People Before Profit blog

Big Oil may rob Canada of jobs

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Canada could soon face a major blow to its economic stability: oil. As the country continues to develop Alberta's oilsands and Prime Minister Stephen Harper reaches out to Chinese oil companies, there is growing concern that Canada is rapidly becoming a petro-state. And in this shift, manufacturing jobs are disappearing.

Canada's recent push for the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would deliver oil from Alberta to the nation's west coast, where it would be sent to China, has drawn strong criticism from environmental activists and workers. Fuel from Canada's tar sands is blamed for being a major contributor to climate change.

In the U.S., President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline in the interest of environmental protection. Given these factors, Harper is looking to government-owned oil companies in China, Common Dreams reports, for Canada's fossil fuel needs, after expressing he felt as though he were being "held hostage" by U.S. interests.

As Canada is increasingly subjected to Big Oil, so it - and its manufacturing sector - will suffer, economists predict. In fact, the fallout from bedfellowship with oil companies is already plain to see, many believe.

"Ontario is probably the province that has suffered the most from this," says University of Ottawa economist Serge Coulombe. "The biggest losers are typically [those] who had all those great jobs in manufacturing, much like in the U.S."

In a report conducted by Coulombe and other researchers, it was discovered that dirty oil money was to blame for at least 42 percent of job losses between 2002 and 2007. That translates to about 140,000 manufacturing jobs out the window as a result of the oilsands development.

From there, said Coulombe, it gets worse: manufactured exports dropped another 12.6 percent between the second quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2011.

The manufacturing sector will continue to be riddled with job loss if irresponsible oil pursuits are allowed to continue, he warns. Consumers, farmers, and non-oil producing industries will also feel the troublesome effects of Big Oil, through inflation and gas prices at the pump.

Over the past two years, China has invested about $15 billion in Alberta's oilsands. If the Canadian crude - rated some of the dirtiest in the world - was delivered to China via the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, say critics, it would travel through extremely environmentally sensitive areas. Should an accident occur, the results would be devastating.

Economist Robyn Allan notes, "Right now, 95 percent of the oil is in Alberta, but 75 percent of manufacturing jobs are in Ontario and Quebec. If you have a policy that deliberately supports Alberta at the expense of Eastern Canada, then you're stretching the national fabric.

"The jobs are not there; the benefits to Canada are not there. We are going to experience even more upward pressure on the Canadian dollar, and even more intense division between Eastern and Western Canada."

Many economists agree that Canada should maintain a competitive manufacturing industry, as "resource booms don't last forever." They could also invest in green energy.

"Canada is not what it used to be," said Todd Paglia, executive director with ForestEthics, an environmental group calling for international boycotts on tars ands oil. "It's hard to believe, but it's tilting toward becoming more of an authoritarian petro state, positioning itself as a resource colony for China."

Photo: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and wife Laureen arrive at Capital International Airport in Beijing. Harper visited China to discuss oil sales and economic ties. Alexander F. Yuan/AP

Intense protests rock Patagonian Chile

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:04:00 +0000

Aysen protest groups coalesced under the slogan "Aysen, your problem is my problem." The government in Santiago received their demands on February 25. They are: accessible health care, increased minimum wage, reinstatement of dismissed public workers, a just pension system, local approval of "mega projects," accessible university education, regional control of natural resources, empowerment of independent fishermen, subsidies for food, transportation, and fuel purchases, and policies protecting a "regionalized way of life."

Isolation is at the root of most demands. Mountainous, wet, and non- agricultural Aysen is accessible only by sea or air. Living expenses are high.

Culminating a year of Chile's most intense popular mobilizations since military rule ended in 1990, residents of Aysen, 1250 miles south of Santiago and 500 miles north of Tierra del Fuego, have been occupying streets and blocking highways. Beginning with independent fishermen on February 12, demonstrators in Aysen, Puerto Aysen, and Coyhaique have faced off against a government widely regarded as a regional bastion of globalized capitalism, one bolstered by ample military and police power.

The pace quickened after February 20 with daily demonstrations of up to 2000 people playing out in large towns. Aysen region's population is 90,000. Militarized police known as "Carabineros," flown in from afar, delivered tear gas, buckshot, and rubber bullets. Dozens have been wounded. A standoff February 24 at Ibañez Bridge near Aysen city between 3000 demonstrators and Carabineros lasted eleven hours.

The stage was set during 2011. Early that year social movements in adjourning Magellanes region protested high gas prices and overly centralized government. And students often joined by unionists repeatedly mobilized tens or hundreds of thousands of marchers demanding education for all, electoral system changes, and attention to people, not profits.

Indigenous people ("Mapuche" in Chile) protesting extreme poverty and corporate takeovers of ancestral land ended up in jail, a few of them on hunger strikes.

In Aysen, environmentalists and Mapuche protesters last year anticipated the current campaign with broadly supported agitation against eight hydroelectric dams proposed for the region. Swiss, Italian, Spanish, and Chilean corporations are behind a mega-project costing $5 billion for five dams which will flood 15,000 acres of pristine forestland. Cables would route electricity to Santiago and northern copper mines. Only in response to later complaints of high local electricity costs did planners envision mini-generators for Aysen.

Instead of sending certain ministers to Aysen for dialogue, as requested by the protesters, President Sebastián Piñera's right wing government identified regional Intendant Pilar Cuevas as government negotiator. Local people, Puerto Aysen Mayor Marisol Martinez included, were incensed.

Not only is Cuevas accused of ties to ex-dictator Pinochet, but also her role epitomizes the much-despised centralization of Chilean state power. The Intendant, routinely appointed as top official in under-populated provinces, is responsible to the president making the appointment. Demonstrators also denounced Piñera's government after Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter threatened a "state of siege." He's the author of a still-pending law aimed at criminalizing peaceful protests.

Labor unions, Mapuche organizations, leftist political organizations, and Amnesty International back the Aysen uprising. AI's Chilean representative Ana Piquer critiqued the government's "excessive use of force." Copper workers union head Cristian Cuevas, visiting in Aysen, announced "a great national movement supporting regional demands in Chile" and "a nationwide outpouring of support for Aysen from labor and human rights organizations." This last took place on February 27.

On February 22, Communist parliamentary deputy Hugo Gutiérrez visited Teófilo Haro in a Santiago Hospital. Haro, from Aysen, was hospitalized following loss of one eye at the hands of Carabineros. The next day at midnight in Aysen, Gutierrez and Catholic Bishop Luis Infanti de la Mora attempted to mediate between demonstrators and police. On February 24 in Coyhaique, Gutiérrez and Communist Party secretary Juan Catalán lodged a criminal complaint against Intendant Pilar Cuevas and other officials for police violence.

Catalán ran for mayor of Coyhaique recently for the Communist Party of Chile, which this year celebrates its 100 year anniversary.

Aysen Bishop Infanti de la Mora took the government to task in an interview: "This lack of [government] attention is the major violence to the Aysen region." "Not only are they privatizing our wealth, but also decisions, dignity, and consciences of our people."

His diocese operates Coyhaique-based Radio Santa Maria, much lauded for full, accurate reporting on the protests. According to piensachile.com, the station provides "a lesson for colleagues in Santiago." Reporter Claudia Torres has become "a symbol for alternative radio by directly transmitting what's happening in Aysen."

Map: Aysen region, Chile. Wikimedia Commons.

Woman who slapped chancellor nominated for German presidency

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:46:00 +0000

Germany's 1,240-member federal assembly will soon elect a new president. The nominee of the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Greens, and Libertarians is Joachim Gauck, whose claim to fame was that he was a staunchly pro-Western town mayor when the eastern part of Germany constituted the German Democratic Republic. He was also a ringleader in the post-unification witch-hunts of people considered to have been too friendly to the GDR when they were citizens of that country.

The Left - the only federally elected party not invited to Chancellor Angela Merkel's search for a consensus candidate - announced its candidate today: human rights activist Beate Klarsfeld.

The German head of state is a symbolic figure lacking real political power. The power to govern lies with the chancellor.

Singer Nina Hagen summed up the sentiment of many Germans this morning when she posted on Facebook: "The office of the federal president is superfluous, a feudal relic for authority-craving Germans."

Officials in the GDR had apparently agreed. East Germany abolished the office in 1960.

Still, the German press regards the office as representative of the nation's conscience. It is perhaps for this reason that The Left voted unanimously today to give its 120 votes to a woman with a reputation for tracking down Nazi war criminals around the world.

She has responded publically and gratefully to the party's endorsement.

In 1966 Klarsfeld was fired from the Franco-German Youth office for writing in a French newspaper that then West German Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger "has earned a reputation in the lines of the brown shirts just as good as in those of the CDU." (The CDU is the Christian Democratic Union, the then-chancellor's party and the party of the current chancellor, Angela Merkel.)

During the Hitler years, Kiesinger was a leading official in the infamous Nazi propaganda ministry under Joseph Goebbels.

