================================================
01 Gemeinsam stoppen wir den Terror der militanten AbtreibungsgegnerInnen!
From: selbstbestimmungsrecht der frau
================================================
D A S W Ü R D E E U C H S O P A S S E N!!!!!!!!!
Ihr Pfaffen Laun und Küng, von Schönborn und Eder, und gleich zwei Mal
Schwarz dazu,
zeigt ihr doch Laune und Flagge für den Kinderkreuzzug, der quer durch das
Land bis nach
Wien radelt, um sich gegen das Recht der Frauen auf Schwangerschaftsabbruch
gemeinsam mit Euch stark zu machen. Das Vatikandiktat für alle ist Euer Ziel
und die Frauen sind die ersten, die es mit
patriarchaler Wucht wieder erwischen soll: die drei K's, also: Kinder,
Küche, Kirche
wollt ihr uns bei der nächsten Gelegenheit verpassen?
Daraus wird nichts!
Wir pfeifen auf Euch!
- und darum gibt es auch in Wien eine kraftvolle Gegenkundgebung
der FrauenLesben und Sympathisanten
für das Recht der Frauen auf Selbstbestimmung über ihren Körper und ihr
Leben!
Gemeinsam stoppen wir den Terror der militanten AbtreibungsgegnerInnen!
Kundgebung am Samstag, 1010 Wien, Stock im Eisen/Graben
AB 15.00 Uhr - und vergesst die Transparente, die Infos für PassantInnen,
Musik und Lärminstrumente nicht.

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AKTIONEN UND ANKÜNDIGUNGEN
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================================================
02 Austria: Widerstand gegen Schwarz-Blau
From: bbb-press@gmx.net
================================================
WIDERSTAND GEGEN SCHWARZ-BLAU
Trotz Unwetter und Mobbing: DIE BOTSCHAFT LEBT!
Seit mehr als 30 Monaten (9.Feb.2000) besteht an der Adresse "Ballhausplatz
1A" die "Botschaft besorgter BürgerInnen" (BBB). Sie ist Treffpunkt und
Informationszentrum für alle KritikerInnen der Österreichischen
Bundesregierung. Einer Regierung bei der der EU Weisenbericht "radikale
Elemente" feststellte.
Die BBB ist zentraler Ort des Protestes gegen "Schwarz-Blau". Seit 2 1/2
Jahren trifft man sich hier zur wöchentlichen Donnerstagsdemonstration und
davor zur - ebenfalls wöchentlich stattfindenden - Widerstandslesung. Hier
fanden die jährlichen Widerstandsfeste (mit mehreren tausend Teilnehmern)
statt, ebenso wie Kabarett- und Musikveranstaltungen. Einer der Höhepunkte
war die Uraufführung von Elfriede Jelineks "Lebewohl" unter Anwesenheit der
Autorin (siehe auch http://www.t0.or.at/~botschaft/standard20000519.html).
Die äußere Erscheinungsform hat sich oft geändert. Nach einem Zeltlager,
einem Container, einer Kinderburg und einem Holzhäuschen, bestand die BBB
nach
wiederholten Räumungen (... eine behördlich genehmigte Kundgebung wird durch
einen privaten Sicherheitsdienst geräumt!) zuletzt aus einem Partyzelt. Der
inhaltliche
Schwerpunkt liegt - naheliegender Weise - beim Kampf um das
Demonstrationsrecht und das Recht auf freie Meinungsäußerung.
Leider war aufgrund der starken Unwetter zuletzt ein durchgehender Betrieb,
ohne Schutz gegen Wind und Wetter, nicht mehr aufrechtzuerhalten, deshalb
ist die BBB derzeit eine "mobile Botschaft".
Information und Mitbestimmung sind zwei wesentliche Säulen der Demokratie.
Das Pressefoyer nach dem Ministerrat und ein Kreuz auf dem Wahlzettel alle
paar Jahre sind dafür zuwenig. Deshalb wird die Botschaft bleiben: Zur
Freude der einen und zum Ärger derjenigen, deren Demokratieverständnis
vereinbar ist mit der Verharmlosung des Nationalsozialismus, Antisemitismus,
Menschenrechtsverletzungen, Rassismus, Frauenfeindlichkeit, Fahrlässigkeit
im Umgang mit sozialen Sicherheit, Abfangjägerkauf ohne Volksabstimmung
u.v.a.m..
Die "Botschaft besorgter BürgerInnen" ist eines der wenigen sichtbaren
Zeichen gegen den Rechtspopulismus und -extremismus in Österreich. Die
Aktivisten werden weiterhin für die demokratischen Grundrechte kämpfen -
mobiler, unberechenbarer und zäh wie eh und je.
Termine:
17. September 2002
Verhandlung der Besitzstörungsklage der Republik Österreich gegen
BotschafterInnen. Im Rahmen des Kunstprojektes "Mahnmale aus der
Gesellschaft an die Gesellschaft" wird am Ballhausplatz das Denkmal "Beer
oder die getretene Demokratie" aufgestellt.
19. September 2002
Die Widerstandslesung und die Donnerstagsdemo wird ergänzt und erweitert mit
einem Fest der BBB - Motto "Wir feiern und bleiben"
Rückfragehinweis:
office@bbbb.cc (unser 6es Telefon ist leider vor kurzem entwendet worden)
Fotos unter http://www.pbase.com/bbb

================================================
03 Privatisierung, GATS und Neoliberalismus
From: stefan, a9804631@unet.univie.ac.at
================================================
Diskussionsveranstaltung im Rahmen der Mobilisierung nach Salzburg und
Florenz
*
'Privatisierung, GATS und Neoliberalismus'
*
mit
- Gregor Lahounik - Gewerkschaft der EisenbahnerInnen und Mitglied der
AK Wien
- Anita Weinberger - Vorsitzende der ÖH (Österreichische
HochschülerInnenschaft)
- Katharina Nagele - FeministAttac
*Mittwoch 28.August 2002, 19:00 Uhr*
Gewerkschaft der Gemeindebediensteten (GdG)
Maria-Theresienstraße 11
1090 WienInfo: www.esf-vienna.org/wef

================================================
04 Integra 2002
From: newsletter@das-dorf.at
================================================Sehr geehrte InteressentInnen der integra® 2002 -
Österreichs Fachmesse für Integration und Rehabilitation!
DAS DORF für Menschen mit Behinderungen wird vom
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120 Firmen präsentieren Produkte und Dienstleistungen zur
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Das Produktangebot auf der Messe umfasst eine sehr große Bandbreite.
Besonders erwähnenswert ist heuer der Softwarebereich. Darum
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(Licht, TV, Radio, CD, Ventilator, Telefon, elektrisches Spielzeug)
und bei der Kommunikation in synthetischer Sprache.
Infos: www.fortec.tuwien.ac.at/autonom
:::| LIFE TOOL - Arbeitsgemeinschaft der DIAKONIE Österreich
CatchMe ist ein einfach zu bedienendes Programm zum Erlernen der Maus
beziehungsweise eines Mauseingabegerätes (Joystick oder ähnliches).
Dadurch ist es auch für körperbehinderte Kinder besonders geeignet,
da damit ein spezielles Eingabesystem optimal geübt werden kann.
Infos: www.lifetool.at
:::| ARC Seibersdorf research GmbH
Mr.Step ist eine gestaltbare Lernumgebung zur Entwicklungsförderung
von Kindern mit besonderen Bedürfnissen im Vor- und Grundschulalter.
Die Funktionalitäten garantieren die Individualisierung und das
Mitwachsen von Mr.Step mit den Fähigkeiten ihres Kindes.
Infos: www.arcsmed.at
:::| Dr. KURT WIMMER Betriebsberatungs-GmbH
IBM SprechSpiegel III ist ein Hilfsmittel für die Therapie von
Sprechbehinderungen. Dank Multimediatechnik können Laute visualisiert
werden was besonders Interessant für Hörbehinderte ist, die das
Sprechen ohne auditives Feedback erlernen oder verbessern müssen.
Einsatz auch in der Gesangsausbildung oder im Fremdsprachentraining!
Überzeugen Sie sich von der Vielfalt der angebotenen Produkte im
Ausstellerverzeichnis unter: www.das-dorf.at/integra
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|::: Neu auf der integra® 2002: Best Practice
In Form von Kurzpräsentationen wollen wir interessante Initiativen,
Ideen und Projekte vorstellen, die sich in den letzten Jahren in
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Zielvorstellungen.
Mittwoch, 25. 9.
:::| NINLIL -
Verein wider die sexuelle Gewalt gegen Frauen,
die als geistig oder mehrfach behindert klassifiziert werden
Infos: www.service4u.at/ninlil
:::| GIN -
Verein für Gemeinwesenintegration und Normalisierung
Infos: www.gin.at
:::| a'tempo -
Verein für Menschen mit Lernschwierigkeiten und Behinderungen
Infos: www.atempo.at
Donnerstag, 25. 9.
:::| Loidholdt Hof, St. Martin/Mühlkreis
Infos: www.gartenhof.org
:::| Stiftung Garai Haz, Baja, Ungarn
:::| Projekt Casa Linz
Infos: www.das-dorf.at/casa
mehr dazu unter: www.das-dorf.at/integra
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|::: Workshops Anmeldung
Ein Bildungsforum mit über 70 Vorträgen und Workshops fördert Dialog
und Gedankenaustausch, stellt neue Ideen und Konzepte vor und lässt
den Einzelnen vom Expertenwissen profitieren.
Schriftliche Voranmeldungen für Workshops (á EUR 8,-) mit begrenzter
Teilnehmerzahl (12 bis 14 Pers.) ist ab 4. September möglich.
Die Hälfte der Teilnehmerplätze wird am jeweiligen Messetag vergeben.
Anmelden können Sie sich ab 4. September, 8:00 Uhr
auf der Homepage (www.das-dorf.at/integra), per E-Mail oder Fax.
Wir freuen uns auf Ihren Besuch bei der integra® 2002!
Ihr Organisationsteam der integra® 2002
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Organisationsbüro integra® 2002
_Ing. Günther Stelzmüller
_Reinhard Jäger
_Florian Dirisamer
Hueb 10, A-4674 Altenhof am Hausruck
Tel: +43 (0) 7735 / 6631 - 61
Fax: +43 (0) 7735 / 6631 - 333
Mail: integra@das-dorf.at
----------------------------------------------------------------------

