People Before Profit blog

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dead

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:05:00 +0000

Kim Jong Il, North Korea's leader since 1994, died Dec. 18, Korean state television reported this morning, Korean time.

The ruling Workers Party of Korea hailed Kim's son, Kim Jong Un, as "the great successor to the revolutionary cause," seeming to signal that he would take his father's place. Kim Jong Il himself assumed power in 1994 after the passing of of his father, Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Un was the first listed in the announcement of the 232-member funeral commission set up to deal with the formalities of Kim's passing.

Given the charged geopolitics of the region, it is unclear what Kim's passing means for North Korea's neighbors, as well as the United States, which has been involved in the region since the Korean War.

According to the White House, "President Obama spoke with [South] Korea President Lee Myung-bak to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula."

South Korea placed its military and all government officials on high alert following the announcement from the north, according to its official Yonhap News Agency.

Kim's death came on the eve of a flurry of diplomatic activities in the region, especially a planned bilateral meeting between the U.S. and North Korea in Beijing. There, according to a South Korean official quoted by Yonhap, the North was expected to announce that it would put a moratorium on its uranium enrichment program and allow UN inspectors into the country, in exchange for food aid.

That concession would have paved the way for a resumption in the long stalled six-party talks aimed at resolving the Korean nuclear issue.

The future of the talks now are uncertain.

Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor and former U.S. ambassador to the UN warned that "the situation could become very volatile" in and around the North.

Meanwhile, countries in the region, including China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia called for calm and restraint on behalf of all parties in the region.

Kim's funeral is set for December 28. A 10-day mourning period has been declared.

Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il waves goodbye to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, after a meeting Aug. 24 in Buryatia, in eastern Siberia. The meeting focused on energy deals, economic aid and nuclear disarmament. (Dmitry Astakhov/RIA Novosti/AP)

Chilling discovery: Arctic ice releases deadly greenhouse gas

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:16:00 +0000

Methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, has been found by scientists in deadly, bubbling plumes on the surface of the Arctic Ocean.

The scientists, who were undertaking an extensive survey of the area, were utterly bewildered by the scale and volume of the methane. In particular, the head of the Russian research team studying the East Siberian Arctic Shelf's sea floor for 20 years was completely amazed.

Igor Semiletov, of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he has never witnessed such a drastic uptick in methane. He released his findings a few weeks ago at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

"I was most impressed by the sheer scale and high density of the plumes," said Semiletov. "Earlier, we found torch-like structures like this, but those were only tens of meters in diameter. This is the first time that we've found continuous, powerful, and impressive seeping structures, more than 1,000 meters in diameter. Over a relatively small area, we found 100 [of them]; over a wider area, there should be thousands."

Semiletov went on to describe the methane as "fountains bubbling through the water column and injected directly into the atmosphere from the seabed."

"We carried out checks at about 115 stationary points," he continued, "And discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale - I think on a scale not seen before. Some plumes were a kilometer or more wide, and the emissions went directly into the atmosphere. The concentration was a hundred times higher than normal."

This is part of a large and very environmentally disastrous occurrence. There are enormous amounts of methane gas trapped beneath the Arctic permafrost, scientists say; hundreds of millions of tonnes' worth, in fact.

Currently, Arctic sea ice melts with increasing frequency during the summers - putting wildlife there in danger in the process. Coupled with rising temperatures throughout the entire region, the permafrost (which acts as the protective shell that contains these greenhouse gases) is melting. That means that methane trapped inside could be released into the atmosphere and cause rapid climate change - with potentially devastating consequences.

According to the Telegraph, Cambridge University Professor Peter Wadhams said that - as of now - Arctic ice is shrinking with such rapidity that it could vanish altogether within the space of four years' time. Essentially, by 2015, the report suggested, Arctic ice could be a thing of the past.

Though it would return each winter, its absence the rest of the year would pose a significant threat to - in particular - polar bears, jeopardizing their hunting grounds and actually putting them in real danger of extinction.

The ice's absence would also encourage oil exploration, which companies are already attempting to pursue, despite strong environmental concerns.

"The fall-off in ice volume," said Wadhams, "Is so fast that it is going to bring us to zero very quickly. 2015 is a very serious prediction, and I am pretty much persuaded that that's when it will happen."

