People Before Profit blog

Bolivia: the trouble over TIPNIS, a 21st century challenge

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:27:00 +0000

Late on October 21, President Evo Morales visited with 1000 demonstrators in the streets of La Paz, who had walked 375 miles over two months from Beni department [administrative division] in Bolivia's East. "I come to greet you with respect and affection," he told them. They had arrived to press his government to reverse course and not build a highway through the Indigenous Territory and Isiboro Secure National Park (in Spanish, El Territorio Indígena Parque Nacional Isiboro-Sécure or TIPNIS). Morales reassured them that, indeed, he was recommending to the Legislative Assembly "that the road not pass through TIPNES."

Morales apologized for a violent police attack on the marchers in Yucumo on September 25, and promised to negotiate with indigenous leaders on 15 other demands they brought. A special legislative session is required to change the law authorizing the highway.

TIPNIS, covering three million acres in Beni and Cochabamba, became a natural reserve in 1965 and indigenous property in 1990. The area, which borders Brazil, is home to 15,000 members of the Moxeño, Yuracaré and Chimán peoples. The proposed 191 mile highway between Beni and Cochabamba would save a 563 mile road trip around the reserve. It's one segment of a multi-country highway project linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, significant for landlocked Bolivia. Construction on the 111 mile TIPNIS portion hasn't begun.

Advocates for the project say TIPNIS highway would promote national integration. Also, a highway providing for a state presence in the remote region would allow crackdowns on illegal farming and forestry operations. President Morales had earlier bemoaned deforestation of 370,000 TIPNIS acres caused by out-of-control Bolivian and Brazilian agribusiness interests.

Not all of Bolivia's indigenous peoples oppose TIPNIS highway. Many Quechua and Aymara indigenous people living in Bolivia's western highlands back the highway. Many farmers from that region have settled in the TIPNIS Amazonian lowlands to grow coca. Speaking for them, Cochabamba-based activist Leonilda Zurita told reporters, "We will struggle until a decision is reached for all the citizenry and the integrated development of all the peoples."

Indigenous writer Ollantay Itzamna comments that without highway access, "I never would have learned to write." He would not deprive "my nephews and others of the possibility of knowing the modern world. For us indigenous, the highway is a question of life or death. The rest is romance."

But according to TIPNIS protester Isidro Yujo, "We are the legal owners of the land, and we should make the decision on the road." Protesting indigenous inhabitants see the road as opening up the reserve to agricultural, lumbering, and oil and gas operations. Supporting biodiversity, they demand a halt to gas and lumbering projects already started. And in furtherance of indigenous autonomy, they want administrative decentralization.

Some environmentalists accuse President Morales, whom the United Nations honored as a defender of "Mother Earth," of inconsistency for opening up a mostly forested area to agricultural and hydrocarbon exploitation. Others criticize an indigenous president for infringing upon indigenous people's territorial rights.

President Morales charged that some TIPNIS marchers contacted the U.S. embassy, "using TIPNIS to invite a U.S. invasion of Bolivia." It should be noted that establishment forces in Santa Cruz, complicit in coup attempts against Morales' government, also backed the march.

The police attack against marchers on September 25 triggered nationwide opposition to the highway project. Protesters flooded streets, forcing two government ministers to resign and provoking the COB (Central Obrera Boliviana), the country's largest labor federation, to launch a 24-hour general strike. The TIPNIS protesters refused to let the President meet with them on their way to La Paz and spurned his proposal to let authorities in Beni and Chochabamba make the highway decision.

The Bolivian Communist Party, while denouncing the police action, claimed that some rightist or sectarian march leaders were displaying an intransigence aimed at embarrassing the government. The statement called for at least a temporary shelving of the highway and creation of a commission tasked with arranging for indigenous consultations prior to governmental actions.

For the government to give up on its highway project recalls mass protests in December 2010 forcing it to restore gasoline subsidies it had cut. Opinion surveys show that support for Morales, elected to a second term in 2009 with a 64 percent plurality, has fallen to 37 percent. With 60 percent of the ballots declared invalid, judicial elections on October 16 were a defeat for the government.

A day after the marchers arrived in La Paz, Morales submitted a new version of the law authorizing the highway to the Legislative Assembly. To refute claims that the legislation opens TIPNIS up to outsiders, Morales insisted on an article reaffirming their exclusion. He proposed another article nullifying the TIPNIS highway, also ones guaranteeing environmental rights and TIPNIS autonomy. A concluding provision authorizes the use of national security forces to remove outsider projects in the reserve.

Pablo Stefanoni, a Bolivian journalist and researcher in social sciences, concludes from the conflict that "Society [in Bolivia] is strong and the state weak, that divisions within the indigenous population are problematic for the Morales government, and that street action has once more shaken up a government unbeatable at the polls.

Call goes out for solidarity with striking Colombian palm oil workers

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:27:00 +0000

(IUF) Thousands of palm oil workers in the Puerto Wilches district of Colombia are now on a general strike to defend collective bargaining and oppose the spread of casualization [hiring of temporary workers] and precarious work on palm oil farms.

Their dispute dates back to early August when a major company, Palmas Oleaginosas Bucarelia, refused to enter into meaningful negotiations with the international union of food, agriculture and hospitality workers, IUF, -affiliated SINTRAINAGRO for the renewal of the collective agreement.

Bucarelia instead proposed to cut benefits, to restrict union activity on the farm and to increase precarious work through more use of Associated Labour Cooperatives (Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado (CTAs - see below). At the end of August, Bucarelia workers decided to call a strike and set up a protest camp in front of the company.

SINTRAINAGRO asked Colombia's Ministry of Social Protection to intervene to try to resolve the dispute and on Sept. 6, the ministry called a tripartite meeting to analyze the conflict and to explore possible ways forward. The IUF's regional office, REL-UITA and the Colombian trade union confederation, CUT were also invited to the meeting.

However the company continued with its intransigent position and insisted on acceptance of its opening proposal i.e. cuts in premiums and benefits and increased use of outsourced. At the end of September workers from the other palm oil farms in the area decide to join the strike.

Tension in the region rocketed on October 12. While workers were attending a meeting at the local office of the Ministry of Labour in Bucaramanga, the employers brought in carloads of people from other municipalities to try to force workers to return to the farms. These "protesters" were accompanied by the police and the mayor of Puerto Wilches. SINTRAINAGRO has complained to national and regional authorities and to the Human Rights Commission about the police increasing tension in the region and their harassment of strikers.

The union has now issued a global call for solidarity. On October 22, SINTRAINAGRO convened a general assembly in Puerto Wilches with workers from the striking farms, national and regional representatives of the CUT, the Union Sindial Obrera and 22 campesino organizations, NGOs and human rights groups. The assembly adopted a 5- point declaration of support for the striking Puerto Wilches workers.

You can support their struggle!

REL-UITA has set up a campaign page to send a message directly to the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos. The message is a statement of support for SINTRAINAGRO and the striking Puerto Wilches workers in their struggle to renew their CBA and to oppose a form of outsourcing which, the message explains, "is responsible for job insecurity, poverty and hunger in Colombia". The message calls on the President to intervene urgently and "take the necessary steps for early signing of a new collective agreement". Click here to send the message to President Santos.

What are CTAs?

Over 2 million Colombians are employed through Associative Labour Cooperatives (CTAs) in the sugar, palm oil, health, mining and port industries. CTAs enable companies to subcontract workers through third-party intermediaries without the responsibility of providing contracts and basic benefits to employees.

Workers in CTAs have no collective bargaining rights, and companies don't respect even the basic labour standards. Unions have been fighting the spread of CTAs for several years. In 2008 the IUF and SINTRAINAGRO supported a strike of sugar cane [workers resisting CTAs.

Production of palm oil in Colombia has rocketed in recent years - the area under palm oil cultivation has tripled. Colombia is now the 5th largest producer globally and the largest in Latin America.

According to FEDAPALMA, the palm oil producers' organization, 80,000 Colombians work in the palm oil sector. When palm oil was first introduced into Colombia it was mainly for domestic consumption but since 1990 palm oil exports have increased significantly and now make up an important part of Colombian agro-industrial exports.

Editor's note: Despite opposition from U.S. unions and other sectors of the population, the U.S. Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law this month the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

U.S. unions have been opposed to such a deal because of the violence against Colombian labor leaders and union members.

In a statement last month AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said 22 union leaders have been killed so far this year in Colombia, including 15 since the Colombian government's labor action plan went into effect. The plan is supposed to end the violence against workers, but has been largely ineffective, according to Trumka.

"While the new government may have good intentions, unfortunately, on the ground, Colombian working families are neither safer nor more able to exercise their basic rights. Colombia continues to be the most dangerous place in the world to be a union member," he said.

Trumka also says Colombia is suppressing the rights of indigenous people and the country's minority Afro-Colombian community.

Photo: Palm oil and maize farm in Colombia. (CIMMYT/CC)

Big win for the center-left forces in Argentine elections

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Argentine voters rewarded President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for a booming economy with a big reelection victory on Oct. 23. The victory will strengthen the trend of left of center governments working toward the economic and political integration of Latin America, which has challenged the long history of US domination of the region.

