People Before Profit blog

The new anti-Cuba campaign

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 11:38:00 +0000

The perpetual propaganda campaign against Cuba has hit a new low, taking advantage of the death of hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo in February to slander the socialist government. Several other people in Cuba have now undertaken hunger strikes, including Guillermo Fariñas, whose fast has also reached a life-threatening point. Our media have also given a lot of attention to a minor scuffle among a dissident organization called "Ladies in White," supporters of the Cuban Revolution and police.

Not only U.S. media, but President Obama and the European Union chipped in, repeating slanders. Anti-Castro marches were held in the United States, including one in Miami led by singer Gloria Estefan, the daughter of a driver and bodyguard of former Cuban Dictator Fulgencio Batista. Marching in the Miami demonstration, grinning and waving to the crowd, was Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban exile and former CIA agent who is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela for masterminding the sabotage of a Cuban airliner in 1976, an incident in which 73 innocent people died.

This constitutes a massive campaign of lying propaganda designed to portray the Cuban government as a brutal despotism which arrests and tortures its political opponents.

Others have refuted these falsifications in greater detail, but just briefly:

*The impression has been given that Zapata was jailed for his political views, and died because of mistreatment by Cuban authorities. In fact he had been jailed for ordinary crimes, and died because he insisted on dragging a hunger strike to a suicidal 83 days, while Cuban government medical personnel went to extraordinary lengths to save him.

*Fariñas has been portrayed as if he were a victim of persecution by the Cuban government. In fact he was carrying out his hunger strike in his own home and was not under arrest, and has now been transferred to a hospital.

*The "Ladies in White" were shouted at by angry Revolution supporters, but there is no evidence that they were subjected to violence. The police simply escorted them home and did not arrest them.

*About 200 people are said to be jailed in Cuba for opposing the socialist government. In fact, they were convicted of accepting money from the United States to destabilize Cuba. People in the United States who took money from foreign powers in order to carry out acts of destabilization would be imprisoned, also. As for the distribution of money to Cuban dissidents, the U.S. government brags about it.

Why is the U.S. corporate press so irresponsible when it comes to Cuba?

In part, it is lazy journalism. Much of the information published in the U.S. press comes either from the small dissident movement in Cuba, the right-wing Miami exiles or U.S. government sources such at the extremely unbalanced State Department profiles on Cuba. To media entities interested in a quick scoop or in information that will titillate audiences without challenging their assumptions, it is easy to do turn such information into "news." Information from Cuban official sources, from ordinary Cuban people, or from friends of Cuba in the U.S. and other countries, is usually ignored.

Positive news about Cuba, for example the role played by Cuban doctors in relieving suffering after the earthquake in Haiti on January 13, is ignored or downplayed.

But there is more to it than journalistic incompetence. Media in capitalist countries are for the most part controlled by international capital, or by local economic elites. On Cuba, exile business interests often play a role.

Major capitalists are eager to make big money from Cuba if the Revolution should fall. After the collapse of Soviet and European socialism at the end of the 1980s, huge fortunes were made by local and international capitalists, at the expense of workers, retirees and other regular people. For Cuba, elaborate plans have been made for a similar feeding frenzy of privatization and corporate penetration.

Also, the success of Cuban socialism represents a threat to capitalism. Millions in Latin America and beyond look to Cuba as a shining example of what socialism can achieve. Cuba is actively involved in the "Bolivarian" process of horizontal regional integration, which threatens the hegemony of monopoly capital and U.S. imperialism. Cuba is part of the Bolivarian Alliance for our America (ALBA) and is involved alongside Venezuela and others in a project to create a replacement for the Organization of American States, which would include Cuba but exclude the United States and Canada. This worries the United States government, which has historically dominated the O.A.S. and used it to fight left wing influences in the region.

But Cuba's actions in no way hurt U.S. workers or other ordinary folk. In fact, the people who slander Cuba and would reverse the Cuban Revolution are the enemies of U.S. workers. So we should take the trouble to inform ourselves about what the real situation in Cuba is, and speak out against the lies.

Photo by: Henryk Kotowski, cc by 2.5, courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Brazil hits new record for job creation

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:16:00 +0000

SÃO PAULO, Brazil -- Carlos Lupi, minister of Labor and Employment, announced the creation of more than 205,000 formal jobs in February, according to data from the General Database of Employees and Unemployed (Caged), which hits a record high for job creation. In January, Caged reported the creation of 181,419 formal jobs, which is also a record.

"We are currently closing the numbers of February and we can consider this month to be the best February in 22 years since Caged was created," Lupi said to journalists. "This years tends to be the best one as far as creating jobs concerns, in the history of Brazil"

The minister also said that the average unemployment rate this year, measured by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, should be around 7.4% and 7.5%, down from 8.1% in 2009.

In a related story, the International Labor Organization released a book "Working Time Around the World: Trends in Working Hours, Laws and Policies," which showed a reduction of working hours in Brazil would benefit more than 18 million workers

All over the world, nearly 22% of the workforce, or 614.2 million workers, work more than 48 weekly hours.

This is one of the main facts publicized in "Working Time Around the World."

According to the book, written by Sangheon Lee, Deirdre McCann and Jon Messenger, during the last five decades, despite substantial regional differences and the unequal process to reduce the working hours for a legal week of work, there was a global change to a 40-hour limit.

Messenger came to Brazil to release the book.

Another conclusion was gender and age seem to be important factors to determine the length of work. Despite an increase in the participation of women in remunerated work, there is a clear "gender gap" regarding working shifts all over the world. Men tend to work longer shifts, while the shorter shifts are performed by women. The time women dedicate to their families and domestic responsibilities restrain their availability to a remunerated work.

In all regions of the developing world, informal work is responsible for at least half the occupation, out of which 60% are freelancer workers. While in industrialized countries a large amount of freelance workers go through extremely extended shifts, in developing countries, shifts are shorter (less than 35 weekly hours).

ILO proposes that agreements on decent working shifts should include:

health and safety standards;
family life compatibility;
gender equality.

UGT World is the international newsletter of Brazil's General Workers Union.

Photo: A worker in Bahia, Brazil. http://www.flickr.com/photos/16972775@N02/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Cuban artists and Sean Penn team up in Haiti

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:24:00 +0000

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Hatit (Prensa Latina) -- The world of golf is only interested in Tiger Woods, but almost no one knows that more than 45,000 people are currently living in one of the fields of that sport in the devastated capital of Haiti since January 12 earthquake.

However, the Martha Machado Cuban artistic brigade reached that place and revolutionized the apparent peace that prevailed in the golf field in the blink of an eye.

Hundreds of children left their houses; the women stopped their housework and went after the Cuban artists until they found a spot to show their art.

Some minutes before, the head of the brigade, plastic artist Alexis Leyva (Kcho), stopped by the camp, U.S. actor Sean Penn came by and added him to his delegation.

The Oscar 2009 winning actor for "Milk" is participating in a project to aid Haitians and camps near them.

In statements to the press, this popular actor acknowledged the work of Cuban doctors in Haiti. "Of course that I am aware of what they do here. Their job is very important and selfless and it is worthy to acknowledge it."

The 49-year-old actor recognized that Cuba and the United States should work together at a government and people level and admitted that "Cuba started out since it allowed planes to fly over the Island to go to Haiti."

Meanwhile, thousands of Haitians have barely time to worry about art since their current priorities are having a comfortable shelter that protects them from the rain or getting the next-day meal for their families.

Photo: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right, meets with actor Sean Penn, co-founder of the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization, and actress Maria Bello, center, at the Petionville Club Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Port-au-Prince. http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Myth of auto-giant Toyota

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:08:00 +0000

Toyota Motor Corporation, the largest auto manufacturer in the world, has been rocked by its massive recall of more than 10 million vehicles across the world. When Toyota CEO Toyoda Akio was summoned to the U.S. Congress, he admitted that the company expanded its business so quickly that it cannot foster the needed skilled human resources. Documents indicating that the carmaker put profits before customer safety were also discovered in the United States.

