[Onthebarricades] Anti-neoliberal and related protests

[Andy]

Anti-neoliberal protests/actions:



*  MEXICO:  Teachers protest pension plan, shut down US border

*  MEXICO:  Opposition group blows up pipeline

*  MEXICO:  Zapatistas issue statement supporting pipeline action

*  KENYA:  Squatters protest over land charges

*  PAKISTAN:  Traders' protest ends encroachment crackdown

*  INDIA:  Police attack protest against supermarkets, seven injured

*  VENEZUELA:  Street vendors continue protests against "cleanup"

*  INDIA:  Bangla Bazaar locals protest road-building, market demolition



Related:



*  FRANCE:  New unrest on estates, cars burnt

*  US - VERMONT:  Weekly peace protest continues, gains support

*  US:  Hundreds of students protest Halliburton recruiters at UW-Madison

*  ITALY:  Italians take day off pasta in price rise protest

*  PAPUA NEW GUINEA:  Police fight looters at warehouse

*  INDIA:  Sex workers protest anti-trafficking law

*  INDIA:  Left stafes protest against US naval exercises, nuclear deal


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20070901-9999-6m1border.html

Teacher protest shuts down border lanes

By Anna Cearley, Steve Schmidt and Karen Kucher
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
September 1, 2007
Mexican teachers who closed down border lanes yesterday to protest changes 
to pension laws said their demonstration succeeded despite the inconvenience 
to thousands of border travelers.

YVETTE DE LA GARZA / SignOnSanDiego
Mexican police officers in riot gear line up between the protesting teachers 
and the international border.

"We achieved what we were hoping to, although police blocked us and didn't 
allow us to get closer (to the crossing)," said Rafael Olivera, a teacher 
who protested near the San Ysidro port of entry. "It was peaceful."
For about 2½ hours, several thousand teachers prevented traffic from moving 
freely through the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports, Tijuana police said.
The protest lasted until about 12:30 p.m., and no immediate reaction came 
from the Mexican government over demands to restore former pension benefits. 
It was part of a nationwide protest that targeted ports of entry along the 
entire U.S.-Mexico border.
Many eyes were on San Ysidro, which is the busiest land port of entry. 
Mexican and U.S. authorities directed traffic away from the border to 
prevent gridlock.
The timing around the busy Labor Day weekend forced some southbound 
travelers to change their plans.
Sufia Herbst of Encinitas planned to drive down yesterday about noon with 
family members for a reunion at an Ensenada hotel. Instead, part of the 
group left at 6 a.m. yesterday to avoid potential problems.
"I was worried about what might happen," Herbst said.
The last time teachers demonstrated at the border, some commuters driving in 
both directions tried to nudge past teachers who heckled them.
This time, Mexican police formed a barricade more than 200 yards from the 
San Ysidro crossing, stopping the group from advancing closer. The teachers 
instead gathered under the shade of a bridge overpass and sang protest 
songs.
The teachers are opposed to a new Mexican law that requires teachers and 
other public-sector employees to pay higher pension premiums and work 
longer. The government says the changes are needed to prevent the system 
from collapsing.
There were no altercations or arrests, Tijuana police said.
At the San Ysidro port of entry, where pedestrians were still able to cross 
by foot, a group of about 2,500 protesters dwindled to about 1,000 around 
11:30 a.m., Tijuana police said. Event organizers put their numbers higher, 
at about 7,000.
At the Otay Mesa port of entry, about 500 protesters tied up some of the 
border lanes, but cars managed to get through during the protest, Tijuana 
police said.
Southbound lanes on Interstates 5 and 805, south of state Route 905, 
remained closed until early afternoon while authorities waited for 
demonstrators to clear out, the California Highway Patrol said.
Staff writer Sandra Dibble contributed to this report

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVoi3SjxXhZA&refer=home

Pemex Blames Sabotage in 6 Separate Pipeline Blasts (Update6)
By Thomas Black and Valerie Rota