Kirchner's victory came almost on the first anniversary of the death of her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who had preceded her in the presidency.

Nestor Kirchner's place in Argentina's history books is assured because when he was elected in 2003, Argentina was in terrible economic shape and over its head in debt to international lenders. Rather than impose austerity measures on the Argentine people, thereby lowering even more living standards that had been dropping steadily under a series of corrupt military and civilian governments, Kirchner chose to default on a large portion of the country's international debt, striving instead to build up the country's internal markets.

A devaluation of the currency followed, making Argentina's exports more attractive in other countries. Although Argentina had a rough time at first, the Kirchner policy was eventually so successful that Argentina was able to renegotiate its relationships with international lenders, including the International Monetary Fund. In international affairs, Kirchner's government played a major role in scuttling the U.S.-sponsored "Free Trade Area of the Americas" (FTAA), and in building up first MERCOSUR and then UNASUR as mechanisms of "horizontal" economic and political integration of the nations of South America, through enhanced regional trade and development aid.

Kirchner also faced down ultra-rightist tendencies in the military, and began the process of calling to account the military officers who had committed atrocities during the dictatorship of 1976 to 1983.

Kirchner's wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was the candidate of the left wing of the Justicialist Party in the 2007 elections, and won with 45 percent of the vote. The Justicialist Party was founded by former Argentine President Juan Domingo Peron, who initially governed from 1946 to 1955.

Peron was overthrown by a military coup but came back as president again from 1973 to 1974. During Peron's second presidency and that of his second wife Isabel (1974 to 1976), splits in the Justicialist Party led to a situation of very violent repression by the Justicialist right and the military against the left. A military dictatorship ousted Isabel Peron and continued the "dirty war" in which at least 30,000 suspected leftists were murdered. Civilian rule was restored in 1983.

On October 23, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, candidate of the Front for Victory in which the Judicialist left is the major component, won with 54 percent of the popular vote, eliminating the need for a runoff.

The rest of the field was far behind. Socialist Party candidate Hermes Binner got about 17 percent, while the Radical Party's Ricardo Alfonsin (son of former President Raul Alfonsin) got only 11 percent. Former President Eduardo Duhalde, running for the Popular Front-PJ representing right-wing Peronism, was far behind, with under 6 percent of the vote.

Cristinia Fernandez de Kirchner's victory margin of 36 percentage points over her closest rival, Binner, establishes a historic record. Moreover, she won all but one of Argentina's provinces.

In legislative elections, Kirchner and her allies have every reason to be pleased also. In legislative elections in 2009, Cristina Kirchner had lost her majorities in both houses of the Argentine Congress. However, this time around, it appears that much of the loss has been made up, and that in fact the government, with allies, will have an effective majority in both houses.

Some in the corporate media attributed the landslide vote for Cristina Kirchner to sympathy over the death of her husband. However, it is also true that like other countries in the region which have abandoned the "Washington Consensus" of neo-liberal policies such as "free" trade, austerity and privatization, Argentina, under her leadership, has managed to steer clear of the economic troubles which have caused suffering and uproar in much wealthier countries such as those of Western Europe, not to mention the United States.

Last year Argentina registered 8 percent in growth of its Gross Domestic Product, and unemployment is relatively low and consumer spending high. Agricultural exports are booming, and indebtedness is low. The opposition complained that the government was concealing a growing inflation problem, but evidently the voters perceived their living standards as growing, and gave the government its solid victory as a result.

The Communist Party of Argentina, which had supported Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in the elections, hailed the victory and the accomplishments of her government. It called for bold new initiatives in tax and financial reform, and in dealing with extractive industries such as mining. The Party called for "a new law on mining which will impede this looting [of Argentina's resources] by the great transnational monopolies."

The Left Party still relevant in Germany

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:30:00 +0000

BERLIN - The party called Die Linke, or The Left, is in the news here.

It was formed in 2007 when the fully renovated heir to the ruling party in the (East) German Democratic Republic, the Party for Democratic Socialism, wed a new West German party of people angry at the abandonment of past principles by Greens and Social Democrats.

In 2009, with about a quarter of East German voters and about 5-8 percent in the more populous West German states, the new party got a healthy 12 percent of the total vote, which meant getting 76 Bundestag deputies.

Two keys to its success were its co-presidents, charismatic Oskar Lafontaine, a clear-spoken man, once head of the Social Democrats, and the witty, skilled orator, East Germany's Gregor Gysi.

The Greens and Social Democrats, to regain popularity lost after they moved to the right, lifted the program of The Left and adopted much of it, at least in their official documents. Sadly for The Left, it has failed recently find new, burning issues or hot slogans.

The Left has also suffered from self-inflicted wounds. Its "reformer" wing or "pragmatists," hoping to join governing coalitions on the state level in places like Brandenburg and Berlin, took a more moderate approach to avoid rejection by such possible partners.

But the "left" of The Left opposed compromises it viewed as too fundamental. It wanted to reject all deployment of German military forces, even on NATO or UN missions. Though often labeled "humanitarian," these deployments often meant extending German strength in the whole world. Hadn't two indescribably horrific extensions in the past century been enough? But extension was again an overt goal of military leaders. Yet the reformer wing wanted to leave a loophole open for possible peacekeeping exceptions, as the other parties demanded.

Many in The Left supported Palestinian rights. The media, of course, jumped in with "anti-Semitism" accusations; a bit ironically since Gregor Gysi, who had become caucus chairman in the Bundestag, is the only Jewish party leader in all of Germany.

But some in The Left also backed Israeli policies, causing one more unhappy party dispute.

The leftists wanted a total ban on further privatization of public utilities and, as soon as possible, nationalization of giant banks and utilities, with democratic socialism as a future objective. They opposed the unrelenting condemnation of the German Democratic Republic daily in the media, making it seem as bad or worse than the Nazi era so as to squelch any thoughts of socialism. They favored a balance: condemnation of nasty oppressive features and rejection of failing democracy but appreciation of its uniquely anti-fascist base, its full employment, the ban on evictions, total medical and dental coverage, free education, child care and abortions.

As a result of the in-fighting, The Left dropped to about half its 12 percent high; it was weakened or defeated in seven elections in 2011, failing to get into two important state legislatures in western Germany and, after ten years of coalition rule with the Social Democrats in Berlin, losing that position as well. Many began to worry about its survival.

After months of hard work, however, at conference in Erfurt, a 40-page text was worked out which somehow, without great changes, satisfied nearly everybody. Lafontaine (known always as Oskar), who had withdrawn to state politics in his Saarland home after a bout with cancer, was again playing a big part; in general he favored more "left" views but voiced them in ways which could hardly offend anyone.

Gysi, as often in the past, took what he called a "centrist" position and maintained the team spirit, while they both defended the present co-presidents, East Berlin leader Gesine Loetzsch, a fighter and fine speaker but often under attack, and Klaus Ernst, an activist metal trades union man.

Here is one sample of what was agreed upon: "We demand an immediate end to all military deployment of the Bundeswehr [German armed forces]. This also includes German participation in military deployments mandated by the UN..."

Here is another: "Because of the horrific crimes committed by Germans against Jewish men and women during the fascist era, Germany bears a special responsibility and must combat every kind of anti-Semitism, racism, oppression and war. This responsibility requires especially that we support Israel's right of existence. At the same time we support a peaceful settlement of the Middle East conflict within the framework of a two-state solution and therefore the recognition under international law of a sovereign and viable Palestinian state as based on the resolutions of the United Nations."

In her keynote speech, co-chair Gesine Loetzsch stated unequivocally: "For us, capitalism is not the final station of history; in this question we differ from all the other parties..."

And "We are now the only anti-war party and we must always remain an anti-war party!"

Gregor Gysi spoke of relationships with other parties. "The Social Democratic Party is not our enemy... anyone who thinks that way is wrong, I believe. History, too, has proven this to be a completely false path. We have nothing against cooperation with the Social Democratic Party, but first they must at least become social democratic again. And in my view, they will never succeed in achieving that without us."

Turning to the new party, the Pirates, which had such success in the Berlin election as a youthful protest, he said, "There is a question as to whether we must take them seriously? Yes, we must. The Pirate party takes some rebellious voters away from us. I don't want to lose any voters. In fact, I prefer winning some more. That is not so easy, for some view us as being all too established. We are already looked upon as too politically tamed. And not only that, the Pirates express a new way of living. This does not only refer to computer use but to other differences as well. Unlike us, they don't speak of "work time" and "leisure," but of online and off-line time. Sometimes I need a translator just to know what they are talking about ... What we must understand and what I want to point out is: we must find bridges to the younger generation! We must open up to them! ...We must talk with them! We need not agree with everything they say. But we need to connect with them!"

One resolution, accepted by acclimation, expressed the solidarity of delegates with the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. Another demanded the nationalization of big banks and electrical utilities plus a special tax on millionaires.