Photo via Independent.

Tough on euros, weak on Nazis

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:09:00 +0000

BERLIN - Hurray! Merkel won the day! It took a long night of backroom bargaining, but except for that Tory, David Cameron, all European Union members agreed to save the euro, save the economy, save the world!

It had been on the brink of disaster, Sarkozy warned on the eve of the meeting: "Unless we reach agreement, we will have no second chance!"

German newspapers, full of this arcane story for days and weeks, have scrutinized every furrow in Angela's brow, analyzed every cheek kiss between her and Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin, Paris, Marseilles or Brussels, and waited in cold morning hours. But it was worth all the effort. Or was it?

Picking one's way through the financial gobbledygook about bond interest rates, special funds, ratings and the like, two key words emerged from the earnest conferences and all-night debates. "Austerity" was one, "discipline" the other.

Those "weaker sisters" at Europe's edges, Ireland and Portugal on stormy Atlantic coastlines, Greece on even stormier Aegean cliffs, and maybe crucial Mediterranean states like Spain and Italy as well, simply lacked discipline. German mass media parsed that for their readers: living beyond their means, no proper tax collection, corruption and, in Greece, pure laziness. "And should we risk our good money for those nogoodniks?"

True, these countries failed to meet strict Prussian standards, which may not be any cleaner but at least manage to look that way. And even if the greedy tactics of financiers on Wall Street or in Frankfurt were much the same as those of their Greek, Portuguese or Irish colleagues, they and their governments were far wealthier and less threatened by bankruptcy.

But the blame really should be shared. In Greece, Goldman Sachs led the wolf pack with huge sums of usually derivative assistance; it seemed so generous then - and proved so costly later. Then, too, huge sums went for German arms purchases, like U-boats. Sure, who can predict future relations between Greece and Turkey?

Better play safe, warn German armament dealers, grinning when quarrels boil up over Cyprus or some Aegean island, groaning at any step towards peace; after all, they also hawk U-boats to Turkey.

Even poor Portugal, menaced at worst by high seas, was pushed into big German weapons purchases.

No, Germany does not export only Mercedes, Porsches or Rhine wines. Its weapons sales, from Leopard tanks for Saudi Arabia, submarines for Israel or Heckler & Koch automatics for almost any eager purchaser, surpassed a trillion euros last year, winning it a bronze medal surpassed only by the United States and Russia.

Its big exports, military or less deadly wares from Daimler, Bayer or Siemens, helped it to keep its head above water while others gasped for air - or euros. Its growing economic power somehow seemed visible in Merkel's stance, less good-natured and friendly, more steely and hard-jawed. Now Germany can throw its weight around, in Europe and further, spiting even old mentors and buddies in Washington now becoming rivals.

Earlier limitations disappeared when East Germany was swallowed in 1990. Then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl set the line: "Germany has closed the books on its former history; in the future it can openly declare its role as a world power, a role which now needs expanding." Foreign Minister Kinkel was even clearer: "Two parallel tasks must be mastered: inside our country we must again become a single people, outside it the time has come to achieve something we twice failed to accomplish. In agreement with our neighbors we must find our way to a role corresponding with our desires and our potential. .." His reference to Germany's two time failure, now requiring consummation, was truly scary. A deputy of Merkel's party recently brought this up to date: "Now it's time to talk German in Europe!"

The treaty more or less agreed upon in Brussels would sharply limit deficits, require members to submit their budgets for review by the European Commission and thus make the economy of every European Union country from Estonia to Malta subject to decisions from above, with stiff penalties for straying out of line. That is part of what's meant by "discipline".

What such discipline enforces will be "austerity." Many samples are already available; Portugal, Greece and now Italy must cut their budgets radically to save the euro.

And, as in the United States, the 1 percent may have caused the mess but the 99 percent must pay to clean it up. Higher sales taxes on consumer goods, the boot for thousands of civil service workers, steeper taxes for small home-owners, putting off the pension age, benefit cuts - all that is part of the required austerity.

And when the Greeks objected they got more of the discipline, bad enough with the dismissal of a premier for proposing a democratic referendum but far more painful with batons on their heads, gas in their eyes and cuffs on their wrists. Athens and Oakland have much in common! The formula is simple as A-B-C, like Angela-Boehner-Cantor.

