Vancouver cops attack eastside residents (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) PV Vancouver Bureau Public outrage is growing in the wake of a violent attack by members of the Vancouver Police Department against eight eastside residents. The victims include Megan Oleson, well-known for her work in establishing the unofficial safe injection site last year, and other community activists. At about 2:30 am on Sunday, Feb. 29, the six women and two men were walking home from a show at the Waldorf Hotel on East Hastings Street. Police arrived and confronted the group, apparently after a limousine driver called to complain that someone had climbed on top of his vehicle. Asked why they were being stopped, the officers became hostile, shoving one woman and telling her to "shut up." The officers refused to respond to other questions, or provide their badge numbers. Back-up officers soon arrived and began to assault the rest of the group with batons and pepper spray., All seven received injuries ranging from bruising to fractured ribs. One woman was hospitalized with an injury to her eye and head, and four people were knocked unconscious at the scene. After a 911 call was made by a witness bystander, seven people required medical attention on the scene and at the police precinct. "I saw five police kicking and punching one woman who was handcuffed, face down and her feet restrained, she was screaming for help, and I was telling them to stop," said eyewitness Kathleen Yearwood. At the height of the police riot, there were some 30 police and 15 cars, and Hastings Street was shut down for two hours. People on the street who asked the police to stop the violence were threatened with arrest. Seven people were held in custody for 18 hours and now face criminal charges for obstruction, mischief and assault on police officers. Their first court appearance was at 9 am on March 9, as this issue of People's Voice went to press. There are suspicions that the attack may have been motivated in part because the policed recognized some of the individuals as political activists from the Downtown Eastside community. The victims are asking for public support and donations for their legal defense and legal action against the VPD. (Back) (Home) CUPE-BC creates Aboriginal council (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) KELOWNA - About 130 participants met over the Feb. 27-29 weekend to found CUPE British Columbia's Aboriginal council and to exchange views on what it needs to do to give voice to CUPE's Aboriginal members across British Columbia. "Passionate," is how CUPE BC president Barry O'Neill described the three-day event. "I personally learned much and I know others did as well. It was truly history-making for our union." About 100 registered delegates tackled the theme issue, "Breaking the Barriers," and voted on 11 priorities for the new council. These were to: 1. Develop and promote collective agreement language that addresses cultural differences, including traditional ceremonies; 2. Hold a follow-up provincial aboriginal gathering; 3. Hire First Nations representatives, including young workers, at the national and regional level and in education and communications roles; 4. Make National Aboriginal Day a paid statutory or floating holiday; 5. Lobby all levels of government on issues of concern to aboriginal workers; 6. Better inform aboriginal members about the union; 7. Help our brothers and sisters to acquire more cultural awareness; 8. Have First Nations advocates; 9. Ensure that hiring practices embrace aboriginal peoples; 10 Provide and train aboriginal facilitators for union education; 11. Inform and sensitize local union executives and staff on aboriginal issues and concerns. A working group that organized the gathering is made up of aboriginal members and staff. They will be charged with developing the council's terms of reference and dealing with the above priorities. Delegates also endorsed resolutions to carry forward this process, to go to CUPE BC's convention on April 21-24. (Back) (Home) Quebec May Day petition continues (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The campaign to declare May First a paid statutory holiday in Quebec is continuing, with the collection of signatures from organized workers around the province. La Voix du Peuple reports 124 workers out of 172 at the US-owned multinational Armstrong Company signed the May Day petition within just a few days. The newspaper interviewed Richard Godin, president of Local 8516 of the Steelworkers, which represents workers at the company. Local 8516, said Godin, while not adverse to paid holidays, would prefer to see Labour Day replaced by May First. This local had called on the former Parti Québecois government to replace the Fête de Dollard (Victoria Day in English-speaking Canada) with the Day of the Patriots, in commemoration of the 1837-1838 uprising in Quebec. PQ premier Bernard Landry accepted the proposal, and it was done. Godin points out that his local is proud of this accomplishment and says, "If we want to know where we are going, we must know where we have come from. I have always read books on the history of our Patriots as well as on the Cuban Revolution. It is certain that the