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos, the country's state oil 
monopoly, said saboteurs blew up three oil and gas pipelines in the energy 
hub of Veracruz state, marking the third terrorist strike on its 
distribution network since July.
The six explosions that shut down lines carrying crude oil, natural gas and 
propane were ``premeditated acts,'' Pemex said in an e-mailed statement. 
About 12,500 people were evacuated after the blasts at 3 a.m. New York time, 
Veracruz Governor Fidel Herrera said on Mexico City-based Radio Formula. 
Pemex reported no injuries or damage outside its facilities.
``In today's democratic Mexico, there is no place for these criminal acts,'' 
President Felipe Calderon, traveling in India, said in a statement e-mailed 
by his office. ``Those who attack the security of the Mexican people under 
any pretext are attacking Mexico and democracy.''
Calderon, who took office in December, is grappling with the country's most 
serious security threat since a guerilla uprising in 1994 led to rebel 
seizure of the tourist town of San Cristobal de las Casas. Unchecked, 
guerrilla attacks on energy infrastructure could undermine his plans to 
quicken economic growth with higher government spending on development 
projects.
`Main Arteries'
The blasts today follow two separate pipeline bombings in July that 
disrupted natural gas for thousands of residents and businesses in four 
central states. The damage to industrial production from this attack may be 
greater because it affects a larger gas pipeline and lines that connect to 
Mexico City and Guadalajara, the country's second-largest city, said David 
Shields, an independent energy analyst in Mexico City.
``These pipelines are the main arteries of supply to Mexico City and the 
surrounding areas,'' Shields said.
Vitro SAB, Mexico's biggest glassmaker, halted production at five glass 
factories as gas supplies were cut to Vitro's plants in Mexico City, Toluca, 
Queretaro and Guadalajara, the company said in a statement. Grupo Industrial 
Saltillo SAB, the Saltillo- based producer of auto parts and construction 
materials, had to shut three ceramic-tile plants in the states of Guanajuato 
and San Luis Potosi because of a lack of natural gas.
Vitro's shares fell for a second day, dropping 78 centavos, or 2.9 percent, 
to 25.92 pesos. Grupo Industrial Saltillo rose 20 centavos to 18.4 pesos. 
Mexico's Bolsa index of the 35 most- traded stocks declined 1.2 percent to 
29,893.18 after falling 1.8 percent on Sept. 7.
The explosions caused natural gas for October delivery to rise, said Michael 
Rose, trading director at Angus Jackson Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 
The price climbed 39 cents, or 7.1 percent, to $5.891 per million British 
thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price earlier touched 
$5.976.
Guerrillas
``The market is on edge, everybody is short and whenever anything happens 
we'll go up,'' Rose said.
Pemex is the only supplier of natural gas under Mexican law. The company, 
which generates tax revenue equal to almost 40 percent of federal spending, 
will require manpower and funds to repair the damage at a time it's 
struggling to slow a decline in oil production that began in 2004. During 
the first seven months of this year, Pemex produced an average of 3.16 
million barrels per day, down from 3.38 million barrels in 2004.
A guerrilla group that calls itself the Popular Revolutionary Army claimed 
responsibility for the blasts on July 5 and July 10. No one has taken 
responsibility for today's attacks.
The group, operating in Oaxaca and other southern states, demanded the 
government release two of its members, whom the Interior Ministry denied 
having in custody.
Distribution
The group first surfaced in Oaxaca and Guerrero states two years after the 
1994 uprising in Chiapas by the Zapatista Army for National Liberation, an 
armed group demanding indigenous rights. The EPR has shown itself to be more 
violent than the Zapatistas, who avoided conflict with Mexican authorities 
after their initial uprising.
Three of the blasts occurred in different areas of a 48-inch natural-gas 
pipeline that originates at Pemex's Cactus plant and goes to San Fernando in 
the northern state of Tamaulipas, Pemex said.
The other three explosions damaged a gas line, a liquid- propane pipeline 
and a 30-inch oil pipeline. The 30-inch natural gas line connects Minatitlan 
to Mexico City. The 24-inch liquid natural gas line supplies Guadalajara.
Restoring Service
Pemex will take three to five days to repair the damage and restore 
natural-gas service, said Carlos Ramirez, a Pemex spokesman, in an e-mail. 
The blasts cut off supply of about a billion cubic feet per day, mostly to 
businesses, he said.
Pemex said natural-gas supply will be the most affected by today's blast. 
Local supplies of propane and gasoline would be met, the company said.
The explosions on July 10 cut natural gas service to four states and caused 
more than 100 large companies to reduce or suspend production for a lack of 
gas.
The explosions today will have an even greater impact because they have cut 
supplies to more businesses across a larger region of central and western 
Mexico, said the Confederation of Industrial Chambers, an umbrella 
industrial trade group.
``It's a concern that these incidents, which seriously affect the operations 
of a strategic supply such as Pemex, are repeated even after the preventive 
measures the government put into place after the July event.''
Following the Pemex blasts in July, President Calderon deployed 5,000 troops 
from an elite military unit to safeguard Pemex's facilities as well as dams 
and power plants. Pemex stepped up aerial surveillance of its 
60,000-kilometer pipeline system.
The company's pipeline network is too extensive to patrol completely, 
Shields said.
``If terrorists have decided they're going to blow up Pemex pipelines, then 
it's going to be very hard to stop,'' he said. ``There was a time in 
Colombia that this would happen every week.''

