People Before Profit blog

Free Colombian political prisoner David Ravelo!

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:02:00 +0000

September 14 was the end of David Ravelo Crispo's first year in jail and a time of renewed solidarity for this human rights activist imprisoned in Colombia.

"They are getting even for my longstanding, relentless work in defense of victims and for my unbreakable position against injustice, " Ravelo told an interviewer in April. And, he added, for having publicized a video showing former President Alvaro Uribe interacting with violent right wing paramilitaries.

Ravelo headed the human rights group CREDHOS in Barrancabermeja (in northeastern Colombia), led the a section of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes in Colombia's Middle Magdelena area, and belonged to the Colombian Communist Party's Central Committee. He worked on behalf of the Alternative Democratic Pole, a leftist electoral coalition. In 2009, the Barrancabermeja Roman Catholic Diocese honored Ravelo for his 35 years of human rights work. In prison, he advocates for prisoners' rights.

The accusation against Ravelo comes from a charge by imprisoned paramilitary chieftain Mario Jaimes Mejía's that Ravelo arranged for a murder of mayoral candidate in 1991. Ravelo's lawyers say Mejía was cooperating with authorities to get a reduction in his sentence from 40 years to eight years, and is alleged to have been involved in numerous deaths and human rights violations.

A video called David Ravelo a Year in Prison, uploaded by colombiapbi explains the case and it's ramifications. As stated in their introduction:

At the end of August 2011, nearly a year after his initial incarceration, a judge formally opened trial proceedings against recognized human rights defender and economist David Ravelo, who is accused of murdering David Nuñez Cala in 1991. Ravelo is one of the most important social leaders in the Magdalena Medio. In 30 years spent defending human rights, he has denounced innumerable extrajudicial executions, displacements and forced disappearances in the region.

To send a message of solidarity to Colombian human rights defender David Ravelo Crespo, go here.

Photo: Your Link David Ravelo

On a related note, an AFL-CIO blog post by James Parks on Sept. 26, reported that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the violence against workers is continuing in Colombia despite the labor action plan that President Juan Manuel Santos agreed to in April. Until that violence ends, the United States should not approve the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. In a letter to President Obama, Trumka also said Colombia is suppressing the rights of indigenous people and the country's minority Afro-Colombian community.

Palestinian UN bid under review, Israel OKs more settlements

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:16:00 +0000

The United Nations Security Council, in a unanimous action Wednesday, sent the Palestinian application for UN membership to a standing committee that reviews new member applications.

The committee is made up of all 15 council members.

Such a review normally takes up to 35 days, but it can be extended. Nine votes are needed to refer approval to the full council for a vote. Security Council approval then requires nine votes and no veto by the council's five permanent members - the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China.

The Obama administration has said it will veto the Palestinian membership application, arguing that negotiations are the only solution and that the UN move is a unilateral action that will interfere with resumption of talks. The UN membership process is expected to go slowly, with the U.S. reportedly making strenuous diplomatic efforts to avoid casting a veto.

Prospects for negotiations were dealt a blow Tuesday when Israeli authorities announced approval of plans to build 1,100 new housing units in an Israeli settlement in Palestinian East Jerusalem.

The announcement came just days after UN speeches by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama calling for resumption of peace talks with no "preconditions."

That refers to insistence by Palestinian leaders that Israel halt further settlement construction as part of a return to negotiations. Over the past year, the Netanyahu government has repeatedly announced new settlement plans just as efforts to restart negotiations were under way - snubbing requests by the Obama administration that Israel voluntarily suspend settlement building.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat described Tuesday's Israeli announcement as a "slap in the face to all international efforts to protect the fading prospects of peace in the region," the Ma'an news agency reported.

The Palestinian Authority said in a statement, "The Israeli Prime Minister claims to have no preconditions, but with this decision is putting concrete preconditions on the ground. He says there should be no unilateral steps, but there could be nothing more unilateral than a huge new round of settlement building on Palestinian land."

Some 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements and outposts throughout the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The number has nearly doubled since the 1993 Oslo accords. These settlements benefit from Israeli military protection, special subsidies and services, specially constructed private roads from which Palestinians are barred, and other support. Construction of such settlements in occupied territory is prohibited by international law.

On Tuesday, the White House said it was "deeply disappointed" by the new Israeli action.

But the U.S. is widely seen internationally as having pulled back from a leadership role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - driven by fear of Republican efforts, teaming up with the Israeli right, to exploit the issue to try to attract Jewish voters.

That fear seems misguided, with numerous polls showing that Jewish voters are not single-issue-driven, are motivated primarily by concerns about the economy and social justice, and support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Obama's speech at the UN last week did not help the U.S. standing in the world community. Unlike the speech of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which drew repeated applause and standing ovations, Obama received only polite applause at the end of his speech.

Reuters columnist Bernd Debusmann put it this way: "Its tone differed sharply from his moving description of the plight of the Palestinians in a speech in Cairo in 2009, five months after taking office. For 60 years, he said, they had endured the pain of dislocation and 'the daily humiliations - large and small - that come with occupation. Let there be no doubt,' he said, 'the situation of the Palestinians is intolerable.'

"The Cairo speech raised expectations in the Arab world that here was a president who sympathized with the Palestinians and had the power, global prestige and commitment to succeed where a long line of his predecessors had tried and failed - help create a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel. It didn't work that way."

Instead, as Debusmann and others noted, on Sept. 21 the president made no mention of the "daily humiliations, dislocation, occupation, intolerable conditions" experienced by the Palestinians. Instead he focused entirely on the plight of Israelis. It was clearly a speech aimed at what the White House perceives as the sentiments of Jewish American voters.

That approach was reinforced when former New York Mayor Ed Koch, a right-wing Democrat, said Tuesday he was endorsing Obama for re-election in 2012 because of his UN speech. Just two weeks ago, Koch helped elect a Republican to Congress in a special election in a heavily Orthodox Jewish district in New York, by campaigning against Obama's supposed "anti-Israel" policies.

Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator who now works with peace advocates in the U.S., told the New York Times, "The U.S. cannot lead on an issue that it is so boxed in on by its domestic politics. And therefore, with the region in such rapid upheaval and the two-state solution dying, as long as the U.S. is paralyzed, others are going to have to step up."

One possibility is that European countries could step up, both in regard to advancing serious peace negotiations and on the UN membership issue.

Palestine currently has observer status at the UN as a "non-state entity." If the Palestinian UN membership bid is blocked in the Security Council, the General Assembly can upgrade Palestine's status to observer state, which gives it additional diplomatic status, including the ability to file human rights charges against Israel.

Photo: A Palestinian woman cries during the speech of President Mahmoud Abbas at the General Assembly of the United Nations, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Protests in Spain against austerity cuts gain wide support

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:15:00 +0000

The European Union and European Central bank are forcing European nations saddled with heavy debt loads to cut public services. Spain is among them.

Union-organized work stoppages and demonstrations erupted throughout that country on September 20 -22. Demands varied by region, but most came from marching teachers and students.

Vigorous denunciations centered on the right-wing People's Party that, although out of power nationally, controls most regional governments. That party and President José Zapatero's Socialist Party had come together earlier to impose a debt limit on the national government.

Nationally, proposed education cuts approaching $2.6 billion. Particularly aggravating to primary and secondary teachers are moves to increase hours they spend in schools so that an estimated 15,000 interim teachers can be dismissed.

In Madrid and cities elsewhere, a "green wave "of teachers and students - their shirts are green - filled the streets. Estimates of Spain's teachers staying out of work during a two-day strike ranged from 70 to 80 percent by strike organizers and to 40-50 percent by education officials.

Some 90,000 teachers and students are said to have been involved in Madrid. "This was the biggest strike of secondary school teachers in 25 years," said CC OO labor federation leader Francisco García, quoted by www.rebelion.org.

They began there by forming a human chain around the Madrid Education Council building. Banners showed off slogans like "Social service cuts = state terrorism" and "Cut military expenses for health care and education."

Esperanza Aguirre, the Madrid government president and an aspirant to head the People's Party, came under harsh criticism for policies seen as favoring private education. Recently she publically questioned the entire notion of a free education. Madrid alone is cutting $110 million from public educational services provided there.

The phenomenon of governments selling off profitable health care services to private corporations, "externalization," as it is called, has been galling especially in Catalonia, where health workers took the lead in strike actions there and formed a big contingent of the 25,000 demonstrators gathered in Barcelona's Catalunya Plaza.

Opinion surveys show that over 95 percent of Spanish citizens oppose cuts to heath care, education, or pensions and 60-70 percent express satisfaction with services they receive. More than 50 percent favor reduced military spending.

Regional authorities nationwide, however, are on the verge of cutting welfare support and emergency aid by $94 million. Yet in Madrid, to take one example, demands for such services increased almost ten percent in both 2009 and 2010. Some 250, 000 of the half million Spanish people receiving that type of support have experienced delays recently in its arrival. The impact on handicapped individuals and needy immigrants has been considerable.

Cuts in public education at all levels are now standard in Europe. Examples include: Lithuania with almost 70 percent reduced support for public universities; eastern European states averaging 5-10 percent reductions in overall education funding levels, and Italy, recently subjected to $10.8 million in curtailed support for schools and dismissals of 130,000 school and university employees.

