WW News Service Digest #257
1) Struggle over FTAA Goes Hemispheric
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
2) Thousands Support Palestinian Right of Return
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
3) Habash on Palestinian Right of Return
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
4) Flounders on Palestinian Rebellion
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03
Subject: [WW] Struggle over FTAA Goes Hemispheric
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
BUILDUP TO QUEBEC: STRUGGLE OVER FTAA GOES
HEMISPHERIC
By Greg Butterfield
Skirmishes are breaking out across the Western Hemisphere as
the clock ticks down to the April 19-21 confrontation
between anti-capitalist protesters and big-business
exploiters at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.
A report by the Independent Media Center said that in
Argentina on April 5 "more than 10,000 people assembled in
the streets of Buenos Aires to march from the National
Congress building to the Sheraton Hotel, where the 6th
Business Forum of the Americas is being held and the
interests of international capital will be presented to the
FTAA negotiations."
Trade officials from 34 countries in the Americas--all but
socialist Cuba--were holding preliminary meetings on the
Free Trade Area of the Americas, the plan to expand NAFTA
throughout the hemisphere.
"Over 10,000 mobilized and took action--diverse unions,
farmers, students and parties of the left had converged
without any hindrance at the fence surrounding the hotel,"
Indymedia reports. "Here where the diverse columns of people
met, the police began their repression, armed with tear gas,
rubber bullets and water cannons.
"The demonstrators were pursued and divided by the streets
of the city, while the mounted police, assault cars and riot
squads waited for opportunities to attack the protesters.
Currently the numbers of arrests is unknown. Compañeros from
Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile and elsewhere took
diverse actions."
DETAINED ACTIVISTS STAGE BORDER PROTESTS
On April 5-6 the Argentine government barred 1,000 Brazilian
workers and peasants from crossing the border to join the
protests in Buenos Aires.
Argentine border police stopped 24 buses. They made the
protesters sign documents saying they were "false tourists,"
which means they could be arrested if they crossed the
border. (Reuters, April 6)
"This has become a diplomatic conflict," said Lucia Simoes,
a director for the World Social Forum, an anti-globalization
group. "They don't have any justification for doing this
since all of our papers were in order."
Brazil's confederation of labor unions, CUT, urged the
Foreign Ministry to intervene. It tried to help at least
some of the buses get through. In the meantime, the busloads
of activists held protests in the border cities of Paysandu
in Uruguay and Uruguaiana in Brazil.
On April 7 the trade officials reached an agreement to
ratify the FTAA by the end of 2005, after the Group of Three-
-Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico--objected to Washington's
effort to "fast-track" approval by 2003.
Outside, anti-globalization activists hurled Molotov
cocktails and rocks at police standing guard at the hotel
where Argentine President Fernando de la Rua and the trade
ministers were meeting with regional business leaders.
Police clad in riot gear used tear gas and rubber bullets
against the demonstrators.
'DON'T DIRTY THE CAPITAL OF QUEBEC'
The detention of protesters at the Argentine border followed
by four days the arrest of 87 people at a demonstration in
Ottawa, Canada, April 2. About 400, including many students,
had gathered at the Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade to demand that the Canadian government
release the FTAA draft agreement for public inspection.
The super-secret FTAA plan is suspected of going much
further than NAFTA in undermining labor laws, environmental
protections and the national sovereignty of Latin American
countries to benefit U.S. and Canadian big business.
Dissension is spreading in Quebec itself. While police,
national and local officials have gone all-out to militarize
Quebec City against anti-capitalist protesters, many Quebec
nationalist politicians say they are angry that the Canadian
government foisted the summit on them.
''Don't come and dirty the capital of Quebec,'' Gerald
Larose, chair of the province's French-language authority,
told summit officials. "Out! Go do it in Winnipeg''--a city
in the prairie province of Manitoba.
Quebec Premier Bernard Landry denounced Canada's plans to
fly the Maple Leaf flag and hand out balloons decorated with
Canada's red-and-white national emblem at the summit in
French-speaking Quebec.
"The central government of Canada is indulging in an orgy of
propaganda,'' Landry told the National Assembly, as the
provincial legislature is called.
In response, Quebec officials are erecting a 40-foot-tall
electronic billboard on the side of the Quebec Capitol
building, directly opposite the main summit convention hall.
It will flash bright messages in English, French, Portuguese
and Spanish expressing Quebec's desire for independence.
(Boston Globe, April 7)
'CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE BY ACTION'
In an April 1 talk to activists in New York's Hudson Valley,
IAC Co-director Brian Becker explained why the April 19-21
actions hold such importance for the new anti-capitalist
movement.
"Now that there is no longer any alternative to capitalist
globalization, such as a Soviet camp, it has become the
responsibility of the peoples of the world to create an
alternative by their actions," he said.