Austerity cuts in Greece cause suffering

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:46:00 +0000

"Greeks of all walks of life have become increasingly angry at measures they feel only hurt the poorest while tax evaders and corrupt politicians remain unaffected," reported Reuters on Oct 20.

Tens of thousands of protesters surrounded the parliament building as, inside, ruling socialists and the center right New Democracy party joined for final passage of yet another austerity package aimed at satisfying big bank creditors and preserving euro-zone credibility. They are obeying European Union political leaders in what observers think is a futile attempt to stave off national bankruptcy.

The plan calls for raised taxes, hits against labor rights, removal of more public sector jobs, and public workers' salary cuts of up to 40 percent. The Greek people are victims of policies, says the Greek Communist Party, that "will lead them and their children to live for decades in the most bleak misery with starvation wages, unemployment, insecurity, without basic rights, in order to protect the profits and interests of the business groups from their crisis."

Recent data suggestive of present and potential deterioration in the population's health status suggest this is by no means a wild prediction. An article appearing recently in the British Lancet medical journal ascribes both physical and mental suffering to budgetary cutbacks over three years that have deprived people of essential services.

Between 2008 and May of 2011, the Greek government borrowed $150.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other European nations on the condition that spending would be reduced. During that time, unemployment rose from 6.6 percent to 16.6 percent, youth unemployment from 18.6 percent to 40.1 percent percent. Manufacturing fell 8 percent in 2010.

Using European Union statistics, the Lancet authors surveyed socio-demographic data obtained from 12,346 and 15,045 residents of Greece in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Their report leaves out health outcome measures like mortality rates and illness prevalence figures, probably because they are not yet available. It does record a sharp rise in people reporting their health as "bad" or "very bad." The study attributes a marked rise in HIV infection in 2010 to increased intravenous drug use, prostitution, and weakening of HIV prevention programs.

The survey reveals a big increase in people not using physician, dental, and hospital services. The problems include long waiting times, travel difficulties, and budget cuts affecting both public and private hospitals. Hospital services have deteriorated through staff and supply shortages often remedied only through bribes.

Diminished primary and preventative care services have led to high admission rates to public hospitals, up 24 percent in 2010, 8 percent so far in 2011. That trend relates also to private hospital admissions falling 25 percent in 2010. NGOs have long operated "street clinics" in Greece to serve immigrants, but now Greek citizens now make up 30 percent of users.

Mental health outcome data are available and extremely worrisome. Depression figures are up, and between 2007 and 2009 suicides rose by 17 percent; in 2010, by 25 percent; and in the first half of 2011, 40 percent. Suicide hotlines report that 25 percent of callers speak of serious financial difficulties. Homicide rates doubled between 2007 and 2009.

A report on es.euronews.com quotes veteran academician Vassiliki Angelatou: "The thing doesn't end with salary cuts. It's the uncertainty of what will happen tomorrow, because each day they tell us something new." Angelatou's salary is down almost 50 percent. He's part of "the silent Greek majority [that] feels an immense anger."

Rather mildly, the Lancet authors advise, "Greater attention to health and health-care access is needed to ensure that the Greek crisis does not undermine the ultimate source of the country's wealth-its people."

This prescription might work in a time of peace, a far cry from present tumult in Greece. There, financial resources are exiting, people's survival is jeopardized, and long term solutions appear to be a distant dream.

It is no wonder that the message sounded by labor-led general strikers to end payments to banks, to abandon the EU and euro, and to build a people-centered political independence is growing in appeal.

Photo: A man empties out the remains of an olive oil container from a trash bin in Thessaloniki, Greece. Welfare agencies and charity groups have warned of a spike in poverty and homelessness in Greece due to the effects of the financial crisis. (Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP)

General strike shuts down Greece; demonstrators attacked causing one death

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:08:00 +0000

A two-day general strike shut down Greece on Oct. 19 - 20, while violent attacks by police and self-described "anarchists" caused injuries, arrests and one death.

But the Greek Parliament approved the austerity measures that were the cause of the protests anyway. The measures will sharply cut public and private pay (up to 50 percent in some cases) and pensions, force the privatization of public enterprises, and trash collective bargaining agreements in the interests of "labor flexibility". They come on top of already painful austerity and privatization measures enacted previously.

The strike was timed to coincide with a vote in the Greek parliament on yet more austerity and union-busting measures aimed at appeasing demands from the European Central Bank, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund who threatened not to release the latest $11 billion installment of a $150 billion bailout loan if the measures were not passed.

There have been many demonstrations in Greece during the past two years since the government's solvency crisis began, but this past week surpassed all in terms of militancy and scale. The PAME (All Workers Militant Front), which is affiliated with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and played a major role in organizing the general strike, mobilized massively to surround the Parliament building on Syntagma Square in downtown Athens as the vote approached.

The strike and demonstrations had very wide support, from PAME and other unions and from the general public, and the numbers protesting in Syntagma Square were reported as up to 100,000 in this country of 11.3 million people. The strike shut down much of public and private economic life in Greece. Civil Service workers also carried out "occupations" of a number of government industries.

On Thursday, a group of hooded, black clad individuals, supposedly "anarchists", erupted into Syntagma Square and attacked the PAME demonstrators with firebombs and rocks, as well as carrying out acts of vandalism and looting. PAME members fought back, but later complained that the police stood by instead of dealing with the violent attackers.

The appearance of a "black block" of violent individuals at mass demonstrations is something that has been going on in European countries for several years; supporters of the main demonstrations speculated that these people are off-duty police or at any rate are deliberately acting as "agents-provocateurs" to disrupt and discredit the popular demonstrations.

In the attacks, up to 35 demonstrators and several police officers were injured. One unionist, Dimitris Kotsaridis, a 53-year-old member of the PAME affiliated construction workers' union, subsequently died after being tear-gassed by the police.

Meanwhile, in Parliament, Prime Minister George Papandreou of the ruling Pan Hellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) pushed hard for approval of the austerity measures. A few PASOK members had talked about voting "no" but in the end, only one of them, former Minister of Labor Louka Katseli, voted against the labor law changes, and was promptly expelled from PASOK. Two votes were held: One on the general austerity plan on Oct. 20 and another on more detailed aspects on Oct. 21. Both barely squeaked through, garnering 153 votes in the 300-member chamber. Voting against were parliamentarians from the Greek Communist Party (KKE) as well as from the right.

At writing, there are indications that the bailout loan installment will be approved. However, many economists are predicting that Greece will eventually default anyway, because the austerity measures end up radically shrinking the economy instead of growing it, with the danger of bringing down banks in Europe (and beyond) that have investments in Greece.

Photo: Media workers protest in central Athens, Oct. 18. Greek railway workers and journalists joined ferry crews, garbage collectors, tax officials and lawyers in a strike blitz against yet more austerity measures. Petros Giannakouris/AP

Gaddafi death brings new questions

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:43:00 +0000

Eight months ago, Libyans, swept up in the fervor of the Arab Spring, rose up against the regime of Col. Moammar Gaddafi. With the announcement of Gaddafi's death on Wednesday, it was clear that this uprising had entered a new phase.

Mystery still surrounds the events of Gaddafi's death. A convoy he was riding in fleeing his hometown of Sirte was reportedly hit by a U.S. drone and a French warplane, but officials said that strike did not injure Gaddafi himself. Early reports indicated that he had been wounded and then captured by Libyan rebel forces, and it was later confirmed that he died of shotgun wounds. Shaky footage taken by cellphone camera seems to show Gaddafi soon after capture, his face bloodied, and surrounded by those who said they had been victims during his 42-year tenure. The UN is officially investigating the killing now since it seems clear from video evidence that he was captured alive (but injured) and then shot in the head while in custody.

The Libyan uprising began in February of 2011, in the city of Benghazi. Government troops began firing on protesters, killing 500-700 people in February alone. The protesting Libyans became rebels when they began to fight back with arms.

When Libyan troops threatened to enter Benghazi a United Nations Security Council resolution last March authorized action by member states to protect Libyan civilians.

But the U.S.-NATO actions soon far exceeded what the UN resolution called for, quickly morphing into an arm of some of the rebel fighters on the ground and turning into a regime-change operation. The African Union and others objected strongly to this new phase in the conflict.

Many in the region and elsewhere have found it unseemly to see Libya's former colonial occupiers Britain, France and Italy sending war planes out of supposed concern over the plight of Libya's people, and calling for Gaddafi's ouster. It is not lost on many that British and French oil interests would welcome a freer hand in oil-rich Libya.

As for the United States, which took over the dominant capitalist power role in the region after World War II, and especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, it is viewed with deep suspicion by many. President Obama's and Secretary of State Clinton's condemnation of Gaddafi and involvement even in a "support role" in military intervention, while continuing to support repressive regimes like that of Saudi Arabia, suggests double standards dictated by oil politics.

Gaddafi came to power in 1969 in a coup against Libya's King Idris. Gaddafi borrowed ideological points from Arab nationalism, anti-imperialism and socialism. This was attractive to the people of Libya in the early years, but Gaddafi mixed in authoritarian policies.

Although a great drinking water line was installed for the people on the coastal cities, and as oil revenue rose the people enjoyed an increase in living standards, what also followed was political and social repression, including jailing and killing of political dissidents.