================================================
05 Eine Hymne für die Big Brother Awards
From: depesche@quintessenz.org
================================================
AT: Eine Hymne fuer die Big Brother Awards
Wir hatten dunkel angekündigt, dass es bei den Big Brother Awards Austria
2002 zu Novitäten kommen könnte. Heute wurde die erste AT-weit im Radio
gespielt: FM4 und BBAA-Veranstalter suchen bis 7.Oktober gemeinsam nach
*der* Hymne, dem Brett, dem Song oder der Ballade zum Thema - einfach
raufladen, see below.
-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
Die Big Brother Parties waren in den letzten Jahren dank Gästen wie DJ
Hell, Brenda Russell, Tok Tok oder der Detroiter Random Noise Generation
immer von einem extrem vollen Flex gekennzeichnet. Dieses Jahr haben die
Veranstalter das Ziel gesetzt, das musikalische Programm der Awards näher
an die Inhalte der Veranstaltung zu bringen. Und deshalb wollen sie eine
oder mehrere "Hymnen" haben, Songs oder Tracks, die sich in irgendeiner
Weise (textlich, musikalisch...) mit den Themen Überwachung, Lauschangriff
etc. auseinandersetzen. Die Form ist egal, zwischen klassischem Protestsong
mit Gitarre, politischem Hardcore-Rap oder samplegeladenem Techno-Brett ist
alles erlaubt. Als Plattform für die Suche nach dieser "Big Brother Awards
Hymne" dient der Soundpark.
Es funktioniert im Prinzip alles wie bei den bisherigen Remixcontests.
Fertige Stücke (pro Band/Projekt bitte nur eines) bis zum 7. Oktober unter
dem eigenen Namen in den Soundpark uploaden und uns unter
soundpark.fm4@orf.at Bescheid geben. Kurz nach dem Einsendeschluss wird
eine Jury den oder die Gewinner bestimmen, die dann bei den Big Brother
Awards auf der Bühne stehen werden.
http://fm4.orf.at/spinfo/95336/main

- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
relayed by Harkank
- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
q/depesche is powered by
http://www.ewave.at
subscribe/unsubscribe/digest
http://www.quintessenz.at/q/depesche/
comments to abdul@quintessenz.org,harkank@quintessenz.org

================================================
06 Frauenrechte verteidigen
From: slp@slp.at
================================================
Aktionen gegen katholischen Fundamentalismus erfolgreich
Dass der MUND nun auch Beiträge des kath.net (27. August; 10 Ride for Life'
in Salzburg mit Eskalationen From: anonym@myno.na) reinstellt, kann mensch
als Versuch Richtung Satire durchgehen lassen.
Die ach so lieben und adretten Fürsprecher der "ungeborenen Kinder" sind in
Wirklichkeit die Vorhut (ob bewusst oder nicht ist nebensächlich) für
gesellschaftlichen Rückschritt. Die radikalen Abtreibungsgegner befinden
sich im Windschatten von Blau-Schwarz. Bischof Krenn, auch so ein "Schützer
der Ungeborenen" ortet die "dritte Türkenbelagerung", Bischof Laun will
Jesus zitierend Bösewichte "mit dem Mühlstein um den Hals" ins Meer werfen.
Die SLP-Frauensprecherin Claudia Sorger wurde vom Chef von "Human Life
International-Österreich" verklagt, weil sie deren Methoden aufzeigte. Der
HLI-Anwalt stammt aus der ehemaligen Böhmdorfer-Kanzlei "Gheneff-Rami" und
war/ist immer wieder für die FPÖ aktiv. Auch so ein Gutmensch.
Die SLP verteidigt konsequent das Frauenrecht auf Schwangerschaftsabbruch.
Gemeinsam mit vielen Kolleginnen und Kollegen haben wir in Salzburg
erfolgreiche Gegenkundgebungen zum billigen Schauspiel der Fundamentalisten
abgehalten.
Am nächsten Samstag geht's in Wien rund: Kommt am 31.8. ab 15.00 Uhr zum
Stephansplatz; ab 18.30 Uhr Demo gegen die radikalen Abtreibungsgegner. Karl
Marx liebt dich!

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DISKUSSION
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================================================
07 Mair
From: Doron Rabinovici, rabinovici@adis.at
================================================
Einen langen, einen sehr langen Text schrieb Martin Mair im letzten MUND.
Hier bezog er sich auf eine Veranstaltung, bei der ich nicht zugegen war.
Ich will mich deshalb nicht über die Diskussion äußern, bloß auf seine
Ergüsse beziehen. Die proisraelischen und jüdischen Gesprächspartner
bezeichnet er einfach als "Zionistenblock".
Die Drohung eines Veranstaltungsteilnehmers gegen anwesende Juden "Ihr kommt
auch bald dran", will er nicht antisemitisch deuten. Vielmehr schreibt er:
>dass das darauf folgende Verhalten des
>"Zionistenblocks" meines Erachtens stark ueberzogen war:
>Er skandierte mit voller Inbrunst und Gehaessigkeit "Nazis raus"
>obwohl 1. der Mann alleine war und 2. seine Aussage moeglicherweise
>antisemitisch gemeint war (er kann auch gemeint haben, dass nach dem,
>was Israel jahrelang den Palestinensern angetan habe, Israel nun die
>Gewalt zurueckschlaegt oder einfach nur, dass der Zionistenblock, der
>vor allem sich ueber die Wortmeldungen der Palaestinenser aufgeregt
>hatte, auch bald dran komme und sich zu Wort melden kann) aber daraus
>noch lange nicht gefolgert werden kann, der Mann sei ein Nazi.
>Da nationalisozialistische Wiederbetaetigung in Oesterreich strafbar
>ist, ist der Vorwurf, jemand sei ein Nazi, nicht so leicht zu nehmen
>und erfuellt, wenn dieser Vorwurf nicht zutrifft, den Tatbestand der
>Verleumdung. In diesem Fall scheint es mir eine vorschnelle
>Verleumdung zu sein.
Meint Mair etwa, der Vorwurf, ein Nazi zu sein, wäre sehr wohl leicht zu
nehmen, wenn die nationalsozialistische Wiederbetätigung in Österreich nicht
strafbar wäre? Glaubt Mair, es sei nicht schlimm, ein Nazi in einem Land zu
sein, in dem nationalsozialistische Wiederbetätigung nicht verboten ist?
Könnte es zudem nicht sein, daß einer sich im Vieraugengespräch als Nazi
entpuppt, ohne im Sinne des Gesetzbuches nationalsozialistische
Wiederbetätigung zu betreiben? Mairs Auslassungen zufolge, scheint das
Gesetz nicht erlassen worden zu sein, um die Gesellschaft vor
nationalsozialistischer Agitation zu schützen, sondern Nazis vor der Kritik
von Antifaschisten.
Für Mair ist unverständlich, wenn Überlebende auf den Satz "Ihr kommt auch
bald dran", mit "Nazis raus" antworten, wenn ehemalige Opfer sich gegen
solche Parolen zu wehren wissen?
Am besten aber die Apologie Mairs, wie der Satz "Ihr kommt auch bald dran",
noch zu verstehen gewesen sei. Vielleicht sei der Mann, so Mair, nicht
antisemitisch gewesen und habe bloß gemeint, der "Zionistenblock" komme
ohnehin bald zu Wort. Da ist er; der doppelte Rittberger der Verleugnung!
Wenn der Mann die Juden im Saal bloß vertrösten hätte wollen, dann wäre es
zwar ein Leichtes gewesen, dieses Mißverständnis sofort freundlich
aufzuklären, aber vielleicht haben wir Juden die Antisemiten bisher eben
immer bloß falsch verstanden, wenn sie ihr: "Ihr kommt auch noch mal dran",
grölten. Die meinten nur: "Ihr bekommt eine Extraportion Eis, dürft wieder
vom Zehnmeterbrett springen, könnt nochmals mit der Hochschaubahn fahren".
Und wenn die Nazis johlen, der Unterschied zwischen Türken und Juden wäre,
die Juden hätten "es" bereits hinter sich, was meinen sie dann nach Mairs
Ansicht? Etwa eine Wortmeldung bei einer grünen Veranstaltung, eine Radtour
oder eine Einladung zur Sonnwendfeier? Und der Nazifilmtitel: "Der Führer
schenkt den Juden eine Stadt", bezog der sich Mair zufolge auf die besonders
generöse Haltung Hitlers gegenüber den Juden?
Aber Mair hat noch einen besseren Vorschlag, weshalb der Satz "Ihr kommt
auch bald dran", nicht antisemitisch war, nämlich weil sich der Satz
vielleicht bloß gegen Israel gerichtet hätte. Soso. Dann wäre der Satz also
eine Rechtfertigung von Gewalt gegen Israel? Ein Aufruf zur Aggression gegen
Israelis? Das wäre also in Ordnung? Interessant.
Eine Frage bleibt aber offen: Wenn sich dieser Satz bloß gegen Israelis
richtete und nicht gegen alle Juden schlechthin, weshalb sagte der Mann:
"Ihr kommt auch bald dran?" Warum wandte er sich dann damit an Juden und
Überlebende in Wien?
Meint Mair, der "Zionistenblock" gehöre zu Israel und alle Juden wären
ohnehin Israelis? Diese Sichtweise antisemitisch zu nennen, wäre wohl in der
Tat "ein Vorwurf, der nicht leicht zu nehmen ist". Auf jeden Fall gerät
Martin Mair gewiß nicht in Gefahr, einer philosemitischen Neigung bezichtigt
zu werden.

================================================
08 Mitglied von Reporter ohne Grenzen betreibt Hetze im Mund, die
antisemitische Stereotypen verteidigt
From: balticnewswatch@chello.at
================================================
Samuel Laster
laster@bigfoot.com

Eine Person, die mir immer wieder Aussendungen von "Reporter ohne Grenzen"
sendet
verbreitet im Mund Unwahrheiten die dazu geeignet sind, Überlebende der
Shoah persönlich
zu diskreditieren. Die Veranstaltung der GRÜNEN ist im Video und durch
zahlreiche
Zeugenaussagen gut dokumentiert. Tiefenpschologisch interessant scheint es
allemal,
daß bei rechtsradikalen Aussagen für die Generation der Grossväter des
Herren,
der sich gerne und oft auf "Reporter ohne Grenzen beruft" die
Unschuldsvermutung gilt, die es für ihn bei jüdischen Überlebenden der Shoah
nicht geben
darf. Dieses Phänomen konnte auch gut bei einer Mitarbeiterin der Wiener
Zeitung
beobachtet werden. Danke für die Beispiele der letzten Tage- Margit Reiter
hat vermutlich genug
Stoff für ein weiteres Buch über Antisemitismus der Linken. Ein ehemaliger
Journalist
hat zudem Konsequenzen der israelitischen Kultusgemeinde angekündigt. Hut
auf, Herr
Kollege. Das kann eigentlich nur Peter Sichrovsky sein, oder?
In Wirklichkeit ist dies ein typischer "Kronzeuge" wie vom Autor bevorzugt.
Links, israelkritisch bis zur Konsequenz der Leugnung der Existenz-"brav"
halt.
Ja, wie hätten Sie Ihren Juden denn gern?
Ich empfehle den Kollegen den Besuch einer Selbsthilfegruppe für Enkel der
Täter
- am Besten zusammen mit dem Opa- oder Kontakt von www.ncbi.org
Mund sollte nicht zur Therapie für solche Personen herhalten.

