People Before Profit blog

International notes

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 02:52:00 +0000

China: Migrant workers join unions

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions on Aug. 9 announced it would recruit as many migrant workers as possible and classify them officially as members of China’s working classes. In the month that followed, the ACFTU says, over 34 million migrant workers joined trade unions in thousands of local communities.

As China’s economy was restructured in the 1980s, more and more workers left their home communities in search of jobs. But for a long time, the unions would only recognize workers with city or township resident identification, leaving out over 100 million migrants with only rural registrations.

Most migrant workers are employed in low-profit, low-pay industries such as construction, catering and environmental cleanup. Migrant workers say that as union members they are now able to collect their pay on time, and are winning improved benefits.

Colombia: Pact re Int’l Court criticized

The pact signed Sept. 17 by the U.S. and Colombia, exempting Americans arrested in Colombia for human rights violations from prosecution before the International Criminal Court, is being sharply criticized by the Communist Party of Colombia and other human rights advocates.

The Colombian CP called the accord a violation of Colombia’s national sovereignty and of its constitution, and called for its immediate revocation.

Washington had threatened to withhold $130 million in aid unless the pact was signed. Some 61 other poor nations dependent on U.S. aid have signed such agreements.

Former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy, who helped draft the ICC’s statutes, called the pact “a big step backward,” and charged that the Bush administration “is trying to destroy the court and they’re using these bilateral agreements, country by country, to erode the jurisdiction of the court.”

Iraq: No WMDs

Hans Blix, former chief weapons inspector in Iraq, told CNN earlier this month he believes the Saddam Hussein regime was truthful when it told the United Nations last December that it did not have chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

“With this long period, I’m inclined to think the Iraqi statement that they destroyed all the biological and chemical weapons which they had in the summer of 1991 may well be the truth,” he said.

Blix said his inspectors “did not find any smoking gun” during their three and a half months of work in late 2002 and early 2003.

The U.S. and Britain dismissed Iraq’s report as false and incomplete, and justified their invasion on the basis that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction.

S. Africa: Unions slam ‘worst employer’

At its national congress last week, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) named the Durban Deep gold mine South Africa’s “worst employer,” the Johannesburg Business Day reported. The union federation gives the award to embarrass employers into improving working conditions. COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the firm deserved the award because it consistently threatened workers with layoffs, was “brutal in dealing with workers and had a management style dating back to the 1980s.”

The mining company has historically paid the lowest wages among the four big gold producers, and its opening offer in this year’s wage talks was between 2 and 4 percent. Besides wage issues, the National Union of Mineworkers has been protesting the company’s decision to lay off 4,500 workers from its North West mines.

Norway: Boycott over ‘slave’ farm wages

Three major grocery store chains are threatening to boycott Norwegian farmers who pay sub-minimum “slave wages” to seasonal farm workers, mostly from eastern Europe, the newspaper Aftenposten said Sept. 22. The legal minimum wage is $11 per hour.

Aftenposten said some seasonal workers from Lithuania and the Ukraine were paid as little as $10 total, for a 12- to 13-hour workday.

Retailers belonging to an ethical trade group are now saying they won’t buy from farmers who don’t pay the minimum wage, while labor leaders are threatening to report delinquent farmers to the police.

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

U.S. veto assailed as license to kill Arafat

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 02:37:00 +0000

In a move that many regard as giving a green light to the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon to deport or kill Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, the U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Sept. 16 denouncing the Israeli cabinet’s recent decision to “remove” the Palestinian leader.

Senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat immediately said he fears the U.S. veto will signal to Israel that it has a “license to kill” Arafat.

The resolution, which was submitted by Pakistan, South Africa, Sudan, and Syria, opposed Israel’s threatened deportation of the Palestinian president and the threats to his personal safety made by Israeli government officials. It also called for an end to all acts of terrorism, provocation, incitement, and destruction in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Eleven Security Council membersvoted for the resolution. Only the U.S. voted against it. Britain, Bulgaria and Germany abstained.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, calling the resolution “flawed” because it didn’t denounce groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad emphatically enough, cast the decisive U.S. veto to scuttle it.

Later, in the UN General Assembly, the U.S. and Israel were even more isolated. After a heated debate on Sept. 18, the General Assembly voted 133-4 to condemn the Israeli threats against Arafat. It also deplored the escalating violence and called for a return to the road map peace plan. The U.S., Israel, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands were alone in voting against this resolution.

Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qurie called the Bush administration’s stance on Arafat “regrettable” and harmful to the achievement of a just peace. Qurie is currently in the process of forming a new Palestinian cabinet.