At the 1968 Christian Democratic Union's national convention in Berlin, a journalist gave Klarsfeld his press pass. With a reporter's notepad in hand, Klarsfeld walked onto the stage, called Chancellor Kiesinger a Nazi, and slapped him in the face.

That same evening Klarsfeld was sentenced to a year in prison in a mini-trial. Her sentence was later reduced to four months. Klarsfeld recently explained that she had to slap Kiesinger in the face because assaulting the chancellor any other way would not have had the same symbolic effect. The following year, Klarsfeld ran for Bundestag against Kiesinger as a direct candidate in his home district.

In 1971, Klarsfeld and her husband tried to kidnap Kurt Lischka and take him to France to be tried for the deaths of 76,000 French Jews.

For this, Klarsfeld would be sentenced to another two months in prison while the war criminal walked free until 1980.

In 1987, she managed to convince German prosecutors to try veteran Nazi Klaus Barbi as a war criminal.

In 1991, she fought to have war criminal Alois Brunner tried in Paris in absentia. Beate's efforts were documented in the television movie Nazi Hunter: the Beate Klarsfeld Story, where she was played by Farrah Fawcett.

She is cofounder of the Sons and Daughters of Deported French Jews. Klarsfeld has been honored by three French presidents, but has remained a taboo figure in her native Germany ever since assaulting the chancellor.

The office of the federal presidency has been vacant since Christian Wulff resigned earlier this month amid a minor financial scandal.

Snubbed by Merkel, The Left decided last week to run its own candidate, just as it had done in 2010. The "Nazi Hunter" Klarsfeld will be the only candidate opposing "Stasi Hunter" Joachim Gauck.

The federal assembly convenes on March 18^th to elect a president.

Photo: "Beate Klarsfeld (2nd from left) and Serge Klarsfeld (right) along with former concentration camp inmates during a demonstration of 2000 French Jews in Cologne, Germany, Jan. 31, 1980, for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals facing trial there. Banner in background reads "Justice for the Jews of France." Protestors wear the striped uniforms they were forced to wear in the camps." Herbert Knosowski/AP

Natural resources exploitation in Latin America violates human rights

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Iván Cepeda wrote to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in February about Colombia's Argos cement corporation. Colombian congressperson Cepeda, who leads the MOVICE human rights group, was testifying as to the dangers of corporate dominion over natural resources. He's part of a growing movement of Latin Americans who reject exploitation of water, land, minerals, and oil on grounds that human rights are being abused, in addition to national wealth being commandeered by the already rich.

In the process of acquiring 31.3 thousand acres, Argos, fifth largest cement producer in Latin America, sixth largest in the United States, used paramilitary groups to force farm families off land thereby expediting land transfers.

Currently, big mining operations in Latin America are facing a wave of strikes, marches, and demonstrations. Local people are resisting land takeovers and degradation of forests and waterways. In Panama, for example, two protesters died recently as the indigenous Ngabe Buglé protested government plans to remove trees from 12,500 acres to get at copper reserves estimated at 17 million tons.

In Argentina, renewed struggle over environmental contamination at the Bajo La Alumbrera copper and gold mine, the nation's largest open pit operation, left 24 wounded, and dozens arrested. The owner is Swiss and Canadian financed Xstrata Corporation. After several years of protests against the Canadian-owned Famatina gold mine, residents of nearby La Rioja recently blocked mine access for over three weeks as solidarity demonstrations spread nationwide.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala declared a state of emergency in Dec. 2011, when local mobilizations forced work stoppage at the $5 billion open pit Conga copper and gold mine in northern Peru. Arriving in Lima on February 17, the "Great National March for Water" protested contamination and entrapment of water at the mine. Conga is an extension of the nearly Yanacocha operation, the world's second largest gold mine. Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corporation controls both.

Uruguayan analyst Raul Zibechi believes, "Struggle for wealth held in common is first on the agenda" for Latin American progressives. He applauds "citizen assemblies that block giant businesses enjoying state support." Zibechi notes Paraguayan resistance to mostly Brazilian landowners who converted millions of acres of forest land to soya plantations. For Paraguay, the cost of becoming the world's fourth largest soy producer is irreversible soil damage and displaced populations.

According to an Oxfam International report released late last year, "In developing countries, as many as 227 million hectares of land - an area the size of Western Europe - has been sold or leased since 2001, mostly to international investors."

Corporations, both independent and government-affiliated, and governments themselves buy or lease land to ensure food supplies, plant industrial forests, and produce biofuels. The toll, says Oxfam, includes human rights violation, environmental abuse, and undermining of sovereignty. To cut back on foreign land takeovers, Argentina recently restricted foreign ownership to 15 percent of its territory and curtailed property extensions.

In November 2011, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on land deals in Latin America and the Caribbean. While 32 countries worldwide account for 90 percent of land susceptible to large-scale acquisition, 16 of them are in Africa, eight in Latin America. The report casts Brazil and Argentina as the region's "two top land grabbing sites." Generally, "The role of the state in facilitating land deals for the most part is central in the process."

According to the Oxfam study, "Colombia through the quality of its land and water is one of the world's countries most vulnerable" to land grab. Oxfam South America coordinator Asier Hernando Malax characterized "the land situation in Colombia as the most worrisome in the world, with the most unequal access to land." According to terra.com, "Illegal groups like paramilitaries have stolen 31 million acres from family farmers and indigenous peoples." Colombia's land surface totals 285 million acres.

Via Campesina, the global alliance espousing food sovereignty, submitted a declaration on land to the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council, meeting in Geneva February 20-24, 2012. Via Campesina diagnoses general disregard for the human rights of the world's rural poor. Main points of the declaration are:

*"Sure access to and control over land and its productive resources are [tied] to enjoyment of rights consecrated in the Declaration of Human Rights and relevant international treaties."

*"The current phenomenon of land hoarding undermines these rights."

*"Hunger [worldwide] predominates in rural areas."

*"We urge the international community including development agencies and the United Nations to change policies so as to contribute to the full realization of rights for subsistence farmers and other rural workers.

*"Creation of a new instrument inside the international human rights system for protecting rural peoples is crucial."

Former IMF head Strauss-Kahn probed for ties to prostitution, pimping

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:44:00 +0000

Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been arrested and released again, this time in connection with a prostitution scandal.

It seems the once aspirant for the French presidency has been accused of being connected with orgies involving prostitutes in Washington D.C. and Paris.

Strauss-Kahn was accused of raping an immigrant hotel worker in New York in 2011.

USA Today writes, "Eight people have been arrested in the case, including a police commissioner. The allegation is that the money for the prostitutes came from the corporate funds of a major French construction company. The French company apparently was publicly owned.

A lawyer for the defendant said his client may not have known he was with prostitutes. "In these parties, you're not necessarily dressed. I defy you to tell the difference between a nude prostitute and a nude woman of quality," the lawyer told the Telegprah.

Making matters worse, pimping may have been involved, with the pimp being a cop. The wealthy banker "was also to be quizzed by France's police internal affairs department, the IGPN, which is conducting a separate inquiry into a senior officer, Commissioner Jean-Christophe Lagarde, who has been charged with pimping."

Meanwhile a hearing in the civil suit filed by the Nafissatou Diallo will be held on March 15th.

The trial date for the French affair is March 28th.

Does any one think the powerful French financier will be able to buy his way out of this new prostitution scandal?

Photo: Dominique Strauss-Kahn. l'Humanité

U.S. ally Qatar propped up by exploited immigrant workers

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:57:00 +0000

Qatar is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, yet the majority of its population are immigrant workers who are harshly exploited with few rights.

Thousands of these exploited immigrants will be working on massive construction projects in Qatar to prepare for the 2022 World Cup, the premier event for the world's most popular sport - soccer, known globally as football. Qatari leaders hope it will make the country a tourist focal point. As part of its successful bid to host the event, Qatar pledged to build nine new stadiums and refurbish three others within the next 10 years. It will also be spending billions on infrastructure upgrades.

But the International Trade Union Confederation, Building and Wood Workers International and the Swiss union Unia have told soccer's international governing body, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), that unless Qatar upholds labor rights, the world trade union movement will campaign against the World Cup being held there.

Leaders of the three labor bodies met with FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke last fall to inform him of this.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said the union confederation "has made it clear to FIFA that the international union movement will not accept people working to build stadiums without respect for workers' rights."

"Migrant workers in Qatar have no labour rights, wages are exploitative and occupational health and safety risks are extreme. Qatar is a country wanting to gain acceptance from the global community of governments but refuses to acknowledge their treatment of migrant workers," Burrow said. If this "extremely wealthy nation" wants to host such a major international event, "we expect civilized treatment of workers," she said.

An extensive report titled "Hidden Faces of the Gulf Miracle," published last year by the ITUC, presents shocking information about the conditions of workers in Qatar and its Persian Gulf neighbor Dubai.

Of Qatar's 1.7 million residents, only 200,000 are native Qataris. Only 6 percent of the workforce is Qatari. Some immigrants are company owners and managers. But the country's economy and vast wealth - for a minority at the top - is dependent on the labor of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers mostly from south Asia, the Philippines and more recently East Africa, the report says.