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20070924-1538-mexico-pipelineexplosions.html

Zapatista rebels back group that attacked oil pipelines

:38 p.m. September 24, 2007
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Zapatista rebels, who waged a short-lived armed 
struggle against the government 13 years ago, issued a declaration 
supporting a Marxist guerrilla group believed to be behind recent attacks on 
the country's oil and gas pipelines.
The Zapatista National Liberation Army did not explicitly condone the Sept. 
10 and July 11 attacks, which temporarily cut the delivery of gas and oil 
and cost businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production.
But it said in a statement sent to the news media on Sunday that the 
People's Revolutionary Army's demand for the government to release two of 
its members "is not only legitimate, it is also a complaint against the 
dirty war being revived by that lover of military uniforms, (President) 
Felipe Calderón."
The statement, which was also posted on the Zapatistas' Web site on Sunday, 
could not be independently verified. Calderón's office did not immediately 
issue a response.
The People's Revolutionary Army, a secretive Marxist group that killed 
dozens of police and soldiers in the late 1990s, has claimed responsibility 
for two separate attacks on pipelines operated by the state-owned oil 
company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
The group threatened to continue attacks until authorities release two 
rebels they believe are in government custody.
The government denies holding the men, and Attorney General Eduardo Medina 
has suggested that they may have fallen victim to internal divisions within 
the guerrilla movement.
The Zapatista National Liberation Army seized the city of San Cristobal de 
las Casas and other communities in Chiapas state on Jan. 1, 1994 in the name 
of socialism and Indian rights.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200709191110.html

Kenya: Squatters Protest At Title Deed Fee

The Nation (Nairobi)
20 September 2007
Posted to the web 19 September 2007
Nation Correspondent
Nairobi
Squatters who were given land by the Government in Malindi District will pay 
for their title deeds, after all.
This is contrary to an earlier indication that they would be free of charge.

The announcement by local Land Adjudication and Settlement Officer, Mr 
Geoffrey Kariuki, is bound to ignite uproar among more than 3,000 squatters 
in Ngomeni who were promised by President Kibaki on September 1 that they 
would get the documents for free.
Squatters have been jamming the lands office to know why the officer was 
"selling" the title deeds to them despite the presidential order when he 
issued the more than 1,500 documents.
"Why is Mr Kariuki selling the title deeds to us? The President told us 
these documents would be issued free of charge from now on," said Mr Charo 
Chea.
However, Mr Kariuki explained that only the cost of processing the documents 
was waived by the President.
In a meeting at district commissioner Anne Ng'etich's office, yesterday 
morning, Mr Kariuki said there was a breakdown of communication between the 
ministry and the squatters.
"What the Head of State waived were the processing costs which vary between 
Sh1,000 and Sh2,000 depending on the acreage. Otherwise the cost of the 
title deed known as Settlement Fund Area remains," he said.
He said the cost of a title deed depended on the size and location of the 
plot.
For Ngomeni area, the cost starts from Sh2,850 for the first acre, Sh650 for 
the second acre and so forth.
The DC blamed the Lands Department for failing to create awareness among 
squatters and the public.
Created confusion
"It was necessary after the President's announcement to make wananchi aware 
which costs he meant. Failure to do this has created confusion," Ms Ng'etich 
said.
She told the officers to start awareness campaigns among squatters on the 
true position.
Ms Ng'etich feared that even the free tuition in secondary schools next year 
would be misconstrued to mean free education.
"We might witness similar situations on the free tuition for secondary 
school unless adequate awareness is created among wananchi," she said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C09%5C20%5Cstory_20-9-2007_pg7_33

