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AKTIONEN UND ANKÜNDIGUNGEN
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01 AVISO: Volksstimmefest 2002
Von: <zach@kpoe.at>
================================================

Politik/Kultur/Volksstimmefest/KPÖ

AVISO: Volksstimmefest 2002

Wien - 24.08.02, (KPÖ-PD): Prominente Gruppen und gefragte Nachwuchs- und Insiderbands werden auf am heurigen Volksstimmefest der KPÖ, welches am 31. August /1. September stattfindet, auf 5 Bühnen bei freiem Eintritt für Stimmung sorgen.

Zu sehen und zu hören sind u.a.: Habana Son Club, Attwenger, Original Stiefelbein Bluhs Bänd, Fuego Latino, Parole Trixi, Sensual Love, DAT Politics, Bad Sisters, Deeper Than Purple u.a.

Bei der traditionsreichen Lesung "Linkes Wort" auf der Jura Soyfer-Bühne sind wieder bekannter wie junge Autoren und Autorinnen zu hören. Ein Diskussionszelt, das Sport- und das Kinderfest runden das Programm ab.

Das komplette vorläufige Programm sowie Infos zu den Gruppen und Fotos gibts unter www.volksstimmefest.at.

Rückfragen an. 0664 / 344 13 12
e-mail: kpoe@magnet.at
Internet: www.kpoe.at

(Schluß)

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MELDUNGEN UND KOMMENTARE
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02 Interview mit Tom Holert und Mark Terkessidis über ihr neues Buch "Entsichert"
From: <aktuell@nadir.org>
================================================

> Interview mit Tom Holert und Mark Terkessidis über ihr neues Buch
"Entsichert"
> Von : telepolis
> Email: telepolis@heise.de
> Ort :
> Datum: 24.08.2002
>
>
> In ihrem Buch "Entsichert" haben sich die Kölner Kulturwissenschaftler Tom
Holert und Mark Terkessdis auf ganz besondere Art und Weise dem
Military-Entertainment Complex angenommen. Ihre These ist, dass der
Neoliberalismus die Grundlage der Verschränkung der Unterhaltungs- mit der
Rüstungsindustrie ist und zu einer Militarisierung der Gesellschaft führt.
Die kriegerische Konsumkultur und mentale Aufrüstung zeigen sich für sie
etwa in der Rede über "Ehekriege" und "Killerkids", "Produktoffensiven" und
"feindlichen Übernahmen". Die Theorie des massenkulturellen Krieges geht auf
den Befund zurück, dass der Neoliberalismus unseren gesellschaftlichen
Alltag in jeglicher Hinsicht regelt. "Flexibilität, Effizienz, Mobilität
oder Selbstverwirklichung erweisen sich als zutiefst kriegerische Normen"
...
> Weiteres: http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/co/13059/1.html
>
> *** nadir-aktuell-abo -- Aboliste mit Nachrichten von http://www.nadir.org
> *** Beitraege: nadir-aktuell@nadir.org / Redaktion:
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> _______________________________________________
> nadir-aktuell-abo mailing list
> nadir-aktuell-abo@lists.nadir.org
> https://lists.nadir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nadir-aktuell-abo

================================================
03 Berlin: Das Projekt Oekonux | 2. Oekonux-Konferenz 1. - 3. November 2002
From: <aktuell@nadir.org>
================================================

> Das Projekt Oekonux | 2. Oekonux-Konferenz 1. - 3. November 2002
> Von : Oekonux
> Ort : Berlin
> Datum: 24.08.2002
>
>
> Call for Papers
> ===============
>
> 2. Oekonux-Konferenz
>
> 1.-3. November 2002
>
> Technische Universität Berlin
>
> Das Projekt Oekonux
> -------------------
>
> Das Projekt Oekonux (http://www.oekonux.de) arbeitet seit Juli 1999 an
> der Frage, ob und inwieweit die Prinzipien Freier Software-Entwicklung
> - Verwertungsfreiheit, individuelle Selbstentfaltung, kollektive
> Selbstorganisation und globale Vernetzung - entscheidende Impulse für
> eine neue Gesellschaft geben können.
>
> In der Freien Software wird tagtäglich ein neues Modell der Produktion
> praktiziert. Wir denken darüber nach, ob dieses Modell auf andere
> gesellschaftliche Bereiche übertragen werden kann bzw. untersuchen
> Beispiele, wo dies schon (ansatzweise) geschieht.
>
> Auf dieser Grundlage werden utopische Gedanken diskutiert, die bis hin
> zu möglichen Organisationsformen einer Gesellschaft gehen, in der
> individuelle und kollektive Selbstentfaltung die Hauptquelle der
> gesellschaftlichen Produktivität ist und somit die derzeitige auf
> Lohnarbeit, Geld und Tausch beruhende Wirtschaftsform perspektivisch
> aufhebt. In diesen Argumentationen ist die Produktionsweise Freier
> Software die Keimform eines auf freiwilliger und selbstorganisierter
> Zusammenarbeit beruhenden Gesellschaftsmodells. In anderen
> Argumentationen im Projekt ist sie zumindest ein Lehrbeispiel für
> funktionierende Selbstorganisation.
>
> Untermauert werden die Diskussionen im Projekt von einer genauen
> Beobachtung der aktuellen Entwicklungen in der Freien Software und
> anderen Bereichen, die eine Übertragung derer Prinzipien versuchen.
> Dazu gehören natürlich auch kritische Stimmen innerhalb und außerhalb
> des Projekts.
>
> Die Konferenz (http://www.oekonux-konferenz.de)
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> Die Konferenzbeiträge können aus einem weiten Spektrum von Zugängen
> kommen, sollten jedoch ihren inhaltlichen Bezug zu den oben genannten
> Prinzipien Freier Software verdeutlichen.
>
> Dies soll die zweite Konferenz dieser Art sein. Die erste verlief im
> April 2001 in Dortmund sehr erfolgreich und ist unter
> http://erste.oekonux-konferenz.de ausführlich dokumentiert.
> Diskussionen, die dort begonnen wurden, sind in der Zwischenzeit
> vertieft worden und können natürlich auch auf der zweiten Konferenz
> weiter besprochen werden.
>
> Beiträge aus folgenden Bereichen sind sehr erwünscht:
>
> Freie Software
>
> Erfahrungen aus Projekten, Erfolgsgeschichten, aber auch
> Konflikte, Widersprüche (z.B. Geldverdienen vs. Selbstentfaltung,
> Lohnarbeit vs. Freies Tun etc.) sowie Untersuchungen zum Phänomen
> Freie Software
>
> Übertragung der Prinzipien Freier Software
>
> Präsentation von Projekten oder auch nur Gedanken, die die
> Prinzipien Freier Software-Entwicklung auf andere Bereiche des
> menschlichen Lebens übertragen oder die Wurzeln dieser Prinzipien
> in älteren Systemen (Wissenschaft, Kunst, ...) darlegen wollen
>
> Technologieentwicklung
>
> Beispiele offener und kooperativer Technikentwicklung, wie sieht
> herrschaftsfreie und nachhaltige Technologie aus und wie kann sie
> entwickelt werden. Welche Bedeutung haben Freie Standards? Was
> kann eine solche Technikentwicklung für ökologische Fragen
> bedeuten?
>
> Alternativ- oder Anti-Ökonomie
>
> Theoretische Modelle der Überwindung von Tausch, Arbeit und Geld,
> praktische Erfahrungen in Projekten, Widersprüche von Theorie und
> Praxis
>
> Wissenschaft
>
> Wissenschaftlich orientierte Untersuchungen über die Umbrüche in
> der Arbeitswelt mit der Perspektive auf eine Überwindung der
> Arbeitsgesellschaft
>
> Politik
>
> Überlegungen aus dem Sektor politischer Organisationen Freie
> Software und deren Prinzipien oder das Verhältnis von Staat und
> Freier Software betreffend
>
> Kultur
>
> Freie Musik und Freie Formate, Erfahrungen und Projekte, neue
> Entwicklungen in verschiedenen Kulturbereichen, Freie
> Enzyklopädien, ...
>
> Subjektivität
>
> Die neue Rolle der Subjektivität, anders Handeln in Freien
> Projekten, Selbstorganisation und Selbstentfaltung, theoretische
> Reflexionen und praktische Erfahrungen
>
> Macht, Herrschaft und Befreiung
>
> Diese Themen und ihr Bezug zu Freier Software waren im letzten
> Jahr ein sehr kontrovers diskutiertes Feld im Projekt. Gibt es
> Macht oder gar Herrschaft in Freier Software? Wie verhält sich
> Freie Software zum Konzept Freier Kooperation? Freie Software und
> Patriarchat?
>
> Freie Software, Globalisierung und Wertkritik
>
> Wie verhalten sich die im Projekt diskutierten Theorien zu den
> momentan heiß diskutierten anderen kritischen Theorien (Empire,
> Krisis, ...). Was haben unsere Diskussionen mit der
> Globalisierung zu tun?
>
> Wie kann Oekonux praktisch werden?
>
> Interessant sind Ideen zu konkreten Projekte, die versuchen
> unsere Ideen in die Praxis umzusetzen. Freie Lizenzen für andere
> Bereiche, Umsonstläden, ...
>
> Die geplante Konferenz soll die Möglichkeit bieten, die Gedanken, die
> an verschiedenen Stellen unabhängig voneinander entstanden sind, zu
> bündeln, gemeinsam neu zu diskutieren und für alle fruchtbar zu
> machen. Neben einem Kennenlernen soll auf Vorträgen und in Workshops
> der jeweils aktuelle Stand der Diskussion vorgestellt werden.
>
> ReferentInnen gesucht
> ---------------------
>
> Interessierte, die einen Vortrag halten oder einen Workshop anbieten
> möchten, reichen eine kurze Skizze des Vorhabens beim Projekt Oekonux
> [mailto:projekt@oekonux.de] ein.
>
> Abgabeschluß für Vortrags- oder Workshopskizzen ist der
>
> 1. September 2002
>
> Entscheidung über die ausgewählten Beiträge bis zum 15. September
> 2002.
>
> Die Konferenzsprachen sind Deutsch und Englisch. Übersetzerinnen und
> Übersetzer werden benötigt!
>
> *** nadir-aktuell-abo -- Aboliste mit Nachrichten von http://www.nadir.org
> *** Beitraege: nadir-aktuell@nadir.org / Redaktion:
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body