Over 6,000 people rallied for peace at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Sept. 20. Speakers included several current and former members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, including Knesset Member and Labor Party Secretary-General Ophir Pines.

“Sharon’s government has terribly failed, and is not able to offer any kind of solutions in any field. … He abandoned the citizens of this state. … This government must resign now,” said Pines, as quoted by the Yeodit Ahranot daily.

Rally speakers called for Israel to leave its settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They also denounced the Israeli government’s policy of targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders, saying such killings only feed the cycle of violence. They then marched through Tel Aviv to the Israeli Defense Ministry.

The rally was organized by Peace Now, which said it was launching a “street campaign” for a just peace that will unfold over the next several months. The campaign will involve more demonstrations and possibly a march to the occupied territories, organizers said.

On the heels of these developments, President Arafat delivered a letter on Sept. 22 to the members of the “Quartet” – the U.S., UN, European Union, and Russia – in which he urged a comprehensive cease-fire, or “total truce,” with Israel. He appealed for an international observer force help enforce it. The Sharon government immediately dismissed the offer, in keeping with Israel’s long-standing opposition to the presence of any international observers of its decades-long occupation.

Senior Israeli defense officials visited Washington, D.C., on the same day to negotiate some of the details of the “separation wall” it is building in the West Bank. The wall, which is intended to keep Palestinians out of Israel, has been denounced as reminiscent of South Africa’s apartheid. The Bush administration has expressed only muted misgivings about the wall, and is giving it de facto support in the form of continuing U.S. aid to the Israeli government.

The author can be reached at malmberg@pww.org

International notes

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 03:38:00 +0000

Venezuela: Recall petitions rejected

The National Electoral College (CNE) last week rejected petitions for a referendum on the recall of popularly elected President Hugo Chavez. In a decision announced Sept. 12, the country’s highest electoral body said the signatures gathered last February were collected before the constitutionally designated Aug. 19 starting time – halfway through Chavez’ six-year term.

The CNE also said the petition forms did not contain a required statement volunteering to abide by Article 12 of the Constitution, nor were they addressed to the CNE.

President Chavez was elected by a wide margin in 2000. Ever since, opposition forces led by the business community and backed by the Bush administration have been trying to remove him from office by various means, including a failed months-long attempt to shut down the economy.

Britain: TUC condemns Iraq invasion

The annual congress of the TUC national labor federation last week condemned Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The motion, which passed unanimously, also opposed any further U.S. efforts for regime change in countries such as Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba, the BBC said.

But the TUC stressed its support for the work of British troops in Iraq, many of whom are union members.

The vote came after Tony Woodley, general secretary-elect of the Transport and General Workers Union, called on Blair to “review his position” as prime minister in the wake of the conflict. Woodley said the war had led to the “unacceptable and needless deaths of Iraqi children,” and predicted the situation in Iraq would “get worse.” He called on the TUC congress to send the message that there should be “no return to the days of colonialism.”

Russia: Guarantee N. Korea’s security

Security guarantees in exchange for North Korea’s abandonment of its nuclear program are the only way to resolve the nuclear issue on the peninsula, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said Sept. 12.

“Such an approach is supported by other participants in the recent six-party talks in Beijing,” he said at a forum in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.

The nuclear issue can only be resolved through negotiations, he said, otherwise it could lead to a rather difficult situation.

Losyukov, who was Russia’s top delegate to the six-party talks last month, said the second round may result in important accords. But he refused to speculate on a possible date for the talks’ resumption.

“Everything depends on the mood of all the participants to return to the negotiating table,” he said.

The U.S. has so far refused to negotiate a non-aggression treaty or to discuss other security guarantees demanded by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Uruguay: Health workers gain

Health care workers accepted a new government wage proposal last week. They agreed – pending approval by the doctors’ union – to end a long strike of public health workers.

The government’s proposal followed a Sept. 4 march by thousands of health workers and their supporters, demanding a living wage and adequate funding of the nation’s public health sector.

The strike, initiated almost two months ago by the country’s Federation of Public Health Officers, grew to include unions of doctors, nurses and medical support staff throughout the country.

PIT-CNT, Uruguay’s organized labor federation, joined rural and urban medical associations that not only demanded a living wage for health workers, but also pointed out that underfunding of Uruguay’s health sector has gravely affected patients as well. At the Sept. 4 demonstration, Dr. Susana Muniz, representing the Uruguayan Medical Association, condemned government austerity policies that have resulted in months-long national shortages of basic medications.

