>comparison with 10,000 billion. If we had 10,000 apples, for >example, and 10 were taken away, would anyone miss them? > >Ten billion dollars is what the United Nations estimates it >would take to provide clean drinking water for all the >people in the world who today don't have it. In a Global >Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment report issued Nov. >23, the world body said that 40 percent of the world's >people lack sanitation, while a billion people drink >contaminated water that can make them sick and even kill >them. > >But for only $10 billion the wells can be dug, the >reservoirs can be constructed and the aqueducts can be built >so that their water will be safe. What wouldn't even be >missed in the U.S. economy could transform the lives of a >billion people. > >Life is miserable for almost half the human race. But it >doesn't have to be that way. The problems of poverty and >underdevelopment that seem so intractable could be quickly >solved. That's been the desperate message each time >international bodies like the United Nations Children's Fund >or the World Health Organization put out reports. It would >take so little, they say--compared to the overall wealth of >the world--to end the poverty, illiteracy, infectious >diseases, hunger and homelessness that now plague so many. > >The problem is capitalism in its final stage--imperialism. >Its efficiency in exploiting labor and resources has led to >an obscene and irrational polarization of wealth in the >world. How can poor countries even begin to solve their >problems when they are dictated to by giant foreign >corporations and banks whose assets are greater than their >whole gross national product? > >There are many deep cracks in the capitalist system, >however. Financial crises are breaking out all over the >world. The monumental injustices of today must give way to >mass revolutionary upsurges tomorrow. And they may begin >over issues as simple and basic as clean water. > >- 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: <029001c06958$3bd49540$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Workers around the world: 12/21/00 >Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 20:08:44 -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 >------------------------- > >WORJKERS AROUND THE WORLD > >AUSTRALIA: MASSIVE MARCH FOR INDIGENOUS RIGHTS > >Hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal people in Australia and >their supporters turned out for the Dec. 3 "Walk for >Aboriginal Reconciliation." The quasi-official event marks >an effort to commemorate the massive social harm down to the >Aborigines since European settlers began to arrive on the >island continent in the 18th Century. > >Over 400,000 marched in the southern city of Melbourne >alone. Tens of thousands also took to the streets in western >Perth. The demonstrations had the support of all the main >bourgeois political parties, the Australian Confederation of >Trade Unions, Aboriginal rights groups, environmentalists >and others. > >Notable for his absence was right-wing Prime Minister John >Howard. "It seems to me that when a prime minister of our >country ... can't walk in solidarity with Australia's >Indigenous people, then there's something very sick about a >government that would pit people in Australia against each >other," noted ACTU president Sharan Burrow. > >There are less than 400,000 Aborigines left on the continent >out of a population of 19 million. The life expectancy for >Aboriginal people is 20 years less than for white >Australians. Poverty and incarceration rates for Aborigines >are far above those for whites. > >TURKEY: STRIKE AGAINST IMF AUSTERITY PLAN > >Thousands of public sector workers in Turkey walked off the >job Dec. 1 in a strike against government austerity >measures. The protest came as the International Monetary >Fund imposed tight restrictions on government spending in >return for a financial bailout. > >Teachers, hospital workers and other civil servants answered >the strike call. Union leaders expected over 1 million >workers to take part. The capital, Ankara, was brought to a >standstill by the strike and mass demonstration. > >A financial crisis hit Turkey in November, sending interest >rates on short-term loans skyrocketing to 2,000 percent. The >Turkish stock market crashed, losing 40 percent of its >value. Ten private banks collapsed under the shadow of >corruption inquiries. > >In the midst of this financial crisis wracking a key U.S. >ally, the IMF endorsed a massive bailout on Dec. 6. The >Turkish government would be eligible for $7.5 billion in >emergency loans, and the IMF would open the gates of nearly >$3 billion already approved but not yet released. > >Turkey's workers are slated to pay for this bailout. The IMF >demanded that the Turkish government speed up the >privatization of telephone, airline and power companies. >Government spending is to be kept to a minimum. > >That sparked the public sector workers' protest. The Dec. 1 >strike was against a government wage offer that would not >have covered the current 34-percent inflation rate--down >from last year's 100-percent inflation rate. > >INDIA: POSTAL WORKERS STRIKE FOR PART-TIMERS > >Over 600,000 postal workers across India went on strike Dec. >5. In addition to demanding higher wages, they walked out to >press for full benefits and pensions for over 300,000 part- >time workers. > >The strike brought mail service in the vast country to a >halt. Reuters estimated that four days into the strike, on >Dec. 9, only 7,000 of the country's 153,000 post offices >were open. The government was losing an estimated $1 million >per day. > >On Dec. 9, the Indian government intervened by ordering the >army to assist in mail delivery. But the heavy-handed >tactics did not break the resolve of the postal workers. "We >are determined to continue with our strike for any number of >days until our demands are met," said G.K. Padmanabhan, >secretary general of the Federation of National Postal >Organizations. > >SOUTH KOREA: THOUSANDS PROTEST ANTI-COMMUNIST LAW > >Thousands of Korean workers and students staged a militant >demonstration on Dec. 9 in Seoul against the infamous >National Security Law. > >Demonstrators clashed with riot police as the cops tried to >prevent the workers and students from marching into the >street. > >The National Security Law makes it a crime in south Korea to >possess any communist literature. Contacts with the >socialist Democratic People's Republic of Korea are severely >punished. The law has been used against hundreds of the most >militant workers