This "army" of workers has been lured from developing countries to the oil-rich nations of the Gulf "on a promise of fat wages," says the report. When they arrive, they find the pay is much less than promised and is often issued months late.

And the conditions are slave-like:

"Far from the air-conditioned malls and beachfront condos, they inhabit overcrowded barrack-like housing, in sprawling, dust-clogged, male-only suburbs.

"Bussed home exhausted after long hours working in often blistering heat, the men are squeezed into up to ten to a room in company accommodation. Food is basic, sanitation often rudimentary and air-conditioning when it exists is sometimes ineffectual when summer temperatures soar over 40˚C (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

"Many work at dangerous jobs with little or no health insurance."

They are required to get permission from their employer in order to switch jobs, and bosses often hold onto their passports to prevent them from leaving before the end of their work contract.

While the migrants are overwhelmingly male, there are also thousands of women migrants working as domestic servants. In addition to wage theft, they also encounter sexual abuse.

These workers are essentially held hostage. Collective bargaining and the right to strike are officially legal in Qatar, but "conditions and restrictions severely limit the scope of bargaining and effectively neutralise the right to strike," the report says. Moreover, "public servants, domestic workers and those in ‘essential services' such as health, transport and the oil and gas sector are banned from striking."

Qatari officials say they plan to improve conditions for migrant workers, including model housing complexes and tighter laws to prevent abuse such as late salary payments or loan-sharking by recruitment agencies.

However, says the ITUC report, "there is little sign that they are willing to reverse laws which effectively deny trade union, collective bargaining and strike rights to migrants."

That is why labor organizations stress pressure on FIFA and "Western companies lining up for lucrative World Cup contracts" to ensure that workers in Qatar get decent wages and conditions as well as labor rights.

Qatar, a big oil producer, also has the world's third largest natural gas reserves.

It has very close ties with the U.S. - some say it serves as a "proxy" for the U.S. in the Middle East. As the State Department puts it, "Qatar and the United States coordinate closely on regional diplomatic initiatives." Qatar "played an important role in the first Gulf War and the 2011 revolution in Libya, and ... has supported U.S. military operations critical to the success of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom."

The U.S. Central Command and Air Force Central Command are based in Qatar. It has housed fighter planes and fuel tankers used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Qatar's massive exploitation of migrant workers goes unmentioned in the State Department "background note."

Photo: ITUC

Monsanto found guilty of poisoning French farmer

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

A court in southern France found U.S. biotech corporation Monsanto guilty of chemically poisoning a French farmer, in what could be a huge step forward in the fight against harmful herbicides and pollutants.

On Apr. 27, 2004, cereal farmer Paul Francois was hit in the face with fumes while opening a crop sprayer tank. Those fumes came from Monsanto's 'crop protection' weed killer, Lasso. Resultantly, he was overcome with nausea, headaches, muscle-aches, and stuttering, forcing him to give up work. One year later, tests showed strong traces of Lasso in his system.

The court found that Monsanto failed to provide proper health hazard warnings on the label of its products, and awarded compensation to Francois, who is now disabled and still suffers neurological damage including memory loss.

Monsanto, headquartered in Missouri, is the leading producer of genetically modified seeds worldwide, and a large producer of herbicides. Its history is marked by political lobbying, and the corporation has come under intense scrutiny by environmental activists.

"I am alive today," said Francois, now 47. "But part of the farming population is going to be sacrificed and is going to die because of this."

The ruling against the company is the first of its kind in France. "It is a historic decision," said Francois Lafforgue, Francois's lawyer, "in that it is the first time a pesticide maker is found guilty of such a poisoning."

Following previous bans in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Belgium, Monsanto's Lasso herbicide was pulled from the French market in 2007. Lafforgue said the corporation had "done everything possible to keep Lasso on the market," even though its toxicity had been established as early as the 1980s. Lafforgue remarked that Monsanto had neglected its responsibility to inform the public of the potential risks involved with its product.

Since the incident, Francois has spoken up for other victims of chemical poisoning, and last year set up an association with other ill farmers to highlight the health risks associated with crop protection products.

The farmers' stance is important, in that it is the first example in France of fierce public opposition to pesticide companies. Since 1996, reports Truth Out, the French social security system's agricultural branch has gathered about 200 reports per year regarding pesticide-related illnesses. But in the past decade, only about 47 such cases have received any recognition.

The herbicide company's history is further polluted by its aggressive patent policy: According to a report by Red, Green, and Blue, Monsanto has patented a number of genes, and has sued farmers for tens of thousands of dollars when those patents are infringed, even accidentally (pollen from genetically modified crops can blow into natural crop fields, causing such an incident).

Small farmers unable to afford to defend themselves against Monsanto's lawsuits have found themselves bought out by the corporation, contributing, in turn, to fatter profit margins for the company.

On March 29 of last year, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, in the interest of fighting this injustice, launched a suit of its own against the pesticide giant, acting on behalf of thousands of organic farmers. OSGATA notes that farmers who try to grow organic crops cannot be held responsible for accidental cross-pollination, and moreover add that they don't want genetically modified seeds tainting their soil, anyway.

A New York court heard preliminary arguments on Jan. 31 this year, and the presiding judge has promised a decision as to whether the suit will go forward by Mar. 31.

"We have farmers who have stopped growing organic corn, organic canola, and organic soybeans because they can't risk being sued by Monsanto," said OSGATA president Jim Gerritsen. "It's not fair and it's not right."

Photo: Paul Francois, a victim of chemical poisoning due to Monsanto's weedkiller, is now disabled. Via l'Humanite newspaper.

Huge protests as Greek Parliament votes for austerity

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:49:00 +0000

In spite of a 48-hour general strike that shut down much of the Greek economy, and demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of angry workers and youth, the Greek Parliament early Monday morning approved austerity measures demanded by European bankers and financiers as a condition for extending credit to the country.

By a vote of 199 to 74, with 27 members abstaining or not voting, the 300-member Parliament gave the government authority to keep on negotiating with the "troika" consisting of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to finalize a new loan of $170 billion. It will allow Greece to pay an installment on its huge international debt (160 percent of its annual gross domestic product) and perhaps get further financing. If the government cannot come up with a $19 billion payment on existing debts by March 20, Greece will be in default, with possibly dire consequences for the whole Euro currency area and European Union, and beyond. The loan is coming from the "troika" because Greece can not get any private credit. Another loan was provided in 2010, which did not solve the problem.

The austerity measure approved Monday morning calls for layoffs of 150,000 government employees in this country of 11 million, 15,000 of them this year. Many government programs will be cut back, eliminated or privatized. The minimum wage will be cut by 22 percent (from about $1,100 per month to $880). The cuts in the minimum wage are supposed to make Greek labor "competitive" with that of countries of Eastern Europe where the minimum wage is a fraction of this, but many Greeks have already been working for subminimum wages, or can only find part time or contingent work.

The government, headed by caretaker Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, consisted prior to the vote of a coalition of the social democratic PASOK (Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement), the conservative New Democrats and the ultra right LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally). The representatives of the Communist Party (KKE), the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and others voted against the austerity measures. But so did LAOS, which quit the coalition. In addition, 43 of the PASOK and New Democracy deputies voted against the measures, while 27 others abstained or did not vote. Both PASOK and New Democracy immediately expelled these individuals from their parties (22 from PASOK and 21 from New Democracy). Earlier, six cabinet members had quit the government in opposition to the austerity measures.

The KKE and its affiliated trade union federation, PAME, organized a separate demonstration of tens of thousands of workers. It called for Greece to repudiate its international debt and pull out of the European Union, as well as for new elections.

Some of the street demonstrations in Athens and elsewhere spiraled into violence, with dozens of buildings in the capital set on fire on Sunday night. Demonstrators threw rocks and firebombs at police, who responded with tear gas. The KKE denounced the violence, which it attributed to the actions of provocateurs.

Mikis Theodorakis (composer of the music for the movie "Zorba the Greek"), 86, and Manolis Glezos, who because a legend when he tore down a Nazi flag that was flying over the Acropolis during the German occupation of Greece in World War II, were stopped from speaking by the tear gas.

Germen Chancellor Angela Merkel is deeply resented as being one of the chief instigators of the hard line taken by the "troika' in forcing Greece to take additional austerity measures, and of the idea of putting most of the loan in escrow so that it can only be used to pay past debts. Greeks remember their country's experience during the German occupation, when thousands died of starvation because of the economic demands that Germany imposed.

The Greek government announced that there will be parliamentary elections in April. It is widely expected that the electorate will punish those who voted for the austerity measures, especially PASOK, as polls show that 48 percent of Greeks were against the approval vote, while only 38 percent were in favor.

And all this may be in vain. Many commentators point out that a default may be inevitable. Indeed, by shrinking the economy even more, taking money out of the hands of consumers, the austerity program will make it even harder for Greece to collect the revenues needed to recover. Industrial output is already in sharp decline since previous austerity measures were approved in 2010, and the economy shrank 7 percent in 2011. Unemployment is 21 percent. Government services will be sharply cut or privatized, and taxes on everybody will go up. Even though foreign holders of Greek debt are being asked to accept "haircuts," or discounts of up to 70 percent, most Greeks feel that the country is being pushed to the wall.

