

Orinoco Iron and Venprecar, subsidiaries of Venezuelan-owned International Briquettes Holding, which exports iron briquettes, will also be taken into public ownership.

Orinoco Iron produces 2.2 million tons a year and is the largest hot-briquette iron producer in the Americas.

Addressing jubilant industrial workers in Bolivar state, Mr Chavez said that the latest nationalisations advance plans for the construction of 'a single, large integrated industrial complex' that will form a 'solid platform of socialism.'

The companies will be brought under the same management and will refine and process raw materials into finished products in order to reduce Venezuela's reliance on expensive imports and boost local industry, Mr Chavez explained.

'Venezuelan workers are going to give a lesson to the world on how the working class has been resuscitated to make a revolution,' he declared, before announcing a wage boost for thousands of workers and a cut in managers' salaries.

Over the past two years, the government has taken over major steel, cement, electricity, telecommunications and oil firms.

And in the last month, it has seized 75 oil contracting firms, some backed by foreign capital, after the government passed a law extending the state's control over all activities related to the lucrative industry.

Venezuela's National Assembly passed a law on May 7 that 'reserves for the state the goods and services connected to primary hydrocarbon activities.'

'We will start to recover assets that will now belong to the state, as they always should have,' Mr Chavez said at the time.

Pres. Obama's Memorial Day remarks

Sun, 24 May 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address Saturday, May 23, 2009

This Memorial Day weekend, Americans will gather on lawns and porches, fire up the grill, and enjoy the company of family, friends, and neighbors. But this is not only a time for celebration, it is also a time to reflect on what this holiday is all about; to pay tribute to our fallen heroes; and to remember the servicemen and women who cannot be with us this year because they are standing post far from home – in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.

On Friday, I traveled to Annapolis, where I spoke at the Commencement of the United States Naval Academy. It was an honor to address some of America’s newest sailors and Marines as their Commander-in-Chief. Looking out at all of those young men and women, I was reminded of the extraordinary service that they are rendering to our country. And I was reminded, too, of all of the sacrifices that their parents, siblings, and loved ones make each day on their behalf and on our behalf.

Our fighting men and women – and the military families who love them – embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us.

And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We have failed to give them the support they need or pay them the respect they deserve. That is a betrayal of the sacred trust that America has with all who wear – and all who have worn – the proud uniform of our country.

And that is a sacred trust I am committed to keeping as President of the United States. That is why I will send our servicemen and women into harm’s way only when it is necessary, and ensure that they have the training and equipment they need when they enter the theater of war.

That is why we are building a 21st century Department of Veterans Affairs with the largest single-year funding increase in three decades. It’s a commitment that will help us provide our veterans with the support and benefits they have earned, and expand quality health care to a half million more veterans.

That is why, this week, I signed a bill that will eliminate some of the waste and inefficiency in our defense projects – reform that will better protect our nation, better protect our troops, and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

And that is why we are laying a new foundation for our economy so that when our troops return home and take off the uniform, they can find a good job, provide for their families, and earn a college degree on a Post-9/11 GI Bill that will offer them the same opportunity to live out their dreams that was afforded our greatest generation.

These are some of the ways we can, must, and will honor the service of our troops and the sacrifice of their families. But we must also do our part, not only as a nation, but as individuals for those Americans who are bearing the burden of wars being fought on our behalf. That can mean sending a letter or a care package to our troops overseas. It can mean volunteering at a clinic where a wounded warrior is being treated or bringing supplies to a homeless veterans center. Or it can mean something as simple as saying “thank you” to a veteran you pass on the street.

That is what Memorial Day is all about. It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation’s call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone. It’s about remembering the hard winter of 1776, when our fragile American experiment seemed doomed to fail; and the early battles of 1861 when a union victory was anything but certain; and the summer of 1944, when the fate of a world rested on a perilous landing unlike any ever attempted.

It’s about remembering each and every one of those moments when our survival as a nation came down not simply to the wisdom of our leaders or the resilience of our people, but to the courage and valor of our fighting men and women. For it is only by remembering these moments that we can truly appreciate a simple lesson of American life – that what makes all we are and all we aspire to be possible are the sacrifices of an unbroken line of Americans that stretches back to our nation’s founding.

That is the meaning of this holiday. That is a truth at the heart of our history. And that is a lesson I hope all Americans will carry with them this Memorial Day weekend and beyond.

Thank you.

LETTERS, May 30, 2009

Fri, 22 May 2009 08:29:00 +0000

NM heroes

At the state convention of the New Mexico Federation of Teachers this past weekend, we were given the honor of being presented to the group as “everyday heroes of labor,” and given a check for $200!

What better way for us “heroes” to spend it than give it to the People’s Weekly World fund drive, where real everyday heroes work year in and year out to produce labor’s best paper.

Rose and Emil Shaw

Rio Rancho NM

Tortured times

We live in perverse times when a prominent U.S. senator feels comfortable justifying torture by claiming that it “worked” for the Catholic Church during the Spanish Inquisition. That’s what Sen. Lindsay Graham said by way of trying to excuse the Bush administration’s so-called enhanced interrogation techniques.

These astounding remarks, uttered by a leading Republican widely touted as moderate, provoked little if any indignation in media circles, or even among Democratic politicians.

Instead, torrents of rhetorical abuse rained down on the head of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had the unmitigated temerity to suggest that, during secret intelligence briefings, the CIA had “misrepresented” to her the government’s use of illegal water torture. She said the spooks had, in effect, lied to Congress, a practice the Agency has been proven to employ from time to time.

So, it seems we are to accept as appropriate the heinous practice of torturing helpless prisoners in the custody of our nation’s most powerful agencies, even as we are expected to believe that the CIA never, ever lies.

We have become a nation largely populated by credulous fools. At least, that’s what GOP torture apologists have concluded. As for most of the Democrats, foolish is too charitable a description.

Cord MacGuire

Boulder CO

We survived

I survived Bush and I’m sticking to it. When 300 million people survived Bush II up to November 2008, the entire world breathed a sigh of relief.

Due to economic instability after the dotcom bust (1999) it became necessary to take bold steps to jumpstart the economy. The theft of a U.S. election in 2000 required reorganization of the state in order to restore lost credibility. In collaboration with the neoliberal model of a globalized world economy dominated by economic and financial elites, the Bush regime fashioned a policy of unending war. This plan, conveniently named the war against terrorism, was initiated to reaffirm government legitimacy among a ruling class drunk with power. World domination, economic greed and massive denial of civil and constitutional rights headlined daily activity.

After September 2001, the nightmare of what was to become the Bush legacy unfolded in a climate of secrecy and shame. Only an unshakeable faith in working class struggle and organization can explain the persistent efforts of men and women to overcome adversity, joblessness and government irresponsibility. In retrospect, a complete breakdown of communication between financial institutions and their regulators coupled with excessive reliance upon market-oriented solutions fed by privatization schemes and unsustainable speculation led to a Wall Street meltdown.

Let it now be said we lived to fight another day. Onward to victory.

Richard Grassl

Via e-mail

Bad dream

Am I dreaming or has George W. Bush crept back into the White House? I mean, doesn’t the following sound like Bush?

The president went back on his word.