Every fair economist agrees that cutting wages and salaries and attacking pensions are pure poison in rough times. As the Dec. 12 New York Times editorialized: "A pact that binds all members to more austerity in a time of recession is exactly what Europe does not need right now." Nonetheless, it still permits big profits for the big boys, with government help, even in the countries hit hardest but above all in Germany, where more austerity is also in the plans, though not all too loudly or visibly until after the 2013 elections.

This exposes another facet of this many-sided gem. Whenever a country's economy weakens the underpaid, overworked or jobless suffer most. If there is a well-organized Left or a strong union movement it is possible to fight back, even against odds symbolized by pepper spray and plastic cuffs. The Greek, Portuguese and Italian unions have demonstrated real fighting spirit. Where these elements are lacking, or have too often capitulated, growing dissatisfaction can turn to the right, marching with heavy martial boots and blaming the lack of jobs or affordable homes on immigrants frantically seeking asylum from worse misery in their own warmer but far poorer homelands.

Eighty years ago the Jews were blamed. Today it is Algerians, Turks, Arabs or all Muslims, with their minarets, head cloths and "different" names. Or the "Gypsies," for centuries good for a pogrom or two. In one European country after another, extreme rightists have gained strength, either in jacket and tie, mouthing social demands, or else openly flaunting terrifying slogans and gestures from the past. And always attacking "foreigners" and leftists in word and, sometimes, bloody deed. Their advances threaten the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Norway, worst of all, perhaps Hungary, already full of fascist echoes from the past. How well will Franco enthusiasts be represented in Spain's new government? Can Marine Le Pen, more modern but not more moderate than her fascist father, win second or even first place in coming French elections? There is plenty to shudder about!

In Germany the fascistic National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) has won seats in some East German state elections and Berlin boroughs. Yet, usually under four percent, it has not equaled the big gains in other countries. It is present all the same, however, building up local bases and waiting for more German austerity - whose approach is more muffled here than elsewhere but ominously audible just the same.

Those on the left, in and outside the Left party, never ceased warning of this danger, or acting on it. Whenever and wherever Nazi goons marched - they average two, three, even five marches in different areas almost every weekend - they are met by counterdemonstrations, most decisively last February in Dresden, where 18,000 anti-fascists stymied Nazi plans for a rally and a march. For years the left called for a ban on the NPD, so as to cut off the hundreds of thousands, even millions in government subsidies received for their election results - their main financial source. A ban would also remove the avid protection they get when they march and spread anti-foreigner hate propaganda. An attempt to ban them in 2003 failed; so many agents of the Verfassungsschutz (Constitutional Protection agency, like the FBI) were in leading NPD positions that a court trial was impossible without exposing the agents - and their active roles. The government backed down. It has continued to treat NPD men and their allied thugs like decent citizens. Or else "nasty right extremists" were balanced against equally "nasty left extremists". The most hostile attention was always directed leftwards.

Suddenly this crumbled. Two Nazi terrorists died in an explosion, a third one, a woman, surrendered to the police. They and their accomplices had murdered ten Turkish and Greek retail dealers in past years, also a policewoman, they injured 22 people with a bomb blast, carried out bank robberies and tried to wreck a synagogue. They had never been caught. Then more accomplices were arrested and new facts divulged. Hitherto oblivious politicians suddenly discovered loudly how much they opposed rightwing extremism and mourned the victims of Nazi hatred whom they had hitherto not cared about in the least. All in all over 180 people had been killed by right-wingers in 20 years while the authorities preferred to attack the left, some of whose unrulier advocates (or were they provocateurs of the police) occasionally threw bottles and stones at Nazis - or maybe at cops protecting them.

It was soon evident that the Verfassungsschutz, charged with monitoring terror, with at least 130 agents often in leadership positions in the NPD, which had clear ties to the Nazi thug scene, somehow failed to prevent, report or even notice the killings, which all went unpunished. Nor had they found the perpetrators, who were hardly unknown in their home territories.