Anti-encroachment drive ends after traders protest
Staff Report

LAHORE: An anti-encroachment drive in the Ichhra shopping area was postponed 
because of protests by traders on Tuesday. The operation was ordered by the 
district coordination officer to remove encroachments within 24 hours from 
the area for security reasons. The operation started on Monday but has been 
postponed till the end of Ramazan.

The city government staff impounded illegal stalls in Samanabad Town and in 
protest about 200 shopkeepers and their staff blocked Ferozepur Road for a 
few minutes and forced the city government's staff to leave. The shopkeepers 
also shouted slogans against district and town nazims and claimed that the 
operation was damaging their businesses. The city government's staff was 
prevented from removing the platforms outside the shops.

Tariq Zaman, Staff Officer to DCO said the anti-encroachment drive had been 
postponed because most of the city government staff was busy checking the 
bazaars to make sure clean food was being sold at rates set by the 
government. He said the traders had promised to remove the encroachments by 
themselves. He also said the operation would resume after Ramazan.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jorI4AEq4YeL0vd9bdgjczVqzs7g

Seven hurt in India protests against supermarkets
Sep 22, 2007
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (AFP) - Two shop-owners and five policemen were 
injured when a protest against big retail stores turned violent in southern 
India on Saturday, police said.
Some 100 shopkeepers demonstrated in the city of Kozhikode in Kerala state 
to protest at the opening of dozens of Western-style air-conditioned 
supermarkets, which they say threaten their business.
"The police will not be able to crush our protest through violence. We are 
fighting for our livelihood," T. Nasiruddeen, president of the Kerala 
Merchants and Traders Coordination Committee, said.
Police said the protesters had turned violent. "We caned the violent mob to 
disperse them," said police commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay.
The communist state government promised earlier this month to ban the entry 
of retail giants into the state.
But in the past few months, several supermarket chains have opened a few 
dozen stores in the state as opportunities in retail grow.
The Kerala government has not said what it will do about the presence of 
existing retail chains but the traders said they want the licences removed.
It was the third such big protest against organised retail stores in the 
country this year.
Last month, one of India's largest states ordered the closure of retail 
stores set up by Reliance Industries citing law enforcement problems, after 
traders attacked the company's Reliance Fresh stores.
Corporate giant Reliance launched its six-billion-dollar retail business 
last November.
A host of domestic and international companies are seeking to invest in 
India's lucrative 300-billion-dollar retail market.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=76033

