WW News Service Digest #365
1) Sao Paulo Forum meets in Havana
by WW
2) Korea and defense
by WW
3) Protests at European Summit
by WW
4) Global warning
by WW
5) Letters to WW
by WW
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
MAPS RESPONSE TO U.S. TRADE BLITZ:
SAO PAULO FORUM MEETS IN HAVANA
By Berta Joubert
Havana, Cuba
Jos� Ram�n Balaguer, chief of International Relations of the
Cuban Communist Party, opened this year's Sao Paulo Forum by
placing the gathering in the context of the Sept. 11 attack,
a topic that would be central to the discussions in the days
that followed.
"Today we can say that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 in
the U.S. show, in a tragic, insensate, and unjustifiable
manner, the validity of the conclusion reached by the Sao
Paolo Forum all these years," said Balaguer. "This
conclusion is that a handful of powerful nations cannot
monopolize all the wealth, the development, the technology,
the culture, the education and the public health and, at the
same time, be immune to the political, economic and social
polarization consequences that this process provokes at a
global scale."
The forum is a group of leftist and progressive
organizations and parties of Latin America and the Caribbean
formed in 1990 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. It held its 10th
meeting Dec. 4-7 here in Havana. About 500 people attended
from member countries as well as invited guests, including
several from the United States.
Balaguer summarized the suffering of the people, exacerbated
by the U.S. "free trade" campaign: "transnational monopolies
turn their excess products into the Latin American and
Caribbean markets, privatization, labor deregulation, tax-
free initiatives, dollarization, increase of regressive
taxes paid by the poorest, increase of unemployment,
electoral fraud, corruption, violence, increase in crimes,
acute polarization and political, financial and social
marginalization."
Prior to September, the working groups of the forum had met
and formulated a document that would be the central piece
for the conference. The forum's stated purpose is "unity
despite diversity." It has varied political currents--
social, indigenous and political movements, from social-
democratic forces to socialist and communist parties.
The forum seeks alternatives to neoliberalism and its
political, ideological onslaught. The main issue in the
document this year was the struggle against the Free Trade
Agreement of the Americas, understood as a process of
annexation and recolonization of the region.
Another crucial matter for discussion was external debt.
Latin America owes more than $750 billion to imperialist
banks and dedicates 56 percent of its income to debt
payments. Other issues included the anti-globalization
movement, Plan Colombia and the participation of forum
members in other international meetings.
In order to facilitate the discussions and incorporate the
greatest contributions, working groups were divided into
regions: the Caribbean, Central America, the Andes and the
South. They were responsible for formulating resolutions
that would be discussed and approved by the plenary.
PENTAGON WAR CREATES NEW URGENCY
The U.S. war gave a new urgency to the meeting, impacting on
resolutions and plans of action. The case of the five Cubans
imprisoned in the U.S. received much solidarity from
attendees, who rededicated themselves to breaking the
blockade against Cuba. U.S. pressures on Venezuela, Colombia
and Vieques were predominant in the discussion.
In Venezuela the right wing is attempting to sabotage the
current progressive constitution that prohibits the use of
the country's airspace and land to wage war against
neighboring countries--like Colombia. The Venezuelan ruling
class is waging destabilizing attacks on the government of
Hugo Ch�vez and is endorsed by the Bush administration. The
economic interests of these rich and powerful land and media
owners are threatened by the social movement that elected
Ch�vez.
Tareq Saab, from the Fifth Republic Movement, gave a
passionate speech highlighting the gains attained by the
Venezuelan process. He pointed to fair oil prices that allow
for integration of Central America and the Caribbean, a
sovereign and independent foreign policy, a pact of
cooperation with Cuba and other gains.
Saab paraphrased Hugo Ch�vez, saying, "Ours is a peaceful,
democratic revolution, but not unarmed."
Saab appealed to all organizations internationally to
explain the truth about the Bolivarian/Venezuelan Revolution
and to form solidarity movements with the people of
Venezuela. His proposal to the members and guests of the
forum was endorsed by all the Venezuelan delegates and
approved with a long applause by all present.
DEFEAT 'PLAN COLOMBIA,' U.S. NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES!