Despite the surprised shock in the media and most parties, this was hardly news. Like the Intelligence Service (for foreign spying) the Verfassungsschutz had been run for years largely by Nazis. Its president from 1955 to 1972 was Hubert Schruebbers, a Nazi Party member and vicious prosecutor who sent Jews and anti-Nazis to prison, concentration camp and to their death. His hatred of Communists obviously got him the job after the war regardless of his past. His vice-president from 1951 to 1964, formerly a Nazi colonel, had taken part in deportations of Jews; other top managers had been active SS or Gestapo men in Holland, Poland, the USSR, France and Norway, often with great experience - in torture and murder. These men died off, but their followers often maintained traditions and connections, also when, after reunification, West Germans moved in to teach East Germans about democracy.

In the first days after the murders (and probable cover-up) came to light, all parties agreed that the NPD must be banned. But gradually doubts arose: states run by Christian Democrats are not eager to withdraw their secret agents in the NPD. They are dragging their feet. But if a second attempt to ban the party loses in the courts it would be a big boost for the Hitlerites.

Broad generalizations about ruling parties in Germany are risky. But there is a long historical tradition, not only in Germany: in times of great stress the economic powers-that-be always prefer the extreme right which does not threaten their property, stock portfolios and bonuses over the left which does threaten them. This new euro agreement will hardly prevent such stress nor protect that lower 99 percent of the population. It is already doing the opposite, with each country citing cuts pushed through in weaker neighbor countries to justify new cuts of its own, thus pushing down the entire European level. And austerity requires discipline - also the violent kind mentioned above.

Who are the powers-that-be? A major contender for one title would be Josef Ackermann, CEO of the Deutsche Bank, with his 9.6 million euro income (2009). He just hit the headlines because of a letter bomb was addressed to him - allegedly from an obscure Italian anarchist group. This temporarily pushed the Nazi killer story from the headlines; yes, we were back to left extremists again. The bomb, discovered before it could hurt anyone, came at such an appropriate moment that it even caused cautious skepticism among some cynics.

But Ackermann's Deutsche Bank does deserve attention. It was one of the prime lenders to Greece, not far behind Goldman Sachs. It was also a major player in the mortgage-foreclosure racket in the USA, a cause and a winner in the whole recession misery. Few in the media liked to recall that the Deutsche Bank was a main player in World War One finances, then a key supporter of Hitler's rise to power, a profiteer from the occupation of most of Europe and a direct investor in the Auschwitz death camp. It now employs 100,000 people in all the world and is not only powerful in Germany. Its close ties to Angela Merkel became embarrassingly visible three years ago when it was learned that she had treated Ackermann to a luxurious private birthday party in her headquarters in Berlin, comparable to the White House, and with about twenty-five select friends chosen by him.

Though Swiss, he is surely the most powerful man in Germany and beyond; she is still the most powerful woman, now in most of Europe. The close cooperation and collusion between these two, with a European crisis still threatening and a right wing reserve in the background, make one wish devoutly that all on the left, now with new Occupy models, can move forward. They are now and could well be even more urgently needed in the years ahead.

Latin American labor making gains

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:13:00 +0000

TIJUANA, Mexico - The 8th U.S./Cuba/Mexico Latin American Labor Conference took place in Tijuana, Baja California, within sight of the U.S. border, December 2-4, with the entire event live streamed over the Internet.

Some 80 participants attended from the U.S., Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and Uruguay.

It was preceded by a three-day Worker's School for some 26 intercontinental labor activists, taught by Heriberto González del Valle, a youthful professor at the Lázaro Peña National School for Union Cadres in Havana, Cuba.

Conferees took note of the accelerating trend, in recent years, of economic integration in Latin America.

For U.S. attendees the conference offered a rare opportunity to interact with Cuban counterparts.

The opening panel featured Dr. Raymundo Navarro Fernández, member of the Secretariat of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, who spoke on the effect of the global economic crisis in his country.

He discussed some of the tough problems Cuba must deal with and how those have necessitated some changes in the country's labor and social policies,

Two factors must always be kept in mind, he said: the devastating impact of the U.S. blockade, and the annual necessity to budget for inevitable hurricane damage. A third factor today, he said, is the shift in global market prices: Nickel and sugar, two of Cuba's vital exports, are down, while imported oil and food are up.