Back in 2005, people called that year's general election campaign the "Koizumi Theater." The powerful patron of the "Theater" was the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), the control tower of Japan's business society. The chairman of Nippon Keidanren at that time, as a matter of fact, was then Toyota Motor Corp Chairman Okuda Hiroshi.

Painful 'reform'

In the final days of the election campaign, then Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro was canvassing in Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture, the Toyota Motor stronghold as indicated by the city name. Anticipating the victory of the "Koizumi Theater" in the election were Toyota Motor executives including then Vice Chairman Cho Fujio, who was also the No.2 leader of Nippon Keidanren. Toyota Motor Corporation with the two top business federation leaders gained an enormous influence not only in business circles but also in politics.

Prime Minister Koizumi was pushing ahead with the so-called "structural reform" policy with strong support from business circles. Koizumi stated, "Opposition forces to my 'structural reform' policy are specific industries, politicians representing special interest groups, and in a sense, everyone." He went on to say, "The reality of the 'structural reform' policy requires people to endure 'pains' for a while."

At that time, Toyota Motors was enjoying a leap in its operating profits to 1.12 trillion yen. In 2007, it eventually became the first Japanese corporation to make more than two trillion yen in operating profits.

The strongest promoter of the "structural reform" policy, Toyota Motors, expanded its business at an accelerating pace. In proportion to this, there was an increase in the number of complaints about the sudden unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles in the United States.

Involvement in national policies

Toyota Motors was founded in August 1937. Under wartime economic control, Toyota was connected deeply with wartime Japan's policies. At the request of the then Ministry of War, Toyota produced standardized military vehicles and delivered 198 amphibious vehicles to the Japanese Imperial Army between November 1943 and August 1944. World War II ended in 1945. However, in 1950, another chance for quick profits came for the automaker. The Korean War broke out. Toyota Motors was again awarded with special procurements for the expanded demand from U.S. occupation forces stationed in Japan for supplies and services associated with the outbreak of this war.

In this manner, Toyota Motors has maintained a cozy tie with power to this day.

Karoshi, death from overwork

"For the absolute elimination of waste," Toyota introduced a production system known as the "Toyota Production System (TPS)" in 1973 when the oil crisis started.

Under this system, Toyota forces its workers to work extremely long hours. This causes death from overwork, karoshi. The TPS consists of two systems. One is the so-called "just-in-time" system under which the precise number of auto parts has to be delivered at the right place at the right time. Another system is the so-called "kanban" system which is the way in which "just-in-time" is achieved. Pushing severe cost reduction measures onto small- and medium-sized suppliers, Toyota made enormous profits and amassed a huge amount of internal reserves.

In November 2008, another shock hit Japan. This was called the "Toyota Shock." At a news conference to announce its quarterly earnings figures, then Toyota Vice President Kinoshita Mitsuo said that Toyota plans to cut 5,800 fixed-term contract jobs. Many auto manufacturers and electronic makers followed this move. Due to large manufacturing companies' massive dismissal of temporary workers, the employment situation in Japan deteriorated.

At a public hearing in the U.S. Congress, Toyota President Toyoda Akio said, "The pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. We pursued growth beyond the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization. I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues now under concern." Instead of developing skilled workers, Toyota actually took the initiative in scrapping a number of temporary jobs.

TPS is designed to eliminate waste, including over-production, any wasteful motion of operators or machines, waiting time of operators or machines, conveyance, processing itself, inventory raw material, and correction rework and scrap. The number of Toyota recalls in 2001 was 45,889 units, but in 2008 it jumped to over one million, up 25 times. Last year, over 10 million Toyota products were recalled all over the world.

Profit is top priority

It seems that Toyota abandoned the principle of product safety for the sake of cost reduction. Labor analyst Sasaki Shozo pointed out, "Under the policy to cut production costs, Toyota reduced the time frame for developing new products and took such products to the market without thoroughly examining product safety. This clearly shows Toyota's attitude of putting top priority on profits rather than safety. Toyota should use its large amount of internal reserves to provide secure jobs for temporary workers and to set up an appropriate unit price of auto parts to suppliers.

--Akahata, March 8 & 9, 2010

Photo: A Toyota dealership in Japan. CC

Scabs paid to break British Airways strike

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:45:00 +0000

By Paul Haste of Morning Star

LONDON -- Striking British Airways workers' union leaders have slated the airline's bosses for blowing millions of pounds on exorbitant wages and expenses for scabs attempting to break the cabin crew strike.

As more than 13,000 low-paid cabin crew continued their second devastating strike against cost-slashing BA chief Willie Walsh's plans to cut jobs and freeze pay, union reps revealed that the privateer was stuffing the pockets of pilots scabbing as flight attendants with an extraordinary £166 per hour.

Pilots who accepted the bribes have also been handed up to £200 in expenses to add to their swag and cover the cost of their commute to work.

Unite assistant general secretary Len McCluskey exposed BA's massive hand-outs as Mr Walsh claimed that "our operations throughout the strike have been strong - and it's not just pilots who are volunteering to work as cabin crew but ground staff too."

But Mr McCluskey hit back by pointing out that airline executives had "gone to enormous lengths to divert hundreds of pilots from their everyday jobs - with the guarantee that they will still be paid their £120,000 salaries."

In contrast, a BA cabin crew worker - even with five years' experience - earns barely £15,000 a year.

"Far from cutting cabin crew costs, BA is now operating the world's most expensive crew in a bid to break its far cheaper, world-class workforce," Mr McCluskey asserted.

"Where is the sense in running an ever-creaky contingency operation built on throwing money at pilots pretending to be crew when they have nearly 13,000 fully trained professionals who should be working?" he stressed.

The revelations came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown again waded into the dispute to lamely declare that the government was "being very tough about this strike.

"We have said that it is not in the public interest and we don't think it's in the workers' interest," he said.

But the cabin crew, who held mass pickets at Heathrow over the weekend while scores of BA planes were left idle on the airport's tarmac, have pledged to continue their strikes until Mr Walsh backs down from his cost-cutting plans that are supposed to save the airline millions of pounds.

Mr McCluskey urged other BA workers not to be tempted by Mr Walsh's bribes and insisted that "strike-breakers, whether they are pilots or other BA colleagues acting as cabin crew, are misguided.

"Their actions are not solving this crisis, they are helping prolong it, and they should not expect thanks from BA for their troubles because this company will turn on them in due course just as they have turned on the crew," he emphasised.

And Unite leader Tony Woodley revealed that an "unprecedented" 2 per cent levy would be added to almost two million members' subs for the next three months to raise up to £700,000 to support the BA strikers.

Photo: Unite workers protesting against Willie Walsh at a picket near Heathrow Airport on March 27. Morning Star

World Notes: Palestine, Cuba, Japan, Uganda, Costa Rica

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:33:00 +0000

Palestine: Israel wins "water wars"

The Israeli Human rights group B'Tselem took March 26, the UN designated International Water Day, as underscoring Israeli control and use of 80 percent of the water from West Bank rivers and the shared Mountain Aquifer. Consumption by West Bank individuals averages 73 liters daily, three fourths of the World Heath Organization daily recommendation. The average Israeli uses up to 240 liters daily. Chronic water shortages force a "substantial percentage" of West Bank residents to buy water of questionable quality at inflated prices. Untreated wastewater from two million out of 2.8 million West Bank and East Jerusalem residents, both Jewish and Palestinian, seeps into aquifers. Over 90 percent of Gaza groundwater contains sewage residue and salt and nitrates from sea water contamination.

Cuba: Amistad pays a visit

The replica schooner Amistad sailed into Havana on March 25, International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon welcomed the ship, joined by author Miguel Barnet, who praised the historical recreation as memorializing "history's longest holocaust." Inter Press Service reported Cuban activists took the occasion to highlight ongoing antiracist struggle in Cuba. Massachusetts Representative William Delahunt helped secure U.S. State and Treasury Department permissions for the visit. During ten years of visits to U.S, Canadian, African, and European ports, the ship has evoked memories of oppression and struggle. In 1839, slaves being transported in the original Amistad overwhelmed its crew off Cuba and ended up in U.S. prisons. The 1841 U.S. Supreme Court decision freeing them became an abolitionist milestone.