Published: Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Bylined to: Jeremy Morgan
National Guard (GN) squads in full riot gear to persuade 'buhoneros' to 
leave
Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Nobody could accuse Mayor Freddy 
Bernal of the messy Libertador municipality in west Caracas of being a 
quitter. This guy just won't give up in the battle against rotting rubbish, 
housing shortages and stroppy people.
Bernal is taking yet another stab at cleaning up the joint, and he's zeroed 
in on Plaza Diego Ibarra round the back of the twin towers at El Silencio.
There's no doubting the place could do with a wash and brush-up. For years, 
it's been a haven for buhoneros -- the street vendors and stall holders who 
are one of the many banes of Bernal's life. In a sense, they always make 
their mark and you can clearly see they've been around.
The mayor appears to have prevailed in his latest bid to get the buhoneros 
to go from the plaza -- in contrast with their continuing infestation of 
nearby Avenidas Baralt and Fuerzas Armadas. But he had to resort to the 
heavy hand in the form of National Guard (GN) squads kitted out in full riot 
gear to persuade them to move along.
Now he's sent in the bulldozers to scrape away the scruffy shacks that 
sprang up amidst the buhoneros, crowding out the elegant statues and other 
ornaments of the good old days when the plaza presented itself to the world 
in spanking form to a design by architects John Stoddard and Fernando Tabora 
way back when in 1967.
Bernal hopes to resurrect the square in all its former glory. But skeptics 
say he faces an uphill struggle on several fronts. Caraquenos tend to tip 
their garbage just about anywhere. Curing them of this lamentable custom 
could involve a major exercise in social re-education.
The towers are dilapidated, both inside and out. Once home to ministries, 
government departments and upmarket offices, today they're crammed with 
squatters and large families in small spaces. The square sits bang slap in 
the middle of a notoriously crime-ridden and violent district, which does 
little to induce a sense of identity or place. People tend to get quickly 
inside, bolting and barring their doors against the evil outside.
As is the nature of things, this combination of negatives feeds off itself. 
Bernal is said to have given up trying to work out which was the chicken and 
which the egg some time ago. And it's not just Diego Ibarra that's a 
headache.
Libertador is home to thousands of shanties precariously perched on sliding 
hillsides. He's tried to get people to move out but that's difficult in the 
absence of alternative accommodation.
The mayor's latest challenge is a barrio called El Mamon overlooking 
Antimano in south Libertador.
Five houses have tumbled down and 25 more are deemed to be in imminent 
danger of doing so.
Residents want to go somewhere better but say that until they do, they'll 
stick with the devil they know.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/Bangla_Bazar_residents_stage_protest/articleshow/2356886.cms

Bangla Bazar residents stage protest
11 Sep 2007, 0150 hrs IST,TNN

LUCKNOW: Shopkeepers and residents of Bangla Bazar took to streets on Monday 
afternoon following apprehension of their shops and houses being demolished 
by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) to pave way for construction of a 
four-lane road. It is being widely speculated that the road would lead to a 
new 'rally sthal' in Sharda Nagar, around 3 km from the previous site 
Ambedkar Ground. The latter, LDA officials claim, would be converted into 
Kanshi Ram Smarak.

Though officials refused to say anything, sources said that the new rally 
ground, to be known as 'Rama Devi Sthal', is close to Ambedkar University 
and would occupy an area of around 50 acres, even though the available land 
in the area is around 90 acres.
Piquantly, a small village, Khwajapur, is located in the said area. An LDA 
official said that they are in touch with the villagers asking them to leave 
the land. The villagers would be settled on an alternate site.

As the width of road would be increased to around 45 metres from the 
existing 25 metres, makes nearly 250 houses and shops liable to be 
demolished by the government. Sources said that the LDA has already prepared 
a list of around 255 houses which are likely to face bull-dozers.

Aware of the consequences, some of the shopkeepers and residents of the area 
staged a march and raised slogans against the administration.

Shopkeepers later closed their shops in protest. Even as the situation 
turned tense, senior district administration officials, including district 
magistrate Chandra Bhanu, reached the spot where they were handed over a 
memorandum by the local traders. According to the traders, they were told 
that section 144 has been imposed and no one is allowed to stage a 
demonstration.

The traders have demanded compensation for their loss in case a demolition 
drive is carried out in the area. LDA officials, however, claim that the 
shop-keepers have encroached upon the road.

Sources claimed that chief minister Mayawati visited the site a couple of 
days back. It was soon after the CM's inspection that the work of ground 
levelling started. Sources said that the ground will have to be prepared as 
a rally sthal by the second week of October. October 9, happens to the birth 
anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.

With Ambedkar Ground being changed to Kanshi Ram Smarak, the question arises 
whether the venue for Lucknow Mahotsava would be changed this year? The 
smarak is expected to come up by October 9, which happens to be the birth 
anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.

Sources claimed that the LDA has refused to allot the ground for the annual 
gala event organised every year between November 25 and December 5. District 
administration sources said that they are searching for a new site.

