> > > WW News Service Digest #108 > > 1) June 10 war crimes tribunal > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Australia: 250,000 march against racism > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) Haiti: Progressives score election victory > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the June 8, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >JUNE 10 WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL: >WHY YOU SHOULD HELP PUT WASHINGTON ON TRIAL > >By Leslie Feinberg > >You may be organizing against racism and police brutality, or the >World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund. To oust the >Navy from Vieques or to challenge the brass on their anti-gay witch >hunts against GIs. To send Eli n home or to wrest more funds for AIDS >research and treatment. > >No matter what just struggle you devote your time and energy to, >it's important to make transportation and housing plans now in order >to take part in the International Tribunal on U.S./NATO War Crimes >that will take place June 10 in New York. > >The tribunal takes place on the anniversary of the U.S.-led NATO >occupation of Kosovo, which came after merciless bombing raids took a >devastating human and economic toll. > >This international gathering has a very specific, significant >purpose. It will expose how U.S. leaders in Washington and the >Pentagon organized a media propaganda blitz to win the backing of the >population here for this war of aggression. > >In order to lay bare the real truth behind the big-business war >coverage, the international gathering will amass gripping expert >testimony and analysis, video and slide displays, and written >material. > >But the event won't just put the imperialist generals and >politicians in the defendant's docket in absentia. It's so important >to be a part of this international gathering because it will help >initiate and organize a worldwide movement against U.S.-NATO wars. > >Whether you cut your activist teeth on the movement to challenge the >bombing sorties against the peoples of Yugoslavia or marched against >the napalming of adults and children in Vietnam, this is the next >stage of the living anti-war movement that will battle the generals, >admirals and war-profiteers of U.S. imperialism. > >Even if the Pentagon guns aren't blazing at this moment, history has >demonstrated time and again that the U.S. and other imperial powers >use times of so-called peace to prepare for future outbreaks of war. > >War is a continuation of politics by other means, explained Karl von >Clausewitz--one of the most important writers on military strategy >whose ideas had a broad impact on the 19th and 20th centuries. > >And what is politics? It is the distillation of economics. > >It is the capitalist economic system--a profit-driven machine--that >determines the political objectives of the wealthy elite class and >their antagonistic relationship to the laborers and oppressed. The >capitalist class's domestic and international policies are two sides >of the same gold coin. Therefore it is impossible for these rulers to >conduct a war abroad without also conducting a war at home. > >And so the fight against this two-pronged war must unite all those >under siege here with those under the gun around the world. > >That is why this tribunal will have great consequence for those >involved in other battles against the capitalist state--whether it's >struggles against the police occupation of oppressed communities, >unjust courts or slave labor in the prison-industrial complex. And >this movement can demand money for jobs, housing, health care, >education and child care--not for wars that facilitate the >untrammeled drive for profits and geopolitical domination. > >IT'S TIME FOR PEOPLE'S JUSTICE > >The United States has orchestrated its own war crimes tribunal after >the devastation it wreaked in Kosovo. While the tribunal, set up in >The Hague in 1993, is officially under United Nations jurisdiction, >Washington really runs the show. > >The very governments whose armies now occupy Kosovo handpicked the >judges passing down indictments. According to UN records, two-thirds >of the tribunal prosecutor's staff come from the U.S. government. In >fact, Washington has virtually dictated the tribunal's agenda. > >The tribunal doesn't follow recognized international law and >procedure. Former New York Times reporter David Binder acknowledged, >"Critical jurists have pointed out that in its structure the tribunal >had little to do with genuine legal principles or practices." (The >South Slav Journal, v. 16, No. 61-62, Autumn-Winter 1995) > >The purpose of the tribunal is to blame the victims--to declare >Yugoslavia's leaders war criminals. This is the fig leaf that is >supposed to cover up the imperialist powers' crimes against peace and >war crimes. > >In carrying out this whitewash of the real crimes, these jurists at >The Hague play much the same role as the court in Albany, N.Y., that >exonerated four white cops after they gunned down unarmed African >immigrant Amadou Diallo in a volley of 41 shots. > >It's time for people's justice--from Albany to Pristina. > >And on June 10 in New York, the International Tribunal on U.S./NATO >War Crimes will take the step to build a far-reaching people's >movement to carry out that people's justice. > >Be a part of this historic tribunal and the movement it will help >generate. > >The tribunal will take place at the Martin Luther King High School >Auditorium at 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The program runs from >11 a.m. sharp to 7 p.m.; doors open at 10 a.m. For more information, >readers can call the International Action Center at (212) 633-6646. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > >Message-ID: <012f01bfd019$74f709d0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Australia: 250,000 march against racism >Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 20:43:54 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the June 8, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >AUSTRALIA: 250,000 MARCH AGAINST RACISM > >By Greg Butterfield > >On May 28, at least 250,000 people marched in Sydney, >Australia, in support of a treaty acknowledging the rights >of Aboriginal peoples. The protesters also called on Prime >Minister John Howard to make a formal apology for decades >of racist abuse of the country's Indigenous population. > >"It sends a clear message to the government," said Evelyn >Scott, a chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation >who is of Indigenous descent. "It's the people's movement." >(News.com.au, May 29) > >Black, Asian, Pacific Islander and white protesters >marched two-and-a-half miles across the Sydney Harbor >Bridge, virtually shutting down Australia's largest city >for nine hours. Many carried the red, yellow and black >Aboriginal flag. Overhead airplane sky writers spelled out >the word "sorry." > >"Sorry" refers to the demand of Aboriginal people and >Torres Strait Islanders for a government apology for the >kidnapping of more than 100,000 Indigenous children between >1910 and 1970. The children were torn away from their >families and placed in white homes. > >Aboriginal people make up about 386,000 of Australia's 19 >million people. Like Native people in the United States, >they have been subject to genocide by a white settler >regime. They are the poorest sector of society, the most >likely to lack health care, and the most likely to be >thrown into jail. > >The movement grew out of the response to a 1983 police >killing. John Pat, a 16-year-old Aboriginal youth, was >brutally killed by five cops in rural Roebourne. The police >were acquitted of all charges and returned to duty. > >Public outrage caused the Australian Parliament to create >a Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1991. The >council was charged with "healing the racial rift of two >centuries." More than 200 public hearings were held >throughout the 1990s. > >The result of the council's work is the "Declaration >Towards Reconciliation," which calls for the adoption of a >treaty recognizing Aboriginal rights, culture and history >as a first step toward "a united Australia that respects >this land of ours . and provides justice and equity for >all." > >Indigenous organizations pre sented the treaty May 27 at a >rally called Corroboree 2000, after the Aboriginal word for >"sacred ceremony." > >Prime Minister Howard's Conservative government has >rejected the idea of a treaty. "A treaty is not something >very appealing to the government because it implies two >nations," Howard told the Sydney Morning Herald. > >When Howard appeared at Corroboree 2000, he was roundly >booed. Hundreds turned their backs on him and chanted, "Say >you're sorry, prime minister." > >Australia's imperialist ruling class, a junior partner of >Washington and London, does not want to acknowledge the >existence of an oppressed nation within its borders, just >as the U.S. ruling class refuses to acknowledge that >African Americans are an oppressed nation. Austrailia is >aggressively intervening in Timor, Fiji, Cambodia and other >oppressed Asian-Pacific lands under the guise of upholding >"human rights." > >Howard will be hard-pressed to keep up this fa�ade. Sydney >hosts the Summer Olympics this year, and Aboriginal groups >and their allies have promised to use the world media >presence to focus attention on their struggle. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > >Message-ID: <013501bfd019$a878ebc0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Haiti: Progressives score election victory >Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 20:45:20 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the June 8, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >HAITI: PROGRESSIVES SCORE ELECTION VICTORY > >By G. Dunkel > >The people of Haiti surprised many political observers >when they turned out en masse May 21 to vote in elections >for parliament and local offices. Of those registered, at >least 60 percent voted--and they cast their ballots >overwhelmingly for the "Family Lavalas" party of former >President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. > >Early results showed Lavalas winning 14 of the 27 seats in >the Senate. It was seen as a preview of what will happen in >November's presidential election. > >The whole system of registering voters and counting their >ballots was designed, implemented and financed by the >Agency for International Development, an agency of the U.S. >government, through the International Foundation for >Electoral Systems. The election had originally been >scheduled for the spring of 1999. > >While bourgeois Haitian politicians had engaged in a >tremendous amount of finagling and maneuvering, the delays >and chaos so amply reported in the U.S. press should be >laid on IFES and the U.S. government. At least one Haitian >political party, the grassroots-based National Popular >Party, refused to participate because the elections were >under the control of a foreign power. > >The U.S. government wants a parliament it can use to >hobble Aristide after his expected victory in the >presidential election in November. A complex registration >system designed by IFES was expected to diminish the vote, >especially of the poorest masses. > >The high turnout foiled this strategy. However, the final >vote totals have not yet been announced, since all the >tallying is done by hand. > >In the southwest area of Grand'Anse and the island of >Gonave, where there had been a lot of political struggle >over the composition of the electoral boards and who would >administer and count the vote, the elections were postponed >until May 28. Run-offs will take place sometime in June. > >It is very possible that there could still be vote >rigging. However, if charges of fraud and violent >intimidation flood the U.S. press, it will be because the >ruling class here wants to invalidate a win for Lavalas-- >not out of concern for democracy. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