There is no certainty that the arrangement will finally be approved by the troika, or by enough creditors to make it work. Germany and other wealthy countries had demanded that leaders of Greek political parties swear that they are not going to try to renegotiate it so as to gain advantage with the voters in the lead-up to the elections. At writing, PASOK leader George Papandreou and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras had signed letters promising to do so, and the government had cut the budget by another $425 million, yet there is talk that some wealthy country governments would prefer to push Greece out of the Euro zone.

On Monday, February 21, however Euro zone finance ministers approved the package, which is supposed to cut Greece's debt to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, increasing chances that the IMF will approve it. But the parliaments of Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, the countries most critical of Greece, must now approve the deal.

Photo: KKE

Was Islamophobia to blame for the resignation of Germany's president?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:26:00 +0000

BERLIN - This city and much of Germany have had plenty to keep them occupied: an airline strike, a short strike of the bus, streetcar and subway lines, the Euro crisis and price increases.

Then there's been the warmer weather and the Berlinale film festival, with visits by many stars and an interesting, international mix of films often by young and new filmmakers.

Also on the brighter side was last week's successful resistance to the annual February attempts by the Nazis to show their strength in Dresden.

But then, right in the middle of all this, President Christian Wulff resigns! This has been in the making since December, so it was no surprise but rather a drawn out misery.

But when it happened it was still quite an event - the second resignation of a German president within two years! Its immediate cause was a move to take away his immunity on charges of bribery in his home state of Lower Saxony. He quit, angrily, claiming he had made some mistakes but done nothing illegal and now has to worry about the charges and possible loss of his government pension.

Must now scurry

The politicians, meanwhile, must now scurry to find a successor. The constitution demands a new president be sworn in within thirty days - by March 18^th.

What led up to the present situation? First it was disclosed that Wulff had used the good graces of a very wealthy friend and supporter to borrow money at an unusually low interest rate to renovate his home - actually a modest-looking building, no fancy villa or semi-palace.

Then it was found that he tried to get the tabloid newspaper BILD, the rottenest but most influential rag in Germany, not to publish this story, or at least to hold it until he met with them.

He used voice mail and his words, angry though not obscene, ended with a veiled "or else." That "or else" was immediately publicized by BILD (and a slew of other publications) as "proof" that he was against freedom of the press.

Then the media went on a fishing expedition for any other possible misdeeds going back to well before he had even become president.

Not at all surprisingly, they found that, like almost every other politician, Wulff took occasional advantage of offers to spend pleasant vacations here and there at the expense of wealthy friends. In the most noted case, a film entrepreneur had invited him for a few days to a small vacation hotel on a fancy island in the North Sea.

Took better seats

In one case, while he was minister of the state of Lower Saxony, before he became president, he had accepted better plane seats for a private trip than those he had paid for.

All of this was small potatoes, very small potatoes. When you start looking through recent West German history, you find many top politicians who, like Helmut Kohl, have been involved in bribery paid either to them or into their party's war chests in the amounts of tens, hundreds of thousands and even millions of Euros.

Indeed, and far more seriously, among Wulff's nine predecessors as president since 1949, the first one had voted for the law granting full power to Hitler in 1933, the second one, an engineer, had built barracks for concentration camp prisoners at the base for V-1 rockets at Peenemunde and elsewhere, another had concealed and long denied his former membership in the Nazi Party, his successor had been not only a member of that party but also a storm trooper, and his successor, though quite liberal in office, had once been an officer in the terrible, murderous siege of Leningrad during the war. Another, too young for such a background, had long been the assistant to a top Nazi legal expert who had remained a leading professor long after the war.

As I see it, Wulff's misdeeds are run-of-the-mill perks, illegal but committed by many if not most politicians, and incomparably less earnest than many preceding him.

So why did BILD and then much of the rest of the media jump on him. My very personal suspicion is because Wulff, though otherwise a typically conservative politician, was decent enough to publically reject discrimination against immigrant groups, even saying, very courageously, that Islam had now become as much a part of the German scene as Christianity or Judaism.

This view is anathema to right-wingers generally, and BILD is a main purveyor of the hate-the Muslims plague. Indeed, BILD printed installments of the book by a major proponent of such hatred, the politician and banker Thilo Sarrazin.

Where do we go from here? A special body must select a new president within one month. It will consist of all deputies to the Bundestag plus an equivalent number of politicians or celebrities chosen by Germany's sixteen states.

The total of 1,240 will then vote, needing an absolute majority on the first two tries. If that proves impossible, a simple plurality would then suffice.

The two parties currently running the government, the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats, will have a slim majority of one to three votes.

Failed to invite the Left

Since the vote is secret and there are often renegades, this means that Chancellor Merkel is hunting for a candidate who will also be supported by the Social Democrats and the Greens. In calling for consultations with them, she pointedly failed to invite the only other party in the Bundestag, the Left Party, whose more than 120 votes might just make a difference (as they did when Wulff barely won out two years ago). This snub could lead the Left, once again, to put up its own candidate, even without any chance of success.

Unlike the prime minister, the president in Germany has few powers - he can veto laws but does so very rarely, he (or possibly she) welcomes heads of state, goes on state visits abroad, and makes hopefully historic speeches every so often on the state of the country, without sounding too partisan. But turmoil between now and the election next month can shake things up considerably - while distracting attention from other matters.

One possible candidate is the man who Wulff just barely beat two years ago: Joachim Gauck. Gauck was once an outspokenly pro-Western mayor in the former East Germany. After reunification, he became a Red-hunter who administered the archives about the Stasi (State Security apparatus of the former East Germany).

In the new unified German state, Gauck made a name for himself as an extremely anti-left conservative, and used Stasi-files in ways reminiscent of anti-communist use of FBI files during the McCarthy period to criminalize thousands.

Even people who had totally innocuous connections or contacts with the Stasi had both careers and lives ruined.

Gauck smiles in a friendly way and even cries when discussing the supposed terrors of the allegedly bad old days in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Gauck, despite his strongly pro-Western views, was actually treated very benignly in the German Democratic Republic. He was so well treated, in fact, that many have suggested he himself may have had ties to the Stasi.

But he is only one of a series of candidates now being discussed. Perhaps, by the time you read this, one of them will have been chosen. I hope it is not Gauck.

Photo: Reading the Quran inside a mosque in Hamburg, northern Germany. Frank Augstein/AP

Honduran resistance group forms political party

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Honduras' National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP) gathered in Tegucigalpa, February 11-12, to launch a political party. The name, Liberation and Re-foundation Party (Libre), is timely: Honduras is mired in catastrophe.

Its murder rate is the world's highest. Political violence, crime, militarization, poverty, malnutrition, drug trafficking, and police corruption are overflowing. Landowner thugs kill family farmers. The two-year toll of murdered journalists is 13. The economy shrank 2.1% in 2009. On February 14 a prison fire killed 350 mostly uncharged and untried inmates. Most died behind doors the police didn't unlock.

The country's political deterioration has involved dictatorship in the 1980s; power trade-offs between two establishment parties later on; a military coup removing President Manuel Zelaya on June 28, 2009; and now free rein for privatization, big mining operations, and agribusiness. Zelaya had advocated a minimum wage, land reform and a constituent assembly. He brought Honduras into the ALBA regional alliance for sharing social resources. The new president, Porfirio Lobo, took office through doctored elections.

The U.S. government, complicit in the coup, has used Honduras as a regional military command, communications and supply center. U.S. military installations have proliferated. The current U.S. administration proposes doubling U.S. military aid.

Speaking at the founding assembly of the new party, FNRP General Coordinator Manuel Zelaya condemned U.S. intervention. The former president reminded red-shirted, flag-waving listeners of one poet's reaction to U.S. marines marching into Tegucigalpa in 1924. Froylán Turcios wrote of "moments in a country's history when silence is a crime ... they offend our sovereignty, our dignity, our liberty, and our peace." "That's why the FNRP is here today," Zelaya declared: "to denounce crimes."

He also said: "We are here because we want "change from an oligarchic to a democratic state ... We want to exchange a model of exploitative, savage capitalism ... for a noble, just system of solidarity. We are heading for democratic socialism."

Once in power, Zelaya indicated, the Libre Party will convoke a Constituent National Assembly.

Juan Barahona, FNRP sub-coordinator and coordinator now of the FNRP's "Force for Popular Re-foundation" (FRP), called for a Constituent National Assembly, "constitutional order," and "a new society ... more just, equitable, and secure."

The FRP represents the FNRP "current" within the Libre Party. For the sake of "ideological diversity," there are four others. Each was present at the founding assembly. They are the June 28 Movement comprising former Liberal Party members, the Progressive Resistance Movement with heavy youth representation, the People Organized in Resistance, and the July 5 Movement. Party rules permit alliances, thus anticipating upcoming internal elections for party officers and candidates.

