WW News Service Digest #297
1) U.S. stance on climate control enrages world
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) Selling out cheap
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) Entombed alive: protests spotlight 'super max' incarceration
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) Seattle: Demand justice for Aaron Roberts
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) Convergence of protests in Washington
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 26, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
REAPING THE WHIRLWIND: U.S. STANCE ON CLIMATE CONTROL ENRAGES WORLD
By Deirdre Griswold
A world summit on climate control opened in Bonn on July 16
on a somber note. Without an agreement on curbing greenhouse
gases, said the opening speakers, the world faces more
severe climate change and weather disasters.
In 1998, an international agreement was worked out in Kyoto,
Japan. While far from perfect, it did set limits on
emissions, especially by the developed industrialized
countries. Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol would roll back the
release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the
levels of 1990.
But it appears dead in the water. And it's the United States
government that killed it.
The Bush administration says it won't sign the agreement,
and that it also is against a new proposal that would
provide subsidies to poorer countries in order to help them
develop clean energy in place of fossil fuels.
George W. Bush says the Kyoto Protocol is "fatally flawed"
because it doesn't place the same restrictions on developing
countries as on highly industrialized ones like the U.S.,
which, with only 4 percent of the world's people, is
responsible for almost a quarter of the greenhouse gas
emissions. Bush has singled out China, especially, saying it
is a potential "threat" because of its large population.
This is a false argument that Bush, using his bully pulpit,
is using to cloud the issue. The People's Republic of China,
per capita, emits greenhouse gases at one-sixth the U.S.
rate, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Furthermore, China, despite not being required to do so
under the Kyoto accords, has already moved ahead on its own
to dramatically reduce emissions.
CHINA HAS MADE DRAMATIC PROGRESS
An article in the June 15 New York Times reported that
"treaty obligation or not, China has already achieved a
dramatic slowing in its emissions of carbon dioxide in the
last decade, Chinese and Western energy experts say."
The article added, "In the most surprising development,
China's annual output of carbon dioxide in the last four
years of rapid economic growth has actually declined,
according to data compiled by the United States Department
of Energy."
An April report from researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory in California said that "China's
emissions of carbon dioxide have shrunk by 17 percent since
the mid-1990s. Remarkably, over the same period, GDP grew by
36 percent."
The gross domestic product is the total of goods and
services produced in a country.
Despite having turned to market mechanisms to boost its
development, the Chinese government still has a great deal
of central control over its economy. The government that
exercises this control was created by a great social
revolution that developed over decades and has not been
negated, even though the restoration of capitalism in the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe painfully set back its
socialist agenda.
The ability of China to plan its development in such a way
as to reduce the long-term negative effects of
industrialization demonstrates that the state has retained
control over planning. Another evidence of this came when
the Chinese government, after experiencing very severe
flooding of the Yangtze River in 1998, stopped all lumbering
in the upstream watershed area and coupled that with a
massive reforestation effort.
Can any capitalist government in the developing world--that
is, the countries so plundered and impoverished by
colonialism that they must do the bidding of the global
imperialist banks and corporations just to survive--devise
and stick to such an economic plan?
A capitalist government is beholden to giant corporations
that have spent billions of dollars on getting the
politicians they want in office. What would it take to get
Weyerhaeuser, for instance, to agree to stop lumbering in a
vast area of this country? Or to get Mobil Oil to stop its
drilling in an ecologically sensitive area?
In the U.S. it takes years of intense protests by committed
movements, sometimes risking life and limb, to get
legislation passed that curbs polluting corporations. Their
response is often to move their operations to poor countries
where people are so vulnerable to dying of starvation or
easily preventable contagious diseases that cancer or other
pollution-caused illnesses seem a much lesser evil.
While greenhouse gases come overwhelmingly from
industrialized countries, they most affect people in
oppressed nations with poor infrastructure and few reserves,
reported the June 29 Guardian of Britain.
REPORT SAYS WEATHER DISASTERS HAVE DOUBLED
In its annual World Disasters Report, released on June 28,
the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies say
that floods, storms, landslides and droughts, which numbered
about 200 per year before 1996, rose sharply and steadily to
392 in 2000. "Recurrent disasters, from floods in Asia to
drought in the Horn of Africa, to windstorms in Latin
America, are sweeping away development gains and calling
into question the possibility of recovery," said the report.