The president refuses to release 44 photos showing abuse of Iraqi detainees after earlier agreeing to their release.

“The release of the photos could endanger U.S. troops abroad and threaten national security,” said the White House.

Doesn’t that sound like Bush?

The ACLU immediately accused the White House of adopting “stonewalling tactics and opaque policies.” Sounds like what the ACLU and others said about George W. Bush, doesn’t it?

The White House press secretary responded by saying, “These photos serve no purpose other than to be used to recruit future jihadists, hinder our mission in Iraq and Afghanistan and risk the lives of our troops.”

Well, Mr. Bush, oops, excuse me, Mr. President Obama, what’s really causing the recruitment of jihadists and risking American troops is the troops being there in the first place, don’t you think? And with more on the way.

Yes, Mr. President, you are a breath of fresh air in so many ways after the nightmare of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of that infamous crowd.

But in other ways, like the above, the air is a bit stale.

Support the troops! Bring them all home now!

Lawrence H. Geller

Philadelphia PA

You might like socialism

In 1939, Corliss Lamont wrote a book “You Might Like Socialism.” It has been reprinted with a bit of updating and a new introduction by his surviving wife, Beth. You can read the whole book online if you have the stamina. Or print out just a part of it. It is now published and I am in the process of obtaining a copy.

Go to www.Corliss-Lamont.org.

Betty Smith

New York NY

Need more Marxism

I am an avid reader of PWW and Political Affairs online and although the PWW is good I have found it lacking in some important areas. I receive various papers from other Communist parties around the world and I truly appreciate, in the other Communist Party papers, the coverage that is given to the world communist movement. Their coverage includes the directions that other countries’ Communist parties are taking in everything from combating the worldwide depression, to organizing workers to meet capitalist assaults at their workplace, to how they are recruiting new members, to excellent Marxist economic analysis of their respective countries’ economic problems and of the world economic crisis, and, finally, how the world Communist movement can join and work together to change the world for the better.

I would like to see historical commentary on past Communist achievements and past leaders, like Gus Hall or William Z. Foster. To gain this knowledge I have to go online and purchase books and articles about these two men, or about people like Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and others, from online bookstores and web sites.

There is one final thing, a section devoted specifically to Marxism and how we, as individuals, can apply Marx’s and Lenin’s ideas and teaching to our daily lives. To me, Marxism is a very alive philosophy which can help all people, especially people committed to social justice and change, live a better life.

Gary De Santis

Hamilton Township NJ

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Arizona prisoners on lockdown amid hunger strike

Fri, 22 May 2009 01:15:00 +0000

PHOENIX, Arizona, May 20 (IPS) - Bad food is not the only reason thousands of mostly pre-trial detainees have been going on an intermittent two-week hunger strike in Arizona’s Maricopa County jails.

Alleged poor medical care and mistreatment by jailers are motivating the protest by at least 1,500 inmates in four jails, according to human rights activists who visited the detainees.

'They are treated worse than animals,' said Daisy Rios, 22, the wife of an immigrant prisoner who has participated in the protest.

Arizona is ground zero for the nation’s divisive immigration debate. The border state is the gateway for half of all human and drug smuggling into the rest of the United States.

The Maricopa County jail system, administered by Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, holds about 9,000 inmates, 70 percent of whom are pre-trial detainees.

The country’s self-proclaimed 'toughest' sheriff is famous for housing prisoners in tents, giving them pink underwear and feeding them what he claims are 30-cent meals. But he’s recently been in the spotlight of a national uproar over his tactics to crack down on illegal immigration by conducting traffic stops and raiding businesses.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) is currently under investigation by the federal Justice Department over allegations of racial profiling and civil rights violations. MCSO is also the subject of a 30-year-old lawsuit over jail conditions, including the quality of the food.

Lydia Guzman, president of Respect/Respeto, a local organisation that documents civil and human rights abuses, has been visiting the prisoners.

'They’re tremendously organised,' she told IPS. Guzman met with mostly immigrant detainees who said the jailers intimidate them, they are not provided appropriate medical care and their food is rotten, stale and sometimes expired.

But immigrant advocates argue the issue at stake is more than just 'nasty' food.

'It’s a whole series of dehumanising techniques by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and MCSO,' said Salvador Reza, organizer of the Puente pro-immigrant movement. 'Especially now that a big number of the population is there because of their undocumented (immigrant) status.'

'They are not criminals, they are workers,' he added.

In a letter to a family member, one inmate wrote, 'In the jails we have to tolerate bad food, put up with foul language used by the guards, and if we have something to say we stay silent for fear of reprisals.'

On Monday, Arpaio placed at least 4,200 prisoners in an indefinite security lockdown, alleging that Hispanic inmates were intimidating other detainees so they would refuse to eat. 'I was concerned about inmates causing harm to other inmates,' said Arpaio. 'We won’t tolerate violence in jails.'

The ongoing lockdown means detainees have to remain in their cells all day long, without being allowed to receive visitors – including their attorneys - or make any phone calls.

'It appears that they’re seeking to reduce any public, known complaints about the operations in the jails by locking people down and eliminating visitations,' said Dan Pochoda, lead attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Arizona.

The ACLU is one party in a lawsuit against MCSO related to jail conditions. Pochoda said the ACLU is looking into the situation and might take legal action if it’s proven this is a form of retaliation against the inmates for joining the strike.

The first hunger strike started on May 2 after a nine-kilometre march that ended outside the Durango jail complex to denounce alleged abuse of immigrant women in the county jails. At least 200 women participated in Estrella Jail, according to a recent report by MCSO.

The march organised by Puente focused on the case of an immigrant woman whose arm was allegedly broken by jailers and another who was the subject of excessive use of force during a raid conducted by MCSO.

Currently inmates in three separate jail facilities are participating: Lower Buckeye Jail, Towers and Fourth Avenue Jail.

'We don’t believe that we caused this, however, by us demonstrating in front of the jail we brought courage to them who were planning to do it,' said Reza. 'It surprised us, we had no contact with them at all.'

Arpaio holds the organisers responsible for being catalysts of the strike.

'It’s been escalating ever since,' he said. He also argued that the elimination of salt in the food, recommended by a dietician, could be instigating the discontent. A judge recently ordered that the food must comply with national standards imposed by the Department of Agriculture.

'They happen to be in a jail,' said Arpaio. 'What are you supposed to do with those who are innocent, put them in the Hilton Hotel?'

Yet some county officials are raising concerns about the inmates’ health.

'People have been on a hunger strike for about the last two weeks off and on, and it is being held very quiet. I have asked two days ago for a health and welfare check,' said Mary Rose Wilcox, Maricopa County District 5 supervisor.

Wilcox, who is part of an elected governmental board that administers the county, has met with Justice Department investigators and will provide evidence about this situation in the jails for their probe into patterns of practice.

'This is a horrible precedent for the county. Unfortunately, he’s [Arpaio] an elected official and can dictate policy, but when it comes to health, we can intervene,' she said.

Outside the jails, family and community members have been holding candlelight prayer vigils in support of the prisoners on strike.

'What goes on in there is unbearable,' said Florencia Gonzalez, the mother of an inmate from Mexico. She said her son told his family that prisoners are held in small rooms with rats and roaches as they wait for long periods of time to be transported to court.