Representatives from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) also presented an urgent
statement. As a result of the U.S. "anti-terrorist" plan,
the struggle in Colombia has suffered.
Prior to September, the FARC-EP was in a process of dialogue
with the Colombian government for a political solution to
the war. After 9-11, increasing difficulties prompted a
break-off in the bilateral discussions.
On Oct. 7, the Colombian government authorized flights over
FARC-EP-controlled airspace. This and other hostile measures
are acts of war, says the FARC, that prevent them from
returning to the negotiating table.
The FARC is under increasing pressure, both nationally and
from the U.S. and Europe. The media, they say, does not call
them "narcotraffickers" anymore. Now they are called
"terrorists," a dangerous signal coming from the
imperialists.
But, the FARC said, "We are not terrorists. Terrorists are
those who commit isolated acts with the purpose of causing
panic in the population. We are with our people, we build a
clandestine communist party, a clandestine Bolivarian
movement. We work with the peasantry and with the people in
the cities. ... We believe that the guerrilla is an
indispensable motor in Colombia, but we also work to make
possible the insurrection in Colombia."
The struggle to get the Navy out of Vieques, Puerto Rico,
was prominent for the first time in the Sao Paolo Forum.
Carlos Zenon, a fisher from Vieques, gave an update on the
situation in that island-municipality. Several speakers
referred to the Vieques struggle in their speeches,
including Cuban President Fidel Castro. A resolution was
passed to send a delegation to the island.
The forum was a display of anti-imperialist struggle and
international solidarity. Many nations delivered messages,
including Iraq, Syria and India.
Alicia Jrapko, a delegate from Workers World Party in the
United States, read a message of solidarity to the forum.
She requested statements in solidarity with the struggle to
free death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. In
response, the forum passed a resolution supporting Abu-
Jamal.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
EDITORIAL: KOREA AND DEFENSE
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has what it calls
an "army-first policy." This elicits howls of outrage from
the U.S. ruling class and its subservient media and
politicians.
What a warped society we live in that a nuclear superpower
which spends over $300 billion a year on its military--more
than most of the rest of the world put together--can cry
bloody murder when a small socialist country takes measures
to defend itself.
The only voices allowed into our living rooms via
television, radio and newsprint are those that bless every
Pentagon missile program, every new terror air and space
device, every base established on someone else's territory
around the world. The forward posture of this vast military
machine--which Bush and Rumsfeld want to take to outer space-
-proves its aggressive intent.
By contrast, all of North Korea's military strength is on
its own territory, defending its sovereignty. You don't see
Korean communists bombing Afghanistan or threatening Iraq
and Somalia. Yet the media here treat them as bellicose and
Pentagon generals as peacemakers. Go figure.
Koreans have a lot to worry about. Millions were killed when
the U.S. waged war against the north in 1950-53. They can't
forget that. Plus, there are 37,000 U.S. troops dividing
north from south right now. Millions of families were
divided by the war. U.S. occupation has prevented
reunification of north and south from going ahead.
But no matter how much Washington threatens and cajoles,
North Koreans won't give up their socialist system. It is
what has allowed them to preserve their independence and
their dignity for over half a century. It means that, no
matter how hard the times, all Koreans are guaranteed
education, health care, housing and a job. And it means that
their leaders are picked by the Korean people themselves,
not by Washington, Tokyo, London or some other imperialist
power in the shameless way that the super-rich are now
telling the Afghan people who their leaders are.
So this Dec. 24th in the capital of Pyongyang and throughout
this feisty land, Koreans will be celebrating the 10th
anniversary of the elevation of Kim Jong Il to the post of
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army.
This army was founded in 1932 to fight Japanese colonialism.
It has a proud history of repelling foreign invaders and
also of helping to reconstruct the country. Since great
natural disasters in the 1990s, the KPA has worked with the
people to build tunnels, bridges and power stations and
rehabilitate farmland stripped by floods.
The honestly stated "army-first policy" was Kim's idea as a
way to bring the country through this difficult period. We
wish the DPRK well with their tasks of self-defense and
socialist construction.