================================================
04 Freedom to Pollute
Von: "Jens Galschiøt" <aidoh@aidoh.dk>
================================================

To the AIDOH Network and to the press

We have now initiated a rather crazy project titled 'Freedom to Pollute' in connection
to the presumably tricky forthcoming negotiations on environment in South Africa.

We have just bought a 6 metres high copy of the Statue of Liberty in Poland as
well as 4 smaller copies. Monday morning we will let them loose in Copenhagen,
so the event will be launched. Simultaneously 10,000 posters and 15,000 postcards
will be distributed to Europe, USA and South Africa.

Below you find the press release that we have just issued.

If you'd like to participate in the campaign or to receive a poster, just contact
Berit from the 92-Group (berit@ms.dk). If you feel like, put about this odd message.

Presentation of the event: www.FreedomToPollute.com

Best regards
Jens Galschiot

*****************************************

Copenhagen, 23 August 2002

Freedom To Pollute

28 foot replica of the Statue of Liberty in Denmark mocks American politics on
sustainable development

A large replica of the Statue of Liberty will be spilling out smoke from her
torch in Copenhagen throughout the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.
The smoking statue symbolizes the selfish 'Freedom To Pollute' attitude that
the rich countries, with the USA in the lead, are looking to manifest on the
Summit which opens this coming Monday.

Danish artist, Jens Galschiot, is again launching a thought provoking event pointing
a finger this time at the USA, in particular, and consumerism in the rich countries,
in general.

"The American way of life is not up for negotiation" - not even when life itself
for people and other species is at stake. This is the core of the American contribution
to global sustainable development. USA has worked hard to weaken the plan of
action throughout the preparatory process of the Summit and is now showing its
final contempt for the international community by not sending its highest representative
to the negotiations. President Bush stays at home, cozy at his ranch, while millions
of peoples' lives are at stake in the complicated process of finding a way to
global sustainable development.

This is not good enough. This is not sustainable.

"The organizations working for sustainable development through the Danish '92
Group support this event," says John Nordbo, the coordinator of the coalition
of NGOs. "The world needs urgent action for sustainable development now; real
agreements, binding rules and time limits as well as means for their implementation.
But, unfortunately, the rich countries - especially the USA - have shown very
little willingness to live up to their responsibilities."

The smoking Statue of Liberty will be unveiled in central Copenhagen at 10am
on August 26th, simultaneously with the opening of the Johannesburg Summit. She
is going to be the icon of the continued campaign for sustainable development
and has already been booked for several arrangements following the World Summit.

*******************

If you have any questions regarding this press release, please contact:
*Campaign Coordinator Berit Asmussen: Tel: 7731 0083, e-mail: berit@ms.dk
*Artist Jens Galschiot: Tel: 6618 4058
E-mail: aidoh@aidoh.dk - Internet: www.aidoh.dk
*Coordinator of the Danish '92 Group, John Nordbo: cellphone no.: 72-301 0869
(in Johannesburg), 11 706 7800 (hotel in Johannesburg), e-mail: jnordbo@ms.dk
*Further information on the campaign and the organizations behind it:
www.FreedomToPollute.com, www.92grp.dk

================================================
05 RAWNEWS - Latin America
Von: "RAWNEWS" <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================

RAWNEWS on Latin-America - 23/8/02

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) Latin America under FTAA - San Francisco Examiner
2) Hemispheric Meeting Against the FTAA - Havana, Cuba, Nov 25-28 - US-Cuba Labor Exchange
3) Truth and Justice in Venezuela August 15, 2002 - ZNet Commentary
4) Venezuela Opposition Party Wants End Cuba Oil Deal - WALL STREET JOURNAL
5) Argentine Junta Felt Safe From the U.S. - NYT
6) U.S. Funded Venezuelan Coup - BOSTON GLOBE
7) For Venezuela, a Move Revives to Oust Chávez - New York Times
8) US in Colombia: In bed with the cocaine cartels - Hour.ca
9) The Days of Gerardo Hernandez: Cuban Patriot in a US Prison - Alicia Jrapco

