[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: secr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 8:04 AM Subject: [mobilize-globally] Police Open Fire on Protesters in Guatemala and Panama Subject: [revolution_now] Fwd: (en) Police Open Fire on Protesters in Guatemala and Panama Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 12:20:25 EDT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Subject: (en) Police Open Fire on Protesters in Guatemala and Panama Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 06:08:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Andreas Rockstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________ A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/ ________________________________________________ Police Open Fire on Protesters in Guatemala and Panama (english) by Sismondi 7:08pm Mon May 14 '01 (Modified on 3:49am Tue May 15 '01) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.indymedia.org/ Police open fire on protesters in Guatemala and in Panama. Civil unrest throughout South and Central America sends a message to the North. "Globalize resistance" has been a popular slogan often used on placards as a way to mock the globalization of markets sought by capitalists. Sometimes, to observers subjected to news coverage offered by the corporate media, this is interpreted as an ironic statement. Where were the South-American workers in Qubec City? The South-Asian sweatshop workers in Seattle? To borrow a faux-pas from a Mexican Coca-Cola executive turned politician, Vicente Fox: "It's very easy to protest when you have a job, when you have food on the table, like those protesters have,"1. The protesters in question, those from Qubec City during the Summit of the Americas, certainly wondered if Vicente Fox sunk into a lapse and forgot about his own privilege. Unlike the Mexican president's insinuation, it is mostly poverty and frustration against the tactics of capitalism that are leading the people of Central and South America to agitation. And if it weren't for the lack of media coverage on the civil unrest in the southern portion of the American continent, no one would doubt, even slightly, the activists' messages of "global resistance". In April, in Bolivia, at least 30 000 people participated in the two-week long "March for Life and Sovereignty" that was attacked with tear gas once it reached the capital, La Paz. Now, retirees are staging a hunger strike to demand raises in their pensions. 2 But with unrest comes police violence, and on May 9th in Guatemala, this violence was in the form of gunshots that lead to the death of a 14-year old protester, Rosalio Castellanos, and to severe injuries to at least five others 3. 500 local fishers protested the decision taken by privately-owned shrimp companies to fence off shrimp breeding grounds. When the group of fishers proceeded to remove the fence, the companies' representatives requested police intervention. The police opened fire on the protesters. It is a feeling of desperation that emanates from this particular protest in Guatemala, and a feeling of tension expressed by the police. Perhaps even more distressing is the suspicious lack of coverage on this issue by the majority of the corporate media. In many cases they opt instead to cover the death of a nun in Guatemala 4, (an American nun, of course), while continuing their coverage of politicians claiming that "free trade" is the end of all worries in Central and South America. Panama was also the unfortunate host of a similar scene only a day later, when the police opened fire on protesters demonstrating against a 66% increase in bus fare and against neoliberalism 5 6. It was reported to be the most violent demonstration since the American (USA) invasion in 1989. The two events constrast greatly; a military invasion and an increase from 15 to 25 cents in bus fares. It should suffice to say that the climate is ripe. These are only examples of very recent news that were not readily available through the corporate media. It is without mentioning the Colombian guerillas, suffering from an American-imposed culture-war, the Peruvian guerillas, the May Day events in the Americas and the Zapatistas in Mexico that a conclusion can be drawn. The readiness for change coming from below the Mexican-American border demands to be met by its Northern equivalents. ------------------------------------ [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscription: mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with command in body of mail: subscribe/unsubscribe ******** ****** The A-Infos News Service ****** News about and of interest to anarchists ****** COMMANDS: [EMAIL PROTECTED] REPLIES: [EMAIL PROTECTED] HELP: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/ INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org -To receive a-infos in one language only mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] the message: unsubscribe a-infos subscribe a-infos-X where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code) To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! 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