Only when we in the United States have acted to reduce the
danger facing the world from the destructive Pentagon can
countries like the DPRK dare to let down their guard and put
other projects first.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
AT EUROPOEAN SUMMIT:
WORKERS, ANTI-CAPIALISTS STAGE LARGE PROTESTS
By John Catalinotto
Fifteen European prime ministers met at a castle in the
Laeken neighborhood of Brussels Dec. 14-16. They were
determined to unite Europe on the basis of strengthening
capitalism and reducing social services, while establishing
a common police force and a Reaction Force" for military
interventions.
In response, some 80,000 workers demonstrated for social
justice on Dec. 13. The next day another 20,000 people,
saying "another Europe is possible," called for an end to
the war on Afghanistan.
Many in the media, including the Dec. 14 Wall Street
Journal, took note that these actions showed the anti-
globalization movement in Europe is still very much alive.
It had been quiet for a few months after Sept. 11, but was
now taking up where it left off after the Genoa summit in
July.
The coming World Economic Forum protests on Feb. 2 in New
York will show if this spirit of struggle has also reached
the U.S. movement.
On Dec. 13, labor unions led the protests, bringing upwards
of 80,000 workers and supporters into the streets. According
to reporter Herwig Lerouge in the Belgian weekly newspaper
Solidaire, there was a strong difference between what the
union leadership asked for and what the rank-and-file
workers demanded.
The official slogans were, "More Europe: We are Europe" and
"For a more social Europe," which means accepting a
capitalist Europe but asking for a few more social benefits.
The slogan carried by most workers said, "We don't want that
Europe," that is, they reject a European Union ruled by the
capitalists.
Tens of thousands of French, Portuguese, German, Greek,
Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Luxemburg, Irish, Turkish and
British workers, as well as unionists from Poland, Slovakia,
the Czech Republic and Slovenia in Eastern Europe, showed
they had a common enemy in Brussels--the headquarters of the
European Union.
The move by the European capitalist governments to unite
does not simply mean removing borders among peoples and
easing economic and social contacts. It aims at
strengthening the capitalist corporations relative to the
workers. It aims at reducing social benefits to the lowest
common denominator.
It means increased unemployment as nationalized industries
are sold off, as recently happened with Sabena Airlines in
Belgium. It means a more U.S.-type social system, with fewer
benefits and guarantees for workers and a greater gap
between rich and poor.
That's why the move to strengthen the European Union has
aroused such anger and opposition among the European working
class, from Turkey to Portugal.
ANTI-CAPITALIST CONTENT
European communists and anti-imperialists had chosen the
following day, Dec. 14, to target a Europe dominated by
capitalists. The Workers Party of Belgium, a leading
communist organization in the country, had formed an
international coalition to build for what it called the D14
protest.
This protest had a strong anti-capitalist character and
included many banners protesting the aggression against
Afghanistan led by the U.S. and Britain.
According to Lerouge, the majority of the demonstrators
gathered behind the platform of D14. This included a large
contingent from the Workers Party of Belgium. Many youths
wore sweatshirts with the slogan "Ch�nge-the-World,"
incorporating the name of the late revolutionary Che
Guevara. The Brussels newspaper De Morgen said this
sweatshirt is slowly becoming the symbol of the anti-
globalization movement.
Many communist parties from abroad were represented,
including the two most active communist groups from Turkey,
the New Communist Party of the Netherlands, and Greek,
Italian, German and Spanish communists, notes Lerouge. The
Socialist Workers Party of Britain, which has recently been
active in the anti-war movement, had a contingent. The anti-
globalization group ATTAC-Europe also was part of the
demonstration.
Using some attacks on property by elements within the march
as justification, police assaulted a large section of the
marchers. The cops trapped about 1,000 people, fired an icy
blast from a water cannon at them and arrested dozens of
protesters.
The main significance of the march, however, was political.
The slogans were even noted by Louis Michel, a Belgian
foreign minister who is currently president of the European
Union. "It is astonishing," said Michel, "to see that so
many young people are wearing Ch� and Marx during the
demonstrations. It is not good that they see communism as an
alternative to the democratic EU. But it is understandable
because they have no experience of what communism was. More
education must be done to reverse their wrong ideas."
