From pat_wobbly at hotmail.com Wed Oct 1 08:08:55 2003 From: pat_wobbly at hotmail.com (Pat S) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 08:08:55 -0700 Subject: [news] Portland Women's Crisis Line Announces Intent to Unionize Message-ID: Portland Women's Crisis Line Announces Intent to Unionize Portland Women's Crisis Line is a non-profit agency dedicated to providing advocacy and resources to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Established in 1973, PWCL works 24 hours a day to stop violence against women, children and anyone affected by interpersonal violence. "We go to the hospital when a woman is raped, and provide support whether she reports to the police or not. We are often the only voice of support to people who have been beaten, berated and isolated." said Stacie W., an employee of PWCL. With all the time and effort the advocates at Portland Women?s Crisis Line dedicate to improving the lives of others in the community, it only makes sense that they begin to advocate for themselves. In order to start that process, the workers publicly announced last week that they joined the Industrial Workers of the World, IU 650. Through unionizing, staff hopes to gain simple rights such as an open grievance policy, regular break periods, compensation for on-call time, and an agency wide benefit package. "So many of us take for granted the vacations with pay, pensions, grievance procedures and holidays that never existed on any meaningful scale until unions fought and won them for the working people." said JR Wolfe, Vice President of United Transportation Union local 1574 in support. Too often, Women's work in general is undervalued, and little effort is made to guarantee that workers receive livable wages. Crisis work is often stressful, traumatic and in some cases physically dangerous. "As advocates in the anti-oppression movement, we believe that our work should be valued as highly as any other field. We should be granted the same rights to living wages, health care benefits and time compensation for the hours we spend in hospitals, courthouses or educating our communities." said Jodi R., a staff member at PWCL. Currently, staff is continuing a dialogue with PWCL board of directors. The staff is asking to be voluntarily recognized by the board in doing so the initial contract may be a strong representation of the values board and staff currently share. Community support is strong. Supporters of the unionizing effort at Portland Women's Crisis Line can show support by contacting the board of directors. Send letters of support to PO Box 42610, Portland OR 97242. Letters from community members, survivors, and non-profit agencies are welcome. Support may also be shown by attending a benefit for PWCL on Saturday, October 11th at the Hawthorne Eagles Lodge. The event will begin at 9pm. Portland IWW has been organizing social services in Portland for the last four years because of the importance of these agencies to our community. "IWW IU 650 organizers are dedicated to helping workers unionize in all Portland social service agencies, to ensure quality care for our community and healthy workplaces for the workers who dedicate themselves to these services." said Anne E. of the IWW IU 650. _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail From resist at resist.ca Sat Oct 11 09:34:30 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 09:34:30 -0700 Subject: [news] Seeing the Iraqi People Message-ID: <1065890070.1290.55.camel@murray> -----Forwarded Message----- From: shniad at sfu.ca To: shniad at sfu.ca Subject: [pr-x] Seeing the Iraqi People Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 16:28:25 -0700 http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1009-03.htm CommonDreams.org October 9, 2003 Seeing the Iraqi People by Ramzi Kysia It would be impossible for me to overstate or exaggerate the devastation that has been imposed on Iraq, and the most troubling, consistent, and unacceptable reason for this devastation has been the failure of the international community, over long decades, to see the Iraqi people. International policy toward Iraq has never been made with the desires and interests of the Iraqi people at heart, and our advocacy today is just as blind. Opposition slogans such as "End the Occupation Now!," or "Bring Our Troops Home," may be emotionally satisfying, but - like our governments' policies - our protests at home reflect little on the reality of daily life in Iraq. For 30 years, Iraqis suffered under one of the worst dictatorships this world has witnessed. Hundreds of thousands of human beings were arrested, tortured, disappeared, and often murdered. For 20 of those 30 years, despite this tyranny, Saddam Hussein was the world's friend. Governments all across the world loaned him money, sold him weapons, and ignored how he used them. America, Russia, Europe and the Middle-East all enthusiastically supported his war with Iran - which resulted in the deaths of over 1 million people. It was only when Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, and threatened oil supplies, that the world "discovered" how terrible he was. How did we respond? By dropping 88,000 tons of explosives, in six-short weeks, on Iraq. Military targets were bombed - but so were schools and hospitals, roads, bridges, and electrical plants. Iraq was devastated by the war. At least 150,000 human beings - most of them civilians - were killed. And, according to Marti Ahtisaari - the ex-Finnish president who led a UN mission to Iraq after the war - Desert Storm "wrought near-apocalyptic results," and set the country back to "a pre-industrial age." When Iraqis rose up to overthrow Saddam Hussein, in the weeks after the 1991 war, we stood by - US troops were short kilometers away - and allowed Saddam to slaughter them by the tens-of-thousands. During the Uprising, helicopters were exempted from the so-called "no-fly-zones" which had been imposed supposedly to protect the Iraqi people, and the world quietly watched as Saddam used those helicopters to quell the rebellion and kill 30,000 human beings. For 13 long years, the world imposed devastating economic sanctions on Iraq that prevented the country from being rebuilt, created critical shortages in food and medicines, and impoverished all Iraqis. Families sold everything they owned just to be able to buy food. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children were killed as a direct result of the embargo. This was an act of genocide. I don't use the world lightly. After this most recent war, we saw US troops quickly move to protect oil fields and oil ministries, and stand by while looters tore down everything else. Hospitals were looted, schools were looted, UN buildings and the Red Cross were stripped of all their supplies. Under the 4th Geneva Convention, the US had a responsibility to provide law and order in Iraq after they overthrew the government. Instead they told the police not to come back to work, their tanks knocked down the gates of government buildings, encouraged the looting to begin, and stood by - for months - while organized mafias developed that today terrorize everyone in Baghdad. It's hard to explain to outsiders how fundamentally humiliating the looting of Iraq has been to the Iraqi people. Everywhere you go, Iraqis compare these days to the time of Halaka Khan - when the Mongols looted Baghdad and burned it to the ground. But today, despite the fact that the looters are a vanishingly small fraction of the population, the image the world has of Iraqis is of an out-of-control and rabid people destroying themselves. After 30 years of Saddam, to finally be free of his tyranny and humiliation, only to be drown in further humiliation, is almost unbearable. Grown men have cried in front of me, to see what's become of their country. During the power blackouts in the US this summer, President Bush told us that 6 hours without electricity were a "national emergency," but 6 months without electricity in Iraq only elicits a shrug. While Paul Bremer and his staff hide behind the walls of Saddam's palaces, US soldiers - frightened by the attacks against them - fire randomly in all directions every time they get spooked. Innocent Iraqis are being killed every day. You cannot visit one neighborhood in all of Baghdad without local residents telling you of some shooting incident that "accidentally" killed one of their neighbors. And, while we learn the names of every American soldier who gets killed in this conflict, what their dreams were, how their families are suffering - the Iraqis killed are nameless, faceless, storyless. No one is paying attention to their families' suffering. No one is thinking about what their dreams might have been. Gandhi once said that "poverty is the worst form of violence," and the poverty and isolation deliberately created in Iraq by 20 years of war and sanctions has not ended. Unemployment is still over 60%, and Iraqis today are just as poor and just as cut off from the world as they were before the war. They remain, living in disaster. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed by Saddam's regime. Hundreds of thousands were killed during the war with Iran. Hundreds of thousands were killed during the war with the US in 1991. Hundreds of thousands more died under sanctions. Where was the world when this happened? Where is the world today? I can't tell you what the political solution to this crisis should be. I doubt most Iraqis yet know for themselves. If US troops were to quickly leave, the power vacuum could result in civil war. If the Bush Administration is forced to hand over military or political control to the UN, while economic power remains in the hands of the US, I do believe that the resistance and insecurity would continue. A political solution in Iraq is not yet clear. But I'm not a politician. And what I do know is that I have never seen a people as strong or as resourceful as Iraqis. There is hope. People are organizing on the ground, such as in the Union of the Unemployed or the Organization for Women's Freedom, in order to struggle for their rights. Others are beginning to build Iraq's civil society, forming groups to take care of orphans and the elderly, or start schools, or rebuild the country themselves. There is hope. But hope takes action. We live in a pregnant time, and each of us in this world - through our action or our inaction - will have a say in what is born from the crisis of Iraq. Some international activists have come together with Iraqis to help start an organization called "Occupation Watch," keeping track of the violence of the Occupation, and putting pressure on governments to stop violating human rights in Iraq. We should support them. For the last 5 months I've helped a group of young Iraqis to start a newspaper and independent media center called "Al-Muajaha: The Iraqi Witness." These kids are amazing, and they need our continued support. We've also helped a group of Iraqi artists and teachers start their own art school for children, teaching theater and music and painting to children suffering