================================================
09 Nachlese Grüne Nahostveranstaltung
From: Julia Fischer, juju_fischer@yahoo.com
================================================
Nahostkonflikt als grünes Issue - je nach Publikum beliebig modifizierbar?

Sonntag, 28. April 2002, Judenplatz, 1. Bezirk: "Light for Israel" lautet
das Motto einer Veranstaltung. Zahlreiche Menschen, in Österreich lebende
Israelis/innen, Mitglieder der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Wien,
Nichtjuden/jüdinnen, die aus unterschiedlichen Gründen ein Zeichen setzen
wollen: dagegen, dass Eltern jeden Morgen Angst haben müssen, ihre Kinder in
die Schule zu schicken, dagegen, dass ein Cafehausbesuch zum Lebensrisiko
wird, dagegen, dass Israel in vielen europäischen Medien dämonisiert wird.
Dafür aber, dass im Nahen Osten Friede herrschen wird - ein akzeptabler und
realisierbarer Friede für beide Seiten. Dafür zündeten die TeilnehmerInnen
Kerzen an. Dafür sprachen sich alle RednerInnen aus. Unter ihnen auch
Alexander van der Bellen. Als einer von drei eingeladenen
ParteienvertreterInnen. Van der Bellen sprach von "Menschen", von "Du und
ich", von einer Israel-Reise, die er im Vorjahr unternommen hatte. Van der
Bellen unterstrich das Existe! nzrecht des Staates Israel, er thematisierte
den Holocaust und den gegenwärtigen Antisemitismus in Europa. Van der Bellen
drückte auch seine persönliche Freude über die Vitalität der Kultusgemeinde
aus. Beeindruckende Worte, die so gar nicht nach "PolitikerIn" klangen, auf
einer Veranstaltung, für die das Wort "politische Kundgebung" so gar nicht
passen mag. Oder waren das doch nur alles Lippenbekenntnisse? Beliebig
austauschbare Floskeln, je nach der politischen, sozialen und religiösen
Zugehörigkeit der Mehrheit des Publikums?

Schauplatzwechsel: Mittwoch, 21. August 2002, Grünes Haus, 7. Bezirk: "Krieg
ums Heilige Land" lautet das Motto dieses Mal. Ein religiös konnotierter
Veranstaltungstitel. Das zweite der drei grünen Sommergespräche, die unter
dem Thema "Gewalt der Globalisierung - Globalisierung der Gewalt" anregen
sollen, "über die Grenzen Wiens und Österreichs hinauszudenken" [Aussendung
R. Korbei, Landesgeschäftsführer der Wiener Grünen]. Der Blick "Hinaus"
richtete sich also an besagtem Abend in den Nahen Osten, ins Heilige Land,
nach Israel/Palästina. Erfreulich, dass die Grünen den Sommer für solche
Blicke nutzen. Weniger erfreulich allerdings, unter welchen Rahmenbedingung
diese Veranstaltung stattfand und dann vom Moderator abgebrochen wurde.Die Einladungspolitik der Grünen - und hier ist der Begriff "Politik"
durchaus angebracht - legt Voraussetzungen für den weiteren Verlauf des
Abends fest, fördert aber auch allzu tagespolitische, allzu auf den engen
österreichischen Kontext begrenzte Intentionen der Grünen zu Tage. Der Saal
im Grünen Haus ist zum Bersten voll, als Felicia Langer, Ulrike Lunacek und
der Moderator das Podium betreten. Uri Avneri war nicht anwesend,
entschuldigt. Felicia Langer und Uri Avneri - es ist wohl als Absicht zu
werten, zwei sehr umstrittenen Randmeinungen des Meinungsspektrums im
Nahostkonflikt Gehör zu verschaffen. "Wo ist die/der PalästinenserIn, die
sich ähnlich kritisch mit ihrer/seiner Seite auseinandersetzt", war in der
anschließenden Diskussion die Frage einer im Publikum anwesenden Wienerin.
Da Uri Avneri nicht kam, kam nach den einleitenden Worten der
außenpolitischen Sprecherin des Grünen Parlamentsklubs, eben Ulrike Lunacek,
ein Referat Felicia Langers. Lun! acek sprach sich gegen die
palästinensischen Selbstmordattentate aus, unterstrich das Existenzrecht
Israel, thematisierte auch die Rolle Österreichs mit seiner Vergangenheit
und Gegenwart. Als Felicia Langer die Ansichten Jürgen Möllemanns
rechtfertigte, erhob Lunacek entschiedenen Einspruch.Dieser punktueller Dissens zwischen der Grün-Politikerin und Felicia Langer
findet in einem Kontext statt, der als Konsens bezeichnet werden kann. Auf
den Einwurf eines Zuhörers zu Beginn des Vortrages, ob nicht ein vor dem
Grünen Haus parkender Bus mit der Aufschrift "End of Zionism is Peace"
entfernt werden kann, war die Antwort seitens des Podiums, dass frau/man vor
dem Haus parkende Busse nicht einfach so entfernen könne. Den im
Eingangsbereich aufgestellten Büchertisch, an dem Literatur zum Verkauf
angeboten wurde, die auch unter dem Schalgwort "End of Zionism is Peace"
subsumierbar ist, hätte frau/man schon entfernen können, hätte frau/man
wollen.Die Veranstaltung endete tumultartig. Jedoch auch ihr Verlauf spottete
gewissen Grundregeln demokratischer Diskussionskultur. ZuhörerInnen, die
während des Referates von Felicia Langer Einwürfe vorbrachten, wurden vom
Moderator wörtlich als "Störenfriede" bezeichnet und auf die spätere
Diskussion vertröstet, die an einem nicht unwesentlichen Punkt abgebrochen
wurde. Zwei Publikumsmeldungen - die eine die Einladungspolitik der Grünen,
die andere eine Aufforderung nach einer Distanzierung der Grünen von einer
eindeutig antisemitischen Broschüre des Internationalen Palästina-Komitee
betreffend - harrten einer Beantwortung seitens des Podiums, ehe die
Diskussion abrupt beendet wurde.Resümieren wir: Ist den Grünen mit einem derartigen Abend der Blick über die
Grenzen Wiens und Österreichs hinaus gelungen? Sollte er überhaupt gelingen?
Wollte frau/man eine sachliche Auseinandersetzung mit dem Nahostkonflikt?
Dazu hätte frau/man vielleicht ExpertInnen verschiedener politischer,
sozialer und religiöser Herkünfte einladen können. Wollte man die
menschlich-emotionale Komponente des Krieges in Israel/Palästina
herausarbeiten? Dazu hätte es gereicht, einem/r
"DurchschnittspalästinenserIn" und einem/r "Durchschnittsisraeli/n" das
Podium zu überlassen, "Menschen wie Du und ich" also. Oder haben die Grünen
doch eine bestimmte Meinungskanalisierung und -lenkung beabsichtigt? Anders
gefragt: Wollen sich nun auch die Grünen in die nur allzu österreichischen
politischen Untiefen hinabbewegen, in denen mit Antisemitismus billige
WählerInnenstimmen gemacht werden? Und antisemitische Zwischenrufe waren von
der österreichischen (!) - nicht von der palästi! nensischen Zuhörerschaft -
im Laufe des Abends genügend zu vernehmen.Julia Fischer, Wien

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
SOLIDARITÄT WELTWEIT
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
10 RAW NEWS - Latin America
From: rawnews@btopenworld.com
================================================
RAWNEWS - on Latin America