Ruben Silva, a 20-year-old who was released Tuesday night from the Fourth Avenue Jail, attested to that. 'They overcrowd rooms that are 20 by 10 feet with 30 people,' he said.

'Upstairs (referring to a section of the jail) nobody is eating. They have some nasty food,' he said.

He said during the three days he was there for an unpaid traffic ticket, he only ate oranges. He was fed twice a day, and the meal consisted of two stale loafs of bread, peanut butter and often expired juice.

Silva heard about the hunger strike as soon as he entered the jail by word of mouth, but said that those who are participating are housed in a different area.

Willie, a woman who was released at the same time, and asked that her last name be withheld, also complained that she had to wait up to 15 days to receive her medication for high blood pressure.

'It’s just horrible the way they treat people in there,' she said. 'Guards are disrespectful, they curse at you.'

American Idol: Kris or Adam? Game on!

Thu, 21 May 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Season eight on “American Idol” this year has been fun, entertaining and exciting and it’s all going to come to an end tonight. So who’s gonna be crowned the winner? Will it be the powerhouse voice of Adam Lambert or the folksy pop star Kris Allen?

Last night both Idol finalists sang three songs giving viewers at home one last time to vote for their favorite. Game on!

In round one, Lambert sang “Mad World” by Tears For Fears, a song he performed earlier in the competition that audiences absolutely loved. Lambert really connected with the song again and performed it as if he were telling a story. His voice was soft and tender. He was also very composed and controlled. Overall the performance was good, but a bit boring for me at times. Randy appreciated Lambert’s sensitive side and said he looked cool rocking the long coat he wore, which I have to admit was kind of nice. Lambert is quite the fashionista. Kara said Lambert is an extraordinary singer and an incredible artist. Paula called his performance haunting and theatrically brilliant. However, Simon felt it was too theatrical and compared his singing to the Phantom of the Opera. I have to agree, Lambert’s musical theater past does get a bit overdramatic during his predictable performances.

Allen played the piano singing “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers and gave a solid performance. Randy said it was one of his best performances ever. I agree. Kara was moved and noted Allen made an intimate connection with his audience. This is key. Simon added he wasn’t sure America made the right decision last week by voting to keep Allen in the competition. But after this performance, Simon said he takes that all back. Simon felt Allen won this first round. Once again I agree.

Lambert and Allen are extremely talented vocalists and represent two very different styles of singing. Lambert personifies that rock glamour appeal and Allen is simple yet hip with a modern folksy twist.

In round two, both Lambert and Allen sang songs chosen by American Idol creator Simon Fuller.

Allen sang Marvin Gaye’s, “What’s Goin’ On” while playing his guitar. The other musicians that accompanied Allen playing percussion and base were a nice visual. This was a bad song choice because it’s so widely known and there are so many versions of it. Randy said Allen’s performance was not his best. Paula said Allen would have made Gaye proud. Simon felt Allen did not grab hold of the song and didn’t make it his own. I agree. Allen could have done so much more but he lacked originality and authenticity. It’s just too easy of a song and I personally feel it was just a bad pick on the part of Fuller.

Lambert sang “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. I thought his opening was a bit weak. Once again Lambert reminded me of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Great vocal range but too theatrical. He did make the song cry though. I just think it was not the best song choice for Lambert’s rock and roll edge. In my opinion this is one those great songs that should not be altered and doing a rock and roll interpretation does not help. Despite my opinion, Randy said Lambert’s version was “unbelievable.” Kara felt it was the best interpretation of the song ever. She’s out of her mind. Paula said Lambert is an iconic performer. After this performance Simon said Lambert is 100 percent back in the competition and definitely won the second round.

Both songs have great messages and say a lot about what is happening in the U.S. given the economic crisis and the wars in the middle east. The lyrics are very socially conscious and resonate well with change seekers and peacemakers. I have to give props to Fuller for choosing these songs that highlight struggle and the fight for lasting change. But on a popular show like Idol, young people want to hear music that allows them to escape the world’s problem, not sulk in them. Songs that are hip, fresh, sexy, positive and universal can be spiced up with important themes, but these oldie but goodies just lacked all that.

The last round both Allen and Lambert sang an “Idol” commissioned song co-written by judge Kara DioGuardi called “No Boundaries.” Who ever wins tonight will make this song their first hit single.

Both Lambert and Allen struggled with the song and here’s why. They both came off too pitchy at times and well, honestly, it was a bad song to end on. Don’t get me wrong the song’s lyrics are beautiful and represent overcoming life problems especially when you really believe in yourself.

But come on, really? The song sounded like something you would hear at church. Boring! It was just way too goodie-goodie and made me sick to my stomach a little. I do think the songs arrangement better suits Allen’s voice. Lambert, well, it’s just not the kind of song I would want to hear him sing. I think it was a little unfair for both of them to try and spice this tune up. But if I had to vote I think Allen did a better job.

I’m sure DioGuardi is a great songwriter and she was extremely proud to hear her song on the Idol stage. But for me, as a music lover of all genres we want that punchy, ear-catching, trend-setting, good beat having, hip-lyrics that has you geeked when you hear it on the radio type of song. And this one has none of that. Sorry.

In the end I think Lambert will win, reviewing his overall success on the show compared to Allen. I prefer Allen’s type of voice and look forward to what comes next in his music career, but throughout the show this season Lambert has consistently finished on top.

Many think if Allen wins it’s going to be an Idol upset. I think they both deserve props and kudos for advancing this far. They’re both musical talents and have entertained audiences all year. Either one could walk away a winner and be called a true “American Idol.”

plozano @ pww.org

Pakistan at a crossroads

Sat, 16 May 2009 10:33:00 +0000

Pakistan stands at a crossroads, where past meets present and national identity meets regional influences. It does not seem to be at a crossroads, as some have described, between a nuclear-armed democratic state vs. a nuclear-armed failed state.

The Taliban’s emergence as an armed force in Pakistan has led the Obama administration to prioritize Pakistan along with its neighbor Afghanistan as a top foreign policy challenge. President Obama appointed as a special envoy to the two countries, Richard Holbrooke, and recently met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.

The Obama administration is sending more troops to Afghanistan in an attempt to stop the Taliban’s growth, and has used drone attacks inside Pakistan against Taliban operatives. As a result of the military operations, the number of civilian deaths in both countries has risen, thereby fueling anger at the U.S. and driving people to the Taliban’s side.

Obama faces opposition to his unfolding military initiatives in the region. Antiwar Democrats insist there needs to be an “exit strategy” and much more aid for development – controlled by the Afghans and Pakistanis themselves – than for military hardware.

Obama will also face opposition from right-wingers who have thrown their lot in with dictators like Pervez Musharaff and are helping to whip up the idea of Pakistan as a “failed state.”

Debunking ‘failed state-ism’

Corporate-owned media have trumpeted almost hysterically the idea that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are on the brink of falling into Taliban hands.

While the security situation is serious – especially for the Pakistanis caught in the violence – more reasonable voices insist that Pakistan is not a failed state.

There are many government institutions functioning in Pakistan. For example, the Pakistani judiciary system functions, after a huge recent struggle for its “independence” and integrity.