He also discussed how social progress can sometimes lead to new problems that have to be addressed. For Cuba, as elsewhere, he noted, the emancipation of women hasw resulted in smaller families. In addition, Cuba's excellent healthcare system has created life expectancies on a par with the world's most advanced countries.

With a smaller and aging population, and over 50 percent of all workers in the service sector, there are now fewer workers, only 10 percent, actually producing the goods necessary for an acceptable standard of living for the other 90 percent of the population.

Privately tilled land will produce greater yield, and there are now some 181 officially recognized professions which Cubans can practice in the private sector. The country has to balance the need to deal with economic realities with its aim of maintaining its commitment to socialism at home and solidarity with struggling workers and their allies abroad.

With some 8 million affiliated members, the Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras do Brasil is but one of six trade union councils in South America's economic powerhouse, Brazil. The Tijuana conference also heard from João Batista, an officer of the CTB and of the Encuentro Sindical Nuestra América.

In order to be understood by his audience, he spoke in a charmingly spontaneous mash-up he called "Portuñol."

Some 40 million Brazilian workers in the six labor federations are working toward a common program of action, he reported. Batista insisted that the crisis of global capitalism offers no solutions within the capitalist framework.

Globally, the system would need to create 80 million jobs just to return to the status quo ante, and that is not happening. The strategy of capitalism worldwide, he said, is to dismantle working people's standard of living, an approach that has inevitably brought about the most meaningful resistance seen for many decades.

For those of us in the U.S., it was gratifying to hear Batista confirm that the Occupy movement has brilliantly shown the world that "U.S. imperialism" also affects the 99 percent at home. Latin American growth rates in the last decade are directly tied to greater autonomy from U.S. banks and financial institutions.

A UAW member from Detroit, Martha Grevatt, spoke movingly about the U.S. domestic crisis, citing her hometown as "the poster child for a sick capitalist society that puts profit before human needs."

Other presenters, including the Cananea miners' strike in Mexico and the Mexican electricians union, both now under heavy attack, filled out the program. Cuba's Gilda Chacón, represented the CTC and the World Federation of Trade Unions.

At break times between sessions, attendees could watch a live feed from the founding congress in Caracas of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, an alternative to the Organization of American States. For many, the highpoint was watching presiding officer Hugo Chávez of Venezuela recite the titles of the many resolutions on a variety of political and social issues adopted at the congress. With a smack of his gavel, after each one he called out, "Aprobado." Approved!

What impressed many at the conference was what they saw as the depth of commitment among participants to developing creative, flexible, and humane approaches to socialist development.

Russian Communists make big gains in elections

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:52:00 +0000

Results of Russia's Dec. 4 parliamentary elections have upended the United Russia party's dominance of the government. They foreshadow new challenges to current Prime Minister - and presidential hopeful - Vladimir Putin in advance of March presidential elections.

United Russia's former two-thirds majority is now just 53 percent. By contrast, its closest challenger, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, has posted big gains, winning nearly 20 percent of seats, up from less than 12 percent in 2007.

Many observers say only pervasive fraud kept United Russia's losses from being far worse. Videos showing violations went viral on the Internet, fueling protests including a thousands-strong rally in downtown Moscow.

There and in St. Petersburg, police arrested hundreds of demonstrators protesting the wholesale stuffing of ballot boxes and other violations.

In one video cited by The New York Times, an election observer caught an official at a Moscow polling place sitting at his desk, marking ballots. In another, observers from an opposition party showed that the ink in pens in voting booths was easily erasable. In a third, observers caught a group carrying multiple ballots marked for United Russia in bags under their clothes.

Election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) cited overall concerns about lack of separation between the government and United Russia, and election administrators' lack of independence.

The Just Russia party said it would investigate ballot box stuffing in St. Petersburg, said to involve pre-marked ballots. The independent Russian election monitor, Golos, said it had logged over 7,000 cases of fraud, and reported that its web site had been felled by a cyber attack.

Despite the Communist Party of the Russian Federation's gains, CPRF head Gennady Zyuganov called the elections "unprecedented in their filth, pressure and falsification." He said the CPRF will now insist on a greater role in running the government, including naming of a party member as parliament's deputy speaker.