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
1) COLOMBIA: Plans to arm peasants raise fear of wider war - Associated
Press
2) U.S. Dollars Fund Mercenaries in Bolivia - Washington Post
3) Chavez Supporters Denounce Court Ruling - VOA News
4) Uruguay's Independence Day marked by massive anti-government protest - AP
5) Cuba offers US Help to Fight West Nile Virus - Radio Havana Cuba
6) Cold Math - San Francisco Examiner----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Plans to arm peasants raise fear of wider war: Colombia leader to use war
tax to pay farmers
By Juan Pablo Toro, Associated Press, 8/23/2002
BOGOTA - President Alvaro Uribe's government plans to arm 15,000 peasants to
support the armed forces in the fight against outlawed rebel and
paramilitary groups, Colombia's defense minister said yesterday.
The recruits will receive military training and a small salary paid for by a
new 1.2 percent war tax being imposed on higher-income businesses and
individuals, Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez said in a radio
interview. The recruitment is expected to be completed by the end of the
year.
The government is obtaining cost estimates for assault rifles, machine guns,
mortars, and grenade launchers from US and European arms manufacturers,
according to news reports. Uniforms and boots are also being made for the
mainly poor farmers, who will live in their homes and protect their own
neighborhoods.
Analysts and human rights monitors say the plan risks turning civilians into
targets of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, or
the paramilitaries.
''You are turning these people - as a legal matter, as a practical matter -
into combatants,'' said Arturo Carrillo, a professor and human rights law
specialist at Columbia University in New York. ''If and when the FARC starts
going after these people, they will not be in violation of international
law.''
The fighting pits the FARC and another leftist guerrilla group against
Colombia's US-backed military and the right-wing paramilitaries.
In theory, government forces are to back the peasant soldiers in the event
of an attack. But there are no government forces in 186 of the 1,000
counties, with just a few soldiers in 227 others.
Uribe, who took office on Aug. 7 amid a rebel mortar bombardment in Bogota,
has vowed to nearly double the number of professional police and soldiers by
2006.
Inducting peasants complements this effort, Ramirez said. ''In this way we
will achieve a greater presence, but there will also be more professional
soldiers.''
Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy in Washington criticized
the plan.
''I can see why it makes sense, because there are so few good options right
now,'' he said. ''But the probability of this blowing up in their face is
way too great.''
Rebels could also mark the new soldiers by their uniforms, attack their
homes, and steal weapons, Isacson said.
As a state governor in the mid-1990s, Uribe championed armed vigilante
groups. But they were allegedly infiltrated by a paramilitary group to
target suspected rebel collaborators.
Uribe won a landslide victory on a pledge to get tough with both the rebels
and the paramilitaries. He decreed emergency powers to impose the tax and
expand security forces.
His moves have raised concern about an escalation of the 38-year war that
has killed nearly 3,500 people each year.
''It is worrisome that we keep arming the country,'' said Ana Teresa Bernal,
director of Redepaz, a nonprofit peace group. ''The violence has brought us
to such a dramatic state.''
This story ran on page A16 of the Boston Globe on 8/23/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/235/nation/Plans_to_arm_peasants_rai
se_fear_of_wider_war%2B.shtml
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
U.S. Dollars Fund Mercenaries in Bolivia
Washington Post - June 23, 2002
U.S. Role in Coca War Draws Fire: Bolivian Anti-Drug Unit Paid by Washington
Accused of Abuses
By Anthony Faiola
CHIMORE, Bolivia -- The wary residents of this sweltering town in Bolivia's
remote Chapare jungle have a nickname for the uniformed newcomers:
"America's mercenaries."
The Expeditionary Task Force, the official name for an armed unit of 1,500
former Bolivian soldiers, is paid, fed, clothed and trained by the U.S.
Embassy in La Paz, the Bolivian capital. Since setting up camp 18 months ago
on three bases around this town of 2,000 inhabitants, the troops and their
assault rifles have become a common sight on the local highway, putting down
protests along the steamy jungle road by peasants combating a sweeping,
U.S.-backed campaign to eradicate the area's biggest cash crop -- coca.
The force, which has tripled in size since its inception, has become one of
the most contentious signs of Washington's involvement in the drug war.
U.S. and Bolivian military officials say the unit has played a vital role in
an aggressive attempt to eradicate coca from the Chapare jungle, a region
larger than Connecticut that provided the basic ingredient for almost half
the world's cocaine during the 1980s and 1990s. Although the soldiers are
directly salaried by the U.S. government, American and Bolivian officials
describe the outfit as "a group of reservists" within a regular Bolivian
army brigade and commanded by regular Bolivian officers.
But a growing number of critics are calling the force an abusive irregular
army whose existence violates Bolivian law. And the unit, described by Latin
American scholars as the first of its kind in the drug war, has been accused
of using excessive force and committing human rights abuses, including
murder and torture.
A Bolivian civil court judge issued a preventive arrest order this past week
for the unit's commander, Col. Aurelio Burgos Blacutt, pending investigation
of charges from witnesses that Burgos shot and killed an unarmed man during
a peasant protest Jan. 29. However, legal sources said the order has yet to
be carried out and the military is bringing pressure to get it annulled.
Other task force soldiers have been accused in at least four killings and
more than 50 instances of clubbings, beatings and theft over the past eight
months, according to Bolivia's human rights ombudsman's office.
The reports of abuse have been largely dismissed by the U.S. Embassy and the
State Department. "We don't believe them, the human rights allegations,"
said a U.S. counternarcotics official in La Paz, 200 miles to the northwest.
"This is not a paramilitary group, and it won't become one."
Nevertheless, the force's track record has sparked fears among Bolivian
defense experts, human rights advocates, U.S. legislators and others. Their
view is that Washington is funding a band of hired guns in an effort that
may lead to the rise in Bolivia of paramilitary groups similar to those in
Colombia, where paramilitary units have committed gross atrocities against
civilians.
"These are soldiers with no clearly defined loyalties, and a foreign power
is funding them to run around our country with guns," said Juan R. Quintana,
director of the Defense Policy Analysis Unit at the Defense Ministry. "The
existence of this force is a violation of the Bolivian constitution and our
military law, which does not permit the creation, by the government or
anyone else, of armed groups such as the expeditionary force."
Birth of the Task Force
The Expeditionary Task Force sprang to life as a byproduct of Latin
America's most ambitious campaign to eradicate coca.
After decades of looking the other way as Bolivia became one of the world's
leading producers of coca leaf and a hotbed of trafficking, the Bolivian
government, armed with millions of dollars in U.S. military aid, launched
the Dignity Plan in 1998. Unlike eradication attempts in other coca-growing
countries, the Dignity Plan gave farmers who cultivate coca no choice. The
military rolled into the Chapare region, with its base in Chimore, and
uprooted coca plants by force.
Statistically, the plan marked one of the greatest victories in the drug
war. Cultivation of illegal coca in Bolivia, once the second-largest
producer of cocaine and its by-products, dropped from 74,360 acres in 1998
to roughly 7,000 acres in 2001, according to U.S. and Bolivian officials. An
additional 24,000 acres of legal coca is grown in Bolivia's Yungas region
for traditional uses, such as chewing it to ease hunger pangs or putting it
in medicinal teas.
But Bolivian officials concede that attempts to provide alternative crop
assistance to farmers -- roughly 40,000 poor and largely
indigenous families -- did not keep pace with coca eradication. Roman
Catholic Church officials in the region say forced eradication left
thousands of poverty-stricken families without a source of income, sparking
serious malnutrition.
The result was a surge in replanting of illicit coca over the past year,
along with a violent uprising among poor farmers in what has been dubbed
Bolivia's "coca wars."
Furious and desperate, farmers began staging roadblocks on the
Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway, which handles 70 percent of Bolivia's
overland commerce and runs through Chimore. As the clashes grew more
violent, Bolivian and U.S. authorities worked together to form the
Expeditionary Task Force. The idea, officials said, was to ease the burden
on the cash-strapped Bolivian army and military police, minimize clashes
between the regular army and rebellious peasants and, sources say, provide
guarantees that the U.S. funds are well spent.
The U.S. Embassy maintains the right to vet all of the unit's members.
Salaries -- a month, about 40 percent more than a regular enlisted man's
wage -- are distributed by the U.S. Embassy through a private financial
company that hands out the cash in the jungle here once a month. U.S.
officials say the payment structure was designed to maintain better
oversight on spending but does not mean the U.S. Embassy controls what the
unit does.
The U.S. Embassy's Narcotics Affairs Section also pays virtually all other
expenses, including food and uniforms, at a total expense of about ,000 a
month. The money, handed down through the State Department's Bureau for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, comes from anti-drug
aid allocated to Bolivia by Congress.
The unit is commanded by a few dozen U.S.-trained officers who are paid
directly by the Bolivian military and report to Bolivia's high command in La
Paz. They also consult regularly with the U.S. Embassy's narcotics section
and U.S. military officials. Their mission represents the heavy lifting in
the Dignity Plan, handling the roadside confrontations with coca farmers.
"It is better for us not to be involved in the worst of the conflicts with
the coca farmers," said Col. Jaime Cruz Vera, head of the
Chimore base of UMOPAR, Bolivia's militarized anti-drug police. "We live
with the peasant farmers. We pass by them in town. They are not our enemies.
The creation of the [task force] has meant a lot less animosity between us
and the peasants, allowing them to have more faith in us."
Swift Retaliation
Clashes between coca farmers and the task force, the regular Bolivian
military and police forces have left 10 farmers and four regular soldiers
dead since September. Only one task force member has been killed, in July.
At Chimore, the unit's main base rises under a jungle canopy, a
fortress-like military compound with a perimeter wall of wooden tripod
fences and barbed wire. At the gated checkpoint, guards wear military
jackets with the task force symbol, an outline of Bolivia colored in the
red, yellow and green of the national flag, with a superimposed profile in
black of a soldier carrying an assault rifle.
A reporter invited to the base passed the contracted men dining at the "NAS
Cafeteria," a reference to the U.S. Narcotics Affairs Section. Several could
be seen sporting black T-shirts emblazoned with a slogan that, roughly
translated from Spanish, says, "I'm an expeditionary member, and what are
you going to do about it?"
Officers refused to be quoted by name, but said they were acting in the
common interest of Bolivia and the United States.
"You have to understand, in the Chapare, we are dealing with something like
the Soviet Union in the 1930s," said one high-ranking task force official.
"These are Marxists and communists, they are dangerous for both [the United
States] and Bolivia. But there's an added problem. They are also
narco-traffickers. And you can't expect all operations to go smoothly. We
are certainly not going out there looking to be tough guys. No, that's not
our way."
On Dec. 6, a typically hot summer's day in the Chapare, one of the most
severe of the alleged excesses involving the task force took place. At the
coca growers union headquarters in Chimore, a group of protesters lined
fruit along the side of the road. In a videotaped account of the event
broadcast nationwide, it appeared to be a peaceful demonstration
highlighting one of the biggest criticisms of alternative development here:
low prices and lack of access to domestic and international markets for
legal crops such as bananas and pineapples.
Soon after the protest started, task force soldiers arrived and began
seizing fruit from demonstrators. Soldiers are seen on the videotape kicking
and punching farmers as they order them back into the marketplace. The
forces can also be seen roughing up the mayor, Epifanio Cruz, as he tried to
calm the situation. Soon, the security forces began launching tear gas.
After one soldier was apparently hit in the face by a rock, retaliation was
swift. The contract soldiers chased coca farmers into the union compound.
Four shots went off. When the soldiers emerged, the local union leader,
Casimiro Huanca, 55, was fatally wounded. A second victim, farmer Fructuoso
Herbas, 34, had to have his right leg amputated below the knee after he was
shot once in the leg.
"It is clear to us that the [task force] is using excessive force and
committing severe human rights abuses across the Chapare," said Godofredo
Reinicke, Bolivia's human rights ombudsman for the Chapare region.
A State Department account of the event, in a Jan. 29 letter to concerned
U.S. legislators, stated the irregular forces were "attempting to clear the
road while it was being blocked." It said, "The crowd became one large mass
as the [peasants] continued to advance on the [task force]." Herbas, the
farmer whose leg was partially amputated, was described as having been
"wounded slightly above the ankle."
"We investigate these cases as best we can, checking as many sources in and
out of the government as we can, and we try to follow them up and update the
information as we can, so our report at any one point in time may have some
information that may not prove to be accurate," James Dickmeyer, the U.S.
Embassy spokesman in La Paz, said in explaining the difference between the
embassy's account and that conveyed by the video.
"In the case of Bolivia, I think the war on drugs is being used as an excuse
to carry out behavior that we would never otherwise accept," said Rep.
Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.), who has raised the issue with the State
Department. "Our actions in Bolivia represent a gross complacency that
borders on complicity. There seems to be purposeful obfuscation about the
facts."
Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga said in an interview that he supported the
arrangement and did not consider the unit to violate Bolivian law or come
under undue U.S. influence.
"We have the Spanish funding hearts of palm [alternative development
projects] in the Chapare, and that doesn't mean they belong to Spain," he
said. "We have the Koreans assisting in building a main highway from Santa
Cruz, and that doesn't mean they own the road. This is simply another group
in our fight against drugs. We're dealing with people who are making a lot
of money from drugs. It's impossible to be foolproof in a situation like
this."
U.S. officials and task force leaders blame farmers for the violence and
insist most incidents described as human rights abuses were committed in
self-defense. The coca farmers, officials say, are directly linked to
narcotics traffickers and include snipers and experts in booby traps who
have wounded and killed several soldiers.
As an indication of the level of trafficking in the region, officials point
to a recent anti-drug sweep called Operation Cascabel II, in which agents in
the Chapare seized 370 pounds of partially processed cocaine and uncovered
365 cocaine base laboratories. "The [task force irregulars] have been in
difficult situations," said a U.S. Embassy source who asked not to be named.
"The coca growers are not peace-loving beatniks."
http://www.puntosdevista.cafeprogressive.com/whats_new.html
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Chavez Supporters Denounce Court Ruling
VOA News - 25 Aug 2002 00:48 UTC
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has denounced the Supreme Court's decision
earlier this month not to try four military officers accused of taking part
in a failed coup against him.
Mr. Chavez addressed tens of thousands of supporters in Caracas, the
capital, on Saturday, saying the people will not accept the court's
decision. Supporters demanded the two generals and two admirals be put on
trial for what the demonstrators say was their part in the coup attempt in
April.
The high court, 10 days ago, ruled there was insufficient evidence to try
the four senior officers, who have denied the charges.
Members of the armed forces removed Mr. Chavez for two days in April after
an opposition march during which snipers shot and killed 19 demonstrators.
Soldiers loyal to the President reinstated him after thousands of his
supporters took to the streets to demand his return.
Mr. Chavez, a leftist former paratrooper came to power in 1998 on a promise
to stamp out corruption and improve the lot of Venezuela's largely
impoverished population. However, the opposition has accused him of
authoritarianism and says it wants to remove him by constitutional means
before his term runs out in 2007.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1CA61317-01C9-4BFA-
BFEDD6B4E7201C9D&title=Chavez%20Supporters%20Denounce%20Court%
20Ruling&catOID=45C9C78A-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Uruguay's Independence Day marked by massive anti-government protest.
AP. 26 August 2002.
MONTEVIDEO -- Seventy thousand people took to the streets of Montevideo on
Sunday in an anti-government protest called by left wing parties and union
leaders to mark the country's Independence Day.
Carrying Uruguay's flag, anti-government signs [including communist flags]
and union banners, the protesters gathered in downtown Montevideo, banging
drums and exploding firecrackers as a series of speakers lambasted President
Jorge Batlle's economic policies.
Jorge Castro, the leader of the country's main union confederation, said the
government had failed the country.
"We have a government that is paralyzed, that dedicates itself to carrying
out whatever it accords with the International Monetary
Fund -- policies that have demonstrated disastrous results right across the
world," Castro told the cheering crowd.
Uruguay, a country of 3.2 million which won its freedom on August 25 1825,
is now in its fourth year of a recession that has grown much worse in recent
months.
Hit by the economic crisis in neighboring Argentina, overall deposits in the
country's banks fell by a half from December 2001 to July, placing the
financial system on the brink of collapse.
To stem the crisis, the government imposed a so-called "banking holiday,"
which kept banks closed for four days and introduced a measure preventing
savers at Uruguay's two state banks from getting access to $2.2 billion in
long-term deposits until 2005.
The government has predicted a 11 percent decline in economic growth this
year and 4.5 percent in 2003, while inflation could reach 50 percent per
year in 12 months time.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Cuba offers US Help to Fight West Nile Virus
Radio Havana Cuba
HAVANA -- Cuba on Friday offered the United States and other neighboring
countries scientific assistance in fighting the West Nile virus, a
government statement said.
This year's outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus has claimed 16 victims to
date in the United States.
The official Cuba statement said:
"The West Nile arbovirus maintained in nature via a bird-mosquito-bird
cycle. It is transmitted from birds to humans and other mammals by
mosquitoes, generally from the Culex genus. Humans, the equine species and
other mammals are the virus' accidental hosts.
The West Nile virus made it first appearance in the hemisphere in the
northeast of the United States in 1999, with an outbreak of 62 recorded
cases and seven deaths. Since then it has spread to 34 states, advancing
progressively toward the south of that country. It is now present in
Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and other areas, where the highest
numbers of cases and deaths have occurred.
As is evident, the virus has come very close to neighboring Mexico, Central
America and the Caribbean, obviously including our country. In our
assessment, the fundamental risk lies in the fact that virus could be
transmitted by the 100-plus different bird species migrating from the
northern territory to the southern hemisphere.
Over 60 varieties of those birds cross different areas of Cuban territory
and many remain on our island for close to six months, independently of the
many that continue toward the Caribbean or South America, where they also
spend long months waiting for low northern temperatures to rise before
returning to their country of origin. It is precisely in the month of
October that north-south bird migration begins.
The virus is transmitted from bird to bird and from birds to humans through
the same vector, which in this case is not the Aedes Aegypti, a more
domestic species, but varieties of the Culex species, which flourish in
forests virtually everywhere.
Data on this virus, its effects and treatment are not well known. Our
country has adopted measures such as vigilance and close observation of the
presence of these birds, the level of infestation they could harbor, cases
of human contagions if any are produced, and other pertinent measures.
All potential international information is being sought and the most
appropriate steps to be taken in terms of prevention, recognition, diagnosis
and treatment are being discussed.
The Cuban government is willing to cooperate to its fullest capacity with
public health authorities in the United States and other
countries in the hemisphere in terms of research and any efforts needed to
confront this new threat to the health of the citizens of this hemisphere,
already affected by AIDS, dengue and other plagues which are threatening and
aggravating the complicated state of health of the majority of our peoples
to a greater or lesser degree.
To date, no case of Nile fever has been detected in Cuba or any other
Caribbean, Central or South American country. Nevertheless, in our judgment,
it is essential to be warned and on the alert."
Havana also offered the United States help after the September 11 terror
strikes, but Washington did not take up the offer from a government the US
State Department still officially deems 'a sponsor of terrorism'.
Sources: Granma.cu; AFP.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Cold Math
San Francisco Examiner - August 16, 2002 - 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 investors 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
theColombian 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?