Political parties were banned in 1972 and independent nongovernmental organizations were suppressed. No trade unions are known to exist outside of the government-linked National or General Trade Union Federation.

Gaddafi agents were implicated terrorist actions in other countries including the 1988 bombing of a PanAm airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. In 2003, after years of U.S.-British sanctions Gaddafi began to work with the U.S. and other Western nations on "counter-terrorism" and opened up Libya to Western oil companies.

Progressives have varying takes on the situation. Vijay Prasad, an international relations professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., commented:

"Gaddafi's 1969 revolution was an important break with the past, and for the next fifteen years, the experiments in Libya were important for the well-being of the Libyan people. By the 1980s, Gaddafi had come to terms with capitalism and imperialism, and had moved to privatize society and to become a full partner in the emergent war on terror."

What will the new revolution make of this different aspects, asks Prasad. "The death of Gaddafi closes a chapter in Libyan history, but it does not settle many open questions for the Libyan people. What ... will be the character of the next Libyan epoch?"

Ali Ahmida, a Libyan political scientist at the University of New England in Maine, and a supporter of what he says is a broad-based Libyan opposition, responded this way to news of Gaddafi's death: "This is an end of era. It's unfortunate that he was not arrested and tried in a fair way. But he continued fighting, really leaving no other option. The challenges now are substantial: How to build a new democratic order, fix the infrastructure of the country. It's a militarized society that just basically had a civil war - what's most needed is reconciling and resisting the temptation for revenge."

Photo: Fotopedia // CC 2.0

Guatemala’s Jacobo Arbenz, presente!

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:23:00 +0000

The Guatemalan government officially apologized to the family of ex-president Jacobo Arbenz, who was ousted by the military 57 years ago in a CIA-backed coup.

"As head of state, as constitutional president of the republic and as the military's commander in chief, I hereby wish to request the forgiveness of the Arbenz Vilanova family for this great crime," said Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom during a ceremony this week.

"It was above all a crime against him, his wife, his family, but also a historic crime for Guatemala. This day changed Guatemala and we still haven't recovered," Colom said.

Jacobo Arbenz Guzman led a popularly elected government, which enacted radical and progressive land reforms.

During the late 19th and early 20th century the military dictators that ruled Guatemala were generally very accommodating to U.S. business and political interests. The Guatemalan military worked very closely with the U.S. military and State Department to secure U.S. interests. The Guatemalan government exempted several U.S. corporations from paying taxes, privatized and sold off publicly owned utilities and gave away swaths of public land.

One of the country's most brutally repressive governments was under dictator General Jorge Ubico, backed by the U.S. Ubico was a staunch anti-communist and was responsible for torturing and executing his political dissidents. He consistently sided with the wealthy landowners and urban elites in disputes with the country's peasant majority. Ubico identified himself as a fascist and admired Mussolini, Franco and Hitler and regarded Guatemala's indigenous population as "animal-like." He gave away hundreds of thousands of hectares to the U.S. owned United Fruit Company and exempted them from taxes, and allowed the U.S. military to establish bases in Guatemala.

In October 1944, a small group of soldiers and students led by Arbenz attacked the National Palace, in what later became known as the "October Revolution." Democratic and open elections were eventually held and new government was elected under Juan Jose Arevalo. He won as part of a coalition of leftist parties known as the Partido Accion Revolutionaria (Revolutionary Action Party).

It wasn't until 1950 that Arbenz, who worked for the Arevalo administration, won the presidency. In his inaugural address, Arbenz promised to reduce dependency on foreign markets, and reduce the influence of foreign corporations over Guatemalan politics. He aimed to modernize Guatemala's infrastructure, and that he would do so without the aid of foreign powers.

At the centerpiece of Arbenz' campaign was major land reform. In 1952 Arbenz enacted a radical agrarian reform program. At the time, only 2 percent of the population owned 70 percent of the land. Under the new law a network of agrarian councils were empowered, which helped distribute 1.5 million acres to about 100,000 families.

The United Fruit Company, now renamed Chiquita, was the country's largest landowner, with 85 percent of its holdings uncultivated. The U.S. based corporation had been lobbying the CIA to oust the reform governments in Guatemala since Arevalo's tenure.

Under the Eisenhower administration, the White House ordered the CIA to sponsor a coup d'état, which toppled the Arbenz government in 1954. The Eisenhower administration said the coup was necessary to rid the hemisphere of a communist government backed by Moscow. The U.S.-backed coup escalated the beginning of the Cold War.

Arbenz died in exile in Mexico in 1971.

However, the 1954 coup triggered a 36-year civil war, which caused decades of political violence, massacres, disappearances, military rule and a guerrilla movement. The conflict is considered one of Latin America's bloodiest civil wars, which lasted from 1960-1996. As many as 200,000 people died, many of them peasants killed by military forces.

Today the son of Arbenz, Jacobo Arbenz Vilanova, is currently an elected official in Guatemala. He dismisses accusations that his father was a communist, saying they were based only on the popular land reforms he had approved, which threatened the interests of the United Fruit Company.

The official apology was given to the family of Arbenz at the National Palace of Culture, the former government headquarters, to commemorate the country's 67th anniversary of its "October Revolution."

The president's apology was given to publicly restore Jacobo Arbenz' name and his role in Guatemalan history. The announcement comes after five years of negotiations overseen by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington. The Arbenz family submitted a complaint with the group in 1999.

The Arbenz family is also seeking an official apology from the United States government for its dirty role in the coup.

Meanwhile Guatemala is revising its school curriculum and has renamed a main highway and museum wing after the late Arbenz.

Photo: Jacobo Arbenz Guzman addresses banner-carrying followers on June 18, 1954. (AP Photo)

Amidst global Occupy movement, Chilean students show the way

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:15:00 +0000

A wave of outrage at market, banker rule circles the world. Protesters target wage and pension cuts in Europe, money power in the United States, and young people left behind everywhere. In Europe, unemployment for those under 25 averages 25 percent, in Spain 43.6 percent. Huge British and Italian student demonstrations protested tuition hikes last year. Recent U.S. college graduates joining the Occupy Wall Street movement tell of poor job prospects and heavy debt loads.

Chilean students are giving lessons to the global movement. Building over five months and relying upon collective decision making, students there have moved from immediate demands to an overall critique of Chile's dominant political-economic system, a legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship. They've created alliances with labor unions, indigenous groups, and social movements.

Hundreds of thousands demonstrated repeatedly over weeks, and with schools occupied and absenteeism on the rise, students carried out a general strike Aug. 25, in collaboration with labor. The government of right-wing president Sebastian Piñera began negotiations with student leaders. Issues students put on the table included free, high quality education for all, national rather than local control of schools, and education as a matter of right, not money.

University education in Chile is the most privatized in Latin America. Families and students cover almost 85 percent of charges levied for attendance at Chilean universities. Tuition and student debt loads are spectacularly high.

Negotiations failed, serving only to provoke minor criticism of student leaders as compromisers and to offer brief hope to students worried about losing scholarships and a year of school credits. The student movement responded by returning to the streets nationwide Oct. 7, only to be met with police repression; 250 were arrested in Santiago. The government is considering new laws criminalizing student demonstrators. Partnering with the main Chilean labor federation, students launched a general strike on Oct. 18-19.

For several months, they've called for constitutional changes and the abolition of an electoral system that pushes political parties into two coalitions. During the talks, student negotiators returned to larger issues affecting all of society. Education for all would be funded through tax reforms and copper industry nationalization. In that vein, they joined with the Association of Chilean Teachers to organize a non-binding national plebiscite.

On Oct. 7-9, 90 percent of the 1.5 million people taking part answered "yes" to four questions: Do you agree the state should guarantee a free, quality education? Do you agree the government should take back control of schools? Do you agree with prohibiting public funds used to support educational profiteering? Do you agree with the use of binding plebiscites to resolve fundamental national problems?

Student leader Giorgio Jackson highlights the students' new role as protagonists. Writing for Le Monde Diplomatique, Jackson says the "central axis is the inequality dominating in Chile that enabled us to arouse latent discontent." He explains: "From initial demands of access to education, its financing, and democratization, we have arrived at a clear citizens' demand for constitutional changes...the process deepened and together with citizens we began to deal with basic problems. We didn't enter into a constitutional discussion at first...That required an educational process [and] that's perhaps our major success."

Chilean students are setting an example in Latin America. All over Colombia Oct. 12 some half million students, joined by teachers, marched in support of public education. They faced murderous police violence. For whatever reason, Colombian victims of poverty, displacement, and political repression have yet to manage such an outpouring.

Students in the Dominican Republic, joined by teachers' groups and others, demonstrated repeatedly in October against a new national budget spending less than two percent of the gross national product on public education. The law requires expenditure of at least four percent.

Speaking recently of the Chilean students, Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera affirmed that, "Their demand of education as a collective right... brings us into the old Marxist discussion of usage value versus exchange value. Does education have value as use, something required by humans to satisfy necessities? Young people fighting for education...are struggling for a new universe."