history of Quebec resembles that of the Cubans in their struggle for national independence." (Back) (Home) Global unemployment on the rise (The following editorial is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Virtually ignored in the mainstream media, global unemployment was at record levels in 2003. Slow recovery in the major industrial capitalist countries meant less new jobs, and growth in developing regions like South Asia is producing no major rise in employment. Figures from the International Labour Organization indicate that global unemployment rose to 185.9 million, remaining at record levels for both men and women. Among the world's unemployed, the hardest hit in 2003 were some 88.2 million youth aged 15-24, who faced a jobless rate of 14.4 per cent. While there may be some recovery in the industrial world and growth in China and some other emerging economies, it is too early to say the worst is over. The ILO fears that if the recovery falters and hopes for more and better jobs are further delayed, poverty rates will continue to rise. Although the so-called "informal economy" continues to increase in countries with low GDP growth rates, the number of "working poor" (persons living on the equivalent of one US dollar per day or less) held steady in 2003, at an estimated 550 million. The ILO estimates that 514 million new entrants will come into world labour markets by 2015. A record number of people are moving to the major capitalist countries in search of jobs, undeterred b y the global economic downturn of recent years. As estimated 175 million people, roughly three per cent of world population, live outside their country of birth, a figure which is rising fast. In other words, global capitalism cannot provide the most basic, crucial right to much of the world's population: the right to employment. Without jobs, hundreds of millions of people are condemned to poverty, homelessness, disease and famine. It's time to toss this failed system into the trashbin of history. (Back) (Home) Palestinian rights and the struggle against anti-Semitism (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) On March 3, Umsebenzi Online, the journal of the South African Communist Party, carried a report by SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande on the recent European summit on fighting anti-Semitism. Here are excerpts from his report: As a South African one cannot but be supportive of measures aimed at combating anti-Semitism. Our own struggles against apartheid taught us the importance of fighting all forms of discrimination. Integral to our liberation struggle was the rejection of any attempt to ascribe particular forms of behaviour to groups of people simply on the basis of skin colour, culture or creed. As it happens, the South African revolution has benefited immensely from the sacrifices, dedication and vision of many ANC, SACP and trade union cadres of Jewish origin. The shining example of these South African comrades of Jewish origin makes the claims of the current Israeli government all the more repugnant. It seeks to justify its policies of occupation, land dispossession and genocide towards the Palestinian people as the defence of the aspirations and interests of Jewish people. This is a terrible blow to the legitimate struggle to combat anti-Semitism, racism and all other forms of xenophobia. It was against this background that the European Summit to combat anti-Semitism had a number of disturbing features. Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission convening the summit, skirted over some of the critical issues. In a Financial Times article he writes: "The conflict in the Middle East can also feed a form of anti-Semitism. In Europe, this conflict may fuel the social frustrations of new minorities established through immigration in many EU member countries. Such frustrations imported into Europe do sometimes translate into anti-Semitic acts, and they need to be dealt with severely." (February 19). I find this statement disturbing. It is as if the Middle East question is separate from the broader struggles to combat anti- Semitism and all other forms of xenophobia. It reduces the Middle East question in Europe to "Social frustrations of new minorities, "imported into" (an otherwise racism-free Europe?) from the outside. Indeed, no one should seek to evoke the Middle East crisis to justify anti-Semitism. But it is crass not to understand that the resolution of the Palestinian question in particular is an integral component of any action to combat anti-Semitism. Furthermore, current Middle East problems and the Palestinian question in particular, are not imported into Europe, but originate in Europe and are a direct offshoot of European colonialism. The remarks of the president of the European Commission underline the one- sidedness with which the Middle East reality is approached by many. His remarks also explain the insensitive boycott by the European Union of the Hague Court hearings on the Israeli apartheid wall. Even more disturbing was the approach of Edgar Bronfman and Cobi Benatoff, presidents of the World Jewish Congress and the European Jewish Congress. They write (in the same issue of the Financial Times): "Political expediency