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Latin America under FTAA
San Francisco Examiner - August 16, 2002
Cold Math
By Conn Hallinan
Want to know what all those mind-numbing figures on Brazilian bond ratings, Argentinean currency fluctuations, and Bolivian privatization mean in the real world?
- Some 23 million Brazilians are malnourished, and 40,000 a year die of hunger. Four million people are landless, while 3 percent of Brazil's people own two-thirds of its land. Out of a population of 175 million, Brazil has 53 million poor, 23 million homeless, and eight million unemployed.
- Argentina's unemployment rate is 21.5 percent and half of its 36 million people live in poverty. For the first time in 200 years, malnutrition is a serious problem.
- In Bolivia, 6 out of 10 people are poor, a figure that rises to nine out of 10 in some rural areas. One could go on, adding Columbia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Ecuador and Peru to the litany of misery that transforms the cold math of international finance into human poverty and wretchedness.
According to the White House, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank, the solution to the financial crisis is to stay the course, continuing the strategy of free trade, privatization and austerity. According to an increasing number of South Americans, the solution is to cast aside two decades of failed policies and challenge the rule of global capital. The problem is that the latter approach is on a collision course with the former and, given the people who run Latin American policy for the Bush Administration, that could be a very risky undertaking. Brazilians have already discovered this. When leftist Workers Party's candidate Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, a critic of IMF policies, took the lead in the race for President, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Merrill Lynch arbitrarily downgraded Brazilian bonds, weakening its currency and increasing its debt burden. Even the normally staid Financial Times took sharp issue with the move, accusing bond market invest!
ors of "overreacting to Brazil's two biggest problems: political uncertainty and debt," adding that the rating "is out of line with Brazil's relatively solid public finances and low inflation."
Misplaced panic or deliberate sabotage? That is the question an increasing number of Latin Americans are asking these days. Lots of people on the continent recall when the U.S. deliberately undermined the Chilean economy to set up the 1972 coup. Brazilians also remember 1964, when their own President, Joao Goulart, was overthrown by a U.S.-backed military coup for even considering land reform, rent control, restricting foreign profits and nationalizing oil. The 21-year dictatorship that followed not only widened the gap between rich and poor, it is the major source of the country's present $250 billion foreign debt.
On the surface, the recent offer by the IMF to loan Brazil $30 billion would seem a godsend. The loan, however, is not aimed at alleviating the appalling poverty and disparity of wealth, but at insuring Brazil will continue to privatize key sections of the economy, open its markets, and pay back $20 billion to Citibank and FleetBoston through "austerity measures." However, even the current conservative and pro-IMF President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, says "Brazil has tightened its accounts so far that it doesn't know where to tighten any more."
What if Brazilians (and Argentines, Paraguayans, Bolivians, etc.) say "enough" to policies that that have depressed standards of living from Mexico to Argentina? What happens if Silva wins and, instead of cutting social services to pay back banks, follows through on his plan to spend $16 billion a year for a decade aimed at alleviating poverty and illiteracy? Suppose Brazil develops an independent foreign policy on issues like the Colombian civil war, Cuba, and the Middle East?
With U.S. Latin American policy being decided by rightwing extremists likes Otto Reich and John Bolton at the State Department, Rogelio Pardo-Mauer at the Defense Department, Elliot Abrams at the National Security Council, and John Negroponte at the UN, Latin Americans are understandably nervous.
After Reich, Rogelio Pardo-Mauer, and National Security Director Condoleezza Rice openly supported the failed coup against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, former Brazilian foreign minister Luis Felipe Lampreia warned there was "anxiety in Brazil and the rest of Latin America because the U.S. no longer seems so committed to democratic principles."
The failed policies the White House is pushing have sparked riots and demonstrations across Latin America where the U.S. is quite rightly blamed for the disaster. By controlling 18 percent of the IMF's voting shares, the U.S. essentially wields a veto over the organization's actions and our fingerprints are all over the current crisis. "It was very clearly the Department of the Treasury that pushed Argentina over the edge and allowed it to collapse," Walter Molano of BCP Securities argues.
The bottom line is that Brazil and other countries in Latin America are going to have to make a choice between Citibank and their own people. As Jean Ziegler of the UN Human Rights Commission argues, "Hunger is not a destiny, but the product of a totally unjust society. Those who die of hunger in Brazil are assassinated."
The question is: will Latin Americans be allowed to find their own road to modernity, or are we looking at returning to the dark years when the U.S. destabilized countries it disagreed with and military dictatorships held a continent in thrall?
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
CONVOCATION TO THE 11 HEMISPHERIC MEETING OF STRUGGLE AGAINST THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT FOR THE AMERICAS FTAA