Cuts in the educational budgets of Ireland and Portugal come to 9.4 and 8.5 percent, respectively. In Greece public support for university education has dropped 60 percent over two years, while the total of education cuts in the U.K. amounts to $125 million.

Speaking on September 19, secretary general of Spain's Communist Party, Jose Luis Centalla, called for major "civic protest." Looking toward nationwide mobilizations set for October 6 and October 15, he called for "a true rebellion joined by people at the bottom."

They would "come together with those people suffering the consequences of the crisis, those already mobilized, and those demonstrating for more democracy to construct an alternative," he said.

Urging support for a United Left ticket in Nov. 20 national elections, Centalla declared, "We oppose paying off speculators controlling our nation as a first priority."

Photo: At a demonstration against education cuts in Madrid, Sept. 20. Arturo Rodriguez/AP

Canadian lawmaker urges government to bar Cheney

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:01:00 +0000

Canadian legislator Don Davies asked the federal government last week to deny entry to Dick Cheney, citing the country's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act which prohibits entry to senior officials in governments that have engaged in "terrorism, systemic or gross human rights violations, or genocide, a war crime or a crime against humanity." Though Cheney left office in 2009, the Act also renders a person inadmissible if he or she has committed offenses listed in the Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, or other crimes that would result in a 10-year sentence if committed in Canada. Cheney is scheduled to enter Canada on or around September 26 in order to promote his new book in Vancouver.

The request comes just before Human Rights Watch urged Canada's federal government to use the opportunity to arrest Cheney, citing his role in torture during the Bush administration and jurisdiction provided by Canadian law over individuals committing torture in cases with Canadian complainants, notably including Syrian-Canadian Maher Arar. In 2002, while at a stopover in John F. Kennedy International Airport, Arar was questioned, denied access to a lawyer, and detained by the United States for two weeks before deported to Syria where he was held for a year and tortured.

In his statement, Davies also referenced Canadian court rulings finding that Arar's detention and prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay violated Canadian domestic and international law. Releasing its final report in 2006, a separate commission of inquiry formed by the Canadian government also concluded that Arar was tortured, despite three years of refusal by United States officials to participate and share evidence. Arar eventually obtained a 10.5M CAD settlement from the Canadian government, as well as a formal apology from the Prime Minister and Canada's national police agency, but remains on a U.S. watch list.

Don Davies repeated his call for denial of entry at a news conference in downtown Vancouver, joined by peace activists at the W2 Media Centre. "Torture is a serious crime. It is a war crime. It is a crime against humanity," said Davies.

Davies is the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway and member of the New Democratic Party, a social democratic party that displaced the centrist Liberals and nearly tripled its seat count in the May election to become the main opposition to Stephen Harper's Conservatives. In his letter to Canada's immigration minister, Davies reminded him of the government's previous decision to bar George Galloway, a former British MP denied entry for allegedly supporting Hamas. Galloway participated in and donated to an aid convoy that landed in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, but rejects the idea that his donation constitutes support for the Hamas itself, considered a terrorist group by Canada and several other Western governments.

Heading the Halliburton Company while out of office during the 1990s, Cheney served five terms in Congress representing Wyoming, and also served as Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush and as President Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff. In 2007 articles of impeachment were filed against Cheney by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, gaining twenty-six additional Democratic cosponsors, though a full vote was avoided due to resistance from the party's leadership.

While Cheney's planned speaking engagement has sold out entirely, the Vancouver StopWar coalition plans to mount a protest outside the building. An American Research Group poll taken in July 2007 found 54 percent of those polled supported beginning impeachment proceedings against him, with 74 percent support among Democrats.

Photo: Syrian-Canadian Arar Mahar, right, testifies via video conference, before a House Joint Oversight Hearing on "Rendition to Torture: The Case of Maher Arar," Oct. 18, 2007, in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Honduras resistance forms new political party

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:11:00 +0000

As on other Sept. 15 Independence Day celebrations since President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya was removed at gunpoint on June 28, 2009, the National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP) organized anti-government marches and demonstrations in Tegucigalpa and elsewhere in Honduras. Again, hundreds of thousands participated in this country of 7.5 million. Two days later, at a so called "Seeds for Liberation" meeting, 3,000 FNRP delegates gathered to approve a new political party charged with running a presidential candidate in elections set for the November 2013.

The FNRP is thus upping the ante against the country's Nationalist and Liberal two-party duopoly whose leaders belong to a small but wealthy group of families allied to the military, and friendly with U.S. diplomatic and military representatives.

The FNRP claims the agreement President Lobo, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Zelaya signed in May 2011 to allow Zelaya's return from exile has been abandoned. Specifically, says the FNRP, the Lobo government has failed to make good on its commitment to protect human rights and tolerate movement toward a constituent assembly.

The FNRP march ended at a rally where ex-president and FNRP National Coordinator Mel Zelaya was the speaking star. "Justice for all, all power to the people," he called out. "These are the words with which Compañero Emo left this world," he said, referring to Emo Sadloo, a FNRP leader shot to death on Sept. 7. He blamed the "bloody Honduran oligarchy" for executing independence leader Francisco Morazán in 1842, for staging the anti-Zelaya coup in 2009 and for creating conditions of poverty and repression. But, he concluded: "The oligarchs can never kill all of us, we're too many."

Honduras presently is saddled with 80 percent poverty and 50 percent unemployment. Last year 425 women died violent deaths, and the number of malnourished children exceeded 350,000. One observer counts 95 political murders and 6,000 political detentions since the coup. In twenty months of Porfirio Lobo's presidency, not only have paramilitaries murdered 39 small farmers protesting land takeovers in Lower Aguan by bio-fuel moguls, but 16 journalists have also been killed. Public employees are unpaid, teachers are being dismissed, unemployment is up, public hospitals lack supplies, and the government is falling behind on paying expenses. Additionally, U.S. military bases are expanding, and Colombian police and army personnel are training public security forces.

Speaking to a reporter, FNRP national sub-coordinator Juan Barahona outlined the process of forming a FNRP political arm, a project in the works despite an earlier National Assembly decision to stay aloof from electoral politics. The new party, called the Broad Front of Popular Resistance (FARP), is projected as "a real option for taking political power via the electoral route." The next step would be "convocation of a constituent assembly and creation of a new constitution."

The mass meeting Sept. 17 began with honor paid to recent FNRP martyrs. Delegates approved statutes for the new party and a statement of basic principals. According to the latter, the FARP "urgently demands transformation of the present social and economic system through democratic construction of a society with equality and justice" The FARP envisions "free human beings who own the products of their work." The statement calls for unity within "ideological diversity," an end to "patriarchal oppression" against women, internationalism, and "equitable division of income and property."

Signatures will be presented to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on October 3 to set the new party in motion. The requirement this time is for 50,000 names, a far cry from the 1.4 million signatures the FNRP secured last year for a petition favoring a constituent assembly.

Schism has emerged. The conservative El Heraldo newspaper cites jostling between a "Popular Bloc" headed by FNRP Sub-coordinator Juan Barahona and a so-called "June 28 Group" which objects to the "Bloqueros'" supposed socialist leanings. The latter group, with Liberal Party roots, is headed by ex President Mel Zelaya's brother Carlos. Reports circulate that Bishop Luis Alfonso Santos, known for opposing the 2009 coup, is considering a presidential run under the auspices of the June 28 Group.

Labor leader and FARP organizer José Luis Baquedano admitted to the press that "some contradictions" exist. But, "They don't turn us into enemies. They will strengthen the Broad Front." "We all have a role to play," he said.

Photo: Zelaya in Mexico before his overthrow. Federal Government of Mexico // CC 2.0

Struggles sharpen in Cyprus

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Recent events in Cyprus, occurring in the context of the global capitalist crisis, have led to a sharpening of the class struggle in this small island nation. As elsewhere, in Cyprus there is an attempt by capital and its allies to make the working people pay for the crisis faced by their system. The usual package of austerity measures - privatization, attacks on pensions, increase in the retirement age - are being pushed by some sectors. The government of President Dimitris Christofias - a leader of AKEL, Cyprus' Communist Party - is fighting to protect the working people of the republic from these assaults

In Cyprus elections last May for delegates to the country's House of Representatives resulted in fierce political infighting and realignments. This was followed, in July, by a disastrous explosion at the Evangelos Florikas naval base. In the wake of these events, the centrist Democrat Party, DIKO, left its governmental coalition with AKEL.

The ostensible reason was given as disagreements over the "Cyprus question." That refers to the ongoing occupation of the northern third of the island by Turkey, the result of a failed right-wing coup and subsequent Turkish invasion. But public assertions to the contrary, Cypriot sources report that the departure of DIKO was actually due to the intense political pressure put on DIKO from certain sectors of capital and allied social forces. Because Cyprus has a presidential system of government the shift in political alliances does not affect the executive branch, and so AKEL's Demetris Christofias continues as president of the republic, and remains so at least until February of 2013. However the changes will make it more difficult for the government to protect the interests of the working people.