Arguing that the failed state alarmism is being pushed by some forces within Pakistan, professor and analyst Juan Cole the claim is “frankly ridiculous” that “some rural Pushtun tribesmen turned Taliban are about to sweep into Islamabad and overthrow the government of Pakistan” with such a well-armed military at the ready.

Cole believes that the deposed president and former U.S. ally, Pervez Musharraf, may be behind the alarmism, along with “civilian politicians in Islamabad, who want to extract more money from the U.S. to fight the Taliban that they are secretly also bribing to attack Afghanistan.”

Rejecting extremism

The Pakistani people have rejected both dictatorship and Taliban-type extremism in the last year. In 2007, after Musharraf dismissed Pakistan’s chief justice, a tidal wave of protest ensued, eventually leading to the election of a civilian government headed by Pakistan Peoples Party (the party of slain-leader Benazir Bhutto) and the resignation in August 2008 of Musharraf.

In the February 2008 elections, extremist right-wing clerical parties got even lower vote totals than the tiny percentage won by Musharraf’s party.

This is not to say that there aren’t political wheelings and dealings between Pakistani power centers, which include the civilian government headed by Bhutto’s widower Zardari, the army and Pakistan’s intelligence service (ISI), the elite and land-owning families and external forces that sow division, backwardness and confusion.

But the evidence currently suggests that Pakistan is not on the brink of being overtaken by extremism in religious garb and that Pakistanis reject this type of national identity and government.

Background brief

Pakistan is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual country of 165 million. Founded in 1947 out of the fight for Indian independence from Britain, the country shares borders (some disputed) with India, Iran, Afghanistan and China.

Called the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the nation’s founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, visualized a secular state where all Pakistanis are equal regardless of which area religion one follows, including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Hindus.

But Pakistan’s birth was tumultuous with many forces at play. These included, the role and status of Muslims in a Hindu-majority society (India), British divide-and-conquer tactics which led to the “partition” of India between West Pakistan, India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and the newly emerging Cold War where global alliances broke down between U.S. and allies vs. Soviet Union and allies. Such historical forces are still at work today.

Inequalities and corruption

The Taliban’s recent growth in influence in Pakistan has rested primarily on their ability to exploit the very real weaknesses in Pakistan, including ethnic inequalities, class divisions and wide-spread corruption. Pakistan’s military or elite ruling families (the Bhuttos are among these families) control an overwhelming majority of the land and economic activity.

This kind of long-term dictatorship and oligarchy has had an imprint on women, children, workers and farmers of both genders and all ethnicities. People mistrust the army. Trade union rights are often suspended, child labor laws broken, women’s literacy rates are much lower than men’s, left-wing political activists are targeted and sometimes killed– all of which has contributed to the current situation.

Secular vs. religious state

Pakistan’s military dictatorships, religious extremism and U.S. support for both are all inextricably intertwined with fighting the Soviet Union and so-called “communist threat.” This would include the Pak-Indo relations as well.

Pakistan has received billions of dollars in military aid from the U.S. over the years to prop up dictators, train “mujahideen” and launch operations against the former Soviet Union and the left-led Afghan government in the 1970s and ’80s.

The U.S. bolstered the Ziaul Haq, the general who orchestrated a coup and overthrew the government headed by Benzir Bhutto’s father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1977. He ruled until his death in 1988. According to Pakistani analysts, Haq played a major role in mobilizing the youth of the North-West Frontier Province to fight the Soviet Union in the 1980s. What started under the presidency of Jimmy Carter with Zbigniew Brzezinski’s secret, dirty war in Afghanistan to undermine the Soviet Union – whose Central Asian republics bordered Afghanistan – was developed fully under Ronald Reagan.

The North-West Frontier Province which includes Taliban-dominated areas of Swat, Buner and Lower Dir. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis are fleeing these areas currently, creating a crisis of “internally displaced people” or IDPs.

Frankenstein’s monsters

Analyses throughout the region refer to the Pakistani Taliban as “Frankenstein’s monster” pointing directly at the U.S.-led Cold War anti-communist policies towards Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Soviet Union.

The CIA and ISI set up military training camps and madrasas, financed in part by the Saudis, to indoctrinate the young population with extremist ideology to fight the “communist infidels.”

Even to this day, the Taliban – and its ideological twin al Qaeda – use PR videos showing unbelievable brutality – beheadings – calling their victims “communists,” according to a Pakistani source.

After the Soviet Union fell, the U.S. continued to prop up military dictators in Pakistan and corrupt “warlords” in Afghanistan all to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis, Afghans and the world’s people.

One important statement on how this history has impacted the situation today came recently from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In testimony before Congress late last month, Clinton warned of reaping what the U.S. helped to sow.

“Let’s remember here the people we are fighting today, we funded them 20 years ago and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union” over control of Central Asia, she said, adding that the Saudis and others came “importing their Wahabi brand of Islam so that we can go beat the Soviet Union.”

“So there is a very strong argument, which is it wasn’t a bad investment to end the Soviet Union but let’s be careful with what we sow because we will harvest.”

Or in other words, Frankenstein brought to life his “monster” helping to crush important secular, democratic and left-wing indigenous movements in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Regional influences

There are many countries actively involved in the region: Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Israel and Russia.

But perhaps the country with the largest shadow over goings on in Pakistan is its significantly larger “birth partner” India.

The disputed area currently shared by India and Pakistan, called Kashmir, is so explosive an issue that Special Envoy Holbrooke refuses to mention it in his dealings with Pakistan. Kashmir (also called Jammu and Kashmir) is one of the 28 states of India. With a majority Muslim population, it has a history of being ruled by Hindus – and a culture shared by both Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus. Kashmir was one of the 500-plus “princely states” of British-ruled India.

Ever since the founding of Pakistan and India, Kashmir has been a point of contention with both countries laying claim to it. There is also a movement for Kashmiri independence.

India asserts that Kashmir rightfully belongs to it, and it has many historic documents to back this assertion up. Any border dispute with Pakistan must be worked out bi-laterally, the policy goes.

Practically since its inception, Pakistani rulers (more often military dictators than elected civilians) have made India its number one enemy. India and Pakistan fought three wars and have had ongoing skirmishes, including along the militarized Kashmir border. When the Hindu-chauvinist BJP party led India, the tensions grew so strong, the world thought the two nuclear-armed nations were on the brink of a fourth war.

India has been on the receiving end of a number of terrorist attacks, either suspected of or proven to have ties to Pakistan-based groups or intelligence agency.

Many of these “extremist” foot soldiers were also trained by the ISI for operations and attacks in Kashmir.

Cold War policies shaped much of Indo-Pak relations. When India declared itself part of the Non-Aligned Movement, wanting good relations with both the U.S. and the USSR, such a declaration was not good enough for U.S. Cold War hawks mistrusted any country that had friendly relations with the Soviet Union. As a result, the U.S. chose Pakistan as its close ally and encouraged anti-Indian policies throughout the Cold War period.

India and Afghanistan

Growing Kabul-New Delhi ties have worried Pakistan’s previous rulers. India has invested $1 billion in Afghanistan. Last year a deadly suicide bombing outside of the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 58 people and wounded 141. The New York Times reported that an unnamed U.S. official said Pak’s ISI helped plan the bombing.