All currents back Xiomara Castro, Manuel Zelaya's wife, as the Libre Party presidential candidate in national elections set for November 2013. "The people's enemies," she told the assembly, must know "we are going for political power and re-foundation." Castro lauded the role of women in the resistance movement and invited youth to join the struggle. "We are conscious of the need to consolidate our structure and achieve unity in diversity," she declared. "We'll defeat them in the streets and win at the polls."

The Libre Party represents a milestone for the FNRP, which was born the day of the coup and subsequently led marches and strikes, and secured allies. Its 2010 petition campaign for the Constituent National Assembly gained 1.3 million signatures.

The May 2011 Cartagena Agreement involving the Venezuelan, Colombian and Honduran presidents, and Zelaya, allowed Zelaya to return from exile and the FNRP to form a political party. Rejecting the offer of party authorization through the Honduran Congress, the FNRP sought approval from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Some 200,000 signatures were delivered, but to no avail. The tribunal rejected several proposed party names, required new provisions for inclusion, and demanded 85,000 more signatures. Final authorization came on October 31, 2011.

The Libre Party's Declaration of Principles mentions "inevitable revolution," "popular sovereignty," "unity with respect for diversity," and anti-imperialism. Detailed party statutes cover purposes, national and local organizational structures, membership regulations, leadership selection, dispute resolution, and more.

Speakers at the founding assembly reiterated Libre Party dedication to education, rights for students and teachers, health care, diversity, and self-criticism. They emphasized women's contributions to the FNRP. Women will fill half the party's leadership positions. .

Fausto Milla retrospectively captured the spirit of the gathering. Speaking February 17 before 700 people at an international meeting in Aguan in defense of besieged family farmers there, the Catholic priest noted that in June 2009, the Honduran people "rose up like a great volcano before the stupidity of those who think they are owners of the world and wanted a coup. Thus was born the resistance that doesn't die and will never die."

Photo: Messages written by bereaved family members at a makeshift memorial for victims of the Comayagua deadly prison fire, in a shelter where the relatives are housed as they wait for the remains of their loved one to be identified, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Feb. 19. As many as 350 inmates perished in the fire. More than half the inmates were still awaiting trial. Many of those who died had been locked up for petty crimes, some had never been charged. Esteban Felix/AP

Massive demonstrations challenge anti-worker policies in Portugal, Spain

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:29:00 +0000

Franco and Salazar are long dead, but their spirit still moves among the ruling classes of Spain and Portugal. In both countries, workers are being put through the wringer with austerity measures that include massive cuts in wages and pensions, elimination of the social safety net, privatization of public property and attacks on labor rights. But Portuguese and Spanish workers are fighting back to a degree not seen in many years.

In Portugal (population 11 million) on February 11, more than 300,000 workers turned out in the historic Terreiro do Paço (Palace Square) in Lisbon to protest neo-liberal policies imposed by the coalition government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. This government, composed of the conservative Social Democratic and People's parties, was elected in June 2011 when voters abandoned the ruling Socialist Party of then Prime Minister Jose Socrates en masse, as a protest against its own austerity polities. (In Portugal, the Socialist Party represents what would be called social democracy in other countries; the Social Democratic Party is a right wing party). The new government merely intensified those policies. The result has been extreme suffering for millions of Portuguese, as wages and pensions have been slashed, thousands of public sector workers have been laid off and the safety net shredded, all quid pro quo for a projected new $103 million European Union organized bailout.

The mass demonstration on the 11^th was initiated by General Federation of Portuguese Workers-National Inter-union Coordinator (CGTP-IN) but also supported by other labor, youth and citizens' organizations.

Armenio Carlos, Secretary General of the CGTP and a member of the Central Committee of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), has demanded that Portugal's national debt be renegotiated, and that the austerity measures be cancelled.. The PCP summarized the immediate goals of the struggle as follows:

"Better wages, defense of rights, against the closing of enterprises, payment of back wages ... against unjust and illegal against irregular [employment] and deregulation, against increased work hours, against making firing easier, for an increase in the minimum wage, for a development of the productive sector, for universal and free public services, against privatization and attacks on the transport sector, for Portugal's future"

The CGTP is calling for a general strike on March 22.

In Spain (population 46 million) the dynamics are now similar. Although Spain did not have as big a sovereign debt proportional to its Gross Domestic Product as Portugal, it had been suffering from a very high unemployment rate (now more than 22 percent). The social democratic government of former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) began to implement austerity measures imposed on the country by international monopoly capital. This led to the electoral drubbing of the Socialist Workers' Party on November 20 of last year, with the conservative People's Party winning an absolute legislative majority and its leader, Mariano Rajoy, taking over the prime minister's office. Rajoy has taken his victory as a mandate to roll back a wide range of progressive laws, including ones regarding regional autonomy for ethnic minority areas, secularization of the school curriculum and reproductive rights. Now, workers' rights are the target.

The labor reform, decreed on February 10, contains almost everything big bosses would dream of. It will be much easier to fire people, because employers found to have fired people illegally will have to pay their victims much less in back remuneration (33 days maximum instead of 45). It will be easier for employers to modify conditions of work in their own favor. Workers on long-term contracts will be in danger of being replaced by younger workers. People receiving unemployment compensation will be forced to do volunteer community service. All this is being done under the pretext of creating new job opportunities for the unemployed, although most observers think the result will be more unemployment, not less.

When he announced the labor reforms, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy quipped, "This will cost me a general strike"; a remark now gleefully quoted by the Spanish left and trade unions.. On Sunday, February 20, an estimated one million people hit the streets in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and 53 other Spanish cities to protest the labor law "reforms". In Spain, there was unity between unions of the CCOO (Workers' Commissions), close to the United Left (IU) in which the Communist Party plays a major role, and those of the UGT (General Union of Workers), close to the PSOE, so both contributed to the mobilization.

In addition to the strikes and demonstrations, United Left is presenting legislation in the Spanish parliament, the Cortes, to stop Rajoy's labor reform, according to the IU Secretary General, Cayo Lara Moya, a leading figure of the Communist Party of Spain.

However, the Spanish ruling class is threatening to crack down even harder on unions and workers. Jose Luis Feito, a leader of the main employers' group, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), said that if he had his way it would be impossible for anybody who refused a job "even if it were in Lapland" to receive unemployment compensation.

Photo: Thousands of demonstrators march during a protest against the austerity economic measures taken by the Portuguese center-right coalition government, Feb. 11, in Lisbon. Francisco Seco/AP

Olympics tainted by BP, Dow involvement, critics charge

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:41:00 +0000

The London Olympics risks being toxically tainted by its links to companies responsible for global pollution, environmentalists and human rights campaigners have warned.

Games organizers have rejected grave concerns over the involvement of Dow Chemicals and oil giant BP in the 2012 Olympics.

Amnesty International condemned the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision today to reject the India Olympic Association's call to terminate Dow Chemicals' sponsorship deal with the London Games.

A toxic gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984 led to massive contamination and the exposure of thousands of people to methyl isocyanate and other chemicals.

Some estimates put the death toll as high as 25,000 and the Bhopal factory site continues to be heavily contaminated to this day.

Union Carbide denied it was at fault, claiming that its factory equipment had been sabotaged.

Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001 and while Amnesty does not suggest they were directly culpable it argues that Dow has overall responsibility.

Amnesty International head of business and human rights Seema Joshi said: "When Dow bought Union Carbide, it bought liability for the Bhopal disaster.

"As the 100 per cent owner of Union Carbide, Dow has the power to force its subsidiary to face justice and has responsibility for the cleanup of the Bhopal site."

"Unbelievably the IOC says Dow is committed to 'good corporate governance' - shocking when you consider all the facts and that the company denies liability for a corporate disaster on the scale of Bhopal, creating a toxic legacy for London 2012."

She said Olympic organizers had repeatedly refused to meet them to discuss their concerns.

And environmentalists including the UK Tar Sands Network, Greenpeace and Green London Assembly member Jenny Jones have written to Olympic organisers raising concerns over BP's role as a "sustainability partner" to the forthcoming Olympics.

They argue that the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP's fossil fuel extraction activities and involvement in tar sands extraction mean it is "one of the least sustainable companies on Earth."

UK Tar Sands Network co-founder Jess Worth said: "The choice of BP as Sustainability Partner for the London 2012 Olympics sounds like a sick joke considering its record of environmental devastation around the world.

"There's clearly an urgent need for the Olympics organisers to broaden their definition of 'sustainability' and start applying it to their choice of sponsor."

Green MLA Jenny Jones told the Star: "It looks as if the Games organizers are selling their feel-good brand name to anyone with a big check book.

"Companies like Dow Chemicals and BP are hoping to benefit from people's positive feelings towards the Olympics, but there is a real danger that the Olympics are being tainted by association."

The IOC and London Olympic organizers Locog did not respond to requests for comment.

This article originally appeared in the Morning Star newspaper.