Pakistan: Writers for peace

The Pakistani writers’ organization Pen for Peace is optimistic about efforts to improve relations between Pakistan and India following last month’s visit by a 59-member Indian parliamentary delegation.

Pen for Peace was founded after both countries had set off nuclear explosions. Its ongoing campaign has built a consensus among writers of various schools of thought, lines of work and language backgrounds about ending hostilities between Pakistan and India and promoting friendship and detente on the subcontinent.

Wrote Dr. Farman Fatehpuri, professor of Urdu, “It is now 55 years since the India-Pakistan subcontinent was declared independent. That is the age the British government decreed for retirement of its employees. Let us also retire the British imperialist legacy ... This is time enough for Pakistanis and Indians to cleanse their minds of all such biases and prejudices ... as these were created with a purpose.”

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (cpusainternat@mindspring.com). Owen Williamson provided translation assistance for this week’s notes.

WTO meet fails: Developing nations demand fair farm policies

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 03:19:00 +0000

The World Trade Organization’s ministerial meeting in Cancun collapsed Sept. 14 after a newly-formed alliance of developing nations said the U.S., European Union (EU) and Japan had failed to make acceptable proposals on agriculture and other trade issues.

The so-called Group of 22, led by Brazil, China, India and South Africa, took the lead in demanding that the U.S. and EU end the huge government subsidies to agribusiness in their countries, and open their markets to agricultural products from developing countries.

In the end, over 80 countries joined in rejecting the WTO proposals, leaving the two sides far apart on farm subsidies, market access, and convening of new talks on foreign investment, competition policy and related matters. Observers said the balance of trade power had shifted sharply away from the wealthy countries, in the most significant change in world trade relationships in half a century.

Throughout the five-day meeting, the developing countries called for deeper cuts in the wealthy nations’ subsidies to agribusiness – annually worth over $300 billion – which they said causes the world market to be swamped with excessive produce, slashing prices and cutting chances for farmers from poor countries to sell their products.

Though four West African countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Benin – have asked the U.S. to cut its $4 billion annual subsidy to just 25,000 cotton farmers, the WTO meeting spoke only of further consultations, with no deadlines and no compensation to African farmers.

Proposals for new talks on foreign investment and competition policy foundered on developing countries’ fears that they could be prevented from setting rules for foreign transnational corporations.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who acted as spokesperson for the group of countries with nearly two-thirds of the world’s people who make their living from agriculture, emphasized that the failure at Cancun was not the end of the multilateral trade process, but rather a much needed stop on the way to fairer agreements for the developing countries.

“We will repair the process,” he told a press conference where he spoke together with colleagues from Argentina, Ecuador, South Africa and Egypt. “We have tried to demonstrate the unity of the developing countries on concrete themes, and agriculture is the most important of the unfinished tasks.”

“The failure of the talks can be laid firmly at the door of the EU and U.S.,” Adriano Campolina Soares of the development organization ActionAid told the Guardian of London. “Throughout the meeting, the rich countries maintained an aggressive stance and were reluctant to offer anything of real benefit to developing countries.”

Guy Ryder, general secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, said the collapse of the conference further undermined the WTO’s credibility. “This crisis will continue as long as WTO members refuse to tackle development, poverty, employment, and workers rights,” he added.

After the talks collapsed, the U.S. and EU reportedly offered concessions on agriculture to several developing countries, if they would lift their veto on new talks about investment and competition. But Malaysia, India, Kenya and South Africa said they had been taken in by such promises before, and would not respond unless the U.S. and EU spelled out their position in detail.

A significant factor in the development of the new alliance is the role of China, which joined the WTO in 2001. The Chinese have said they will work within the world body to uphold the rights of developing countries.

The author can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Panel on U.S. role in Chiles coup

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 02:49:00 +0000

DALLAS – On Sept. 11 the Dallas Peace Center presented a program titled “Terrorism, Theirs and Ours” at the Magnolia Theater. About 150 peace activists gathered to view the film documentary “The Battle of Chile, Part II” by Patricio Guzman. Then they held a panel discussion with local experts on the situation in Chile at the time of the 1973 coup d’etat and now.

The film documents U.S. participation in destabilizing the democratically-elected government of Dr. Salvador Allende, a socialist who was elected president of Chile in 1970. Hours after his election the U.S. government, and particularly the CIA, started to undermine Allende’s government. In 1973, the CIA helped install a brutal military dictatorship that killed thousands, imprisoned still more, and drowned democracy in blood for years afterward.