The hardest-hit places in the world are low-lying islands.
Between 1991 and 2000, 41 percent of the 380,000 people of
the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific were killed or
otherwise affected by tropical storms.
The anti-Bush struggle, which is growing stronger all over
the world, encompasses many issues. Global warming is but
one of them. This question, however, enlightens thoughtful
people of many different social backgrounds to the role of
monopoly capitalism and how far it will go in its mad
pursuit of profits.
Bush is known as a creature of Big Oil and the richest
corporations and banks. While the polls show that the great
majority of people in the United States are aware of global
warming and support taking measures to curb it, he is
flaunting his disregard for them and the rest of the world.
His cavalier treatment of all but his cronies in the ruling
class ensures that the movement against U.S. imperialism
will grow stronger and broader in the months and years to
come.
Bush is sowing the wind and will reap the whirlwind--both
literally and figuratively.
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: maanantai 23. hein�kuu 2001 04:45
Subject: [WW] Selling out cheap
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 26, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
EDITORIAL: SELLING OUT CHEAP
Being an imperialist puppet is losing its allure in the post-
Soviet world. Back in the Cold-War days, a faithful servant
of Washington could count on a few decades in office while
robbing the public treasury. Now the world's rulers want
instant compliance, and they want it cheap.
Ask Zoran Djindjic, Serbia's pro-West premier who gained
office in an election financed largely by the imperialists.
He just turned over former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic to NATO's court in The Hague. Actually, you don't
have to ask Djindjic. He'll tell you anyway.
He complained to the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel on
July 15 that he had expected to receive by August a first
installment of $255 million of the $1.3 billion promised by
international "donors," but had discovered that $183 million
of that would go towards paying off old debts. The remaining
$62 million would only be transferred to Belgrade in
November at the earliest.
"That is like giving a seriously ill person medicine when he
is dead. Our crisis months are July, August, September,"
Djindjic told the magazine. "I am losing my credibility and
cannot stabilize the country anymore," he said. "I am
seriously warning the West. If my government falls that
would cost the international community $10 billion."
Djindjic's personal history has included decades of service
to German imperialism and more lately complete obedience to
Washington. His concern that he will lose credibility has
some merit. The latest Yugoslav poll, published in the
Belgrade weekly NIN, shows Djindjic with a miserable 5.5-
percent approval rating.
Perhaps the most significant result of the poll conducted by
this pro-West newspaper is that 56 percent of Yugoslavs
opposed the turnover of Milosevic to The Hague tribunal. His
first statements before the tribunal and to his legal
advisers have shown he aims to resist this star-chamber
court run by the NATO war criminals who bombed his country.
Djindjic has already sold out. He's now finding that in the
imperialists' post-Soviet political world, where lackeyism
is the norm, the price of treachery has dropped
considerably.
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: maanantai 23. hein�kuu 2001 04:46
Subject: [WW] Entombed alive: protests spotlight 'super max' incarceration
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 26, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
ENTOMBED ALIVE: PROTESTS SPOTLIGHT "SUPER MAX" INCARCERTION
By Joanne Gavin
Livingston, Texas
Members of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement took
part in nationwide demonstrations against prison conditions
on July 14. Called for the second year by Prison Reform
Unity Project 2001, the demonstrations called attention to
mistreatment of prisoners and even their visitors.
At the Terrell Unit, most of Texas's 450 death-row prisoners
and many others are held in maximum security ("super max")
cells in conditions that can only be described as being
entombed alive. In addition to lack of human contact and
sensory deprivation, either of which can cause or intensify
mental and emotional problems, prison staff members practice
gratuitous cruelty against the prisoners.
Starvation caused by short rations is gradually making the
prisoners take on the appearance of concentration camp
survivors. Beatings are common, especially the practice of
"slamming": knocking shackled prisoners to the concrete
floor or down flights of stairs, beating and kicking them.
One thing the prisoners have especially complained about to
activists is the frequent and totally unnecessary use of
pepper gas. So much is used, and for such long periods of
time, that not only the immediate intended target prisoner
is affected, but all those in the area. In their windowless
cells with solid doors, prisoners have no way to escape the
gas.