Speculations are, however, rife that the venue for Mahotsava may be Laxman 
Mela ground this year.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article3033354.ece

Riot police move in as youths burn cars on French estate
By Rachel Shields
Published: 06 October 2007
Dozens of hooded youths battered two police vehicles with metal bars, set 
fire to more than a dozen parked cars and torched a community centre in 
north-east France, officials said yesterday.
The rampage, in a tough neighbourhood in Saint-Dizier, about 120 miles east 
of Paris, revived memories of a wave of car burnings, vandalism and clashes 
with police by youths in 2005, fanned by feelings of alienation among French 
youths of Arab and African origin.
Authorities were not sure what sparked the incident involving 30-40 youths, 
which erupted as firefighters - escorted by police - entered the Vert-Bois 
neighbourhood on Thursday in response to a fire alert. A police officer was 
treated for cuts from broken glass, and a firefighter received blows from a 
metal bar on his arm. The youths fled the scene.
Riot police were called in from nearby Reims and will remain in Saint-Dizier 
throughout the weekend. No arrests were made.
"There are always high tensions in this housing project," said Yves Guillot, 
state administrator for the Haute-Marne region. Interior Minister Michele 
Alliot-Marie condemned the violence in a visit to the town early yesterday.
Police have little or no control in some housing projects, where they face 
insults, projectiles or worse. Firefighters also come under attack and often 
require a police escort when they are called out.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/09/14/in_vermonts_capital_weekly_protest_enters_sixth_year/

In Vermont's capital, weekly protest enters sixth year
By John Curran, Associated Press Writer  |  September 14, 2007
MONTPELIER, Vt. --For five years, they've staked out their turf in front of 
the federal building, homemade signs in hand.
Some are peace activists who've been at it so long they remember sticking 
flowers into the barrels of National Guard rifles during Vietnam 
demonstrations. Some are recent recruits who joined in because they had to 
let people know how they feel.
They appear every Friday, homemade signs in hand, standing shoulder to 
shoulder through the lunch hour, hoping to make a difference. Their ranks 
are thinning -- up to 100 have participated, but usually it's a hardcore 
dozen -- and their signs beginning to wear, but they always show up.
"It's not enough for me, as a citizen, to express myself with a vote every 
two or four years," said Jules Rabin, 83, a retired baker from Marshfield. 
"I have a lot of friends at dinner parties who grouse and complain and 
deplore and then do nothing. What we're doing may be futile -- we're not 
going to turn the big ship around -- but we need to do the little bit we're 
capable of. That, to me, is pretty basic.
"When something is deeply wrong with the country, you don't just content 
yourself with voting," said Rabin, one of the "sextons of the vigil" who, 
with his wife, Helen Rabin, 66, brings the signs each week.
"Leahy, Sanders, Welch, No More Money For War. Troops Home Now."
"Bush Lied. There Were No Weapons of Mass Destruction."
"Support Our Troops, Bring Them Home."
"Let Not One More American or Iraqi Die For the Lies that Launched This 
War."
The weekly protest, which has no formal name or committee behind it, 
consists of a rotating roster of people. Sometimes, only a couple show up.
It started in September 2002, when its original participants hoped public 
opposition might avert the war. Then it kept going. Like the war, no one 
knows when it will end.
Robert Brower, 67, a yoga instructor from Middlesex, was there from the 
start. He's been there almost every Friday since. It's written in on his 
calendar at home -- a weekly commitment he can't miss.
"I do it for myself," he said Friday. "I feel like I have to do something. 
"I wake up every morning and I say `What can I do to help us resolve this?'"
Mary Jane Kennedy, 56, of Montpelier, who started showing up in 2005, felt 
an obligation to get involved.
"I'd seen these people standing here, and I thought, `For one hour a week, 
I'll stand here and I'll continue thinking about it.
"I'm like most Americans. I'd rather disconnect. I'd rather concentrate on 
my garden, or watch TV. But I felt an obligation to do something," said 
Kennedy. She held a handwritten sign that read: "Our lives begin to end the 
day we become silent about things that matter ... M.L. King."
Joan Stander, 76, of Montpelier, a part-time substitute teacher, carried a 
sign that read: "Demand an end to this unjust war."
"It's such a mess. I just want to cry when I see the numbers (of casualties) 
go up," she said.
She said the war won't end until Congress pulls the plug on financing it. 
"But I don't think they have the guts."
The sidewalk pedestrians, U.S. Post Office patrons and motorists who pass by 
the protesters' spot near the Vermont Statehouse, have mixed reactions.
Bill Williams, 64, of Swanton, clapped his hands and smiled as he passed 
Friday.
"It's tremendous testimony," he said of them.
Some drivers honk their horns. Occasionally, the pedestrians stop to talk or 
voice their support. The tourists -- especially the ones from abroad -- take 
pictures.
"Protests are kind of a way of life up here, and I think it's kind of an 
example of that," said Jeanette Cordell, 61, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., who 
paused to snap a photo with a digital camera.
Some aren't as charitable. They use hand signals to show it. But those 
reactions have become rare, several of the protesters said.
"What's most upsetting to me, and it's happened just a couple of times, is 
that the mother of a serviceperson comes by and says `My son is over there 
so you idiots can stand out here and do this,'" said Helen Rabin. "That can 
be a little hard to take. I understand their feelings. And we're not against 
the soldiers, for heaven's sake."
Brower sees less of that than he once did.
"I do notice that there's a very different response to us than there was at 
the beginning," he said. "People used to flash us the bird, say `This is a 
free country, why don't you go live in Iraq?' There was a lot of anger. Now, 
there's a lot of encouragement. I don't know what we're accomplishing, but I 
do notice that."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10258