Panelists Dr. Ron Wilhelm, Dr. Adrianna Cobo-Frenkel, and peace activist Duane Ediger described the sequence of events and the role of the U.S., including the personal involvement of President Richard Nixon and then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Wilhelm brought a reading list that included the new book by Peter Kornbluh, The Pinochet File.

Dr. Cobo-Frenkel, a Chilean who has lived in Dallas for 40 years, said that the day’s remembrances of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York only invited comparison to the earlier tragedy in her home country. She said that films of airliners crashing into the World Trade Center reminded her of the coup in Chile.

President Allende, as the film showed, refused the generals’ command that he leave the presidential palace, La Moneda. Planes then bombed their own seat of government to pieces in order to kill their elected president.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Israeli cabinet threatens Arafat

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 02:45:00 +0000

The Israeli government’s recent decision in principle to “remove” Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from his position of authority by expulsion or possibly assassination has provoked a storm of protest in the occupied territories. The decision has also given rise to a worldwide outcry against the proposed action, including protests in Israel itself.

Against the background of spiraling violence and increasing tension, the Israeli security cabinet’s decision on Sept. 11 to eliminate Arafat is but the latest – and most provocative – assault on the Palestinian people’s political leadership. While the language was deliberately vague, i.e., of “removing” Arafat, vice prime minister Ehud Olmert told Israeli radio, “The question is: How are we going to do it? Expulsion is certainly one of the options, and killing is also one of the options.”

In response to the decision, thousands of Palestinians rallied for several consecutive days outside the Palestinian Authority’s compound in Ramallah in the West Bank, where Arafat has been held under virtual house arrest by Israeli troops since April of last year. Thousands more demonstrated in Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, shouting slogans in support of Arafat and denouncing the Israeli government.

Arafat addressed the crowds outside his battered compound in Ramallah.

“We have no tanks and no American made F-16 fighter jets or Apache gunship helicopters,” he said. “But should the terrorist Sharon regime realize its threat to deport me, or assassinate me, the Palestinian people will continue, and even strengthen, the fight for national liberation and the independent statehood.”

Arafat and other Palestinian leaders have condemned the recent suicide bombings in Israel. At the same time, they have called for an end to the occupation, Israeli settlements, and the systematic assassination of Palestinian leaders.

A large number of Palestinians volunteered to serve as human shields for the Palestinian leader, as did a number of Israeli peace activists. Among the Israeli peace activists who paid a solidarity visit to Arafat was a delegation from the Gush-Shalom peace bloc, headed by the well-known peace activist and publicist Uri Avnery; a delegation of the Israeli Communist Party and the democratic HADASH Front, headed by the CP general secretary and Knesset Member (MK) Issam Mahoul; the chair of Hadash, MK Muhammad Barakei; former MK Tamar Goszanski; as well as MK Ahmed Tibi of the Arab National Party.

“I am willing to put myself at risk and serve as a human shield,” said Avnery, “in order to foil Prime Minister Sharon’s intention to assassinate Arafat, the elected leader and president of the Palestinian people. So are many of my fellow Israeli peace activists.”

In an official statement, the Communist Party of Israel called the threat to remove Arafat “an act of political madness.” It said, “The CPI blames the settlers’ government for cooking up this provocation in order to destroy any chance for a political solution, including withdrawal from all the occupied territories, dismantlement of the (Israeli) settlements, two states – Israeli and Palestinian, two capitals in Jerusalem, and implementation of U.N. resolutions concerning the Palestinian refugees.”

It also charged that the Sharon government is using the “remove Arafat” provocation as a distraction from Israel’s “widening unemployment, poverty and hunger” and its “trampling of democratic and civil rights in Israel itself.”

Appealing to both Jews and Arabs, the CPI called for an end to removal plans and for an intensified effort to oust the “right-wing fanatic Sharon government.”

World reactions against the Israeli security cabinet decision were also strong. Numerous governments denounced the Israeli plan, and at the United Nations, where Palestinians had appealed for a special Security Council meeting to safeguard their president, the Security Council issued a statement expressing “the view that the removal of chairman Arafat would be unhelpful and should not be implemented.” Many charged it would be a gross violation of international law. The Arab League issued a similar statement.

The Bush administration, while distancing itself from Israeli vice minister Olmert’s open comments about killing Arafat, has clearly signaled that it wants the Palestinian leader pushed aside. Its road map for peace in the region, which is co-sponsored by the U.N., the European Union, and Russia, is currently stalled.

The author can be reached at malmberg@pww.org. Hans Lebrecht contributed to this story.