Whatever the students' aspirations may be, and their example, the nationwide mobilization Oct. 18-19 provoked the state's heavy hand. Prior to an outpouring of at least 200,000 demonstrators - the police said 20,000 - President Piñera had announced resort to the State Security Law dating from the Pinochet dictatorship. Police waded into crowds with water cannons and tear gas, utterly failing, said student leaders, to distinguish between masses of peaceful and locally authorized protesters and bands of hooded thugs. Ultimately, 373 marchers were arrested and thirty or so wounded.

Additionally, the government recently announced the draft of 57,793 18-year-olds for obligatory military service. From that number, far in excess of the usual call-up, the army would select 11,340 new soldiers. The intention, say critics, is to intimidate and to cut into the ranks of student protesters.

Photo: Student demonstration in Chile. Rafael Edwards // CC 2.0

From grime to green: Chinese city transforms

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:28:00 +0000

Shenyang, a city in northeastern China - population 8 million - was once heavily polluted by blankets of soot and smog. Now, reports Environmental News Network, it is transforming itself into a growing center for green technology.

The city's major turnaround included a massive shift away from heavy industry by 2010. Green areas and technology saw a large increase between 2005 and 2007, said the report, and residential buildings began, on a large scale, using natural gas for heat, and abandoning coal.

Residential streets and neighborhoods are lined with gingko trees, stricter environmental policies are being implemented, and the city's old factories have been replaced with new facilities, which utilize desulfurization equipment.

The Guardian reported in Nov., 2010, that Urban China Initiative, an environmental think-tank, measured sustainability for 112 Chinese cities by analyzing things like air pollution, waste recycling, and mass transit, for the years 2004 through 2008. They declared Shenyang to be one of the leading cities in steady environmental and economic improvement.

UCI was co-founded by McKinsey & Co., Columbia University, and Beijing's Tsinghua University.

Notably, all of China appears to be making an effort on environmental progress and clean energy jobs, and has recently been making considerable headway in this area.

He Xin, who was born in 1974 and grew up in Shenyang, recalled a time when the city was far from green; in fact, it once was more along the lines of 'grey.'

Xin spoke with the Guardian about his daily childhood encounters with the heavy pollution that once plagued the area. "If I wore a white shirt to school," he said, "by the end of the day it would be brown, and there would be a black ring of soot under the collar."

Famed for its industrial qualities (Shenyang was home to some of China's largest iron and steel plants, as well as chemical and paper plants), Xin remembers vividly his view of the plants over the top of a building: "All I would see was a forest of large smokestacks, chimneys, and dark, billowing smoke," he recalled.

Shenyang's industrial elements date back to the days of Mao Tse Tung, at which time the city was the exemplar for industrial might and success. However, by the 90s, the city had hit an economic wall when factories went bankrupt, resulting in a considerable rise in unemployment.

Frequently, economic concerns in China have been quite strong - enough so as to sometimes push aside environmental issues when there is a profit to be made. However, in response to growing unemployment levels, supporters of economic progress have agreed that it is time for Shenyang to go green. It was under the leadership of Li Chao, Shenyang's environmental protection bureau chief, that the city went from pollution to progress.

According to China.org, Mike Abdu, an Arab-Australian, came to Shenyang to receive ear treatment, and prepared himself for an unhealthy environment beforehand. But he was pleasantly surprised. "I did some homework before I left for China," he said, noting that he brought a dozen cotton masks along with him. "From the Internet, I learned that Shenyang was China's heavy industry base and that its environment is not good - especially its air. But it seems that either they made a mistake, or I came to the wrong place."

The truth, in fact, is that the new stress on the environment in Shenyang, a city that once burned 11 million tons of coal per year, is apparently working.

Xin is now the vice president of BioHaven, an environmental consultancy, dividing his time between Shenyang, Beijing, and St. Louis. He remarked that Shenyang today looks nearly unrecognizable from his childhood memories of it.

"The only thing that is the same is the statue of Chairman Mao," Xin mused, referring to the bronze figure of Mao Zedong (one of the largest of its kind), located in the city's People's Park.

As for Shenyang's cleanliness, said Xin, "It's not perfect, but the air is cleaner."

Meanwhile, Xing Kai, vice mayor of Shenyang's municipal government, indicated that Shenyang's dreams of green are far from over. He remarked, "Our aim is to build Shenyang into one of the most beautiful garden cities in northeastern China."

Photo A solar panels power station in Shenyang. AP

Police evict Occupy Berlin

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:19:00 +0000

The Left Party has come out against Saturday's police eviction of demonstrators occupying the Reichstag lawn. The Reichstag is the historic building from which the German parliament operates.

It was the building the Nazis set on fire so they could heap blame on the German communists. When Berlin was divided between East and West, the Reichstag sat on the western side, but right on the border, near the Brandenburg Gate, overlooking the central section of the part of Berlin that served as capital of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Although West Berlin was not legally a part of the Federal Republic of (West) Germany, the West Germans provocatively flew their flag atop the Reichstag building so it could be viewed daily by the people on the eastern side of the wall.

Over 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Berlin on Oct. 15, the global day of action in support of the worldwide Occupy Wall Street movement.

Around 11 p.m. local time, police used pepper spray to evict around 300 demonstrators who had set up tents on the lawn in front of the historic Reichstag building.

Katja Kipping, leader of the Left Party's 76-member Bundestag caucus, explains, "I can't understand the eviction. The protest for more democracy belongs in front of the Bundestag." She called the Occupy Berlin movement "a logical consequence" of the "continuous practice of the vast majority of Bundestag representatives to make laws against the interests of the vast majority of the people."

The Left has been struggling to push a national minimum income through the Bundestag as well as a 5 percent annual surtax on wealth over $1 million. Germany remains one of the few European nations with no national minimum wage.

Master contracts covered over 90 percent of the German workforce in the early 1990s, but over a third of the nation's workers are now left uncovered by the historic labor law. According to the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the percentage of low-income earners (defined as those working at an hourly wage less than two thirds the national median hourly wage) has risen by over 70 percent over the past decade. The weakening of trade unions and the government's reluctance to institute wage protections has led to an increased poverty rate, which threatens the sustainability of Germany's social welfare system.

Germany was one of the first countries in Europe to respond positively to the demand by workers that there be a decent social welfare system. Significant gains were made in that direction under Otto von Bismarck, 130 years ago.

According to economists Gerhard Bosch and Claudia Weinkopf at the University of Duisberg, real income for the lowest quarter of earners has sunk by 14 percent over the past decade while the highest quarter has seen an increase in actual income.

According to the economists' 2009 study, the wealth disparity in Germany is moving in the direction of that in the United States - a situation necessitating swift government action - including the institution of a national minimum wage.

Demonstrators carrying hand-made signs stating, "We are the 99%," "Abolish Capitalism" and "Every three seconds a human being starves - because of your greed," vowed to keep up demonstrations in solidarity with the distressed working class worldwide.

"When the people come out in these temperatures to demonstrate peacefully for their rights, then it is the responsibility of their politicians to bring them hot drinks and seek to understand their concerns, not to evict them." Kipping vowed that her party will bring the demonstrators' rights directly to the Bundestag floor.

Photo: Bernard George // CC 2.0

Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu's appeal rejected

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:47:00 +0000

Mordechai Vanunu, the former Israeli nuclear technician and whistleblower, learned his appeal was rejected by Israel's Supreme Court last Thursday, continuing a range of restrictions on his rights re-imposed since his last release from prison in August 2010. Vanunu is also waiting for the Israeli government to respond to his request for revocation of his citizenship filed in July. On Sunday, he wrote that the court has allowed the government to delay their response.

Vanunu, who worked at the Negev Nuclear Research Center for nine years, leaked details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to two British newspapers in 1986, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction amidst Israel's policy of deliberate ambiguity - the country has never confirmed or denied maintaining a nuclear weapons program but Your Link credible estimates of its size were made based on the disclosure, many times greater than what independent analysts thought at the time.

Shortly afterwards, he was lured to Italy by a Mossad agent where he was abducted, drugged, transported to Israel and tried in secret, famously revealing the hearing's details by pressing his note-scrawled hand against the window of the car transporting him. He served a sentence of 18 years for charges of treason and espionage, including 11 years in solitary confinement.

Though he was released in 2004, he has since been subject to a range of prohibitions that were re-introduced again after further detentions in 2007 and 2010, each for violations of the rules regarding his communication and movement. Israeli authorities have justified the restrictions on security grounds, citing fears that Vanunu may disclose other state secrets, despite expert opinion that the full extent his classified knowledge is now publicly available.

The former technician's imprisonment and treatment have received condemnation from Amnesty International, the International League for Human Rights, and multiple laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize. Vanunu himself was nominated for a number of years, and received the Right Livelihood Award in 1987, among other honors. Nevertheless, his case remains little known, with individual developments gathering infrequent coverage.

"You can't take a poll on Vanunu," American linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky remarked on the case in 2005. "...[I]n the United States at least, I don't think one out of a million people have ever heard of him. ...But among people that have ever heard of it there's just total outrage."