cannot be a substitute for moral rectitude. European leaders cannot allow criticism of Israel to serve as a fig-leaf that covers anti-Semitic rhetoric as a prelude to violence". But precisely the opposite is the case! It is views like these that use the accusation of "anti-Semitism" as a fig-leaf to justify their support for state violence against the Palestinians. This is familiar to many of us, evoking the refrain of South Africa's apartheid regime that supporting the anti-apartheid struggle was furthering the global aims of the Soviet Union and communism. It is absolutely important, particularly in Europe, given its history of the holocaust, to intensify the struggle against anti- Semitism. However, this cannot and should not be done in isolation from intensifying measures to resolve the Palestinian question and ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. In addition, anti-Semitism must be combated as part of an overall struggle against racism and all other forms of xenophobia. Racism is very rife in Europe, and most of it is not anti-Semitic. Prejudice against immigrant minorities - whom the President of the European Commission simply talks about in passing, presenting them as the outsiders who are importing the problem into Europe - is very widespread. As we write, the right wing government in the Netherlands is embarking on a huge offensive against the immigrant population of that country., A number of right-wing political parties in Europe are making political gains in elections on racist platforms directed against immigrant populations.The European Commission would have done better to have addressed anti-Semitism in this broader context of racism in various guises. In the SACP we ... believe that resurgence of old and new forms of racism is very much connected to rampant, profit-seeking imperialist accumulation. Global neo-liberal development continues to be characterized by breathtaking changes and systemic underdevelopment. Large sectors of the working class, in the North and South, are suddenly retrenched, or casualised. With ageing populations and declining birthrates in the North, there are huge flows of immigrants from the impoverished South. While right-wing, neo-liberal governments have removed capital market "barriers", much less has been done to "liberalise" the labour market. But still millions of poor workers (and skilled professionals) from the South are migrating North. Some 1.3 million immigrants settle in the US annually, an estimated one-third of them illegally. In this topsy-turvy world, remittances from immigrant workers in the North to their home countries now dwarf the official development assistance that poor countries receive. In some countries of the South, remittances account for up to 15 percent of GDP. These are some of the objective realities that underpin social tensions and emergent forms of racism and xenophobia (taking root, of course, in old colonial prejudices) in many parts of the developed world. The left and progressive forces need to intensify struggles against racism, anti-semitism and other forms of xenophobia as critical components of the struggle against the depredations of capitalism and imperialism. Most critically we call upon all left forces globally to intensify solidarity activities with the Palestinian people and their just struggle, and to pressure particularly European governments and the US to facilitate a just solution to the Palestinian and other Middle East problems. It is only through all these that anti- semitism, racism and all other forms of xenophobia will be defeated! (Back) (Home) Aristide denies formal resignation (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) March 5 - Jean Bertrand Aristide has accused France of conspiring with the United State, and says he plans to return to Haiti, according to the BBC's online edition. In a telephone conversation with Haiti specialist Claude Ribbe, Aristide stated that he had signed a document "to avoid bloodshed," but that it was not a formal resignation. Aristide emphasized that he was the victim of a coup d'etat and was forced by U.S. agents to leave the country. A March 2-3 meeting of the CARICOM countries stated that Aristide's removal is a dangerous precedent for democratically elected governments every where, and asked Washington to clarify whether it forced Aristide to resign. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher stated that there was nothing to investigate. U.S. Congress members have joined with South Africa and other nations calling for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Aristide's deposition on Feb. 29. (Source: Prensa Latina, Cuba) (Back) (Home) CARICOM statement on the situation in Haiti (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) CARICOM Heads of Government met on March 2-3, 2004, in Kingston, Jamaica, in an emergency session to consider the situation in Haiti. Here is an excerpt from their statement: The Heads of Government expressed dismay and alarm over the events leading to the departure from office by President Aristide and the ongoing political upheaval and violence in Haiti. They called for the immediate return to democratic (government) and respect for the Constitution of Haiti... Heads