Fight continues over highway through Bolivian indigenous preserve

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:48:00 +0000

Bolivia's socialist government plans to route a 190-mile north-south highway through the "Isidoro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS). Many of the 12,500 residents of the 2.5 million acre preserve in Cochabamba are up in arms over a highway envisioned by earlier governments. A Brazilian construction firm has been engaged, and Brazil will provide partial funding. Both countries have long sought improved overland connections ultimately leading to Pacific ports.

An indigenous-led government at odds with an indigenous opposition exemplifies one contradiction surfacing during the fight. Another comes from economic imperatives seen as undermining ideals of indigenous autonomy and environmental integrity. And the controversy has inflamed old divisions within indigenous ranks. .

Representatives of 37 pro-government groups organized by the Indigenous Council of the South (CONISUR) arrived in La Paz on January 30 after marching 300 miles from the TIPNIS preserve. Negotiations with parliamentary leaders led to agreement that a constitutionally sanctioned law would be passed authorizing the government to secure highway approval through consultations with all 63 TIPNIS indigenous communities.

The Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia (CIDOB) demurred. Spokespersons cited the law Parliament passed three months earlier nixing the project, at least temporarily, and putting a hold on highway construction. They warned they might soon be marching, again.

CIDOB had brought thousands of anti-government, indigenous marchers from the TIPNIS to La Paz in October 2011. There had been police attacks and arrests on the way. CIDOB leaders forced a remorseful government to capitulate.

Critics of the proposed highway point to a contradiction: plans afoot now for Brazil's state-owned petroleum giant Petrobas to use the highway for removing oil and gas follow government celebration of independence from foreign trans-national corporations in 2006 following nationalization of hydrocarbon production.

The government proposal has inflamed animosities between indigenous peoples living in the Amazonian TIPNIS region and Bolivia's indigenous majority situated in the highlands. Tens of thousands of the latter, coca-growing migrants to the TIPNIS embrace the highway idea. And foreign and domestic environmentalist organizations lambast it. The environment will suffer, they say, from oil and gas extraction and deforestation at the hands of coca growers and lumber companies.

Paradoxically, separatist, rightwing landowners in Beni to the north of TIPNIS and in Santa Cruz to the south and east take the government's side in the highway fight. They favor a highway promising to reduce mileage required for transport of agricultural products.

Throughout, defenders of the government have argued the highway will promote access to schools, health care services, and jobs for isolated communities. The opposition has resolutely linked defense of TIPNIS integrity with indigenous sovereignty. Former TIPNIS official Adolfo Moye Rosendy, interviewed on the Fobemade website, cited documents showing "clearly that indigenous territory is indivisible, inalienable, and exempt from prescription and that three [indigenous] peoples... are declared as absolute and legitimate owners."

Yet Fobemade, self-described as the "Bolivian Forum on Development and the Environment," emerged from a 2011 Parliamentary investigation as a lead offender among NGOs behind indigenous groups protesting the highway. Interviewed recently by Mexico's La Jornada news service, Vice President Álvaro García Linera claimed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has financed a multitude of anti-Morales NGOs. In 2010, President Morales himself included Fobomade in that category. The next year, his government expelled USAID's Environment and Economic Development program from Bolivia.

Analyst Jose Steinsleger explained recently that, according to declassified U.S. intelligence documents, "USAID foments conflicts between partisans of development and resource extraction and defenders of the environment."

He thus describes U. S. maneuvers building on underlying divisions. The Bolivian Communist Party suggested in September 2011 that highway opponents seek "to disparage the government through situations of tension and divisions within the social base of original, indigenous peoples and small farmers, with confrontations among different people's organizations."

The highway controversy serves as backdrop for Garcia Linera's notion that "foreign hands" are removed from control of natural resources. Now, he said, "The state is the principal generator of wealth in the country and that wealth is valued not as capital, but is redistributed in society through vouchers, income, and direct social benefits for the population." But "to allow Petrobas to promote a lucrative policy of fuel extraction" worries a correspondent for El Dia of Santa Cruz, who adds that Petrobas has moved from 22 percent control of Bolivia's hydrocarbon production in 2002 to 63 percent in 2009.

The change-oriented Bolivian government, of course, is not alone among Latin American counterparts intent upon securing monetary and infrastructure resources essential for satisfying people's need for basic survival.

Photo: Bolivia's President Evo Morales, center, accompanied by Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, left, holds up a signed bill calling for a consultation on building a highway through the Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory National Park, TIPNIS at the presidential palace in La Paz, Feb. 10. Juan Karita/AP

Athens burns after austerity approval

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:41:00 +0000

After approving a controversial new bill, which guts minimum wage and public services, Athens erupted in flames as rioters filled the streets with their outrage.

The actions were fueled by the widely-unpopular austerity measures in a desperate attempt to stop the country from going into default on its private loans to creditors and also receive an additional loan of 130 billion Euro ($172 billion) as the AP reports.

The passage of the bill marked the continuation of failed policies that have resulted in two years of 20 percent unemployment and deep spending cuts that have taken their toll on Greek workers but have been unable to fix Greece's economic problems. The vote on Sunday reaffirmed to 100,000 protestors that those in positions of power are out of touch with the workers and students of Greece.

The protest turned violent as rioters began smashing storefronts and damaged more than 110 buildings, 50 of which were burned. The AP reported that the stench of tear gas "still hung in the air on Monday, choking passers-by, while traffic lights at many major intersections were out after being smashed."

In total, 40 tons of broken marbles and rocks littered streets from the damage to cultural buildings and local public works.

The rioting left more than 170 people hurt, and 70 protestors were hospitalized. Additionally, police arrested 93 people who will be "charged with offenses ranging from attempted murder and possession of explosives to looting," reported the AP.

The AP further reported, "[o]nce again, those in positions of responsibility, even though they should have been prepared, were unable to fulfill their duty and secure the well-being of citizens and visitors."

Even with the passage of the bill, it is uncertain if the New Democracy Party will be able to fulfill their duty of enforcing the new bill amid strong dissent from the majority Socialists and rival Conservatives, and it is still unclear if Greece will meet the guidelines for another rescue package as outlined by Germany.

Photo: Protesters pass by a burning cinema in Athens on Feb. 12. (AP/Kostas Tsironis)

Flower workers: giving Valentine's Day new meaning

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Today is Valentine's Day, and flowers will be sent to people all over the country. But the Colombian workers - mostly female - who cut and ship those flowers must endure substandard pay and conditions, reports the AFL-CIO. This holiday would provide an excellent opportunity to show support for them.

According to the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas project, workers in Colombia - where 60 percent of U.S. flowers come from - work long hours, and don't earn enough to support their families. They also endure sexual harassment, and any efforts they might make to form a union or to improve wages and conditions would get them fired .

And medical surveys indicate that two thirds of flower workers suffer from problems stemming from exposure to harmful pesticides, including nausea and miscarriages, according to a report by Oxfam International.

"The women have to come back into the greenhouses immediately after the flowers are sprayed with pesticides," said Dionise Trujillo, a former flower worker in Colombia. "Some of them get dizzy or have trouble with their blood pressure, and some of their children have been born with lung problems."

Colombia's Labor Action Plan, agreed to last year by President Obama and Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, has reportedly failed to create better conditions for Colombian working families. The plan was touted as a big step in ending violence against trade unionists and protecting workers' rights to come together in unions, but such progress has not been made.

In response, USLEAP is calling on people to fight for the rights of the nearly 100,000 flower workers, and to turn Valentine's Day into International Flower Workers Day. USLEAP asks everyone to support their cause and sign a letter to Colombian Minister of Labor Rafael Pardo Rueda, demanding that flower workers receive "fair wages, equal treatment, and justice."

As people in the U.S. buy flowers today for that special someone, most will not think about where they came from, and who had to suffer for it. Valentine's Day is considered to be a day of love, but many feel that as International Flower Workers Day, it could also be regarded as a day of fairness and equality for workers.

Unfortunately, for the Colombian flower workers, until conditions improve, today will simply mean more of the same.

Photo: Colombian workers pack roses to be shipped to the U.S. Fernando Vergara/AP

Saudi Arabia going nuclear - why no uproar?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Saudi Arabia recently announced its intention to launch its own nuclear program, saying it needs to diversify its energy sources. But a Saudi prince raised the possibility that the kingdom might develop nuclear weapons if Iran joins Israel as a nuclear weapons possessor.

Why no international uproar?

While Iranian officials, whether sincerely or not, insist that their nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy purposes, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal openly linked his country's nuclear energy and nuclear weapons interests.

If both Israel and Iran have nuclear weapons, "it is our duty toward our nation and people to consider all possible options, including the possession of these weapons," Prince Turki, a former Saudi intelligence chief and U.S. ambassador, told a Persian Gulf security conference in Riyadh in December.

That same month, Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Zainal told a U.S.-Saudi business conference in Atlanta that his country will spend $100 billion on building 16 nuclear power plants over the next few years to generate electricity.

On Jan. 13, Saudi Arabia announced it had signed an agreement with China for increased cooperation in development and use of atomic energy, including maintenance and development of nuclear power plants and research reactors, and manufacturing and supply of nuclear fuel elements.