who are organizing for their rights. > >Kim Dae Jung, the president of the U.S. puppet government in >the south, has been praised throughout the capitalist world >as a "reformer" and a "democrat." He received the Nobel >Prize on Dec. 10--despite the fact that it has been the DPRK >that has consistently pushed for the unification of Korea. > >The National Security Law is a reminder that the illusion of >capitalist democracy in the south is maintained by riot >police batons and tear gas, backed up by 37,000 U.S. troops. > >MAURITIUS: 'ALBRIGHT GO HOME!' > >Three labor unionists, including Federation of Progressive >Unions Secretary General Reeaz Chuttoo, were arrested on >Dec. 9 on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine >Albright's visit to the African island nation of Mauritius. > >Their crime: hanging up posters denouncing Albright and the >"Africa Growth and Opportunity Act." "We wished to express >ourselves on the Africa Act," Chuttoo told the Panafrican >News Agency. He demanded the right for unionists to be able >to express their opinion on matters affecting them. > >The posters read: "Albright: Take your Africa Growth and >Opportunity Act home," "Go home," and "AGOA means jobless >growth." > >The U.S.-sponsored act is widely viewed in Africa as a NAFTA- >type measure for the African continent, giving U.S. >corporations trade and labor advantages against governments >that want to protect local jobs and companies. > >GUATEMALA: MILITARY GUILTY OF REBEL'S MURDER > >An international tribunal has finally confirmed what the >whole Latin American solidarity movement already knew: that >the Guatemalan military tortured and murdered a left-wing >rebel leader who disappeared in 1992. > >The Inter-American Court on Human Rights, a branch of the >Organization of American States, ruled Dec. 7 that the >Guatemalan military had tortured and killed Efra�n B�maca >Vel�squez and then tried to cover it up. B�maca's widow, >U.S. lawyer Jennifer Harbury, had conducted several hunger >strikes in Washington and Guatemala City demanding the >release of classified information on his case. > >This case is just the tip of the iceberg of crimes committed >by both the U.S. government and its client Guatemalan regime >against the workers and poor of that country. In 1954 a CIA- >sponsored coup overthrew the elected president of Guatemala, >Jacobo Arbenz, after he began to carry out land reform. > >Some 70 percent of Guatemala's land had belonged to just 2.2 >percent of the population. The Arbenz government distributed >land to 100,000 peasants before being overthrown. > >Much of the land belonged to the United Fruit Co.--known >today as United Brands--which held onto vast unused tracts >while landless peasants starved. > >Arbenz offered the company $525,000 for its expropriated >lands--the value United Fruit had declared for tax purposes. >But the company demanded $16 million. Meanwhile, it had >powerful allies in the Eisenhower administration, including >CIA chief Allan Dulles and his brother, Secretary of State >John Foster Dulles. > >Resistance to the right-wing regimes imposed by the U.S. >grew into full-fledged guerrilla war in the 1970s. The >killing of B�maca was just one in at least 200,000 deaths of >rebels and ordinary peasants, most of them Indigenous >people, at the hands of the U.S.-trained and supported >Guatemalan army. > >Details of the plot to overthrow Arbenz can be found in the >book "Killing Hope" by William Blum, who left the State >Department in 1967. He also maintains a Web site with much >valuable information on U.S. interventions. >--Deirdre Griswold > >- 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: <029801c06958$4ed20880$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] In search of history: Koreans fight to lift the veil >Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 20:09:16 -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 >------------------------- > >IN SEARCH OF HISTORY: KOREANS FIGHT TO LIFT THE VEIL > >By Deirdre Griswold > >South Koreans continue to fight for their history. > >What happened during the 1950-53 Korean War has been erased, >distorted and replaced with self-serving lies designed to >make the U.S. invasion of that country look good. That spin >on history is even phonier than saying the people of the >U.S. elected George W. Bush president. > >One event erased from the history books is the massacre of >Korean civilians by U.S. troops at the village of No Gun Ri >in August 1950. Last November, however, reporters from the >Associated Press wrote a story based on interviews with >survivors of the massacre and with U.S. veterans who >remember what happened. The story showed that at least 300 >people, including small children and many women, had been >machine-gunned to death by U.S. troops over several days as >they huddled for protection under a railroad bridge. > >That report opened Pandora's box. Survivors of other >massacres came forward all over south Korea to tell of other >heinous crimes against civilians by both U.S. troops and the >south Korean forces under U.S. command. > >Moreover, the evidence showed that, far from being >"unfortunate accidents" in the heat of war, these attacks on >south Korean peasants and villagers were ordered from above. > >The top Pentagon brass pursued a strategy of terror to >eliminate sympathy in the south for the revolutionary army >of Kim Il Sung, which had made deep advances into the south >in the early months of the war. This liberation army was >trying to throw out the ruling class of landlords and bosses >who collaborated with Japanese colonialism until it was >defeated in World War II, at which time they switched to >working for the new foreign oppressor--U.S. imperialism. > >Today in south Korea there are constant demonstrations >against the U.S. military presence, which still stands at >37,000 U.S. troops some 47 years after the war's end. >Sentiment is running so strong there that the U.S. >government had to agree to investigate the No Gun Ri >massacre. > >On Dec. 8, however, a joint commission of U.S. and south >Korean officials failed to agree on what happened at No Gun >Ri 50 years ago. Outside their meeting hall, survivors of >the massacre joined hundreds of others in demonstrating and >shouting, "Yankee, go home!" > >Even if the U.S. government doesn't officially admit its >crimes, the people of south Korea are beginning to learn >their true history. > >- 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 _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. 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