of Government were disappointed by the reluctance of the Security Council to take immediate action in response to appeals for assistance by the Government of Haiti. On Sunday 29 February, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1529 endorsing the multinational Interim Force to Haiti. This was what CARICOM had sought in the first place, but the decision was taken in circumstances quite different to those conceived in the CARICOM Plan since it followed immediately the departure from office of President Aristide. They expressed the view that the circumstances under which the President demitted office set a dangerous precedent (as) it promotes the unconstitutional removal of duly elected persons from office. (No) action should be taken to legitimize the rebel forces nor should they be included in any interim government. The Heads of Government also agreed that the issue of relations with the interim administration would be the subject of urgent review at the upcoming Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference. Heads of Government were deeply perturbed at the contradictory reports surrounding the demission from office of the constitutionally elected President. These concerns were heightened by public assertions made by President Aristide that he had not demitted office voluntarily. Heads of Government called for an investigation under the auspices of the United Nations to clarify the circumstances leading to his relinquishing the Presidency. (Back) (Home) Restore democratic constitutional government in Haiti (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Statement by the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, March 4, 2004 The US-backed coup in Haiti is yet another case of "regime change" which will do nothing to improve living conditions in the poorest country of the Western hemisphere. The removal of the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, means the return to power of the tiny clique of wealthy business owners and their military supporters, forces which have always brought only violence and poverty to the Haitian people. The economic hardships and political chaos leading up to the coup were fostered by the U.S., which used the deceptive claims of "abuses of democracy" by the Aristide government to withhold crucial foreign aid and loans. These events are meant to end all efforts to bring a measure of social justice in Haiti. The Communist Party of Canada condemns the coup, and the servile role of the Liberal federal government in immediately sending troops to join the US-led imperialist occupation. We join with others around the world to demand the removal of the armed gangs which have taken over the country, so that power can be returned quickly to the Aristide government. We also express our full support to calls by the CARICOM countries, South Africa and others for a full investigation into the role of the U.S. in the coup. (Back) (Home) Iraq unions condemn bombings (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The Iraqi Federation of Workers' Trade Unions (IFTU) has condemned what it calls "The coordinated slaughter of innocent Iraqis on March 2 in Baghdad and Karbala," referring to bomb attacks which killed about 140 people at religious gatherings in those cities. The London representative of the IFTU, Abdullah Muhsin, said: "this terrible mass murder will not deflect democratic forces such as the trade unions from building a new and secular society. The forces that carried out this atrocity must not be allowed to divide the Iraqi people. They shall not pass, to quote the old anti-fascist slogan." (Back) (Home) Algerian labour unions back Bouteflika (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Algeria's trade union federation announced on March 2 that it will back President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for re-election in next month's election. "This choice was made far from the calculations of politicians and with a; view to defending workers' interests," the executive of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) said at a meeting in Algiers. The UGTA, which has a membership of some four million, had supported Bouteflika in the last presidential election, in 1999. During that campaign, all six of Bouteflika's rivals withdrew at the last minute, alleging that the vote would not be fair. Bouteflika also has the support of a wing of the divided National Liberation Front (FLN) party, Prime Minster Ahmed Ouyahia's National Democratic Rally party, the Movement of Society for Peace, and the National Organisation of Mujahedeen, former fighters in Algeria's war of independence from France. (Back) (Home) Korean jobless can join unions (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Expanding South Korea's legal definition of an employee, the Supreme Court ruled on March 2 that unemployed workers can join a labour union as long as it is not a company-based organization. The Seoul Women's Trade Union had filed a case against the Seoul Metropolitan Government, demanding that the city withdraw its decision to reject the union's registration. The Supreme Court ruled that it was unfair for the city not to recognize the union because it had unemployed members. "Basic