================================================
11 RAW NEWS - USA
From: rawnews@btopenworld.com
================================================
RAWNEWS - inside the belly of the beast

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1) State Spending on Prisons Grows at 6 Times Rate of Higher Education -
U.S. Newswire
2) America's dirty secret - Boston Globe
3) CHILD POVERTY in U.S. RISING AGAIN - By Greg Butterfield
4) THOUSANDS DIE EACH YEAR IN THE U.S. BECAUSE THEY LACK HEALTH INSURANCE -
Jerry Isaacs
5) Oregon Protest Surprised White House - Associated Press
6) Americans losing faith in Bush on Iraq - The Guardian
7) Remembering Sacco and Vanzetti
8) US terror suspect 'beaten in custody.' - BBC
9) Independent Film, 'The Gatekeeper,' Spurs Law Makers and Human Rights
Organizations to Take Action PRNewswire
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State Spending on Prisons Grows at 6 Times Rate of Higher Education;
More African American Men Incarcerated Than Enrolled in College
U.S. Newswire - August 22, 2002
WASHINGTON: A new report shows that during the 1980s and 1990s, state
spending on corrections grew at 6 times the rate of state spending on higher
education, and by the close of the millennium, there were nearly a third
more African American men in prison and jail than in universities or
colleges.
The report, Cellblocks or Classrooms? The Funding of Higher Education and
Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men, provides state by state
analysis of corrections and higher education spending, and is the latest in
a series of reports by the
Justice Policy Institute to show the fiscal impact of the nation's overuse
of prison as a solution to social problems. Between 1985
and 2000, the increase in state spending on corrections was nearly double
that of the increase to higher education ($20 billion versus $10.7 billion),
and the total increase in spending on highereducation by states was 24
percent, compared with 166 percent for corrections. Cellblocks or
Classrooms? also reports that in 2000, there were an estimated 791,600
African American men in prison and jail, and 603,000 in higher education.
"This report underlines the sad reality that the nation's colleges and
universities have lost budget battles to the growing prison system," states
Vincent Schiraldi, JPI President and reportco-author. "With harder economic
times ahead, we need to find a way to responsibly reduce this country's
reliance on expensive prisons so that we don't bankrupt our institutions of
higher learning."
Drawing upon data from the National Association of State Budget Officers and
the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Cellblocks or Classrooms? shows that as
corrections expenditures have grown, state spending on higher education has
not kept pace with increased spending on prisons. Between 1985 and 2000,
spending on corrections doubled or tripled in most states, while only one
state doubled its higher education spending in real dollars.
As corrections assumed a larger share of state spending, the burden for
paying for college has shifted to students. From 1980 to 1998, tuition and
fees support for higher education have risen at 8 times the rate of state
support. For low-income families, the cost of paying for tuition at a
four-year institution increased from 13 percent of their income to 25
percent. Pell Grants cover far less of the total cost of tuition than they
did in the 1980s.
"The dramatic tradeoff between growing prisons and shrinking classrooms is
outrageous," said United States Students Association President Jo'ie Taylor.
"American students will not tolerate the prioritizing of unnecessary prisons
over our education. The United States Students Association opposes budget
policies that hurt students and African Americans, and demands that states
give schools the resources they need to provide fair access to education."
The progress made in improving African American access to college has been
eclipsed by the growth of the nation's African American male incarcerated
population. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the
National Center for Education Statistics, Cellblocks or Classrooms estimates
that between 1980 and 2000, 3 times as many African American men were added
to the nation's prison systems than were added to colleges during the last
two decades. In 2000, there were at least 13 states where there were more
African American men incarcerated than in college. From 1980 to 2000, JPI
estimates that 38 states and the federal system added more African American
men to their prison systems than they added to their respective higher
education systems.
"It is sad that our states are finding it easier to contribute more to
incarcerating our men and women and creating a downward spiral of poverty
and destitution rather than investing through our educational system to
create an upward spiral of accomplishment and achievement," said Hilary O.
Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. "The NAACP sees a direct
link between the spending trends of the states and the plight of African
American men today, and we are committed to correcting these misplaced
priorities."
The report suggests that states could lift some of the fiscal strain of
enlarged corrections systems by choosing new policies that would reduce the
expensive emphasis on incarceration. In the last year, a diverse group of
states in all regions and with governors and legislatures of all parties
have enacted legislation to end mandatory minimum sentencing, reform the
nation's drug laws, reduce probation and parole violations, and defund the
construction of planned prison expansion.
Cellblocks or Classrooms? will be released on August 28th, 12:01a.m.
(publishable in morning papers on August 28), and the media is invited to
review an embargoed copy of the study at www.justicepolicy.org (User Name:
COC, Password: 101). Charts covering data from all 50 states are included as
well as summaries of the key findings for the states with the nine largest
prison systems and Washington, DC and spokespeople are available from
various regions of the country.
The principal authors of the report were Jason Ziedenberg, Associate
Director and Vincent Schiraldi, President, Justice Policy Institute. This
report was funded by a generous grant from the Criminal Justice Initiative
of the Open Society Institute. The Justice Policy Institute is a project of
the Tides Center.
For more information on the Justice Policy Institute, please visit our
website at www.justicepolicy.org.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"From 1977 to 1999, the share of all family income declined absolutely for
the bottom 80 percent of the population. The top 20 percent's share
increased by 14 percent, resulting in that group's income accounting for
half of all earnings."
America's dirty secret
Boston Globe - August 16, 2002 - By Mark Erlich
THE SUMMER has been filled with images of disgraced executives being hustled
off to court by federal agents and stories about the improper reporting of
billions of dollars on company financial statements.
From Adelphia to WorldCom, the corporate follies of 2001 have altered the
portrayal of corporate leaders in the traditionally uncritical business
press. Questions of greed, integrity, and fundamental honesty have diminshed
the fawning adulation of executives as society's saviors.
The enormous compensation packages of Ken Lay, Bernard Ebbers, and others
have led to studies demonstrating that these men's standards of living are
not out of the ordinary. In 2000, American CEOs earned 531 times more than
the average worker compared with 42 times more in 1980. In fact, since the
mid-1970s, the richest 1 percent of the population has captured 70 percent
of all earnings growth.
The corporate accounting scandal has provided entertainment, prompted
prosecutions, initiated reform legislation, and punctured the myth of the
infallibility of business leaders, but a more fundamental insight is being
ignored.
America's dirty little secret is not simply the excesses of the super-rich,
but the underlying shift in economic inequality across our entire society
over the last 30 years. Since 1973, average hourly earnings have actually
dropped by 0.4 percent despite boosts in productivity and periods of
economic boom. The majority of the work force has seen incomes stagnate or
decline, and the only reason families are slightly better off is that it now
takes two wage-earners to stay ahead of the previous generation's single
head of household's earnings.
Yet even those marginal benefits have not been shared evenly. From 1977 to
1999, the share of all family income declined absolutely for the bottom 80
percent of the population. The top 20 percent's share increased by 14
percent, resulting in that group's income accounting for half of all
earnings. The loss of decent jobs overseas, the shift from a manufacturing
to a lower-waged service economy, and the political attacks on labor unions
that were in part responsible for the post-World War II trend toward
economic equality are all causes of an increasingly divided society.
While the final years of the 1990s slowed the overall dynamic, the
reconfigured American social structure still looks like a heavily
bottom-weighted hourglass with a hollowed-out middle.
Economists and journalists have been noticing these developments for a
decade, but the debate has rarely reached national mainstream political
circles. Democrats who discuss economic inequality risk losing contributions
from corporate donors and being branded as proponents of class warfare. In
the last presidential race, Al Gore promised to focus on those forgotten by
the economic boom in his stump speeches, but those paragraphs were forgotten
in the campaign's final weeks.
Ironically, it was Republican candidate Pat Buchanan's odd ''peasants with
pitchforks'' campaign in 1996 that elevated the issue for a few months and
forced Bill Clinton and Bob Dole to acknowledge the problem. Apparently
Buchanan's charter membership in the Republican right inoculated him against
charges of fomenting class war.
Too many candidates and consultants from both parties dismissively assume
that these trends only impact the poor, politically marginal, and less
likely to vote. But growing inequality is a serious problem for the vast
majority of the population of the United States, working families, and
middle-class voters - all but the top one-fifth of the nation's citizens.
The stark reality is that in 1999, real after-tax income flowing to the
middle 60 percent of households was less than it was in 1977.
As summer turns to fall, some executives may land in jail, government
oversight will be tightened, and publicly traded company balance sheets will
be more skeptically examined. The notion that the average citizen can get
rich quick by investing in companies that make no products is mercifully
going by the wayside.
American men and women will continue to work longer hours at more jobs just
to tread water financially, like hamsters running circles in a cage. The
real question is, when the attention inevitably shifts to the next big
scandal, will anyone have taken stock of what has happened to four-fifths of
the population over the last 30 years?
Mark Erlichis the senior assistant administrator of the New England Regional
Council of Carpenters.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
CHILD POVERTY in U.S. RISING AGAIN
By Greg Butterfield
For a brief period during the late 1990s economic boom, the U.S. child
poverty rate fell--barely--for the first time in decades. Politicians on
both sides of the aisle claimed the decrease as a vindication of their
policies dismantling welfare.
Now the blip is over. It's the 21st century and child poverty is rising
again. And what do the experts think is a leading cause?
You guessed it: the dismantling of welfare.
The official rate of child poverty bottomed out at 16 percent in 2000- -not
even close to the 14-percent rate of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It
rose again in 2001. The analysts are still debating by how much.
For the U.S. government to admit that you live in poverty, you have to be
extremely poor. The fact is, many, many more children actually live in
poverty. Some experts put the real total closer to 25 percent.
But some facts are indisputable. There are fewer jobs and more
unemployment. Many parents--former welfare recipients who managed to find
jobs during the last boom--are now unemployed again, with no safety net to
catch them or their kids.
Those most at risk are children whose families face the most oppression in
this racist society. In 2000 the poverty rate among Black children was 30
percent; among Latino children, 28 percent.
Compared to other big capitalist countries, the U.S. is far and away the
worst offender. Based on a poverty line that is 40 percent of a country's
median income, academics Timothy Smeeding and Lee Rainwater have determined
that the U.S. has the highest child poverty rate among the 19 wealthiest
members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Their study sets the poverty line even lower than official U.S. policy. But
that doesn't make the picture any brighter.
Using this method, 14.8 percent of U.S. children lived in poverty in 1997.
Only one other country--Italy--came close, with a rate of 14.6 percent. The
next closest was Canada, with 9.6 percent.
Contrary to the perception shaped by the government and mass media that
child poverty is exclusively an urban problem, recently released data from
the 2000 census show just how widespread the problem is.
A study of the data by the Children's Defense Fund shows that 38 mostly
rural counties around the U.S. have higher rates of child poverty than any
major cities.
In 14 of these counties--which range from the Deep South to the
Midwest--the child poverty rate is more than 50 percent.