In general the ongoing global financial crisis and the consequent Greek financial crisis have not affected Cyprus as deeply as might be thought, but certain effects have been felt. For one thing, the Bank of Cyprus holds a lot of Greek bonds, and tourism from Europe, vitally important to the Cypriot economy, has suffered a sharp downturn. The decline in tourism exacerbated a downturn in the construction industry as people stopped building vacation homes. In addition, given the depressed atmosphere of the usually vibrant tourism sector, hotels and other tourist-related industries put expansion plans on hold.

There are some recent positive developments however.

The recent political realignment has resulted in Cyprus having a clear left-wing government, at least in the executive branch, and a recent cabinet reshuffle has moved the executive branch even more clearly towards the left.

Also, recent geological surveys have indicated the strong possibility of significant deposits of natural gas in Cypriot waters to the south. Reactionary circles in Turkey are very disturbed over this development, which may dramatically alter the economy and geopolitics of the region. Drilling, by the U.S.-based company Noble Energy, is scheduled to begin soon.

In addition to all this, the recent period has actually shown an increase in the tourist revenues that are so important to the country.

Finally, and most importantly, unlike anywhere else in the world, unions and workers in Cyprus are striking and demonstrating in favor of governmental polices and against parliamentary attempts to renege on past deals and to force through austerity measures.

The next few weeks will be of tremendous importance in determining the outcome of the struggles of the Cypriot working people, commentators say.

Photo: Protesters hold candles outside the presidential palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, July 18, after an explosion of dozens of gunpowder-filled containers at a naval base July 11 killed 13 people and knocked out a key power station. (AP/Petros Karadjias)

Thoughts from China: Socialism, a work in progress

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:36:00 +0000

Editor's note: The author is teaching English in China.

BEIJING - I arrived in Beijing on June 25. My first time in Asia. My first time outside of the Western hemisphere. Though I had studied some Chinese, I was a bit overwhelmed at the communication barrier as I walked into a restaurant to order my first meal here. The menu was all in Chinese, with no pictures, and no pinyin. (Pinyin is the transcription of Chinese to the Latin alphabet, with accent marks denoting the tones). Nevertheless, after being here for two and a half months, my Chinese is slowly improving.

My initial impressions of Beijing and China were, and still are, complex. China has surpassed Japan and Germany to become the second largest economy in the world, and China's GDP will likely pass that of the U.S. in a few years. China's economy is a mixed economy, with the state controlling much of what Lenin called the "commanding heights" of the economy, but with a large capitalist sector, and with an enormous number of small businesses. While the state permits capitalist enterprises, including foreign companies, to operate here, the state retains the ownership of the land, and essentially is granting the company the privilege of using the land in the interest of development.

It is true that China is a developing country. It also does, however, have a very modern aspect. The subway system in Beijing is world class, and also inexpensive at 2RMB per ride (around 30 cents USD), including limitless transfers. In 1980, there were only two subway lines; now there are 14, with plans to build 10 more in the next five years. The new lines will be welcome, as public transportation in Beijing, while modern and inexpensive, can be extremely crowded during rush hours.

Crime is very low. I feel safer in Beijing than in any other major city I've ever spent time in.

The government in Beijing plans to raise the minimum wage by 15 percent every year for the next five years. Minimum wage varies by cities in China, but is universally low. In Beijing, it is currently about 1300RMB (about $200/month). Most workers make substantially better than the minimum wage, averaging probably about 5,000RMB. As an English teacher for a private company, I'm making about 12,000RMB (about $1500/month), on which I can live comfortably.

China exercises price controls on basic necessities such as food, and the cost of living is very low in general. One exception in Beijing is rent. My rent in Beijing is comparable to what I paid in Dallas, Texas, although my place is a little nicer.

In 2008, China passed a Labor Reform Law which grants workers some very important rights. Chinese labor law intentionally favors employees over employers. "Employment at will," so common in the U.S., is illegal in China. If an employer wishes to terminate an employee, the burden is on the employer to establish just cause. Economic difficulty is not considered just cause; and this law applies to all employers, large and small, foreign and domestic. There are strict restrictions on probation periods.

Yet there are still companies, mainly foreign companies, who violate the law. And in some cases, workers have been treated in ways which one would hope to not occur in any country, particularly a socialist one. One can read about the case of Foxconn, for example, where there were several suicides by employees working in terrible conditions. I don't have to read capitalist media to learn of this; CCTV (China's state-owned television network) ran a documentary about this.

The Marxist ideological level in China is lower than one might wish. The schools focus heavily on math and science (and do quite well at it), but don't seem to do much with philosophy. While the economy is booming as it currently is, maybe that doesn't seem like a huge issue; but I fear that if global recession causes the economy to worsen, this could be a problem. While China is still a developing nation, with socialism still in infancy, the Communist Party has truly accomplished much, lifting more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history. Despite the many contradictions of China, an end to socialism here, a la USSR 1990s, would be a disaster for the Chinese people, and for workers everywhere.

Photo: Simon Hooks // CC 2.0

Pirates in Berlin and troubles on the left

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:29:00 +0000

BERLIN - This city voted on Sunday. Mayor Klaus Wowereit, a Social Democrat, retains his office but his government needs reshuffling. The only real surprise was a hefty 9 percent vote for an unusual new party, the Pirates, whose 15 delegates in the new city parliament will be their first anywhere in Germany.

With Pirates in parliament (though not in power), will anyone be walking the plank? The floundering big-biz party, the Free Democrats (FDP), which still holds the Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister spots in the federal government as junior partners to Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, suffered its fifth defeat in as many state elections this year. With under 2 percent on Sunday, and no more deputy seats in Berlin's parliament, it is now gasping for air. Last-minute attempts to build on anti-Greek sentiment, opposing financial support for that sagging euro-comrade, didn't help it one bit. Most Berliners, if they thought about the party at all, said "Good riddance!"

But ach and alas, the Left party - die Linke - also plunged into icier political waters. Its 11.5 percent, lower even than its disappointing 13.4 in 2006, meant that its 19 seats in the city-state parliament (down from 23) could no longer give Mayor Wowereit the required majority of 76 seats. After 10 years of joint, though junior rule, it will now be part of the opposition.

The Social Democrats lost almost as many percentage points as the Left but were still the strongest kids on the block. Debonair, popular Wowereit must now choose between an uneasy partnership with the Greens, with a majority of only one seat, or with the Christian Democrats. The latter would grant a numerically more stable majority but would require more than a few steps to the right, not his ideal.

Earlier this year the Greens and their loud, energetic leader Renate Kuenast hoped to win first place and the mayor's job, but she proved too loud and too energetic for Berliners. The result, 18 percent, was the best the Greens had ever achieved in Berlin but far less than they hoped for, while the Christians stayed ahead, moving forward two points to hold on to second place.

Who then are these new Pirates? They don't resemble Long John Silver or Blackbeard in the least. Indeed, some male candidates seem hardly old enough to have any beard at all. For they are, above all, a party of and for young voters. Until recently they were more a joke than anything else. But - with 9 percent at their very first try - who is still laughing?

What do they stand for? That is not easy to determine. They started out by demanding full Internet freedom, opposing any charges or regulation from above, and this alone won support within the electronic generation. But it wasn't enough for a party program. They added a demand which is always attractive on the political scene: Transparency. Everything should be above board. They have since spoken, if a bit vaguely, of things like dropping requirements for drivers licenses, of classes on drugs in the schools, and of a basic livable income for everyone, whether or not he or she had a job. Such demands resounded successfully in young ears, with many who would not have voted at all otherwise and many who would have voted for other parties.

Thus, Pirate cutlasses chopped off votes from what were considered Establishment parties, the Social Democrats, even the poor Left (whose share in the government made them "establishment") but most of all from the Greens, whose compromising positions on so many issues robbed them of much earlier youthful, rebellious glamour. Whether the 15 Pirate delegates, all political newbies, will gain experience and make any political dents remains to be seen; as yet the pundits are unsure about pinning them down as leftish, centrist, or whatever. They could become allies of the Left, with whom they actually share many ideas. Now they represent largely a protest vote. The next five years will tell whether that means anything or is a flash in the pan.

And the Left? Christian Democrats and Greens crowed gleefully at its losses, which meant an end to 10 years of a so-called "Red-Red" government coalition in Berlin. Why have they been dipping, unevenly but clearly in both West Berlin (4.5 percent) and East Berlin (22.6)?

One reason is clear. An overwhelmingly hostile media linked every failing in running Berlin, every painful budget cut, to the Left. The three Left cabinet ministers (called senators) were largely responsible for key improvements in the school system, for getting free kindergarten care, sharply reduced tickets for the jobless in public transportation and for cultural and sports events, for hindering the forced moving of the jobless from their homes because of higher rents. They had fought and sometimes won more jobs and higher pay for city employees and prevented the privatization of city banks. But all this was distorted, ignored, or credited to Mayor Wowereit.

