Race, class and Katrina
Refugees flee to a country outside of their own and are afforded the kindness of strangers in a foreign land. African American leaders are making a point of emphasizing that those people left starving and dying of thirst in New Orleans for five days or more after the hurricane were and are not refugees. They are citizens of the USA! With thousands of people in desperate need, why is this an important point?
Rally for locked-out boilermakers
Over 1,000 workers and their families rallied in Meredosia in western Illinois on Labor Day in solidarity with 150 members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 484. The workers, who manufacture glue, resin and adhesives, have been locked out from Celanese Emulsions since June 5. Margaret Blackshere, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin joined them at the rall
Watch out for Citizens Health Care Working Group
As grassroots activists across the country pressure Congress and state capitols for universal, affordable health care, they are in danger of being whacked by a little known congressionally pushed “group.” The dishonestly named Citizens’ Health Care Working Group is a hidden part of the Bush agenda to keep profits in health care.
Barbara Bush relocated: Former first lady moved to new location away from cameras, microphones
Just days after former First Lady Barbara Bush made widely publicized remarks about people made homeless by Hurricane Katrina, the White House said today that Mrs. Bush had been moved to “a new location away from television cameras and microphones.”
Flat world? Friedman on globalization
Thomas Friedman, lead New York Times op-ed writer on international affairs, can drive most any class partisan to pull his or her hair out. Like some preachers who visit a picket line to denounce both corporate greed and picket line militancy, Friedman can be counted upon to plant his feet squarely on both sides of nearly every question.
Teamsters, CWA form airline customer service alliance
The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today announced a proposed alliance to jointly represent passenger service agents at US Airways when the merger of America West and US Airways is completed.
World Notes
Africa: Amnesty says oil firms override human rights; Israel: Soldiers testify about killings; Caribbean: PetroCaribe to save millions; Canada: Locked-out media workers
Major party being iced out in Haiti elections
With the first round of elections set to begin in about eight weeks, Haiti is still not ready to hold free and fair multiparty elections. More than half of Haiti’s population remains unregistered to vote. Further, the country’s largest political party, Famni Lavalas, remains unofficially banned. Local, regional, national and presidential elections are scheduled for Nov. 20, with a runoff on Jan. 3 if needed. click here for Spanish text
Japans Koizumi wins election victory
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) gained a election victory in the Sept. 11 general election by capturing 296 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament.
UN meeting of NGOs hears call to eradicate poverty
UNITED NATIONS — A week before the UN World Summit, the world body convened a meeting of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) designed to give grassroots, civil society input into the global meeting. The three-day summit, which opened here Sept. 14, is the largest gathering of heads of state in history and is intended to set the UN’s future course.