This has helped anti-Indian militarists argue that Pakistan is being “encircled.”

There is a lot of jockeying around in this area for access to and control over the region’s vast natural gas and oil supplies. Pipelines from the fields of Central Asia and Iran are being planned to crisscross through Afghanistan and Pakistan. Needless to say, U.S.-based oil companies – like Unocal – are active in this. Unocal had a relationship with the Taliban government in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001. But other countries, like India and China, also have growing energy needs and want access to the areas supplies.

U.S. foreign policy

There are several major steps the Obama administration has taken that will help the overall world atmosphere. Most importantly, announcing the timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, initiatives on nuclear disarmament, talking to Iran, closing Guantanamo, banning torture and pushing for a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Other positive developments are Obama’s pledge to support the civilian government and democratic institutions along with his outlook that the U.S. cannot get rid of the Taliban through the military alone – that a commitment to economic development is critical. Such developments must also take into account improving women’s, workers’ and ethnic minorities’ status. Pakistani workers have called for their government to enforce existing labor laws such as minimum wage, health and safety, working hours, social security, old age benefits and to conform to ILO Conventions.

These are all steps the peace and democratic movements in the United States can build on for solidarity and stability in the region.

Working against these initiatives is the deployment of more troops to Afghanistan and use of drones in Pakistan to attack suspected Taliban or al-Qaeda operatives.

There is overwhelming evidence that further militarization of the region will lead to more civilian deaths, property destruction, hated house searches, wrongful imprisonments, refugees and displaced people.

Militarization will also lead to more drug and arms dealing to pay for military hardware by either the Taliban or NATO/U.S. forces. (After all who can forget Iran-Contra trading weapons with Iran to pay for anti-communist Contra paramilitaries in Central America, which included CIA drug smuggling.)

People in the region already mistrust American policies a great deal since many in Afghanistan and Pakistan have complained that they have been “forgotten.” Used in the Cold War and then tossed aside, they say. It’s not that far a leap to say both Pakistanis and Afghans could be “used” in the fight against the Taliban and then “tossed aside” and “forgotten” afterwards.

Plus militarization – whether coming from U.S. coffers or Pakistan’s – means not enough money for “human capital” like health care and education.

Finally shedding the Cold War

The United States has to be willing to work with indigenous democratic and secular forces that would include communists and socialists, and once and for all shed the Cold War anti-communism, which has led to so many of these problems. In World War II the U.S. refused to work with the Italian partisans because there were so many communists and left-wingers among them. Instead they chose to work with shadowy criminal gangs in Sicily and Naples which later on – with such U.S. support – grew into the famed “Mafia.”

After the Soviet Union collapsed and U.S. leaders declared triumphantly that the Cold War had been won, Americans expected a more peaceful world. Instead, a world with more dangerous regional conflicts has emerged.

Pakistan is at a crossroads, crowded with many pressures and voices. Yet, the optimists among us consider that when presented with history’s choices, Pakistanis (and others) will struggle and do the right things for democracy, peace and security.

Teresa Albano is editor of People's Weekly World.

World Notes: Puerto Rico, Colombia, Gaza, Italy, Kenya, Nepal

Fri, 15 May 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Puerto Rico: Workers nix layoffs, privatization

On International Workers Day, May 1, public sector unions organized under the Broad Front of Solidarity and Struggle launched demonstrations in San Juan. The police put the crowd at 30,000.

Utility workers, bus drivers, firefighters and teachers carried out a warning strike. The protests were directed at Governor Luis Fortuño’s plans, approved by the legislature, to lay off up to 60,000 workers, privatize state enterprises and eliminate salary increases and benefits. Gov. Fortuño, charged by protesters with violating the rule of law, was “studying alternatives” to cutting jobs, TeleSUR reported.

Unemployment in Puerto Rico was 14.7 percent in March. The government faces a $3 billion deficit.

Colombia: Lawyer says Dole pays for murder

Terry Collingsworth, lawyer for victims’ families, filed a suit in Los Angeles recently against the giant Dole Food Company. He alleges the U.S. corporation paid rightwing paramilitary groups to kill 57 unionists and peasants in Magdalena Department. They had fallen into disfavor for protesting company treatment of workers, or for living on land sought for banana growing.

From 1997 through 2006 Dole supposedly used shadow companies to launder payments to paramilitaries active despite the government’s demobilization campaign.

Interviewed May 5 by the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, Collingworth looked forward to having Dole officials testify before the U.S Congress. He is also suing Chiquita Corporation on behalf of victims. That U.S. corporation admitted to paying paramilitaries $1.7 million from 1997 to 2004.

Gaza: UN report blames Israeli army

A UN report submitted to the Security Council May 5 by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused the Israel military of “negligence or recklessness” in its conduct of war in Gaza earlier this year. Ban has refused to release the full report.

The scope of the report was limited to damage and deaths involving UN facilities and staff. Investigators found that in seven of nine incidents studied, Israel had “breached the inviolability” of the UN. The report calls for reparations for damages estimated at $11 million.

The toll included 53 UN installations used for humanitarian relief, among them schools, health centers, warehouses and emergency shelters. Israel condemned the UN report as “tendentious and patently biased,” according to Al Jazeera.

Italy: Migrants sent back to Africa

The transfer to Libya last week of 227 migrants from Africa picked up at sea by the Navy came about under terms of a new agreement with Libya expected to ease friction between Italy and Malta over disposition of migrants apprehended in Maltese waters.

“The migrants were unable to make any demands for political asylum because they weren’t even received,” UN spokesperson Laura Boldrini complained. A month earlier, the Italian ship Pinar carrying 150 refugees remained four extra days at sea because of disputed responsibilities for refugees.

A principal engineer of the agreement, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, belongs to the anti-immigration Northern League party. The BBC says 37,000 Africans reached Italy last year, a 75 percent increase.

Kenya: China steps up ties

Highlighting close relations with Kenya over 40 years, the head of a high-level Chinese delegation visiting Kenya earlier this month promised, “We will work with the three parties that form the ruling coalition government. We know that these three parties are key to the stability of this country.”

Wang Jiarui was representing the International Department of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. In reply, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka observed that China “does not interfere with internal matters of other countries.” The Communist Party’s “effective management … of the country’s economic affairs” could serve Kenya as a model, he added.

Chinese companies are heavily engaged in road-building work and oil exploration, according to Xinhua news.

Nepal: Resignation provokes gov’t crisis

Prime Minister Prachandra resigned last week, removing his Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist, CPN-M)) from the government. He was protesting the president’s reinstatement of Nepal’s army chief, whom Prachandra sacked because he had yet to incorporate Maoist guerrillas into the army, a necessary condition for the former insurgents to enter electoral politics.

The president, who belongs to the Congress Party, asked the Communist Party Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, Nepal’s third largest party, to form a consensus government. The French news agency AFP reported the process as stalled a week later due to CPN-M intransigence.

Without a functioning government, Nepal’s Constitutional Assembly was stymied.

Gulfnews.com reported police harassment of 500 CPN-M women who demonstrated outside the president’s office urging the army chief’s removal.