In addition, all such efforts had confused the Left's basic position as a party of opposition to the ruling system, of rebelliousness, street demonstrations and the sometimes outrageous actions which shock some but win the hearts of others, especially young people. Indeed, the ranks of the Left, especially in East Berlin, were still to a great degree the faithful from former GDR years, before that state disappeared in 1990, and their ranks were dwindling. Many young voters chose to follow Pirate flags somehow representing resistance.

It was clear to all in the Left party that attention to young people's problems and culture had been woefully neglected. Some also noticed a similar weakness in regard to immigrant groups, now increasingly with voting rights, especially Berlin's large Turkish population.

There were other reasons. The Left had been torn by inner quarrels between its two wings. A fleeting use of the word "Communism" as a distant goal by co-chairperson Gesine Loetzsch in January was pounced on by the media, also a greeting to Fidel Castro on his 85th birthday and a decision by three local leaders of the Left in northern Schwerin to abstain from publicly regretting the building of the Berlin Wall 50 years earlier. All this (and more) was grist for unfriendly mills, from left center to far right.

The question demanding urgent answers was whether the Left was too radical, as its "reformer" wing implied, thus barring itself from the main, acceptable political ring, or was it on the contrary not militant enough, as the other, more "leftist" wing maintained. But after seeing the disappointing vote Gregor Gysi, party guru and chair of its Bundestag caucus, said: "We have been spending 90 percent of our time with inner disputes and 10 percent with national problems. This must be turned around completely!" After key planks of the national program were poached by the other parties, basic demands needed to be found and fought for. The Left's national conference on its basic program next month in Erfurt could lead to just that - or to worse wrangling than ever. It will almost certainly feature crucial decisions.

A postscript: While a "Red-Red" coalition of Social Democrats and the Left in the state of Brandenburg around Berlin continues in office relatively successfully, the newly re-elected Social Democratic governor in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania north of Berlin (it's called "Meck-Pom") must now decide between a coalition with the Christian Democrats, as currently exists, or a reversal to one with the Left, which is also possible. The Berlin vote could impel him to choose the former solution.

A second postscript: The neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) and a new "pro-Deutschland" party based on hatred of Muslims posted election placards all around Berlin caricaturing Africans and Muslims in a frighteningly racist way. One poster showed the NPD leader grinning on a motorcycle under the slogan: "Give gas!" - a hardly ambiguous appeal for genocide. Attempts to ban it were turned down in court. Neither party got enough votes to enter the city parliament. How many seats they won in borough councils is not yet known.

British trade unionists come out for Cuba and the Cuban Five

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:02:00 +0000

From the vantage point of Cuban solidarity activists in the United States, U.K trade unionists deserve special credit. They've taken the lead in Britain in speaking out for Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, and René González - Cuban men imprisoned in the United States.

Amnesty International last year raised multiple concerns about the fate of the Cuban Five including a biased trial in Miami, flawed appeals court judgments, and terribly unfair sentencing. As of September 12, they've been in jail for 13 years, convicted on charges relating to attempts during the 1990's to defend Cubans against U.S. - based terror attacks.

That was the day this year in London that Britain's Trade Union Congress (TUC) staged a well attended meeting at its annual conference, which focused on the prisoners. Unite labor union General Secretary Len McCluskey commended British unionist Tony Woodley for his role as featured speaker at the first U. S. labor union gathering on behalf of the Five since their incarceration. The Service Employees International Union staged that meeting on August 13, 2011 in Los Angeles to inform members about the Five and advocate for their release.

A day later, Woodley, a former Unite general secretary, visited Gerardo Hernandez at the prison where he is held near Los Angeles. Woodley's comprehensive article reviewing the history and current situation of the Five appeared in the Morning Star newspaper on September 12.

He writes that Gerardo "is well aware of the work of the British trade union movement and solidarity campaigns for his cause, and sends his gratitude to everyone who fights for justice for the five."

At the TUC Cuba meeting, Cuban Ambassador Esther Armenteros complained that the corporate media on both sides of the Atlantic offers woefully inadequate reporting on the Five. She mentioned that the Cuban Five "remain unjustly imprisoned for combating terrorism against our country and have been subjected to all sorts of humiliations".

The Ambassador also commended a recent Save the Children report, which gave Cuba top rankings in Latin America and eighth place in the world for effective child health care - ahead of the U.K. and the United States.

Len McCluskey lauded Cuban medical work in Nicaragua, particularly that of the Che Guevara Medical Brigade working there under the auspices of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America. That's the ALBA solidarity union promoted by Cuba and Venezuela, which includes Ecuador, Bolivia and other Latin American and Caribbean countries. He noted that "whilst the prospect for trade unionists in non-ALBA countries is bleak" Cuba provides "real and material benefits" to the Latin American poor.

In September, the U.K. wide Cuban Solidarity Campaign published the first issue of its newsletter for trade unionists on Cuba issues, especially those calling for labor union solidarity with Cuba. Scheduled to appear electronically every three months, the newsletter will cover collaboration between U. K. and Cuban unions, British trade union outreach to Cuba, and more general Cuba news. The first issue is accessible here.

Photo: Students wave Cuban flags at a protest to demand the release of the Cuban Five imprisoned in the U.S. outside the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, June, 2008. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Mexican electrical workers score victory after Independence Day standoff

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:39:00 +0000

The Mexican Electrical Workers' Union or SME (Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas) scored a victory last week when the government agreed to recognize its leadership and release frozen union funds, in exchange for the dismantlement of a union protest camp that could have embarrassed President Felipe Calderon on Mexico's most important national holiday, Independence Day.

In recent years, the independent, left-led SME has become the center of organizing efforts to oppose the neo-liberal policies of rigged "free" trade, privatization and the gutting of social welfare programs that are pushed by Mr. Calderon of the right-wing National Action Party. So it was not a big surprise when, in October of 2009, the government swooped down and took over all the facilities of Central Light and Power (Luz y Fuerza del Centro), the state owned company that ran electrical services for Mexico City and most of Central Mexico, for whose employees the SME was the sole bargaining agent. Control of the former Central Light and Power operations were handed over to another company, the CFE (Federal Electrical Commission), also state owned but with a union that has a reputation for passivity and even corruption.

This action set off a two-year saga involving demonstrations, arrests, slander campaigns in the media, violent attacks against union members and the refusal of the government to issue the "toma de nota" which means recognition of the election of union members, for July's union election.
The government had frozen the union's funds, and, earlier this summer had ordered the arrest of SME Secretary General Martin Esparza and two other officials for trying to access them. The government offered a severance package to former Central Light and Power employees who would repudiate the union, but a hard core of 16,000 SME members has continued to press demands, among others that the government, as their ultimate employer, find a "substitute employer" for them, as stipulated in Mexican law.
Meanwhile, the CFE has not been doing too well, with complaints about crazy rate increases, poor service and, more recently, the prosecution of a CFE official for his involvement in corrupt contracts with US private corporations.

One of the tactics of the SME has been a long-running "planton" in Mexico City's main square, known as the Zocalo. The Zocalo is an iconic historic site in Mexico. It is an immense plaza, which is surrounded on one side by enormous 17th Century cathedral, on another by the official national palace, and on the other two sides by other governmental and commercial buildings. A "planton" is a long-running and very visible sit-in.

September 16th was the 201st anniversary of Mexico's declaration of independence from Spain, and is a very important national holiday. On the evening of September 15, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla proclaimed the goal of independence from the parish church in the little town of Dolores in the State of Guanajuato. This call, known as the "Grito" (the shout or cry) is variously recorded as having been just "Viva Mexico!" or "Viva Mexico, muera el mal gobierno" (Long live Mexico! Death to the bad government!) or maybe something else entirely. Every September 15, the president of Mexico steps out on the balcony of the National Palace, overlooking the Zocalo, and gives the "Grito."
But there was the SME's planton, right smack in the middle of the space in which thousands were supposed to gather to hear the "Grito"! The government feared that Calderon would at the very least be upstaged by shouting SME members, and that instead of a triumph, the event could turn into a major embarrassment for the government. Calderon's people could not persuade Mexico City's Regional Governor Marcelo Ebrard, of the leftish Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) to use force to dislodge the planton. So the federal government was forced to negotiate.

Out of this meeting came an agreement that the government would continue to negotiate with the SME over outstanding grievances, and the union would dismantle the planton and not disrupt the "Grito" (which went ahead with reduced attendance, possibly because of heavy rain).
But at the same time, the government delivered the coveted "toma de nota" to SME Secretary General Esparza, this recognizing the legitimacy of the union's elections and also, implicitly, that the SME is still a bonifide labor union under Mexican law. Not only that, but it announced, also, that 21 million pesos ($1,626,000 US) of the frozen funds were now available to the union. The government denies that the "toma de nota" and the unfreezing of the funds were part of the deal to get the SME to dismantle the "planton," but few believe this.

Negotiations will now proceed between the government and the SME about the union's remaining demands, including the key issue of a "substitute employer." But the issuing of the toma de nota and the unfreezing of the funds are a clear moral, political and financial victory for the SME. It is hard to see, also, how the government's case against Esparza and his two colleagues can stand after the government has conceded that he is the actual Secretary General of the SME and that the funds he is accused of illegally trying to access are indeed property of the union.