"The pact with China is the fourth nuclear agreement signed by Saudi Arabia following similar deals with France, Argentina and South Korea," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Saudi Arabia has also been in discussions with the U.S., UK, Russia and the Czech Republic over more cooperation on nuclear energy, the Journal said.

This is not a new program. Saudi Arabia set up the King Abdullah Atomic and Renewable Energy City, devoted to research and application of nuclear technology, in 2010.

Although Saudi Arabia and Iran are considered arch-rivals for regional dominance, their nuclear moves seem to have much in common.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is said to be "struggling to keep up with rapidly rising power demand." According to the Reuters news agency, "The kingdom plans to turn to solar and eventually nuclear energy to reduce its need to burn fuel oil for electricity and preserve oil for lucrative export markets."

Iran, with the world's fourth biggest oil reserves, is undoubtedly facing the same issues.

They share other characteristics too.

Speaking of Saudi Arabia's nuclear program in terms that could well apply to Iran, Lebanese commentator Housam Matar writes, "the program is partly prompted by a perceived need to transform the established image of Saudi Arabia from a state with a reactionary and corrupt rentier regime ... to one of modernity, progress, and science."

Saudi Arabia's soft power in the region, "which is essentially based on sectarian proselytizing and pumping money," is in jeopardy, says Matar.

"Since the regime is not about to change the nature of its internal policies, it has opted to launch initiatives in other areas that do not threaten the regime's control over Saudi society.

"The Saudi regime pushed the idea of a nuclear program to the forefront as a key element in reconstituting Saudi soft power."

"The Saudi nuclear initiative therefore does not target Iran as much as it aims to reinforce the Saudi regime's internal legitimacy and strengthen popular cohesion around the Saudi leadership, which is plagued with uncertainty, behind-the-scenes rivalries, and political infirmity.

"The move also seeks to strengthen the kingdom's regional presence."

Much the same can be said about Iran.

Iran has its repressive theocracy and ties to armed militias in other countries. Saudi Arabia, a feudal monarchy, has been linked to similar activity, for example in Iraq. And it is home to the fanatically reactionary Salafi sect of Islam also known as Wahabbism, to which the Saudi monarchy is closely tied. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 attackers came from Saudi Arabia, as did Osama bin-Laden. What if nuclear technology got into the hands of such elements?

Yet there has been barely a whisper in the U.S. media about Saudi Arabia's nuclear program. The State Department and European leaders appear to have been silent on the matter, even as they pursue an increasingly aggressive campaign over Iran's nuclear program, and even though President Obama has strongly advocated for nuclear non-proliferation. Republican warhawks have been silent on it too.

Meanwhile the Sidney (Australia) Morning Herald notes Saudi Arabia's close ties to nuclear-armed Pakistan:

"Throughout the 1980s and '90s, hundreds of millions of Saudi dollars were poured into Pakistan's efforts to build nuclear weapons, funding as much as 60 percent of the program.

"That money was given, it is widely believed, on an understanding that Pakistan would offer Saudi Arabia nuclear protection, or, at some future date, the chance to buy weapons or the technology to make them."

"Most analysts are convinced the Saudis will turn to Pakistan," the Morning Herald says. But it would have to be done covertly, since "Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the U.S., cannot be seen to be buying nuclear weapons from Pakistan, and Pakistan, already a nuclear pariah, cannot afford to be cast, again, as a proliferator of arms."

Photo: Stock image of a nuclear reactor. Michael Kappel // CC 2.0

In a first, Haiti attends Latin American ALBA meeting

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:44:00 +0000

On February 5, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) held its eleventh meeting Caracas, Venezuela, to decide on a joint economic program. ALBA welcomed two new guest members, and moves were made to include Haiti in the organization.

ALBA was founded in 2004 with just Cuba and Venezuela as members. It now includes a total of eight countries: Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Antigua, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. At last weekend's meeting, two more small states were brought in as guest members, a step toward their full integration into ALBA: St. Lucia and Surinam. Honduras had been part of ALBA, but after the 2009 overthrow of left-wing President Manuel Zalaya, withdrew from the organization.

ALBA's goal is to create enough regional integration to realize the dream of South American liberator Simon Bolivar that Latin America could thrive without dependence on, or interference from, the United States or Europe. It emphasizes trade agreements that, unlike the privatization and austerity policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund, encourage countries to increase their expenditures for education, housing and health care. Its ruling philosophy is solidarity among the peoples, not domination by multinational corporations and wealthy states.

Attending as an observer was Haitian President Michael Martelly, elected last year amid controversy. The most popular party in Haiti, former President Jean Bertrand Aristide's "Fanmi Lavalas", had not been allowed to run a candidate, and the candidate of the party of outgoing President Rene Preval, Jude Celestin, was pushed out of a runoff by heavy pressure from the United States and its allies. Martelly has had some dealings with people close to former U.S. supported dictators Francois "Papa Doc" and Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. He had called for the restoration of the army which Aristide had abolished. So, many have seen him as a potentially dangerous right winger. For him to show up at the ALBA meeting, hinting strongly that Haiti might like to eventually become a full member, surprised many.

Martelly and Venezuela's left wing president, Hugo Chavez, announced new bilateral agreements to increase already high Venezuelan aid to Haiti. After the disastrous earthquake of January 2010, Venezuela cancelled Haiti's debts. In Caracas, Martelly made a point of praising Venezuelan and Cuban aid before and after the earthquake, and said he hoped that the United States would not be angry and would understand that Haiti is in no position to turn away any friend.

Was Martelly misjudged, or has he been transformed by a year in the presidency? Haiti is destitute and its infrastructure wrecked. The country depends excessively on handouts from international donors, administered by foreign non-governmental organizations. Although there was a great outpouring of offers of aid after the earthquake, some of it has never come through and much of it comes with strings attached.

Plans elaborated for Haiti's future development by the United States, Canada and other wealthy nations were based on the idea that the country would forever function as a source of cheap labor for transnational corporations. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), especially in clothing and textile production, was to be the motor of "development." Companies would be attracted to Haiti by the cheap labor. This would create "jobs" for thousands of Haitians, many of whom had been displaced from the rural economy in the first place by a flood of taxpayer subsidized rice from the United States, dumped at prices with which Haitian rice farmers could not compete. The trouble is that FDI is only attracted as long as the conditions persist that made the country attractive in the first place. As soon as wages go up, foreign capital decamps to some even poorer place. So the FDI strategy is a recipe for perpetual poverty. Participating in ALBA provides alternative sources of economic support, especially Venezuelan oil sold on very favorable terms.

In March, ALBA will hold a meeting of foreign ministers in Jacmel, Haiti, focused on how the ALBA countries can better coordinate aid for Haiti's recovery.

The ALBA heads of state meeting in Caracas agreed on developing a joint program of economic development for the Caribbean, including Haiti. They also agreed to expand the use of the sucre, the ALBA-based virtual currency which is being developed as a means of trade within the group. They agreed that each country will set aside 1 percent of its international reserves for the purpose of creating a new area development and aid fund.

Finally, the meeting passed resolutions calling for freedom for the Cuban 5, for the liberation of Puerto Rico and for an end to outside interference in Syria. The participating countries also sharply denounced the unwillingness of the British government to reach a negotiated agreement with Argentina about the future of the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.

Egypt blocks National Endowment for Democracy

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Egypt's military government announced recently that 43 people, including 19 Americans and 14 Egyptians, face prosecution on charges of using foreign money to influence Egyptian politics. By February 6, only six of the Americans remained in Egypt. One of those charged is Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

Egyptian police earlier had raided nongovernmental organization offices where the accused worked. The U.S. Congress and President Obama have threatened to withhold $1.55 billion in mostly military aid for Egypt.

U.S. citizens facing trial work with the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, and a journalism organization. The first two are associated, respectively, with the Republican and Democratic parties. One has $22 million available to fund programs in Egypt, the other $18 million. The four U.S. groups operate under the aegis of the private, nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy (NED), established in 1983. Active in 70 countries, the NED is "dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world," according to its website.

Says the New York Times: "United States law bars both groups from partisan activity in countries where they operate." Yet Venezuela's government closed down offices of NED-associated groups in December 2010 on grounds of meddling. The vigor of the Egyptian response to alleged NED intrusion was unprecedented, the Times reported.

U.S. government monies flow from the State Department's United States Agency for International Development to the NED and thence to private U.S. agencies funding thousands of foreign organizations. The objective of this arrangement may be to avoid embarrassment for the U.S. government by keeping its interventions indirect. The same goes with utilizing private, domestic organizations seen as respectable.

The NED system was instituted after decades of U.S. improvisation as to methods for exerting overseas control. Schemes moved from crude to less crude. Assuming ownership of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam came first, after 1898. Then, mini-invasions became the tool of choice, especially for setting up favorable arrangements in other countries, particularly financial. Sponsorship of friendly dictators was in vogue for a time. Resort to secret, often terrorist, U. S. agents came later.