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTER, HAVANA, CUBA
NOVEMBER 25 THROUGH 28, 2002.
We are summoning trade unionist, peasants, students, womens, academicians, artists and intellectuals from the hemisphere, the youth, the indigenous, ecologists, religious, national entrepreneurs and all political and cultural personalities who shares the same concerns about the destiny of our peoples, in the efforts of organizing more and more and as soon as possible, the diverse and broad popular masses within the framework of the widest plurality, ready to oppose the FTAA and to preserve thereby, the independence, identity and the rigth to integral and democratic develoment of our peoples.
Cuba Labor Seminar in Havana, Cuba
Join us to participate in 11 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AGAINST FTAA
Matanzas, Varadero & Playa Giron, Cuba
10 day Cuba Labor Seminar
Saturday, November 23 to Monday, December 2, 2002
For more information LaborExchange@aol.com
Fax 313 561 8330 cell 313 516 7898
PO Box 39188 Redford, MI 48239
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Truth and Justice in Venezuela August 15, 2002
ZNet Commentary - By Gregory Wilpert
Following three hearings in the past two weeks, the Venezuelan Supreme Court has ruled that it would deny the attorney general's motion for a trial against the four high-ranking military officers accused of military rebellion in the April 11 coup attempt against the government of President Hugo Chavez.
In effect, a slight majority of 11 to 9 supreme court justices dismissed the charges against the four officers, with the argument that they do not see sufficient proof for a viable trial. The ruling has caused an avalanche of accusations, recriminations, and street battles between opposition, police, national guard, and government supporters.
Supporters of President Chavez, as well as most international observers I have spoken to, find the prospect that the court does not see sufficient evidence for military rebellion quite baffling. That is, on the night of April 11 these officers were seen on Television reading declarations of how they would no longer recognize the authority of the president. How much more evidence for military rebellion does one need?
Not only that, numerous ministers and others present in the presidential palace during the coup report that officers threatened to bomb the presidential palace if the president and his ministers did not leave the palace within ten minutes. Finally, the coup regime had even dissolved the Supreme Court. It is quite difficult to fathom that either no one was responsible for these acts or that they all had a legal justification, as the defense claims.
The officers and the opposition, however, argue that since no weapons were actually used during the "supposed" coup (except by the police) and since they were resisting Chavez' decision to mobilize the military so as to prevent further bloodshed, their act does not constitute military rebellion, but rather an exercise of their legitimate right to resist a regime that was violating Venezuela's constitution.
Early in the day of April 11th Chavez did order the mobilization of troops, in order to, according to him, stop the opposition demonstration from clashing with the pro-government demonstrators. The police, as active participants in the opposition demonstration, clearly could and would not stop the demonstration.
Also, Chavez has said that he knew early in the day that a coup was in progress and apparently he had hoped that removing the troops from the direct command of the generals, by placing them in the streets under his direct command, he would prevent the generals from using the troops against him. Chavez has always been quite confident that the lower-ranking officers are on his side.
As hard as it is to believe, the Venezuelan opposition still steadfastly claims that April 11 was no coup, but rather, that the president resigned voluntarily and that this resulted in a "vacuum of power", which the military asked the "civil society" to fill by appointing Pedro Carmona as president. By what authority the military or "civil society" (that is, the opposition) named Carmona president is left to the imagination (he ended up swearing himself into power). Also, this cover story conveniently ignores
the fact that the Venezuelan constitution provides for a succession of power through the vice president and the president of the legislature.
It should be obvious that the consequences of accepting the opposition's claims and of not trying the military coup plotters in a court of law would significantly weaken Venezuelan democracy because it gives the military a free pass to oppose the government as it pleases.
So why would a supreme court that was appointed by Chavez' party and his supporters rule against the government and in favor of the coup plotters? The reason is complex and almost certainly has to do with the fact that the members of the Supreme Court were by and large nominated by Luis Miquilena, the former minister of the interior and of justice.
Miquilena, who is considered a "moderate" with presidential aspirations of his own, left the government last Fall and recently formed his own political party, "Solidarity", along with several other of his followers, who broke from Chavez' coalition in the National Assembly. Many suspect that Miquilena was involved in the coup attempt and rumors were circulating before the coup that in the event of a coup he would be named as president.
As is so common in Venezuelan culture, personal loyalty counts for a lot and this gives Miquilena significant influence over the Supreme Court. William Lara, the president of the National Assembly and member of Chavez' party, claimed, prior to the court's final decision to dismiss the charges, that "Luis Miquilena, together with leaders of Acción Democrática [the former governing party] is putting pressure on the Supreme Court, so that they make a decision contrary to the rule of law and in favor of the accused officials."
It does not help, though, that Chavez, in his weekly radio and television address, went even further than Lara and said that he has "possible evidence that there are judges who are being manipulated from outside the country by people who have a lot of money."
He then went on to make a comparison to a baseball game, his favorite imagery, where an umpire who consistently makes bad rulings ought to be removed from the game. The next day all of the main newspapers ran headlines that Chavez was threatening the independence of the Supreme Court. Even if Chavez' claims turn out to be true, making such a public announcement was strategically a foolish move, given how fragile his hold is on the presidency.
Some of the evidence Chavez mentioned has since surfaced, which appears to show an effort of manipulation on the part of the opposition, in the form of a tape recorded phone conversation between a leader of Acción Democratica and an associate of Luis Miquilena's, where they discuss the need to put pressure on one of the Supreme Court justices.
Further deteriorating the sense of institutionality and public order in Venezuela are a series of confrontations between police and demonstrators in front of the Supreme Court, who are protesting against the court's unwillingness to take the military coup plotters to trial.
The municipal police, who are controlled by a mayor who belongs to the opposition, has been cracking down hard on these demonstrators, regularly dispersing them with tear-gas and shooting with live ammunition, so far seriously wounding at least eight demonstrators. Some demonstrators, however, have also been shooting and several police officers were wounded in the process.
Also, a new urban paramilitary group has announced its presence, in defense of the Chavez government and has claimed responsibility for ambushing a police van with high-caliber gunfire, as the police was pursuing demonstrators into a strongly pro-Chavez neighborhood. Chavez has rejected the support of this new group, but the opposition is using this incident as yet more evidence for the destructiveness of Chavez' "bolivarian revolution."
This new leftist paramilitary group, which calls itself the "Carapaica," after an indigenous leader of the 16th century, has also given the opposition another reason to call on the military to "do its duty and disarm groups such as the Carapaica" (Caracas mayor Alfredo Peña).
This is nothing other than a thinly-veiled call for a coup, since the only one who could mobilize the military for such a task is the president, but the call was pointedly not directed at the president. In addition, Francisco Arias, a former ally of Chavez, until he ran a failed campaign for president against Chavez, has openly called on the military to intervene should Chavez try to challenge the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Perhaps the only thing that could truly have helped move Venezuela from the abyss of permanent confrontation was a truly objective and highly respected investigation into what really happened on April 11 to 14. Shortly after the failed coup, there were some serious efforts to create a truth commission, which would independently investigate what happened.
However, both sides were hopelessly suspicious of the other and no agreement could be reached in the national assembly as to who would constitute the truth commission. Instead, the national assembly has produced two reports on the coup, one written by government supporters and one written by the opposition, with two vastly different interpretations of the events of April 11 to 14.
Chavez now faces an extremely delicate balancing act, where wrong moves, such as his public accusations against the Supreme Court, could easily lead to another coup, his indictment by a pro-coup Supreme Court, or renewed efforts by the opposition to mobilize all oppositional sectors of society against him.
Chavez' supporters, such as the political director of Chavez' party, Guillermo García Ponce, are deciding to go all-out and have warned that if Chavez should be indicted, the party would launch a new constitutional assembly to revamp all of the political powers in Venezuela.
While extremists on both sides of Venezuela's political conflict appear ready to lynch each other, one can only hope that Chavez and those around him take this blow to democracy more calmly. Worse than allowing a coup against a democratically elected regime go unpunished right now would be to challenge the fragile institutional order Venezuela has by insisting on removing judges that appear to be in the hands of the opposition.
This might seem like an intolerable trade-off to the Chavistas, but it is more likely that democratic culture in Venezuela is strengthened in the long run through strict adherence to judicial procedure than through mob justice, as some here are calling for.
Unfortunately, this incessant conflict over coup, counter-coup, judicial decisions, and hyperbolic accusations causes the media and other observers to willfully or carelessly ignore the real achievements of the Chavez regime.
The media and other observers never mention the fact that over half of Venezuela's population is the potential beneficiary of real urban and rural land reform, which is currently in the process of being implemented. Also, no one ever mentions the tremendous increases inhealth services and education for the poor. These achievements would be reversed if the opposition came to power, as they were during the brief coup regime of Carmona.
Instead, besides the daily unverified opposition charges that the news media trumpet with all their might, they focus their attention primarily on the fact that most of Venezuelan society is suffering from the devaluation of the currency and the consequently high rate of inflation, both of which are mostly due to politically motivated capital flight. This is politically motivated capital flight because Chavez' economic policies, in essence, do not stray all that much from those of his predecessors-except, significantly, his oil policies.
While the economic situation is serious and has contributed to recession and increased unemployment, it points to the no-win nature of politics in the age of globalization.
That is, this is a global politico-economic context in which policies that intentionally favor the least well off of society lead to economic decline due to national and international capital flight and thus to more poverty, while policies that benefit the business sector, such asneo-liberalism, also lead to more poverty. This problem is what really ought to be on the agenda in Venezuela, instead of impatient-since his mandate can be democratically revoked next year-and undemocratic efforts to get rid of Chavez.
Gregory Wilpert, a former U.S. Fulbright scholar in Venezuela, currently lives in Caracas and is a sociologist and freelance reporter who is also doing independent research on the sociology of development. He can be reached at: Wilpert@cantv.net

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Venezuela Opposition Party Wants End Cuba Oil Deal
WALL STREET JOURNAL - THURSDAY - AUGUST 22, 2002
CARACAS -- An opposition political party in Venezuela has filed an injunction against the nation's decision to resume crude oil
shipments to Cuba , local daily El Universal reported Thursday.

Under the agreement, PdVSA sells 53,000 b/d to Cuba under preferential financial terms.

The social-Christian party Copei claims the deal between Cuba and Venezuela, which is carried out by state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela (E.PVZ), is illegal since the National Assembly wasn't consulted. The deal was sealed between President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Castro has been among Chavez's strongest allies.

Copei lawmaker Cesar Perez Vivas was quoted as saying that a deal in the Assembly in September 2000, under which the government was excused from approval by the Assembly, was illegal and should be annulled.

The nation's Supreme Court opened a case in March questioning the legality of an oil assistance pact with Cuba . The Supreme Court last week gave National Assembly president Willian Lara 15 days to show that Chavez's government "fulfilled legal requirements" before signing the pact in October 2000, according to the court statement.

PDVSA executives suspended shipments during an April coup that briefly ousted Chavez because Cuba owed $142 million. After Chavez regained power, PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez renewed the shipments and said the loan had been refinanced. Shipments are expected to resume in September.

Meanwhile, some PdVSA top officials, all declining to be named, claim the company is giving its oil away while the country is mired in recession. Several white-collar workers at various company departments are collecting signatures opposing the move.

PDVSA provides one-third of Cuba's oil imports.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Argentine Junta Felt Safe From the U.S.
NYT. 22 August 2002.