George W. Bush's home state, Texas, had two among the 10 worst larger
cities: Brownsville, with 45.3 percent of children in poverty, and Laredo,
with 38.0 percent.
Hartford, New Orleans, Providence, Atlanta, Buffalo, N.Y., Miami, Gary,
Ind., and Cleveland also made the list.
In nine states, at least 20 percent of children were poor: Mississippi
(27.0 percent), Louisiana (26.6 percent), New Mexico (25.0 percent), West
Virginia (24.3 percent), Arkansas (21.8 percent), Alabama (21.5 percent),
Kentucky (20.8 percent), Texas (20.5 percent) and New York (20.0 percent).
The District of Colombia had a worse rate than any state: 31.7 percent.
The working class and progressive movement must make war on the billion
Pentagon budget Bush is requesting for 2003, if for no other reason than to
demand that millions of children living in the world's richest country be
lifted out of poverty.
http://www.puntosdevista.cafeprogressive.com/custom4.html
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
THOUSANDS DIE EACH YEAR IN THE U.S. BECAUSE THEY LACK HEALTH INSURANCE
By Jerry Isaacs
25 May 2002
More than 18,000 Americans die every year solely because they cannot afford
private health care insurance. This is the finding of a new study entitled
"Care without coverage: Too little, too late," which compares the health of
insured and uninsured adults in the US, where 30 million or one out of every
seven working-age people lack health care coverage.
The study, conducted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a private
organization affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences, paints a
chilling picture of the consequences of America's for-profit health care
system. More than 40 million people, including nearly 10 million children,
have no health insurance, and the number continues to grow at a pace of
about 1 million each year.
Those without health insurance are more likely to have poorer health and die
prematurely than those with insurance, the study found. Uninsured adults
received fewer diagnostic and treatment services after traumatic injuries or
heart attack, resulting in an increased risk of death even when in the
hospital. People without insurance also more often go without cancer
screening tests, delaying diagnosis and leading to premature death, the
study concluded.
Those without insurance also do not receive care recommended for chronic
diseases, like regular eye and foot exams to prevent blindness and
amputation in persons with diabetes, and lack regular access to medications
to manage conditions such as hypertension or HIV infection.
All told, the IOM study found, 18,314 people die each year because they lack
preventative services, a timely diagnosis or appropriate care. This includes
about 1,400 people with high blood pressure, 400 to 600 with breast cancer
and 1,500 diagnosed with HIV. Odds are the number of deaths is even higher.
"Because we don't see many people dying in the streets in this country, we
assume that the uninsured manage to get the care they need, but the evidence
refutes that assumption," said Mary Sue Coleman, co-chair of the committee
that wrote the report, and president of the Iowa Health System and
University of Iowa, Iowa City. "The fact is that the quality and length of
life are distinctly different for insured and uninsured populations," she
said.
The uninsured are disproportionately lower income workers whose employers do
not provide medical insurance. At the same time they do not qualify for
Medicaid, the federal health care program for the poor. Adults on Medicaid
tend to be in even worse health than those with no insurance at all.
According to the IOM study, 39 percent of those making 20,000 or less are
uninsured, while another 20 percent had their coverage interrupted at some
point over the course of the last two years. The lack of health care is also
an acute problem for those earning more. Fourteen percent of those making
between 20,001 and 35,000 are uninsured, while another 17 percent had a
recent gap in coverage. Among those making between 35,000 and 60,000, 4
percent were uninsured and another 9 percent went without coverage some time
over the last two years.
Studies monitoring the health of people who had no insurance or temporarily
lost it for a period of one to four years show that a person's overall
well-being suffers during the time they lack coverage. The decline in health
caused by a lack or loss of coverage is most profound for adults between 55
and 65 years old, the report says. Symptoms of worsening health might
include highblood pressure, greater difficulty climbing stairs or walking,
or a decline in general self-perceived wellness.
Cancer, HIV and other diseases
Cancer patients without health insurance have qualitatively less hope for
survival. Uninsured patients with colon or breast cancer face up to a 50
percent greater chance of dying than patients with private coverage,
according to IOM researchers. Uninsured adults are less likely to receive
recommended mammograms, clinical breast exams, Pap tests and colorectal
screenings. If they do it is with far less frequency.
Uninsured cancer patients generally have poorer outcomes and die sooner than
persons with insurance. "Without timely preventative screenings, diagnosis
is delay. As a result, when cancer is found, it is relatively advanced and
more often fatal that it is in persons with health insurance coverage," the
report states. Uninsured women with breast cancer, for example, have a 30 to
50 percent higher risk of dying. Furthermore, the report notes, "once
diagnosed, treatment disparities persist. For example, uninsured women are
less likely to receive breast-conserving surgery."
The study examined five chronic conditions, which highlight the inferior
treatment the uninsured receive and poorer outcomes that result. These
include:
Diabetes: Uninsured adults with diabetes are less likely that those insured
to receive the standard of care needed to monitor blood glucose levels and
other complications. Uncontrolled blood glucose levels put a person at
greater risk for heart and kidney disease and amputations and blindness. One
in four diabetics goes without a checkup for two years if they have been
without health insurance for a year or more.
Cardiovascular disease: 19 percent of uninsured adults diagnosed with heart
disease and 13 percent with hypertension lack regular monitoring of their
medical condition. Their blood pressure and cholesterol levels are checked
less frequently, and they are less likely to be or stay on drug therapy than
insured adults. Uninsured patients hospitalized for a heart attack have a
greater risk of dying during their hospital stay or shortly thereafter than
patients with private insurance. They also are less likely to go to a
hospital thatperforms angiography or other catheterization techniques, and
even if they do, they are less likely to receive such sophisticated
procedures.
Kidney disease: Uninsured patients have more severe kidney failure when they
begin dialysis and their health is often already compromised because they
did not receive treatment for anemia before initiating dialysis.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection: Without health care insurance,
many HIV patients wait more than three months after diagnosis to have their
first office visit. The uninsured wait an average of four months longer to
receive new drug therapies, and once they start medication, they are less
able to maintain the costly and complicated drug regimen. Having medical
insurance appears to reduce mortality rates among HIV-infected adults by
71-85 percent over a six-month period.
Mental Illness: Without specific coverage for mental health visits, patients
diagnosed with depression, panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder
are less likely to receive any care. Having general health insurance, even
without mental health benefits, increases the likelihood of receiving some
care.
The Institute of Medicine even concluded that victims of severe trauma, such
as motor vehicle accidents, are less likely to be admitted to a hospital,
receive fewer services when admitted, and are 37 percent more likely to die
than insured trauma victims. One statewide study showed that while uninsured
trauma patients were as likely to receive intensive care unit services as
privately insured patients, they were less likely to undergo surgical
procedures or receive physical therapy.
The IOM concludes that the health and length of life of working-age
Americans, particularly minorities and lower-income workers, would greatly
improve if they obtained medical coverage. "Like those who are now insured,
the newly insured would use preventative services more often and would be
less likely to delay seeking care, thus making early detection and treatment
of problems more feasible. The best health outcomes are possible only if the
uninsured obtain coverage before the onset of any illness or injury."
Summing up these findings committee co-chair Arthur Kellermann, from the
Center for Injury Control, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta,
said, "It wasn't difficult for us to conclude that if the uninsured became
insured on a continuous basis, their health would improve and they would
live longer."
The suggestion that health care coverage should be extended to everyone in
the US, however, cuts across the economic interests of the insurance,
hospital and pharmaceutical corporations that dominate the health care
system and is therefore bitterly opposed by the political establishment. All
but conceding this, IOM concludes that while health care insurance provides
"financial security and stability, peace of mind, alleviation of pain and
suffering, improved physical function, disabilities avoided or delayed, and
gains in life expectancy," the reality is that for "many of the 30 million
uninsured adults and another 9 million children in America, these benefits
remain elusive."
wsws
http://www.puntosdevista.cafeprogressive.com/custom4.html
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Oregon Protest Surprised White House
Associated Press - Fri, Aug. 23, 2002 - JOSEPH B. FRAZIER
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The violent demonstrations against President Bush
caught White House planners by surprise, a presidential spokesman said
Friday.
It's not unusual for presidents to be confronted by small protests when
visiting outside Washington, D.C. But demonstrations that result in the kind
of skirmishes with police that erupted here Thursday night have been rare.
"We did not have any inkling" that such protest would occur, White House
press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters.
More than 1,000 people turned out to scream anti-Bush slogans, tag buildings
with graffiti and challenge police at barricades around the hotel where the
president held a fundraiser for Sen. Gordon Smith.
Among other issues, the protesters said they were upset with Bush's plan to
relax environmental standards for logging, a possible war with Iraq, the
U.S. stand on the Palestinian question and what they called rampant
government corruption.
The group blocked buildings, and Republican donors trying to get to the
hotel were taunted and jostled. Many had to be escorted in by police, who
later used pepper spray and rubber bullets on the crowd. Six people were
arrested.
Fleischer said Bush saw the protests from his limousine when he arrived at
the hotel. The protest lasted for seven hours.
There were clues the demonstration could get nasty on the Web sites of
groups involved.
Preparations for the protest were posted on the Internet as early as Aug. 7
and continued constantly under such headings as "Tear gas canisters cause
severe thermal burns," "Bush to visit beautiful Portland in August, you
should too," and "What happens if you're arrested for civil disobedience?"
Oregon, and especially Portland and Eugene, have a long tradition of
demonstrations, and many of them turn unruly. Bush's father, former
President George Bush, used to refer to Portland as "Little Beirut" because
of the protesters he encountered during his visits.
Officials with the National Lawyer's Guild asked Mayor Vera Katz to fire
Police Chief Mark Kroeker, claiming Thursday's actions by police were
"atrocities against humanity."
Katz' spokeswoman, Sarah Bott, said the mayor and her staff were reviewing
film and videotape of the incidents. She said the primary objective was to
protect the president and that was accomplished.
http://www.ledger-
enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/3919750.htm
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Americans losing faith in Bush on Iraq
The Guardian - Saturday August 24, 2002 - Matthew Engel
President George Bush found himself dealing with an unaccustomed degree of
dissent yesterday with the publication of a poll showing growing opposition
to an invasion of Iraq and a near-riot outside the hotel in Oregon where he
was speaking. The poll results, showing a bare majority of Americans in
favour of using ground troops to attack Iraq, were published after the
Portlandpolice used pepper spray to break up a demonstration outside the
site of a Republican party fundraising rally.
About 500 protesters were ordered to move after they pushed down a
barricade. Riot police moved in, using the aerosol sprays and pushing the
protesters with batons.
The protest, a rarity on this scale in American cities in the past 20 years,
was held after Mr Bush announced his new plan to loosen controls on logging
in national forests.
The demonstrators were protesting against this policy and the plan to invade
Iraq. Some carried placards saying "Drop Bush, Not Bombs". There were five
arrests.
Electorally, Oregon is one of the most closely contested states in the
country, but Portland is a famously liberal city with a strong contingent of