International notes

Fri, 12 Sep 2003 04:04:00 +0000

Korea: DPRK proposes solutions

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea proposed “a package of solutions” to the nuclear issue during six-party talks held late last month in Beijing. The Korean Central News Agency said these include the U.S. signing a non-aggression treaty with the DPRK, establishment of diplomatic relations with the DPRK, a guarantee of DPRK-Japan and inter-Korean economic cooperation, and completion of light-water reactors promised by the U.S. in 1994. In return, the DPRK would not manufacture nuclear weapons, and would allow inspections, realize the ultimate dismantling of nuclear facilities, and stop exporting and experimenting with missiles.

“The denuclearization of the peninsula was our initiative and it is our consistent stand,” said DPRK’s Vice Minister Kim Yong-il, who led his country’s delegation to the talks. He added, “If the nuclear issue between the two countries is to be peacefully settled through dialogue, the U.S. should make a radical switchover in its policy towards the DPRK.”

Turkey: Peace struggle heats up

Turkey’s Peace Association, affiliated with the World Peace Council, brought together thousands of people for a week-long political, cultural and sports festival in late August and early September. Works by a hundred artists were displayed, and documentary films by Turkish and international filmmakers were shown. Soccer, basketball and chess matches were organized, the latter with participation of the National Chess Team.

At the Aug. 31 Peace Festival, thousands heard WPC representative Nikos Fotiadis warn that imperialism’s real intentions are shown by the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Washington’s drive for ever more sophisticated weapons which can destroy humanity. Folk and popular artists from Turkey performed, and the Greek music group, Youth for Peace, sang well-known songs in both Greek and Turkish. Peace poems by Nazim Hikmet and Yannis Ritsos were read.

Nepal: Arrest peaceful protesters

Amnesty International last week condemned the Sept. 4 arrest of peaceful demonstrators on their way to a rally in the capital city, Kathmandu. “Such arrests ... are contrary to the provision of the right of freedom to assemble peacefully in the Constitution of Nepal and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Nepal is a state party,” Amnesty International said.

Over 1,000 protesters were being held, including leaders and members of five political parties – the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), Nepali Congress, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, People’s Front Nepal and the Nepal Sadbhawana Party – which launched a struggle for reinstatement of parliament earlier this year. King Gyanendra dismissed the prime minister and parliament last fall.

The demonstrators, who also included labor and student leaders, defied the government’s ban on public gatherings of more than five people.

China: Concern over Japan’s missile plans

China’s Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan expressed concern last week about Japan’s plans to launch a missile defense system in 2007, saying the plans could undermine the military balance in the region and trigger a new arms race. Japan Times said Cao’s comments were made to Japanese Defense Agency head Shigeru Ishiba during the latter’s visit to Beijing.

The Defense Agency has requested funds in next year’s budget to upgrade a destroyer equipped with the Aegis air-defense system and to introduce a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 antimissile group for planned deployment in 2007.

Cao also urged Tokyo to dispose of World War II-era mustard gas abandoned in China by the Imperial Japanese Army that leaked and killed a man last month and injured more than 40 people. Japan is offering monetary compensation. It sent a medical team to help treat the victims, and chemical weapons experts to seal the leaking drums.

Africa: AIDS patients take pills well

Surveys done in Botswana, Uganda, Senegal and South Africa show that on average, AIDS patients there take about 90 percent of their medications, compared to about 70 percent in the U.S. The findings, reported by The New York Times, contradict allegations by some politicians, physicians and pharmaceutical executives that sending antiretroviral drugs to Africa would raise the risk of drug resistance from incomplete pill-taking. A 2001 claim by the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development that AIDS drugs “wouldn’t work” in Africa caused a widespread outcry.

“After nearly a decade of watching Africans die because AIDS drugs cost $10,000 or more a year per patient,” the Times said, “rich nations began pledging aid after generic competition in 2001 drove prices down to about $300 a year.” Last week the World Trade Organization agreed to change its rules to allow poor nations more access to the life-saving drugs.

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

Recall attempt unfolds in Venezuela

Fri, 12 Sep 2003 03:54:00 +0000

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his country’s movement for independence and democracy are facing a new round of destabilization efforts. Venezuela, the world’s fifth largest oil-producing country, is facing a recall battle. Like the recall battle some 4,000 miles from Caracas – in California – the Bush administration’s markings are all over this one, too.

Chavez’s homegrown opposition – mainly Venezuelan big business interests, which enjoy support from the White House – orchestrated a coup in 2002 and an oil lockout/strike in 2003. The White House met with coup leaders before their April 11 seizure and the U.S. was the first country to hail the coup d’etat.