"The thought of creating a 'continental NAFTA' may be a
pleasant dream for U.S. corporations, but it's a nightmare
for the working class," Becker said. He noted that nearly
400,000 U.S. jobs have been lost since NAFTA took effect
because U.S. companies relocated to Mexico to take advantage
of lower-paid workers and weaker labor standards.
"Meanwhile Mexican workers have been super-exploited at
higher and higher rates. Since NAFTA began, over a million
additional Mexicans workers toil for less than the
prevailing minimum wage of $3.40 a day and a million Mexican
workers have tumbled from the lower middle class into
poverty."
Becker noted that in vast areas of Mexico, where corn is a
staple food, many farmers have been impoverished by duty-
free corn imports from more mechanized and subsidized U.S.
agricultural monopolies.
"Under the FTAA, these exploited Mexican workers would be
pushed into competition against even more desperate workers
in Haiti, Guatemala or Brazil by companies seeking tariff-
free access into U.S. markets," Becker explained.
"Meanwhile, U.S. companies would be protected from
competition from the industrialized nations of Europe or
Japan.
"The only way to confront corporate globalization, the FTAA,
the International Monetary Fund and the new right-wing
regime in the U.S.--which all operate in tandem--is to
create a mass mobilization of the people around a number of
interrelated issues," Becker argued.
MUMIA BRIGADES PLANNED
The main demonstrations in Quebec City are planned for April
19-21.
The U.S.-based International Action Center says it is
organizing "Mumia Anti-Globalization Brigades" that will
participate in all aspects of the demonstrations.
Besides protesting the FTAA, these brigades will draw
attention to the case of imprisoned Black revolutionary
Mumia Abu-Jamal. The IAC is urging anti-globalization
activists to join a pro-Abu-Jamal encampment in Philadelphia
May 11-13.
At a Workers World Party meeting in New York March 30, IAC
organizer Gery Armsby reported on the plans for Quebec City:
"Activists in Quebec City have formed a welcoming committee
and issued a call for a 'Carnival Against Capitalism.'
Canadian local and national unions have called their members
to the demonstrations. Radio, TV and print media are
projecting that as many as 50,000 demonstrators will come to
protest April 19-22 against the FTAA.
"The Quebec welcoming committee says that it has received
over 15,000 requests for housing in the city. Students and
others have negotiated with Laval University to house
between 7,000 and 10,000 people from out of town.
"There will be several large marches," Armsby continued,
"including a mass march on the 21st when unions across
Canada and some in the U.S. will also hold a major rally."
Armsby said demonstrations were also planned at several U.S.-
Canada border-crossing points, including Western New York
and northern Vermont, and at the U.S.-Mexico border at San
Diego/Tijuana.
HOW TO GET THERE
New York area activists are invited to attend an orientation
meeting at the IAC's office on April 17 at 6:30 p.m. The
location is 39 W. 14 St., room 206, in Manhattan.
IAC vans are leaving New York before 1 a.m. on April 19 and
returning early on April 21. Tickets are available on a
sliding scale of $60 to $80 and must be purchased in
advance. Readers can get tickets at the IAC office. Call
(212) 633-6646 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more
information.
Transportation is also being organized from IAC chapters in
Baltimore (410-235-7040, [EMAIL PROTECTED]) and
Boston (617-983-3835, [EMAIL PROTECTED]).
- END -
(Copyright 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)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03
Subject: [WW] Thousands Support Palestinian Right of Return
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
THOUSANDS SUPPORT PALESTINIAN RIGHT OF RETURN
By Richard Becker
New York
Thousands of people from across the U.S. marched and rallied
on April 7 in New York in the second Palestinian Right to
Return demonstration. The 6,000 participants doubled the
size of the first Right to Return protest, which was held in
Washington, D.C. last year on Sept. 16.
The protest demanded that the 780,000 Palestinians expelled
to make way for the state of Israel in 1948 and their
descendants be allowed to return to their homeland. Nearly 5
million Palestinians now live in exile.
The demonstration also called for the establishment of a
true Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli Mission to
the United Nations at 42nd Street and Second Avenue for an
opening rally and then marched to Union Square. Organized
contingents of Palestinian-Americans and supporters of the
Palestinian cause came from many cities in the U.S. and
Canada.
There were seven buses from Massachusetts, eight from
Washington, D.C., five from Chicago, and more than 50 people
from California. The strong and organized presence from many
campuses and cities reflected the growing strength of the
Palestine solidarity movement over the past six months,
since the second Intifada uprising began.
Among the speakers at the rallies were Wakim Wakim, leader
of the Abna al-Balad (Sons of the Land), a militant
organization of Palestinians living inside the 1948 borders
of Israel. Wakim spoke by telephone hook-up from Nazareth.
Also addressing the rally was Palestinian scholar Edward
Said and International Action Center representative Sara
Flounders.
A rousing message from Dr. George Habash, a central leader
of the Palestinian struggle for more than 40 years, was read
to loud cheers from the crowd.
While ignored by most of the national corporate media, the
Right to Return march was widely covered by New York
television and radio stations, local newspapers and
progressive media.