Photo: Members of the Mexican Union of Electricians (SME) protest against the government's decision to disband the state-run electricity company, Luz y Fuerza del Centro, in Mexico City, Oct. 15, 2009. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon disbanded the provider that supplies electricity to central Mexico, citing a budget hole that threatened service to 25 million consumers.

(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Chilean communists take a hit as protests mount

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:30:00 +0000

A multi-aged group of 50 self proclaimed, "rebel students" on September 12 attacked the Santiago offices of the Chilean Communist Party's (CP) Central Committee. The police delayed showing up for the hour it took for the intruders to injure four CP staffers, destroy windows and doors, and ruin or steal electronic equipment. Thugs had wrecked CP offices in Iquique two days earlier and in Temuco, two weeks earlier.
Other political formations extended solidarity. For the Christian Left party, "No provocation will separate the Communist Party from the heart of Chilean people." The Mapuche (indigenous) Left Assembly observed, "What bothers [rulers] most is the support the Party receives." The attacks took place after an emboldened student movement, joined by unions and social organizations, had set the stage over four months by making demands upon Chile's right wing government.
On the day of the attack, CP secretary general (and parliamentary deputy) Lautaro Carmona, joined by Political Commission members, went to the Interior Ministry to lodge a complaint. A police functionary, rather than a responsible official, received them in the corner of a large room. Everybody stood. Afterwards, the Interior Minister told the press that communists "have a polemical disposition causing them to warn of problems that don't exist."
Carmona told reporters, "When he says we see problems that don't exist; really I see problems manifested in the struggle for public education, and he doesn't see them. I see problems in the concentration of wealth and precariousness of Chileans' lives, Chileans' right of free expression in public places, and legitimate demands of CONFUSAM, and he doesn't see any of them."
On September 13, Chile's CONFUSAM municipal health worker federation launched a 48-hour strike for higher wages and against health care privatization. The 25,000 striking workers represented 90 percent of the federation membership. Health Minister Jaime Mañalich, rejecting further negotiations, reportedly wants to remove the underfunded and under-doctored public health sector from municipalities' control.
A day later, the Fenatrapech federation of petroleum workers issued a warning. Federation president Clemente Gálvez denounced state plans to privatize petroleum reserves in Magallanes that would "relinquish the national patrimony and potential from gas and oil reserves."
But mobilized students represent the main intrusion into a status quo serving moneyed interests, one inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship. For the 98th time this year, students marched on September 14 in Santiago, again for quality education available to all. A reduced participation of 30,000 students was attributed to national mourning over the recent plane crash deaths of 21 people. At a concluding rally, student leader Camilia Vallejo assured students that "if at the end of the day there are no agreements ... we won't abandon our demands." Students, negotiating with the government, had just delivered a counterproposal to education officials.
Camilia Vallejo has become well known to leftists worldwide. The 23-year-old Communist Party member has received multiple death threats. Why the established order may regard her, and implicitly the Communist Party, as threatening is clear from excerpts of her remarks to students and reporters provided by Dominican observer Narciso Isa Conde.
A selection follows:
"We believe the key to success for the student movement is to put the [student] federation in a vanguard position at a national level, interweaving social networks with townspeople, workers, social organizations, and unions"
"We must break with that university bubble that instills individualism, competition, and personal success as a guide for our behavior over fundamental ideas and concepts like solidarity, community and collaboration among ourselves.
"Our eyes are open enough to realize that there's a whole world to conquer, that this world requires our commitment, our effort, our sacrifice. Our eyes are open to social inequalities that stand out in every corner of our city. We find it impossible to ... close the door and act as though we've seen nothing."
"As a woman, I can see and experience in my own flesh the current forms of oppression of which we are victims in society's present machismo configuration." In Chile 'a history of oppression and sexism hides behind a facade of economic progress.'"
Isa Conde detects a "quasi - telepathic" connection between Vellejo's ideas and those of the martyred Julio Antonio Mella, the charismatic youth who helped form the Cuban Communist Party in the 1920's. In any event, continuing Communist Party involvement in popular struggle and Communist leadership of epochal challenges to the status quo, filled as they are with turmoil, are reliable predictors of red scare revival and the trashing of Communist offices.
Communist and other progressive parties from around the world have been sending in messages denouncing the attacks on the Chilean comrades.

(AP Photo/Roberto Candia) Chilean students demonstrate during a protest in Santiago, Chile, Aug. 18. Students had been striking for more than two months and continue to march by the tens of thousands calling for free and equal quality education.

Venezuelan women win action against sexist portrayals

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:05:00 +0000

Venezuelan women recently demonstrated against 6to Poder (The 6th Power), a privately owned newspaper, for portraying several high ranking elected female officials as cabaret girls in a photomontage.

The graphic was titled "Chavez's Women in Power" with the subtitle "Cabaret of the Revolution," and claimed the women were recruited to "attract the public to the revolution."

The protesters marched to the district attorney's office in Caracas demanding it take action against the paper for promoting "symbolic violence against women" and being "disrespectful and deprecating."

A statement signed by the women read in part, "We urge the Republic's District Attorney, Luisa Ortega Díaz, to apply the full weight of the law and sanctions where admissible. We demand the immediate closure of the weekly newspaper 6to Poder for the flagrant violation of women's rights."

The president of Venezuela's Supreme Court promised action, saying, "As women we are prepared to defend our dignity, we cannot allow this kind of assault."

Vice-president of the National Assembly Blanca Eeckout was one of the women portrayed in the photomontage. She pointed to the larger destabilizing efforts being used as a tactic by the right-wing, saying, "They know that they have no arguments, nor morality, nor the capability to replace the leadership of President Hugo Chávez."

6to Poder is the first newspaper to have its license revoked by the government.

The paper's female director Dinora Giron was arrested on criminal charges of insulting public officials, instigating hatred and publicly offending women. Giron was later released.

A warrant has also been issued for the arrest of Leocenis García, the newspaper's owner who is in hiding. Garcia told El Carabobeno, a Venezuelan media outlet, that he would turn himself in if the newspaper was allowed to reopen.

The ban has been lifted on newspaper, but Garcia has still not surrendered to authorities.

The Committee to Protect Journalists' senior Americas program coordinator Carlos Lauría stated, "We welcome the lifting of the ban on 6to Poder as the first step toward justice in the case... Prosecutors must now drop all charges against its staff."

Venezuela has received a lot of criticism for the way it deals with media in the past, and these most recent actions promise to incite more criticism.

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela and the Communist Party of Venezuela have both backed the government's actions. Rodrigo Cabezas of the socialist party said in a statement, "Here there is freedom of expression, but not freedom of defamation," and he said media outlets should practice "responsible journalism."

Socialist governments in the past have suffered from restrictions on press freedom. The parties did not comment on how the arrest and banning would impact the image of Venezuela's brand, "21st century socialism."

In response to recent actions by right-wing forces, the Venezuelan National Assembly called for a special meeting to discuss the possibility of an attack on state institutions.

Groups such as the "Roundtable of Democratic Unity" (MUD) claim the action taken by the government is an "attack on freedom of expression." MUD is currently under investigation for receiving millions of dollars from U.S. government organizations such as the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, a violation of Venezuela's National Electoral Council.

Under Chavez's Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, women have benefited, with legal guarantees to women's rights, the creation of a women's and gender equality ministry and a bank, Banmujer, which gives credit to poor women.

Air Canada flight attendant vote to strike

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:10:00 +0000

Flight attendants at Canada's largest airline overwhelmingly endorsed strike action on Sept 13 with results of the 10-day vote showing 5,175 ballots favoring a walkout, and 116 opposed. The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4095 reported a high turnout of 78 percent.

The Air Canada employees could end work as early as Sept. 21. If that occurs, Canada's government would be expected to step in and quickly shorten any strike, perhaps through back-to-work legislation such as that introduced earlier this year for Canada's striking postal workers, or instead block strike action altogether.

Though a tentative deal was reached last month, 88 percent of workers rejected it in the vote that followed, with the dominant issue being a dispute over pension changes for new hires: rather than agree on a set payout level, the plan proposed by Air Canada's management would see benefits tied to future investment performance.

Conditions and benefits, such as rest periods and meal allowances, and the fate of a regional carrier based in Halifax, Nova Scotia are among the other issues previously raised by workers.

Air Canada's plans to start a new discount business line are also a point of contention, with management proposing a lower pay scale for its attendants.

Other Air Canada workers were also engaged in strike action this summer: sales and customer service agents, represented by the Canadian Auto Workers, went on strike for three days in June before Canada's labor minister, Lisa Raitt, announced intentions to prepare legislation.

However, a strike by the airline's 6,800 flight attendants, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, would be far more disruptive to services. "No one wants a strike", bargaining unit president Jeff Taylor said in a Tuesday press release. "But if we can't reach a tentative agreement which addresses our members' concerns, and soon, it could be our only choice."

CUPE is also challenging the company's strike plan strategy, featuring intentions to use non-union staff and enroll replacement workers in a training program, prompting them to file a complaint with the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

The airline is expected to reduce service if the union provides notice of a strike, which must occur 72 hours in advance under federal laws. Air Canada has cited increasing fuel costs as driving the need for austerity, while employees cite a past record of sacrifices and the company's current profitability.