from years of poverty and violence. We can work wonders when we work together. Iraq is unsafe. The UN has all but pulled out of the country, and many NGOs have left entirely. Those that remain have massively scaled back their operations. We cannot let this trend continue. We must not forget these people yet again. Iraq is unsafe - for the 25 million people who call it home. If nothing else, Sept. 11th should have dramatically demonstrated the reality that for as long as any of us are unsafe in this world, all of us are unsafe. We have to realize, deeply realize, that our security cannot depend on the insecurity of everyone else. After decades of violence, of humiliation piled upon humiliation, we must begin to work for peace and reconciliation. After long years of isolation, we must engage. We cannot trust our governments. None of them have ever demonstrated a willingness to see the Iraqi people. We cannot trust George Bush. The man is a violent fool, and US policy toward Iraq has never been governed by anything other than contempt for Iraqis. If we would believe in democracy, if we believe in peace, then we have to demonstrate it. These are not abstract ideals we can simply argue about, or protest for, and then go home to quietly forget. Peace and freedom - true freedom - are tangible realities that we can only build if we decide to stand up and be present. They take struggle. They take risks. It starts with the connections we make, today, right now, with each other and with all our sisters and brothers around the world. It never ends. It is dangerous to oppose our governments. It is dangerous to acknowledge our deep responsibility to people living in disaster. It is dangerous to risk our liberty and our lives in opposition to violence. It's also dangerous not to, and if it weren't so dangerous it wouldn't be so necessary. Ramzi Kysia is an Arab-American peace activist and writer. He is currently doing public speaking in Europe after having lived a year in Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness. Voices in the Wilderness is being fined $20,000 by the US government for illegally taking medicines to Iraq. Project-X list: initiated for the (re)building of the Left. From resist at resist.ca Sat Oct 11 09:52:24 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 09:52:24 -0700 Subject: [news] No money, no play: US on the brink in Iraq Message-ID: <1065891144.1297.60.camel@murray> -----Forwarded Message----- From: shniad at sfu.ca To: shniad at sfu.ca Subject: [pr-x] No money, no play: US on the brink in Iraq Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 16:03:52 -0700 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EJ10Ak01.html Asia Times October 10, 2003 No money, no play: US on the brink in Iraq By Herbert Docena Bangkok - This coming October 23 to 24, the United States will be sitting down with rich creditor countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) during an international donors' conference on Iraq in Madrid. The IMF, the World Bank and the UN have estimated that Iraq will need US$36 billion for reconstruction within the next four years, in addition to $19 billion for other nonmilitary needs calculated by the American occupation regime. [1] With few options left, the US will be passing the hat. This meeting could be a turning point in the occupation because whether the hat goes back to the US full or not will determine whether the US can afford to stay. The decision of donor countries to cough up cash will depend, in turn, on whether this continues to be a unilateral or multilateral economic takeover of an occupied country. 'This has nothing to do with oil' The US is now forced to turn to the creditor countries, including war opponents France and Germany, and international financial institutions (IFIs) because it has nowhere else to go. The US initially had two options: to turn to the Iraqis or to the American taxpayers. A few weeks after President George W Bush announced the end of "major hostilities" in Iraq, the US managed to pass UN Resolution 1483, which created the so-called UN Development Fund. Under this fund, all of Iraq's past and future oil revenues, as well as all the assets of the former Iraqi government located anywhere in the world, would be placed under the direct control of the US, as overseen by the IMF and the WB - two institutions in which the US has considerable voting power. The resolution passed the UN Security Council because the US assured Russia, France and China that all contracts entered into by their firms under the UN Oil-for-Food program during the sanctions regime would be honored by the occupation authority and any subsequent interim government. [2] The development fund is intended to finance the rehabilitation of all that's been damaged by the war. The choice of corporations to undertake this reconstruction, however, has so far been a question reserved exclusively for the US. And since most contracts are negotiated on a cost-plus basis, the price of the "reconstruction" is all up to the chosen contractor. In other words, what will be paid to Kellogg, Brown and Root to repair Iraq's oil fields and machinery, for example, will be financed out of Iraqi oil revenues at a price determined by Kellogg, Brown and Root itself. Paying to get robbed? Aside from financing reconstruction, the fund will be used by the US for leveraging US government guaranteed loans, as well as for directly financing corporate investments in Iraq. According to a press release by the US Export and Import Bank, which is officially tasked to promote American business overseas, the fund will be used for lending money to US companies wishing to do business in Iraq. Few risk-averse private banks will willingly give money to any investor applying for a loan to open business in war-torn Iraq. But with the development fund, there'd be lots of money for the daring, adventurous, or simply bargain-hunting types. [3] And in Iraq, there'd be lots of bargains around. The US handpicked Iraq Governing Council's (GC) Finance Minister, Kamel al-Kelani, announced on September 21 that all of Iraq's assets and state-owned corporations, except the oil industry, will be sold off. As sweeteners, the buyers will be entitled to 100 percent ownership of their purchase, full repatriation of profits, and minimal taxation. [4] Given Iraq's present condition, the items on the bidding block will come very cheap. But in a few more years, what was bought at dirt-cheap prices - using the Iraqis' oil revenues - could then be sold for a nice profit. Making use of the Iraqis' assets for reconstruction means that the Iraqis themselves will be paying for rebuilding what the Americans destroyed. This is a violation of the Geneva Convention, which unequivocally states that humanitarian assistance, aid, reconstruction and other development expenses are the legal and moral obligation of the occupying forces. The use of the Iraqis' money to finance the massive privatization scheme of their economy means that the Iraqis themselves will be paying US corporations to buy off their own assets from them. Unreliable oil But Iraq's oil, though definitely plentiful, is not enough - at least for now. To the war planners' chagrin, oil coming out of Iraq's spigots has only been able to fill around 1 million barrels a day (mbd) - far less than on what the US originally based their plans. [5] Analysts say it would take another 18 months more before the output could even begin to hit the prewar production level of 3 mbd, and even longer to surpass it. Add a couple more years to that if the rate at which the pipelines are being sabotaged keeps up. Worse news is that even the multinational oil giants are keeping their distance. "There has to be a proper security, legitimate authority and a legitimate process ... by which we will be able to negotiate agreements that would be longstanding for decades," Sir Philip Watts, chair of Royal Dutch/Shell, was quoted as saying. "When the legitimate authority is there on behalf of Iraq, we will know and recognize it." [6] Whether Watts considers as legitimate the US-installed GC, one of whose members has already been killed by the resistance, remains to be seen from the oil industry's actions. In an attempt to solve its liquidity problems, the US is considering converting Iraq's expected future oil revenues into marketable securities that could be sold at discounted rates in the present. [7] This promises to be a controversial measure not only because it could indicate that the US will be there to stay for the long haul, but also because, as with other decisions, it raises the question of whether the US has the right to decide on matters which should normally be reserved for legitimate and sovereign governments. 'The most consequential national security debate' If an invader cannot count on the invaded to fund its occupation, then surely it could count on its own taxpayers on whose behalf the invasion was waged in the first place. Not in this case. The Bush administration had just given its richest taxpayers $1.8 trillion in tax cuts, but it cannot afford to spend $20 billion on the people it has just liberated. Just last week, Republicans quashed Democrat efforts to fund the war by raising taxes from the wealthiest Americans [8] - a number of whom will be profiting handsomely from the post-invasion boom in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney, who allegedly pushed intelligence agencies to exaggerate their Iraq findings, still maintains financial interests in Halliburton, the Congressional Research Service officially declared recently. [9] These tax cuts and soaring war costs should be put in the context of the gaping and record-breaking budget and trade deficits currently facing the weak US economy. The trade deficit is now hitting the perilous 5 percent mark and still rising; the budget gap has been a quick turnaround from previous years' promise of uninterrupted surpluses way into the future. At $5 billion a month, the monthly cost of occupying Iraq, excluding reconstruction, is already approaching that of Vietnam. [10] If Bush has not yet been politically broken by the still-to-be found weapons of mass destruction or the issue of intelligence leaking, his hold over legislators just might snap from this funding question. With what is turning out to be a less than smooth ride for Bush's funding request, Democrats are calling debates in Congress "the most consequential national security debate in a generation". [11] It is a debate that Bush may not be winning. Touch their oil but not our taxes US politicians, especially those from the Republican party, are bristling at the idea that the US should pay for restoring the very things it destroyed in Iraq. Republicans are convinced that the US has no obligations to Iraqis whatsoever and that any US funds used in reconstructing Iraq should be treated as loans, not grants. Should this be approved, and chances are high that it will, Iraqis will in effect be borrowing money from the US in order for them to pay back the US corporations that will be rebuilding almost