- END -
(Copyright 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)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03
Subject: [WW] Habash on Palestinian Right of Return
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
"NO PEACE WHILE HALF OF PALESTINE IS EXILED"
-- George Habash
[Excerpts from the message of Dr. George Habash to the April 7
Palestinian Right of Return demonstration in New York City.
Habash was the founder of the Arab National Movement as well as
the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, the leading Palestinian Marxist party.]
As you carry on your much appreciated tasks, a government of
a war criminal is now presiding over the Zionist entity,
unifying along with it all other Zionist parties to
intensify the fascist and racist onslaught against our
people throughout Palestine. Hence, your work and program of
struggle commands a particularly important meaning in this
era of imperial and colonial hegemony.
Your actions also make it clear to the world at large that
you will not allow the Zionist enemy to corner and isolate
our people and hold them hostage to their programs of mass
destruction and murder, through starvation, blockade and wea
pons of mass destruction.
Furthermore, your program of action around the right of
return joins the remainder of our people in declaring null
and void all attempts and agreements intending to
marginalize this right, partition it, or segment it, and
that our right to return to our home from which we were
forcibly ejected and uprooted with vulgar and naked terror
is an inalienable right that cannot be compromised, and that
all dispossessed Palestinians will struggle until the full
realization of our collective and individual right to
return.
The value of your activities and struggle in the United
States also plays a significant and vital role in exposing
the fallacies of the American/Israeli claims to be the
protectors of democracy, human rights and international law,
all while relegating Palestinian suffering to despicable
invisibility. In fact, the successive U.S. administrations
constitute the core provider and organic supporter for that
garrison state, the Zionist polity.
Our heroic and stubborn Intifada, the systematic campaign of
resistance and program of national pride and defense, which
draws on the never tiring and never ending sacrifice of our
people, is but a loud and clear response to all successive
and continuous attempts at marginalizing our national
rights. It is a real, concrete and defiant response to all
claims aimed at marketing the Zionist entity in our midst,
to all attempts of normalization, to all attempts at
stifling and suffocating our struggle. This was, yet once
again, our people's cry in the face of all who surrendered
and all who began to doubt the resilience of our people,
including the acceptance of the United States as the broker
and reference to peace and justice.
There will never be peace so long as more than half of our
people remain exiled and dispossessed.
Our people in the West Bank and Gaza will continue their
steadfast and heroic struggle, by all means possible, until
the fulfillment of our national rights, including Jerusalem
and our right to return.
Our people within the 48 borders will remain steadfast in
defending their national identity as Palestinian Arabs.
Palestinians in exile have the duty to render support, by
all means possible, to the struggle of our people at the
front lines. By strengthening your collective and individual
belief in the right of return you will help bring to the
forefront the pillar of the Palestinian collective existence-
our inalienable right to our homes and properties, to our
homeland.
I also call upon you to intensify your efforts in educating
the American public and in identifying the geopolitical
interests of U.S. imperialism and colonial agents.
- END -
(Copyright 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)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03
Subject: [WW] Flounders on Palestinian Rebellion
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
"REBELLION AGAINST U.S. ISRAELI TERROR IS JUSTIFIED"
-- Sara Flounders
[Excerpts from the speech by Sara Flounders of the International
Action Center to the April 7 Palestinian Right of Return
demonstration in New York City]
Last November I had the honor to travel to Palestine with a
delegation from the International Action Center and witness
this heroic Intifada. Standing atop a roof in Ramallah we
watched as Apache helicopter gunships--horrific weapons
supplied to the Israelis by the United States government--
fired rockets and shells at civilian neighborhoods,
destroying homes and offices.
Today I look around and can read on so many hundreds of
placards the slogan, "USA Stop Funding Israeli Terrorism."
This slogan goes right to the heart of the relationship
between the U.S. government and Israeli terror.
Last week U.S. President George Bush was embracing the war
criminal Ariel Sharon. And while he embraced Sharon he
demanded that the Palestinian people "stop the violence."
In Gaza I saw Israeli tanks fire rounds of shells at youths
armed only with stones. This terror force has bulldozed
thousands of homes, uprooted tens of thousands of olive
trees and orange trees. It has placed Palestinian cities and
towns under a total lockdown.
Bush really means "stop the resistance" to Israeli terror
and bow down to colonial domination.
President Bush's embrace of Sharon in Washington and the
U.S. veto at the United Nations confirmed once again 52
years of total political, diplomatic, military and financial
support by the United States to the State of Israel. It is
an admission to the world that neither justice nor peace is
on the U.S. agenda.
U.S. domination of the entire Middle East feeds on
instability, war and crisis. U.S. policy is completely
bankrupt and incapable of resolving any social problem.
No peace is possible in Palestine until the totally
justified demands of the Palestinian people for a real state
on contiguous territory, with Jerusalem as its capital and
with the right to return for the almost 5 million
Palestinian refugees and in the Diaspora, is a reality.
- END -
(Copyright 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)