labour rights of not only those who currently have jobs but also job seekers and laid-off workers must be protected," the court ruled. The ruling will expand the scope of unions' activities to promote the interests of their unemployed members, said Lee Cheol-soo, professor of labour law at Ewha Woman's University. Until now, labour unions were focusing their goals on improving the working conditions and welfare of employed members," he said. "Since such goals do not immediately affect unemployed members, umbrella unions will have to pay more attention to the government's unemployment policies in order to attract and serve jobless members." Under the ruling, unemployed workers can join industrial and regional trade unions, but not the labour union of an individual company. They are not allowed to form a new organization of their own because there would be no negotiating partner. The umbrella unions welcomed the ruling, saying they would try to attract unemployed members to expand their movements. "We are considering exempting labour union fees for the unemployed members until they find jobs," said Kwon Young-gook, director of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' Legal Center. "We will also urge the government and employers to create more jobs." Employers said the ruling is likely to strengthen labour. "Those who have never had a job can join a labour union," said Park Chan- in of the Korea Employers Federation's legal affairs team. "That will likely politicize labour movement. Labour unions will also become more powerful with more members, and the government can't be free from such changes in its policy-making. (Back) (Home) Fifty million join India-wide strike (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The call for a general strike on Feb. 24 given by India's major trade unions and industrial federations brought about 50,000,000 workers into strike actions. The walkouts were organized to assert the right to strike which has been limited by recent Supreme Court rulings, and to protest against the economic policies of the central government, resulting in deepening poverty, growing unemployment, privatisation, and closures. The right-wing leadership of two union federations, the UNTUC and BMS, refused to back the general strike, but at the grassroots level, many of their affiliates and followers joined in. The strike became a complete shutdown in the states of West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura, where India's Communist parties are most powerful. A similar situation emerged in Assam Haryana, Orissa and Jharkhand, as workers from all labour affiliations were joined by people from other walks of life. Government employees, against whom the Supreme Court's strike ban was imposed, staged their biggest ever strike action, shutting down almost all government offices and establishments in most states. In the central government sector, most employees in the telecom, postal departments, AG office, income tax and audit offices joined the strike, braving threats and prohibitions. More than 80% of defence sector employees working in ordnance factories and depots heeded the strike call of the All India Defence Employees Federation. Strikers faced police attacks and mass arrests in many places. In Delhi's Jahangirpuri industrial area, for example, police attacked strikers with lathis (bamboo rods) and arrested about 100 workers. Of the 120,000 coal miners at nine major companies, more than 70 per cent joined the strike action. In the non-coal mining belt, (Jharkhand, Orissa and Chattisgarh), the strike was near total. Other sectors with a high level of participation included plantations, brick-kiln making, construction (both organised and unorganised), docks and ports, and the oil, steel, financial and electricity industries.   (Back) (Home) Venezuelan recall drive falls short (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) PV Vancouver Bureau Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) reported on March 2 that only 1,832,493 of the signatures presented by the opposition to authorize a presidential referendum are legitimate. The figure, announced by Francisco Carrasquero, CNE president, (was) 600,000 less than needed to force a referendum to recall President Hugo Chavez. The government's opponents have just one more opportunity to achieve their target, when the signatures rejected by the CNE are verified. According to Carrasquero, 876,017 signatures appear on controversial petition forms filled out in the same handwriting. In order to be counted as valid, those signatures must be confirmed by the citizens whose names appear on the forms. Carrasquero also announced that about 377,500 signatures were invalidated for not meeting the requirements. This includes 143,930 signatures by individuals not registered on the electoral rolls, foreigners, deceased persons, minors, and other disqualified individuals. Some 2,700 centers are to be reactivated throughout the country for the verification process. Individuals whose signatures have been rejected will be able to either confirm their petitions, or reject them if their names have been used without their authorization. This process will be directly overseen by the CNE, which will have