> WW News Service Digest #205 > > 1) Students sit in against prisons > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Immigrants step up fight from sweatshops to streets > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) Protests disrupt EU summit > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) 10 billion is so little > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 5) Workers around the world: 12/21/00 > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 6) In search of history: Koreans fight to lift the veil > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >ITHACA, BUFFALO STATE: STUDENTS SIT IN AGAINST PRISONS > >By Sarah Sloan > >On Dec. 5, hundreds of Ithaca College students took over the >school's Office of Admissions to protest corporate >investment in privately owned U.S. prisons. Seven students >maintained a 34-hour sit-in. Others, locked outside by the >administration, remained to support them. > >On Dec. 7, over 100 Buffalo State College students and >community members rallied for the same demand. Forty >students occupied an administration building for two hours >until they won a meeting with the college vice-president. > >Ithaca College, Buffalo State College and over 500 other >colleges and universities hold food service contracts with >Sodexho-Marriot. Sodexho-Marriot makes $1.2 billion annually >from these contracts. > >According to press releases issued by the students, 48 >percent of Sodexho-Marriot is owned by Sodexho-Alliance, a >French transnational corporation. Sodexho-Alliance is one of >the world's largest investors in private prisons in the >U.S., England and Australia. It is the single largest >investor in Corrections of America, a corporation that owns >private prisons. > >These students are demanding that their colleges break their >contracts with Sodexho-Marriot. Plans are set for an April 4 >Day of Action. > >At Ithaca, more than 24 hours into the occupation, the >executive assistant to the president of Ithaca College >forcibly removed one protester. A few hours later, 12 more >students began a sit-in at Alumni Hall in solidarity with >the initial action. > >Late on the second day, Ithaca College's president agreed to >meet with students. The college granted four of their >demands: student participation in the college's review of >its contract with Sodexho-Marriot; a meeting with the >trustees to discuss the contract; a community forum >sponsored by the college to discuss the issue of private >prisons, and a letter addressing student concerns written >personally by the president to the corporation and the >college community. > >The Ithaca College president has been flooded with letters >of support for student demands. > >'BLOOD MONEY' > >Workers World spoke with Kevin Pranis, a board member of the >Prison Moratorium Project who took part in the Ithaca >College sit-in. Pranis reported that more than 50 campuses >have taken up a campaign against their colleges' contracts >with Sodexho. > >"These sit-ins are part of a growing movement against >private prisons, corporate investment in them and prison >expansion in general," said Pranis. "This involves prison >activists, students of color organizations, the anti- >sweatshop movement and student-labor activists." > >Monica Moorehead, WWP presidential candidate and a leader of >Millions for Mumia and the International Action Center, >explained: "These investments are very similar to the U.S. >investments made into the South African apartheid system. >These investments helped to strengthen and sustain the >extreme system and conditions of racism for millions of >oppressed Black South Africans. > >"The same holds true of the investments in prisons," she >continued. "This blood money that strengthens the slave >labor for super-profits inside the prisons threatens the >livelihood of every worker who is attempting to make a >decent wage." > >In addition, "Slave labor inside these prisons constitutes >cruel and unusual punishment and needs to be opposed on >every level--including by presidents of colleges and >universities who are concerned with humanitarian issues. " > >Moorehead concluded, "Instead of building prisons, those >monies should be put into building universities to insure >that everyone receives a decent education." > >- 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: <027801c06957$f2c2d560$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Immigrants step up fight from sweatshops to streets >Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 20:06:41 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >IMMIGRANTS STEP UP FIGHT FROM SWEATSHOPS TO STREET > >By Tony Murphy >New York > >The movement for immigrants' rights based in New York's >Latino community picked up steam in early December with a >rapid-fire series of demonstrations that targeted >sweatshops, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and anti-immigrant >oppression. > >On Dec. 6, the Mexican American Workers Association (AMAT) >joined forces with the Community Labor Coalition and UNITE >Local 169 to protest one of New York's "green" sweatshops-- >greengrocer delis that practice low-wage exploitation of >workers, the vast majority of whom are Latino. > >A throng of over 100 supporters with Mexican flags, puppets >and whistles gathered in front of East Natural, one of the >delis being boycotted by the coalition. > >The anti-sweatshop forces led by AMAT, the CLC and UNITE >included the International Action Center, the Rainforest >Action Network, a legal monitor from the National Lawyers >Guild, students from neighboring New York University and >Parsons School of Design, and elected officials, including >New York City Council members Margarita Lopez and Christine >Quinn and New York State Assembly member Deborah Glick. > >This two-year-old anti-sweatshop boycott campaign has led to >eight delis signing union contracts with Local 169. The >boycott of East Natural and its affiliate stores, Abbigail >and Soho Natural, is entering its sixth month. Though the >bosses have refused to recognize the union chosen by the >workers, they are feeling the pressure of the boycott >campaign. East