This capitalist minister's worst nightmare is a sign of hope
for the working class of Europe and the world.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
EDITORIAL: GLOBAL WARNING
New scientific reports underscore the environmental dangers
humanity faces from industrial development under capitalism.
They also expose the impossibility of profit-driven bankers
and industrialists to take rational steps to avoid an
oncoming disaster.
A prestigious scientific panel, the National Research
Council, issued a warning about vast climate changes over a
short time period with calamitous results for humanity. This
relatively conservative panel is a sub-committee of the
National Academy of Sciences.
One might think that when an authoritative scientific body
issues such a warning there would be a big reaction from the
government. At least authorizing further study of the
question. But to compound this problem, the group now in
charge in Washington wontake steps unless they either
increase U.S. power relative to the rest of the world or
immediately lead to increased profits for their cronies.
This scientific warning went a giant step beyond past
predictions about the consequences of a gradual increase in
average temperatures. Even these increases of a few degrees
a century bring harsher storms, floods and droughts with
more loss of life and damage. The strong possibility of
danger from global warming finally brought a small reaction
from the worldwide ruling class with the Kyoto agreement.
The National Research Council gently raised the possibility
that these small changes from global warming will build up
and could trigger a drastic change, on the order of 10-15
degrees in a decade--and with it a disaster of enormous
proportions. Its report mentions a 1,000-year-long ice age
introduced by some natural drastic change about 13 millennia
ago.
But, though last year's average world temperature was the
second highest on record, Washington refuses to go along
with taking even small steps to deal with these warnings.
The White House gang is showing once again that even a
threat to all of humanity does nothing to shake them from
their path of letting the drive for profit determine every
move they make.
Will the U.S. lead the world in finding alternative energy
sources that reduce the dependence of capitalist production
and its military machine on fossil fuels? Not likely. The
Pentagon military aggression in Afghanistan and the Middle
East demonstrates the huge commitment U.S. finance capital
is making to oil and the profits it generates.
It will take a massive struggle to separate humanity from
the profit system. And ultimately, that is what will enable
humanity to begin to deal with the problems capitalism has
left it with.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
ANTHRAX MISSING FROM GOV'T LAB
Thank you for sending me this wonderful article on the
postal workers' struggle vs. the government's anthrax policy
["A Tale of Two Classes" by G. Dunkel, Dec. 13].
As you know, on Dec. 13 Bush abrogated the ABM Treaty. On
that same day, the New York Times published an article,
"U.S. Recently Produced Anthrax in a Highly Lethal Powder
Form." That article points out that the quantity of
"powdered" anthrax "is politically sensitive since some
experts say producing large quantities could be seen as
violating the global treaty banning germ weapons." The Times
pointed out that some European countries have stated that
the U.S. is violating the germ warfare treaty even before
these recent disclosures, which the Bush administration
denied.
In addition, the Washington Post, in an article on this same
day, announced that there is a "discrepancy" in the quantity
of anthrax spores sent from the Utah weapons lab to the
Kentucky weapons lab, meaning that some is missing. The
additive to the anthrax sent to [Sen. Tom] Daschle, says the
Post, was likely made in a U.S. government weapons lab.
So, while locking up hundreds of Arab workers and
discriminating against postal workers, the government is
failing to investigate its own military for these anthrax
attacks, because to do so would expose its own bioweapons
program to world view.
Chris Fry
Long Island, N.Y.
WORST CASE OF ANTHRAX?
You state in your story on a possible use of anthrax by the
Rhodesian government ["World's worst outbreak of anthrax:
Was it germ warfare?" by Elijah Crane, Nov. 18] that this is
the world's worst outbreak, with 182 confirmed dead. This is
incorrect. In the 1970s anthrax being illegally manufactured
by the Soviet Union escaped and killed several hundred in
central Russia.
Jerry Bourbon
Internet
Editor's reply: No, you are incorrect in saying that the
1979 accident in the USSR killed more people. Meryl Nass, a
recognized U.S. authority on anthrax, wrote that 182
Africans were killed in the Rhodesian anthrax epidemic and
over 10,000 infected.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal of Nov.