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the military dictatorship that took control of Argentina in 1976 believed the Ford administration supported their crackdown on leftist insurgents and would not penalize them for rights abuses, newly declassified State Department documents show.
The documents indicate that American Embassy officials in Buenos Aires frequently felt frustrated in their efforts to encourage the Argentine government to rein in military and paramilitary units that were systematically killing, torturing and kidnapping suspected leftists -- including several American citizens -- during the summer and fall of 1976.
Repeatedly, senior Argentine officials brushed aside concerns raised by embassy officials, saying that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and other top Ford administration officials supported their war against Communists and were not deeply worried about rights abuses, several documents show.
In one cable to Mr. Kissinger, dated Oct. 14, 1976, Ambassador Robert Hill complained that the Argentine foreign minister, Cesar Augusto Guzzetti, returned from a visit to Washington feeling "ecstatic" about relations with the United States.
"He said he was 'satisfied that the State Department clearly understood the problem and that there would be no confrontation
between the two governments over human rights,' " Mr. Hill wrote.
"Guzzetti went to the U.S. fully expecting to hear some strong, firm, direct warning of his government's human rights practices," Mr. Hill continued.
"Rather than that, he has returned in a state of jubilation, convinced that there is no real problem with the USG over this issue."
In another cable to Washington, dated Sept. 20, 1976, Mr. Hill wrote that Mr. Guzzetti said that Mr. Kissinger had expressed no concerns about rights abuses in a meeting in Santiago, Chile.
Indeed, Mr. Guzzetti suggested that Mr. Kissinger supported what the Argentine government called its war on terrorism [!] and was encouraging President Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina to move swiftly in crushing the insurgency.
"When he had seen Secy of State Kissinger in Santiago, the latter had said he hoped the Argentine govt. could get the terrorist problem under control as quickly as possible," Mr. Hill wrote.
"Guzzetti said that he had reported this to President Videla and to the cabinet, and that their impression had been that USG's overriding concern was not human rights but rather that GOA 'get it over quickly.' "
In another dispatch, Mr. Hill urged the State Department to write the Videla government to correct the Argentine president's "overly optimistic view" concerning Washington's opinion of the rights abuses. It is not clear whether such a letter was ever sent.
The cables were among 4,677 documents dating from 1975 to 1984 that were declassified and released by the State Department on Tuesday at the behest of rights groups, families of victims of the military crackdown and several governments that are considering prosecuting Argentine officials for abuses.
Attempts to reach Mr. Kissinger for comment were unsuccessful.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

U.S. Funded Venezuelan Coup
BOSTON GLOBE - MIKE CEASER

Over the two years preceding the thwarted coup in April against President Hugo Chavez, a US-funded pro-democracy group financed a range of antigovernment programs, including some that have come under scrutiny for the way they spent their money. An examination of grants of more than $1 million, given to organizations in Venezuela by the National Endowment for Democracy, has found that US tax money financed several Chavez opponents, including two organizations prominent in the protests that led up to the coup. The documents and interviews also report that money sent to one US-funded organization never reached its intended target and that another organization apparently falsified its Venezuelan accomplishments. An endowment-funded trip to Washington by Chavez opponents may have accelerated the events leading to the April 11 uprising. The revolt against Chavez fell apart after two days, allowing him to return to power. The United States soon came under a barrage of criticism for!
appearing to support the coup against a democratically elected president, apparently in contradiction to US policy to strengthen democracy in Latin America.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0818-04.htm
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

For Venezuela, a Move Revives to Oust Chávez
New York Times - By JUAN FORERO - August 17, 2002
CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug. 16 - The wide streets and white-washed houses in this city's affluent east end are deceptively calm, with tropical birds and lush mango trees providing a country feel just minutes from the chaotic downtown.
But here in the Sorocaima neighborhood, residents are preparing for the worst: a possibly violent confrontation between the multitudes of poor who support the country's mercurial president, Hugo Chávez, and his increasingly restive opponents. Taking precautions, the neighborhood's people have put up razor wire and electrified fences, set up citizen patrols, erected street barricades and purchased arms.
"We are worried that in a state of desperation, the government will call for a riot," explained Bruno Scheuren, 58, a publicist who, like virtually everyone in this part of the city, opposes Mr. Chávez. "Many people are afraid."
Four months after Mr. Chávez was briefly ousted in a violent uprising, trouble is stirring again as Venezuelan society has grown more polarized, and both the president's supporters and his adversaries talk of looming conflict. Although the president and his foes had vowed to reconcile after he returned to power, two days after his ouster, efforts at dialogue have faltered.
Now, a once-fragmented opposition is starting to meld into a coherent front and is embarking on new efforts to remove Mr. Chávez from office. They include pushing for a national referendum on his presidency in August 2003, and demanding criminal charges against him in the deaths of civilian protesters in the April 11 street disturbances that led to his temporary downfall.
But some of Mr. Chávez's opponents now speak privately of another uprising to topple a leader they accuse of dividing Venezuela with his left-leaning policies and confrontational manner. His supporters, mostly impoverished Venezuelans who say he has given them a voice they never had, vow to use force in his defense.
The situation is increasingly worrisome to the United States, which depends on Venezuela for 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. Bush administration officials said that unless the two sides renewed talks soon, Venezuela could spiral into violence.
"Unless there is a meaningful national dialogue, and unless that dialogue starts really soon, then there is a very good chance Venezuela will blow again," said an administration official who follows events in Venezuela.
The upheaval in April was followed by days of soul searching. Mr. Chávez apologized for his often incendiary language and promised to open talks with opponents. His foes, ranging from Venezuela's largest labor union to its biggest business association, promised to listen.
Mr. Chávez soon took some steps that were welcomed by the business class. He appointed a new economic team, replaced the president of the state-owned oil company who was seen as his crony, and pledged that the National Assembly would reconsider several economic laws opposed by entrepreneurs.
But opponents now charge that the government's actions have been half-hearted. A presidential committee set up to advance the talks has largely dissolved, with key opposition figures dropping out, saying their complaints were not heard. The opposition also charged that Mr. Chávez had continued to adopt policies that hamper business and the state oil company.
"The game is over because the president says one thing and does another," Carlos Fernández, president of the country's largest business association, Fedecámaras, said, referring to the talks. "The president in the last few weeks is back to his old self."
To many opposition lawmakers and business leaders, the only option now is to remove Mr. Chávez, a process they acknowledge could lead to violence.
"I have no doubt we could enter into a civil war, a fight between brothers," said Gerardo Blyde, a member of the National Assembly and a Chávez foe. "We have all the ingredients for that war: intolerance, sectarianism, exclusion and the incompetence to resolve the problems."
To strengthen its efforts, the disjointed opposition formed, in June, a group called the Democratic Coordinator. Though its members include the once powerful Democratic Action Party, Fedecámaras, and representatives of labor and the Communist Red Flag Party, it is united behind the goal of ousting Mr. Chávez.
With the advice of lawyers and public relations experts, the group has embarked on a legal effort to cut short Mr. Chávez's presidency. The main strategy is to prod the Supreme Court into investigating him for the deaths of the 18 people in the April protests and for what they call mismanagement of public funds.
The president's foes were emboldened when the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed charges against four military officers the government had accused of rebelling against Mr. Chávez in April.
The two sides have not ruled out negotiations. In recent days, both the government and the opposition extended invitations for the Carter Center, former president Jimmy Carter's Georgia-based group, the Organization of American States and the United Nations to choose a representative to help open talks.
But an effort by Mr. Carter to broker talks between Mr. Chávez and his opposition during a visit last month ended when the opposition refused to meet him. Foreign observers who closely follow events here say the acrimony on both sides has weakened the possibility for fruitful talks.
Indeed, Mr. Chávez and his supporters see many of his opponents as mere coup plotters, while opponents often speak of Mr. Chávez as a fascist or lunatic.
"It's polarized to the extent of mutual contempt bordering on hatred, so you have people who refuse to even talk to other people," said a Western diplomat in Caracas.
Some members of the Democratic Coordinator continue to hold out in private the possibility of a coup by officers of a still-restless military.
"There is an inclination toward a way out of any kind," said one official in the group.
Other opposition leaders say a better option is a campaign of street protests to so debilitate Mr. Chávez that he would resign.
"The strategy is to encircle Chávez to the point where he leaves, or he is tried on charges or he goes under some other scenario," saidCarlos Hermoso, a leader in the Red Flag.
To the president's ardent supporters, such plans are nothing short of treason and must be met with force.
"They insist on conspiring, in taking out President Chávez and establishing their own government," said Désirée Santos, a close ally in the National Assembly. "We would not permit a government without Chávez."
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In bed with the cartels:
A former U.S. Green Beret charges American troops are training cocaine-financed Columbian military death squads
by Alex Roslin - Hour.ca August 15, 2002
http://www.hour.ca/magazine/index.asp?id=1718&parution=1032
When Stan Goff was sent to Colombia and Peru as a member of the U.S. Army's famed Green Berets, he was amazed by the corruption and violence of the local troops he was training.
Now, as the U.S. government seeks to boost military aid to Colombia's hard-line new president .varo Uribe V.ez, Goff is telling his story in hopes of provoking debate about what the U.S. is up to in Latin America.
Goff, a Vietnam vet and one-time sniper in the top-secret Delta Force, says that in Colombia the U.S. has gotten into bed with one of the most corrupt and violent regimes on the planet, whose military is joined at the hip with right-wing death squads which, in turn, are financed by cocaine cartels.
In an interview from his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, Goff said that no one on the ground in Colombia actually believes Washington's official claim that it is in Colombia to fight a war on drugs.
"Nobody we talked to down there ever talked about drugs. That seemed to be the furthest thing from their minds. All they talked about was the guerrillas," he said.
Goff said the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC - the country's largest leftist guerrilla group - has nowhere near the same involvement in drugs as Colombia's notoriously corrupt military or the country's network of right-wing paramilitary death squads, known as the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or AUC.
He said FARC's involvement in drugs comes mainly from taxing peasant coca farmers, but the real money is in processing coca leaves into cocaine and smuggling it into the U.S.
This remains the exclusive preserve of the big cocaine cartels, which fund the AUC death squads, he said. "These are guys with suits who run banks," Goff said of Colombia's cocaine barons. "They have no interest in some socialist insurgency gaining power."
But despite the American anti-drug rhetoric, Goff said the U.S. has shown relatively scant interest in taking on the big Colombian cocaine cartels or the AUC, which co-ordinates its bloody missions closely with the U.S.-backed military.
"The doctrine [the Green Berets were] teaching is counter-insurgency doctrine, not counter-narcotics doctrine. We would have at least been showing them how a drug lab is laid out. But we ourselves didn't know. I couldn't have told you how to make cocaine," he said.
Goff's 24-year military career has taken him from Vietnam to stints as a special-forces advisor in Colombia, Peru, Honduras and Venezuela, a Delta Force member in El Salvador and Guatemala, a Ranger in Somalia and a special-forces peacekeeper in Haiti. Since retiring in 1996 as a master sergeant, Goff has become a progressive organizer and spoken at anti-war conferences about his story.
Goff had an eye-opening experience when he was sent to Peru in 1991 to train an elite Peruvian special-forces battalion. Goff said the Peruvians had a gruesome record of killing indigenous people in the country's mountainous interior, a fact well known to the U.S. special-forces trainers who received a full briefing on all the Peruvians they taught.
"I'm not sure they could have been more violent. President [Alberto] Fujimori was giving the army a blank cheque to go into the countryside and lay waste to it," said Goff.
The battalion was racially segregated, with the officers almost exclusively European while the troops were black and indigenous. As conscripts with poor tactical training, the Peruvians didn't like engaging any guerrillas head-on, said Goff. Instead, their specialty was "death-squad-style tactics" against civilians, which he described as "severely repressive measures, up to and including massacres of the indigenous population. It turned into a race war.
"We walked past a graveyard one day and one of the officers said, 'That's where all the friendly Indians are.'"
The Peruvian officers were also heavily corrupt - "essentially the mafia with a uniform" - and did nothing to conceal their violence or corruption from the Americans. "They would hold huge parties with unlimited booze every night, drunkenly boasting about how many people they killed," he said.
If that wasn't enough, the U.S. training showed the Peruvians how to be even "more repressive toward the population," said Goff.
After his two-month stint in Peru, Goff was sent for two months to Colombia to train two special-forces battalions in air-mobile assault and night fighting. Stationed at the Tolemaida base, 60 kilometres southwest of Bogot? Goff said the Colombian units were just as racially segregated, corrupt and violent as in Peru.
Goff said Colombian military commanders closely co-ordinate their operations with the paramilitary death squads, with whom they "fight side-by-side. The army establishes the cordon sanitaire and the AUC goes in, does what they do and goes on their merry way. They are allowing the paramilitaries to do their wet work so they have plausible denial."
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The Days of Gerardo Hernandez in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />United States Federal Prison at Lompoc