Commenting in an email over the weekend, Chomsky called Israel's actions towards Vanunu "a scandal from the first moment" and said that the "continuing moves to punish him for revealing what we all should know are just another black mark added to an ugly record of vengeace." Israel is one of four non-parties to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty known or believed to have nuclear weapons, but the only one not to have formally acknowledged possession - though Israeli politicians and others have referenced them by implication or accident, an official admission would expose violation of United States laws against aide to WMD-producing states.

Vanunu has been variously forbidden from contacting non-Israelis and journalists; owning a cellphone or using a landline or the Internet; approaching embassies, bordering crossings and airports; and from leaving the state of Israel itself. Vanunu is also required to keep authorities informed of his residency information and whereabouts, though he has previously given foreign press interviews and maintains an active YouTube channel.

While in prison, Vanunu engaged in numerous symbolic acts of disobedience, such as refusing to exercise his limited rights to psychiatric treatment and social contact. In 1998, he appealed to Israel's interior ministry to revoke his citizenship, with hopes that it would increase his chances for gaining permanent residency in Europe.

Previously rejected on grounds that it would leave him a stateless citizen, Vanunu appealed again in 2010 but reported a week ago that "the [government] did not answer the [C]ourt yet" regarding his request. In his update on Sunday Vanunu said the court might allow the delay up until November 13, despite the protest of his attorney Avigdor Feldman.

Again citing a potential threat to national security, the decision means Vanunu will not be able to emigrate from Israel, the judges opining that he "has proved several times that he cannot be trusted and does not respect the letter of the law."

Though unclassified documents reveal the potential role that politics played in the rejection of his application to Norway, two other countries, Sweden and Ireland, also rejected his appeal on the grounds that absentee applications are not accepted. Therefore, his requests for asylum may continue to be denied.

No surrender in Chicago as Occupy movement mushrooms worldwide

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:33:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Chicago police arrested 175 Occupy Wall Street supporters in Grant Park here early Sunday morning. Hundreds had set up tents and sleeping bags in the famous park as part of the now worldwide protest that began a month ago in New York City. Their action was part of a global day of demonstrations on Saturday that erupted over the United States and Canada and swept across Asia, Europe and Australia.

In Chicago, some 3,000 had marched Saturday night to the downtown park from the occupiers' 23-day-old center of operations in this city's financial district.

For three weeks none had been arrested in Chicago. With the decision on Saturday night, however, to occupy a new public space, which technically violated 11 p.m. park closure regulations, all of that changed.

After 11 p.m. police informed the occupants that they were in violation of the ordinance and that they needed to vacate or be arrested. Demonstrators locked arms, forming a barrier around the encampment as thousands across the street on Michigan Ave. chanted their support. The crowds clapped, chanted and cheered. They sang "This land is Your Land" and "The Times They Are a-Changing."

The Chicago police began their arrests at 1 a.m., but unlike brutal police actions in New York, they asked demonstrators if they would like to leave. If they said no, the police explained, they would be arrested.

Crowds gathered at the police station and cheered as those who had been brought in for booking were released.

Just hours after the arrests, demonstrators were back out on the streets, saying they will not be deterred.

Millions protested at more than 950 demonstrations in 80 countries marking a full month since the rallies against the global financial system began.

In the U.S. and Canada dozens of cities saw demonstrations Saturday, including Washington, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto.

More than 40 people were arrested in New York's Times Square after more than 20,000 had marched from the city's financial district to midtown Manhattan. Traffic stalled in every direction as they packed into the square in what was the largest Occupy demonstration in the U.S. so far. Thirty-two more were arrested in New York on Sunday in an occupation of Citibank.

Violence that broke out in Rome was the exception, rather than the rule, as demonstrations all over the world were generally peaceful. Italians were angry about a 60 billion euro austerity package that has raised taxes and will make the public health care system more expensive.

Marchers jammed the main street in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city Saturday. Some 5,000 rallied in that city where they chanted and denounced corporate greed.
Thousands rallied in Sydney, Australia, where Aboriginal groups and trade unionists joined the rallies outside the Central Reserve Bank. "They don't want corporate influence over their politicians," Nick Carlson, a leader of Occupy Melbourne, told the international press.

Hundreds of Occupy Tokyo demonstrators, joined by anti-nuclear protesters, marched on the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the earthquake- and tsunami-shaken Fukushima nuclear plant.

In Manila, capital of the Philippines, there was a march on the U.S. embassy. People waved banners reading, "Philippines not for sale" and other banners demanding the ouster of U.S. troops.

Demonstrators swamped the Taipei Stock Exchange, chanting "We are Taiwan's 99 percent."

Tens of thousands converged on the London Stock Exchange. There were hundreds of banners reading "Occupy the Stock Exchange."

Speakers at the enormous rallies in Greece warned the people of countries all over the world that the economic nightmare in Greece would spread around the world if people fail to curb the power of Wall Street.

In Germany people marched on the financial center of Frankfurt and the European Central Bank.

Demonstrators in Seoul, South Korea, clogged the main financial district for two days straight.

Photo: Demonstrators fill Madrid's Puerta del Sol square as part of the worldwide Occupy the City protests Saturday, Oct. 15. AP/Arturo Rodriguez

Freeport strikers in Indonesia confront titanic forces

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:25:00 +0000

PT Freeport's mine in Indonesia produces three million pounds of copper and 5,000 ounces of gold every day. Since September 15, 8000 strikers there have cost the parent corporation, Freeport McMoRan Gold and Copper (FMGC) daily revenue losses worth $20 million due to production having fallen by 20 percent.

Phoenix-based FMGC, the world's largest mining company, recently posted $1.37 billion in second quarter profits. The mine itself, occupying 632,000 acres in Grasberg, West Papua, ranks first in the world for profits and gold production, second for copper production, and first for reduced costs. In addition to the striking full time mineworkers, the mine employs some 3000 staff workers and 10,000 contract workers.

The strikers, earning between $1.50 and $3.50 an hour, insist on wages comparable to FMGC counterparts in Africa, Europe, South America, and the United States. Workers at FMGC's Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru have been striking for an 11 percent wage increase since September 29.

The mineworkers, belonging to the Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Labor Union (SPSI), launched a weeklong strike in July that ended with company promises to study worker demands. The strikers this time rejected both a government-suggested 25 percent wage increase and a 22 percent hike offered by EMGC. With negotiations breaking down, the union extended the strike set for a month to mid November.

The strikers first demanded $17.50 per hour as a minimum wage and $43 as top wage, later modifying their expectations to $12.50 and $32 respectively. A union spokesperson recently signaled acceptance of a $7.50 per hour minimum wage. Strikers want healthcare coverage and educational services for their children.

PT Freeport threatens to fire striking workers and has imported "replacement workers," who along with apprentices work 12-hour days. The labor ministry issued an opinion October 12 that dismissal of striking workers and recruitment of replacements are illegal. A court decision is pending.

Strikers have blocked mine access roads. SPSI chairperson Sudiro narrowly escaped being shot on September 11. Strikers incensed at replacement workers arriving at their barracks fought the police on October 10. In the fracas, one striker was killed and eight wounded. Amnesty International responded by asking the Indonesian government to investigate. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for apprehension of perpetrators.

Accusations of human rights abuses, directed at thousands of national troops and police stationed in the remote area, have proliferated over many years. With U.S. financed arms, they've targeted a separatist insurgency in the region. In league with paramilitaries, they also provide security for PT Freeport, paid for by the company.

Worker grievances could reignite separatist longings, says academician Ikrar Nusa Bakti. Quoted by the Jakarta Post, he asked, "Freeport be more transparent in its operations." That may be asking a lot: the government owns almost 10 percent of PT Freeport shares. FMCG is Indonesia's largest single taxpayer, having paid $12.8 billion since 1992 including $1.4 billion so far this year. The corporation pays only 1.0 percent and 1.5 percent respectively as gold and copper royalties despite legal requirements of 3.75 and 4 percent, respectively. The government's fending off of international criticism directed at Freeport's horrific environmental record demonstrates an attitude of subservience to the corporation. Tailings at the Grasberg mine have damaged 11 square miles of rainforest, and according to a 1996 international report, over three billion tons of waste are releasing noxious chemicals into river systems.

To upset the Freeport applecart could run counter to historic U.S. government priorities going back to the tenure of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. As a Harvard University professor, Kissinger was advising international corporations, among them FMCG predecessor Freeport Sulfur. In 1965, Kissinger allegedly arranged with future Indonesian dictator Suharto for Freeport to be able to develop its Papua copper and gold mine.

Later that year in Indonesia a CIA fostered massacre began to unfold of a million or so Communist Party activists and supporters. For Time Magazine, it was "the West's best news in years." In 1967, Suharto, now the government head, awarded Freeport Sulfur access to 250,000 acres of land in West Papua for its mine. Indigenous residents were forcibly removed.

On December 6, 1975, Kissinger and President Gerald Ford visited Jakarta where they are alleged to have given Suharto the go-ahead for Indonesia's invasion the next day of newly independent East Timor. Up to 100,000 East Timorese soldiers and civilians were killed.