Natural's business has decreased by about 60 >percent and the Dec. 6 demonstration increased community >awareness and support. > >That night Local 169 joined over 2,000 people at an annual >New York anti-sweatshop rally, part of the National Labor >Committee's boycott campaign that has attracted national >attention and embarrassed celebrities who sponsor clothing >lines made in maquiladoras. Organizers are now focusing >attention on Kohl's, a Long Island-based company that sells >jeans made by workers in Nicaragua who are paid 53 cents an >hour. > >On the following Sunday, Dec. 10, many from the greengrocer >boycott coalition joined AMAT and two busloads of marchers >from the Mexican community for the annual Mexican Workers >Day march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall. This >rally called for equal rights for immigrant workers and the >official recognition of Dec. 12--a religious holiday in the >Mexican community--as a holiday for Mexican workers. Many >came on their only day off work to participate. > >Giuliani's police created another struggle by denying >permits for the Dec. 12 religious procession for the feast >of the Virgin of Guadeloupe for the third straight year. >Despite massive, traffic-clogging marches for the New York >Yankees and others, Giuliani refused permits for this annual >procession, organized by the immigrant rights group the >Tepeyac Association, which brings out hundreds from the >Mexican community. > >In 1998 and 1999 the city's attempts to deny march permits >were reversed. This year, organizers converted the >procession into a protest march on the city sidewalks. >"There are other groups--rich groups--who get their permits >for whatever they want," said Jose Magellan Reyes, Tepeyac's >executive director. "This for us is a fight." > >- 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: <028001c06958$1259fde0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Protests disrupt EU summit >Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 20:07:34 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >RIVIERA RATTLED: PROTESTS DISRUPT EU SUMMIT > >By G. Dunkel > >Mass, militant and stormy protests greeted the opening of a >meeting of the European capitalists in Nice, France, Dec. 7. > >The meeting was called to plan how to expand the European >Union from its current 15 members to 27 countries, including >most of the formerly socialist countries of Eastern Europe. >The meeting issued a final communiqu� in the wee hours of >Dec. 11. > >This was the longest meeting of the European Union ever >held. Its length testified to the intensity of the economic >and political interests involved in nearly doubling the size >of the EU. > >Nice follows all the protests in the past year since the >anti-IMF protests in Seattle: Cincinnati, Prague, Montreal, >Seoul, Sydney and Washington. > >Protests against the meetings where the world's capitalist >rulers hatch their machinations are growing sharper and more >politically focused, and they are drawing from a broad array >of progressive groups. > >The protest in Nice appears to be clearly anti-capitalist, >not just opposed to globalization. A major slogan among >young activists--both from the more radical unions, the >ecologists and unemployed councils--was, "No to the Europe >of capital." > >The decisions taken by the European leaders in Nice affect >the working class, the farmers and the poor of Europe in >many different ways. So the protests against them had to be >broad. Issues raised by demonstrators included Basque and >Corsican autonomy, health and environmental regulations, >civil, labor and immigrant rights, and special taxes on >financial transactions. > >The most militant protesters tried to occupy and surround >the Acropolis, where the EU was meeting. The exchanges >between them and the CRS--the French riot police--were >sharp. The cops filled the air with tear gas. > >French President Jacques Chiraq was seen wiping tears from >his eyes after gas circulated through the air supply of the >building. > >Protesters set fire to a Banque Nationale de Paris office a >few hundred meters from the Acropolis, and then used sticks >and paving stones to fight off the firefighters who tried to >put it out. The protesters also used baseball bats to knock >rocks into the crowds of CRS, when the riot cops tried to >drive them from the area. > >Slogans in Basque, French and Italian that read "Long live >ETA," "Death to money" and "Fascism equals capitalism" were >daubed on the bank's facade. > >In a different part of Nice, 80,000 trade unionists from all >over Europe, together with a number of community action >groups, protested to demand a more equitable European social >policy. The Confederation of European Unions (CES) sponsored >this march and got its affiliates throughout Europe to >support it. > >CES General Secretary Emilio Gabaglio indicated that his >organization wanted legally enforceable social rights, such >as full employment, written into the European charter. > >A trainload of Italian unionists coming to the union march >was stopped at the border at a town called Vintimille. While >European borders are supposed to be open under the Schengen >treaty signed a few years ago, the French authorities >suspended the treaty for a day. > >The Italian unionists got off the train and marched on the >French consulate, which had to be protected by the Italian >riot police. A dozen people were injured in this >confrontation. > >- 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: <028801c06958$273e3280$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] 10 billion is so little >Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 20:08:09 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >EDITORIAL: 10 BILLION IS SO LITTLE > >The United States is now approaching a $10-trillion economy. >Another way of saying 10 trillion is 10,000 billion. Every >year this economy churns out close to $10,000 billion worth >of goods and services. > >Now consider the number 10 billion. Such a little number in _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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