an official at every table, along with one witness for the opposition and one for the government. Working-class sections of Caracas celebrated the announcement, which made it unlikely that the recall referendum will succeed. But attempts to create the conditions for another anti-Chavez coup continued. On March 5, Vice-President José Vicente Rangel charged that opponents of the government are trying to turn themselves into human rights champions, with the backing of the private media monopolies. Venezuela's private TV stations are repeatedly screening footage of violent disturbances staged by the opposition since late February, focusing on the reaction of the National Guard to attacks on its members, or on road blockades. In a disturbing parallel with the failed April 2002 coup, there are reports of unidentified individuals firing on the police and demonstrators at distinct trouble spots, particularly in Caracas. The apparent objective is to kill or wound enough people to sustain the media campaign against the National Guard, the Military Police and other state security agencies. This campaign includes accusations of torturing detained persons and other human rights violations, even though arrested protesters have been brought before the courts. Rangel said that more than a dozen members of the National Guard and Military Police had bullet wounds, as well as one soldier, whose life was miraculously saved by a bullet hitting his helmet. There has also been news of the seizure of rifles, pistols, silencers, grenades and flak-jackets, pointing to the intention of the most violent opposition sectors to back the disturbances and cause greater destabilization. Juan Fernandez, the leader of last year's oil industry shut-down, told the media, "The only way there will be peace in Venezuela is if the National Electoral Commission decides that there will be a presidential recall referendum." Ismael Garcia, a pro-Chavez member of the legislature, accused the Caracas Metropolitan Police force, which is controlled by the opposition mayor Alfredo Pena, of infiltrating opposition demonstrations in order to heighten the conflict. He said that numerous police officers have come forward to report on the manor's efforts to radicalize the demonstrations. Garcia added that the National Assembly would install a special commission to investigate the accusations.The Metropolitan Police, and police forces from other opposition-controlled municipalities, have refused to act to restore order at opposition barricades. Two young boys, caught on March 1 by Military Police officers near opposition protests in Altamira, confessed on TV to having received money from a man from the opposition Primero Justicia (Justice First) party, to transport some tires and gas from a nearby building, and then burn them in the middle of a street. "I did it because I needed the money for my family," said one of the boys who appeared to be very poor. Both youngsters said they regretted having done what they did. The situation was different in poorer areas. At Caricuao, a working-class neighbourhood in southwestern Caracas, a small group of individuals tried to set up roadblocks as Metropolitan Police officers watched. The protest was presented by commercial anti- Chavez TV network Globovision as "proof" of a working-class neighbourhood protesting against the President. Minutes later, hundreds of neighbours appeared at the scene and drove away the small group of demonstrators. The streets were later cleaned by the neighbours themselves. A similar situation occurred in El Valle, another working-class neighbourhood in southwestern Caracas, where hundreds of Chavez supporters drove away a small group of protestors who pretended to set up roadblocks. (Back) (Home) How Palestine's "Day of the Land" was born (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Even the most cursory study of Zionist practices in Palestine, whether before 1948 or after 1967, shows how Israel has systematically - and brutally - pursued a policy of land robbery and expropriation either through the promulgation of "laws" or resort to duplicity. To protest this process and the orders for new expropriations, the Palestinians of 1948, whose majority lived in Galilee, declared a general strike for March 30, 1976. To preempt the strike, units from the Israeli army and border police, including armoured units, were dispatched to the region, where they killed six protesters, wounded dozens and arrested hundreds. March 30th was to become Day of the Land. The rationale for the new orders to expropriate what little land 1948 Palestinians had left was explicitly defined by Israeli officials: To  Judaize Galilee. Demographically, Galilee is overwhelmingly Palestinian. Hence, according to Zionist logic, the percentage of its Jewish population needs to be increased. In addition to the confiscation of Palestinian land, the Zionist regime also planned to build armaments factories - in which Palestinians, for security reasons, are not employed - which would be moved to Galilee to (enhance) its Jewish economic base there. A Jewish State must be Jewish in all its aspects, and wherever possible, "clean of Arabs." Because of its goals, this new plan for land expropriation in Galilee