everything in their country - from roads to schools to power generators. Using money borrowed from the US, Iraqis will need to pay the very same corporations that would have had no business in Iraq if there were no war. Senator Byron Dorgan, who may not have been adequately briefed on the oil situation, insists that the US "should not shoulder the whole burden on its own. Iraq has enough oil to pay for part of the reconstruction effort". [12] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is more adamant. "I don't believe it's our job to reconstruct that country after 30 years of centralized Stalinist-like economic controls in that country," he said, as though the damage had nothing to do with the cruise missiles and the decade-long embargo. "The infrastructure of that country was not terribly damaged by that war at all," Rumsfeld maintains. [13] Taxpayers not footing the war bill, however, would be disastrous. Having calculated the cost of war and occupation, Yale University economist William Nordhaus warned long before the war, "If American taxpayers decline to pay the bills for ensuring the long term health of Iraq, America may leave behind mountains of rubble and mobs of angry people." [14] Paying for democracy But the US won't be leaving just yet. Having passed the hat to the liberated Iraqis and to the supposed liberators, the American taxpayers, and still not having enough, the US is now turning to the United Nations, the rich creditor nations and IFIs for a fast buck. In a draft UN resolution that has been tabled at the Security Council but which has been denounced by the usually pliant Secretary General Kofi Annan, the US "appeals to member states and the IFIs to strengthen their efforts to assist the people of Iraq in the reconstruction and development of their economy". It also "calls upon member states and concerned organizations to help meet the needs of the Iraqi people by providing resources necessary for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq's economic infrastructure". The same resolution even asks the UN to finance Iraq's electoral process. It "requests the secretary general to ensure that the resources of the United Nations and associated organizations are available, if requested by the Iraqi Governing Council, to help establish an electoral process in Iraq ..." This war was waged in order to give the Iraqis the gift of democracy, Bush said before. With this resolution, the US is now asking others to pay for its present. A piece of cake The latest reports indicate, however, that the US has run into such unbending opposition at the UN that it is abandoning the resolution altogether. [15] That leaves the US with the Madrid option. In Madrid, the US will be trying to woo countries which opposed the invasion as well IFIs like the World Bank, which has been boasting of its role in financing the reconstruction of conflict areas such as Mozambique, Uganda, East Timor and Palestine - and reaping profits in the form of interest payments in the process. In passing the hat, the US only needs to convince these countries and institutions that what they will be putting in will be money well spent. So far, it doesn't look encouraging. As of early October, the European Union was reported to be thinking of giving only a measly $250 million to the pot. This is not even 1 percent of the required total, and US officials are reportedly "shocked" at the amount. Canada, for its part, is willing to share $200 million. [16] Only Japan has been reported to be willing to give a relatively hefty sum of $5 billion, and Japanese officials have been very frank about their reason: their reliance on Middle East oil. [17] Still, when you add all these together, it's still quite a trifling sum compared to the required $36 billion. All that could change, however, with a simple assurance. "You have to offer them a piece of the cake," advised the French politician and former UN special representative to Kosovo Bernard Kouchner. [18] With over $100 billion dollars or more at stake - said to be one of the most profitable building programs in decades [19] - there will be a big cake to pass around. Not a charity ball Germany, France and other potential donors, according to the Washington Post, have long indicated that they will only be bringing money to the table if their companies are given more opportunities to take part in the multi-billion dollar post-war reconstruction bonanza in Iraq. They will be more willing to cough up cash if they will be assured that their corporations will not be shut out of Iraq by US corporations. [20] In other words, the potential donors will only be signing checks in Madrid as long as their corporations are assured of getting invitations during the slicing of the cake. So far, they've had to settle for crumbs. US Federal Procurement laws decree that government contracts for Iraq can only go to US corporations which, in turn, are free to hire subcontractors as they deem fit. Halliburton and Bechtel have been besieged by offers for subcontracting work at their company headquarters, as well as at their offices in the Middle East, by scores of companies and prospectors from all over the world. [21] This has been how non-American companies have so far managed to catch some of the action. This current division of spoils could change, however, depending on whether some governments are able to wrangle for more concessions in exchange for giving money to the occupation effort. Surely, creditor nations will insist on a good bang for their buck. The meeting in Madrid will not be a charity ball. Unilateral or multilateral? What the donor government negotiators will be bringing in their pockets to Madrid, however, will not be their personal money nor that of the corporations, but that of their country's taxpayers. The Madrid meeting is an effort by the US to transfer the burden of Iraq from the Americans to, say, French, Japanese and German taxpayers. Borrowing from the IMF and the World Bank on behalf of the Iraqi people will pass the liability to future Iraqi generations, who will then be indebted to the IFIs and subjected to their conditions. For the burden they'll bear, others will be reaping the profits. Whether the US would still consider it financially worthwhile to continue occupying Iraq thus depends on the following: how quickly Iraq's oil wells can rake in cash, the US taxpayers' willingness to part with their money, and the readiness of the donor countries to infuse funds. The Iraqis seem not to figure anywhere in the equation. Relying on oil is simply impossible today. When the going gets really tough, the second could still be an option, but not something Bush - as champion of tax cuts for the rich and presiding over a weak and deficit-ridden economy - would really want to push. The third then could be the only available option left. But the possibility of getting billions from donors, in turn, appears to be solely dependent on whether the US will lock its firm grip on the business opportunities in Iraq, or relax it. The question before Madrid, then, is whether this will continue to be a unilateral corporate takeover or a multilateral one. And since what the donor countries will be pledging will be taxpayers' money, the question in Madrid will also be whether the world's taxpayers would be willing - in the face of the liberators' reluctance - to finance this multilateral corporate invasion. One thing is sure: the drive for money is now the only thing getting this occupation going. This was a war of choice, not of necessity, and opinion surveys are increasingly saying that more and more people think it was a wrong choice. Without the assurance of funding and public backing, the US troops and the Halliburton crew may have to pack up at some point. Without money holding the occupation together, there is a real chance that the US-led enterprise in Iraq could unravel - not in Baghdad, but in Madrid. References [1] New York Times, October 2, 2003 [2] Michael Renner, "The Other Looting", Foreign Policy in Focus, July 2003 [3] See Steve Kretzmann and Jim Vallete, "Operation Oily Immunity", CommonDreams.org, July 23, 2003 [4] The Independent, September 22, 2003 [5] Houston Chronicle, September 23, 2003 [6] Financial Times, July 24, 2003 [7] Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2003 [8] Washington Post, October 3, 2003 [9] Washington Post, September 26 [10] USA Today, September 8, 2003 [11] Christian Science Monitor, October 7, 2003 [12] Financial Times, October 3, 2003 [13] Seattle Times, September 11, 2003 [14] Yale Herald, November 15, 2002 [15] New York Times, October 8, 2003 [16] New York Times, October 2, 2003 [17] Financial Times, October 6, 2003 [18] International Herald Tribune, March 18, 2003 [19] New York Times, April 11, 2003 [20] Washington Post, June 26, 2003 [21] New York Times, May 21 Herbert Docena is with Focus on the Global South , a research and advocacy organization based in Bangkok . He can be contacted at herbert at focusphilippines.org Project-X list: initiated for the (re)building of the Left. From resist at resist.ca Sun Oct 12 13:54:34 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 13:54:34 -0700 Subject: [news] Hugo Chavez on Columbus Day Message-ID: <1065992073.6029.12.camel@murray> -----Forwarded Message----- From: Ken To: project x Subject: [pr-x] Hugo Chavez on Columbus Day Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 07:42:35 -0700 No Cheers for Columbus, Says Venezuela's Chavez CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Latin Americans on Saturday not to celebrate Columbus Day, saying the 1492 discovery of the Americas triggered a 150-year "genocide" of native Indians by foreign conquerors who behaved "worse than Hitler." "Christopher Columbus was the spearhead of the biggest invasion and genocide ever seen in the history of humanity," the populist president told a meeting in Caracas of representatives of Indian peoples from across the continent. Columbus Day on Oct. 12 is celebrated as a holiday in the United States and several Latin American nations, but Chavez said it should be remembered as the "Day of Indian Resistance." "We Venezuelans, we Latin Americans, have no reason to honor Columbus," he added. The Venezuelan leader said Spanish, Portuguese and other foreign conquerors had massacred South America's Indian inhabitants at an average rate of roughly "one every 10 minutes." He described Spanish conquistadors like Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, as "worse than Hitler." He said even the continent's geographical names, like America and Venezuela, were imposed by foreigners. Chavez's opponents, who are seeking a referendum to try to vote him out of office, say his self-styled "revolution" in the world's No. 5 oil exporter is aimed at installing an anti-U.S. communist system like the one in Cuba. Chavez says his brand of left-wing nationalism will make Venezuela more independent. The Venezuelan leader hailed as heroes Indian chiefs who had fought against the invaders, such as Guaicaipuro who resisted the Spanish founders of Caracas, and American Indian chief Sitting Bull, who defeated U.S. Gen. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. "Long live Sitting Bull!" Chavez declared, drawing applause from his audience, many of whom wore traditional native clothes and head- dresses. From gflett1 at shaw.ca Mon Oct 13 04:39:56 2003 From: gflett1 at shaw.ca (Gordon Flett) Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 04:39:56 -0700 Subject: [news] Never Mind The By-laws, Here's The Squeegee* Council by Squeegee Council of Vancouver Message-ID: <3F8A8F0C.E8FDCF3E@shaw.ca> The creation of a squeegee council in Vancouver seemed to make a bit of noise, if we consider the number of journalists asking us for interviews...It seemed like nobody ever saw street people organizing. We decided to organize to fight the collection of tickets and court dates, and to create a power that will free us from police beatings and jailing. We unite as squeegee workers, but fight as a class, because we know they want us all, one by one. We know that washing windows has nothing to do with our repression, that the real reason is because we show the capitalist failure: poverty. We are not yet well known by the public because we refuse to speak with corporate media. We plan to pass our message through the independent media, and directly, so the message is the least deformed as possible. The squeegee council is run democratically and the members are squeegee workers or those who have stopped squeegeeing because of the repression. People can join the council without joining the I.W.W., but everybody freely decided to join the union too, so we empowered ourselves. Our group is open to every squeegee worker, and everybody is welcome to support us whatever their gender, age, race, nationality, (sub)culture , sexual orientation, beliefs, mental or physical handicaps. Our way of acting is very open and respectful of everybody's choice of tactics. We want our actions to be creative because we are tired of protest as usual and we want to inspire other oppressed people so they will create their own union and action. After us, a buskers' union started and they played at our mass squeegee protest. We, the squeegee council / I.W.W., intend to fight the battle on two fronts: legal and social. In the month and half, since our creation, we merely did nothing on the legal front because the social one took most of our resources. The big point of the legal struggle is to prove the cops are illegal when they steal our working tools, when they terrorize us with their 'pennywagon' ride, when they run after us on the side walk with their motorcycles. To prove that they are unfair when they ticket only us for stuff that everybody does, like J-Walking. Well, we wanna prove they are more criminal than us. We start this legal fight by asking everybody who wanna fight their tickets and charges to contact us. On the social front, we're trying to pass our message directly whenever possible. We were there at the Carnegie center to welcome the police chief with a lot of legal questions he did not answer, we organized flyering and complaints to a liquor store that then stopped the unfair conditions on two members that were not able to buy alcohol because "squeegee people stink and are filthy". On Oct 10, we organized a mass squeegee action. We tried to make it a fundraising and disruptive action. The action was not that much disruptive and only brought 25$ to the council, 'cause too many people were keeping the action's money for themselves. The better point of this protest was that it brought a lot of kids that we never see on the other protests. If we can show those kids that they do have a voice, that they're affected and concerned, concretely and directly, by capitalism , if we show there's hope to those who already know that, the movement can only win. Of course, it will not be done right now, by our little group only, because we don't have this little red book and the 'fire this time' magazine to lead the movement, (1) but we can and we are a part of the resistance. We hope that the act of unionizing squeegees will inspire other squeegee workers everywhere, as there's a lot of reasons to do so. The support we got from the union was almost necessary for a group starting with nothing but a bunch of squeegees who didn't know yet what organizing means, and also for the status of unionized workers. That completely pisses off the pigs, 'cause they know we'll win, that's what we are for. People from fire this time was at the protest to give out their newspaper but did not participate in the protest. Well, we don't need no elite to say how people should act, may it be communist, fascist or liberal. We need the people to organize themselves, without the help of any parasite. Email: squeegee_council at ziplip.com Voice mail: 604-682-3269 ext: 7401 Address: Squeegee Council c/o Spartacus Books 311 W. Hastings St. Vancouver, B.C. V6B 1H6 * Squeegee workers = car windows washers at intersections From christoff at resist.ca Mon Oct 13 23:49:11 2003 From: christoff at resist.ca (Stefan Christoff) Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 23:49:11 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [news] CKUT Radio: Resistance Without Reservation - Sunpeaks Message-ID: CKUT Radio: Resistance Without Reservation A radio documentary about the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center Resistance without Reservation is a 1 hour radio documentary about the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center. In October of 2000 the Secwepemc people established the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center in British Columbia to resist the expansion of Sunpeaks Ski Resort. Sunpeaks Ski Resort continues to this day to illegally occupy and expand upon Secwepemc land, despite the vocal opposition and continued resistance of the Secwepemc people. Resistance without Reservation features interviews which were recorded at the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center in British Colombia during the winter of 2003 with various members of the Secwepemc community and the Native Youth Movement (NYM) who are active at Skwelkwek'welt. The indigenous resistance to Sunpeaks though the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center has received attention and support from throughout the world, while becoming a source of inspiration for many as a defining point in the fight for indigenous self-determination on Turtle Island. -> To listen to Resistance Without Reservation visit: http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=7934 -> To get more information about the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center visit & the Native Youth Movement (NYM): http://www.geocities.com/spabc123/ http://www.redwiremag.com/ ---------------------- From latinsol at shaw.ca Mon Oct 13 22:48:35 2003 From: latinsol at shaw.ca (ClaudioE.) Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 22:48:35 -0700 Subject: [news] BOLIVIA: MASSACRE LEADS TO MORE REBELLION ON THE HIGHLANDS Message-ID: <008d01c39216$d0f30870$b79a5718@cacique> BOLIVIA MASSACRE LEADS TO MORE REBELLION ON THE HIGHLANDS by: ECONOTICIASBOLIVIA http://www.econoticiasbolivia.com translated by: Claudio Ekdahl Even though they are in great numbers out on the streets, using assault rifles and firing bullets and automatic weapons, the military and police troops loyal to Bolivian president Gonzalo S?nchez de Lozada have not been able to suffocate the increasing popular rebellion from the impoverished residents of The Alto and the hillside areas of La Paz. On the contrary, the indiscriminate repression is pushing more and more workers and unemployed, children-youth and elders, men and women from the most impoverished urban neighbourhoods of Bolivia to rebellion. Within the two most central city squares in the Ballivi?n area, the residents keep vigil over their dead, fallen in El Alto massacre, a city located four thousand meters high, which has become a true hell due to the incursion of military troops attempting to re-supply of fuel the city of La Paz, siege by blockades and civilian protests for the past five days. At least five residents have been confirmed dead until midday today, gunned down with assault rifles. Dozens of wounded could also be counted from confrontations this past Sunday, which has proven bloodier than the day before, when army fire resulted in three civilians dead (among them a five year old child) and an approximate of twenty wounded. 'There is machine gun fire all over the area. People seeking refuge against the walls, but they are resisting in the area of Rosas Pampa and the main avenue', are the comments of residents infuriated with the government of S?nchez de Lozada, who is facing marches, blockades and protests for the past four weeks. 'For God's sake, let the army stop firing against the people', implores the priest from Senkata, an area where bullets are flying as much as blood pouring on the streets in corner to corner and block to block combats. It is the confrontation of machine guns, of bullets against stones and sling shots. Armoured tanks penetrating in neighbourhoods, firing down just like the helicopter flying above and hundreds of soldiers sent out on the streets. But the rebels are many, way over the eight thousand estimated by the President, in the solitude of his Palace. The radio stations are reporting about new wounded and old sorrows. Everyone is asking for the head of S?nchez de Lozada, who is accused of drowning Bolivia in blood in favour of a project of exporting their gas to the United States, via a Chilean port, a deal that will fill the money bags of the transnationals leaving very little behind for the poorest country of South America. In Villa Santiago II more people fall wounded. The hospitals and health clinics are unable to cope, blood supplies are running out and they are asking for medicines. There is solidarity and people are donating and crying for their neighbours and friends. 'This is cold blooded killing (...) S?nchez de Lozada is a butcher', says the 'Mallku" (leader) Felipe Quispe, taking cover in the building of Radio San Gabriel. On the highway linking La Paz with El Alto bullets are flying all over. A police caravan gone mad is protecting a convoy of trucks loaded with food and fuel supplies. They are driving down the highway throwing tear gas grenades everywhere against the hills, houses and residents, who due to the indiscriminate attack join the rebellion. The aggression is to much, as well as the anger. 'Tomorrow we are going to burn down La Paz, let the residents of La Paz go out on the streets and support us', say other residents. The analysts also give their opinion. 'Nobody can govern with so many people against them', says Jorge Lazarte, the former spokesperson of the National Electoral Court who believes that the only way out for S?nchez de Lozada is to back down on the issue of gas. But despite that, there are too many who don't want anything to do with him. 