United Nations: Earth hour circles the globe

At least one billion people in 126 countries marked the fourth annual Earth Hour on March 28 by turning off electric lights, up from 88 countries in 2008. In Beijing, the Forbidden City went dark for the first time. For UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Earth Hour represents both a "warning and a beacon of hope." "Solutions are within our grasp," he added, quoted by the UN News Center. United Nations weather monitoring agency recently identified the past decade as the warmest on record. Speaking to reporters, Bolivian President Evo Morales pinned responsibility on rich nations engaged in "boundless exploitation of natural resources." He is preparing for a "People's" climate change conference in Cochabamba on April 20-22.

Romania: Pensioners protest

Crying out, "We live in poverty" and "We are dying of hunger," retirees belonging to the National Federation of the Pensioners' Trade Unions protested March 26 in front of government buildings. They demanded that pensions below the average salary no longer be taxed at 16 percent, that only pensions above the average salary be taxed, that pensions be increased and purchasing power strengthened. They protested paying for services at public health centers, supposed because of financial crisis. Over three million retirees receive pensions of less than 250 Euros per month, although at least 325 Euros are required for survival. Coincidently, military planners decided to buy 24 used F-16 fighter planes. The report on rebellion.org claims 57 percent of the population are "tremendously deceived" by the capitalist system.
Uganda: U.S. military may take a hand
The U.S. Senate recently authorized the U.S. government to "help develop and support" resistance to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), widely accused of human rights abuses. Washington had already designated the insurgency as terrorist and in 2008 awarded the US Military Command for Africa (AFRICOM) $1 million for anti- LRA operations. This time AFRICOM would gain "a green light to extrajudicial executions" and use of military drones, according to Samar Al-Bulushi (allAfrica.com). The Senate, she suggested, was responding to pressures from ostensibly humanitarian NGO's in the region. Military operations would take place on land harboring Sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil reserves. Meanwhile, because of drought and flooding, "At least 900,000 people" in northeastern Uganda require food supplementation, reports IRIN News.
Costa Rica: Dock workers resist privatization

Publically owned dock facilities in the Caribbean ports Limón and Moín provide funding for services and infrastructure projects in Limón province. The Oscar Arias government sold off Pacific port facilities in Caldera, but privatization on the Caribbean side so far has been stymied, thanks mainly to new, left-leaning leadership of the dockworkers' union Sintrajap. Other unions, environmentalists, and popular movements have mobilized in support. The government refuses to negotiate, despite union occupation of ministerial offices in January. Its operatives have bribed union members and recruited new union leaders through manipulating votes of a minority of members. The legitimate leaders are occupying their offices despite police attempts at removal. The International Transport Workers Federation asks that emails supporting Sintrajap be sent to President Arias at: info@casapres.go.cr

Japan: Nuclear ban is waning

Responding to Communist Party deputy Kasai Akira at a parliamentary committee, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada admitted on March 17 that "in cases of emergency" U.S. nuclear armed ships could enter Japanese waters. The exchange followed governmental confirmation March 9 that U.S. - Japanese "secret treaties" had permitted such entry since the 1960's. Japanese Prime Ministers had denied their existence, despite Washington's affirmations. Japan's Constitution prohibits offensive military weapons, and four decades ago, Japan enunciated its "Three Non-nuclear Principles" - no production, possession, or introduction of nuclear weapons. The Japan Press Weekly reported Kasai's assertion that for the Principles to remain in force, the secret agreements must go. Minister Katsuya claimed importation and transportation of nuclear weapons are both still forbidden.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wlscience/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Chilean earthquakes, tsunamis and politics

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:48:00 +0000

The following is an eyewitness account of Chile's earthquake and the ensuing political struggle that took place immediately after the disaster.

VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile -- On February 27, at 3:30 a.m., the life of millions would change forever. My family suddenly heard what sounded like one thousand huge garbage trucks rambling down our street. The scary noise was deep, deep, coming from the heart of the earth. All of the sudden, a mad King Kong grabbed our building and violently shock it, which felt like an eternity. At every shake a huge cracking noise went through the entire building and also through our spine.

In the south, the Pacific Ocean unleashed huge waves that covered resorts like Dichato, the port of Talcahuano, the city of Constitución, summer outdoor camps, fishermen ports, and small working class towns of miners and workers.

As a result, the middle southwest of Chile turned surreal, houses floating on the water, boats on top of trees, ships on the beaches, ship containers in the middle of the streets, cars and vehicles sinking in the ocean. Disoriented people, who just woke up in the dark, found themselves screaming in the middle of an horrifying and Dantesque nightmare.

The final tally may indicate the tsunami killed more people than the earthquake. Everyone was worried about tsunamis. But, the Chilean Navy announced there was no threat of tsunami. That was good news. People, who had run to the hills for protection from the dreaded giant wave, decided to come down to the coast line, just to find death in their own homes.

The Navy needs to explain its criminal ineptness. Not only that, but, the Navy´s report ignored a U.S. agency that monitors the Pacific for tsunamis. The agency alerted the Navy, only minutes after the quake, that a tsunami was on its way to the Chilean coastline.

It is intriguing this criminal ineptness, which will cost more lives than the quake itself, was less media-worthy than the looting of the Super Market Lider (Wal-Mart) in Concepción.

Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe, mayor of Concepción, a strong supporter of Pinochet and a contender in a future presidential election, blamed the Bachelet government for lack of food and water, the same morning the earthquake hit. (Talk about politics.) She also warned the government that people will get angrier and will start assaulting commercial establishments to get food and water.

Initial government assessments showed a national social situation under control. But, in a tense social atmosphere, anything can happen. Right after the mayor's statement, a local radio show announced that women with their IDs could go to the "Super Market Lider" to get a "family basket" with food. When hundreds of people found the "Lider" closed, they reacted angrily and broke its metal doors and grabbed anything they could take. This incident was widely publicized and could have triggered the local pillage that followed.

These media reports gave the false image that nobody was in charge. That the Bachelet´s government was infective and invisible. That there was not law nor order.

However, it was these media reports that actually created the conditions for criminal activities. And, as the incoming right-wing president Sebastian Piñera called for the Armed Forces to take over, Mayor Van Rysselberghe also asked for the Armed Forces to take over the cities to prevent pillage.

The Piñera team, the press and the mayor of Concepción wanted the military to take credit for any success in coping with the emergency, and by doing so, discrediting the Bachelet administration. Their goal was to make a dent in Bachelet's wide and deep prestige and popularity. Normally, the Army would be sent out to patrol and keep order. But under the terms of the National Emergency Office, civilian officials appointed by the government, "must follow military decisions," and that is a sensitive matter in a country where the Armed Forces has a dark history.

Air Force chief General Ricardo Ortega said "He had planes ready to deliver aid just two hours after the quake but had to wait for Bachelet's emergency declaration Sunday." Bachelet replied that Ortega was "badly informed," and she requested a helicopter to inspect damage right after the quake and got it six hours later. That was at a crucial moment, when the entire country was expecting the president to be visible and on top of the situation. Yet, nobody from the media asked the general the reasons why it took six hours to respond to the president's request.

Despite all of this the Bachelet government went directly to the people. Bachelet was everywhere: informing dignitaries and world leaders, flying to little towns in the south, presiding over coordinating meetings, informing the incoming Piñera authorities, getting informed by her ministerial advisers and overseeing activities at the earthquake's epicenter.

As a result, aid and basic services have been restored, as well as medical assistance and communications. Thousand of young professionals, university students and international crews of medical volunteers, sent by a number of countries, are heading south. These effective activities from the government and the solidarity coming from all over the world, give us a solid base for reconstructing a future.

The earthquake's aftershocks were also a terrible and horrifying experience. Standing on the street I felt the ground shaking under my feet with such force that I had little control of my balance. That was the first big aftershock (réplica) and whose force was greater than Haiti's earthquake. When the ground shakes, it is extremely disturbing. It was bad. Very bad.

But the shaking continues, and along comes anxiety. We are living with aftershocks, long and strong.