September 21st, 2007 2:16 pm
Hundreds of students protest Halliburton recruiters at UW-Madison
By Ryan J. Foley / Associated Press
A couple hundred students jammed into a University of Wisconsin-Madison 
building Thursday to protest Halliburton Co.'s recruiting at a campus job 
fair.
The protesters sat in front of the company's booth, virtually blocking 
access to the its four recruiters. Engineering student and protest organizer 
Chris Dols led the group in song.
"I said, 'From high to low, Halliburton got to go,'" the crowd sang.
The Campus Antiwar Network is accusing Halliburton, whose former subsidiary 
had large contracts to aid the U.S. military in Iraq, of profiting from war 
and other unethical practices.
The group had a noon rally at the top of Bascom Hill in the center of campus 
and then marched to the Engineering Centers Building, where the career fair 
was being held.
Activists said they would discourage students from meeting with the oil 
services company. Organizers said earlier this week they expected anywhere 
from a few dozen to as many as 600 students to take part.
The event is drawing parallels to a 1967 protest against recruiters for Dow 
Chemical Co., which made napalm used in Vietnam. A peaceful sit-in that 
ended in a bloody confrontation between students and club-wielding police 
officers galvanized the anti-war movement.
University officials have warned protesters they must avoid chanting and 
threatening behavior and allow students to visit any recruiter they wish. 
Students have vowed to follow the guidelines and stay peaceful.
Nearly 300 companies are taking part in the three-day career fair, 
university officials said, with about 100 of them expected there Thursday.
Houston-based Halliburton is looking for entry-level employees as part of 
its plan to add 13,000 workers this year.
A company spokeswoman has called its critics uninformed since Halliburton 
and its former subsidiary, KBR, separated earlier this year. KBR has won 
billions of dollars in contracts from the U.S. government to help the 
military in war zones.