In a statement, the CPRF said the campaign was "fierce and riddled with gross violations of the law by the authorities, anti-Communist pronouncements and numerous cases of vote rigging. We were confronted by the state machine of Russia, its bureaucratic apparatus, and not the political party that calls itself United Russia."

The CPRF said it had also gained in regional elections around the country.

The CPRF's election program calls for ensuring national security, shifting from economic decline to accelerated development, and overcoming poverty and social degradation. Near-term priorities include renewed industrialization, special concern for agriculture, greater interaction between science and production, supporting children and youth, improving health and education, and "a new cultural upsurge."

Trying to put a good face on things, Putin told supporters at United Russia headquarters that the election results show "we can assure the stable development of the country." But the pervasive election violations have only reinforced the widespread view that United Russia is "the party of thieves and crooks."

Vladimir Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as Russia's president, serving from 2000 through early 2008. Since then he has served as prime minister. He now seeks to return to the presidency in the March elections.

Photo: Russian Communist Party supporters protest election fraud, Moscow, Russia, Dec. 5. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Latin American, Caribbean unity group forms in Caracas

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:23:00 +0000

Arriving in Caracas Dec. 2 for a two-day inaugural meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations (CELAC), Cuban President Raul Castro told reporters that, "For the first time in history we will have an organization of Our America...It [may] be the greatest happening in 200 years of Latin American and Caribbean semi-independence."

Cuban national hero Jose Marti once labeled all territory between Texas's Rio Grande River and Tierra del Fuego as "Our America."

Heads of states and their ministers were on hand to establish an organization of 33 nations to promote regional integration, the common good and survival in a crisis-filled world. CELAC takes up the unification cause that had languished since the failure in 1826 of liberator Simon Bolivar's Congress of Panama.

Canada and the United States are the only Western Hemisphere nations not part of CELAC. CELAC proponents say participation of U.S. allies Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Chile testify to the group's wide appeal.

Delegates were upbeat. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff asserted, "Never before have we had such a great opportunity for this continent to have an important international role." Colombia's María Emma Mejía, secretary general of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), agreed: "Latin America is living through an unprecedented political, economic and cultural renaissance and presents today as an example for the world."

Rousseff pointed out that economic growth in Latin America surpasses that in Europe and the United States. Indeed, Latin America, with 550 million people, has world's largest petroleum reserves and 30 percent of its fresh water. It's the world's largest food-producing region.

Observers credit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil as the main promoters of CELAC. An inaugural summit set for July 2011 had been postponed to December due to illness suffered by Chavez.

CELAC leaders approved a 39-point "Declaration of Caracas." According to Article 28, CELAC is "the only mechanism of dialogue and reconciliation that 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries subscribe to and the highest expression of the will for unity within diversity." Article 23 called for "respect for international law, peaceful solutions of controversies, prohibition against the use of force, self determination, sovereignty, territorial integrity, non interference in internal affairs and protection and promotion of all human rights and democracy." CELAC will provide "instruments to guarantee the implantation of all this."

The document pays homage to the present bicentennial year of independence from Spain, sustainable development, a "multi-polar and democratic world" and "all cultures, races and ethnic groups." It denounces foreign military occupations. Article 13 lauds independent Haiti's contribution to Latin American liberation in the early 19th century.

CELAC promulgated a "Caracas 2011 Action Plan." Plans were laid for working groups and conferences to deal at regional and sub-regional levels with issues like the international financial crisis, new Latin American financial institutions and tools (including a Latin American and Caribbean system of preferential tariffs), environmental protection, economic development and sustainability. CELAC set up mechanisms for regional cooperation in telecommunications, commercial transportation, protection of migrants and dealing with hunger, poverty and illiteracy,

CELAC was years in the making, beginning with the Contadora group in the 1980's and formation in 1986 of the integrationist Rio Group, which included 23 countries before giving way to CELAC. The Summit on Latin American and Caribbean Integration and Development (CALC), formed in 2008, served as CELAC's immediate predecessor,

Preparations for the CELAC founding summit began in earnest at a 2010 CALC meeting in Mexico. Over the following year, 15 ministerial level meetings took place in various Latin American locations. Individual meetings were dedicated to one of the issues the "Caracas 2012 Action Plan" would be dealing with.

