Youth camp sets tone at Brazil forum
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — Anyone attending the fifth World Social Forum here couldn’t miss it. Situated right in the middle of the “World Social Territory,” a vast swath of land alongside Guaiba Lake that was home to this year’s events, was the sprawling Youth Encampment.
Chiles privatized pensions spell worker hardship
NewsAnalysis As the Bush administration pushes to privatize Social Security, many people are looking at countries where state-funded pensions have been privatized. One of them is Chile. President Bush lauded Chile’s privatized social security system as a “good example” for the U.S. when he visited Santiago last November to participate in the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. click here for Spanish text
International notes
Haiti: Gov’t calls for end to terror / Sierra Leone: Disarmament process complete / Germany: Metal workers stage warning strikes / Cuba: Idaho legislators visit / South Korea: Auto workers demand leader’s reinstatement
France, Germany propose alternative to war
CHICAGO – Indicating the widening gulf between the Bush administration and much of the nation and world over the administration’s drive to war, a leading Republican senator is saying the U.S. should let Iraq weapons inspections work.
Peace leader: Most Israelis want peace
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – Most Israelis want a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and the Bush administration’s policies are “very unhelpful,” Galia Golan, a leader of Peace Now, Israel’s oldest and largest mass peace movement, told the World.
International Criminal Court to open
The International Criminal Court (ICC) will begin operations on March 11, despite the Bush administration’s worst fears. Under the Clinton administration the United States had signed the Rome Statute, which formally began preparations for the formation of the ICC. But over a year ago under the direction of the Bush administration, the U.S. pulled out of the treaty.
So. Africans act for peace
South Africa’s Stop the War Campaign – a broad alliance of organizations from different sectors of South African society – has launched a ten-day period of intense anti-war activity aimed at bringing the maximum number of people and organizations into action against the Bush administration’s drive to attack Iraq.
Bush policies blasted At UN
Faced with growing international skepticism, George W. Bush used much of his State of the Union Address in an attempt to build support for his drive to war with Iraq.
Food crisis in Africa
The United Nations estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa 38 million people are in danger of starvation within months. To give this some perspective, this figure is roughly equivalent to the population of Poland or Spain, and less than ten million less the entire population of the Republic of South Africa.
International notes
Britain: Greenpeace blocks military port / Greece: Demonstrators protest war, anti-labor policies / Turkey: A gain for civil liberties / Korea: Sides seek peaceful solution of nuclear issue / South Africa: Mbeki calls for peace / China: Airliner arrives from Taiwan