Beginning in 1989, FMCG paid annual fees of over $500,000 to Kissinger Associates for Washington lobbying. From 1995-2001 Kissinger served on the FMCG Board of Directors at a $30,000 annual salary. He remains as a majority stockholder.

Photo: Workers of mining giant Freeport-McMoran shout slogans during a strike in Timika, Papua province, Indonesia, Sept. 16, 2011. Thousands of workers at Freeport-McMoran's gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia kicked off a month-long strike to protest low wages, bringing production and shipments to a standstill. (AP Photo)

Cyprus, Turkey and hydrocarbon politics

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:25:00 +0000

Recently the Republic of Cyprus celebrated its 51st year of independence from Great Britain. In celebration the government organized official ceremonies and military parades. These were attended by a host of foreign dignitaries, including representatives from Greece and Russia. In addition to the official celebrations AKEL, Cyprus' Communist Party and the party of the current President of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, organized its own mass mobilizations to mark the event and to demonstrate its firm support for the measures of the Christofias government.

While the anniversary of independence would in itself be cause for a national celebration this year's celebration has a larger significance. This is because this year, the anniversary coincides with the start of drilling for natural gas and possible other hydrocarbons in Cypriot waters beneath the Mediterranean. This activity is being carried out in concert with the U.S. based company Nobel Energy. The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated. Sources call it the most significant geostrategic development in the region since the NATO instigated right-wing coup and subsequent Turkish invasion of the island in 1974. As might be expected, certain circles in Turkey are greatly concerned over the prospect of the transformation of Cyprus into a regional energy center.

Among Turkey's claims is that any natural gas extraction would make negotiations to resolve the Turkish occupation of one-third of Cyprus more difficult. It is hard to come up with any rational basis for this claim, and Turkey has not tried to provide one. In fact Cypriot Present Christofias has expressed the belief that this new hydrocarbon wealth will serve as a powerful impetus to the reunification of the country. In partial response Turkey has pushed through an "agreement" with its proxy pseudo-state in the north of Cyprus to allow Turkey to conduct its own explorations in waters between Northern Cyprus and Turkey.

In addition, Turkey has issued a variety of non-specific threats and is currently conducting naval exercises near the area that is the main focus of the current activities. It has also turned up the heat on Greece over a dispute involving sea boundaries.

Commentators believe that these threats are little more then bluster since Cyprus's activities are fully protected by international law and are being carried out within its exclusive economic zone.

Recently the Russian ambassador to Cyprus has reiterated his nation's support for Cyprus's rights, under international law, to exploit the mineral wealth lying beneath its territorial waters. Perhaps affirming this support are reports that Russian naval forces are present in the Mediterranean near Cyprus although this is denied by the Russian ambassador.

In addition to developing its own energy resources Cyprus has signed agreements to transfer Israeli natural gas to Europe. Interests from the EU, Israel and Russia are all clamoring to invest in various aspects of the Cypriot hydrocarbon sector. Thus, the European allies of the U.S., Israel and a U.S.-based company seem to be potentially lining upon the side of Cyprus against Turkish provocations. Turkey runs the risk of antagonizing the U.S. In this light some say Turkey's provocative actions around Cyprus may represent its frustration that it can do nothing of substance to prevent Cyprus's development as an independent energy power.

Israel to release 1,000 Palestinians in swap for Hamas-held soldier, Gilad Shalit

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:21:00 +0000

The Israeli cabinet approved a prisoner swap with Gaza's governing Hamas movement early this morning, prompting celebratory street parties in both Israel and Palestine.

Egyptian officials mediated a deal in Cairo under which Israel has agreed to release 1,027 Palestinians currently languishing in its jails in exchange for the return of Gilad Shalit, a soldier captured by Hamas in a 2006 cross-border raid following a similar act by Israeli forces.

As the news was announced hundreds of Israelis began dancing in the road outside Israeli Benjamin Prime Minister Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence, where Shalit's family had set up a protest tent.

Many waved flags bearing the 25-year-old's image and his father Noam said he would now dismantle his tent and go home.

In the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza Palestinians poured onto the streets, firing into the air and honking horns in celebration.

Netanyahu said Shalit would be home "in a few days" while Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said the Palestinian prisoners would be released in two waves - an initial 450, including all women inmates, in a week's time and the rest two months later.

Meshaal said the deal was "a national achievement for the Palestinian people" and that Hamas had negotiated hard for the release to include "prisoners from different categories, different age groups, from the West Bank and Gaza, from Jerusalem and the Golan Heights."

It had prioritized those who had been in jail for over 20 years, he said.

Most inmates will be returned to their former homes but 203 will be deported, with 40 subject to an Israel-imposed ban on entering either Israel or Palestine.

Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency chief Yoram Cohen said Israel had not granted all of Hamas's demands.

Fatah organizer Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas militant Abdullah Barghouti were among those Israel refused to release.

But most Gazans appeared impressed with the deal.

"Israel wouldn't agree to free that many prisoners unless it was forced to," said shopkeeper Akram Nimr in Jabaliyah.

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party appeared to agree, saying the swap was "a huge victory for terror."

This article originally appeared in the Morning Star.

Eclectic group of dramas make their debut

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:48:00 +0000

To conclude this multi-part report from the Toronto International Film Festival, I'd like to discuss five disparate but memorable dramas that represent the rich choices available for viewers.

You may remember the creative animated film from Iran entitled Persepolis, by the new team of Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. It introduced audiences to an alternative view of Iranian history presented in a totally unique form of animation with stunning black and white images. Rather than capitalize on this award-winning process, Satrapi and Paronnaud chose to venture into fresh territory again. The result is a tragic love story about a violinist who loses his violin and thus loses music and love. Chicken with Plums continues the story of Iran, also based on an animated book by Satrapi, but this time it is mostly acted with an international cast that features, among others, Jamel Debbouze and Isabella Rossellini. It's a touching human story of lost love and the meaning and importance of artistic expression.

Another film about love provides a vehicle for Jane Fonda's return to the screen. In a part that could have been written for her, she plays a hippie grandmother who is now in her 70s with two impressionable teenage grandkids who become targets for her hippie wisdom. The naturally acted roles, warm cuddly dialog and respect for the type of life Fonda chose to live in real life, makes Peace, Love and Misunderstanding a standout at the festival.

From Argentina comes a compelling story, The Student, a college election film that breaks new ground in examining political strategy and campaign politics that are developed and nurtured in the early years of college life. The connection to state government and local politicians, the tactics of dealing with opposition groups and individuals, the frustration of winning and losing campaigns, shifting strategic alliances, while at the same time dealing with classes, tests, relationships and family affairs, makes this a fast moving and entertaining film about Latin American politics.

One of the greatest joys of attending this huge festival is the ability to learn about unknown events and see rare places in the world, and it's all experienced through the artistic and creative medium of cinema. One of the freshest and bold statements to come from Chinese cinema is UFO in her Eyes, directed by the creative stylist Xiaolu Guo. The strange plot of her film allows for an examination of fast changing contemporary China during the onset of capitalism. After a young peasant woman has an affair in a field with her married teacher, she witnesses a vision in the sky. She takes her UFO sighting to the village's Central Committee, who chooses to capitalize on the unique event by developing tourism. The dangers of radical change and the aspirations of building relations with the US are all examined in this highly entertaining, thought-provoking and radically creative endeavor.

Any film associated with Peter Mullen is worth seeing. Kicking off his career in Ken Loach films, Riff Raff and My Name is Joe, he has gone on to star in several other notable films including Trainspotting and Children of Men. He also directed The Magnalene Sisters and last year's poignant schoolhouse tragedy Neds. But the fact that this powerhouse actor can grab an audience in his hands, whip 'em around for an emotional roller coaster ride and drop 'em off at the end of the ride spinning with disbelief at what they've just experienced, is a tremendous skill. He has taken the art of acting to the highest level. Mullen stars as a nasty, violent, down and out, unrepentant alcoholic in Tyrannosaur who amazingly finds someone who can see beauty in him. She's a timid shop clerk who at first plays the Good Samaritan role and feels sorry for Mullen, but is soon found out to be a victim of serious spousal abuse and they quickly bond in a potentially volatile relationship. These working-class stiffs have been chewed up, spit out and forgotten by the devouring destructive class system. But never in the entire movie do you ever lose the humanity of these tragic characters. First time director Paddy Considine deserves tremendous praise for this difficult but rewarding study of people on the verge.

Photo: Still from Peace, Love and Misunderstanding.

Cuban Five prisoner freed

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:47:00 +0000

Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert, one of the Cuban Five, imprisoned by the U.S. on spying charges, was released from a federal prison today after 13 years behind bars.

His four fellow inmates remain in jail and judges have denied Gonzalez's request to return to his family in Cuba, saying he must serve three years' probation in the U.S. first. But his wife Olga Salanueva said if he remained in the US "his life would be in danger."