One of the coup leaders, facing criminal charges in Venezuela, fled the country to Miami. Associated Press reports that “business leader Carlos Fernandez, who led a devastating two-month strike that failed to oust Chavez this year,” is considering applying for political asylum.

Aug. 19 marked the half-way point of Chavez’s six-year term and the time when, according to the Venezuelan Constitution, a recall referendum can be held. The opposition turned in more than the 2.4 million signatures needed to trigger a recall referendum. However, there are charges pending with the newly-appointed National Electoral Council (CNE) that the opposition’s signatures are invalid.

Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel filed a complaint with state prosecutors against the private group Sumate, which had coordinated the nationwide collection of pro-recall signatures. Rangel said Sumate violated electoral law by gathering the signatures in early February, months before the half-way point of Chavez’s term.

“All this process [was carried out] without the involvement of the National Electoral Council, the electoral power,” Rangel said in a statement, also calling for a criminal inquiry into the funding and activities of Sumate, which describes itself as a non-profit, nongovernmental organization but is linked to the opposition. A quick glance on the internet finds a slide show on a signature campaign, which took place in February in south Florida. The CNE’s ruling on the signatures are pending.

And despite a fraudulent statement released to the press, Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled that if Chavez loses the recall, he can still run for re-election. The opposition is split on a candidate if a recall happens and Chavez loses.

U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro met with the CNE and offered help from a U.S.-based group, the International Foundation for Election Systems. Chavez sharply criticized Shapiro and the meeting with the CNE, Sept. 7. Chavez said, “what [Shapiro] has done is clearly an interference by the United States in the domestic concerns of Venezuela.” The CNE is made up of five appointees: two pro-Chavez, two anti-government and one “neutral.” Opposition opinion polls are giving a skewed picture of Chavez’s support.

One such polling outfit claims Chavez would lose a recall by a margin of 2-1. Yet according to Mark Weisbrot, from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, much of the evidence supporting such a claim is non-existent or biased. Weisbrot said the polling group, GQR/POS, did not conduct strictly neutral or objective polls, even though they are often reported as such.

Weisbrot also compares a 38 percent popularity rating for Chavez, even with a massive anti-Chavez campaign in the media, to a recent poll on Peru’s President Alejandro Toledo: “Toledo in Peru, where the economy is growing and the media is not part of the opposition … has 11 percent approval ratings.”

The opposition, invoking anti-communism, attacks the Chavez government as trying to shape Venezuela into a “Cuban-style communist state.”

Venezuela’s foreign policy seeks close, working relationships with Cuba as well as other Caribbean and South American countries. Venezuela is utilizing these relations to bolster medical care, especially in their badly neglected ghettos. Chavez’s government has begun programs where Cuban doctors and professionals work in Venezuela delivering health and education services to the poor.

The recall attempt comes at a time when the struggle around the Free Trade Area of the Americas is intensifying. The Chavez government is opposed to FTAA and any attempt by U.S. corporate interests to dominate the economies of South America.

The author can be reached at talbano@pww.org

Vieques activists warn of speculators

Fri, 12 Sep 2003 03:45:00 +0000

In a “Special Report from the Peace and Justice Camp,” peace activists in Vieques, Puerto Rico, are warning that there are “speculators and foreign economic interests that seek control of our lands.”

The Peace and Justice Camp was originally set up just outside the gates to Camp García, the Navy’s former bombing range, by the Committee for Rescue and Development of Vieques (CPRDV). The U.S. Navy stopped using the island for target practice in May of this year.

The CPRDV wants the area deeded over to the people of Vieques so they can develop it in an ecologically sound manner. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently has control over the area.

The report said that a recent critique of two projects initiated by the Puerto Rican government written by John Todd and titled “A Golden Opportunity for Vieques to be Green,” published in The New York Times, is an indication of outside speculators working to take over Vieques. “Todd does not mention in his article that he is part of an international consortium based in New York that plans a mega-hotel complex for Vieques,” says the report.

The activists quoted a project description for the proposed Sun Bay Resort that calls Vieques “a quasi-deserted Caribbean island” where developers plan on “acquiring approximately 500 acres of land” to build “a 200-room, beach front hotel; a 75-cabin, ecological village; a 45-room hilltop inn; and a 40-room golf club hotel … several restaurants, bars and clubs, an 18-hole golf course, marina facilities, river pools, health and beauty spas, sailing, scuba and equestrian schools, a botanical garden, riding paths and polo fields.”

The Peace and Justice Camp report welcomes the recent establishment of the Community Coalition for Sustainable Development. It concludes in a fighting spirit, stating, “The struggle to control our economy will be fierce and against great odds – as was the struggle to end the military presence. We stopped the bombing and we can also stop the speculators and others who would try to take advantage of this blessed island that belongs, by natural right, to the next generations of Viequenses.”

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

International Notes

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 03:00:00 +0000

Chile: Pinochet trial blocked

Chile’s appeals court has blocked the latest effort to bring former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet to justice for the disappearances and killings of thousands of political opponents including Communist Party members, following the Sept. 11, 1973, coup that overturned the Popular Unity government headed by Salvador Allende.

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the coup, a 23-judge panel voted 15-8 last week to uphold his immunity from prosecution. Observers said the move makes efforts to bring Pinochet to trial on charges of covering up the killings and disappearances much more difficult.

Pinochet’s immunity was canceled three years ago, but later restored when the Supreme Court ruled he was unfit to stand trial because of dementia. In last month’s court case, lawyers for human rights groups said the former dictator demonstrated good mental condition when he recently addressed a meeting of retired generals.

S. Africa: Injured gold miners sue

South African gold companies including AngloGold, Anglo American, Gold Fields and Harmony may be liable for compensation under a class action suit on behalf of miners who contracted lung diseases because of bad ventilation in the mines.

The London-based law firm Leigh, Day says it is responding to a request from the community action group Bond Victims’ Association, by preparing a class action suit similar to that filed against tobacco firms in the U.S. The firm is basing its plans on the victory it helped win earlier this year for victims of South African asbestos mining. Earlier this year, former mining firm Gencor, without accepting any liability, agreed to compensate former workers who suffered asbestos-related illnesses.

Anglo American and Gold Fields are also being sued in the U.S. on charges of complicity with the former apartheid regime’s policies of extreme racist segregation.

China: Wal-Mart urged to unionize

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) says Wal-Mart has ignored its repeated efforts to talk to the retail giant about setting up trade unions for its workers.

“We have contacted Wal-Mart several times since its branch store opened in Beijing in July, but no progress has been made in establishing trade unions,” said localACFTU official Feng Lijun. No trade unions have been formed at other Chinese Wal-Marts, either.

ACFTU officials said Wal-Mart told them it has effective channels to resolve labor disputes, and pointed out that there are no unions at its U.S. stores.

The ACFTU said most foreign-funded supermarkets in Beijing have not established trade unions, which means their workers cannot become members of the ACFTU. Under Chinese law, all workers have the right to join a union, and companies must approve establishment of a union if three or more workers request it.

Brazil: Hundreds of slaves freed

Government inspectors, acting on a tip from a local politician, freed 849 workers being held under slave conditions on a coffee farm in the state of Bahia, the BBC reported last week. The workers had been forced to live in makeshift shelters which gave little protection from heat and rain. Over 70 of them were ill. The inspectors said it was unprecedented to free so many workers in a single operation.

Earlier this year, the government announced a wide-ranging plan to eradicate slave labor in Brazil, including more inspectors, and measures to ensure that farmers found with slave laborers on their property would go to prison as well as paying compensation.

So far this year, inspectors have freed more than 2,000 forced laborers, mostly in the Amazon region. However, many who have treated workers as forced labor are influential ranchers, some of whom have been elected to public office.

Indonesia: Safeguards urged for workers

Following last month’s terrorist bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, the Independent Federation of Tourism Sector Unions (FSPM), last week urged greater protection for tourism sites and tourism industry workers.

Expressing its deepest condolences to families of those wounded or killed, the federation called on the Indonesian police to monitor tourism sites closely to avoid another such tragedy.

In its statement, the FSPM said it “strongly condemns all terrorist acts targeting civilians and regards these as serious crimes for which there can be no justification, and which show no regard for the value of human dignity.”

The federation further called on the owners and management of the JW Marriott “to show concern for the fate of their workers and for their job security,” and to assure workers that their jobs will not be lost or their rights restricted because of the tragedy.

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

50 years later, new plots against Iran

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 02:59:00 +0000

“Regime change” is not a new policy. Fifty years ago, on Aug. 19, 1953, the CIA with British assistance embarked on a similar policy with catastrophic consequences. Its damaging effects are still being felt in the Middle East today.

On that date in 1953 the democratically elected government of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran was violently toppled and replaced by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, heir to the royal throne. The Shah ruled Iran with a savage dictatorship for more than two decades, backed up heavily with U.S. financial aid and arms.

Dr. Mossadegh and his supporters in parliament had nationalized the British-dominated oil industry in 1951. The British government retaliated by launching a vicious international campaign against Iran and encouraged the U.S. to plan Mossadegh’s removal.

When the Cold War ideologues under Dwight Eisenhower took over the White House, the coup plan – “Operation Ajax” – was put into action, crushing any hope for democracy in Iran and the wider Middle East. The bloody coup resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives. Many thousands more were imprisoned or forced to flee the country. Members and supporters of the Tudeh Party of Iran, the main political force campaigning for peace and progress, suffered the brunt of executions and imprisonments. Iran’s democratic development was stopped in its tracks, and its government was directed by the U.S.

Since Operation Ajax, the policy of regime change based on covert and overt interference has become the pattern of imperialist strategy in the region. This policy is deliberately aimed at destroying the possibility of any flourishing grassroots democratic movement and preventing fundamental social development in the countries of the Middle East.

The policy has meant execution and banishment of intellectuals, and the destruction of many democratic and progressive forces. The objective has been to eliminate any internal resistance against the political and economic control of the region by the United States, and to prevent the development of strong, democratic, political alternatives.

The resulting underdevelopment in these societies and the weakening of their progressive forces have facilitated the growth of reactionary religious fundamentalism as a form of backlash against the U.S.-led policies. It must be noted that Osama Bin Laden, along with many other backward religious groups and dictators, were cultivated by the U.S. and its allies in a crusade against progressive movements and political parties.

Now, another “regime change” in Iran is being planned, this time by the Bush administration. Once more the U.S. policy is to engage with some of the most undemocratic elements, i.e., the defunct monarchists in exile. “Pre-emption” is now the pretext to another U.S. incursion into Iran. As in 1953, international conventions and the rights of people for self-determination are violated in order to enhance and safeguard U.S. hegemony in the strategic Middle East.

The growing movement for democracy in Iran, while opposing the ruling dictatorship, is aware of Bush’s bogus claim to support democracy and the destructive threat posed by the warmongers in the White House and Pentagon. Iran’s past experience and the present inhumane nightmare unleashed on the people of Iraq clearly show the consequences of the so-called regime change.

On the anniversary of the 1953 coup a statement signed by a number of prominent intellectuals and political activists in Iran expresses the sentiments of many Iranians: “Our nation remembers how the collusion between the two major powers [the U.S. and Britain], in violation of the UN charter and all international agreements, orchestrated a coup against the legitimate government of Dr. Mossadegh, and forced a corrupt, oppressive and puppet regime on our country. Iranians don’t forget how slogans in defense of freedom and people’s governance were sacrificed in the interests of plundering their national resources.”

Nima Kamran is a correspondent from the Tudeh Party of Iran and can be reached at pww@pww.org

Chile remembers 1973 coup

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 02:55:00 +0000

Chileans are commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fascist coup and the murder of former President Salvador Allende on Sept. 11, 1973, in a variety of ways.

Allende was the first Socialist to win the position of head of state in a country through the peaceful, electoral means in 1970. His government, a left coaltion called Popular Unity, lasted until Sept. 11, 1973, when he was overthrown by a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet in collusion with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

A number of activities have been organized by the 30 Years Initiative Committee. The activities began on Aug. 31 and will culminate on Sept. 12.

The commemoration started with a “Tribute to the Witnesses of History” sponsored by the newspaper El Siglo, and honoring the militants and activists of the parties of the left that fought for the victory of the Popular Unity government and the struggles of Chile’s working class. El Siglo is the weekly of the Communist Party of Chile.

During the activities there will be exhibitions of painting, photography, and sculpture. There will also be exhibitions of publications of that time and documentary films.

On Sept. 7 a seminar titled “Alternatives and the Socialist Perspective in Latin America” will be held, along with a cultural festival. A number of international guests are expected to attend, as well.

On Sept. 11, the anniversary of the coup, there will be a great demonstration featuring a political and cultural program.

The final day of the commemoration will include an official ceremony renaming Santiago’s principal sports and cultural stadium the Victor Jara Stadium. The stadium is where the coup leaders locked up and tortured progressive, labor and left activists. Victor Jara, a very popular singer and a Communist, was among them. According to reports, Jara used his guitar and voice to inspire the prisoners with revolutionary songs, in defiance of their captors. In retaliation, the military broke Jara’s hands and later killed him.

The commemoration of the coup will include other activities, as well, including a youth camp from Sept. 4-11. Delegations from other parts of the world and different regions in Chile will take part in the programs taking place there.