'They've been giving up concessions within the company for the past ten years', Taylor told Canadian Press interviewers. He did not confirm or deny the possibility of work-to-rule plans, a job action where employees perform minimum contractual and safety tasks to force a slowdown.

Air Canada has provided little public commentary, though it released a statement acknowledging the vote's result and contingency plans for a 'partial schedule including codeshare flights operated by [partner airlines].'

The government of Canada previously justified back to work legislation by warning that disruption of services would be a threat to Canada's fragile economic recovery; Air Canada pilots and dispatchers both rejected tentative deals earlier in the year, while mechanics and baggage handlers are still preparing to start negotiations.

The airline also came under scrutiny last month when it was fined $50,000 by the U.S. Department of Transportation for deceptive advertising of flight prices. In response, the opposition New Democratic Party cited its previous introduction of a Passenger Bill of Rights. Among its provisions were measures to keep passengers fully informed of flight cancellations and delays, and a full-fare refund if flights were delayed by five or more hours.

Independent analysts expect a strike to almost certainly impact operations, as flights must maintain a minimum number of flight attendants at all times.

In 2010, the airline reported net profits of $107 million, and gross earnings of $1.38 billion, the highest in its history.

Photo: caribb // CC 2.0

Mexican labor officials meet with Congress about worker abuses

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:05:00 +0000

Mexican labor leaders representing independent unions held a Congressional briefing Sept. 13 in Washington, D.C., to highlight Mexico's ongoing repression and assault on the rights and wages of Mexican workers.

Workers in Mexico are facing repression from the Mexican government and corporations, say the labor leaders. And more and more working people in Mexico are being driven into poverty through the erosion of their wages and human rights, they added.

U.S. Rep Mike Michaud, D-Maine, on behalf of the Congressional Labor Caucus and the International Worker Rights Caucus, sponsored the briefing.

"More than 15 years ago, we were told that NAFTA would create a thriving middle class in Mexico," said Rep. Michaud. "Economists and government officials said the agreement would lead to growing trade surpluses and that hundreds of thousands of jobs would be gained. As our friends from Mexico can attest, NAFTA did not bring these benefits. Instead, workers' rights are being violated on a regular basis, and both the U.S. and Mexico are worse off."

Three Mexican union leaders - Francisco Hernandez Juarez, general secretary of the Mexican Union of Telephone Workers (STRM), Marco del Toro, legal representative of the National Union of Mine, Metal Steel and Allied Workers of the Mexican Republic (known as Los Mineros), and Sergio Beltran Reyes, recording secretary for Los Mineros, - appealed to the U.S. Congress.

"We are going through very difficult time and are on the receiving end of a high level of aggression and anti-unionism by the Mexican government and business leaders," said Juarez. "The attacks on Los Mineros and its elected leader, the dismissal of more than 44,000 electrical workers and the threat of a new labor law are all designed to reverse 100 years of rights for Mexican workers. The Mexican government, through its spokespeople, has been trying to sell the idea that they defend labor and human rights. We'd like to show how they do not."

The labor leaders said they plan to meet with U.S. members of Congress to discuss worker rights and safety standards for Mexican workers. They intend to highlight the repeated efforts by Mexico's government under the conservative and right-wing President Felipe Calderon. The Calderon administration is trying to strip union members with Los Mineros of its right to exist as the union continues a four-year strike by 1,100 copper miners over safety issues against the company Grupo Mexico.

Del Toro noted, "We are taking this opportunity to paint a picture of the status of worker rights in Mexico and to outline the persecution faced by unions and leaders there. The diminishing of workers rights and very low wages produce an unequal standard between wage levels in Mexico and the U.S. This is affecting the U.S., which is looking to create jobs for workers here," he said.

The Mexican labor leaders detailed the widening threat to the wellbeing and livelihoods of Mexican workers, increasing violent acts against unions and the growing and detrimental inequality between U.S. workers and their Mexican counterparts. They note the decline in real wages in Mexico hurts not only Mexican but also U.S. workers by encouraging plant relocation and depressing Mexican consumption of U.S. exports. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has lowered the standards and working conditions for workers in both countries, they added.

The Mexican unions represented by their labor leaders at the press briefing said they are aggressively working to improve wages, standard of living, and health and safety standards, particularly in Mexico's dangerous mines and steel mills.

Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW), joined the Mexican labor officials.

"It is clear that the agenda of the Mexican government is to keep workers' wages low and use that as an economic tool, and we are here today so that representatives and their staff have the opportunity to hear the facts," said Gerard. "The Vicente Fox and Calderon administrations in Mexico have done everything they could to repress the independent unions that were actually raising the standard of living for Mexican workers. The U.S. government must condemn this repression and ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to bust unions in Mexico," he added. "It is to our advantage to help Mexican workers expose the kind of oppression and persecution they face every day. And it is very important to workers in America that Mexican workers get an opportunity to raise their standard of living."

After the press conference, Gerard and the Mexican labor leaders met with members of Congress and their staff.

Photo: Union workers of the Mexicana de Cananea copper mine demonstrate in Cananea, northern Mexico, Jan. 12, 2008. Miners there have been on strike ever since demanding the mining company, Grupo Mexico SAB, fix safety and health violations. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)

French nuclear site rocked by explosion

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:48:00 +0000

On September 12, an explosion at Marcoule, a nuclear facility in southern France, killed one person and injured four, The Envoy reported.

According to Business Insider, in what was described as an industrial accident, an oven blew up during the processing of radioactive waste. While Marcoule is set to be decommissioned by the French Atomic Energy Commision, the blast instilled fear of potential leakage for hours afterward.

However, after it was confirmed that there was no leak, the issue was soon resolved. And yet, said the report, the political and ethical aftermath is only just setting in: long-term solutions to dealing with nuclear waste must perhaps be reconsidered in what was called a growing generational dilemma.

The ongoing issue can be exemplified by fierce anti-Nuclear protests in France.

In June, thousands of demonstrators in Fessenheim, France demanded the closing of the country's oldest nuclear plant, and formed a human chain outside of the facility. Meanwhile, the government continues to contemplate whether to extend its life by ten more years.

Moreover, the Fessenheim protest was located near the border of Germany, a country that is altogether abandoning nuclear energy in the wake of the events in Japan. As such, reported Common Dreams, the event created tension for France, which continuously relies on and defends its 58 nuclear reactors, which are essentially the bread and butter of the country's energy sustenance.

Protesters also felt that the site could be exposed to, and damaged by, seismic activity and flooding.

A month after the protest, an explosion prior to Marcoule's occurred at the Tricastin nuclear power plant in Drome, reported the Guardian. In this instance, an electric transformer in the non-nuclear part of the plant malfunctioned. There was however, no environmental damage, as a result.

And yet, a 2007 report by France's nuclear safety authority confirmed that "the site must make improvements in management and training," and suggested that the plant's procedure for dealing with fires was substandard. A year after this report, a uranium leak at one of the plant's reactors contaminated local rivers.

As of now, about 74 percent of France's energy comes from nuclear sources, the Guardian noted.

Particularly after the country's fracking ban, it would seem unlikely that France could heavily rely on any other energy source at this point in time.

Kash Burchett, a European energy analyst, said in a report by Reuters, "The loss of nuclear power would increase energy costs substantially for households and businesses alike."

As such, noted Green Beat, French president Nicolas Sarkozy declared that the country will devote $1.4 billion to the research and development of nuclear power. However, France will also commit over $1 billion to renewable energy products.

Nuclear safety concerns after the Fukushima tragedy have been agitated by the recent Marcoule mishap, and in an era where the idea of nuclear disaster is a hot button on peoples' minds, anti-nuke protests may draw greater attention and analysis in the coming period.

Photo: kmaschke/Wikipedia.

African immigrants targeted in Libya end game

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Fighters loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi are still holding out in some towns in Western Libya, particularly Gadaffi's home town of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, Sabha to the Southwest, and Bani Walid to the Southeast of the Libyan capitol, Tripoli. But the rebels, backed by continued NATO bombings, seem to be consolidating their hold on the rest of the country.

Once again, reports have surfaced about rebel forces targeting dark skinned people for violent repression including rape and murder. And the rest of Africa, particularly the poorer nations, is wondering what the new regime in Libya will bring in terms of their once close relations with the oil-rich country.

For a long time, Gadaffi's government has been heavily involved in the affairs of sub-Saharan Africa. He had been open-handed in subsidizing a number of governments and also of insurgent movements. Libya under Gadaffi has provided refuge for leaders of at least one of the insurgent organizations from the western Darfur region of the Sudan, who have been fighting the harsh rule of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.

Also, the Tuareg nomads traditionally move back and forth across the borders of Libya, Niger and Mali. The Tuaregs have been generally loyal to Gadaffi in the past, and at least one Gadaffi general is a Tuareg. Will they face persecution?

Earlier, some Gadaffi relatives and supporters took refuge in Algeria, Libya's neighbor to the West. Caravans of vehicles have crossed the border from Libya into the small and ultra-poor West African nation of Niger, the major source of uranium for the French nuclear industry. These vehicles were carrying Gadaffi's son Saadi and others, but not, it is thought, Gadaffi himself, who says he is still in Libya. The government of Niger has given them refuge on a humanitarian basis.