'The evil gringo must go', says and elder woman with her voice broken with pain and who's demand is broadened all over the country by community radio stations. In Cochabamba, in Oruro, in the mining areas and in the south and the east of the country the condemnation is absolute, because there is too much blood and too much violence. The coca growers lead by Evo Morales are assuring that they will go out on the streets as of Monday to block Chapare, as it is already being done by the coca growers of the Yungas area. The coca growers lead by Evo Morales had until now refrained from participating, at least effectively, in the popular struggle organized by peasants, miners and workers of the west, but now everyone seems to be joining the protests. Even, the journalist of La Paz through their Federation, are calling for mobilizations to stop the genocide. 'The government is running against the clock', says Lazarte, who sees, as many other do, how a growing insurrection of the poor is rising up from the roof of the world. _____________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From latinsol at shaw.ca Tue Oct 14 16:22:03 2003 From: latinsol at shaw.ca (ClaudioE.) Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 16:22:03 -0700 Subject: [news] TOTAL GENERAL STRIKE IN LA PAZ AND EL ALTO, EVERYONE CONDEMN THE MASSACRE. Message-ID: <00ab01c392a9$f9fa61d0$b79a5718@cacique> Please distribute widely!! TOTAL GENERAL STRIKE IN LA PAZ AND EL ALTO, EVERYONE CONDEMN THE MASSACRE. Econoticiasbolivia.com http://www.econoticiasbolivia.com translated by: Latinsol La Paz, October 14, 2003 (hr. 13:10).- One and a half million residents of the cities of La Paz and El Alto paralysed all public and private activities and in silence condemned the cruel massacre that tainted with blood the Highlands and broke the soul, but not the spirit of the poorest and most rebellious country of South America. Deserted streets, doors and windows painted in black, flags at half mast and the hurting that penetrated the skin, marked midday today. In popular neighbourhoods people are keeping vigil over their dead. Smell of coca, smell of poverty, smell of war. In the middle class neighbourhoods, infinite sorrow and cry. In the residential neighbourhoods, sadness and fear. The strike called by the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) and the Federation of Neighbourhood Assemblies of El Alto, is spontaneously obeyed by everyone. They are only just about a couple of thousand, those who have gathered and march on the higher end of the city's downtown near the government quarters. There are some public assemblies, yelling accusations and condemnations. Small barricades are raised. A funeral procession weeping their pain on the streets. The great majority, though, are in their homes and neighbourhoods, in mourning for the 26 dead this Monday and the other 28 gunned down by machine gun from sharp shooters this last Saturday and Sunday. On the radio stations the name of those dead are remembered as well as the names of the hundreds of wounded. At four thousand meters of altitude, life is not worth anything. Even though the local priest, Guillermo, does not believe so: "life is a gift from God, and thus we shall preserve it", he says through the radio network Erbol, heard throughout all the neighbourhoods, those on the hills and those downhill as well. There, were people are breathing truce, a tense truce. "It is the truce that precedes the final battle", sustains the analyst Alvaro Garcia, who believes that, behind the massacre of poor people, there is only two ways out; a political one, with the resignation of president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, and the military, the bloody one, that of the massacre. >From the south perimeter area of la Paz, in the urban-rural limit, the peasants keep vigil over their dead, but there is much anger. "We are all going out on the streets until the evil gringo resigns" they say, and get ready to resume the combat of the unarmed masses against the tanks and machine gun. In the neighbourhoods of El Alto, the most radical ones, they are not putting their guard down, specially the youth of the Public University, the street vendors, miners and peasants. They are still awaiting the reinforcements of their brothers of near by Viacha, the ones from Oruro, who are getting ever closer, of those from Achacachi and Potosi. From Yungas, a wide number of settlers, peasants and coca growers order their counterparts: everyone to the city of La Paz. The people know that only the multitude will be able to defeat the massacre. On the presidential residence, Sanchez de Lozada also meets with his closest collaborators. No one wants to talk to the media about the military topic, no one says a thing. From Trinidad, on the northern corner of the country, almost at the border with Brazil, other two contingents of armed soldiers arrive. There is total alert. "It is the truce that precedes the final battle", repeats the analyst. From Cochabamba, in the center of Bolivia, another front opens up. There are some fighting between civilian protesters and the police in several points of the third most important city of the country. There are many blockades from the coca growers and peasants who are already making themselves heard in Chapare and several provinces. There are road blockades, tear gas and rubber bullets. In the orient, in Santa Cruz, in the economically strongest and most important region of the country, there are popular mobilizations, still small but growing. From the north, from Yapacani a march approaches, there are blockades. In Potosi, in the south corner of the west, there is total mobilization. The marches repeat themselves and multiply in each town where there are peasants and workers, all over the wide geography of the national territory. All of these popular actions are showing that the poorest civilian population of Bolivia is making a giant effort to mobilize around the whole country, attempting thus, to halt the massacre that is nearing once again in the Highlands. It is the enormous rebellion of the stone and the wooden stick, it is the mobilization of the masses against the tanks. Until one o'clock in the afternoon, the truce as well as the silence of the innocence were still on. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From resist at resist.ca Wed Oct 15 11:42:51 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:42:51 -0700 Subject: [news] News from the North Message-ID: <1066243371.911.24.camel@murray> -----Forwarded Message----- From: Ytzhak To: Redwire Subject: [Redwire] [BlackIndianActivists] News from the North Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 10:38:55 -0700 News from the North A digest of First Nations news from Canada Posted: October 14, 2003 - 2:42pm EST by: Robert J. Taylor / Correspondent / Indian Country Today M?tis aboriginal hunting rights confirmed OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a 9-0 decision on Sept. 19 that members of the M?tis Nation have the right to hunt for food in the same manner as other Aboriginal communities. The decision requires M?tis hunters be able to prove a direct link to historic M?tis communities still in existence, but has precedent-setting implications for the recognition of other Aboriginal rights for the M?tis from fishing to resource management rights. The justices upheld lower court decisions that had determined the inclusion of the M?tis as an Aboriginal people in the Constitution Act of 1982 extended the right to hunt for food out of provincial hunting season without a license in the same manner as other Aboriginal peoples. "The decision is a great victory for the M?tis Nation," said interim president and spokesperson for the M?tis National Council Audrey Poitras. "The governments of Canada can no longer refuse to negotiate with the M?tis Nation and treat us as though we dont have any Aboriginal rights. "Those days are over." The M?tis also successfully argued the small number of their hunters posed no threat to big game stocks of deer and moose as lawyers for the federal government and all but one provincial government had argued. The case, Regina v. Powley, developed from the 1993 conviction of Steve and Roddy Powley for killing a bull moose out of season and without a provincial hunting license near Sault St. Marie, Ontario. The court, however, refused to hear a similar case, Regina v. Blais, but a statement from Poitras said there was still language in that decision that would strengthen the M?tis Nation and its 300,000 members across Canada. Complete copies of both decisions can be found on the M?tis Nation Council Web site at metisnation.ca. Fontaine office budget criticized OTTAWA - Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine has been drawing fire from all fronts for his proposed office budget of $900,000. "This does not make sense and does not respect the very poor circumstances that many people on reserves are facing," said member of Parliament John Duncan, the Canadian Alliance partys Native affairs critic. The hefty price tag includes $300,000 in severance packages for non-political staffers fired after Fontaines election this summer and $250,000 in renovations to his office and the assemblys headquarters building that were started in Fontaines previous administration in 2000. Roberta Jamieson, elected chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, who placed second on the ballot to Fontaine said to reporters there are financial needs on reserves and that the National Chief would answer to the chiefs for his spending. One of those chiefs, Sub-Chief for Ontario Charles Fox questioned why Fontaine needed to increase his personal staff to 18. Fontaines Chief of Staff Manny Jules said the spending was necessary to be fair to the fired staff and let visitors to the AFN know they were visiting "a national institution" and that the amount was under review and would likely be reduced by Ottawa anyway. Federal money supporting the AFN fell from $19 million during Fontaines previous term to $6 million under his predecessor Matthew Coon Come. The cutbacks were considered by many to be the result of Coon Comes confrontational approach to dealings with the federal government while others have remained cynical of Fontaines close political and personal ties to the federal Liberal Party. Heir apparent ready to take power OTTAWA - Paul Martin secured enough delegates at the Liberal Partys convention Sept. 20 - 21 to guarantee his bid to replace the retiring Jean Chr?tien as the partys leader and next Prime Minister. Martins victory should be a source of optimism for the First Nations based on his public statements opposing how the current regimes formulation of the "suite" of Indian legislation including the First Nations Governance Act and the Specific Claims Resolution Act. A fiscal conservative, businessman and former finance minister, Martin previously said the proposed legislation warranted "serious rethinking" before Parliament recessed for the summer. Many First Nations and national Aboriginal leaders have protested and are opposed to the laws as threats to their sovereignty. Martin, vowing a more open government, has