(This human-interest account of one of the Cuban 5 political prisoners was originally written in Spanish for the Cuban media as a way for the Cuban people to get a glimpse of what they were facing and to show their gratitude for all the support they were receiving in their homeland. Here is a modified translation in English)

By Alicia Jrapko (member of the National Committee to Free the Five from San Francisco, California)

For millions of Cubans, the living conditions of the Five Cuban Political Prisoners being held in U.S. prisons is one of their greatest preoccupations. These five Cubans, who among other things were accused of espionage, face sentences from 15 years to double life. Since the time they were sentenced in December 2001, the Five have been scattered between different federal prisons around the country. It was obvious that the U.S. government attempted to separate them with the intention of breaking the strength and morale that the five had shown all throughout their trial and sentencing. The conditions in the federal prison system varies from one to the other and the severity of the conditions depend on several factors including the political climate of the state as well as the level of security of the unit a prisoner is in.

Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, who faces the most severe sentence of two lives in prison plus 80 months, is in Lompoc federal prison in California. Lompoc is called The New Rock because it is the prison that replaced the infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay. Prisoners who have had some type of disciplinary problem in other prisons are often sent to Lompoc and if after 18 months their behavior improves, they are assigned to federal prisons that are supposedly less severe.

Like all the other prisoners at Lompoc Gerardo s day starts at 5:50AM. At that time, the guards automatically open the bars of all the cells and the prisoners can go to the common areas of their unit. Between 6:15 and 6:30 in the morning, they are called for breakfast. After breakfast the prisoners return to their cells or to the common areas and around 7:45 they are called to go to work.

The U. S. prison industrial complex, which continues to grow, is now the second largest employer in the country and is responsible for the elimination of thousands of jobs on the outside, many of which had been jobs covered by union contracts. The corporation of federal prisons generates exorbitant profits off of cheap prison labor. Each prisoner makes between 23 cents to $1.15 per hour, in Gerardo s case he makes approximately 50 cents per hour.

In all federal prisons all prisoners have to work. The corporation that operates all prison productions is called Unicor . In Lompoc there are three factories, one cable joiner factory, a print factory and a sign factory. The three factories are located inside the prison walls and are a more desirable place to work because the work tends to be less menial. Although the wages are very low, for many prisoners it is there only source of income. If they cannot get work in the factories, they are assigned to other jobs such as general cleaning, cooking, services, etc.

Gerardo first started to work in the cable factory, but after a month, he was transferred to a job in the sign factory, which he feels is a little bit more interesting. In the sign factory prisoners make everything from small stickers to big signs for the freeway. The clients of the factory are all government agencies and institutions. For example, the Forest Service orders posters with messages such as forest fire prevention. Any sign in the National Parks was most likely produced in Lompoc.

Like in any other work place, in prison, the bosses quickly identify the workers who are more skilled to be assigned to specific jobs. Gerardo was assigned to a job of high responsibility not because his bosses were concerned with Gerardo s well being or because they were interested in his progress but because they found out that he brought with him a high level of education and knowledge that could be utilized to further maximize profits. It is not surprising, because Gerardo, like the 4 other Cuban political prisoners, were educated in Cuba, where every one has access to free education from kindergarten to graduate school; an educational system that the U.N. has characterized as the best in Latin America.