Typically, NED funding for student groups, right-wing unions, U.S.-friendly media, and political parties has found use at election time. Such was the case especially in countries of the former Yugoslavia, in Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine, even France, Italy and Portugal. The NED has sponsored projects in Iran and China. Its record in U.S.-targeted Latin American countries is notorious.

Cuban journalist Jean Guy Allard and Venezuelan lawyer Eva Golinger, along with Wesibrot, have elucidated that story. Golinger has utilized Freedom of Information Act material. In Haiti in 2003-2004, the IRI fed money and guns to paramilitaries moving from the Dominican Republic to Haiti to precipitate the overthrow of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Brazilian government in 2005 denounced the IRI for changing election laws and thus trying to weaken then President Lula da Silva's Workers' Party. In Honduras, the IRI took a lead role in promoting the 2009 military coup that removed elected President Manuel Zelaya. It worked to legitimize fraudulent elections the next year making Porfirio Lobo president. The IRI has long participated in U.S. efforts to undermine Cuba's revolutionary government. Its 2011 grant for such work totaled $693,069.

Since 2002, the NED and its acolytes have availed themselves of $100 million in U.S. funds to bolster opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, especially during election cycles. The IRI took a prominent role in backing the failed coup against Chavez in 2002. In 2011, the Obama administration sought $5 million to support opposition groups in Venezuela.

Among those facing trial in Egypt are representatives of Freedom House, a U.S. organization with a worldwide reach receiving 80 percent of its funding through the NED. Allegations have repeatedly surfaced of Freedom House ties to the CIA and involvement with clandestine anti-government activities in foreign countries. Between 1997 and 2009, Freedom House gathered in $10.6 million for democracy-promotion work in Cuba.

Explaining NED activity in Egypt, commentator Mark Weisbrot suggests the U.S. government "is running an empire" involving "power and control over other people in distant lands." He adds, "These goals will generally conflict with many people's aspirations for democracy and national self-determination." At stake in the Middle East are "military bases and alliances."

Britain's Morning Star feels no joy on queen's anniversary

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:17:00 +0000

Is there to be no end to the pukefest laid on by our national broadcaster to convince the world that people in Britain are beside themselves with joy over the 60th anniversary of our unelected head of state?

From repeated trailers for programs featuring royal family members saying how wise and wonderful their relative is to breathless simpering TV reporters explaining why the utterly mundane is somehow magical, the BBC has lost all sense of proportion.

It even featured a "royal historian" who was given free rein to assert unchallenged that even those of a republican bent are delighted that Elizabeth Windsor has remained in post for so long.

At the risk of being accused of being part of a small resentful minority determined to spoil the joyous celebrations of a grateful people, the Morning Star says No.

We are not happy that, in the early part of the 21st century, an unelected person is designated head of state in Britain and remains so on the basis of hereditary right.

It is an outdated practice, which most of the world has rejected in favor of forms of democracy that allow every child to cherish the possibility, however unlikely, of becoming head of state rather than knowing that accommodation to privilege has established no higher destiny for us all than that of royal subject.

Defenders of the status quo assert that the monarchy is largely symbolic or even little more than a tourist attraction, but its residual powers are real, extensive and undemocratic.

The meshing of the royal prerogative with the office of the prime minister creates an executive power where the House of Commons is less authoritative and assertive than it should be.

Elected members of Parliament are excluded from the secret unminuted meetings between prime minister and monarch that take place on a weekly basis, which makes a mockery of parliamentary sovereignty.

Royal prerogative is also invoked to draw a veil over the constant intrusion by the Queen's eldest son in matters of state, interfering in government policy on a range of issues.

How much influence does he have? It would be reassuring to believe very little. However, it baffles belief that he would persist with his letter-writing campaigns to ministers if he was singularly unsuccessful.

But surely the most important aspect of Prince Charles's advocacy of pet projects is that he, as a member of the royal family without any particular talents or experience, has privileged access to ministers that is denied to the rest of us.

It serves as a reminder of the contradiction between democratic advances made in various fields as a result of popular struggles and the ever-present monarchical obstacle to full emancipation.

Arguments in favor of maintaining the monarchy stretch from fairytale sentimentality to assessments of the institution or the Queen personally as "a source of stability and security in a changing world," as Ed Miliband phrased it.

What a sad comment on the maturity of the people of Britain that, according to its politicians, we still need an anachronistic figurehead to see us through troubled times even though German, French, US and Russian citizens seem capable of managing without.

The Morning Star has no intention of surrendering to the tidal wave of officially approved and confected royal fervor.

Our goal is socialism, based on full democratic rights for all and a republican constitution.

This article originally appeared in the Morning Star newspaper.

Talk of military intervention in Syria recalls Iraq debacle

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Reports that the White House and European allies are considering military action to topple Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime carry disturbing echoes of the Iraq debacle.

The talk of covert action, "no fly zones," and military involvement via proxies has ratcheted up following the Russian and Chinese veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution that, the Russians said, opened the door to "regime change" intervention.

As with Iraq in the run-up to the 2003 invasion, the U.S. and its allies appear to be relying on an exile-based alliance that is pressing for foreign intervention to oust Assad - the Syrian National Council.

SNC leaders "have been out of the country for a long time and ... are very savvy at talking to the West," Syria scholar Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma told the Canadian Broadcasting Company. The SNC includes Muslim Brotherhood and secular figures. According to Dubai-based al-Arabiya, a majority of the council's members live outside of Syria.

It recalls the exile-based Iraqi National Congress, led by the smooth-talking Ahmad Chalabi, which together with other Iraqi groups deemed acceptable by the Bush administration, coordinated with the U.S. military invasion in 2002 and 2003. According to a Council on Foreign Relations report in April 2003, these groups "all wanted to oust Saddam Hussein. But they have a long history of disagreement over a range of issues, including the ethnic composition of a post-Saddam government and whether the country should be a secular or an Islamist state. With the fall of Saddam, the infighting is continuing."

A Feb. 1, 2012, CBC article says of the Syrian National Council, "They are in favor of removing Assad from power and against negotiating with the regime but agree on little else ... The SNC has no coherent economic plan or vision of Syria's future, and the internal bickering within the council and lack of a strong, unifying leader threatens to render the council impotent."

But the SNC and its associated Free Syria Army are not the only Syrian element opposing the repression of the Assad regime. Landis and others emphasize the diverse nature of the opposition.

The National Coordinating Body for Democratic Change is, according to the al-Arabiya report, "an umbrella group of Arab nationalist figures, socialists, independents, Marxists and also comprises members of Syria's minority Kurdish community. The coalition is staunchly opposed to any international military intervention." The CBC report says this coalition backs "a peaceful transition of power" and is "willing to negotiate with the Assad regime."

Numerous local grassroots groups are also involved in protests against the regime.

Yet despite the diversity of the Syrian protest movement and the unclarity of the goals of the SNC pro-foreign-intervention elements, these are the forces that seem to be getting U.S. policymakers' attention.

The Feb. 1 Canadian report says SNC leaders have been "vague on whether they would support a foreign military intervention, with some factions saying they would accept Arab forces but not Western troops, and others voicing support for actions short of intervention such as a no-fly zone."

In Washington, "the National Security Council is said to be preparing a 'presidential finding,' an executive order authorizing covert action, as a policy option, but it is not clear whether the White House would take the risky step of signing it," the UK Guardian reports.

Any outside involvement in Syria would have "an Arab face," a former British intelligence officer told the Guardian.

Turkey and Qatar are backing "some sort of limited military intervention," says the Guardian. Options being discussed include NATO operations to set up a "buffer zone" and "humanitarian corridor" within Syria.

Commentator Evelyn Aissa warns that "any such effort would first require international forces to launch a preemptive air campaign to neutralize the government's air-defense systems. This would require bombing key military installations in and around Damascus, Aleppo, and Lattakia - all densely populated areas."

Compared to Libya, which is a relative backwater with regard to regional and global political dynamics, Syria is central to the political and economic dynamics of the Middle East. The bloodshed and deadly sectarian division that continue to wrack Iraq nine years after the U.S. invasion offer a warning of the possible consequences of foreign intervention in Syria.

Moreover, in addition to the severe political repression practiced by the regimes of Hafiz al-Assad and his son Bashar, economic issues play a central role in the protests. The 2005 introduction of neoliberal "social market economy" policies by Bashar al-Assad "exacerbated existing structural disparities and social discontent," writes Bassam Haddad, director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University.

"The increasing withdrawal of state subsidies and welfare, the gradual introduction of weak market institutions to replace corrupt but functioning institutions of the state, alongside continued notorious mismanagement of the economy, became a recipe for social unrest. The scant rainfall during the past decade further caused massive migration and a loss of jobs in the countryside." These added fuel to "the fire of social protest potential after 2010. All it took was a spark." The spark, Haddad says, was the self-immolation of the Tunisian street vendor a year ago.

Any resolution to Syria's crisis will have to address these issues along with democratization of the political structure.

Photo: Syrian flag flies over Damascus CC 2.0.