The prime minister of the small African country of Guinea Bissau is said to have offered refuge to Gadaffi, but it is not clear if this will be accepted.

There are many disturbing new reports of racist attacks against darker skinned Libyans and African migrants (Such reports surfaced early in the rebellion).

The reason being given by rebel supporters for the attacks on dark skinned Libyans and migrants from the poor nations of sub-Saharan Africa is that Gadaffi had recruited mercenaries from these countries. However, most of the 1.6 million Black African workers in Libya have been attracted by the better wages and working conditions in oil rich Libya than in their destitute homelands. There are also dark-skinned Libyans, particularly in the areas that border the countries of Niger, Chad and the Sudan. Many accounts state that darker skinned people, both Libyans and migrants, are being rounded up and arrested en masse by rebel fighters, robbed, raped, beaten, jailed and killed based on skin color.

Jean Ping, the chairman of the Commission of the African Union, which represents 53 of Africa's 54 states and in which Libya under Gadaffi played an important financial and diplomatic role, denounced the violence against Black Africans, and threatened to withhold recognition of the rebel's main political structure, the National Transitional Council (NTC) unless it is stopped. "Blacks are being killed. Blacks are having their throats slit. Blacks are accused of being mercenaries. Do you think it's normal in a country that's a third black that blacks are confused with mercenaries?"

"Many in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond are suspicious of the rebel's main political front, the NTC, because of its closeness to the NATO powers, especially the former colonial powers of France, Italy and the United Kingdom. They fear that the elimination of Libyan aid will force their countries into even deeper economic dependency on France in particular, with whom some of them are trapped into disadvantageous commercial relations. There is also a fear that as pro-Gadaffi forces leave Libya with the rebels in pursuit, major destabilization could result regionally.

Over the weekend a number of nations and international agencies met in Paris to discuss Libya's future, and NTC Chairman Mahmoud Jibril announced that a formal new government would be declared soon. The trend seems to be to recognize the NTC as Libya's new government. Some nations, however, including socialist Cuba, are holding out against this. On Friday, the foreign ministers of the ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance) group of Latin American countries condemned "the NATO intervention in Libya and its illegal military aggression...."The ALBA foreign ministers deplore the fact that the NATO has disregarded the persistent efforts of the African Union in search of a solution to the internal conflict in Libya based on dialogue to achieve peace". The ALBA statement called for Libya's seat at the United Nations General Assembly not to be filled until it can be done so until a government "that is the free and sovereign expression of the will of the Libyan people becomes established in a legitimate manner, without foreign intervention."

Justice Department cites abuses by police in Puerto Rico

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:04:00 +0000

A hard-hitting new report by the U.S. Department of Justice sharply criticizes the Puerto Rican Police Department (PRPD) for brutality, racism, corruption and violations of constitutional rights of the people of this U.S.-controlled island nation of 3.7 million.

The report accuses the Puerto Rican Police Department of engaging in a "pattern and practice" of abuses including:

- Excessive force and unlawful searches and seizures in violation of the Fourth Amendment, including bursting into people's homes without a warrant.

- Unreasonable force and other misconduct designed to suppress the exercise of protected First Amendment rights. This has been especially blatant in the suppression of student protests against budget cuts at the campuses of the University of Puerto Rico this year and last.

The report further details violent suppression of the Dominican minority in Puerto Rico, and acts of sexual harassment and brutality by police officers.

"Specifically the PRPD indiscriminately used chemical agents, batons, and physical force against demonstrators and other individuals at University Avenue in August 2009, at the Sheraton Hotel in May 2010, and at the Capitol in June 2010", all these incidents being related to student protests. Police are also accused of planting evidence and of a very high level of corruption.

The Justice Department action follows the publication earlier this year of an American Civil Liberties Union report, which made similar charges and demanded that the Justice Department investigation, which was started in 2008, be pushed to its conclusion.

U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, has been speaking out in Congress against the repressive actions in Puerto Rico, and for his pains has been formally censured by the island's legislature, which is controlled at present by the New People's Party of right wing, pro-statehood governor Luis Fortuño.

Reacting to the release of the report, Gutierrez said, "For far too long, the ruling party in Puerto Rico devoted its time and energy condemning those who spoke out against abuse. This report not only underscores that abuse was taking place, but that it was aimed at suppressing dissent and first amendment rights".

The Justice Department Report, while strongly worded and hard-hitting, attributes the problems in the Puerto Rican Police mostly to deficiencies in training and supervision, and calls for federal judicial intervention to force changes.

However, police misbehavior in Puerto Rico has deep roots in the anomalous political situation of the island and its relationship of dependency on the United States.

Puerto Rico was seized by the United States in 1898, in the Spanish American War, and Puerto Ricans were declared to be U.S. citizens in 1917, in time to serve in the First World War. But a strong independence movement, led by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and its charismatic leader, Pedro Albizu Campos, challenged U.S. hegemony. The Puerto Rican Police force took shape in the context of U.S. government attempts to suppress the independence movement. In 1935, the police shot up a carful of pro-independence people in Rio Piedras, killing four. In 1937, police, following orders by the U.S. colonial governor to suppress a pro-independence demonstration, massacred 17 Nationalist Party members in the city of Ponce.

In 1948, the government of Puerto Rico imposed a "gag order" ("ley mordaza") to keep independence activists from speaking out publicly. Militant nationalists stepped up their armed action in favor of independence. Actions in 1949 and 1950 included an attempt to assassinate U.S. President Harry Truman. In 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists shot up the U.S. House of Representatives. The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover considered the Puerto Rican independence movement to be a major threat, partly because of the country's use by the United States as a key military base. With FBI help, the Puerto Rican Police opened clandestine files on hundreds of thousands of inhabitants on the island.

Under NPP Governor Carlos Romero Barceló, police agents engineered a famous provocation, the "Cerro Maravilla Incident," in which inexperienced young independence activists were enticed by an undercover agent into attempting to blow up a radio tower, and then were shot dead by the police. This caused a scandal for NPP Governor Carlos Romero Barceló who ended up defending the police actions.

The Puerto Rico Police Department has been heavily implicated in these repressive activities over the years, so the result of the Justice Department report should not come as a surprise. The question is whether the political will exists to make changes.

Governor Fortuño's administration has been imposing harsh neo-liberal policies of austerity and privatization, leading to militant protests by university students, unionists and others, which have been violently repressed by the police. In an action reminiscent of the 1948 gag order, the Puerto Rican Bar Association was decertified by the legislature and Governor Fortuño, and its president, Osvaldo Torres, was jailed for counseling members on how to protect their right to free speech.

Photo: U.S. actress Rosie Perez, left, and former major league baseball player Carlos Delgado look on during a press conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 3, 2011. A celebrity-enhanced ACLU delegation, which included Oscar-nominated Perez and Delgado, criticized Puerto Rico's government for using police to keep the island's main university system open during a strike over a new fee, with members saying they found clear evidence in which officers abused students during the protests. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

New Nepal PM faces daunting peace task

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:20:00 +0000

The Parliament of Nepal elected Baburam Bhattarai, vice chairperson of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), to the Prime Minister's office, following the brief administration Jhalanath Khanal, who resigned after failing to advance deals on a peace process and new constitution.

On Sept. 4, Bhattarai expanded his cabinet by appointing six ministers from his own party and eleven from five allied parties, bringing fragile stability to a legislature previously deadlocked over the future of 20,000 Maoist combatants.

Bhattarai is a prominent left intellectual and former architect educated in India, and long viewed as his party's best candidate for brokering a settlement where his predecessors had failed. The Maoists previously held the prime minister's post in 2008, while Khanal and his immediate predecessor were members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). From 1990 to the republic's formation in 2008, Nepal saw sixteen different prime ministers, mostly from the moderate social democratic Nepali Congress, and three cabinets headed by the right-wing royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party.

The new prime minister came under attack from critics of his plan to grant amnesty to persons accused of human rights violations during the Maoist-named People's War, which aimed to overthrow the ruling monarchy, also sometimes called the Nepal civil war.

The agreement also comes shortly after a peace deal, cautiously praised by the parties outside the coalition, will see former rebels disarm, retire and re-integrate.

A letter from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Advocacy Forum, and the International Association of Jurists urged Bhattarai to drop the agreement, saying it "calls for the withdrawal of criminal cases during the country's armed conflict" and would "deny victims of these crimes their fundamental rights."

Crafted between the Maoists and parties representing Nepal's southern Madheshi minority upon which it will depend for parliamentary support, it was opposed by legislators from many other parties.

In an office meeting with activists, Bhattarai responded by saying that the deal will "acquit only those implicated by the state on fake charges during [the war]", reported India-based Zee News. He also said that cases would only be withdrawn after thorough investigations.

Long under absolute rule by the Shah dynasty, Nepal became a constitutional monarchy following the 1990 democracy movement that forced the monarchy to establish a parliament. In 1991, Nepal held elections that resulted in large seat numbers for Communist political parties.