Earthquakes are acts of nature, but they are also political events. We will certainly see more of this kind of politics since Piñera and the entrepreneurship class took over the government March 11.

Nery Barrientos lives in Chile and is a veteran of numerous political struggles.

Photo: Chilean army patrols earthquake-torn town. Juan Eduardo Donoso/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jotequila/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Free Liliany Obando

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:29:00 +0000

Now and then one individual stands out as an indictment against injustice. That would be Liliany Obando, incarcerated in Bogota's Buen Pastor Women's Prison for almost two years. Her trial has been repeatedly postponed.

Authorities want to move her to another prison, away from family, attorneys, and supporters. The International Network in Solidarity with Colombian Political Prisoners and the Alliance for Global Justice issued an appeal recently on her behalf.

Obando, a sociologist and documentary filmmaker, served as human rights director of Fensuagro, Colombia's largest peasants' union. She toured foreign countries, raising money for Fensuagro, which has lost more members to murder, disappearance, and prison than any other Colombian union. Obando issued a report in early 2008 documenting 1,500 Fensuagro unionists murdered at the hands of soldiers and right wing paramilitaries. She was soon arrested, leaving two young children in the care of her elderly mother.

She is charged with "rebellion" and aiding the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The government accused at least twelve others similarly. First Obando and then professor Miguel Angel Beltran, another sociologist, are the only two so far to be imprisoned. Widely discredited computer files belonging to FARC commander Raul Reyes allegedly implicate them all. Seizure of his computers followed an illegal U.S. Colombian air attack in Ecuador on March 1, 2008 that killed Reyes.

The Colombian regime used the raid and bogus evidence to instill fear and sow confusion among social movements, notably those fighting the rape of peasants' land.

Liliany Obando and Fensuagro are emblematic of that struggle. Fictitious agrarian reforms and military invasion of the countryside came first. Over decades four million rural people were displaced, with 75 percent impoverished and 50,000 disappeared or murdered. The U.S. government contributed $7 billion towards the Colombian military's conduct of a civil war. Repression, human wastage, and U.S. complicity go unreported by the dominant U.S. and European media.

Liliany Obando's case is beginning to reverberate throughout the activist world, especially among labor unions in Australia and Canada, whom she visited. "Lily's trial has everything to do with her work with Fensuagro," writes Alliance for Global Justice spokesperson James Jordan, "The Colombian government is trying to destroy the union," he adds. "The war in Colombia is built around driving farmers off their land and of course the union is at odds with that goal.".

The issue of land is one good reason to fight for Obando's safety in jail and ultimately her freedom. Another is that she epitomizes the situation of Colombian political prisoners.

Colombia's prison system is particularly odious. The U.S. government has turned a blind eye to 7,500 political prisoners in Colombia who make up ten percent of the country's prisoners. Prisons there are old. They house almost twice their advertised capacity.
Prisoner rights advocate Agustín Jiménez notes three categories of political prisoners: captured insurgents, those falsely accused living close to guerrilla operations, and human rights activists. Among the latter, writes analyst Azalea Robles, are "unionists, students, teachers, peasants, and ecologists" imprisoned mostly "as terrorists under coarsely patched together judicial proceedings." Their living conditions are "subhuman" and "The Colombian state is one of the principle torture states in the world."

Jiménez accuses the Colombian army of retaliating against prisoners through torture. Prisons and military power are central to criminalization of social protest leading to harassment, persecution, and torture of political prisoners. "Prolonged isolation" is commonplace.

Supporters see Obando's possible transfer to another prison as the regime's response to her defense of fellow political prisoners subjected to physical and psychological abuse. Imprisoned criminals and paramilitaries serve as enforcers. Many jailed human rights activists linger in jails for several years, charged, never tried, and then released. By contrast, soldiers accused of killing youths and dressing their bodies to look like FARC casualties - the "false positives" scandal - often leave prison in less than 90 days. Up to 2,000 young rural men have been murdered in this way.

On its web site, the Alliance for Global Justice provides addresses of suitable recipients of letters written in support of Liliany Obando. Potential writers are advised to write in Spanish because prison authorities bar letters written in other languages. Or they can use the Spanish version of a model letter, available on the web site.

Photo: Facebook/Freedom for Liliana Obando.

Cuba blockade costs American jobs

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:23:00 +0000

HAVANA - The figures are staggering. Even a minor easing of the US blockade against Cuba would create tens of thousands new jobs in the US. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar (D) and Wyoming Senator Mike Enza (R) have introduced just such a minimal bill. A companion bill has been introduced in the House by Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson (D). The Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act would make very nominal reforms in the two areas mentioned in the bill's name.

First it would ease some restrictions on Cuba's ability to buy US agricultural products. Now Cuba must pay for any food imports in cash before the products reach Cuba and the transactions must be made through third country banks. The bill would normalize these transactions and allow US exporters to use US banks to make the deals. According to US International Trade Commission estimates, the Act would increase export food and agricultural sales to Cuba by roughly $500 million a year. That would mean new jobs in export and agriculture related industries. Both the National Farmers Union and the American Farm Bureau have testified in favor of the bill.

Secondly the Act would end travel restrictions on US citizens visiting Cuba. Cuba is the only country where US citizens are forbidden to travel to by law. According to another study, allowing US travel to Cuba would greatly increase tourism to the tune of between $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion a year. Estimates are the increase would create over 23,000 jobs in the US tourist industry alone. Farm organizations have pointed out that such a surge in tourism would increase Cuba's ability to buy even more US exports of food and hotel related products, creating even more jobs.

Again these are really only very minor reforms in the overall blockade policy of the US government. President Obama used his executive powers to ease restrictions on family travel and cash remittances last year. Still the blockade policies and laws remain extensive and very harmful to the people of Cuba.

The blockade is not only a failed policy in that it has not succeeded in overthrowing the legitimate government of Cuba. It is just plain wrong and harmful to the real interests of American working people in many ways. The US blockade policy is rejected by nations around the world, friend and foe of US foreign policy alike. It isolates the US and weakens any possible efforts to promote peace or better foreign relations.

I know of no studies. But based on the projections mentioned here for jobs with very limited reforms, think of how many jobs could be created with a complete end to the blockade and fully normal relations with our neighbor only 90 miles away. Passage of the Klobuchar-Enza Act would be an important first step in that direction. And as the Republican Enza pointed out speaking for the bill, "...Cubans and Americans will be able to engage in open communication, an important step towards improving relations between our two nations."

Photo: Scott Marshall

Brazil: Workers' Party names candidate to succeed Lula

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:36:00 +0000

At its national congress in February, the Workers' Party acclaimed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's endorsement of Dilma Rousseff as the Party's presidential candidate for elections in October. Party leader José Eduardo Dutra told 1300 delegates that Rousseff is "deeply and absolutely committed [to} the continuity of the policies of Lula," who presently enjoys 75-80 percent public approval ratings. He is constitutionally limited to two terms.

In his remarks, Lula emphasized Rousseff's history of militancy, management skills and dedication to national economic development. He highlighted her persistence in policy implementation and in "resolving problems of the population."

Rousseff herself promised to continue the social, economic, environmental, energy, and foreign policies of the Lula government. Promising once more to form a coalition government, she called for "appropriate public policies" over total reliance on market forces. An economist, Rousseff has never run for elective office. Aspiring to become Brazil's first woman head of state, she observed that while "Some grant that women make up half of those in heaven, [but] for us, we want half here on the earth, with full equality or rights, salaries, and opportunities."

As the 1970's dawned, Rousseff, of upper middle class origins, had joined Marxist oriented armed struggle against Brazil's U.S. supported dictatorship. She suffered imprisonment and torture.

Rousseff served as municipal treasury secretary in Porto Alegre in 1985. Later, she twice headed the Ministry of Energy for the Rio Grande do Sul state government. In 2000, she left the Democratic Labor Party for the Workers Party and served as Minister of Mines and Energy in Lula's first term. Rousseff became Lula's Chief of Staff two year's later in a government reshuffle triggered by a corruption scandal. In 2006, she planned and launched the Growth Acceleration Program, under which $200 billion were invested in infrastructure projects. TeleSur described the latter as "an ambitious plan ... that gave her much visibility."