7, 2001: "A 1979 accident in a Soviet bioweapons plant at
Sverdlovsk sickened at least 96 people and killed at least
66, Soviet authorities said. Former Soviet biological-
weapons expert Ken Alibek put the death toll at 105."
What is so amazing about all this is that no one in the
press here (including the Wall Street Journal) is mentioning
the Rhodesian outbreak, which many in Africa believed was
related to biowarfare experimentation by the racist
Rhodesian authorities, possibly aided by apartheid South
Africa. All the victims were Black; all the infected cattle
were Black-owned. The epidemic totally spared the white
Rhodesians, who at that time ruled what later became
Zimbabwe.
WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
I read the article on Women's Liberation in Afghanistan by
Minnie Bruce Pratt and was very impressed. It was well
written and taught me many things I had yet to learn.
Anyways, thanks for releasing that article!
Tim Herrmann
AMERIKAN GULAG
I am anarchist prisoner from Russia in Amerikan gulag. Thanx
a lot for your paper, even though I disagree with a lot in
it, it's important to remain oneself in these hard times
without becoming reactionary. In solidarity, fighting for my
idea of better world.
VolodyA! V. Mozhenkov
Federal Correctional Institution Elkton
Lisbon, Ohio
CIA'S COUNTLESS VICTIMS
Every time the puppetmasters at the Corporate Imperial Army
(as I call the CIA) leave a puppet or a proxy in charge of a
poor, defenseless country, each of those puppets rob, rape,
torture and murder their countrymen, women and children by
the tens or by even the hundreds of thousands--all so our
corporate elite ain't gotta pay a fair price for a tan/brown-
skinned people's resources.
There's no way I know of to get an exact death toll, because
each of these regimes the CIA installed have continued to
cause colossal amounts of ultra-violence long after their
inaugural coup d'etats. In other words, many more besides
the one million Indonesians (and Indonesians are just as
human as suburbians) who were the initial victims of "our
man on the inside," General Suharto, were killed. And as a
result, Nike Shoes, for instance, can today economically
rape the region with its child labor-exploiting sweatshops.
And Indonesia is just one country. The CIA has orchestrated
from afar the massive ravaging of Greece in 1947, Iran in
1953, Guatemala in 1954, Congo in 1961, Brazil in 1964,
Greece in 1967 (a repeat!), Chile in 1973, Grenada in 1983--
from East Timor to El Salvador, from South Korea to
Nicaragua, the unholy octopus's tentacles reach far and
wide.
In more well-read circles, the CIA is also known as the
Cocaine Import Agency. From their "Air America" days in
Vietnam to Gary Sick's 1996 censored expose on the CIA/coke
connection in the San Jose Mercury News, the "men in black"
have long been historically (if not, as yet, legally)
associated with "crack," and one can blame all the death
that drug has caused on them.
When you take into account every factor, you're left with
the conclusion that the CIA's body count may very well be
incalculable, just as they may never know how many Africans
died during the slavery era.
Saab Lofton
Las Vegas, N.M.
GOVERNMENT SECRECY
I am increasingly hoping that Osama bin Laden is captured
alive and not killed. This is not for his sake, but for the
sake of public information. Like with Noriega, Austin and
Chord (of Grenada), I am getting increasingly nervous about
all the secrecy.
Although it's hard for me to believe that even Bush would
sacrifice over 3,000 Americans in a fully planned Reichstag
fire, I do believe in the October Surprise [Ronald Reagan's
successful effort in 1980 to keep Jimmy Carter from
negotiating the release of U.S. hostages in Iran so the
Republicans could make their captivity a campaign issue--
Ed.]. It is entirely possible that both Sept. 11 and Pearl
Harbor were partially complicit situations that got out of
control.
Of course, once they happen, an excessive death toll would
only help Bush's, or FDR's, ability to stage an information
coup. That much, I can believe.
At the very least, the secret history is one of incredibly
warped priorities and alliances. There is much we need
desperately to learn.
Alan Ditmore
Leicester, N.C.