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

Labor's special friend

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:51:00 +0000

Original source:

Barack Obama the presidential candidate declared that the nation needed 'a president who doesn't choke on the word 'union.'' But now that Obama has assumed the presidency - and good riddance to his virulently anti-union predecessor -- is he delivering on his promise to lead a pro-union administration? Absolutely, says the AFL-CIO, which played a major role in Obama's victory. The federation spent more than $450 million and put more than a quarter-million volunteers to work in its campaigns for Obama and pro-labor congressional candidates, and turned out millions of union voters. 'The political pendulum is swinging back toward sanity,' says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. 'Barack Obama brings new hope to America's working families.' It is clear, in any case, that Obama's strong support for unions is genuine. He really meant it when he said -- not while campaigning for labor votes, but after his election - that 'I want to strengthen the union movement in this country and put an end to the barriers and roadblocks that are in the way of workers legitimately coming together in order to form a union and bargain collectively.' Imagine George Bush making such a statement. He would indeed have been very likely to choke. Obama already has done a lot to back up his words. For starters, he quickly rescinded some of the most damaging of the anti-worker executive orders that Bush had issued. One had allowed White House staffers to overturn, in behalf of Bush's employer allies, job safety regulations that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had promulgated. Obama ordered that those regulations and some new ones go into effect immediately. He also voided a Bush regulation that had allowed federal contractors to be reimbursed for the costs of blocking unionizing drives. And Obama overturned a regulation that had banned so-called Project Labor Agreements, which in effect call for collective bargaining on federal and federally funded projects. Unions are especially pleased -- and should be -- with Obama's appointment of Congresswoman Hilda Solis to head the Labor Department. Bolstered by what promises to be a substantial increase in funds and personnel for labor law enforcement, Secretary of Labor Solis is certain to move forcefully to protect and enhance workers' rights. Under Bush, workers had little protection from employer exploitation. Workers didn't get much help, either, from the Bush appointees who controlled the National Labor Relations Board, which is supposed to protect workers' union rights. Bush's NLRB did the opposite in many cases, siding with employers to block workers from unionizing, particularly by failing to act against such illegal employer tactics as firing or otherwise penalizing pro-union workers. Obama will soon be able to appoint a majority of board members who are certain to protect workers' rights. His appointee as NLRB chair, longtime board member Wilma Liebman, is expected to put a high priority on reversing board rulings that stripped union rights from thousands of workers. Other important pro-labor steps taken by the new administration include: *Creating a cabinet-level 'task force' headed by Vice President Joe Biden to give working people a direct voice in developing and coordinating policies to improve the status of poor and middle class Americans. *Obama's signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which Bush had threatened to veto. It overturns a Supreme Court decision that made it virtually impossible for women to sue for wage discrimination. *The signing of a bill, vetoed twice by Bush, that reauthorizes a health insurance program for more than 10 million children of low-income workers. Additionally, Obama's budget and stimulus programs call for major infrastructure projects that would provide as many as 3.5 million well-paying construction jobs. The programs also would give tax relief to working people, create job training programs to help low-wage workers and ex-offenders learn marketable skills and, among other changes, update the unemployment insurance system to provide more help to the jobless. Several other promised reforms await White House action, including strengthening the union rights and job security of federal employees. What organized labor wants most is passage of the highly controversial Employee Free Choice Act that would remove the legal obstacles that have limited union expansion. Obama supports the act, but he's been giving signals that he would back a compromise version because of heavy pressure from opponents that threatens to block congressional approval. Although some unionists are demanding that Obama take a stronger stand on the proposed act and otherwise show even more support for labor, most unionists seem to be highly pleased with his actions so far. The AFL-CIO praises him for taking 'big, concrete steps' to lay the foundation for important change. The federation's organizing director, Stewart Acuff, says Obama is 'doing extremely well in very difficult circumstances. He continues to have our unwavering support and appreciation .... There is much to be done and we intend to do all we can to help him succeed.' Dick Meister, a San Francisco-based journalist, has covered labor and political issues for a half-century. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com.

Postcard from Havana on May 1

Sat, 09 May 2009 11:04:00 +0000

HAVANA -- More then 500,000 gathered from all parts of this socialist island nation to celebrate the International Workers Day. Also being celebrated was the 70th anniversary of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (C.T.C.).

Celebrations were also held in Santiago de Cuba, and all major cities and large communities across the island.

Signs calling for the release of the five Cuban patriots, and a prompt end to the blockade of Cuba by the Government of the United States of America were prominent through out the day.

Thousands of delegates and tourists from around the world, joined in the march to celebrate May Day in Havana !

The celebration began before dawn, with bands of conga drummers moving through the neighborhoods, marching toward The Plaza of the Revolution.

The celebration continued into the evening, with entertainment for adults and children, at large parks in all areas of the Capitol, at 6 p.m. a brief rain storm help to cool the evening. The celebrations continued!

The unity of the Cuban nation is there for all to see, any yielding will have to come from the government of the United States, and our new president, Barack Obama.

My day at a Havana hospital

Sat, 09 May 2009 10:58:00 +0000

HAVANA -- After several visits to Cuba, that included a night at the Ballet, visits to primary schools, and to Havana University, I had not as yet visited a Hospital. That changed when I surrendered to the pain in my right shoulder, caused by my pulling my luggage off the baggage carousel at Jose Marti Airport.

After suffering for six day, decided to seek help for my problem.

At the Hospital for Orthopedic problems, I was asked for my passport, and why I was visiting Cuba.

“Doctor, I came to Cuba to celebrate May First and the 70th anniversary of the C.T.C. (Confederation of Cuban Workers) with the Cuban people, take some photos and transmit them and a brief story back to Chicago, to our paper,” I said.

In less then one hour, two doctors had examined me, performed a sonogram, followed by an X-Ray, checking for fractures.

The diagnosis -- a muscle tear. He instructed me to wear an arm sling for three days and take Ibuprofen for pain.

After a discussion about President Obama for 15 minutes, they sent me on my way in a comradely fashion

Thank you Dr. Martinez Rocha Osvaldo, and your staff at the hospital!

LETTERS

Fri, 08 May 2009 08:46:00 +0000

Cuba’s response to flu

Sorry I don’t have much time to write. The Cubans are doing a public health campaign. They have signs up all over our dorms with info about the swine flu situation and the basic “wash your hands and don’t cough on people” suggestions. I would imagine that they are doing the same in all major institutions here. Also, anyone who comes to the ER with flu or cold symptoms has to pass through a special evaluation to see if they could possibly have the swine flu.

Cori Marshall Via e-mail Cori Marshall is a student at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba.

Fly ash

I write to you from the Tennessee Valley to submit lyrics to a song I recently wrote about the ecological disaster in Roane County.

Your weekly newspaper is a welcome sight in our mailbox located in Knoxville, Tenn. My partner and I are both Appalachians of 10 or 12 generations from East Tennessee and Southeastern Kentucky.

We appreciate all you do to make this a better world. Thank you.

Fly Ash

Fly ash, coal ash,

Roane County’s ready cash

Fly ash, coal ash,

Make ‘at man his ‘lectric power.

Fly ash, coal trash

Ever’ day and ever’ hour.

Fly ash, coal ash,

Floodin’ out the crack

Settlin’ pond’s weak walls gave way,

Now there’s no goin’ back.

Fly ash, coal ash

Spilled into the valley

Takin’ all that’s in its path.