his transition team in place already despite the fact that Chr?tien does not plan to retire until February 2004 and the leadership convention is not scheduled until November 2003. Judge orders continued consultation CAMPBELL RIVER, British Columbia - The Supreme Court of British Columbia handed down a decision on Sept. 21 defeating a lawsuit filed by the Heiltsuk First Nation to stop a commercial fishery from opening a land-based hatchery that would impact their reserve. The Heiltsuk filed their suit against Ottawa and Omega on the contention the First Nation was not adequately consulted before the facility was constructed. "Despite being well informed about the importance of this area to the Heiltsuk, the blatant disregard for our title and rights felt like a slap in the face," said Heiltsuk spokesman Philip Hogan when the suit was filed. Omega Chairman Russell Crum respectfully disagreed and said his company was hoping for increased understanding from the Heiltsuk following the decision by Madame Justice Laura B. Gerow. "Omega Salmon Group wants to reaffirm its strong commitment to work with First Nations in order to achieve solutions of benefit to both parties," Crum said. "It was unfortunate that the Band, the company and the provincial government had been unable to work out an accommodation among themselves on this important initiative. "The fact is that there is simply no real winner when the courts are forced to intervene in a dispute among parties like this." The Heiltsuk, formerly know as the Bella Bella Indians, inhabit an area of the central coastal region of British Columbia. The bands population had fallen to as low as 200 following an influenza epidemic in 1918 that cost the lives of over 85 percent of its citizens. Please forward your comments or questions about News from the North to rtaylo16 @twcny.rr.com. This article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1066157096 -- - ___ Stay Strong "Peace sells but who's buying?" Megadeth "This mathematical rhythmatical mechanism enhances my wisdom of Islam, keeps me calm from doing you harm, when I attack, it's Vietnam" --HellRazah http://www.sleepybrain.net/vanilla.html http://awol.objector.org/artistprofiles/welfarepoets.html http://ilovepoetry.com/search.asp?keywords=braithwaite&orderBy=date http://www.dpgrecordz.com/fredwreck/ http://www.lowliferecords.co.uk/ http://loudandoffensive.com/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THCO2 ________________________________________________________________________ Redwire Native Youth Media www.redwiremag.com Our stories, our voices, ourselves From resist at resist.ca Wed Oct 15 15:04:19 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 15:04:19 -0700 Subject: [news] Blockade matriarch gets jail time Message-ID: <1066255459.917.58.camel@murray> vancouver.cbc.ca VANCOUVER - A veteran anti-logging protester is going back to jail for six months. 'Her conduct here was simply standing on a logging road in the wilderness, and criticizing the government's forest policy' ? Cameron Ward Betty Krawczyk, 75, has become known as the matriarch of forest blockades. B.C. Supreme Justice Bruce Harvey sentenced her Tuesday to on her two most recent counts of criminal contempt of court. Krawczyk was charged and convicted for her role in a protest in the Walbran Valley this spring. Her lawyer, Cameron Ward, called the sentence harsh. "Her conduct here was simply standing on a logging road in the wilderness, and criticizing the government's forest policy," he said. "For that conduct, she's now going to spend another six months in jail, in addition to the four months she's already spent." Harvey said she was offered bail, but repeatedly refused the conditions, such as staying away from logging protests. The fact that she will end up serving ten months in total jail time, he said, amounts to a "self-inflicted wound." While Krawcyzk maintaine she was trying to protect a fragile forest co-system, the judge said he was called to protect the fragile rule of law. Krawcyzk has continually shown she holds it in utter contempt, he said. From resist at resist.ca Wed Oct 15 15:05:52 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 15:05:52 -0700 Subject: [news] Social workers blast ministry cuts Message-ID: <1066255552.915.60.camel@murray> vancouver.cbc.ca VICTORIA - The B.C. Association of Social Workers says government layoffs in the Ministry of Child and Family Development announced Tuesday are short-sighted and poorly researched. It is particularly concerned about cuts made on Vancouver Island. The government said it will lay off ministry 183 workers. Another 339 more have taken early retirement or severance packages. In Victoria, more than 90 positions have been eliminated from the ministry's head office, with another 100 others opting either for early retirement or a buy-out. But the real concern for the association is the impact caused by laying off 23 frontline social workers and their managers on Vancouver Island. Linda Korbin, the association's executive directory, calls the cuts arbitrary. "When the cuts were made, they were not done with sound research," she said. "Nobody has gone in and said 'what are the community needs? what are the proper standards for social workers, what are we trying to achieve here?'" Jane Cowell, acting CEO for the ministry on Vancouver Island, said the cuts designed to keep as many frontline workers as possible. She expects some positions will be saved. We have some vacancies up and down the island, so we'll be moving to solidify vacancies, to look to wherever we can to reassign people and the hope is we are going to minimize the impact on the front line." Cowell said the final numbers will be known in three months, but Korbin believes the cuts will reduce services and programs to children in need. From resist at resist.ca Wed Oct 15 15:09:01 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 15:09:01 -0700 Subject: [news] PIVOT says officer acted unlawfully Message-ID: <1066255740.911.63.camel@murray> Vancouver.cbc.ca VANCOUVER - The PIVOT Legal Society has filed a complaint with B.C.'s Police Complaints Commission over a police officer's unilateral decision to change the locks on an "unauthorized" safe injection site earlier this month. The lawyers' group said the action was illegal, but the Vancouver Police Service is standing by its officer, saying if anything, his actions ? motivated by a concern about drug trafficking in the area ? have sped up the inevitable closing of the site. Volunteers at the site announced Tuesday they were closing their doors. The situation began two weeks ago when a Vancouver police sergeant changed the locks on the doors at 327 Carrall Street ? the injection site's location. PIVOT founder John Richardson said a routine internal investigation isn't enough to get to the bottom of the matter. "We have no faith in the ability of the Vancouver police department to police themselves," he said, adding, "and in this case specifically they clearly lack objectivity and they shouldn't be the ones that are called upon to evaluate the lawfulness of those actions." Richardson said an external investigation is needed because the department has already stated it supports the officer's actions. "We fully support the actions of the officer and we believe that he acted in the best interest of the community and the best interests of the police department," said police spokesperson Sarah Bloor. PIVOT has been aggressive about holding police to account. In late October of last year, it called for a public inquiry into police actions in the Downtown Eastside, saying it had claimed affidavits from 50 people who claimed to be the victims of police misconduct. In response, the police said if force was used in an arrest, it was usually reasonable and warranted. PIVOT launched formal complaints with the B.C. Police Complaints Commission in June. The RCMP announced in July it would be investigating them. From resist at resist.ca Thu Oct 16 09:56:21 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 09:56:21 -0700 Subject: [news] Death Squads Reactivated in El Salvador Message-ID: <1066323380.900.1100.camel@murray> -----Forwarded Message----- From: Alan Ward To: Right Hon. Jean Chretien Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 21:58:10 -0700 The following letter gives some background info on what has been happening in El Salvador over the last while. October 14, 2003 Dear Mr. Prime Minister We are writing this letter to draw your attention to the deteriorating conditions that are developing in El Salvador in the run-up to that country's presidential elections to be held in March of 2004. As you may be aware, in recent months the citizens of El Salvador waged a successful fight to save public health care. As well there has been a resurgence of support for the FMLN (Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation), which has seen numerous FMLN candidates win municipal and national seats in government. Unfortunately, in recent weeks threats have been made against the lives of social activists who waged the fight against the privatization of health care, and also against FMLN candidates and incumbents. Salvadore?os in Canada and in El Salvador see in these threats, the reactivation of the paramilitary death squads that ravaged the country in 1980s and were responsible for the deaths of thousands. As well, since mid-July of 2003 human rights observers and volunteers from Switzerland, Canada, Germany and the United States have been detained and denied entry into El Salvador by the current Salvadorian government. In addition, the offices of NGOs and other progressive organizations within El Salvador have been raided by police. These actions by the Salvadorian government appear to be designed to ensure that the presidential elections in March 2004 be conducted without international observers and in a climate hostile to the democratic process. Considering the lamentable history of human rights abuses in El Salvador, we ask that the Federal Government of Canada instruct the Foreign Affairs Office to protest to the Salvadorian government, the denial of entry to and harassment of, Canadian human rights workers, and also its inaction in ensuring the safety of opposition forces and social activists working within the democratic electoral processes. We also ask that our representative to the United Nations raise this issue in that assembly, and request that the United Nations demand observer status in the 2004 Salvadorian elections and that they take steps to protect the lives of FMLN members, of people in office for the opposition, and of union and community leaders in general. Thank you. Yours truly for the Vancouver-Kingsway Provincial NDP Constituency Association Alicia Barsallo Sylvia Dodd Andrew Adler Carmen Daly 604-879-3246 604-255-6776 604-224-1249 604-264-7310 cc: Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs Denis Paradis, Secretary of State, Latin America and Africa Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International, Canada ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ mobglob-discuss mailing list mobglob-discuss at lists.resist.ca https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/mobglob-discuss From resist at resist.ca Thu Oct 16 11:47:28 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 11:47:28 -0700 Subject: [news] Million tons of weapons lie loose in Iraq Message-ID: <1066330048.900.1226.camel@murray> -----Forwarded Message----- From: shniad at sfu.ca To: shniad at sfu.ca Subject: [pr-x] Million tons of weapons lie loose in Iraq Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 16:36:14 -0700 The Herald October 15, 2003 Million tons of weapons lie loose in Iraq Ian Bruce, Defence Correspondent UP to one million tons of weapons and explosives are lying virtually unguarded in Saddam Hussein's abandoned military depots across Iraq and are being looted and used against American troops, the Pentagon admitted yesterday. More alarmingly, the coalition can account for only 1500 of the 5000 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles known to have been stockpiled for use against allied jets, despite the offer of a ?350 bounty for any of the Russian-made launchers handed in to the authorities. There are fears that some of the Russian-made Sam-7 missiles may have been smuggled out of the country and sold to terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. The going rate on the black market is ?3500 per missile. Shortage of manpower means that many of the major arms dumps, some covering up to 10 square miles, are protected by a handful of local security personnel and only occasionally visited by American patrols. Forensic examination of the weaponry that has been used to kill 95 US soldiers since the end of major military operations on May 1 proves that the high explosives used in roadside bombs and suicide attacks have been drawn from looted stocks. Huge quantities of automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and military plastic explosive disappeared in the first chaotic days after the collapse of the ruling Ba'athist regime in April before even basic security could be established on the 50 largest depots. The truck used in the devastating suicide attack on the UN headquarters on August 19 contained a 500lb Iraqi air force bomb, hand grenades and mortar shells whose remains prove they were pilfered ex-military stock. When US patrols visited two storage sites north and south-west of Baghdad in the last month, they found no signs of visible security and chased off local villagers rooting around in bunkers containing TNT, bombs, shells and land mines. Raytheon, the giant US defence contractor, has been awarded a contract to collect and destroy Iraqi munitions, but is not due to begin the task until December. Until then, there are too few US army engineers to carry out more than occasional demolition and not enough infantry to guard the sites effectively. A coalition spokesman said yesterday: "There are more sites than troops to guard them. We are destroying munitions as fast as we can, but it is a massive undertaking. We keep finding more every day. "One site alone, at Al Musaiyib, 20 miles from Baghdad, covers more than 10 square miles. It would take half the army to provide round-the-clock perimeter defence. We just don't have the resources. This a country awash with weapons. "Even where local guards can be recruited, they are often poor and open to bribery. Their presence is no guarantee of security." Meanwhile, almost one in four of the 130,000 US soldiers in the coalition garrison will have to wait until December to be issued with body-armour which will offer life-saving protection against high-velocity rifle bullets. The US Congress authorised ?260m in April to buy 300,000 of the new, ceramic plate flak jackets, but delays in organising production and shipping mean that the 30,000 needed immediately in Iraq are not yet available. The Interceptor combat vests will stop a Kalashnikov bullet travelling at 3000ft per second. The older flak vests offer defence against pistol rounds and shrapnel, but will not block or deflect high-velocity projectiles from rifles or machine-guns. British troops taking part in the invasion of Iraq complained at the time of a shortage of vital ceramic plates for their own body-armour. All 11,000 UK soldiers in the garrison around Basra have now been fully equipped, largely by stripping the best flak vests from units rotating home. Project-X list: initiated for the (re)building of the Left. From ron at resist.ca Tue Oct 21 23:35:40 2003 From: ron at resist.ca (ron) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 23:35:40 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [news] B.C. document details welfare cuts (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 13:29:57 -0700 From: shniad at sfu.ca To: shniad at sfu.ca Subject: [pr-x] B.C. document details welfare cuts Globe and Mail October 21, 2003 B.C. document details welfare cuts New regulations will force up to 29,000 people off rolls as of next April, NDP says By Rod Mickleburgh Vancouver -- Thousands of British Columbian welfare recipients will be cut off without a dime next year, according to an internal government document obtained by the opposition New Democratic Party. Under the most Draconian welfare regulations in Canada since social assistance became widespread in the country, as many as 29,000 people will be slashed from the welfare rolls during the fiscal year starting April 1, 2004, the NDP says the document indicates. At the same time, the benefits of an unknown number of single parents will be cut by $100 a month as the government tries to force recipients to find work with an unprecedented "tough" approach to social assistance programs. The new rules prevent single individuals whom the government rules "employable" from receiving welfare for more than 24 months in a five-year period. Currently, they receive $510 a month. Also scheduled to be cut off are "employable" couples with no children, who receive benefits of about $827 a month. The two-year clock for these so-called employable groups began ticking April 1, 2002, so those who have been on welfare since then face losing all social assistance next April. "This is a first in Canada, making people not eligible for welfare at all based only on a time limit," said Michael Goldberg of the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C. "In fact, I find it hard to imagine the government will actually follow through and do this. I mean, the vast majority of these people are very, very hard to employ. Yet, come April 1, the government is basically saying: 'Okay, go out and starve now.' " Human Resources Minister Murray Coell disputed the NDP's interpretation of the document, calling it "one moment in the current situation of the entire caseload". However, he did not provide his own estimates of how many people will lose their benefits next year. The document disclosure in the legislature came on the same day as antipoverty activists gave notice they will fight the government in the courts over the drastic welfare cuts. Lawyer Gwen Brodsky of the Poverty and Human Rights Project said that denying benefits to people without work violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantee of "security of person" and equal protection. "Cutting people off welfare will result in increased homelessness, hunger and poor health, and it may also lead to activities that are demeaning, dangerous and even criminal," Ms. Brodsky said. "This is a group that is already stigmatized, discriminated against and lacking in political power simply because its members are poor." She said there is an obligation to defend the human rights of vulnerable individuals who rely on social assistance to meet their basic needs. The lawyers and activists said they are preparing a legal challenge now on behalf of those who will lose their benefits. They predicted an inevitable increase in crime as individuals who cannot find work have to do something to find money to survive. "What is a young person to do?" demanded Robert Arnold, acting president of federated antipoverty groups across B.C. "People are going to be left without any source of income, with nothing left to lose. That is a dangerous situation. This is an unconscionable act by a government without a conscience." The government says the new regulations are designed to end automatic entitlement to welfare for individuals who have been ruled capable of work. Human Resources Minister Murray Coell has said 10,000 jobs exist in the government's job bank for welfare recipients. But Mr. Goldberg said many studies have shown that not everyone who wants to work is able to find a job. Project-X list: initiated for the (re)building of the Left. From gflett1 at shaw.ca Wed Oct 22 22:48:01 2003 From: gflett1 at shaw.ca (Gordon Flett) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 22:48:01 -0700 Subject: [news] Squeegee Organizers Jailed Message-ID: <3F976B91.CE18847B@shaw.ca> Note: The squeegee workers are now out of jail, after the shitty lawyer assigned to them agreed to outrageous bail conditions such as not associating with their fellow union members (squeegeeing partners), while they tried to protest. They'll be talking to an I.W.W. lawyer tomorrow. Squeegee Organizers Jailed INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD VANCOUVER SQUEEGEE COUNCIL October 22nd 1.IWW Goes to City Hall 2.Squeegee Council Under Attack 3.Letter to City Council 1. IWW GOES TO CITY HALL (3:35PM) Members from the IWW Squeegee Council and Buskers Union visited City Council (Tues Oct.21) to challenge the police harassment of street youth. A delegation walked into the Council Chamber during a Translink presentation. All eyes quickly turned when two buskers began to play the Wobbly classic ?Power in a Union? on the guitar and banjo. Security tried to intervene somewhat passively as most Councillors were smiling during the disruptive song. Distracted by the musicians security couldn?t stop the delegation from handing out a letter (attached at bottom of story) while others waved the Wobbly flag and the black and red Squeegee Council banner. When the song ended the delegation left promptly saying ?end the war on the poor.? In the lobby about two dozen people clapped. A Wobbly briefly spoke out that the police were attacking and targeting street youth and it must stop. A bystander said ?I?ll vote for that.? As the delegation went down the stairs they passed by several security guards who were late to get up to the action. 