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: maanantai 23. hein�kuu 2001 04:47
Subject: [WW] Seattle: Demand justice for Aaron Roberts
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 26, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
COMMUNITY TARGETS RACIST POLICE SHOOTING:
DEMANDS JUSTICE FOR AARON ROBERTS
By Jim McMahan
Seattle
On May 31, Seattle cops gunned down Aaron Roberts, an
unarmed African American. Since then, the Black community
has erupted in protest, holding dozens of demonstrations,
mass meetings and confrontations with public officials.
Aaron Roberts was well known and loved in the Central
District community, where he had lived all his life. Nearly
a thousand people came to his funeral, and there is a
continuous memorial at the spot where he was killed.
Two white cops, Greg Neubert and Craig Price, had stopped
Roberts after he backed his car out of a store parking lot
in the heart of Seattle's Black community. He was then
accosted for "erratic driving."
>From the beginning the incident had all the marks of racist
profiling. Neubert had harassed and arrested Roberts on
previous occasions.
Neubert leaned into the driver's side window and grabbed for
Roberts's driver's license. In the ensuing tangle, Roberts's
driving was disrupted and the car went into reverse for 30
yards, crashing into a cement planter.
Neubert claims that the car dragged him. But four
eyewitnesses from the community have come forward to say
they didn't see him being dragged. They say they then saw
Price step up to the car door and shoot Aaron Roberts in
cold blood.
Instead of filing charges against the two cops, the city
government, the police and news media have tried to
exonerate them--even praising them. Using the twisted logic
of the Pentagon, the Seattle Times made an attempt to show
Price wasn't racist by lauding him for leading an Army unit
in the U.S. invasion of Somalia.
The morning after the shooting, a spontaneous community
protest broke out at 23rd and Union streets, where the
shooting had taken place. Demonstrators blocked traffic for
hours. Daily rallies and vigils were held there for over a
week. Demonstrations led by the People's Union for Economic
Justice have marched on the East Police Precinct twice, most
recently on July 9.
"These police are out control," said E. Mandeisa, opening
speaker on July 9. "They have no respect for human dignity,"
she said.
On July 5, Mayor Paul Schell and city officials held a
"unity rally" at 23rd and Union, trying to absolve the city
of blame and quell the community protests. After an
outpouring of rage at the mayor's attempted whitewash,
Schell ended up in the hospital with a black eye.
The cops immediately seized and arrested protester and Black
community activist Omari Tahir. Omari Tahir is running for
mayor against Schell. He is now being held in jail on
$250,000 bail. Killer cops Price and Neubert are free and
back on their jobs.
The People's Union for Economic Justice has also held a
successful economic boycott campaign against Starbucks
Coffee's Central District store. The boycott of this mega-
million-dollar corporation high lights who the cops protect:
the corporate gentrifiers. Big real estate and other
corporate interests have been moving into the Central
District for years, forcing Black people to move out.
Seven out of the last 11 victims of police murder in Seattle
have been Black, mostly in the Central District. Only 8
percent of Seattle's population is Black.
The People's Union for Economic Justice, led by Rev. Robert
Jeffrey, pledges to continue the campaign for justice for
Aaron Roberts. The coroner's inquest into the police
shooting will be in October. Meetings are being planned to
continue the struggle in the upcoming months.
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: maanantai 23. hein�kuu 2001 04:48
Subject: [WW] Convergence of protests in Washington
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 26, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 4:
CONVERGENCE OF PROTEST GROUPS TO TARGET
WASHINGTON BOSSES, IMPERIALIST BANKERS
By Gery Armsby
No less than 400 organizations, large and small, have
pledged support for a week of protests, teach-ins, concerts,
rallies and direct actions in Washington, D.C., during the
upcoming biannual meeting of the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
National demonstrations initiated by several coalitions over
the past months have drawn wide endorsement and response
from many sectors of the progressive movement, including
environmentalists, women's groups, anti-racist youths, labor
organizations, death penalty opponents, anti-war activists
and anti-capitalists.
The centerpiece of the fall activist convergence will be
weeklong direct actions against meetings of the IMF and
World Bank, two institutions hated around the world for
forcing privatization, economic austerity and anti-worker
reforms on many developing nations.
Events targeting the Bush administration, U.S. intervention
in Latin America and specific policies that affect the
working class will also be part of the week. Each action
promises to turn out large numbers.