We’ve yet to know the tally.

Fly ash, coal ash

Count the many costs

Houses gone, the water’s spoiled.

We see all we have lost.

Fly ash, coal ash,

This story I do tell.

Your old gray sludge and awful muck

Is poisonin’ the well.

Fly ash, coal ash

Spillin’ over all.

A stranglehold by TVA

Our back’s against the wall.

Fly ash, coal ash,

This dust is chokin’ me.

A big slipknot around my throat

Tied by the GOP.

Fly ash, coal ash

This gray death coats our lives.

We’ll keep a-tellin’ our stories

‘Til stopped by guns and knives.

Fly ash, coal ash

Roane County’s ready cash

Fly ash, coal ash

Make ‘at man his ‘lectric power.

Fly ash, coal trash

Ever’ day and kilowatt hour

(© Beth Maples-Bays 2009)

Beth Maples-Bays Knoxville TN

Investigate human rights abuses in Gaza

Remember how the bailout money was used to pay for executive high bonuses and private jets? That was bad, but here’s something worse: Our tax dollars have been used to finance the death of civilians and destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and mosques in Gaza.

Our government has pledged to account for every dollar of the bailout money, and yet regarding military aid to Israel, they prefer to turn the other way. That’s immoral and illegal.

This devastation of Gaza will not make Israelis any safer; only a fair, negotiated solution will. I have e-mailed my congressperson, seeking answers and demanding accountability.

Will you join me? Please ask Congress to investigate how our own tax dollars were used to fund the attacks on Gaza. Go to withstringsattached.org, a project of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Gary De Santis Via e-mail

May Day Stories

On May Day here it was a beautiful day for a march. It started at the Southgate Shopping Center with young people dancing to a techno-band, mariachi music, migrant songs and some guest speakers. The march was orderly and peaceful for the entire 3-mile route to downtown Armory Park. Upon arriving at Armory Park, we were met by a small anti-immigrant group who shouted through a bullhorn for us “Mexicans” to go back “home.” The marchers returned a shout of “Si se puede” and eventually drowned out the bullhorn. The event at the park returned to being festive with food and music. All in all, the march was a success.

Alexander Monarrez-Maldonado Tucson AZ Alexander Monarrez-Maldonado is producer and host of cable station Access Tucson’s “The Latino Doctrine.”

One hundred and twenty-two years ago in the city of Milwaukee, 1,500 workers marched toward the Bay View Rolling Steel Mills shouting, “No cut in pay, the eight-hour day.” Gov. Jeremiah Rusk had called out the militia to meet them. On that May 1, the Bay View strike turned to bloodshed.

On May 3, 2009, a demonstration of 200 Milwaukeeans paid tribute to the heroism of the seven Rolling Mill workers slain in their struggle to win the eight-hour day.

Every year the Wisconsin Labor History Society, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO, commemorates the fight for the eight-hour day by the Rolling Steel workers in the city of Milwaukee.

This year, for the first time, all the featured speakers were women. The Wisconsin director of 9 to 5, Amy Stear, gave a stirring speech on the struggle of the women’s movement in backing up the industrial workers. She said, “There was tremendous solidarity by women with their husbands and male friends who hit the bricks day in and day out. The women carried placards which stated, ‘Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours For What You Will.”

Former Socialist Mayor Frank Zeidler, who recently passed away, never missed attending the eight-hour commemoration. This time, the commemoration featured his daughter, Jeanne, who said the workers who struggled for an eight-hour day also fought for socialism. She said, “My dad was not a person who wore a socialist hat, but he took the leadership in pointing out that socialism meant education for the working people, swimming pools and natatoriums for those who had little or no income, and government on behalf of the people.”

Christine Sinicki, member of the state Legislature, spoke of the need for representatives in government to stand up for legislation which benefits workers and not big business. The gathering ended with the singing of “Solidarity Forever.”

John Gilman Milwaukee WI John Gilman is a decorated WWII veteran and longtime activist for peace, justice and Cuba solidarity.

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WORLDNOTES - Germany, Ethiopia, Australia, Ecuador, United Arab Emirates, Cuba

Fri, 08 May 2009 08:42:00 +0000

Germany: Nuclear withdrawal a campaign issue

In the Bundestag April 24, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for “a new beginning on nuclear disarmament.” Three opposition parties, the Greens, Liberal Free Democrats and the Left Party, moved that the government press the U.S. to remove nuclear weapons from Germany, a position taken earlier by Steinmeier.

The Christian Democrats and Social Democrats had agreed that as one condition of their coalition government, the Bundestag would not vote on nuclear withdrawal. Yet in elections set for September, Steinmeier will be the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor. Observers say Steinmeier’s statement shows he’s already campaigning.

Opinion surveys show 75 percent approve nuclear weapons removal.

Ethiopia: Arrests pose quandary for U.S.

The Ethiopian government, widely seen as repressive, arrested 40 men last week, including high army officers. Members of the year-old Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice and Democracy were allegedly preparing a coup. They are protesting parliamentary elections in 2005 that left Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in power, although “the ruling party had lost by a landslide,” according to the Carter Center.

In the bloody aftermath, many like Ginbot 7 leader Berhanu Nega were jailed. Released after two years, he now teaches economics in Pennsylvania. Unofficial extradition demands claim U.S.-Ethiopian collaboration on terrorism.

“Ethiopia was the linchpin of [the Bush administration’s] regional counterterrorism strategy,” said Newsweek.

Australia: Controversy over refugee rights

The Kevin Rudd Labor government is taking heat for ambivalence on refugees, especially after its condemnation of previous conservative exclusionary policies.

Right-wingers now protest Labor’s “softened stance on border protection.” The official response to an explosion April 16 that destroyed a boat and killed five refugees represents backtracking, say left-wing critics.

The wounded ended up in mainland hospitals, where legal processes prevail. Twenty-nine others were incarcerated on Christmas Island, beyond the reach of UN-recommended protective statutes.

The episode highlights prejudice against boat people, the Guardian newspaper said. Most of the 500 refugees arriving since last July are escaping disasters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Ecuador: President Correa wins

President Rafael Correa will remain in office until 2013. In the April 26 election he won a 51.9 percent majority, with runner-up Lucio Gutierrez at 28 percent. For the first time since 1979 a second round was unnecessary.

Correa’s Country Alliance Party has 62 delegates in the 124-seat National Assembly. Majority control is assured through alliances. International observers commended the efficiency of the voting, which also embraced regional and municipal offices. In remarks to the media, Correa mentioned priorities: creating a structural framework for his “Citizens’ Revolution,” deepening alliances, and increased attention to public education, health care and housing.

United Arab Emirates: Small state, big arms buyer

Al Jazeera reported late last month that this year the UAE’s defense spending will exceed $7 billion, making the tiny federation of ruling families the world’s third-largest importer of U.S. weapons, behind India and China.

Recently $3 billion were spent on U.S. Patriot missiles and a $9 billion air defense and helicopter deal is in the works. Iran is held up as one threat, especially because of its promise to close the Straits of Hormuz should the U.S. and Iran go to war.

Every day 40 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through these adjacent waters. Foreign workers represent another concern. Exploited, single men outnumber citizens, 5 to 1.