2. SQUEEGEE COUNCIL UNDER ATTACK (7:45PM) Three IWW squeegee kids ran into problems at the same liquor store that was confronted last month for refusing to sell to squeegee kids. Although ?X? had paid for her beer another liquor store employee tried to stop the transaction. Having paid already, with receipt in hand, X left the store unwilling to put up with the discriminatory behavior of an employee who was supposed to have been reprimanded (said the Store Manager to the Squeegee Council). The VPD arrived in force, confronting them at the Skytrain station that they went to after the liquor store, then stole X?s beer and squeegee. At that point two more Squeegee Council members arrived, ?Belle? and ?Blay?, bringing the total to five. Belle produced a receipt for the squeegees and their union cards. The IWW paid for squeegees precisely so the cops would not steal them, this had been previously successful with the VPD. This time officer 1918 ripped up the receipt and union card. When Blay tried to take his union membership back he was punched in the face then put in one of two paddy wagons. Officer 2055 threatened to charge Belle with resisting arrest. Despite the fact the Belle is pregnant the police were being rough with her putting her in the other paddy wagon. Belle returned the favor by spitting in the undercover?s face. The VPD drove Belle to the police station than let her go free uncharged. They did not let Blay and X go free, nearly 24 hours later they are still in jail. The police had been heard taunting X about belonging to the union. During the altercation another squeegee kid pushed a police officer in self defence, then was immediately jumped on by three more cops throwing him to the ground. During that fray the VPD pepper sprayed his dog as well as someone else?s for daring to growl when their human friend was being assaulted. A VPD officer warned that squeegee youth that they would arrest him whenever they saw him downtown. The VPD felt that they needed two paddy wagons, 2 undercover cops, 3 women officers and about 6 male to deal with the problem of squeegee kids acquiring beer through perfectly legitimate ways. Currently two comrades remain in jail, while another was given a ticket for jaywalking by officer 1918. The VPD instigated this event to further the climate of fear youth who are organizing are living under. The Squeegee Council calls out for allies in the community to support our struggle. Add officers 2055, 1918, and 1200 to your list of dangerous and violent offenders against street youth, along with 1507 ?Anderson? who heads up the ?Anti-Squeegee Project?. Be aware the paddy wagon 7191 BT has been used to terrorize homeless youth. Was this retaliation because the IWW dared to go to City Hall and sing a nice song for the Mayor? Perhaps next time the Squeegee Council will do more than sing. 3. LETTER TO CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 21st 2003 VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL re: aggressive panhandling bylaws In 1999 the Ontario Provincial Tory government passed the ?SAFE STREETS ACT? which promised to deal with the epidemic of what was called aggressive panhandling. The 21.6% cut to welfare and other social program slashes led to an epidemic in poverty. The media claimed that the Safe Streets Act would deal only with panhandlers/squeegee workers who were aggressive, but that was clearly not the case. The Metro Toronto Police gave out thousands of Safe Streets Act tickets. Before any major event the cops would sweep the streets throwing anyone with unpaid fines in jail. The Safe Streets Act was a vicious attempt to drive the poor out of the public eye in Toronto, and had little to do with ending ?aggression?. The IWW Squeegee Council is very concerned at the striking similarity between the Ontario situation and what is unfolding in BC. Ie. Mass poverty, welfare cuts, institutionalized homelessness. Like in Toronto the corporate media claims that a law needs to be made to crackdown on aggressive panhandlers. However the Vancouver Police Department needs no new laws to attack street youth, they are doing this already as previously mandated by ticketing squeegee kids for jaywalking and soliciting business on the road etc.. The VPD have not been able to clearly identify which panhandlers are aggressive and which are not. The VPD are already giving all squeegee kids $86 tickets and many of them have ended up in jail. Squeegee?s are routinely stolen. Officer 1507 Anderson has a personal crusade that?s called ?the Anti-Squeegee Project? which includes court dates, tickets, brutal release conditions and driving his motorcycle on the sidewalk to chase kids. The Anti-Squeegee Project consists of identifying, targeting and arresting squeegee ?offenders?. The VPD have physically beaten an unidentifiable number of squeegee kids, and now taken to harassing buskers. A law regarding aggressive panhandling gives the VPD the choice of determining who is ?aggressive? and who is not based on their own hatred and bigotry. Does the City of Vancouver will to deal with the impending poverty crisis created at the provincial level by jailing homeless and poor people? If people cannot access welfare or housing they will have only two choices for survival. They will either make money on the street by squeegeeing, panhandling, busking, by sex trade and flea marketing, or their other option is to get into criminal offences which are much more dangerous. WE DEMAND: -That no law be passed against ?aggressive panhandling? including panhandlers, buskers, squeegee kids and flea marketers. We know that such laws will equally harass polite panhandlers, the intention of this law is not to target people who are truly aggressive at all. -That the VPD end the ?Anti-Squeegee Project? immediately. SUPPORT THE SQUEEGEE COUNCIL squeegee_council at ziplip.com From resist at resist.ca Wed Oct 29 11:27:31 2003 From: resist at resist.ca (resist) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 11:27:31 -0800 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [Redwire] Sun Peaks update] Message-ID: <1067455651.10999.38.camel@murray> -----Forwarded Message----- From: Tania Willard To: redwire at lists.resist.ca, aboriginaljournalists at yahoo.com Subject: [Redwire] Sun Peaks update Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 10:42:10 -0800 Secwepemculecw Traditional Government P. O. Box 837 Chase, British Columbia, Canada V0E 1M0 PRESS RELEASE SUPPORT NEEDED TO REBUILD AREAS DESTROYED BY THE FOREST FIRES ? NOT SUN PEAKS (October 28th, 2003) Members of the Secwepemculecw Traditional Government, comprised of elders, land users and youth of the Lakes Secwepemc people attended a Chase Village Council meeting today to voice their opposition of the construction of the road from Chase to Sun Peaks. The Neskonlith Reserve has been ravaged by the MacGillivray Lake Fire which burned around Neskonlith Lakes and has destroyed much of the forests in the traditional Neskonlith Douglas Reserve where most of the traditional use areas and hunting grounds of the Lakes Secwepemcare located. Elders had predicted the forest fires this summer and link them to the lack of snow last winter and the additional water taken from the watershed for artificial snow making at areas like Sun Peaks. Elder Sarah Denault stated: ?Never before have there been water shortages in the winter, but with Sun Peaks pumping out all the water and adding chemicals for artificial snow making the whole water-cycle has been upset and this summer our land got burnt as a result.? Elders, land users and families who were evacuated most of August, assessed the damage and found much of their traditional use are as severely impacted, also on Neskonlith Indian Reserve some houses were lost, ironically around a creek that was lacking water. The irrigation system servicing the community was destroyed. The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs has offered no or minimal support for restoration and reconstruction, for example offering 5% of the cost of rebuilding fences. The province is not ready to support indigenous communities at all. Instead they have already channeled monies to Sun Peaks, which was untouched by the fire, so they could attract additional visitors with cheap vacation packages. Bill Chu, Canadians for Reconciliation stated: ?It is wrong that the media pays no attention to how Aboriginal communities have been hit by the fires and the floods and that there is no money going the Aboriginal way. Premier Campbell is just using these catastrophes to do fundraising for his government and corporations.? The provincial and regional governments? drive to channel money to foreign corporations such as Sun Peaks, through disaster relief is further evidenced by TNRD?s recent proposal for additional 40 million in relief for the tourism industry and for the road from Chase to Sun Peaks. Members of the Secwepemculecw Traditional Government voiced their opposition to the project known to the Chase Village Council at a meeting today. They are ready to take action from the local to the international level. For more information please contact: Janice Billy: (250) ? 318 4290 ________________________________________________________________________ Redwire Native Youth Media www.redwiremag.com Our stories, our voices, ourselves From christoff at dojo.tao.ca Fri Oct 31 10:59:28 2003 From: christoff at dojo.tao.ca (Stefan Christoff) Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 13:59:28 -0500 (EST) Subject: [news] CKUT Radio: Indigenous Resistance - Grassy Narrows Blockade Message-ID: CKUT Radio: Indigenous Resistance - Grassy Narrows Blockade Listen to a report about the ongoing indigenous blockade at Grassy Narrows. Since December 3rd 2002 the Ojibway community living at Grassy Narrows in North Western Ontario have successfully maintained a road blockade to fight against the clear-cutting of their traditional land use area by Abitibi Consolidated, a Montreal based paper corporation. The blockade at Grassy Narrows have been a source of inspiration for many indigenous communities throughout the world as an example of indigenous resistance. Grassy Narrows Chief William Fobister explained "The issue... is the further erosion of our culture by eradication of the last remaining areas of old growth forest in our Traditional Land use Area. This area lies outside of our reserve. It has sustained us and our culture for thousands of years. The liquidation of the forest will restrict our culture and traditional activities and even eliminate many aspects of it (berry picking, hunting, trapping, medicine gathering)". This report which features interviews with community members of Grassy Narrows, Roberta Keesick a Ojibway activist from Grassy Narrows, Dave Brophy from Friends of Grassy Narrows Winnipeg, Antoine Libert of the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (Montreal) & Carolyn Perez of the No One is Illegal Campaign. The interviews in this report focus on the national day of action held across Canada on October 16th in solidarity with the ongoing blockade at Grassy Narrows. Actions were held in Thunder Bay & Kenora Ontario, Victoria BC and in Montreal. The national day of action was focused on building resistance to the ongoing environmentally devastating clear-cutting of Abitibi Consolidated which violates the Grassy Narrows community's aboriginal and treaty rights. -> To listen to the report on the Grassy Narrows Blockade visit: http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=7991 -> To get more information about Grassy Narrows visit: http://www.friendsofgrassynarrows.com http://www.thunderbay.indymedia.org ----------------------