activists and ageing hippies - Mr Bush's father used to refer to it, oddly,
as "Little Beirut" - and the demonstration does not necessarily signal a
return to more combative times in more typical American cities.
None the less, yesterday's events were the most visible sign of angry
dissent in the US since the initial post-September 11 activism on some
campuses was drowned by the tidal wave of patriotism.
The poll, published in USA Today, showed 53% of Americans answering yes to
the question "Should ground troops be sent to the Persian Gulf to remove
Saddam Hussein from power? and 41% against.
This contrasts with the majority of 61-31 when the question was asked two
months ago and 74-20 in November.
Some analysts believe this is still provides a satisfactory base on which to
swing support behind the president, as is traditional when war actually
breaks out.
The poll also showed that 94% believe that President Saddam either has
weapons of mass destruction or is developing them, 86% believe he is
supporting terrorist groups intending to attack the US, and 53% believe he
was involved in the September 11 attacks.
The president's own popularity rating is now 65%, still strong but no longer
sensational.
But there are growing signs of White House frustration with its inability to
take command of the Iraq argument. The president's
normally imperturbable spokesman, Ari Fleischer, has attacked reporters for
being obsessed with the subject in their coverage of Mr Bush's meeting with
his defence team in Texas on Wednesday.
"It reached an absurd point of self-inflicted silliness that goes beyond the
usual August hype," he said. "There have been meetings about Iraq in the
past, there will be meetings about Iraq in the future." This one, he said,
was not such a meeting, "and the press didn't care".
He added: "The president's opinion is the press looks silly."
This sort of attack suggests that Mr Fleischer's own iron grip on Washington
news management is beginning to falter. Given the
conflicting signals about Iraq coming from the administration, his job is
certainly getting harder, and his line has to jostle increasingly with
contrary voices.
The latest comes from Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton's secretary of state,
who told the News Hour programme that Iraq was "not a direct threat to the
United States" and that sanctions were effectively containing President
Saddam.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,779999,00.html
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Remembering Sacco and Vanzetti
In 1977 the governor of Massachusetts declared them innocent.
Under the same lynching climate, the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti 75
years ago are remembered in the U.S.
Immigrants and anarchists, were pronounced guilty of murders which they did
not commit.
JIM CASON and DAVID BROOKS Correspondents
New York and Washington - August 23, 2002
In a climate not too different than today's, after raids involving thousands
of immigrants accused of being anti-American and "extremists", Nicola Sacco,
a shoe repairman and Bartholomew Vanzetti, a fish salesman, were executed in
Boston 75 years ago today.
The anarchist Italian immigrants were charged in 1920 with having committed
2 murders during a robbery. The whole world knew that the 2 innocent
immigrants were being accused of the crime only because they were "radicals"
and foreigners in a country experiencing a wave of repression against "the
reds".
Despite the appeals, despite a recanting witness who later revealed the true
culprits, despite a trial in which the prosecutor and judge predicted the
ruling and despite world protests against the conviction, Sacco and Vanzetti
were executed in Massachusetts on August 23, 1927.
Fifty years later, in 1977, the then governor of Massachusetts declared that
the 2 men had been unjustly condemned.
As written by U.S. historian Howard Zinn in his book, The Other History of
the United States, Woodrow Wilson's attorney general, Mitchell Palmer,
launched a series of raids in 1919 and 1920 under a recently enacted law
that allowed the deportation of any or all foreigners opposed to the
government or who would defend the abrogation of private property.
Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were among the first 249 deportees.
Another 4,000 were arrested a month later, among them, a friend of Sacco and
Vanzetti, who died mysteriously in the hands of the authorities.
Upon finding out, the 2 immigrants began to organize a protest meeting in
Boston and it was said that, facing repression, they armed themselves.
According to May Brooks' book, The Other Gringo (published by La Jornada),
Vanzetti loved music, Dante and other great names in literature. He also
dedicated himself to studying why millions worked until dying in poverty
while a few lived in wealth.
He worked in the stone quarries of Connecticut, as a laborer in Youngstown,
Ohio, in the Pittsburgh steel mills and led a strike in Massachusetts.
"I learned that class consciousness was not a phrase invented by
propagandists; it was a real, vital force and those who felt its meaning
stopped being beasts of burden and became human beings", wrote Vanzetti.
Vanzetti was black-listed for his participation in a strike in 1916, sold
fish and befriended his paisano, Nicola Sacco. Both opposed the First World
War and joined a group of Italian anarchists who left the country to live in
exile in Mexico during that war. Once the war ended, they returned to
Massachusetts.
The Happiness Game
Both men participated in strikes and supported other labor causes, including
those of immigrant workers.
But in 1920, both were already on the secret list of the Justice Department
and were arrested on May 5, 1920, says Brooks in his book. The trial showed
that they had nothing to do with the crime for which they were being
charged, but were rather being tried for their political activities and
positions.
On July 14, 1921 they were pronounced guilty and sentenced to die in the
electric chair. "Son no inocente"! shouted Sacco in the court room. "They
kill innocent men!", said Vanzetti calmly.
Having all appeals failed, including the Supreme Court, popular protests
were conducted throughout the entire country and the world. Appeals for
clemency to the authorities came from important figures such as George
Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Romain Rolland, Sinclair Lewis and H. G.
Wells.
After naming the Deans of Harvard and MIT and a judge to study the case to
recommend clemency, the governor accepted the recommendation to proceed with
the executions.
The day of the execution, hundreds of thousands of persons participated in
demonstrations throughout several states and cities. Police clashed with
50,000 demonstrators in New York and thousands more gathered in Boston to
express their anger.
The night before, Sacco wrote a last letter to his son, Dante:
"Therefore, son, instead of crying, be strong so that you may comfort your
mother. And if you wish to distract your mother from discouragement, I'll
tell you what I used to do. Take her for a long walk in the peaceful
countryside, to cut wild flowers, here and there, relax under the shadows of
the trees...But always remember, Dante: do not play the game of happiness
only for yourself...help the weak who cry out for help, help the persecuted
and the victimized because they are your best friends; they are the comrades
who struggle and fall like your father and Bartholomew, who struggled and
fell...to win the enjoyment of liberty for all".
Four months before, Vanzetti wrote:
"If it had not been for this, I could have spent my entire life in street
corners talking to men who despised me. I could have died without anyone
having known about me, a total stranger, a failure. We are not failures now.
This is our career and triumph. Never in our lives we could have hoped to
have begun such struggle for tolerance, for justice, for the understanding
of man by man, as we have now done by accident...The loss of our lives, the
lives of a good shoe repairman and a poor fish salesman,
everything. That last moment belongs to us, that agony is our triumph".
Translation by Luis Martin
www.puntosdevista.cafeprogressive.com
A project of the Peace & Justice Education Project in Albuquerque, New
Mexico
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
US terror suspect 'beaten in custody.'
BBC. 24 August 2002.
NEW YORK -- A man who was arrested as a major terrorism suspect after the 11
September attacks and has been held in custody ever since has told the BBC
that he was beaten and held for months without legal representation.
Nabil al-Marabh was one of hundreds of men swept up in the nationwide
terrorism investigation. Few have spoken about their detention and none as
high profile as Mr al-Marabh.
After 11 months of exhaustive investigations, no evidence of any involvement
in terrorism has been presented to the courts. The 35-year-old, born in
Kuwait, is due to be sentenced any day on a relatively minor border
violation.
For the first eight months Mr al-Marabh was held in a special unit at New
York's Metropolitan Detention Centre, along with, he said, 40 other
detainees.
Speaking from custody elsewhere in the state, he told me he was held in
isolation and went on hunger strike in protest against his confinement in a
tiny cell.
"It was like nothing worse than hell and I did five times hunger strikes,
asking for a lawyer, for a judge," said Mr al-Marabh.
He says that he was punished for his hunger strikes, forced to sleep on a
urine soaked mattress for 10 days, without enough water to wash himself.
He also alleged that he was beaten twice.
The first incident, he said, was last November. "On 7 November they beat me,
they hid everything and then they refused to take any notes, they crack my
finger and they beat my head.
Nabil al-Marabh was just one of about 1,200 people arrested in the aftermath
of 11 September.
"I never killed anyone, I'm just regular normal person, I'm innocent. I got
nothing to do with any terrorist activities."
The Justice Department said they could not give us any details about Mr
al-Marabh's case. The FBI would not comment either.
None of the detainees, it's believed, has so far been charged with any
terrorism offences. It is clear that for the authorities,
harbouring suspicions is very different from being able to prove them.
Nabil Mr al-Marabh's case has come to symbolise the tensions between
America's need to protect itself and respect for human rights.
The human rights group Amnesty International has been investigating
allegations from a number of detainees.
It found that many individuals had been held in prolonged solitary
confinement with little legal representation. The Justice Department's
Inspector General is also investigating the treatment of the so-called 11
September detainees.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2213572.stm
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Independent Film, 'The Gatekeeper,' Spurs Law Makers and Human Rights
Organizations to Take ActionLOS ANGELES, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a string of recent screenings
of the "The Gatekeeper," legislators and human rights organizations,
including Amnesty International, are using the film to educate and implement
much needed changes to this country's immigration policy. "The Gatekeeper,"
John Carlos Frey's film about the injustices faced by undocumented
immigrants in America, is quickly becoming a voice for the issue of human
trafficking.
"We must move whatever mountains necessary," said Arizona State Senator
Scott Bundgaard.
Following the screening, Arizona state officials began pushing through
Senate Bill 1201, a bill that will make Arizona a fair labor state and
assure that all workers are paid for the jobs they are hired to do.
"Once you see this film, you will never think about the immigration issue
and the Mexican people the same way again," added Ruben Alvarez, a policy
advisor for Mexico to the Arizona Governor.
Organization Latinos Unidos (OLU), a resource center in Arizona dedicated to
uniting the 40 million Latinos that live in the United States, are using the
film as a torch to bring attention to the plight faced daily by the many
people who enter this country illegally.
"'The Gatekeeper' is the Schindler's list of the Mexican people's struggle
to survive in America," said Sonia Montero Falcone, President and Founder of
OLU.
Because of its combination of reality-based gritty filmmaking and timely
story telling, "The Gatekeeper" will help launch the OLU officially with a
screening at the organization's cornerstone event this October.
"There are people who think that 'The Gatekeeper' is extreme, but I tell
you, it's nothing compared to what really happens at our Mexico/U.S.
border," said Roberto Sanches Garcia, Chief Representative of the Governor
of Sonora, Mexico. "Americans would be shocked to learn just what is
happening in this land of the free today."
With the current strained relations between Mexico and the U.S. as well as
the increase in border deaths, the independent film "The Gatekeeper" hits a
timely mark. "The Gatekeeper" exposes the realities of human trafficking,
organized crime and the under belly of the 2,000 mile border with Mexico.
"My hope is that the film serves as a timely vehicle to expose the
injustices which continue to occur in our own backyard," adds director John
Carlos Frey.
John Carlos Frey, first time director and writer of "The Gatekeeper," was
born in Tijuana, Mexico and raised in San Diego, California. He has
personally witnessed some of the injustices explored by the film. The
project was self-financed and family supported. The film has won top honors
at both the Santa Barbara International Film Festival as well as the San
Diego Latino Film Festival and is slated for at least eight more festivals
this fall.