became known as Yehud Ha-Galil, or the Judaization of Galilee. It was a truly racist program that aimed at facilitating the emigration of Palestinian youth from the area and forbidding their return; keeping the Palestinians busy 24-hours-a-day, struggling to make a living, so there would be hardly time for them to think about their situation; imposing stiff taxes and fines that would deprive them of financial freedom; and generally making life so difficult that there would be few Palestinians left in the area. The racist program as of March 30, 1976, for the expropriation of Palestinian land in Galilee dates, of course, to the early 1950s when Palestinian peasants as a whole were being robbed of their land at every turn, and Ben Gurion, then Israeli premier, toured the Galilee and declared in racist anger: "Whoever tours the Galilee gets the feeling that it is not part of Israel." To make it that, then, the laws introduced on March 30, 1976, had two major aims: to deprive the Palestinians of their land by means of confiscations, and to change the demographic composition of Galilee (so) as to transform it from an area with a Palestinian majority to one with a Jewish majority. The land expropriation plan was to be a multi-million dollar housing and development program. It had as its intention the "requisition" of approximately half the land owned by Palestinians in the Triangle, for Jewish apartment projects, schools and industry. That, it was hoped, would increase the Jewish population in the Galilee, ultimately transforming the area to a predominantly Jewish, instead of Palestinian, area. The general strike that was called for March 30th erupted into clashes with Israeli forces who came to the dozen or so towns and villages in the Triangle where the protests were taking place. The demonstrators set up roadblocks and fought policemen and soldiers with stones and molotov bombs. The confrontations began, in fact, on the night of March 29th, in three Palestinian villages in Galilee-Sakhnin, Deir Hanna and Arabe - between Haifa and Tiberias. Several hundred demonstrators and soldiers continued in the villages of the Triangle during the night. In a second face-off early that morning, a group of Zionist soldiers fired on a crowd in Sakhnin, killing three men and wounding several. After dawn the troubles spread to many of the Palestinian villages. The fifth fatality occurred in Tira, northeast of Jaffa, close to the 1967 borders in the West Bank, when four policemen opened fire, killing one man and wounding several. Later on during the afternoon, a 14-year-old Palestinian was shot dead during a riot in the Galilean village of Can'a. "Here in Nazareth, "said the New York Times (March 31, 1976), "a group of green-uniformed border guards appeared to panic when stones were hurled at them from roofs in the eastern quarter of the town. Shouting and waving their sticks, they charged through the streets beating any Arab they could find." At one point, the guards attacked the home of the mayor of the town, "smashing windows and doors and beating several members of his family and friends who had gathered there." All over the West Bank, a general strike was observed by Palestinians in a display of solidarity with the protest in Galilee. In Nablus, Bethehem and Jerusalem, Israeli soldiers went from shop to shop forcing owners to open their doors and resume business - and, if the owners were not there, the soldiers would pry open the doors. The plan failed. Day of the Land was born. (From the Fertile Crescent website) (Back) (Home) Coca-Killer - the whole story (The following article is from the March 16-31/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Wayne Platts, ANNCOL News Service On August 31, 2002, Adolfo de Jesus Munera Lopez was visiting his mother in Barrio el Bosque in the city of Barranquilla, the city in which he also resided and worked. It was almost 7 pm as he was approached by two gunmen and shot dead in the doorway of his mother's house. He had been sacked from his place of work in 1997, because of his trade union work for the food and beverages workers union SINALTRAINAL. In the same years several SINALTRAINAL leaders were imprisoned in Bucaramanga on trumped up terrorism charges: What did these people have in common? They all were or had been employees at Coca-Cola. Unfortunately these are not isolated incidents, but rather the norm for Coca-Cola in Colombia. Fourteen trade union leaders from SINALTRAINAL alone have been murdered since 1986, as well as the wife of one of the assassinated trade unionists. Forty-eight Coca-Cola workers have been displaced, 67 are living under constant death threats, families of trade unionists have been threatened and kidnapped, demonstrations have been violently attacked by police and union offices have been bombed. According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 184 of the world's 213 confirmed killings of trade unionists in 2002 occurred in Colombia. The repression has achieved the desired results of lower trade union membership and cheap labour. "The paramilitaries have graffitied threats and accusations against us on the walls of the bottling plants. The army patrols the buildings. There is so much repression that union