Gerardo works for the most part on a computer where the entire sign database for the factory is stored. His responsibilities include input of all orders, keeping records, redirecting orders, passing them to production, closing orders that are sent to clients, making sales reports and order status, and also he responds to any requests of data.

At 4PM Gerardo is back from work when the prison guards close all the cells and count the prisoners. Between 4:30PM and 4:45PM they open the cells and at 5:00PM there is a movement for activities meaning that they can go into the yard, to the library or to church after passing through a series of metal detectors. Around 5:30PM they are called to the dining area and after supper the prisoners can either go back to their cells or they can go directly to the yard. All movement of prisoners is under close surveillance and takes place at designated times after being announced on loud speakers. At 10 PM all the cells are closed until the next morning. The weekends provide some break from the routine and it is here when Gerardo tries to get some time in the yard for exercise and some sun. Sunday means the possibility of a phone call to Cuba.

In the last two months, Gerardo has been by himself in his cell because his celly (cell mate) was sent to another prison. Lompoc is a very old prison and the cells are small so this is a great advantage for him. It not only provides him a little more comfort but he can also decorate the cell to his own taste. He has two bulletin boards in his cell that he was able to acquire with a lot of perseverance on his part. The boards he explains have become a collage of photos of Fidel, Che, Mandela, images of the Cuban people in the open tribunals, marches calling for their freedom, and pictures that were sent to him by Cuban students as well as photos of demonstrations of solidarity groups from around the world.

In Cuba Gerardo is a well known cartoonist, whose work will soon appear in a new book, so besides his task of keeping up his correspondence he spends as much time as he can creating new caricatures that reflect his political point of view but also exposes his undaunted sense of humor. Gerardo s cell lacks a chair or a little table to write on, and although he is used to writing and drawing standing up against the closet, his greatest complaint is not this obstacle but the lack of time he has to write and draw.

Due to the fact that the case of the Five Cubans is gaining international recognition Gerardo is receiving between 5 to 10 letters per day from all over the world. He wishes to express his gratitude to all the support and good wishes he receives daily, and at the same time he wants to apologize for not having enough time to respond in a timely way to all the letters. For him, the solidarity letters are a great source of encouragement. All of this mail has given him a sense of pride to know that so many peace and justice loving people support the case of the Cuban 5 and their defense of Cuba against the terrorism that emanates out of Miami.

In Lompoc prison there are 20 Cubans and in Gerardo s unit there are 6 including himself. All of the others are Marielitos, who left Cuba illegally in the 1980 s, and although many of them have completed their sentences they are being retained by Immigration indefinitely, victimized by the U.S. blockade of Cuba. This particularly cruel aspect of the 43-year-old blockade of Cuba is the absence of any extradition treaty between the two countries keeping these Cubans in prison in legal limbo. This situation plays itself out in many state and federal prisons throughout the U.S. where thousands of Cubans are imprisoned for undefined time. Many of them have been in prison for ten, fifteen and even twenty years without charges.

Many of the Cubans who are in prison with Gerardo have no contact with their families and in a show of solidarity Gerardo has helped some of them to find their families in Cuba. Due to this effort Gerardo has become known in the prison and even some American prisoners have asked him to help them find their lost relatives. Many Cubans, who are in prison with Gerardo, have told him that leaving Cuba was the biggest mistake they ever made. Many of them consider themselves revolutionaries and have asked Gerardo to have a photo taken with them to send to their families in Cuba. Others share with him letters they have received from their Cuban families where they have asked them to look out for Gerardo and to show solidarity to him.

But Gerardo s case like the case of the other Cuban patriots is well known by other prisoners. Some of them have read their Court closing statements and had asked Gerardo for a book with his signature. Several African American prisoners ask Gerardo regularly for materials that he receives in English to read them. Many of them have followed closely the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and others have expressed to Gerardo their admiration for Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

It is clear that Gerardo has been able to remain strong behind the walls of Lompoc. Sometimes late at night, on a small radio he has been able to tune in Radio Havana Cuba in English and one night he was even able to pick up the Cuban National Anthem.

Contrary to other prisoners in the United States, Gerardo, Ramón, René, Fernando, and Antonio, are the only political prisoners here who have the unconditional support of their entire country. The Five inside U.S. prisons and the great majority of the Cuban people in Cuba fight the same battle; the battle for their self- determination and the right to defend the sovereignty of Cuba against all types of aggressions.

Sooner or later they will return to their homeland.

For more information about the Five Cuban Political Prisoners Held in U.S. prisons and their prison addresses, visit:

www.freethefive.org

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SOLIDARITÄT WELTWEIT
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================================================
06 Urgent Appeal - Amina Lawal Must Not Face Death by Stoning
von: "ahda" <verein-ahda@chello.at>
================================================

Urgent Appeal - Amina Lawal Must Not Face Death by Stoning
TO

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
State Governor
Government House
Katsina

C/O S.E. Botschafter
Sen. Emeka P. Echeruo
Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Nigeria
Goldbergweg 13
D-53177 Bonn
Email: embassynigeria@yahoo.com

His Excellency Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Nigeria
Rennweg 25, A-1030 Wien Austria
E-Mail: embassy@embassynigeriavie.com

His Excellency, Professor Jibril M. Aminu
United State of America
jibrilaminu@nigeriaembassyusa.org
Your Excellency,

I am deeply concerned at the decision by a Sharia court of appeal in Funtua in Katsina State to uphold the sentence of death by stoning imposed on Amina Lawal, a young Nigerian woman who is alleged to have had a child out of wedlock.

This judgement is incompatible with the Nigerian constitution which guarantees the right to life, the right to freedom from torture and the right to fair trial.

The judgement is also incompatible with Nigeria's legal obligation under international human rights law, including the Convention against Torture, and obligations under the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights.

I urge you to condemn the sentencing to death of a woman who just had a child, and to guarantee the physical and mental integrity of Ms. Amina Lawal and her family.

I ask you to ensure that all necessary measures are taken to secure respect for the rule of law in Nigeria, which includes respect for the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, such as the practice of corporal punishment. I ask you to acknowledge the need to apply Sharia law in accordance with the respect of fundamental rights of every human being.

I also ask you to ensure that all necessary measures are taken to guarantee women their human rights in Nigeria, including their right to be free from discrimination based on social status or gender and their right to be free from torture and inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, I ask you to ensure the full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with national and international standards in all circumstances.

Yours sincerely,

Rev. Ihueghian Victor

Director

AHDA-Association for Human Rights and Democracy

http://www.ahda.at

Vienna Austria

Appell an die nigerianische Botschaft

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
State Governor
Government House
Katsina
C/O S.E. Ambassador
Sen. Emeka P. Echeruo
Botschaft der Nigeria
Goldbergweg 13
D-53177 Bonn
Email: embassynigeria@yahoo.com

His Excellency Ambassador
of Nigeria
Rennweg 25, A-1030 Wien Austria
E-Mail: embassy@embassynigeriavie.com

His Excellency, Ambassador
Professor Jibril M. Aminu
United State of America
jibrilaminu@nigeriaembassyusa.org
Your Excellency,

Betr.: Frau Amina Lawal, Steinigungen

Exzellenz,

ich schreibe Ihnen, um Ihnen mein Bestürzung über den Fall von Frau Amina Lawal, einer 35 jährigen Nigerianerin aus dem Ort Kurami im Bundesstaat Katsina,auszudrücken. Frau Lawal wurde von einem Scharia-Gericht am 22.März 2002 in der Stadt Bakori zum Tod durch Steinigung verurteilt. Der geschiedenen Mutter wurde eine außereheliche Beziehung vorgeworfen.

Steinigungen verstoßen wegen Ihrer außerordentlichen Grausamkeit nicht nur gegen die Grundsätze der Menschlichkeit, sondern auch gegen Internationales Recht, so etwa gegen die Anti-Folter Konvention der Vereinten Nationen, die Nigeria ratifiziert hat.