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================================================
12 Neu: Balkanföderation Teil 3
From: agm@agmarxismus.net
================================================
Neu erschienen:
Marxismus Nr. 20 (August 2002)
B a l k a n f ö d e r a t i o n
& A r b e i t e r b e w e g u n g
Teil 3
Projekte während und nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg
408 Seiten A5, Hochglanz, 15 Euro, ISBN 3-901831-16-9
zum Handverkaufspreis beim AGM-Infotisch (Stand Nr. 135)
am Wiener Volksstimmefest (31.8. und 1.9. auf der Jesuitenwiese im Prater)Nie kam die Arbeiter/innen/klasse am Balkan einer Machtergreifung so nahe
wie am Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Bis in die frühen 1940er Jahre waren
die Arbeiter/innen/parteien in Südosteuropa relativ kleine Organisationen,
die meist über keine massenhafte Verankerung in der Bevölkerung verfügten.
Über den Widerstand gegen die faschistischen Besatzer gelang es aber dann
insbesondere der Kommunistischen Partei Jugoslawiens und der Kommunistischen
Partei Griechenlands, zu Massenbewegungen anzuwachsen und zu entscheidenden
Faktoren in der Politik dieser Länder aufzusteigen. Das schuf eine reale
Grundlage für eine mögliche neue staatliche Föderation am Balkan.
Deshalb stehen die "Projekte während und nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg" im
Zentrum dieses dritten Bandes von "Balkanföderation und Arbeiterbewegung".
Wir arbeiten heraus, wie diverse Föderationsprojekte in dieser Phase,
besonders der Plan eines Zusammenschlusses von Jugoslawien und Bulgarien,
von den bornierten Eigeninteressen der verschiedenen stalinistischen Partei-
und Staatsbürokratien dominiert war. Hinter diesen Interessen traten
wirklich proletarisch-internationalistische Ansätze als Grundlage einer
freiwilligen und gleichberechtigten Föderation von rätedemokratischen
Arbeiter/innen/staaten am Balkan noch stärker zurück als das bereits seit
den 1920er Jahren der Fall war. Die Frage, inwiefern das jugoslawische
Föderationsmodell eine Balkanföderation im kleinen oder gar ein Ersatz für
eine Balkanföderation ist, sowie die Frage nach der Aktualität der
Perspektive einer sozialistischen Balkanföderation beschließen diesen Teil.
Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt des vorliegenden dritten Bandes ist die
Mazedonien-Frage als Zentrum und Sprengsatz der Balkanföderationskonzepte,
vor allem die Entwicklung der nationalistischen IMRO, die zeitweise einer
der bedeutendsten Bündnispartner der nationalbolschewistisch agierenden
Komintern war. Bei der Arbeit über die südosteuropäische kommunistische
Emigration in Österreich handelt es sich um die erste diesbezügliche auf
Quellenstudien basierende Untersuchung zu diesem Thema. Eine Dokumentation
über die Komintern-nahe Zeitschrift La Fédération Balkanique, ein Beitrag
über den bulgarischen Trotzkismus sowie Anhänge vollenden die vorliegende
Arbeit.
Wir hoffen jedenfalls mit unserer dreiteiligen Dokumentation nachdrücklich
auf die Wichtigkeit des Konzepts einer Balkanföderation auch und gerade für
eine aktuelle Perspektive für den Balkan hingewiesen zu haben. Gerade heute,
nach einem für den Balkan von Krieg, weitgehender Verelendung und direkter
imperialistischer Intervention beherrschten Jahrzehnt, ist der revolutionäre
Kampf für eine sozialistische Balkanföderation der einzige Ausweg aus der
Spirale der nationalen Unterdrückung auf dem Balkan.
Die ersten beiden Bände:
Marxismus Nr. 18 (Juli 2001)
Balkanföderation & Arbeiterbewegung, Teil 1
Konzeptionen der Sozialdemokratie vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg
284 Seiten A5, Hochglanz, 12 Euro, ISBN 3-901831-14-2
Marxismus Nr. 19 (Januar 2002)
Balkanföderation & Arbeiterbewegung, Teil 2
Diskussionen in der Kommunistischen Internationale
372 Seiten A5, Hochglanz, 14 Euro, ISBN 3-901831-15-0