workers are even followed to the toilet. One worker killed himself. In his suicide note he blamed Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola has turned from a time of exploitation to a time of slavery. Because the workers continue to resist this oppression the paramilitaries now try to kidnap family members, they've burnt union headquarters and destroyed whatever evidence (existed), so we are unable to bring a case against them," says Javier Correa, the President of SINALTRAINAL. SINALTRAINAL membership has dropped to 2,300 nationwide as a result of the repression. Paramilitaries have forced some trade union members to renounce their trade union membership at gun point. Due to the threats SINALTRAINAL membership at Coca-Cola bottling plants has fallen from 2500 to 500. In addition to the intimidation from the company and paramilitaries, SINALTRAINAL has also been subjected to repression from the state which is trying to drive through its neoliberal politics at any price. The tactics used by the Colombian government are similar to those used by governments worldwide, especially after September 11th, 2001, which try to criminalise opponents and associate them with terrorism. In 2002 several SINALTRAINAL leaders were imprisoned in Bucaramanga on the recommendations of the manager of the Coca-Cola plant there. The charges were falsified with the use of unreliable police witnesses in an attempt to link them to the left-wing guerillas. At the same time as accusing trade unionists of being terrorists the management of Coca-Cola bottling firms and the government rely on the right-wing paramilitary terror organization AUC, to carry out their dirty work. Our union is under siege. The Barrancabermeja plant manager tells the paramilitaries that we are terrorists. We have become military targets. Would-be union members at Coca-Cola now see joining SINALTRAINAL as like signing one's own death sentence," says William Mendoza, President of the Barrancabermeja branch of SINALTRAINAL. As well as trying to frighten off potential members and eliminating activists, unionists who had been sacked by the company and reinstated by the courts also fell victim to the paramilitaries. The paramilitaries act unhindered by the state security forces, with paramilitary bases often located in the vicinity of army bases with the full knowledge and support of the local commander. The politics of the ultra-right-wing government of Alvaro Uribe have a lot in common with that of the paramilitaries which are little more than the foot troops of Colombia's elite such as big business, large landowners and drug cartels. Referring to the murder of five trade unionists at Coca-Cola's Carepa plant in Antioquia between 1994 and 1996, Andy Higginbottom from the UK based Colombia Solidarity Campaign, says: "Colombia's current president Alvaro Uribe Velez was governor of Antioquia at the time. And in many ways the Carepa case exposes the sort of policies that he is attempting to now implement nationally." When Alvaro Uribe was governor of the Antioquia department, he helped set up "self-defense" groups, the CONVIVIR, which later developed into right-wing paramilitary death squads. According to Higginbottom, the only difference now is that being president he can introduce his plans on a national scale. It seems that Coca-Cola will go to any lengths to stifle union activity. As  ludicrous as it may sound, union activist Rick Bronson, of the Teamsters union in the USA was sacked recently for drinking a can of Pepsi-Cola at work. The company is accusing him of slander against their own product. "Coke is really clutching at straws on this one," commented Jim Santelango, principle officer of the Teamsters local 848, which has filed for unfair dismissal. A one-year boycott of Coca-Cola products from July 22, 2003, was agreed on at a series of public tribunals held in 2002 by trade unionists in the US, Belgium and Colombia (Coca-Cola was invited but declined to attend). Coca-Cola is admittedly not the only culprit, but it is to be made an example of so that firms like Nestle which have a similar policy of profits first, people last will rethink what they are doing. A similar boycott was called in the 1970s and 1980s in response to the six murders and four disappearances of trade unionists in Guatemala. As a result Coca- Cola terminated business with the offending firms. "We are absolutely convinced as a factual matter that one word from Coca-Cola would stop the campaign of terror against trade union leaders in the Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia," comments Terry Collinsworth, Executive Director of the US-based International Labor Rights Fund. SINALTRAINAL's demands include: no more assassinations, that Coca- Cola prints a memorium of the murdered workers on its products, pays full reparations to the victims' families and supports and annual forum on human rights. "When you drink Coca-Cola remember that you are contributing to a process which sows unemployment, hunger and pain. The young, happy image projected by Coca-Cola masks the suffering and the return of profits from Colombia to the US. We ask Coca-Cola to stop killing and you to stop drinking Coke," says Carlos Juka, SINALTRAINAL leader. (Back) (Home)