Cuba: Foreign ministers hear from Raul Castro

At the Non-Aligned Movement’s ministerial meeting in Havana late last month President Raul Castro discussed the upcoming UN Conference on the world economic and financial crisis with UN General Assembly President Miguel D´Escoto. He also engaged with representatives of the Group of 77 nations to further that organization’s coordination with NAM.

The ministerial meeting was held in anticipation of the 15th NAM summit in Egypt July 11-16. There, Cuba will end its three-year term as chair in favor of Egypt.

President Castro greeted the ministers. Calling “a global order inspired in hegemonic pretenses and the selfishness of privileged minorities neither legitimate nor ethically acceptable,” he said “a system that destroys the environment and promotes unequal access to riches cannot last.”

Castro contrasted worldwide annual military spending of over $1 trillion with an annual outlay of $80 billion for 10 years that the UN estimates “would be enough to eradicate poverty, hunger and the lack of health and education services and houses all over the world. That figure is three times lower than what the South countries spend every year to pay their foreign debt.”

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

Israel bombs Gaza, denies UN report

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:55:00 +0000

Tel Aviv, May 6 (Prensa Latina) Israeli planes bombed underground tunnels on the southern Gaza border with Egypt, with Tel Aviv describing a UN report as biased which denounces Israeli aggressions against UN offices in the area. Israeli military planes flew over the Philadelphia Corridor separating Gaza from the Egyptian Sinai and destroyed three arm traffic routes to Gaza, with no victims reported, according to Israeli military forces and Palestinian media reports.

The latest bombing occurred in the border locality of Rafah after Israeli planes launched several missiles at the Al-Burij refugee camp, in an eastern Palestinian territory, according to witnesses and Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) leaders.

Israel justified the attacks as a response to Qassam rocket launchings from the Strip, which hit southern Ashkelon, with no victims reported.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected a UN report that considers Israeli troops responsible for damages and deaths (45) in six attacks against UN facilities, including a school in Gaza.

In Tel Aviv's opinion, 'the language and spirit of the UN document are obviously biased and ignore the facts presented to the committee,' despite the known effects of the Israeli offensive that left 6,700 victims in Dec 2008 and January 2009.

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:32:00 +0000

Military veterans in Maine, Arkansas and around the country are calling for quick passage of the Employee Free Choice Act this week. In cooperation with national veterans groups, these veterans are holding meetings, writing letters and speaking about the need to restore the basic freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life.

Stephen Jackson, a Vietnam veteran from North Carolina who is both the commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 4312 and a member of Steelworkers (USW) Local 1283, took to the pages of the Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald in a great op-ed on the Employee Free Choice Act:

The men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our country deserve a chance to be a part of the American dream. They deserve a job that puts food on the table and a roof over the family’s heads. They deserve benefits so that they and their families can be healthy and thrive. They deserve the right to join any organization that will help improve their situation. They deserve to have the chance to be a part of the middle class and help rebuild our economy…

The Employee Free Choice Act will give veterans a better chance when they get back home to get better jobs with better benefits, and a better shot at the middle class. I support the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s my way of honoring those who served our country.

Small business owners are stepping up their support of the freedom to form unions, with the latest small business roundtable in Booneville, Ind., yesterday.

In key states around the nation, union members are taking part in “working lunches,” writing letters to members of Congress urging them to support the Employee Free Choice Act. In Sacramento, union members will hold a vigil, starting this afternoon and continuing overnight, to support the Employee Free Choice Act; they will use the time to write letters to members of Congress.

In Virginia, Working America is adding thousands of new members and has collected more than 1,500 letters in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Rachel Coyler, who directs Working America’s canvassing in Northern Virginia, says she and her staff are finding Virginians concerned about the economy and interested in making it work for everyone:

We’re out every day talking to people about the bill and dispelling some of the misinformation and giving them the facts. We’re finding that once people understand the legislation, most people are behind employees’ right to choose how to form a union, and a lot of our members are willing to tell Sens. [Mark] Warner and [Jim] Webb so by writing a brief letter to them.

People believe that the middle class needs a fairer shot and now’s the time to give it to them.

Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO’s tireless Stewart Acuff is traveling in support of the grassroots campaign for Employee Free Choice, from Alaska to Arkansas to Massachusetts. It’s an exciting time and a real opportunity for new labor law that respects and protects workers and makes the economy work for everyone.

Obama admin. launches renewable fuels programs

Thu, 07 May 2009 08:00:00 +0000

President Obama took two major steps this week to expand the use of renewable energy sources. First, he ordered the creation of a new administration 'biofuels working group.' Second, he launched the rulemaking process in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aimed at boosting the minimum amounts of renewable fuels in the energy supply by 2022.

The biofuels working group will be an interagency office that brings the Departments of Agriculture and Energy and the EPA together to promote and oversee the creation of a marketplace and infrastructure for producing, transporting, selling and distributing biofuels. In addition, the group will enforce environmental protection and oversee public health issues related to the project.

In a joint press teleconference with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, May 5th, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Expanding our biofuels infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to spur rural economic development while reducing our dependence on foreign oil – one of the great challenges of the 21st century.'

Vilsack added that the president wants the new group to work with industry 'to figure out how we might be able to do a better job of creating a market for these biofuels we're going to produce.' Another goal of the group will be to work on accelerating the availability of renewable fuels in an environmentally friendly way.

Currently, corn-based ethanol is the predominant biofuel on the market. The working group has been tasked to bring cellulosic biofuels, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuels and total renewable fuel into the marketplace as well.

Critics of corn-based ethanol argue that it is too closely tied to a food product to be an effective replacement for non-renewable fossil fuels. High food prices and serious environmental problems, like soil erosion, could result. In fact, the energy required to produce it might offset environmental or financial benefits the end-product may possess, a 2009 study by the found.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told reporters that the president's plan includes corn-based ethanol, but that the goal is to transition to alternatives in the next few years. 'Corn-based ethanol is a bridge,' Jackson said. 'It is a bridge to the next generation of biofuels and other ethanols.'

In addition to consuming far less energy than corn-based ethanol to produce, experts believe that cellulosic ethanol and biomass diesel can be made from agricultural and other waste products instead of edible food products.

Secretary Vilsack emphasized this latter point in order to allay fears that farmers who earn income from selling corn for ethanol production might be hurt financially by the transition. 'Part of the cellulosic material that might be looked at in the future will be the corn stover, the waste product of the corn production process. So that is another opportunity for producers to profit,' he said.

The president's economic recovery act provides some $785 billion for investments in building refineries for these new types of fuels. That is on top of over $1 billion allocated by the Farm Bill.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu linked the administration's goals to solving both the climate crisis and the need for job creation. “Developing the next generation of biofuels is key to our effort to end our dependence on foreign oil and address the climate crisis – while creating millions of new jobs that can't be outsourced,” he said.

If the EPA rule is adopted, a minimum of 36 billions gallons of biofuels would be required as part of the national fuel supply by 2022. In addition, the rule would set significant targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Put into perspective, the EPA rule would order an average of about 10 million gallons per day of renewable fuels be in the marketplace by 2022. Currently, the Department of Energy estimates that US drivers consume about 390 million gallons of gasoline each day, a number that is expected to grow over the next 13 years.