CELAC will reconvene in Chile in 2012, in Cuba in 2013, and in Costa Rica in 2014. CELAC leaders regard the Cuba meeting as making amends for Cuba's U.S. instigated exclusion from the Organization of American States (OAS). The United States launched the OAS in 1948 to pursue its anticommunist agenda in Latin America. Chilean journalist Ernesto Carmona spoke for many in predicting, "With time, CELAC will end up nullifying the anachronistic OEA."

In fact, Raúl Zibechi's message seemed to resonate at the CELAC assembly. The Uruguayan analyst had noted earlier, "The creation of CELAC is part of a global and continental shift, characterized by the decline of U.S. hegemony and the rise of a group of regional blocs that form part of the new global balance."

Photo: Chavez and Lula, who began the push for the current phase of Latin American integration. chavezcandanga // CC 2.0

Latin Americans support UN in condemning violence against women

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:33:00 +0000

Ken Jones, member of a recent School of the Americas Watch delegation to Haiti, listened to "first-hand accounts of what's been happening, especially in the tent camps that still remain, two years after the earthquake ... So many are on the receiving end of systemic poverty, rape, and violence... The camps usually have very little food, no electricity, no health care and often not even water or toilets."

Similar stories caused the United Nations General Assembly in 1999 to establish November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Every year, from that date until Human Rights Day on December 10, governments and human rights groups are supposed to be campaigning for increasing resources and public awareness aimed at ending violence against women.

UN Women founding Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean president, released a commemorative message, saying, "We will not rest until women and girls enjoy equal opportunity and the rights and dignity to which they are entitled, and can live free of discrimination and violence." She noted that "six out of ten women will experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime... Worldwide up to 50 percent of sexual assaults are committed against girls under the age of 16."

The international movement opposing anti-women violence has Latin American and Caribbean origins. A 1981 women's rights convention in Colombia set November 25 as a day dedicated to ending violence against women. That day was selected to honor the three Mirabel sisters in the Dominican Republic, whom agents of the Trujillo dictatorship killed on November 25, 1960. The United Nations General Assembly issued a declaration against violence towards women in 1993 and six years later institutionalized the International Day.

The regional background for the International Day lends a bittersweet quality to Latin American and Caribbean commentary on November 25.

Women's rights campaigner Lourdes Contreras, interviewed November 25 in Santo Domingo, demanded that her government declare a "national emergency" in view of 211 women killed so far this year. The Dominican Republic, she said, vies with Mexico and Guatemala for Latin America's highest rates for anti-women violence and killings. She blamed the government for failing to keep adequate statistics on anti-women violence, for tolerating judicial processes contributing to impunity, and for refusing to establish violence against women as a specific crime. She called upon men to appreciate women's new roles in the labor force and to respect women's reproductive rights.

In Honduras, National Front for Popular Resistance activist Ana María Sosa, told an interviewer on November 25 that family violence doesn't account for all killings. Poverty is up, she explained, and women and children are its chief victims. And since the coup that removed elected president Jose Manuel Zelaya in 2009, "margins between what is or is not acceptable are blurred, and impunity prevails." Power relationships must change, she said: "We have to do more politically but politics has to begin in the house ... The man has to understand that he is as oppressed as the woman."

Cuba is marking the 16 days leading up to Human Rights Day with conferences and workshops. Susan McDade, head United Nations representative in Cuba, commended Cuba for advancing gender equality. At the same commemorative gathering on November 25, Cuban Women's Federation representative Mayda Alvarez highlighted dangers to women everywhere from exploitation, hunger, and war.

Writing from Cuba, Inter Press Service reporter Patricia Grogg reports the television soap opera "Under the Same Sun" has pushed the issue of anti-women violence into public consciousness. She tells how on the show, "The tall, burly husband beats his wife, who gradually leaves behind her passive vulnerability and starts to react, with the help of a friend." This popular television program "is stirring debate inside and outside the home," writes Grogg. She suggests that with violence against women on the agenda of the Cuban Communist Party's upcoming national conference, new initiatives may be forthcoming.

Photo: Cuban woman. Bert 23 // CC 2.0