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.
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.
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."
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.
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!
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)
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.
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, 2004The 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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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