A year ago, Rousseff underwent treatment for lymphoma. Known as a workaholic, she has concentrated on technical aspects of energy and economics policies.

Rouseff's likely opponent on the right will be the José Serra, the current governor of São Paulo state. The U.S. educated Serra gained prominence as Minister of Planning and as Minister of Health during the presidency of neo-liberal partisan Fernando Cardoso. The candidacy of Maria Silva for the Green Party is expected to take 10 percent of leftist voters away from the Workers' Party. The former rubber tapper, militant environmental activist, and senator resigned as Lula's environmental minister in opposition to his government's support for hydroelectric dams, biofuels, and genetically modified crops.

In March, the Communist Party of Brazil endorsed Dilma Rousseff's candidacy. Allied to the Workers' Party since 1989, the Party has held government posts since 2003. Its statement affirmed, "There is no middle ground in this political clash. The result will either guarantee the continuity of the political cycle that president Lula started or backpedal with those who ruined Brazil." At issue, according to the Party document, is national development, increased production, adequate pay for labor, and improved living standards. The Communist Party reiterated its commitment to "unity in the democratic, patriotic and popular fields." The Party looks forward to Brazil "becoming one of the most progressive, strong and influential nations of the world."

Rousseff's future on the world stage is unclear. Already, according to Uruguayan analyst Raul Zibechi, "Brazil is now a big league player." Three Brazilian banks are among the world's ten largest. The country's oil and uranium reserves are huge. It boasts giant multi-national corporations.

Zibechi thinks the threat of Brazil is forcing the United States "to redesign its foreign policy," specifically by provoking conflicts on Brazil's borders – and China's too – so as to distract and to divert from upward trajectories. President Lula da Silva has schooled the people's movement in Brazil, the Workers' Party at its head, and perhaps Dilma Rousseff, in how to respond.

It's a response with the "Brazilian smile," says Ecuadorian analyst Guillaume Long. Visiting Brazil recently, Secretary of State Clinton got the smile and three negatives. No, Brazil would not discourage Iran from developing nuclear power, would not help return Honduras to the Organization of the American States, and would not take on supervision over Venezuela.

Photo: The Chief of Staff of the Presidency of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff.. Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/ABr, courtesy Wikimedia Commons, cc by 2.5

Chile remains in need after earthquake

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:10:00 +0000

The massive earthquake that struck Chile February 27 continues to have a heavy impact on the Chilean people. The 8.8 magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami killed at least 497 people while about 500 remain missing. Considering the numbers injured and rendered homeless from the initial earthquake and the numerous aftershocks, Chileans will continue to need assistance. Numerous countries and aid organizations have offered and given assistance.

Given the not-that-distant history of the Pinochet dictatorship, the aid and assistance that has come in from Cuba, Russia and Bolivia are particularly interesting. Cuba flew in a team of doctors and a field hospital. Russia flew in rescue workers and humanitarian aid. And from Bolivia, President Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia are donating half their March salaries to earthquake victims in both Chile and Haiti. This in itself is not hugely significant but if other political leaders did the same they would be showing a degree of decency often in short supply among politicians.

Some aid organizations that are working with the ongoing relief effort in Chile are SOS Children's Village which has been active in Chile since 1965, www.childrensvillage.org, OXFAM has been helping with the earthquake relief since the quake struck February 27, www.oxfamamerica.org, and Red Cross, www.redcross.org. When contacting these agencies specify that it is for Chilean earthquake relief.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grafixer/ / CC BY 2.0

Useless war: Afghanistan needs peace to develop

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:13:00 +0000

In a potentially important development, exiled members of the former People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan are returning to the country to re-found the organization. They plan to hold a Congress in Kabul later this year and rename the organization the Democratic Party of Afghanistan.

The PDPA was the ruling party that led the country on a path of socialism before being ousted from power in 1992 by the U.S. government-backed Taliban. Thousands of PDPA members were slaughtered or driven into exile where they have functioned over the years as scattered groups.

Exiled members met recently in Germany to unite their ranks and agree on an approach to reestablishing a legal political party on Afghanistan soil.

"The main goal is to return to Afghanistan and bring a situation of peace and stability in the region," said Dr. Zalmay Gulzad, professor of Social Sciences at Harold Washington Community College in Chicago. Gulzad was born in Afghanistan and came to the U.S. as a student in 1971 and stayed. "Once peace is achieved the movement will evolve into different stages."

In an interview with the People's World, Gulzad said the new DPA would join the growing democratic movement in Afghanistan that includes a strong women's movement, intellectuals, students and even some members of the Parliament.

Media reports have noted nostalgia for the PDPA governing years. Many people say times were better then; there was more stability and security. The government built a lot of schools, provided education and health care, according to Gulzad. Many feel "that period was better than during the repression of the Mujahideen and today's American bombs."

"It's a different situation," he continued. "The conditions are good for unity to bring peace to Afghanistan. Even before Sept. 11, 2001, members of the PDPA returned and became members of Parliament and they've been working within the function of government."

Gulzad termed the Karzai government a corrupt "puppet regime" and said U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry is really running the country.

Gulzad said the main threat to the stability of the Afghan government comes from a resurgent Taliban. While the people don't want U.S. troops in the country, they fear a return of the Taliban to power, he said.

"The people will not accept a puppet regime. They will work with the Karzai government because of the situation with the Taliban. Once peace comes, people will bring a genuine people's government," he said.

The Taliban have their roots in the U.S. drive to destabilize the Soviet Union during the Carter administration. Known then as "freedom fighters" (Mujahideen) they were religious extremists assembled by the CIA to overthrow the government and kill Communists, democrats and Soviet "infidels." They were recruited from predominantly Muslim countries when they couldn't be found in Afghanistan.

Because they were trained in Pakistan, they were renamed Taliban, which means "religious students." These same elements, trained by the CIA, were responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center in September 11, 2001, including Osama Bin Laden.

After the attacks, said Gulzad, they were suddenly renamed "terrorists." Instead of going into Saudi Arabia where most were from, or Pakistan where they were trained, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan. Gulzad says the reason is the strategic geopolitical importance of Afghanistan, its proximity to energy resources and Iran, Russian, China and the Persian Gulf.

"If the Taliban retook power they would be a very regressive force. The Afghan people wouldn't accept it. Remember there was a civil war - north versus south and within the south they were fighting the Taliban. And the region's countries would get involved in arming various factions - Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China."

The main source of support for the Taliban is still the military in Pakistan. Gulzad said this is related to Pakistan's desire for additional territory in its fight against India and for gaining hold of Kashmir. They want a weak government in Afghanistan and to rid it of Indian influence, which has invested heavily in Afghani infrastructure, education and hospitals.

Gulzad said during the arming of the "freedom fighters" against the Soviet Union everyone denied Pakistan was helping. And today everyone knows the Pakistani military and Inter-Service Intelligence are supporting and arming the Taliban, but it's still denied.

Today, there are now two separate Taliban, one in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan. The Pakistan Taliban is threatening to overthrow the Pakistani secular state. Gulzad said most of the recent terrorist attacks in other parts of the world have emanated from Pakistan including the deadly attack on Mumbai.

All the Obama administration needs to do is put pressure on Pakistan to stop arming the Afghani Taliban and protecting their sanctuaries from which they are launching attacks into Afghanistan, and the problem would be solved, said Gulzad.

"We are losing many Afghan and U.S. troops right now for no reason," he said. "Pakistan could arrest Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda and terrorist leaders if it wanted to. Many believe the U.S. and Pakistan want to keep it going for their own purposes."

"The problem reflects the split in (U.S.) ruling circles, in the U.S. military and the Obama administration. Sections of the military and intelligence community see the importance of a long-term presence in Afghanistan for access to energy resources and geo-political purposes," he said.

Recently, Defense Secretary Gates, Secretary of State Clinton and General McCrytsal let it be known they oppose President Obama's suggestion of negotiation with the Taliban, who have suffered military defeats recently.