In order to ensure successful demonstrations 10 weeks from
now, many dedicated activists are working virtually around
the clock printing leaflets, updating Web sites and solving
the logistical problems of feeding, housing and providing
transportation for tens of thousands of people who will
travel to Washington for the historic convergence.
D.C. police say they intend to bring in 3,600 mercenaries
from police forces in other cities to help fortify
Washington against protesters. The IMF announced that its
meeting venue will be moved to downtown World Bank
headquarters to avoid protests. Activists say they expect
more of these types of maneuvers from the state as the
protest dates draw nearer.
But it is the growing protest movement that seems to have
President George W. Bush, the IMF and the World Bank on the
defensive.
Before leaving for a G-8 Summit in Genoa, Italy, Bush spoke
to World Bank officials July 17 and proposed that, in
addition to making loans, the "development bank" should
allocate up to 50 percent of its funds "to the poorest
countries ... as grants for education, health, nutrition,
water supply, sanitation and other human needs."
Co-opting a popular slogan of the anti-globalization
movement, Bush wryly commented that his proposal "doesn't
merely drop the debt, it helps stop the debt."
This carefully calculated but hollow gesture will convince
few among the throngs of determined protesters already
prepared to greet the U.S. president in Genoa. Nor is it
likely to win over those who are planning protests in Bush's
own backyard. Bush made no mention of where the money will
come from. Will corporations be taxed or will it eventually
come out of Social Security?
TARGETING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
On Sept. 29, two events will converge to call attention to
the role the U.S. government plays in reinforcing the
economic policies of the IMF and World Bank with a military
strong arm against peoples' resistance movements around the
world and against working and oppressed people within the
U.S.
The Latin America Solidarity Conference will hold a
"National Demonstration Against U.S. Military and Economic
Intervention in Latin America." Primary issues that will be
taken up by the demonstration are opposition to Plan
Colombia and the phony "war on drugs," as well as
condemnation of the U.S. Navy bombing on Vieques.
A call to "surround the White House," issued by the
International Action Center and endorsed by hundreds of
groups and individuals, will target the reactionary policies
of the Bush administration. As an IAC statement points out,
Bush is "moving at record speed to give trillions more to
the rich, undermine the labor movement, rollback civil
rights, women's, lesbian, gay, bi, trans and disabled
rights, gut environmental protections, and escalate
militarism and the threat of new wars."
Endorsers of the IAC action represent all the fronts being
attacked by the Bush offensive and include labor and civil
rights leaders, women's organizations, lesbian/gay/bi/trans
groups, communities of color organizations, environmental
groups, anti-war activists, and supporters of political
prisoners Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier.
TARGETING THE IMF AND WORLD BANK
Two organizations--the 50 Years Is Enough/Network for Global
Economic Justice, a Washington-based NGO, and the
Mobilization for Global Justice, a group that hosted April
2000 anti-IMF protests in Washington--are partnering a
sizeable coalition of environmental, labor, women's and
international solidarity groups to co-sponsor a major
demonstration on Sept. 30.
>From its Web site, the 50 Years is Enough Network demands
"the immediate suspension of the policies and practices of
the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group that
have caused widespread poverty, inequality and suffering
among the world's peoples and damage to the world's
environment."
Other demands that the group plans to voice during the fall
protests include unconditional cancellation of debts, a
cessation of structural adjustment programs and reparations
for the harms caused by these programs.
Protest organizers plan to hold a day of actions to address
the effects that globalization has on the people who live in
Washington D.C. These include the crises caused by the
effective closing of D.C. General Hospital and urban
planning trends that benefit only a handful of real estate
developers while ignoring the thousands who desperately
await affordable housing.
In an April statement announcing an Oct. 2-4 Anti-Capitalist
Convergence (ACC) of direct action against the IMF and World
Bank meetings, the ACC pronounced that "these institutions
exemplify how capitalism promotes poverty, racism, sexism,
environmental destruction and social injustice in the name
of so-called development.
"Both the IMF and the World Bank are merely the outward
faces of a brutal elite bent on imposing its destructive
economic regime on the entire world. We will not be content
with reforming or even abolishing the IMF/World Bank. ...
For only from the ashes of these banks and of capitalism
itself can arise a new world of liberation, community and
harmony."