http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2961299.ece

Pasta off the menu as Italians protest at rising prices
By Peter Popham in Rome
Published: 14 September 2007
Millions of Italians took the drastic measure of not eating their customary 
plate of pasta yesterday, in protest at what consumer organizations claim 
are savage and unjustified rises in the price of staple foods.
In the central piazzas of major cities including Rome, the organizations 
handed out free pasta, bread and milk to draw attention to their cause and 
urged passers-by to take a day off from shopping. In Italian supermarkets a 
one-kilo pack of spaghetti costs on average ¿1.14 (96p).
By mid-afternoon it was claimed that up to 48 per cent of Italians had gone 
along with the strike, which is intended to put pressure on the government's 
watchdog on fair competition to launch a full investigation into price 
rises. Rosario Trefiletti, president of Federconsumatori, said: "In six 
sample cities, Milan, Rome, Naples, Bari, Catania and Palermo, between 12 
and 48 per cent of people interviewed in major shopping centres said they 
did not intend buying pasta today."
Pasta - Italians are Europe's greatest consumers of it eating 10 times more 
per head than in Britain - was the major target of the campaign, but the 
organizers urged the public not to buy anything which has recently shot up 
in price.
Carlo Rienzi, head of one of the groups Codacons, said: "We have met the 
head of the Anti-trust Authority, Antonio Catricala, who has recognized the 
fundamental role of our organizations in reporting pricing irregularities." 
A spokesman for the Authority said, "It is not in our power to change or 
impose prices, but an investigation is under way on deformities in the 
market."
Codacons maintains that recent whopping price rises in the cost of 
essentials - pasta up 27 per cent year on year for example - cannot be 
justified by citing rises in cost at source. "It's all a result of 
speculation," the organization claimed. "The excuse of raw material costs 
cuts no ice." Its website has a table showing that pasta in the supermarket 
cost four times the cost of the grain at source, fresh pasta 15 times, bread 
11 times and milk four times.
One member of the government has bought into the campaign: portly minister 
of justice, Clemente Mastella, whose favourite pasta dish is paccheri (like 
sliced-up sections of garden hose) with tomato and ricotta cheese, said he 
would join the strike "because I believe in the cause". But another 
government minister, Rosy Bindi, said it would be redundant for her to join 
the strike as she was already on a diet.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/2007/09/22/123630/Looters-police.htm

Looters, police clash in Papua New Guinea
PORT MORESBY -- Looters engaged in running fights with police in Papua New 
Guinea's highlands when authorities attempted to stop them taking advantage 
of fires to rob two warehouses, police said Friday. Highlands Police 
Commander Simon Aauba said several police were injured in the violence, 
which erupted in the major town of Mount Hagen on Thursday.
"I'm very disappointed with the public, overall the police did a tremendous 
job preventing what could have been a very nasty situation," he said. The 
three-hour clash saw police firing warning shots at stone throwing looters 
and resulted in the majority of businesses and government offices closing 
their doors.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=23&theme=&usrsess=1&id=172774

Sex workers protest IPTA
KOLKATA, Oct. 7: The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA) is a means of 
earning money from the US, claimed sex workers from all over the state as 
they protested against the impending revision in the IPTA.
"The US provides medicines for Aids patients in India. Those in power make 
money by allowing them to sell their medicines here. The allegation that 
minor girls are forced into the flesh trade is a deliberate excuse to 
satisfy their only purpose of making money. The revised IPTA, if 
implemented, will not only render the sex workers without any means of 
livelihood but will also enhance the spread of HIV infection because then no 
one will be practicing safe sex. With the spread of the virus, the 
government will be able to earn more money," Dr Samarjit Jana, programme 
officer of National Aids Control Organisation said. n SNS

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/04/stories/2007090460330400.htm

Left announces Statewide protest against nuclear deal
Staff Reporter

The protest will be for five days
Nuclear deal will impact agriculture, says Nagaraj

BANGALORE: The Left parties of Karnataka today reiterated their opposition 
to the Indo-US nuclear agreement and the joint naval exercises, and 
announced a State-wide campaign to protest the deal.
Campaign
The five-day campaign will begin on Tuesday and include protest meetings and 
conventions across the State, said G.N. Nagaraj, State Secretary, CPI (M). 
"We must see the nuclear deal in perspective. It is not merely about nuclear 
energy. The agreement will impact every aspect of life in India, including 
agriculture, industry, education, the judiciary and the military," he said.
The United States was seeking strategic military cooperation with India in 
terms of logistical support, maritime trade security and interoperability, 
which will "bind India into joint operations with the U.S. in their 
aggressive war strategies", he added.
Serious impact
Warning of a "serious impact on agriculture", Mr. Nagaraj said that the 
agreement would foster the domination of multinational companies over Indian 
agriculture, through patents and controls over trade.
Joint exercises
On the joint naval exercises with Singapore, Japan, Australia and the United 
States, he said that this would form "a quadrilateral reminiscent of the 
cold war". Joint exercises with the United States now appear to have 
extended to joint exercises with United States allies, he added.
Stating that the deal is a "clear departure from the Common Minimum 
Programme, which was the basis of the Left parties' support to the UPA 
government", Mr. Nagaraj said that the Congress must not function as a 
"single party dictatorship".