"The institutions of U.S. imperialism are highly developed. Pres. Obama can't change it alone. He has very good intentions but the people around him - e.g. the Pentagon, CIA, they are not really allowing him to move from that policy," said Gulzad

The American people have to demand a change in foreign policy to end U.S. involvement and close down the foreign military bases. he said.

"So long as the imperialist mentality exists - hostility to Iran, China, etc. the U.S. is in a good spot," he said. Which helps explain why they are rejecting offers from Russia and China to help, he said.

"Russia wanted to help Afghanistan, but were denied by the US. Russia has a long history with Afghanistan. Most of the highways and infrastructure were built by the Soviets. They have all the blueprints."

Gulzad said international help could come by training and educating personal to rebuild the country. They could be sent to Tajikistan and Iran, which both speak the same language and have the same culture as many Afghanis.

"It would require the U.S. to step back and allow the Afghan government to have its own sovereign relations. The American people have a big responsibility. Look, our government is broke and people are suffering. Yet the US has military bases all over the world and it costs a lot to maintain this. The mentality of imperialism is finished. People around the world don't accept it any longer," said Gulzad.

Photo: Dr. Zalmay Gulzad John Bachtell/PW

Mexican government on full-blast offensive against workers

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:34:00 +0000

Last week, Mexico's Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare Javier Lozano Alarcon announced a series of legislative proposals which, if approved, would constitute a major blow against Mexican workers and especially embattled independent unions.

The measures presented to a meeting of the Business Coordinating Council will be included in a major legislative vehicle shortly. The government proposes to:

• Give employers the right to government arbitration in strike situations, which only unions have at present. Lozano claims that this will put an end to "eternal strikes".

• Allow more leeway for employers to hire people part time, for short term periods and in other irregular ways. Lozano says this is merely recognizing the fact that Mexican workers are already being employed in these ways.

• Other measures intended to increase "labor flexibility" and worker productivity, and thus reassure both Mexico's business elite and foreign investors that the country's efforts to recover from the heavy blow it received from the world financial meltdown will be carried out at the expense of workers and the poor, and not the rich or foreign corporations.

The announcement comes after one of the worst years in recent Mexican economic history. During 2009, Mexico lost about 7 percent of its Gross Domestic Product. Both prices of food staples and the unemployment rate have been rising, 28 percent of the working population is in the informal sector, and the amount of money sent to Mexico by its citizens working in the United States has dropped drastically due to the recession here. A vicious drug war is frightening both tourists and business away, while oil production has been dropping due to the failure of the state owned petroleum company, PEMEX, to modernize its infrastructure.

Oil, tourism and remittances are Mexico's major sources of foreign exchange.

This disastrous situation is in part caused by the degree to which the Mexican and U.S. economies are intertwined. For example, the crisis in the U.S. auto industry hit workers in "big three" plants in Mexico especially hard. The integration of the two economies has been greatly intensified by the North American Free Trade Agreement and the right wing, free trade policies of the current government of President Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party (PAN). The attack on workers needs to be seen in this context.

The connection between the Mexican government's attack on workers and the drug-related violence is strong though indirect. NAFTA and the overall neo-liberal environment is widely seen as having stimulated the drug trade. For example, farmers who can't sell their crops anymore because of NAFTA are tempted to grow cannabis or poppies, or to allow their empty lands to be used by drug gangs. Unemployment for urban people increases crime. Calderon's plan to try to fight the drug trade with the army is also related to his and his officials' quasi-fascist mindset; to a man whose only tool is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. Drugs, human trafficking and forced migration are closely related too. When all the SME workers were fired in October, among the retraining classes the government provided to those electrical workers willing to renounce their union were English classes. Many saw this more than a gentle hint.

After the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, much of organized labor was incorporated into an arrangement comparable to the "corporate state" model of Mussolini's fascist Italy. Unions, employers, farmers and professionals were grouped into national federations whose interests were to be mediated by the government and the governing Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI). Union demands were tamped down in the name of stability and balanced growth: Theoretically, neither union members' wages nor employers' profits could so outstrip each other as to destabilize development.

But the corporativist unions soon expelled the left and degenerated into partners with employers and the government in suppressing the workers. Both rank and file dissidence and attempts to form unions outside the corporativist setup were countered by harsh government repression and sometimes gangster violence. In 1959 a strike by the militant railway workers union was crushed by troops and police, and a number of top left wing leaders of the union and of the Mexican Communist Party were given long jail sentences. More recently, attempts to form independent unions in the "maquiladora" operations have been met with violence from goons brought in by the corporativist labor leadership and the employers. First the PRI and now the PAN governments have abetted these practices, which violate the labor clause of the constitution.

Under the Calderon administration, intensified repression has been directed against a number of independent unions:

• The National Mine and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMRM) has been on strike against the operations the multinational corporation Grupo Mexico in Cananea, Sonora since July 2007. The government, which has strong ties to the Grupo Mexico management, has thrown everything it can at the union, and on February 11 the courts ruled that the union contract no longer exists and that Grupo Mexico can fire all 1,200 remaining union members. The SNTMMRM says it will not evacuate the Cananea mine, and a military confrontation may loom.

• Last October, the government seized by force power stations which belonged to the publicly owned Luz y Fuerza del Centro (Central Light and Power), ousting 44,000 members of the renowned independent Mexican Electrical Workers' Union (SME). The SME is one of the oldest unions in Mexico, having worked with the forces of Emiliano Zapata when that insurgent leader took over Mexico City briefly during the 1910-1920 Revolution. But the government has declared the union as well as Luz y Fuerza to be dissolved, in spite of continuing mass protests by the electrical workers and their allies.

• The latest is an attempt to crush the independent National Union of Petroleum Technicians and Profesionals (UNyTPP). This union was formed for employees of the national oil company, PEMEX, who were not included in the bargaining unit of the regular petroleum workers' union, under tight government control since the 1980s. No sooner did the 3,000 member UNyTPP get official recognition, than the PEMEX management began to call its members in one by one to force them to sign letters resigning from, and calling for the cancellation of the union's recognition. Those who will not sign are fired and removed by force.

Corporativist union leaders, instead of joining a united front against the PAN government's anti-worker policies, have hastened to attach themselves to it in the same way they were formerly attached to the PRI. This is why Secretary Lozano Alarcon calls them "serious, responsible and sensitive workers' organizations which have maintained labor peace" ("Acabar con huelgas eternas" La Jornada, March 15 2010; my translation).

Independent unions represent a danger because they make demands that threaten to destabilize the pacts on which the neo-liberal government is maintained. They are also organizing centers of political opposition to the right wing government, and to imperialism. The SME is central to coalitions which are fighting for changes in agricultural and trade policies that have led to the impoverishment of millions of Mexican grain farmers and others. One of their major demands is for a renegotiation of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement). The future of the Mexican left is linked to the survival and growth of the independent unions and their allies. Surviving independent unions, many grouped in progressive federations like the National Workers Union (UNT) and the Authentic Workers Front (FAT), assume that they are on the short list for extermination, and are girding for battle.

Secretary Lozano Alarcon's new proposals show that the attacks against the miners, electrical workers, oil workers and others are not just a reaction, as he claims, to "irregularities" within those individual unions, but part of a concerted plan to force all Mexican workers back into corporativist unions, whose leaders will continue to work hand in glove with the big business and that of international monopoly capital.

U.S. labor has been expressing strong solidarity with the Mexican independent unions. The U.S. Steelworkers, United Electrical and Machine Workers (UE) and others have organized solidarity campaigns. UE updates the situation on its International Solidarity website.

Fortunately, much as Calderon and Lozano may wish, the class struggle can't be abolished with the stroke of a pen.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmanuelrodriguez/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

World Notes: India, France, Paraguay, Palestine

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:13:00 +0000

India: Unprecedented women's bill passes hurdle

After two days of intense debate, India's upper house overwhelmingly approved legislation on March 9 requiring women occupy one third of national assembly and state legislative seats. With that vote, the measure passed a significant hurdle on it way to becoming law, the first of its kind in the world. The Women's Reservation Bill had been stalled until the recent upper house action.

