>Date: 24 May 2000 11:49:45 -0000 > >STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM > >Date sent: 24 May 2000 06:06:34 -0000 >To: RCPB(ML) WDIE Mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "RCPB(ML)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: WORKERS' DAILY INTERNET EDITION Year 2000 No. 88, May >24 > >================================================================== >The following message was received at [EMAIL PROTECTED] >and is being forwarded automatically to you. >================================================================== > >WORKERS' DAILY INTERNET EDITION Year 2000 No. 88, May 24 (Text) >Daily On Line Newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain >(Marxist-Leninist) >170, Wandsworth Road, London, SW8 2LA. Phone 020 762 70599 >Web Site: http://www.rcpbml.org.uk >e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Workers' Daily Internet Edition Year 2000 No.88 can be viewed at: >http://www.rcpbml.org.uk/ww2000/d00-88.htm > >Article Index : > >1) British Government���s Criminal Involvement in Sierra Leone > >2) British and US Warplanes Continue to Bomb Iraq > >3) Disabled People March For Freedoms > >4) Reclaim Life! Action on Human Genetics > >5) For a Reunified and Independent Korea > >6) Florence Says No to the NATO Summit! > > >Subscription Rates (Cheques made payable to Workers' Publication >Centre): >Workers' Weekly Printed Edition: 70p per issue, #2.70 for 4 issues, #17 >for 26 issues, #32 for 52 issues (including postage) >Workers' Daily Internet Edition sent by e-mail daily (Text e-mail ): 1 >issue free, 6 months #5, Yearly #10 > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >1) British Government���s Criminal Involvement in Sierra Leone > >According to the statement made by the Defence Secretary, Geoffrey Hoon, >on May 23, one of the British government���s main long term aims in Sierra >Leone is to make sure that the government of Sierra Leone is in control >of the diamond producing areas of the country. > >In order to realise this aim, the British government is taking measures >to make sure that the government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, which was >originally brought to power with British military assistance, has the >necessary means to remain in power. To this end the Defence Secretary >announced that a British-dominated International Military Assistance >Training Team will soon arrive in Sierra Leone, to build what he >referred to as "a new effective and democratically accountable Armed >Forces and Military of Defence". At the same time it was also announced >that the British government will be supplying this new army with "stocks >of light weapons and ammunition" and that these will be "under the >supervision of British officers". Geoffrey Hoon concluded by stating >"what we are now setting in place are the arrangements for our >continuing support to the Government of Sierra Leone." > >But he might have added that these are precisely the arrangements for >Britain to continue to interfere in the affairs of Sierra Leone and >indeed provide the pretext to intervene more widely throughout the >region. Through these "arrangements" the British government will >continue to intervene in Sierra Leone���s internal affairs and bolster its >armed forces as a means to facilitate continued interference in the >economic and political life of a country that became Britain���s first >colony in Africa nearly two centuries ago. Hoon���s statement also makes >it clear that the government���s main concern in Sierra Leone is the >control of that country���s great mineral wealth. Sierra Leone is one of >the world���s leading diamond producers and in the past British monopolies >such as De Beers and BP have both sought a stake in this profitable >field. > >Britain���s intervention in Sierra Leone is continually presented as one >of "humanitarian concern" undertaken for the worthiest of motives. But >not only is there no mandate for such interference in the affairs of a >sovereign country. The fact is that Britain has been and is involved up >to the hilt in creating these tragic situations which it then utilises >as pretexts to intervene from some high moral pedestal. Its foreign >policy is one of "enlightened self-interest", and the pursuit of >"universal values", under which it pursues its geo-political interests >and the interests of the monopolies. For this there is and can be no >justification. > >What is becoming clearer is that British intervention is undertaken for >the most sordid of motives and far from being brought to an end, as the >government claims, is daily being made more permanent. The government is >fully engaged in a new "Scramble for Africa" and is putting into place >arrangements that will allow it to continue to interfere in its former >colonies and throughout Africa in the interest of the monopolies. This >criminal interference must be condemned. > >End Item > > > > > >2) British and US Warplanes Continue to Bomb Iraq > >British and US warplanes are continuing their criminal and inhuman >bombing of Iraq on practically a daily basis. > >On Monday, May 22, they attacked Iraqi sites in the north and south. The >US, as is customary, claimed that these were military sites and that >their aircraft had come under Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery fire in the >no-fly zones. > >The "no-fly zones" are completely unauthorised in any international >forum or by international law, and Iraq justly does not recognise these >zones. > >Recently Iraq has asked the Arab League to exert pressure on Britain and >the US to stop this aggression. The Foreign Minister of Iraq has pointed >out that between May 8-14 for example, British and US planes carried out >12 armed sorties from bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In addition, >some 40 British and US planes are based at Incirlik in Turkey to patrol >the northern "no-fly zone". > >End Item > > > > >3) Disabled People March For Freedoms > >The Disabled People���s Direct Action Network (DAN) is organising its 12th >National Action from Thursday, May 25, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The >action will culminate with a march on Saturday, May 27, starting at the >Monument, Newcastle at 12 noon. The organisers say that they will be >aiming their action at government and local authorities and putting >forward several demands. > >In a leaflet issued by DAN they point out that disabled people will no >longer accept living in institutions and that no more should people >accept grandfathers and grandmothers being asked to sell their homes >that they have worked for to be put into