Despite those victories, a second popular democracy movement began. In 1996, the Maoists launched an armed insurgency.

By 2005, the monarch had lost significant public support after reclaiming executive authority, towards the end of a conflict, where both the Royal Nepali Army and Maoists were criticized for human rights abuses. Government-sponsored and other vigilante groups where also actors in the violence.

"The CPNM has assassinated government supporters and police, and occasionally bombed Kathmandu. The government has 'disappeared' opponents, razed villages, and executed CPNM members and their supporters", wrote Conn Hallinan of the Institute for Policy Studies in 2004.

Some reacted with skepticism of the new prime minister, asserting that UCPM (Maoist) has actually been acting in the interests of certain sections of the country's business elite, and will be quickly moving towards attracting foreign direct investment from India.

As part of the peace deal, authority over the People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Maoist party's current incarnation, has now been transferred to an all-party committee, which also received keys to rebel arms containers across the country.

The Maoist party gained attention since the Obama administration recently announced its removal from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list. However it remains on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, and the immigration act's Terrorism Exclusion List, which are lists with less stringent criteria. For example it does not makes it a crime to provide them with financial support.

The armed conflict between the Maoists and the government lasted from February 1996 to November 2006 and is estimated to have claimed nearly 13,000 lives.

Photo: Former Finance Minister, and now, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai speaks at June meeting. Advocacy Project // CC

With walruses on thin ice, Shell pursues Arctic drilling

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:24:00 +0000

As global warming threatens the wellbeing of Alaskan walruses, the government has exacerbated the issue. The Department of Interior has approved an Arctic drilling program by Royal Dutch Shell, allowing the company to potentially drill into four shallow water wells beginning in the summer of 2012, Reuters reported.

The area Shell is eyeing is the Beaufort Sea, located off the North Slope of Alaska.

According to the Environmental News Network, the initial ongoing problem at hand is thus:

With climate change causing Arctic sea ice to melt, desperate walruses in the Chukchi Sea have been heaving themselves onto shore, causing them to become - in rapid numbers - more vulnerable. As a result, they are frequently crushed to death by stampedes, or attacked by predators, putting them at severe risk.

Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Department of Interior declared that no further assessment was needed on the impacts drilling could have on Arctic wildlife, the report continued.

"It's a painful irony," said Noblin, "that on the very day [they said this], distressed walruses were seen hauling themselves onto shore because there's no ice where they need it. The Arctic is reeling from climate change, but the Obama administration has a head-in-the-sand approach to looking at the impacts of oil drilling in the region."

The risks oil drilling poses to these walruses not withstanding, environmental groups also argue that tampering with the Arctic's sensitive ecosystem in order to access its vast oil reserves could have unthinkable consequences, Reuters noted.

One silver lining, however, in this looming cloud of environmental uncertainty, is the fact that the approval of Shell's plan is conditional - Shell must also receive permits from other agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Environmentalists' concerns are not without legitimacy, though; on August 10, the UK saw the worst oil spill in its waters in a decade, thanks to the Shell company. The leak stemmed from a faulty pipeline in the North Sea, and persisted for about 10 days before Shell was able to stop it, reported the Guardian.

In a post-BP oil spill world, oil companies' "black gold rush" is surely not to be taken lightly, nor are the worries regarding it unwarranted.

A report by the LA Times conducted a crucial examination of the worst-case scenario - should an oil spill occur in the Arctic, what would the aftermath look like? It noted that cleaning up a spill in the Beaufort Sea would be quite difficult.

Between July and October, when drilling mostly takes place, ice-free open water occurs only 54 to 88 percent of the time. What this means is that little to no cleanup measures are really possible about 20 percent of the time in June, 40 percent in August, and 65 percent of the time in October. These figures were part of a report prepared for the National Energy Board by S.L. Ross Environmental Research, a consulting firm that specializes in oil spills.

In short, what this suggests is that, in all probability, neither the government nor Shell really have adequate means of dealing with an oil spill in this region.

Meanwhile, Vicky Wyatt, senior oil campaigner for Greenpeace, remarked, "While we'll be keeping a careful eye on whether the leak [in the North Sea] really is plugged as Shell claims, it's obvious that the more we learn about what is supposed to be a gold standard operation, the more you worry whether Shell can be trusted to drill in the remote and fragile Arctic."

Even if an oil spill does not occur in the Arctic, all is not necessarily well, some sources feel.

According to the LA Times, while not entirely knocking offshore drilling, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar commented, "[While] there is significant potential for oil and gas development in U.S. Arctic waters, this is a frontier with harsh weather conditions, as well as unique fish and wildlife resources that Alaska's indigenous people rely on for subsistence.

"To make responsible decisions, we need to understand the environmental and social consequences."

As for the walruses, in addition to having a potential BP-esque disaster headed their way someday, the Department of Interior said, not in so many words, that the animals, while at risk, will have to wait to make it onto the Endangered Species List. Instead, the Department has placed it on the "warranted but not precluded" list, Nature News Blog reported. Of course, had the walrus indeed been placed on the Endangered Species List, it would have put quite a hiccup in Shell's offshore drilling project.

Noblin added, in a press release for Biological Diversity, "If the Obama administration had a rational energy policy that actually addressed the threat of global warming, it wouldn't be green-lighting risky oil development in the Arctic, which not only places a sensitive ecosystem at risk, but will also further our addiction to fossil fuels."

Photo: A pair of walruses. Due to climate change, walruses are being forced on shore at increasing rates, where they fall victim to predation. In the midst of this, Shell intends to inadverdantly disturb their environment further via offshore oil drilling. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Wikipedia

Trans-Pacific Trade Pact called new NAFTA

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:38:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Warning of a new "NAFTA for the Pacific Rim," labor and its allies are demanding a new free trade deal being negotiated for the Pacific region include protections for workers rights, health care and the environment.

Trade ministers from nine Pacific Rim countries will gather in Chicago on Labor Day weekend to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP).

Labor, environmentalists, consumer, faith based, small business, farmers and public health organizations from the U.S. and globally are outraged negotiations are taking place in secret. A Labor Day protest here is demanding transparency and a voice for workers and their communities in drafting the new treaty.

This is the first trade agreement negotiations initiated by the Obama administration, which is already encountering stiff opposition to passage of Bush administration initiated free trade agreements with Korea, Columbia and Panama over similar issues.

The Citizens Trade Campaign (CTC) calls the TPP the next generation NAFTA and warns of job losses in the U.S., loss of tax revenues for struggling cities and states and a continued race to the bottom for workers here and in the Pacific Rim countries.

The CTC says the objective of U.S. negotiators is to guarantee U.S.-based transnationals maintain domination in the Pacific-Asian market. The U.S. has dominated Pacific region trade since WWII, but the emergence of China and India as global powers is threatening that domination.

The TPP includes the U.S., Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, Peru and Chile. However, China, India and Indonesia are not part of the negotiations.

The U.S. already has FTAs with several of the countries involved, but U.S. negotiators hope the TPP will serve as the basis for a comprehensive free trade agreement covering all of Asia, and allow for other countries to join at a later date.

Presently, U.S. trade with the TPP countries represents about 7 percent of total U.S. trade with Asian and 2 percent of global trade. Asian market constitutes 60 percent of global GDP and 50 percent of global trade.

The Obama administration has promised the TPP will a "be a 21st century trade agreement" and has promised to include labor and environmental standards. But critics are wary since no draft treat text has been made public and powerful corporate lobbying groups have deeply influenced negotiations.

Labor and its allies have a number of concerns with the framework being proposed for the treaty. Some of these issues are also contentious among the nations involved.

A 2010 joint declaration of labor federations in four countries, including the AFL-CIO, stated, "The TPP must at a minimum require that each party adopt and maintain laws and regulations consistent with the International Labor Organization core labor rights and effectively enforce those rights, as well as all domestic laws with regard to wages, hours of work and safety and health."

One serious concern is inclusion of an "investor-state" resolution process. This would allow corporations to challenge laws, regulations and court decisions of sovereign governments if they felt they interfered with the trade. Such provisions are part of NAFTA and other FTAs.

Another area is intellectual property rights. The U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies want to undercut competition from inexpensive generic drugs. They want to extend the protection for brand name drugs another seven years, longer than even the World Trade Organization mandates. This could supersede domestic health care laws of Pacific Rim countries.

Other proposals would essentially handcuff government's ability to regulate or even ban regulations that limit the size of financial institutions, erect firewalls between them or prevent the sale of toxic derivatives, including those that brought on the mortgage crisis.

In another concern, the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network maintains, "U.S. corporations want unrestricted access to Australian government contracts. They want changes to Australian government purchasing policies, which allow for some local employment and which require all government contractors to implement workers' rights."

The treaty would also remove protections and rules that ensure local programming content in the media. Pacific Rim countries would be at the mercy of U.S. media transnationals.

"When negotiations take place in the shadows they are a huge benefit to corporations, because they talk among themselves, said Arthur Stamoulis of the Citizens Trade Campaign. "But if we can drag the negotiations into the public light, it will send a message that enough is enough. We'll either get a fair deal or no deal."