However, two regional parties threatened to derail future ruling-Congress Party legislation if the lower house follows suit. Detractors saw the reform as benefitting privileged women at the expense of Islamic and lower caste voters.

Women make up only 8 to 13 percent of all elected officials in India.

In 1991, the Communist-led government of Kerala introduced a 30 percent quota for women serving in the district legislature. In 1996, Geeta Mukherjee, a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, chaired a joint parliamentary committee which submitted a report to the two houses recommending the "reservation" of one third of seats for women. Both CPI-M and the Communist Party of India are supporters of the measure.

France: Sarkozy loses in regional elections

In regional elections, March 14, President Nicolas Sarkozy's center right party secured 26 percent of the votes. The Socialist Party took almost 30 percent, and run-off elections March 21 will decide between the two. The Green Europe Ecologie party took third place with 13 percent of the votes followed by the right wing National Front Party at 12 percent. A record high 52 percent of voters abstained. The left coalition that included the French Communists won 6.2 percent of the votes. Regional election results made unaccustomed news this year as a forecast of possible presidential election results in 2012. Sarkozy's unpopular labor and pension reform proposals plus 10 percent unemployment and significant deficit spending worked against him, reported EUobserver.com.

Paraguay: President honors Communist leader

"Forgive us, Ananías, for so much death, so much injustice," asked President Fernando Lugo, who in ceremonies on March 10 awarded Paraguay's highest civilian award, the National Order of Merit, to Ananías Maidana. With government officials and left activists looking on, Lugo honored the former secretary general of Paraguay's Communist Party: "Comrade Maidana dedicated his entire life to Paraguayan democracy and for that he suffered persecution, torture, and jails during the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship." The President, quoted by pcv-venezuela.org, noted that "his party and its circumstances reflected limitless belief, unparalleled in our history, that struggle against oppression and for human dignity must be considered in terms of one's own existence and its price."

Palestine: Iron fist accompanies Israel's land grab

On March 12, Israeli security forces sealed off the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine, to all but women and older men. Soldiers blocked thousands of Palestinians from entering East Jerusalem. Clashes with protesters left 20 wounded. The West Bank remained closed as of March 15, except for humanitarian workers and commerce. The turmoil coincided with announcements that 1,600 new Israeli housing units were going up soon in East Jerusalem and 50,000 more within a few years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to the visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden for the timing of the announcement, which is widely seen as an affront to the Obama administration who opposes new settlements. South of Bethlehem, Palestinians received land confiscation notices, reported Ma'an news. Meanwhile, settlers burned a six acre Palestinian-owned olive grove north of Hebron. The Palestinian Authority called off peace talks.

Photo: CPI member holds a poster in favor of a mandatory one-third women's representation in parliament and state bodies, Hyderabad, India, March 2008. Teresa Albano/PW

Facebook to open office in Hyderabad, India

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:48:00 +0000

Facebook, with more than 400 million users these days, is the largest and most popular social networking site in the world. The U.S.-born company, founded in 2004 mainly for university students, announced Monday plans to set up shop in Hyderabad in southern India.

The new Hyderabad office is expected to help manage the rapid growth of users throughout Asia and will occupy online sales and operations teams. The move is part of a strategy to create Facebook support centers around the globe, covering all time zones, and provide assistance in several languages.

According to Don Faul, Facebook director of global online operations, 70 percent of users are now outside the U.S. and use the site in over 70 languages. "In India alone, we've seen rapid growth and now have more than 8 million people there actively connecting on Facebook," wrote Faul in a recent blog. By having support centers in a variety of time zones, Facebook can provide better around-the-clock, multilingual support, he added.

Facebook has emerged as one of the Internet's most popular destinations and recently surpassed the Web's powerhouse competitor, Google.

The Hyderabad office will supplement the company's support teams at its headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., and in Dublin, Ireland. Last week the company also announced it plans to open a new office in Austin, Texas.

Hyderabad is one of India's technology hubs and a base for major U.S. companies including Google, Microsoft and IBM, among others.

However union officials and workers rights advocates argue many major U.S. corporations open up shops in developing countries like India mainly to tap a skilled workforce at relatively cheap wages. Facebook and other U.S. major companies should aim to pay their overseas workforce at livable wages with decent health benefits and worker protections, including the right to organize and join unions, they say.

Czech young communists meet after four-year ban

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:41:00 +0000

LONDON (Morning Star) -- Young Czech communists met in Prague on Saturday for their first congress since the government banned their organisation nearly four years ago.

The interior ministry dissolved the Czech Communist Youth Association (KSM) in October 2006 on the basis that its programme violated the former socialist country's constitution by advocating the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist order and the social ownership of the means of production.

The KSM appealed against the decision and, under pressure from progressive opinion at home and abroad, Prague City Court annulled it in January.

KSM member Jakub Holas described the association's first congress in over four years as a "great victory, not only for the communist movement, but for all democratic and progressive forces in the Czech Republic."

The group issued a statement calling on citizens to resist ongoing efforts to ban the KSM and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia.

Huge demo calls for new Thai elections

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:51:00 +0000

LONDON (Morning Star) -- Thailand's PM and his military backers have rejected an ultimatum to dissolve parliament as over 100,000 protesters in Bangkok vowed to continue their push to oust the right-wing government.

Speaking from the capital's heavily defended 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters, where he had been staying for the past few days, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that he would not give in to the protesters' demand to dissolve parliament by midday.

After the deadline passed, red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship demonstrators who had surrounded the military HQ began a march back to their main encampment.

In the first reported violence of the protests, two soldiers were wounded when four grenades exploded inside the army headquarters.

The UFDD had called on protesters not to resort to violence and said it suspected it was the work of agents provocateurs.

The front has been flexible in its tactics and deadlines, but it is adamant that Mr Vejjajiva's Democrat Party must dissolve parliament and call new elections.

The UFDD maintains that Mr Vejjajiva took office illegitimately with the connivance of the military and other parts of the traditional ruling class who were alarmed by former PM Thaksin Shinawatra's popularity, particularly among working people in the countryside.

Mr Thaksin, who became prime minister in 2001 and whose Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) party won two sweeping election victories, was ousted by a 2006 military coup.

He spoke to the rally by video link on Sunday night, urging the crowd to continue their struggle peacefully, and emphasising that he considered the so-called "ammart," or elite, the enemy.

Mr Thaksin is a billionaire businessman, dogged by corruption allegations, who fled Thailand in 2008 before being convicted for a conflict of interest violation and sentenced to two years in jail.

"The people who cause the problems in the country these days are the ruling elites," said Mr Thaksin.

"To solve problems related to democracy, equality and justice - the ruling elites won't be able to do that because they don't have the conscience. The people will have to do it."

He claimed that, if returned to power, he would redistribute wealth and boost economic development in rural areas.

The Red Shirts' last major protest in Bangkok last April deteriorated into rioting that left two people dead, more than 120 people injured and buses burned on major thoroughfares before the army quashed the unrest.

Thailand has been in political turmoil since early 2006, when the People's Alliance for Democracy - which wants to limit popular elections - kicked off anti-Thaksin demonstrations.

Photo: Members of the United Front For Democracy Against Dictatorship demonstrate in Bangkok, April 8, 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/11401580@N03/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Israel faces moment of truth over East Jerusalem

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Last Tuesday's announcement by the Israeli government that it will build 1,600 new housing units for Israelis in Palestinian East Jerusalem has unleashed an unparalleled furor. It was announced while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel and the West Bank to promote the start of new indirect peace talks, which had just been announced a day earlier.

Some are calling it a slap in the face to Biden and the Obama administration. Others term it a wake-up call on the need for stronger U.S. action for peace. Still others say it is a moment of truth for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition.

Many commentators are noting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's sharp 43-minute phone call to Netanyahu on Friday, in which she said the announcement of the construction plan had sent a "deeply negative signal" that had damaged Israeli-American relations. Clinton told Netanyahu that the U.S. expected Israeli officials to take "specific actions" to show "they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process," according to State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley, quoted in The New York Times.