institutions. They call on the >people of the North East to march for all their freedoms, those that are >disabled and those yet to become disabled. The leaflet puts forward a >demand for affordable accessible housing and services run by disabled >people which give everyone the choice to live in their own home. DAN >points out: "We want everyone to receive the assistance they need when >they need it, how they need it." The leaflet opposes the charges by >local authorities for services to disabled people and demands an end to >all the barbarian practices of the ruling circles towards disabled >people. > >End Item > > > > >4) Reclaim Life! > >Action on Human Genetics > >International Centre for Life >Saturday, May 27, 10.00 am > >A protest has been organised to coincide with the opening of the Life >visitors attraction at the International Centre for Life in Newcastle. >The rationale behind the action is that this Disneyesque visitors >attraction has been created to represent the interests of the biotech >global monopolies and is aimed at spreading disinformation to demobilise >people to the dangers that these monopolies are creating in the field of >genetics. > > >End Item > > > > >5) For a Reunified and Independent Korea > >The May 2000 Bulletin of CILRECO, "For a reunified and independent >Korea", has been published. CILRECO is the International Liaison >Committee for Reunification and Peace in Korea. We reproduce below the >lead article: The Holding of A Historic Summit between the North and the >South in Pyongyang Next June Raises Hope throughout the Korean Nation > >Following the invitation of the DPRK's leader Kim Jong Il, the President >of South Korea, Kim Dae Jung, will be visiting Pyongyang from June 12 to >14 for a meeting described by both parties concerned as historic. > >The goal of this summit, according to a joint communiqu��, is to >encourage national reconciliation, unity, co-operation and exchange, >peace and reunification. The entire Korean nation is extremely hopeful >about this historic meeting, as are many governments who think that it >might help putting an end to "the state of confrontation in Korea, that >stems from the cold-war". > >CILRECO is very happy about this summit and hopes that it will be a >decisive turning point in the relations between the North and the South, >making way for the peaceful and independent reunification of Korea, >which the Korean people have been longing for. > >CILRECO wishes that these hopes be fulfilled, and that the two parties >concentrate during this meeting on the reunification of the country and >peace in the peninsula, matters which are of vital importance to the >Korean nation. > >That is why CILRECO regrets the launching of yet another defamatory >media campaign against the DPRK, which started immediately after the >announcement of the summit, and is packed with false information on the >1950-1953 war and events and facts related to the relations between the >North and the South and socialist Korea's reunification policy, all in >order to substantiate the thesis according to which the DPRK is to blame >if the talks fail. > >The real question is not to forecast whether the North or the South >would benefit from this meeting, where there would be no winners or >losers, but to do everything possible to have the one and only winner: >the Korean nation. > >The goals of this campaign are obvious, insofar as it serves the >interests of those who are hostile to the sovereign reunification of >Korea, because it would call in question their strategy of hegemony in >the region. > >On the eve of this summit, more than ever before, all progressive and >peace-loving forces must be vigilant and active, and demand a positive >outcome in the interest of the Korean nation, international security and >peace in the region. > >End Item > > > > >6) Florence Says No to the NATO Summit! > >WDIE has received the following information on the NATO summit. > >On May 24 and 25, NATO will hold a summit meeting in Florence, a city >declared to be an "Operator for Peace", with a gold medal for its >Resistance against the Nazi/Fascists in World War II. > >In this highest-level meeting, the NATO Alliance intends to further >define its strategies with regards to various areas of the world (the >Balkans and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa), the >reorganisation in a more explicitly offensive way of its military >apparatus, and its expansion to the East. > >The NATO military alliance which, as in the past, continues to be an >instrument of aggression against national sovereignty and of >interference in the internal political affairs of member states, as well >as a constant threat to peace, is today in a process of transformation >of its role and its military apparatus to adapt itself to the growing >requirements of capitalist dominion in its contemporary form: "the free >market." > >It is in this sense that the Treaty of Washington of April 1999, also >signed by the Italian government, must be understood, in which NATO >formally arrogates to itself the right to intervene everywhere and >anywhere in support of the new world order, as demonstrated in the war >against Yugoslavia. > >War is thus established and increasingly reconfirmed as a concrete >possibility, practicable and in fact practised, as a major and decisive >instrument for the imposition of the "free market." > >For this reason there is an evident connection between the struggles >against wars of aggression, against the presence of NATO's military >bases, against militarism, and against the embargoes, with the struggles >in the North and South of the world which are rising up against the >sanctuaries of capitalism (WTO, IMF, World Bank), against temporary >labour and "flexibility", against exploitation and poverty, for social >and citizenship rights, for the right to a decent life and future, for >the liberation of peoples. > >The forces organising this mobilisation express their opposition to the >holding of the NATO summit in Florence and call on the entire population >to boycott and mobilise against this unacceptable provocation. > >WEDNESDAY 24 MAY > >DAY OF MOBILIZATION AGAINST NATO > >concluding with a DEMONSTRATION >meeting point: PIAZZA SAN MARCO > >5:30 p.m. > > >End Item >-- >To contact RCPB(ML) by e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >RCPB(ML) Home Page: http://www.rcpbml.org.uk > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >______________________________________________________________________ >Advertisement: >15% off Ashford Collection jewelry for Mother's Day! 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