Ich appelliere daher an Sie, Ihren Einfluß für das Leben, die körperliche Unversehrtheit und die Freiheit von Frau Lawal einzusetzen. Über eine Antwort von Ihnen, wäre ich Ihnen sehr dankbar.

Hochachtungsvoll

Rev. Ihueghian Victor

Director

AHDA-Association for Human Rights and Democracy

http://www.ahda.at

Vienna Austria

Urgent Appeal - Amina Lawal Must Not Face Death by Stoning For more information see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2210783.stm

Liebe FreundInnen,

Geehrte Damen und Herren!

Hier ist ein Hinweis auf eine Menschenrechtsdelegation, die vom IKM in Hamburg organisiert wird. Es ist keine Voraussetzung, JournalistIn oder JuristIn zu sein. Interessierte können sich einfach bei der folgenden Adresse melden:

noisolation@ninebyte.de

Webseite: www.noisolation.de

================================================
07 Ankündigung
Von: DHKC Informationsbüro <dhkc@chello.at>
================================================

Hamburg, 23.8.2002

Presseerklärung:

Prozessbeobachtungsdelegation nach Istanbul

Im November 2001 stürmte das türkische Militär den Istanbuler Stadtteil Kücükarmutlu. Dort befanden sich zu dieser Zeit mehrere entlassene politische Gefangene und Angehörige politischer Gefangener im Hungerstreik, gegen die Einführung der Isolationshaft in der Türkei. Bei dieser Stürmung kam es zu vehementen Menschenrechtsverletzungen. 4 Menschen wurden von den Soldaten getötet und unzählige verletzt. Der Hungerstreik in Kücükarmutlu wurde durch diese Stürmung und die anschließend militärische Besetzung des Stadtteils beendet.
Um von den diesen Menschenrechtsverletzungen und den eigenen Verbrechen abzulenken wurde die Überlebenden dieser Militäraktion nun der Prozess eröffnet.
Am 28.8.2002 findet vor dem Staatssicherheitsgericht in Istanbul der zweite Verhandlungstag dieses Prozesses statt.
Es ist sehr zu befürchten, dass der Prozess jeglicher Rechtstaatlichkeit widersprechen wird.
Deshalb werden wir vom 25.8.2002 - 29.8.2002 eine Beobachtungsdelegation nach Istanbul entsenden.
Die Teilnehmer werden sich aus Juristen und Journalisten zusammensetzen.
Die Delegation wird beim Prozess am 28.8.2002 anwesend sein. Darüber hinaus wird sie sich mit verschiedenen Institutionen und Einzelpersonen treffen, die im Zusammenhang mit dem Prozess und dem Todesfasten der politischen Gefangenen stehen.
So sind beispielsweise Termine mit den Angeklagten des Prozesses, mit, durch Zwangsernährung verkrüppelten, Todesfastenveteranen, dem Menschenrechtsverein IHD, der Genel-Is Gewerkschaft, dem CGD (Verein der fortschrittlichen Journalisten) und dem CHD (Verein der fortschrittlichen Juristen) geplant.
Nach Rückkehr der Delegation am Freitag wird es eine Pressekonferenz geben.

Teilnehmer:
Christian Beetz (Filmjournalist) Berlin;
Volker Gerloff (Rechtsreferendar; Mitglied der Vereinigung demokratischer Juristinnen und Juristen) Berlin;
Peter Nowak (Journalist) Berlin;
Christian Leye (Jurastudent) Bielefeld;
Jürgen Schneider (Anwalt) Hamburg;
Vesile Yücel (Anwältin) Köln

Schirmherrschaft:
Matthias Gärtner
Stellvertretender Fraktionsvorsitzender der PDS im Bundestag

Hochachtungsvoll,

IKM

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08 CUADP Takes A Step Up...
Von: "Abraham J. Bonowitz" <abe@cuadp.org>
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Sent *ONLY* to the recipients of CUADPUpdate
Feel Free to Forward

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SPECIAL NOTE: Today (August 23, 2002) marks the 75th Anniversary of the
extermination of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. To learn more about
this and other historic death penalty-related dates, visit
<http://www.cuadp.org/upevents.html> and click on "Annual Opportunities for
Action."
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Dear Friends,

The good news is... September 17, Citizens United for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty (CUADP) will welcome Aoife (pronounced "EE-FUH",
meaning "Goddess" in Ancient Irish) Titley, who will arrive from... You
guessed it - Ireland - to volunteer with CUADP until December. Aoife will
be the first full time on-site volunteer CUADP has had in several years, so
we are very excited and look forward to working her fingers to the bone... ;-)

Of course, this development puts renewed emphasis on CUADP's need
for a dependable monthly income. CUADP has always done reasonably well
raising the money for the actions it coordinates, but whatever shortfall
there is gets covered by CUADP's "general income" - that is, contributions
which are not designated to support a specific event or action. CUADP needs
a consistent and solid funding base to cover the overhead and pay a general
manager to handle the day to day finances, and an administrative assistant
to support the director and other full time volunteers. CUADP needs a
non-residential office environment. With a consistent income of $5,000 a
month, CUADP can take first steps, and grow from there.

This is why CUADP seeks a DEPENDABLE donor base capable of
generating $5,000 every month. Including donations received since July 5,
both from within Florida and also from around the world, exactly 133 of you
responded with generous one-time contributions of between $1 and $500.

This breaks down as follows:

40 individuals gave contributions between $1 and $10
44 individuals gave contributions between $11 and $25
31 individuals gave contributions between $26 and $50
13 individuals gave contributions between $51 and $100
5 individuals gave contributions between $101 and $500.

83 of the above donors were people who have contributed in the
past, and 50 were new donors to CUADP - an exciting development!

The total of the above is $5,166.51. Adding the Sustainers,
contributions to CUADP and its projects totaled almost $7,400 in seven
weeks. Not too bad. However, considering that that sum comes from fewer
than 175 people, and there are more than 3,750 people receiving these
messages, CUADP wonders how much better we can do.

Therefore, CUADP restates the goals set in a message of
desperation sent back in February.... CUADP seeks:

* 500 new contributors with a gift of at least $2. (Please write a check or
wrap a little cash in paper and mail it today to the address below.)
*100 new monthly donors at a minimum of $10/month.
*50 new monthly donors at a minimum of $20/month.
*25 new monthly donors at a minimum of $36/month.
*10 new monthly donors at a minimum of $72/month.
*2 new monthly donors at a minimum of $144/month.

MANY THANKS to all who have helped and continue to help. We have
a busy Fall season ahead of us. If YOU appreciate the services provided by
CUADP and wish to see it continue and grow, PLEASE join those who have kept
CUADP going with whatever you can offer on a one-time OR monthly basis by
using CUADP's secure server to make a contribution now. Please click
here: <https://www.compar.com/donation/donateform.html>.

If you would like to contribute but don't wish to do so over the internet,
please call 800-973-6548 or mail your contribution to the address shown below.

Send checks or money orders to:
CUADP
PMB 297
177 US Highway 1
Tequesta, FL 33469

CUADP thanks you for your consideration and looks forward to hearing from you.

Yours in the Struggle,

--abe

Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director, CUADP
<abe@cuadp.org>

(the small print)
CONTRIBUTIONS TO CUADP ARE NOT TAX DEDUCTIBLE
A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL
INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE [FL] DIVISION
OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL FREE 800-435-7352
(FL only) OR 850-413-0840. REGISTRATION DOES NOT
IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION
BY THE STATE. REGISTRATION # SC-11170. NO PROFESSIONAL
SOLICITOR IS CURRENTLY ENGAGED WITH CUADP. 100% OF
ANY CONTRIBUTION GOES TO THE ORGANIZATION.

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