"Such blunt language toward Israel is very rare from an American administration," the Times article said.

Crowley declined to say what actions the U.S. was calling for, but other administration officials said the United States "hoped Israel would do something drastic enough to send a signal to the already reluctant Palestinian Authority that it was committed to the peace process," according to the Times.

This morning, the "pro-Israel pro-peace" Jewish American group JStreet said it was delivering to the White House nearly 18,000 signatures in support of stronger U.S. leadership for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The organization said the Israeli housing construction announcement for East Jerusalem was "a wake-up call" that "business-as-usual peace processing" is not working.

"An urgency of purpose suited to the danger of the moment is missing - here in the U.S., in Israel and in the American Jewish community," JStreet said. "The time has come for strong action, not more talk."

JStreet Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami said the crisis presented an opportunity for the White House to press for resolving the core issues, in particular the need to define a border between Israel and the future Palestinian state.

"Bold American leadership is needed now to turn this crisis into a real opportunity to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is a fundamental American national security interest," Ben-Ami said in a March 15 statement. Such efforts, he said, are also in Israel's interests, and would find "vast support among American Jews."

East Jerusalem is on the Palestinian side of the pre-1967 Green Line dividing Israel and Palestinian territory. One of the Palestinians' central demands is that East Jerusalem will be the capital of the Palestinian state.

Israeli housing construction in East Jerusalem, along with evictions of Palestinian residents, has been an ongoing issue. Before the latest crisis, on March 6, several thousand Israelis and Palestinians demonstrated in East Jerusalem against the eviction of Palestinians from their homes to accommodate Jewish settlers.

The Israeli government unilaterally "annexed" East Jerusalem following the 1967 war, and it insists that all of Jerusalem is part of Israel, therefore not covered by any settlement freeze.

But the uproar unleashed by last week's move may force Netanyahu to back off from that position.

"I think that Netanyahu is at a moment of truth," Gideon Doron, a political science professor at Tel Aviv University, told the Christian Science Monitor. "He has to choose whether or not he wants to ignite the forces for peace, or whether he'll go against the U.S. and play for time. He can't do that. It's suicide."

This morning, the Israeli news site YNet News reported that Israel would implement a "de-facto" construction freeze in Jerusalem.

YNet quoted a senior Israeli government source as saying, "The price for the American insult will be a de-facto construction freeze across greater Jerusalem. There will be no other choice, due to the government's stupidity."

According to this report, sources in the Israeli cabinet say the U.S. is demanding cancellation of the construction plan.

"The necessary gestures will halt construction work in all settlements," the YNet article said. "Tenders that were in the works will be put on hold, even if those were part of previously approved projects. In addition, ... Netanyahu will have to extend building restrictions in settlement blocks once the cabinet decision expires in September."

The Israeli prime minister is not expected to make a statement officially calling off the construction, but, the government source said, "the tense reality will force him to quietly enforce the construction freeze. Furthermore, this freeze will include all construction in the West Bank today," and probably into the future.

Other possible Israeli "gestures" include agreeing to talk about "final status" issues during the indirect talks, prisoner releases and easing restrictions in the occupied territories.

Photo: Palestinian workers on a construction site in the East Jerusalem neighborhood that Israel calls Ramat Shlomo, where the Israeli plan would add 1,600 housing units for Israelis. (AP /Dan Balilty)

In Havana, is it Lenin or Lennon?

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:34:00 +0000

HAVANA - Here is a city where statues of Vladimir Lenin and John Lennon coexist without a second thought. Although, some of the guide books poke fun at the notion that the Lennon statue is more popular with tourists.

Most of the Cubans I asked about it said something like "ho hum." They seem to like them all. But, really, you see a lot more Jose Marti statues.

One interesting story behind the John Lennon statue is his signature round glasses. The sculptor made them so they can be taken off his face. So the glasses have been stolen several times and new pairs had to be made. Now there is a security guard who holds the glasses and puts them on the statue when people want to take pictures. (Unfortunately when we were there the guard was off duty, so no glasses in my picture.)

The statue was unveiled in Havana's Vedado neighborhood in a ceremony on December 8, 2000, by President Fidel Castro. Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban Parliament, said at the event, "This place will always be a testimonial to struggle, a summoning to humanism. It will also be a permanent homage to a generation that wanted to transform the world..."

The Vladimir Lenin statue we visited has been around a bit longer. It was unveiled in August 1924 in Regla, a working-class suburb of Havana. Antonio Borsch, the Socialist mayor of Regla, had the statue built and then planted an olive tree on the cliff above what is now called Lenin Hill. Lenin died in January 1924, and this statue is believed to be the first monument to honor him outside the Soviet Union.

In fact, Regla is a very working-class suburb with a long history of union and revolutionary activity. It is the home of many generations of dock workers and shipbuilders. At the museum on Lenin Hill, they talk about the founding of the first industrial union in Cuba among shipbuilders. To this day Regla is an industrial area with many unions that have their roots going way back to craft guilds. The Communist Party of Cuba was founded in the 1920s and Regla had a strong party organization. In fact, because of its revolutionary traditions, Regla is also known as the "Little Sierra," a reference to the July 26th Movement's revolutionary activity in the Sierra Maestra mountains.

I'm with the Cubans. I really like both monuments.

Photo: Scott Marshall/PW

World Notes: Guatemala, Bolivia, Palestine, Iraq

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:55:00 +0000

Guatemala: Abused women find their voice

A "Tribunal of conscience for women survivors of sexual violence during the armed conflict" took place March 4-5. Women, many of them indigenous, testified to unacknowledged violations, thereby joining an estimated 30,000 other victims accumulated over 36 years. According to rebelion.org, the current wave of femicide - 700 women killed last year - is an outgrowth of past violence. Impunity stemming from a judicial "blind eye" persuaded planners to designate the gathering a "tribunal of conscience." The report sees sexual attacks as integral to a "generalized and systematic" system of terror and "rupture of the social fabric" mounted by state agents within the framework of counter-insurgency. After hearing testimony and looking at evidence, the tribunal issued recommendations to government agencies, aimed in part at societal education.

Bolivia: Plan for reducing maternal deaths is working

In a follow-up to the Beijing Conference on Women 15 years ago that called for "specific plans" benefiting women's health, Bolivia's government introduced a program eight months ago of subsidies aimed at encouraging women to obtain medical care during pregnancies and childbirth, and for two years afterwards for themselves and their babies. Early results becoming available now and summarized early this month by Inter Press Service suggest that Bolivia, with the second worst maternal mortality rate in the hemisphere, is heading toward 80 percent improvement over five years. Attendance at clinics available through the country has skyrocketed. The subsidy, paid in 17 installments, amounts to $258. Bolivian hospital care for women and children is free.

Palestine: Women's burdens mount

A World Bank report released in February details the impact on Palestinian women of economic crisis and incapacitation of men. Data is cited from 2007 indicating 60 percent of working age adults produce no income. With men targeted by the Israeli Army, women struggle increasingly for their family's survival. They are producing, borrowing, and trading for food. Women breadwinners are handicapped by wage discrimination, minimal education, and exclusion from loans. Many at home deal with male violence stemming, say experts, from frustrations relating to unemployment The report calls upon Israel "to lift movement and access restrictions which disadvantage women," also for the Palestinian Authority to legislate transportation services for women and enforce labor laws. See the report here.

Iraq: Birth defects spike

Anecdotal evidence has surfaced of a striking rise in babies born in Fallujah with birth defects, possibly due to depleted uranium and white phosphorus weaponry used during the U.S. assault there in 2004. According to a BBC report March 4, pediatrician Samira al-Ani "saw two or three new cases every day," although the Iraqi government denies any epidemic. British-based researcher Malik Hamdan indicated that in January the incidence of birth defect heart malformations in Fallujah was 95 cases per 1,000 births, 13 times the rate in Europe. The situation is likened to that of Basra, subjected to similar weapons in 1991, where the incidence of congenital malformations has steadily increased from 1.31 cases per thousand in 1993 to 22.19 cases in 2001.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/subzonica/ / CC BY 2.0