Miami-based terrorist organizations have killed almost 3,500 Cubans over the last four decades, including in the Oct. 6, 1976, bombing of Cubana Flight 455 in which 78 people died. The U.S. still harbors Luis Posada Carriles, who was heavily implicated in that bombing, and various anti-Cuban terror groups remain active there.

The Cuban Five have always denied U.S. espionage accusations and maintained that they were monitoring such groups to help prevent further terrorist atrocities.

Assistant U.S. attorney Caroline Heck Miller said Gonzalez could not return to Cuba "because he might resume his spy career."

Salanueva said her husband's release would "alert people's attention" and raise the prospect of his assassination by right-wingers while he remained in the US.

"If they say Rene is a danger to that society - well, he's no danger to ours," she said. "The logical thing is to send him home."

And Cuban daily Granma said the probation constituted "a deliberate additional penalty motivated by the same desires for political revenge which characterized the conviction of the five in 2001." Even anti-Cuban extremist group Brothers to the Rescue leader Jose Basulto said Gonzalez should be sent home.

"If anything were to happen to him, I know we will be blamed," Basulto said.

The Cuban Five went to the U.S. to report on the activities of groups involved in terror attacks on Cuba in the 1990s. At the U.S.'s request the Cuban government passed on their findings to the FBI in 1998, but authorities used the information to arrest the five.

Their trial, which began in 2000, took place in Miami, where the right-wing Cuban exile community holds significant influence.

It also sparked allegations of serious procedural flaws and rights organizations including Amnesty International have long called for a retrial.

This article originally appeared in the Morning Star.

Applying money and words to defeat the Cuban revolution

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:53:00 +0000

In its efforts to upend the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. government has, in recent years, relied upon providing financial support for internal opposition groups and, more recently, on refurbishing a campaign to reach the Cuban people directly. New policy directions, such as slightly eased travel restrictions, notwithstanding, Washington's enforcement of the economic blockade and the financial isolation of Cuba continues.

Authorized under the 1996 Helms Burton Law, vast amounts of federal money channeled through private and public agencies are dedicated to supporting so-called democracy programs in Cuba. Former Dallas Morning News Havana Bureau Chief Tracey Eaton has studied the recipients of $85 million since 1997. He estimates that $150 million have been spent in all on influencing the politics of a sovereign nation.

Between 1997 and 2009, the International Republican Institute, for instance, absorbed $12,449,194 that the USAID supplied for unclear purposes. The Center for a Free Cuba took in $12,366,326 from various U.S. funding agencies - less $600,000 that were embezzled. Freedom House received $10,589,712 between 1997 and 2010, dedicating $832,323 in 2009 to "New Media Initiatives in Cuba" and $717,455 to "alternative methods to increase information."

Beginning in 2002, the University of Miami has benefited to the tune of $6,382,567, of which $2,174,074 went to its "Cuba On-Line" effort and $4,208,502 to a "Cuba Transition Project." Cuba On-Line's "Newsletter to Cuba" cost $400,000. In 2007-2008, the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe received $1,584,746 for its "Democracy in Cuba" program.

This listing touches upon funding habits of only a few recipients of U.S. funds catalogued by Eaton. He details many more that have taken in, each of them, millions of dollars over many years.

The Coral Gables, Fl.-based "Support Group for Democracy" is worthy of special note. Of $6,054,079 that organization spent from 1996 to 2005, only $251,077 is alleged to have arrived in Cuba. Having received $8,270,708 in all, the organization sent high-end consumer goods to friends in Cuba and was accused of credit card irregularities. It dispensed $898,210 to a "Food for Peace Development Assistance Program."

Accusations of fraud, reckless distribution of funds, and diversion of monies to stateside anti-Cuban groups have prompted temporary stays in disbursement of funds. According to the influential Cuban American National Foundation in 2008, only 17 percent of funds given to Cuban American exile groups for distribution to Cuba actually made it to the island.

A yearlong contract announced Sept. 24 for sending U. S. propaganda to Cuba via text messaging typifies renewed U.S. focus on direct communication with Cubans. The Broadcasting Board of Governors may be paying almost half a million dollars to Maryland's Washington Software Company to send 24,000 text messages every week to Cuba. Florida-based Radio and TV Marti, Washington's Cuba broadcasting service, works under the BBG and its International Broadcasting Bureau operating arm. The latter, with access to call numbers of Cuban mobile phone users, is responsible for shaping message content.

Washington Software's job will be to get outgoing text messages past Cuban barriers. Key words triggering censorship will be replaced with words or characters conveying the intended meaning. Text messaging systems developed for mass marketing, such as this one, are difficult to block. Arriving messages present as if coming from widely varying sources.

This U.S. initiative builds upon recent Cuban and U.S. policy changes. The Cuban government opened up mobile phone use to its public three years ago, the U.S. government permitted U.S. residents to give mobile phones to relatives in Cuba, and in 2009 Washington allowed U.S. companies to sell mobile phones and provide services in Cuba. One million Cubans presently use mobile phones. Cubans avoid high mobile phone usage fees by returning calls later on landlines. Radio and TV Marti is exploiting the fact that mobile phones are used primarily for text messaging.

Over decades Radio and TV Marti has consumed $600 million in U. S. funding. In 2006 that U.S. propaganda arm was found to have paid 10 prominent, supposedly independent Miami area reporters to provide anti-Cuban material for its Cuba broadcasts. Later, Radio and TV Marti faced accusations of paying local commercial broadcasters to run programming intended for Cuba.

Cuba has denounced the U. S. text messaging project as illegal. Indeed, the International Telecommunications Convention of 1982, signed by 140 nations including the United States, allows member nations to block international telecommunications, which are seen as endangering state security or violating national laws.

Impunity continues on Cubana Airliner anniversary

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:23:00 +0000

Thirty-five years ago was a day of horror in the Caribbean. Two bombs exploded on a Cuban airliner, which fell into the sea off Barbados. All 78 passengers and crew died, among them members of Cuba's fencing team, fishermen returning from Guyana and five North Korean nationals.

Luis Posada, one of the plot organizers, had worked for the U. S. Army and CIA. The other, Orlando Bosch, another former CIA functionary, headed an anti-Cuban group of murderers and saboteurs, designated as CORU. One of them was Posada. During 1976, across Latin America, CORU carried out killings and destroyed or damaged airline and government offices used by Cuba or countries establishing relations with Cuba. CORU's failed attempts to bomb two other airplanes were known to the FBI and CIA prior to Oct. 6, 1976.

Declassified U.S. intelligence documents released by the National Security Archives show that those agencies were aware of the plans beforehand, but did nothing to prevent disaster. The two men placing the bomb were Posada employees. One had previously contacted the FBI in Caracas. After the attack, top Washington officials, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger among them, received reports from U.S. operatives in Caracas naming those involved. One document says, "The source all but admitted that Posada and Bosch had engineered the bombing of the airline."(sic) Posada, jailed in Venezuela in connection with the crime, escaped in 1985 with CIA help, thus aborting ongoing appeals processes.

Posada, unpunished, lives freely in Miami, as did Bosch until he died in April 2011. Despite the U.S. government having signed relevant treaties, Venezuela's request for Posada's extradition goes unanswered.

These are facts. What they mean, first, is that the U.S. government, maintaining official silence, would confine this terrible crime to the realm of "never happened." Secondly, U.S hypocrisy on terrorism hangs over the world like a dark cloud. Wars are fought, repression unleashed and violent criminals elevated - all in the name of anti-terrorism. Next, the U.S role in tolerating or facilitating crimes, as epitomized by destruction of a fully loaded Cuban airliner, demonstrates that in furtherance of often dubious U. S. goals, anything goes. Law, morality, and just plain decency are down the tubes. One concludes, lastly, that for those holding U.S. power, deaths along the way are inconsequential, particularly those of faceless working or marginalized persons. They are evidently seen as disposable.

People in Barbados remember. A series of commemorative events is running Oct. 2 through Oct. 10 in Bridgetown, including a church service, an official tribute at the "Cubana Memorial" and a workshop on "The Threat of Terrorism." A concert is scheduled, also a showing of the new Saul Landau film Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up. The new documentary The Real History of the Cubana Tragedy appeared on television.

In recognition of a skewed U.S. view on terrorism, highlighted anew on the anniversary of the Barbados tragedy, President Obama ought not only to extradite Luis Posada to Venezuela, but also pardon and release the Cuban Five prisoners. In an attempt to stay the terror onslaught continuing into the 1990s, the Cuban government, with limited options, sent the five men to southern Florida to monitor paramilitary plotters.

While one of the "Cuban Five," Rene Gonzalez, will have left prison on Oct. 7 on completion of his sentence, the four others face outlandishly cruel jail terms. The release of Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labiñino, and Gerardo Hernandez would be the right thing for President Obama to do, and would represent a tiny nod to world opinion.

Repeatedly the call has gone out for justice for the Cuban Five. It's fitting to do so again on this anniversary. U.S. actions as applied to Cuba set the stage for the plane disaster and keeps the four Cuban men in jail now. There is, of course, a larger context. As pointed out Sept. 29 by the Occupy Wall Street "General Assembly," those in charge "have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas."