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BAUAW NEWSLETTER Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Friday, June 16, 2006
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2006
OCTOBER 28 LOCALLY COORDINATED ANTIWAR ACTIVITIES: A CALL TO ACTION The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has initiated a call for locally coordinated protests on Saturday, October 28th, just days before the pitiful charade known as the 2006 mid -term elections. The people will force the issue of the Iraq war onto the U.S. political stage by taking to streets in demonstrations in cities and towns throughout the United States. Tens of thousands of people will take to the streets in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Miami, Washington D.C. and in other large and small cities and towns throughout the United States. http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ANS_homepage ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- A new movie, "The Road to Guantanamo" is touring film fests right now, and it will also be playing in San Francisco starting this Friday. For more specifics about the film, which is a docu- drama about three prisoners' lives, go to http://www.roadtoguantanamomovie.com/ . ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Iraq Body Count Press Release 13, 9th March 2006. For current totals, see our database page. http://www.iraqbodycount.net/press/pr13.php ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- JUNE 27 "National Day of Action" To Stand With Lt.Watada! On June 7th, 2006, U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada became the first commissioned officer to publicly announce his opposition to the Iraq war and his intent to refuse to deploy with his unit to Iraq. “My son, 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, is not the same person who entered the military service three years ago. His decision to refrain from deploying to Iraq comes through much soul searching. It is an act of patriotism. It is a statement to all Americans, to men and women in uniform, that they need not remain silent out of fear, that that they have the power to turn the tide of history: to stop the destruction of a country and the killing of untold numbers of innocent men, women, and children. It is a message that states unequivocally that blindly following orders is no longer an option. My son, Lt. Watada’s stance is clear. He will stay the course. I urge you to join him in this effort.” -Carolyn Ho, Ehren's mother To demonstrate our support for Ehren, and his couregeous stand, we call for a National Day of Action on June 27th to support Ehren as he officially resists deployment this week. We are urging you today to join with people across the country and attend or organize a coordinated action in your community on June 27th supporting Ehren’s refusal of orders! Supporters have planned events across the country. For more information go to: http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Eyewitness Account from Oaxaca A website is now being circulated that has up-to-date info and video that can be downloaded of the police action and developments in Oaxaca. For those who have not seen it elsewhere, the website is: www.mexico.indymedia.org/oaxaca http://www.mexico.indymedia.org/oaxaca ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- DRCNet Alert: Sources have informed us that the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana vote in the House of Representatives is going to happen NEXT WEEK. This amendment if passed will forbid the US Dept. of Justice from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. Your help is needed -- it is crucial that more members of Congress vote for medical marijuana this year than did last year. Please visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/ to e-mail your member of Congress today! http://stopthedrugwar.org/index.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- THIS JUST IN ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- "Operation Return to Sender" Police-ICE Raid Against Immigrants June 18, 2006 From: dorindamoreno@comcast.net mailto:dorindamoreno@comcast.net "Operation Return To Sender" is a team of "POLICE ICE" has just arrested and deported over 150 undocumented immigrants . The immigrants are from Vista, Ca. Police ICE looks for the following: 1. Mexican congregating at local bars speaking Spanish and no English. 2. Mexicans having a party in large groups and the undercover police officer hearing ONLY Spanish spoken about their home country. This is a give away for the immigrant. 3. They are hitting the apartments where large numbers of Mexican live and work in the agriculture fields. 4. They hone in on Home Depot areas, 7/11 stores, and others categorized Mexican corners. 5. Be prepared if they take on the K-12 schools and colleges. 6. Be prepared if ICE takes on the Mexican patients in the hospitals. 7. ICE will be targeting Mexicans in any undisclosed area. The hit will come as a surprise in the early morning hours and when Mexican least expect the visit. 8. ICE comes in para-military uniforms in white with black bullet proof jackets. They work in teams of five to ten to an apartment complex and have their trucks parked half a block away. 9. This information was on our San Diego local news and might be in the National News tonight. 10. Being 23 miles from the Mexican border I see all kinds of Mexican round-ups and massive deportations. 11. What I find most disturbing is that ICE might next hit our schools in September, 2006. All large cities with Mexicans populations might see extensive raids. I hope the immigrant community now start to acquire their USA documents. Pedro Olivares Related: Immigration Sweep Brings Fear to Community By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press Writer June 18, 2006 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/photos/8/84cd1c7d-2976-4559-846e-171afc930239.html?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- PLEASE FORWARD ** PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY ** PLEASE FORWARD SAVE THE DATE! Thursday, June 29 @ 1 pm Stand with families who have lost children in California's youth prisons Sacramento (exact location TBA) GOV SCHWARZENEGGER ON CA's YOUTH PRISON CRISIS November 2004 "This will not just be dialogue, this will be action, because I am the Action Governor." November 2004 - present All talk, no action... When news of the human rights abuses in California's youth prisons first made headlines, the governor promised to "blow up the box" and reform the juvenile justice system. He has not lived up to that promise. The "Action Governor" has taken virtually no action at all. Five young people have died in these monstrous youth prisons. Many more have attempted suicide to escape the conditions. Still, Schwarzenegger is content to "plan." He has even refused to talk with families whose children died in his youth prisons, on his watch. Well, we've had enough waiting patiently while the governor whiles away his time in office "planning" to fix the problem. From June 27-June 29, families whose children have died in California youth prisons will stand vigil at the state Capitol, demanding that Schwarzenegger keep his promise to end the suffering and abuse in the CYA. SAVE THE DATE On the last day, Thursday, June 29, we want you to join us in Sacramento as we call on the governor to keep his word. Stand with these families in demanding action from the so-called "Action Governor." We will e-mail you with more information about where and when to meet in Sacramento, and about possible ridesharing from the Bay Area and elsewhere. To get the latest information, please contact Sumayyah Waheed: Sumayyah Waheed, Books Not Bars Organizer sumayyah@ellabakercenter.org 510.428.3939 x221 We look forward to seeing you in two weeks! Many thanks, Jakada "J" Imani Director of Books Not Bars * The Ella Baker Center can't survive without the support of people like you. Please take a moment to support us today: http://www.ellabakercenter.org/donate ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- DEFEND SPC. SUZANNE SWIFT WHO SAID NO TO THE WAR! At 9:50 AM -0700 6/12/06 Larry Hildes, attorney for Suzanne Swift, wrote: SPC. Suzanne Swift has been diagnosed with PTSD as a result of constant and pervasive sexual harassment by multiple sergeants, both in Iraq, and then back here, one of whom coerced her into a long-term sexual relationship. She complained to command about these sergeants; only one was disciplined, and then only with a reprimand. She finally reached her limit and went AWOL in January. We've been attempting to resolve the situation with command, and have built up the documentation of her PTSD and were getting ready to negotiate her turning herself in when she got picked up by the Eugene, Oregon, police at 11:00 last night. The police forced their way in to the house, assaulted Suzanne's mother, and took Suzanne to the Lane County, Oregon, jail where she is right now. The Army indicated they're expecting to pick her up in the next day or two and ship her back to Ft. Lewis, Washington. More publicity is needed. Also calls to the Lane County Jail (541)682-2245, and to Lt. Col Switzer, her commander at Ft. Lewis-(253) 967-4921. Thanks, Larry Hildes (360) 715-9788, P.0. Box 5405, Bellingham, WA 98227 Related: A Moment of Silence Is Not Enough By Sara Rich t r u t h o u t | Statement On March 18th Sara Rich, mother of an AWOL US soldier, gave this address at an antiwar rally http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032006S.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Friends and Family of Lt. Ehren Watada www.ThankYouLt.org ACTION ALERT June 14, 2006 CONTACT ARMY TO DEMAND: "DROP INVESTIGATION INTO LT. WATADA'S PROTECTED FREE SPEECH AGAINST ILLEGAL WAR" On Wednesday, June 7th U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada became the first U.S. commissioned officer to publicly speak out in opposition to the Iraq War and occupation. Lt. Watada outlined why he believes the war to be illegal, and why he would have to refuse to obey any future order to participate in it. The following day, Thursday, June 8th Lt. Watada's commanding officer moved to prosecute Lt. Watada for nothing more than his protected free speech. Lt. Watada was read his rights and declined to make a statement without a lawyer present. Although the Fort Lewis military public affairs officer has stated that Lt. Watada "hasn't done anything wrong" so far, an official investigation into his public speech is underway. When soldiers join the military they swear to uphold our Constitution. They do not give up their basic right to freedom of speech. Outlined in Department of Defense Directive 1325.6, members of the military have the right to say what they think and feel about the military, and even participate in peaceful demonstrations, as long as they are off-duty, out of uniform, off-base, and within the United States. PLEASE WRITE AND CALL: "Dear Col Stephen Townsend; Please drop the investigation currently underway against First Lt. Ehren Watada of 3-2 SBCT for his protected free speech in opposition to the war in Iraq. Respectfully," TO: Col Stephen Townsend Commanding Officer 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Fort Lewis WA 98433 (253) 967-9601 CC: Lt Gen James Dubik Fort Commander Fort Lewis WA 98433 For background information: Military attempts to stop Lt. Watada from speaking against illegal war By Friends and Family of Lt. Ehren Watada. June 9, 2006 http://www.thankyoult.org/go/100.html When soldiers refuse to fight: Is the US Army trying to silence Lt. Watada? By Sarah Olson, Truthout.com. June 14, 2006 http://www.thankyoult.org/go/101.html For up-to-date and additional information: http://www.ThankYouLt.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Sign the petition to save Bayview Hunters Point: No more Fillmore! Editorial by Willie Ratcliff, http://www.sfbayview.com/060706/signthepetition060706.shtml As urban Black displacement grows, Bayview kicks off referendum drive to stop Redevelopment by Randy Shaw, http://www.sfbayview.com/060706/displacement060706.shtml Hands off Bayview Hunters Point! An open letter to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors http://www.sfbayview.com/050306/handsoff050306.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- "The Democrats always promise to help workers, and the don't! The Republicans always promise to help business, and the do!" - Mort Sahl ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- "It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Emilano Zapata ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Please circulate widely Join the Campaign to Shut Down the Guantanamo Torture Center We urge you to join us in a nationwide campaign and petition drive to shut down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. The campaign is a project of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and VoteNoWar. Org which was the largest grassroots peoples referendum opposing the launch of the Iraq war. The goal of the campaign is to ignite a mass movement of the people of the United States and around the world to close Guantanamo and all the secret prisons and torture centers set up around the world by the Bush administration. Each and every official must be held accountable for their criminal conduct from Bush and Cheney to Rumsfeld and General Geoffrey Miller. Click here to send a letter to Congress and the White House: Shut Down Guantanamo and all torture centers and prisons. We will be gathering hundreds of thousands of names on the printed "Shut It Down" petition, available at http://www.shutitdown.org/. We will flood Congress with emails, faxes and phone calls. We will be launching a mass education campaign in the mainstream media and in the alternative media. With your help we will be placing newspaper ads around the country. We will be coalescing with organizations and movements who focus on civil rights, legal rights, faith-based and student communities, and within the labor movement. This is an issue that affects everyone. As someone who has been active in and supporting the anti-war movement you are well aware that the most important counter-weight to the Bush Administration's criminal policies has been the creation of a global progressive movement. Millions of people have been in the streets in countless demonstrations in the past few years. Now Bush's approval ratings have dropped to 29% and the anti-war movement's political position has been proven to be correct. But unless we act now, and help the rest of the country join in this movement, the criminals in the White House will continue on their path. Please make a donation to help support the organizing efforts to shut down the Guantanamo Bay torture facility. Suicides and Torture in Guantanamo Three men who had been held for four years resorted to hanging themselves this last weekend, according to Guantanamo prison authorities. Scores of others have tried to kill themselves. In a shocking but inadvertent admission of the depravity of the Guantanamo authorities, the Camp Commander Rear-Admiral Harry Harris described the suicides "an act of asymmetric warfare against us." He then said about the dead inmates, they "have no regard for life, neither ours or their own." The three men who killed themselves had previously been hunger strikers subjected to force-feeding by prison guards. Held for years without ever being charged with wrongdoing, without being able to see their families, subject to constant interrogation and torture by the U.S. government and no end in sight, Guantanamo detainees have increasingly attempted suicide and others have gone on hunger strikes. The Pentagon made public its approval of the use of force feeding, which is another form of torture. According to detainees, those who refuse to eat are strapped down twice a day in specially designed chairs, and tubes are violently inserted through their noses and into their stomachs. The U.S. military personnel force liquids through the tubes. Detainees, many of whom are left vomiting blood, have also reported that U.S. military personnel reuse the unclean tubes on different captives. As a result of the application of this torture regime, the U.S. military has bragged of a significant reduction in hunger strikers in recent days. The Associated Press today published a story about three British youths who were detained at Guantanamo for more than two years without charge before they were released. The AP story reports, "At the camp, the men say they were beaten and saw troops throw Qurans in the toilet. They also say they were forced to watch videotapes of prisoners who had allegedly been ordered to sodomize each other and were chained to a hook in the floor while strobe lights flashed and heavy metal music blared." The New York Times lead editorial from today (Monday June 12) condemned the Guantanamo prison and said that it was no surprise that detainees are committing suicide, "It is a place where secret tribunals sat in judgment of men whose identities they barely knew and who were not permitted to see the evidence against them. Inmates were abused, humiliated, tormented and sometimes tortured." Click here to send a letter to Congress and the White House: Shut Down Guantanamo and all torture centers and prisons. UN Panel says: Shut Down Guantanamo Now! The United Nations panel investigating conditions at Guantanamo insisted in a report released on May 19, 2006 that the prison must be shut down. The UN panel declared the prison to be a torture facility. Unless they are charged and given a fair trial, the report also called for the release of the hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo who are being held indefinitely. Without criminal charges, these prisoners are held in savage conditions and subjected to physical and psychological abuse, including the much vaunted innovations of "cultural" and sexual humiliation. The UN report did not limit itself to demanding the closing of Guantanamo. It also called for the closure of secret CIA prisons, and the end of the "extraordinary renditions" which is the policy of the US government shipping people to other countries so that they can be more effectively tortured. This torture center must be closed. The people of the United States should join the people of Cuba and the people of the world in demanding that the entire U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Cuba be closed down. The U.S. invaded Cuba in 1898 and forced the colonial government of that time to sign a treaty giving the U.S. military control over this part of the island of Cuba in perpetuity. The continued maintenance of a U.S. Naval Base inside of Cuba against the wishes of the Cuban people is a modern day expression of the vilest colonialism. How ironic it is that the Bush Administration accuses the Cuban government of violating "human rights" when the only place in Cuba where the authorities engage in systematic torture of prisoners held without Due Process rights is the portion under the control of the U.S. government. Say No to Torture -- Say No to Bush' s Imperial Government The establishment of a torture facility at a US naval base located in a foreign country is not an isolated criminal act by this administration. It is part of a pattern whose methods and goals are now obvious. The Bush White House, in both its domestic and foreign policy, wants to establish that all existing international and domestic law that in any way inhibits the assumption of near-dictatorial power by the President of the United States must be declared null and void. The so-called war on terrorism is revealed as nothing more than a slogan masking a quest for unfettered empire. The war of aggression against Iraq; the assassination of targeted individuals; the establishment of torture facilities and secret prisons around the world; the secret phone record collection, warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of the email of millions of Americans -- all of this constitutes a brazen effort to assume unfettered authority and power. This is the challenge of our time. Will the people intervene and act decisively? The people of the United States, in partnership with the peoples of all continents, are a power far greater than the Bush White House. But we must act. Each one of us must act to inform our neighbors, family members and co-workers. Go to: http://www.shutitdown.org/ to send a letter to Congress and the White House: Shut Down Guantanamo and all torture centers and prisons. A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Act Now to Stop War & End Racism http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org sf@internationalanswer.org 2489 Mission St. Rm. 24 San Francisco: 415-821-6545 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- ABOLISHING JROTC in SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOLS There will be a special meeting in July when the School Board will vote on this resolution. The meeting date is to be announced. School District Office 555 Franklin St San Francisco 415/241-6427 Report and Open letter to the Board of Education regarding JROTC: At the first reading of the resolution to rid the schools of JROTC on the basis of the policy of "Don't ask, don't tell" that discriminates against gay's in the military, which was presented to the Board of Education meeting on May 23, the JROTC teachers (all retired military officers) mobilized students to speak on behalf of JROTC. Carole Seligman and I spoke to many students in the lobby before the meeting began. Repeatedly they expressed that they loved the program. It gives them confidence in themselves, provides a supportive environment, encourages good scholarship in school, and encourages comradeship among the members. So much so, that a young girl had a silver-colored chain with a tiny silver-colored and diamond studded bullet. I really couldn't believe it was a bullet so I asked her if it was. She said, "oh! this? Yes, it's a bullet. You know, it's between me and my friend, you know, like, 'I'll take a bullet for you!'" Need I say more about the virtues of JROTC? Unfortunately, the resolution that follows says nothing of this aspect of JROTC. Nothing about the war. Nothing about young people being taught to "take a bullet for each other". Nothing about the realities of war. Nothing about asking students, gay or not, to risk their lives and take the lives of Iraqis for this inhuman and illegal war brought about by an inhuman and illegal government. It was announced by gay supporters of JROTC at the meeting that they expected the military to lift the prohibition on gays in the military this year. If this is true this will make this resolution obsolete before it can ever take effect. Are we to cheer that our gay brothers and sisters will be able to fight in this war? What is our plan to convince young gay and straight students that they can't "be all they can be" if they are dead; or legless and armless; or with the blood of too many dead in their hearts and head; or permanently brain-damaged; burnt or blinded by exploding eyeballs and deafened by exploding eardrums? Who will tell them of depleted uranium illness? Who will tell them that although there is a very high survival rate for our injured soldiers there is also a very high rate of survival with such catastrophic injury and illness? Who will tell them that they are more likely to be homeless after serving than in college? Who will tell them about the logic of "following orders" and a "chain of command" Instead of thinking and reasoning and making decisions for themselves leads to disaster? If you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch the HBO special, "Baghdad ER". In fact it should be shown to all of our students in middle and high school. (It's far too explicit for very young children.) We and the majority of the voters in San Francisco want the military out of our schools immediately! Here are my comments for the meeting. I was cut off midway through my timed one-minute delivery. The resolution follows my comments. Please look at it again and see that a vital antiwar message is missing from it and correct and amend the resolution immediately to reflect opposition to the militarization of our schools and the offering up of our students as cannon fodder for this bloodthirsty and greedy government and it's military might. We want a world without war! How can we teach children that violence is not the answer when the most powerful and influential adults in the world--our government-- uses it as their ultimate tool to gain wealth and power for themselves. You must take a stronger antiwar stand! I don't care how many antiwar resolutions you have passed. The proof of the pudding is in the military presence in our schools! Sincerely, Bonnie Weinstein Addressed to the President, Vice President and the Commissioners of the San Francisco Board of Education: I commend the board members who are bringing the motion to rid our schools of JROTC forward. This is in line with the wishes of the majority of the voters in San Francisco who voted to get the military out of our schools this past November. The military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is unacceptable. Our obligation is to educate our children against prejudice of all kinds—not turn a blind eye—and turn a bigoted military loose on them. But that is not the only reason we want the military and JROTC out. We want our children to engage in physical education, in fact, to find joy in it; and to study history—to learn how to avoid the mistakes of the past; to gain satisfaction and experience joy in learning so they can contribute to human knowledge themselves as well as help fashion a better world! We want our children to feel responsible to her or his community. We want students to gain a sense of responsibility and pride in a job well done by contributing to the life and well being of their school, their home and their community. We don’t want to teach our children to blindly obey a chain of command or to glorify war. In fact, it is our duty to teach our children that blind obedience, violence, greed, bigotry, prejudice, human inequality, torture, pre- emptive war, profiting off of war and injustice, inequality in the application of the law, and poverty in the face of fantastic wealth is wrong, inhuman and intolerable and we can do better! We must rid our schools of the military and JROTC, hire enough Physical Education teachers immediately, and re-dedicate our schools to education and human development—and reject the road to war and militarism. Just one more thing, I want to correct the notion that the new school policy regarding military recruiters has resulted in less military presence in our schools. In fact, it has resulted in more. Many schools did not invite the military on Career Day and now they must, and that is a shame, because we want the military out! We don’t want our children to study war or bigotry any more! Not for one more second! Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, www.bauaw.org, 415-824-8730 The resolution: Introduction of Replacement Program for JROTC --Commissioners Mark Sanchez and Dan Kelly WHEREAS: It is the official policy of the San Francisco Unified School District to oppose discrimination of any kind against any group of people; and WHEREAS: The District’s opposition to discrimination is articulated in Board Policy 5163, which provides that the San Francisco Unified School District shall not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, or handicapping condition in the provision of educational programs, services, and activities, in the admission of students to school programs and activities; and in the recruitment and employment of personnel; and WHEREAS: The San Francisco Unified School District deplores the "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" policy of the U.S. Department of Defense, which requires the discharge of any member of the armed forces if such service member has engaged in "homosexual acts," has revealed that s/he is a homosexual or bisexual, or the member has married or attempted to marry a person known to be of the same biological sex; and WHEREAS: The District believes that the "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" policy is an unjust, indefensible, unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia; and WHEREAS: The San Francisco Unified School District cannot justify committing any funding to a JROTC program because its connection to the U.S. Department of Defense suggests that discrimination against some groups is tolerable. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the Board of Education of the San Francisco Unified School District calls for the phasing –out of the JROTC program of the United States Department of Defense on San Francisco Unified School District campuses; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the Board of Education instructs District staff to provide all JROTC units at SFUSD campuses with one year notice that the programs will be terminated at all SFUSD campuses after the 2006-2007 school year; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the Board of Education calls for the creation of a special task force to develop alternative, creative, career-driven programs which provide students with a greater sense of purpose and respect for self and humankind. Board has plan to oust ROTC from S.F. schools Members want to cut program over 'Don't ask, Don't tell' The students engage in physical training such as running, push-ups and jumping jacks; and discipline training such as marching, drill-practice and using a mock chain of command. They also study military history and perform community service. - Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, May 23, 2006 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/05/23/MNGIOJ0G7P1.DTL ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Free the Land! Support Indigenous Sovereignty! Support the courageous stand of the Onkwehonweh people! Dear supporters, As you know, one of our comrades made a solidarity trip up to the Six Nations a few weeks ago bringing up much needed supplies. He is planning a return trip and needs more support (see prior email). If you can give anything please get in touch (muayxthai@yahoo.co.uk). The following is a report from Six Nations regarding the current confrontation between indigenous people standing up for their rights, their land and their families and the Canadian and U.S. governments. As the Chicano activist Juan Santos wrote in Mexica Tlahtolli, last April, "The original Europeans in what is now the U.S. were not immigrants, but colonists. And the U.S. is not a nation of immigrants - it is a white colonial settler state, like South Africa under Apartheid, the former Rhodesia, Australia and Israel.” And, of course, like Canada. Jericho Boston UPDATE FROM GRAND RIVER June 9, 2006. Today has been a day of unrest at the land reclamation site. While we won't go into great detail on what has happened today as a press release is being prepared, let us say that the intimidation tactics and pressure from the outside has been worked up to the point that 1000 OPP [Ontario Provincial Police] officers are being dispatched to the area surrounding the reclamation site. Caledonia residents are up in arms, demanding the removal of our people from the site. They are even going so far as to set up a barricade on the recently opened Plank Road (Argyle Street) leading into Caledonia. The intimidation tactics leading up to today were constant..... including army helicopters and others flying overhead all hours of the day and night. They hovered overhead between 2 and 4 in the morning with their lights off and their nigh vision on , and then on occasion, shining high powered lights down onto the people on the site. [this is all the same as their tactics in Oka in 1990]. We are being faced daily with people driving by, hollering racial remarks including "go home you f'n Indians", "get a job", "your gonna die" etc. Garbage is being thrown at us. Besides the "flipping of the bird", there have been times where firecrackers are being thrown out the car windows toward us. These incidents, however, are not investigated by the OPP because “they are not breaking any laws”. [See ‘Rocks at Whisky Trench, National Film Board]. [what about hate laws, human rights and racial discrimination?] Today a United States Border Patrol vehicle was retrieved with high powered surveillance equipment in it. The first story from the OPP was that the "A.T.F. Officer" was just visiting friends in the neighborhood and taking pictures "kinda like a tourist". [Right! With a high tech surveillance van? He left the family car at home?] He was spotted just down from the front line barricade. We followed them to the back door of the reclamation site. Later we questioned what the United States ATF was doing snooping around taking pictures of us with the OPP riding in the back with them. They changed the story saying that they had been invited in by the OPP. [Why? Was the OPP getting lonely looking at each other? Did they need more maniacs to make themselves feel more comfortable?] What were they doing here? What is their mandate? The OPP refused to tell us why these people have gotten high government official clearance to be so far out of their jurisdiction. An OPP officer was hospitalized as a result of this incident. A CHTV Newsperson/cameraman had to get stitches as a result of a previous run-in with our people. [CHTV 11 not only reports the news, they “create” the news]. This situation is not good. [All reports from CHTV 11 are anti-Indigenous]. The incidents of today are a direct result of the constant intimidation tactics of the OPP, the military and the continued racist acts instigated against us by the Caledonia people [with their professionally made “Bring in the Army” signs always in their car trunks, just in case the cameras are there]. Other strategies are the recent blocking of our children from using the arena for lacrosse games and the back tracking by the Ontario government at the “talks”. This is supposed to push everything up to the ultimate goal of Canada and Ontario. They want to justify stopping the talks about returning our lands to us. At our fire tonight, we realized that Canada does not want to deal with the Onkwehonweh people because they know we are absolutely right in our position on the land, our sovereignty and upholding our Law. This violence today occurred as a result of the underhanded and direct attempts at inciting an action from us to justify another attack against us. They want to make it look like we are uncontrollable. Why else have they been playing the "terrorists in Canada in court in Brampton" back to back with the "Six Nations land reclamation in Caledonia" on all the news stations? Canada, with the help of corporate media, is making sure the mental brainwashing of its citizens against the Onkwehonweh continues. [Across Canada people are not buying this corporate brainwashing]. How convenient that CHTV 11 was there even before this all started! How coincidently that the couple who sparked the violence with their racial attacks and their attempt to run over our people, drove straight to the Canadian Tire parking lot! How convenient that a "by-stander" happened to have a video camera across the road at the Tim Horton’s coffee shop video taping the whole scene [with a Boston Cream donut in the other hand]. He directly reported to CHML radio which happens to be co-owned by CHTV 11. Was it a co-incidence! Or were they already on standby knowing that a story was about to break. [Another high-priced promotion failed!] It is unfortunate that our people fell for it. [Our guys are the only ones legally here]. The reality is, we are dealing with the constant mental, emotional and physical intimidation of the corrupt bureaucrats. Also, we face racial violence constantly. Does anyone know for sure how they would react in the same situation? The potential for violence against us here in the next while is tremendous. [Expect this to happen. This is their “bad act” and no one’s buying any tickets for it!] The Caledonia people want to take us off our land. The OPP are maintaining a line between the Caledonia residents and the reclamation site. [Just like the people in Chateauguay in 1990. See “Act of Defiance” by the National Film Board]. We don’t know how long this is going to last. Our people are on alert. We are on the site unarmed. We are trying to maintain the peace. We are keeping the people within the inner perimeter. We will continue to forward updates. Please forward to others. Stay Strong and keep the Peace. Hazel You support is crucial now. Do whatever you can. Use your good mind and heart. Stand by us in solidarity and support. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Great Counter-Recruitment Website http://notyoursoldier.org/article.php?list=type&type=14 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- SCROLL DOWN TO READ: EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ARTICLES IN FULL LINKS ONLY ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- DEFEND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS! Last summer the U.S. Border Patrol arrested Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, both 23-year-old volunteers assisting immigrants on the border, for medically evacuating 3 people in critical condition from the Arizona desert. Criminalization for aiding undocumented immigrants already exists on the books in the state of Arizona. Daniel and Shanti are targeted to be its first victims. Their arrest and subsequent prosecution for providing humanitarian aid could result in a 15-year prison sentence. Any Congressional compromise with the Sensenbrenner bill (HR 4437) may include these harmful criminalization provisions. Fight back NOW! Help stop the criminalization of undocumented immigrants and those who support them! For more information call 415-821- 9683. For information on the Daniel and Shanti Defense Campaign, visit www.nomoredeaths.org. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Saving The Idriss Stelley Foundation Host: Idriss Stelley Foundation, Rap4Rights Location: Studio Z 314 11th Street, San Francisco, CA View Map When: Sunday, June 25, 1:00pm Phone: 415.252.7100 KEEP IDRISS STELLEY FOUNDATION OPEN! ISF is a nonprofit organization created through the settlement of Idriss Stelley's vs. City & County and SFPD case and its allocation to his mother Mesha Monge-Irizarry. Her only child, a 23 year old African American honor student was killed by SFPD at the SF Sony Metreon on June 13, 2001. 48 shots! 9 officers! He stood alone in an empty theater. Mesha now operates the Idriss Stelley Foundation, a 24 HR bilingual crisis line (415) 595-8251 that has broadened its services to all people negatively impacted by law enforcement. Idriss Stelley's case is at the root of the 40-HR mandatory SFPD Mental Health Training. ISF provides free, confidential services to victims, biological and extended families who are negatively impacted by law enforcement ISF office is located at 4921 3rd St., in the heart of Bayview District, between Palou and Quesada in San Francisco and is open Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 8 pm. Please come out Sunday June 25, 2006 at 1pm to enjoy food, drinks and live entertainment in support of ISF. (21+ Please) $5-500 DONATION ACCEPTED AT THE DOOR. NO PERSON TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS BUT PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT! ***IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO ATTEND BUT WOULD STILL LIKE TO DONATE TO THE IDRISS STELLEY FOUNDATION PLEASE CONTACT US VIA EMAIL AT RAP4RIGHTS@AOL.COM*** ISF IS DEPENDING ON THE COMMUNITY TO KEEP ITS DOORS OPEN! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- LaborFest 2006 Schedule July 1 (Saturday) 12-4:00 PM ($15-50) (sliding scale donation to CounterPULSE requested. Bring a bag lunch!) Labor Bike Tour with Chris Carlson of San Francisco©ˆs labor history For more info: call Chris Carlsson carlsson.chris@gmail.com http://www.laborfest.net/2006schedule.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Fourth Annual International Al-Awda Convention San Francisco - July 14-16, 2006 To register: http://al-awda.org/sf-conv_reserve.html To flyer, the writing is on the wall: http://al-awda.org/pdf/flyer.pdf For all other info: http://al-awda.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- REMINDER TO ALL GROUPS: BE SURE AND POST ALL ACTIONS AND EVENTS TO WWW.INDYBAY.ORG TO REACH THE MOST PEOPLE AGAINST THE WAR IN THE BAY AREA! http://www.indybay.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Join the call by reproductive rights activists to send a letter to Defend Oglala Sioux President Cecilia Fire Thunder After taking a courageous stance against the ban on abortion in South Dakota, Cecilia Fire Thunder, first female president of the Oglala Sioux tribe, has been attacked by members of the Tribal Council, who are attempting to remove her from office. Background: After abortion was banned in South Dakota, Fire Thunder, a healthcare provider, announced that she would personally help set-up Sacred Choices Women's Clinic on her own land, within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has no jurisdiction. The clinic would provide reproductive health care to all women. In an interview she said, "Ultimately, this is a much bigger issue than just abortion. It's time for women to reclaim their bodies." and "As Indian women, we fight many battles. This is just another battle we have to fight." Read an interview, "The Power of Thunder" on Altnet at http://www.alternet.org/story/34314 The Complaint: On May 30 the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council banned abortions on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and suspended President Fire Thunder for 20 days until an impeachment hearing can take place. The complaint is that Fire Thunder improperly used her title to solicit donations for the clinic. Fire Thunder has said that donations for the proposed private clinic have been unsolicited, though she has welcomed nationwide support. The surprise vote was called when Fire Thunder was out of town getting an annual checkup of the cochlear implants that restored her hearing. Read more at http://indianz.com/News/2006/014231.asp Fire Thunder said the people who brought this complaint are the same people who have opposed her since she was elected in November 2004. Fire Thunder ran on a platform of fiscal accountability, the Oglala Sioux Tribe was in financial trouble and listed as a financial high risk. Since Fire Thunder became president there have been audits that go back into 1997 (see http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412970 ) And she took tribal employees off the roles for jobs that had been defunded by the federal government. (see analysis by Elizabeth Castle at the end of this message.). For her brave stance, Fire Thunder has been suspended and cleared before, see http://indianz.com/News/2005/010954.asp Support Fire Thunder: President Fire Thunder's supporters are organizing on the reservation. They would like letters, especially from indigenous people, to the tribal council in support of President Fire Thunder and opposing the tribe's ban on abortions. Message should reach the council before Monday, June 19. Oglala Sioux Tribal Council PO Box 2070 Pine Ridge, SD 57770-2070 fax: 605-867-1449 phone 605-867-5821 and send a copy to President Cecelia Fire Thunder PO Box 2070 Pine Ridge, SD 57770-2070 If you have any questions about this issue, please contact Radical Women at 415-864-1278 or rwbayarea@yahoo.com Thank you for your support! In solidarity, Toni Mendicino Bay Area Radical Women and Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights Below is an excerpt from an email from Elizabeth Castle, UC Berkeley History Professor and personal historian to Madonna Thunder Hawk. ...there are many complicated political factors behind this action. This is the third time it has happened and the danger is that this time the Tribal Council is using the abortion issues as leverage. When she was elected she cleaned up house. This meant taking tribal employees off the roles for jobs that had been defunded by the federal government. In addition to federal cuts, often the grants were lost for these tribal programs because the employees had not taken the necessary action to see their reports were in and the grants were properly renewed. Fire Thunder notified these individuals that they were welcome back if they were able to get the program funded again. The ending of this "gravy train," created significant enemies. These actions must be understood in the ever relevant context of the continuing effects of colonization. They are very real as in the welfare mentality that reigns on the reservation makes progressive change difficult. The federal government not only knows this but encourages it as it makes the pathway to terminating treaty obligations to tribes. Though the full details are as of yet unknown, it is easy to see that the Fire Thunder's bold leadership makes her vulnerable not only to those right wing individuals off the reservation in the racist state of South Dakota but even more so at home in Pine Ridge. With generations of boarding school christianity drummed into the minds of many Native people, there is little awareness of the Lakota's traditional practices of reproductive control. It would be easy to see "Abortion is not traditional" signs popping up as a very patriarchal and inaccurate reinvigoration of traditional practice. Also, in a community where illegal sterilization was commonly practiced, the link to organizing behind the right to abortion will not be as easily made. Please take a look at the links below to see how often Fire Thunder has been attacked. It is dead clear that she needs serious support. Website: http://indianz.com/News/2005/010954.asp ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- FYI According to "Minimum Wage History" at http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth484/minwage.html " "Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $9.12. "The 8 dollar per hour Whole Foods employees are being paid $1.12 less than the 1968 minimum wage. "A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The graph shows both nominal (red) and real (blue) minimum wage values. Nominal values range from 25 cents per hour in 1938 to the current $5.15/hr. The greatest percentage jump in the minimum wage was in 1950, when it nearly doubled. The graph adjusts these wages to 2005 dollars (blue line) to show the real value of the minimum wage. Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $9.12. Note how the real dollar minimum wage rises and falls. This is because it gets periodically adjusted by Congress. The period 1997-2006, is the longest period during which the minimum wage has not been adjusted. States have departed from the federal minimum wage. Washington has the highest minimum wage in the country at $7.63 as of January 1, 2006. Oregon is next at $7.50. Cities, too, have set minimum wages. Santa Fe, New Mexico has a minimum wage of $9.50, which is more than double the state minimum wage at $4.35." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- PRESERVE INTERNET NETWORK NEUTRALITY Hi, I can't imagine that you haven't seen this, but if you haven't, please sign the petition to keep our access. Everything we do online will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law next week that gives giant corporations more control over what we do and see on the Internet. Internet providers like AT&T are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality--the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Right now, Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. BarnesandNoble.com doesn't have to outbid Amazon for the right to work properly on your computer. If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites--including Google, eBay, and iTunes--must either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk having their websites process slowly. That why these high-tech pioneers, plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to Gun Owners of America, are opposing Congress' effort to gut Internet freedom. So please! sign this petition telling your member of Congress to preserve Internet freedom? Click here: http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C1152463-5QFocRE05wmGUuh8yAMSzg ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Flash Film: Ides of March http://isahaqi.chris-floyd.com/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- NO BORDERS! NO WALLS! NO FENCES! GENERAL AMNESTY FOR ALL! OUR HOMELAND IS WHERE WE LIVE! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- REPEAL THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN 2007! Check out: 10 EXCELLENT REASONS NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARY http://www.10reasonsbook.com/ Public Law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [1.8 MB] http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html Also, the law is up before Congress again in 2007. See this article from USA Today: Bipartisan panel to study No Child Left Behind By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY February 13, 2006 http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-02-13-education-panel_x.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/decind.html http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805195.php Bill of Rights http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805182.php ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- ARTICLES IN FULL: ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 1) "Just in the Name of 'Democracy' " June 3, 2006 Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal 2) Where the Hogs Come First By BOB HERBERT June 15, 2006 http://select.nytimes.com/2006/06/15/opinion/15herbert.html?hp 3) The Don't-Bother-to-Knock Rule New York Times Editorial June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/opinion/16fri1.html?hp 4) The New Face of Solidarity By STEVEN GREENHOUSE June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/business/16union.html 5) U.A.W. Says Applications for Buyouts Soar at G.M. By MICHELINE MAYNARD June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/business/16uaw.html 6) Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Flag-Burning Measure By BLOOMBERG NEWS June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/washington/16brfs-008.html 7) In Oil-Rich Angola, Cholera Preys Upon Poorest "A crisis committee began work only two and a half months after the epidemic began, and the government has set aside a mere $5 million in emergency money to fight the disease....Economists say the government simply has more money than it can spend." By SHARON LaFRANIERE June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/world/africa/16cholera.html 8) Venezuela: Chávez Orders Russian Warplanes (AP) June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/world/americas/16briefs-001.html 9) Ranchers Add Ladders to Border Fences By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 7:27 a.m. ET June 17, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Border-Fence-Ladders.html 10) Bienvenido A Fence With More Beauty, Fewer Barbs By WILLIAM L. HAMILTON June 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/weekinreview/18hamilton.html 11) Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors for Border Control By ERIC LIPTON Correction Appended Correction: May 20, 2006 A front-page article on Thursday about a federal plan to use contractors to help secure the borders of the United States misstated the amount that Lockheed Martin made in federal government sales in 2005. Of $37.2 billion in sales, more than $31 billion, not $6 billion, was in sales to the government. May 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/washington/18border.html?ex=1150776000&en=b8293eb7e22efbf1&ei=5070 12) DEPLOYMENT REFUSER HAS NO REGRETS By Michelle Tan Army Times June 14, 2006 http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1870677.php 13) Here Illegally, Working Hard and Paying Taxes By EDUARDO PORTER June 19, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/business/19illegals.html?hp&ex=1150776000&en=a94929a93349f54f&ei=5094&partner=homepage 14) Residents Struggle to Survive, In and Out of Ramadi Inter Press Service Dahr Jamail and Ali Fadhil Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches Visit the Dahr Jamail Iraq website http://dahrjamailiraq.com 15) The right to fuck and suck OPINION by Tommi Avicolli Mecca Bay Guardian, June 21, 2006 16) Israeli Attack Kills 3 Gaza Children By IAN FISHER June 21, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/world/middleeast/21mideast.html 17) Supreme Court Rules Against Illegal Immigrant By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 22, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/washington/22wire-scotus.html?hp&ex=1151035200&en=94c687d336f46592&ei=5094&partner=homepage 18) Army to Raise Maximum Age By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE The Army said that it was raising the maximum age for enlistment to 42 from 40 to expand its pool of potential recruits. The move comes just six months after the Army raised the maximum age to 40 from 35; more than 1,000 people in that age bracket have enlisted since then. Recruits between the ages of 40 to 42 must meet the same physical standards as younger ones but will be subjected to additional medical screening, the Army said. Men and women in that age bracket can enlist and are eligible for the same signing bonuses and other incentives as younger recruits. June 22, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/washington/22brfs-007.html 19) Senate Rejects Minimum Wage Increase [The Republicans refuse to vote for an increase and the Democrats want to vote for a paltry increase in effect tying working people to a maximum of $7.25 an hour for the next two years! What choice is this? Let's see if the politicians can live on $7.25 an hour for the next two years!...bw] By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Senate rejected a proposed increase in the minimum wage by a vote of 52 to 46. Democrats had said it was past time to increase the rate of $5.15 an hour, in effect for nearly a decade. This was the ninth time since 1997 that Senate Democrats have proposed and Republicans have blocked a stand-alone increase in the minimum wage. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, proposed the bill, which would have increased the rate to $5.85 beginning 60 days after enactment, to $6.55 a year later and to $7.25 a year after that. June 22, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/washington/22brfs-009.html 20) New Orleans Plans Juvenile Curfew By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 8:39 p.m. ET June 21, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-New-Orleans-Curfew.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 1) "Just in the Name of 'Democracy' " June 3, 2006 Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal The word 'democracy' is a kind of verbal narcotic. To mention it is to daze us; to dull us; to lull us into peaceful slumber. That's why the Bush Regime, perhaps the least democratic of governments in generations, calls the invasion and occupation a 'war for democracy.' It is ironic that a government that is profoundly autocratic, that relies on elite authoritarianism, secrecy, wireless wiretaps, secret prisons and torture, can claim to be fighting for something that is becoming so rare in the U.S. (ahem -- democracy). But, don't trip; this ain't a Bush thing. Writer and historian, Michael Parenti in his book, Super Patriotism (San Francisco: City Light Books, 2004), tells us that democracy has been wiped out in a host of countries -- by the ! Parenti writes: "US leaders have long professed a dedication to democracy, yet over the last half century they have devoted themselves to overthrowing democratic governments in Guatemala, Guyana, the Dominican Republic,Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Syria, Indonesia (under Sukarno), Greece (twice), Argentina (twice), Haiti (twice), Bolivia, Jamaica, Yugoslavia,and other countries. These governments were all guilty of pursuing policies that occasionally favored the poorer elements and infringed upon the affluent. In most instances, the US-sponsored coups were accompanied by widespread killings of democratic activists. "US leaders have supported covert actions, sanctions, or proxy mercenary wars against revolutionary governments in Cuba, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Iraq (with the CIA ushering in Saddam Hussein's reign of repression), Portugal, South Yemen, Nicaragua, Cambodia, East Timor, Western Sahara, and elsewhere. "US interventions and destabilization campaigns have been directed against other populist nationalistic governments, including Egypt, Lebanon, Peru, Iran, Syria, Zaire, Venezuela, the Fiji Islands, and Afghanistan (before the Soviets ever went into the country). "And since World War II, direct US military invasions or aerial attacks or both have been perpetrated against Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, North Korea, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Libya, Somalia, and Iraq (twice). There is no 'rogue state,' 'axis of evil,' or communist country that has a comparable record of such criminal aggression against other nations." [pp. 133-34) The point? The next time you hear about a 'war to bring democracy' -- question it. Decades ago, a Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, gave the quintessential recipe for American military adventures abroad. Speaking during the Eisenhower years, Dulles said, "In order to bring a nation to support the burdens of maintaining great military establishments, it is necessary to create an emotional state akin to war psychology." Dulles added, "*There must be the portrayal of external menace*." To do this, Dulles explained, one must depict one's own country as the shining hero, while portraying the adversary as the embodiment of all evil. We have, all of us, seen this recipe cooked all of our lives, all around the world, and on every continent. It works, because people allow it to work. Yet, while Dulles explains how such a thing happens, he doesn't explain why. Years ago, an American president was explaining why the Vietnam War was necessary. This man said: "Now let us assume that we lost Indochina , the tin and tungsten that we so greatly value from that area would cease coming. So when the votes $400 million to help that war, we are not voting a give-away program. We are voting for the cheapest way that we can prevent the occurrence of something that would be of a most terrible significance to the , our security, our power and ability to get certain things we need from the riches of the Indo-Chinese territory and from Southeast Asia ." [p. 67]** These words were spoken by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Now, why is that remarkable? Isn't it merely the case of an American president talking turkey? These words were spoken in 1953 -- *eleven years before the entered the Vietnam War!* Why are wars fought? For 'democracy' -- or for profit? Think about this the next time you hear a plea for your patriotism. Just say, "No." Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal **["Source: Carmichael, Stokely. Stokely Speaks: Black Power Back to Pan-Africanism. (New York: Vintage, 1971), p. 67. The author was giving an anti-war speech to students at Morgan State College, Baltimore, Md. , Jan. 28, 1967. He cited as his source a book entitled , by Felix Green.] ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 2) Where the Hogs Come First By BOB HERBERT June 15, 2006 http://select.nytimes.com/2006/06/15/opinion/15herbert.html?hp Tar Heel, N.C. Think pork. Sizzling bacon and breakfast sausage. Juicy chops and ribs and robust holiday hams. The pork capital of the planet is this tiny town in the Cape Fear River basin, not far from the South Carolina border. Spending a few days in Tar Heel and the surrounding area — dotted with hog farms, cornfields and the occasional Confederate flag — is like stepping back in time. This is a place where progress has slowed to a crawl. Tar Heel's raison d'être (and the employment anchor for much of the region) is the mammoth plant of the Smithfield Packing Company, a million-square-foot colossus that is the largest pork processing facility in the world. You can learn a lot at Smithfield. It's a case study in both the butchering of hogs (some 32,000 are slaughtered there each day) and the systematic exploitation of vulnerable workers. More than 5,500 men and women work at Smithfield, most of them Latino or black, and nearly all of them undereducated and poor. The big issue at Smithfield is not necessarily money. Workers are drawn there from all over the region, sometimes traveling in crowded vans for two hours or more each day, because the starting pay — until recently, $8 and change an hour — is higher than the pay at most other jobs available to them. But the work is often brutal beyond imagining. Company officials will tell you everything is fine, but serious injuries abound, and the company has used illegal and, at times, violent tactics over the course of a dozen years to keep the workers from joining a union that would give them a modicum of protection and dignity. "It was depressing inside there," said Edward Morrison, who spent hour after hour flipping bloody hog carcasses on the kill floor, until he was injured last fall after just a few months on the job. "You have to work fast because that machine is shooting those hogs out at you constantly. You can end up with all this blood dripping down on you, all these feces and stuff just hanging off of you. It's a terrible environment. "We've had guys walk off after the first break and never return." Mr. Morrison's comments were echoed by a young man who was with a group of Smithfield workers waiting for a van to pick them up at a gas station in Dillon, S.C., nearly 50 miles from Tar Heel. "The line do move fast," the young man said, "and people do get hurt. You can hear 'em hollering when they're on their way to the clinic." Workers are cut by the flashing, slashing knives that slice the meat from the bones. They are hurt sliding and falling on floors and stairs that are slick with blood, guts and a variety of fluids. They suffer repetitive motion injuries. The processing line on the kill floor moves hogs past the workers at the dizzying rate of one every three or four seconds. Union representation would make a big difference for Smithfield workers. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has been trying to organize the plant since the mid-1990's. Smithfield has responded with tactics that have ranged from the sleazy to the reprehensible. After an exhaustive investigation, a judge found that the company had threatened to shut down the entire plant if the workers dared to organize, and had warned Latino workers that immigration authorities would be alerted if they voted for a union. The union lost votes to organize the plant in 1994 and 1997, but the results of those elections were thrown out by the National Labor Relations Board after the judge found that Smithfield had prevented the union from holding fair elections. The judge said the company had engaged in myriad "egregious" violations of federal labor law, including threatening, intimidating and firing workers involved in the organizing effort, and beating up a worker "for engaging in union activities." Rather than obey the directives of the board and subsequent court decisions, the company has tied the matter up on appeals that have lasted for years. A U.S. Court of Appeals ruling just last month referred to "the intense and widespread coercion prevalent at the Tar Heel facility." Workers at Smithfield and their families are suffering while the government dithers, refusing to require a mighty corporation like Smithfield to obey the nation's labor laws in a timely manner. The defiance, greed and misplaced humanity of the merchants of misery at the apex of the Smithfield power structure are matters consumers might keep in mind as they bite into that next sizzling, succulent morsel of Smithfield pork. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 3) The Don't-Bother-to-Knock Rule New York Times Editorial June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/opinion/16fri1.html?hp The Supreme Court yesterday substantially diminished Americans' right to privacy in their own homes. The rule that police officers must "knock and announce" themselves before entering a private home is a venerable one, and a well-established part of Fourth Amendment law. But President Bush's two recent Supreme Court appointments have now provided the votes for a 5-4 decision eviscerating this rule. This decision should offend anyone, liberal or conservative, who worries about the privacy rights of ordinary Americans. The case arose out of the search of Booker T. Hudson's home in Detroit in 1998. The police announced themselves but did not knock, and after waiting a few seconds, entered his home and seized drugs and a gun. There is no dispute that the search violated the knock-and-announce rule. The question in the case was what to do about it. Mr. Hudson wanted the evidence excluded at his trial. That is precisely what should have happened. Since 1914, the Supreme Court has held that, except in rare circumstances, evidence seized in violation of the Constitution cannot be used. The exclusionary rule has sometimes been criticized for allowing criminals to go free just because of police error. But as the court itself recognized in that 1914 case, if this type of evidence were admissible, the Fourth Amendment "might as well be stricken." The court ruled yesterday that the evidence could be used against Mr. Hudson. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, argued that even if police officers did not have to fear losing a case if they disobeyed the knock-and-announce rule, the subjects of improper searches could still bring civil lawsuits to challenge them. But as the dissenters rightly pointed out, there is little chance that such suits would keep the police in line. Justice Scalia was also far too dismissive of the important privacy rights at stake, which he essentially reduced to "the right not to be intruded upon in one's nightclothes." Justice Stephen Breyer noted in dissent that even a century ago the court recognized that when the police barge into a house unannounced, it is an assault on "the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of life." If Justice Sandra Day O'Connor had stayed on the court, this case might well have come out the other way. For those who worry that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito will take the court in a radically conservative direction, it is sobering how easily the majority tossed aside a principle that traces back to 13th-century Britain, and a legal doctrine that dates to 1914, to let the government invade people's homes. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 4) The New Face of Solidarity By STEVEN GREENHOUSE "...unions represent just 7.8 percent of the nation's private-sector work force, down from 35 percent in the 1950's." June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/business/16union.html Manuel Alvarez is the type of worker that service-sector unions are eager to attract. After 11 years as a houseman at the Hilton Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport, he earns $9.95 an hour, about $20,000 a year. "It's not enough to live on," said Mr. Alvarez, an immigrant from Mexico who vacuums halls and flips mattresses. "I go to two churches each week to pick up donated food." On his days off, he collects bottles and cans for the deposit, adding $200 a month to his income. His hope is to join a union, and soon. This week, judging by the somber mood at the United Automobile Workers convention, the state of organized labor would seem dire. Not so long ago, the U.A.W. was the nation's largest and most swaggering union, leading the way in building America's middle class by winning impressive wages, health coverage and pensions. But the U.A.W. is now in full retreat, ready to make concessions to help save the American auto industry. Its plight points to a little-understood development: the nation's private sector is divided into two very different labor movements. The first comprises manufacturing unions, like the auto workers and machinists, which are on the defensive and on the decline. The second is made up of unions for the expanding service sector, which are upbeat and on the prowl for hundreds of thousands of nursing home aides, janitors, supermarket cashiers and workers like Mr. Alvarez. Unite Here, the union that represents hotel, restaurant and apparel workers, is seeking to organize thousands of nonunion Hilton workers in a battle that could culminate in a strike at many Hiltons this summer. In a way, said Bruce Raynor, president of Unite Here, the service-sector unions hope to imitate the manufacturing unions of old. "Our goal is to move service-sector workers into the middle class," he said. "The manufacturing unions did that for factory workers. It took them 20 years to do that, and we hope to do the same thing." The manufacturing unions have been devastated by globalization, with many companies insisting that America's unionized factory workers are overpaid and their benefit packages too rich compared with overseas workers. Delphi, the beleaguered auto parts company, has repeatedly trumpeted this assertion as it called for cutting its workers' $27-an-hour wages in half. In contrast, the service-sector unions are largely immune to globalization — just try to outsource the job of a hamburger-flipper, hotel housekeeper or bedpan- emptier to China. Helping to make service-sector unions optimistic about attracting more members is the perception that workers like hotel housekeepers and janitors are underpaid and have skimpy benefits. Moreover, many of these workers are immigrants, who are often more enthusiastic about unions than native-born workers. To help his union rebound, Ron Gettelfinger, the president of the auto workers, announced plans this week to spend $60 million more on recruiting nonunion workers. But this could prove an uphill battle. "The U.A.W. and the steelworkers once defined the labor movement, but now they're associated with declining membership and declining influence," said Richard W. Hurd, a labor relations professor at Cornell University. "It's tough for the manufacturing unions to overcome what has happened the last 20 years, and it will make it harder for them to reach out to areas of manufacturing that are still vibrant." Today, just 2 million manufacturing workers belong to unions, down from 3.5 million a decade ago. That compares with more than 3 million workers in service and retail unions, and more than 7 million in public sector unions. "The service sector presents a tremendous opportunity for the labor movement," said Paul F. Clark, a professor of labor studies at Pennsylvania State University. "There are lots of low-paid workers, lots of immigrant workers, a lot of workers who can benefit from a union. But there are a lot of hurdles they need to navigate if they are going to form unions." Some labor experts say the effort to help workers like Mr. Alvarez join a union may not be easy. Companies have grown more aggressive and sophisticated in combating unions, often hiring consultants who lecture workers and show videos, hammering the point that unions do not help workers and only want their dues. Even many workers who favor unions are scared to speak out in favor of them, frightened that their employers will retaliate against them, perhaps by firing them, perhaps by cutting back their hours. "There's great hostility to unions in general," said Nancy B. Johnson, a professor of management at the University of Kentucky. "In the old days," she said, "you'd see co-workers dying and you'd see raw exploitation, so you wanted a union to protect you. Now if you work at nice retailers like Target or Kmart, you don't see people dying on the job. Yeah, you suffer some minor injustices, but a lot of workers today have learned to settle with what they have." Nonetheless, many labor leaders voice confidence that unions will grow again. They point to some polls showing that more than half of nonunion workers say they would vote to join a union if given the chance. Despite such sentiments, unions represent just 7.8 percent of the nation's private-sector work force, down from 35 percent in the 1950's. "I think the labor movement has a bright future," said Mr. Raynor of Unite Here. "The objective conditions — income inequality, employers using their power over workers to shift the burden of health care and retirement, workers being paid below middle-class wage levels — make it clear that many workers need unions. Unions are the only institution in society that can force employers to change the way they distribute their income." He said it was outrageous that some luxury hotels paid their workers $7 or $8 an hour. Mr. Alvarez, 59, says that out of his $20,000 pay, he spends $1,600 a year on health insurance premiums and another $2,500 on prescription drugs for his wife's asthma and for his high blood pressure and a thyroid ailment. "I want a union because it would give us more pay and far better health insurance," he said, noting that unionized workers at the Hilton in Beverly Hills pay no premiums for their health insurance. The unions that broke off from the A.F.L.-C.I.O., including Unite Here and the Service Employees International Union, largely represent service sector workers and have ambitious plans to unionize far more of them. Daniel J. B. Mitchell, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, said many service- sector workers held jobs that were every bit as blue-collar as factory jobs. "It's not surprising that unions are targeting workers in industrial laundries," where the temperature is soaring and the pace intense, he said. "It's not classified as manufacturing, but it's like blue-collar work." Manufacturing unions — their membership and their image — have been devastated by the constant stream of plant closings in recent years. General Motors, Ford and Delphi have announced widespread closings, which will reduce their union work force by more than 60,000, while a Maytag factory will soon close in Newton, Iowa, the town where the company was founded. Since 2000, the nation has lost three million manufacturing jobs, one-sixth of the total. Nowadays many unionized factory workers seem on their heels, worried about imports, plant closings and demands for concessions. Bob Perdue, a locomotive operator at AK Steel's mill in Middletown, Ohio, is in a surly mood because his company locked him out along with its 2,700 unionized workers on March 1, when their union rejected the company's demands for concessions. The company has called for a pension freeze, having the workers start contributing toward health insurance premiums and having retirees pay far more each year for their health insurance. AK says those proposals are needed to help it control costs and remain competitive against low-cost rivals. "Things are bad," Mr. Perdue said. "We never expected to be out this long. We want to protect ourselves and protect our retirees. Leo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers of America, said American manufacturers were at a huge disadvantage because companies rather than the government shouldered the cost of health coverage. If the United States adopted a national health care plan like Canada's, he said, that would go far to revive American manufacturing. "We need an economic policy in which the nation decides to have a manufacturing base," he said. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 5) U.A.W. Says Applications for Buyouts Soar at G.M. By MICHELINE MAYNARD June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/business/16uaw.html LAS VEGAS, June 15 — With a week to go before the deadline, it looks like at least 30,000 United Automobile Workers union members at General Motors will opt for incentives to leave or retire — equal to the number of jobs G.M. plans to cut. The union's president, Ron Gettelfinger, said Thursday that 25,000 G.M. workers — or roughly 22 percent of its work force represented by the U.A.W. — had signed up thus far. Company and union officials had always expected applications to accelerate as the deadline approached and workers made final decisions about the deals. Another 8,500 workers at the parts supplier Delphi, or a little more than a third of its U.A.W. membership, had accepted the plans, said Richard Shoemaker, an outgoing union vice president. The comments came as the U.A.W. wrapped up its leadership convention here. Next Friday marks the deadline for workers to make up their minds about the packages, which are available to all 113,000 U.A.W. members at G.M. and all 23,000 union members at Delphi. The auto parts supplier was part of G.M. until it was spun off in 1999. The workers have a week after the deadline to change their minds, meaning the total will not be known until June 30, at the earliest. Workers who have 30 years on the job and are eligible to retire would receive $35,000 as well as full health care benefits and a pension. Workers with less experience can receive up to $140,000 to give up their jobs. They would keep their pension benefits but forfeit retirement health care coverage. G.M. will pay for buyouts for 13,000 of the Delphi workers who were offered the deals when G.M. made them available to all its hourly workers in March. It will share the cost with Delphi for another 10,000 packages, which it offered last week. Delphi filed for bankruptcy protection in October, and has been seeking steep wage and benefit cuts from the U.A.W., which thus far has resisted. It also plans to shut 21 of its 29 American plants, and eliminate 14,000 U.A.W. jobs. G.M. is playing a role because it is liable for pensions and retirement health care for workers who were at Delphi before it became an independent parts supplier. G.M. plans to cut 30,000 jobs through 2008 under a restructuring plan that calls for it to close all or part of a dozen plants. Unless they accept the packages, workers who lose their jobs go into a program called the Jobs Bank, where they are paid their full salary and benefits until the U.A.W. contract expires in late 2007. Toni Simonetti, a G.M. spokeswoman, declined to comment on specific figures on the packages because "people are still signing up for it." But she said the acceptance rate had surpassed G.M.'s expectations. Lindsay Williams, a spokesman for Delphi, said the company would not discuss numbers until after next Friday's deadline. He added, "We've been pleased with the rate so far." As the union's convention closed, Mr. Gettelfinger named new lead negotiators for each of the Detroit auto companies. Cal Rapson, a union vice president, will be in charge of the union's G.M. and Delphi departments, replacing Mr. Shoemaker. Bob King, who had been in charge of organizing for the union, will lead the Ford department, while General Holiefield, who has served as an administrative assistant to Mr. Gettelfinger, will lead negotiations at DaimlerChrysler. The appointments build on the vice presidents' backgrounds. Mr. Rapson ran the union's regional that includes Flint, Mich., long dominated by G.M. plants, while Mr. King was once the youngest president of a local union in the U.A.W., heading the unit representing workers at Ford's sprawling Rouge complex. Another union vice president, Terry Thurman, will succeed Mr. King as the head of organizing, while Jimmy Settles takes on a variety of duties including the union's agriculture department. Mr. Gettelfinger, who closed the convention by linking hands with his officers and singing the union's anthem, "Solidarity Forever," urged union delegates not to leave their enthusiasm behind in Las Vegas. "We have to roll up our sleeves and go to work," Mr. Gettelfinger said. Nick Bunkley contributed reporting from Detroit for this article. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 6) Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Flag-Burning Measure By BLOOMBERG NEWS June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/washington/16brfs-008.html The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a constitutional amendment that would empower Congress to outlaw flag burning. The measure has already been approved by a two- thirds majority in the House. To become part of the Constitution, it must be passed by the same margin in the Senate and ratified by 38 state legislatures. In 1989, the Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to strike a Texas law that barred flag burning, ruling that the law restricted freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution. Supporters argued yesterday that the proposed amendment would restore the power of Congress — rather than unelected judges — to decide the flag-burning issue. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 7) In Oil-Rich Angola, Cholera Preys Upon Poorest "A crisis committee began work only two and a half months after the epidemic began, and the government has set aside a mere $5 million in emergency money to fight the disease....Economists say the government simply has more money than it can spend." By SHARON LaFRANIERE June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/world/africa/16cholera.html LUANDA, Angola, June 10 — In a nation whose multibillion-dollar oil boom should arguably make its people rich enough to drink Evian, the water that many in this capital depend on goes by a less fancy name: Bengo. The Bengo River passes north of here, its waters dark with grit, its banks strewn with garbage. Two dozen roaring pumping stations suck in 1.3 million gallons from the river each day, filling 450 tanker trucks that in turn supply 10,000 vendors across Luanda's endless slums. The vendors then fill the jerry cans and washtubs of the city's slum dwellers, who buy the water to drink and bathe in. This is one reason, health experts here say, that Luanda's slums are now the center of one of the worst cholera epidemics to strike Africa in nearly a decade, an outbreak that has sickened 43,000 Angolans and killed more than 1,600 since it began in February. But it is only one reason. Cholera typically spreads through contact with contaminated water or sewage, and in Luanda's slums, both are everywhere. Neighborhoods here are ringed by mountains of garbage, often soaked by rivulets of human waste. Only about half of slum dwellers have even an outdoor latrine. Children stripped to their underwear dance through sewage-clogged creeks and slide down garbage dumps on sleds made of sheet metal into excrement-fouled puddles. Much of the city has no drainage system; in heavy rains, the filthy water rises hip-high in some of the poorest dwellings. One development group estimated that it would take 22,000 dump trucks to clear away the trash. That was in 1994, when Luanda had half the population of 4.5 million it has now. "I have never seen anything like it," said David Weatherill, a water and sanitation expert for Doctors Without Borders, which is leading the response to the epidemic. "You see conditions like this on a smaller scale. But I have never seen it on such a huge scale. It is quite shocking." Angola is in the midst of a gusher in oil revenue, its hotels crammed with oil executives and its harbor filled with tankers carrying away the 1.4 million barrels of crude pumped here each day. The economy grew by 18 percent last year. The government racked up a budget surplus of more than $2 billion. This year it is expected to take in $16.8 billion in revenue, well over twice the $7.5 billion it received in 2004. Next year, revenue is expected to rise by a third again, almost all because of oil. Economists say the government simply has more money than it can spend. Yet it seems powerless to address even the basic issues of clean water and sewers that would make such epidemics entirely preventable — a paradox that critics attribute to corruption, incompetence or the hangover of a 27-year civil war that flooded the capital with refugees, or all three. "We are talking about a government that has the means," said Stephan Goetghebuer, East Africa coordinator for Doctors Without Borders. "There are a lot of things they could be doing. The living conditions are really terrible, and they are terrible even if you compare them to other places in Africa." Sebastião Veloso, Angola's health minister, said the scope of the problem defied a quick fix. "We just do our best," he said. "The lack of infrastructure is a very complicated administrative problem. We are doing our part at the Ministry of Health, and the rest of government must do its part. We are pressuring the government, because otherwise these epidemics will continue." Only one in six Luandan households is lucky enough to have running water, and for many of them, it comes from a community standpipe, according to Development Workshop, a nonprofit group in Angola. The often- contaminated river water from trucks that roam the slums costs up to 12 cents a gallon — a hefty sum in a nation where two-thirds of the people live on less than $2 a day, and up to 160 times the price paid in better-off neighborhoods with piped water. So the poor ration their water use, limiting themselves to about two gallons a day per person for drinking, bathing, washing clothes and cleaning. That is far below the five-gallon daily minimum recommended by the United Nations — and one twenty-sixth the average use in Western countries, according to Doctors Without Borders. In an attempt to beat back the epidemic, the government, with the help of the United Nations, is distributing a limited amount of free clean water. The few distribution points are easy to spot. Hundreds of people rise before dawn to set their plastic buckets in lines that stretch for blocks. The crowds remain long after the water is gone. One afternoon last week, dozens of people crowded around one empty plastic water tank about eight miles from downtown. "They are waiting for the last drop," said José Mateus, a neighborhood coordinator. No one knows precisely why cholera arose out of the slums this year after a cholera-free decade in Angola. Epidemiologists say the long absence of the disease worsened the outbreak because the population had no built-up immunity. Once it began, not even the tidiest slum household could halt it. It first hit Boa Vista, a shantytown minutes from downtown. Ombrina Cabanga, a 20-year-old mother of a 2-year-old girl, did everything to protect herself, said her sister-in-law, Oriana Gabriel. She washed vegetables, rinsed plates and cleaned the latrine the family shares with three others. As the Health Ministry recommended, she used bleach to disinfect the drinking water she bought from the neighborhood vendor. But her house is a few feet from a giant trash-filled gulley. Her latrine, like everyone else's, drains directly into it. And she sold soap every day in the city's famously squalid outdoor market, a job she hoped to escape by taking adult literacy classes. One Tuesday in late March, she came home and vomited into a bucket. Two nights later, she was dead. "I am just a working man, I don't know why the government doesn't help us," said her husband, Vieira Muieba, 27, a construction worker. "I don't know where the money goes. We become angry but we don't know what to do." From Boa Vista, the epidemic moved along the major highways to all but 4 of the nation's 18 provinces. Maria André lost her 15-year-old daughter, 13-year-old niece and 4-year-old nephew in the span of two days. Five other children in the household were also taken ill but recovered. Ms. André is racked with guilt nearly three weeks after the deaths. "I don't know what happened," she said. "I heard about the disease on the radio, and all of a sudden, it was here. They were all healthy and now, they are dead. "It is not easy to lose three children all at once." Angolan government officials say there is no overnight solution to the lack of basic water and sanitation. In late May, President José Eduardo dos Santos promised new measures to improve conditions, including moving Luandans out of the most appalling slums. But the government's plans are in their infancy and, despite the gusher of oil revenues, short on financing. Consider the government's plan to take over some of the provision of water to Luanda's slums. Four months into Angola's cholera epidemic, 20 trucks have been ordered — minuscule compared to the fleet of more than 300 private trucks now supplying the poor. As of early June, Mr. Veloso, the health minister, was still waiting for the first delivery. The government's harshest critics blame corruption for the abysmal living conditions. Transparency International, which promotes good governance worldwide, ranks Angola as the world's seventh most corrupt nation. The State Department said in a 2002 report that Angola's wealth was concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite, in part made up of government officials who had enriched themselves on an enormous scale. Other diplomats and analysts say Angola's ruling party is still trying to get on its feet after a civil war that raged almost nonstop from 1975, when Angola gained independence from Portugal, until mid-2002. Dauda Wurie, a project officer for the United Nations Children's Fund, said the war had eviscerated the government's corps of competent managers, leaving disarray. "I am not defending them," he said of the government officials. "They buy big cars. They live in big houses. But it would be wrong to expect that everything will turn around just because war stopped." Doctors Without Borders officials say the government response to the outbreak has been woefully slow and underfinanced. A crisis committee began work only two and a half months after the epidemic began, and the government has set aside a mere $5 million in emergency money to fight the disease. Assessing the water taken by private truckers from the Bengo fell to Doctors Without Borders. Last month it issued its report: laboratory tests in April showed the raw river water was unsafe to drink. But only one in 10 truckers chlorinated water tanks; the others simply delivered untreated water to the city. Presented with those findings, the government did nothing, the report states. So Doctors Without Borders organized the distribution of free chlorine. It now plans to insist that the truckers pour chlorine crystals into their tanks while inspectors watch, lest they sell them instead. How much those truckers — and the neighborhood vendors they supply — earn in profits is unclear. But Janetta Jamela's bedroom in eastern Luanda is one hint. Fifteen bags of concrete are stacked against the wall — to add three new bedrooms and a new kitchen and bathroom. Since she and her husband scraped up $200 to build an underground water tank three years ago, she estimated, she has earned about $235 a month selling water — $75 a month more than her husband earns as a government security officer. "But you have to have the $200 to start with," she said. The cholera epidemic is now waning, having run what epidemiologists call its natural, devastating course. But without an improvement in slum conditions, said Mr. Weatherill, the group's water and sanitation expert, the respite may last only until the next rainy season. "Unless things change, we probably will be back the next year," he said in a telephone interview, "and the year after that." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 8) Venezuela: Chávez Orders Russian Warplanes (AP) June 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/world/americas/16briefs-001.html President Hugo Chávez said Venezuela would buy 24 Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets this year and build a factory to produce Kalashnikov assault rifles. The SU-30 jets will replace a fleet of American F-16's because the United States has refused to sell Venezuela upgrades. Mr. Chávez has been using surging oil revenues to modernize Venezuela's military. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 9) Ranchers Add Ladders to Border Fences By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 7:27 a.m. ET June 17, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Border-Fence-Ladders.html FALFURRIAS, Texas (AP) -- A few Texas ranchers tired of costly repairs to cattle fences damaged by illegal immigrants have installed an easier route over the U.S.-Mexican border -- ladders. ''It's an attempt to get them to use the ladders instead of tearing the fences,'' said Scott Pattinson, who owns one of a group of ranches known as La Copa. La Copa is just south of a U.S. Border Patrol highway checkpoint that went up 75 miles from the border several years ago, sending migrants through the brambly scrub of nearby ranches instead. Some immigrants walk for hours or days to skirt the checkpoints in temperatures hovering around 100 degrees. Their feet have worn visible paths through a forest of cactus and mesquite otherwise thick enough to conceal them from Border Patrol helicopters overhead and agents only a few hundred yards away. The paths lead from one ripped-down section of fencing to another. Texas ranches can be so large it could be days before owners notice the hole in the fence, long after the livestock possibly escapes. Paul Johnson protects his 2,700-acre exotic game ranch of zebras, scimitar-horned oryx and wildebeests with about 10 miles of high wire fence, and joined his neighbors in placing ladders along the way. But apparently some immigrants think the ladders are too good to be true. ''They ignore it a lot,'' Johnson said. ''They're afraid that they're monitored by the Border Patrol.'' Johnson plans to take the ladders down, worried about the message he's sending. ''I think what it does is give a signal that we are wanting them to cross there, don't mind the crossing, and that kind of magnifies the problem,'' he said. Rancher Michael Vickers never liked the ladder idea and instead has ringed his fence with 220 volts of electricity. ''I've had a dose of it myself, it's not fun,'' he said. ''That's just my attitude, why make it easier for them to trespass?'' ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 10) Bienvenido A Fence With More Beauty, Fewer Barbs By WILLIAM L. HAMILTON June 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/weekinreview/18hamilton.html HAVING trouble with the neighbors? Put up a fence. If things go well, you hang out at the fence and talk. That's not generally the thinking for fences between nations; such barriers can't easily mask their harsh purpose. Now a fence is proposed for the 2,000-mile border between the United States and Mexico in an effort to improve national security and stem illegal immigration. The Senate wants 370 miles of it; the House, 698. And President Bush has invited military contractors to devise a "virtual" fence that would seal the existing stopgap fencing with high-technology tools like motion sensors, drones and satellites. But maybe some form of backyard diplomacy is in order — Mexico is no enemy — and there are obvious suspects for the job: professional designers, whose duty it is to come up with welcome solutions that defy ugly problems; to create appeal where there might be none. As a classic design challenge, The New York Times asked 13 architects and urban planners to devise the "fence." Several declined because they felt it was purely a political issue. "It's a silly thing to design, a conundrum," said Ricardo Scofidio of Diller Scofidio & Renfro in New York. "You might as well leave it to security and engineers." Four of the five who submitted designs proposed making the boundary a point of innovative integration, not traditional division — something that could be seen, from both sides, as a horizon of opportunity, not as a barrier. James Corner of Field Operations, a New York urban planning and landscape architecture firm, suggested that any monumental fortifications have a second purpose, like a solar energy-collecting strip that would produce what he described as a "productive, sustainable enterprise zone" that attracted industry from the north and created employment for the south — in the same no-man's median that people now cross in search of work. Mr. Corner called his partnership of 20th-century territorial power and 21st-century green, global interconnectedness "a kind of Bush meets Gore hybrid." Calvin Tsao, director of the Architectural League of New York and a partner in Tsao & McKown, also proposed an enterprise zone that, in re-creating the border as a series of small, developing cities, would become a border of light that could be seen from space at night. Eric Owen Moss, an architect in Los Angeles, was more specific with his border as beacon of light. In his design, a strolling, landscaped arcade of lighted glass columns would invite a social exchange in the evening, much like the "paseo," popular in Hispanic culture. "Make something between cultures, which leads to a third," Mr. Moss said. "Celebrate the amalgamation of the two." Enrique Norten, an architect born in Mexico who has offices now in Mexico City and New York with his firm TEN Arquitectos, proposed using the fence budget to build infrastructures like highways instead. "The future is about embracing the economy of Mexico," he said, of a long-term plan for the area, not a literal stopgap measure like a fence. Mr. Norten was speaking from Germany, where he was attending the World Cup. "Look at Europe, where this is happening. Spain was a border country 10 years ago. Now it's part of a greater community." Antoine Predock, based in Albuquerque, "dematerialized" the fence, he explained, with a physical wall designed as a mirage. An earthwork of rammed, tilted dirt would be pushed into place by Mexican day laborers. Crushed rock scattered before it, and heated from below, would appear to lift it off the ground, in the way that heat in the desert appears to make objects hover, like mirages. "There would be confusion about the materiality of the wall," Mr. Predock explained. "It would discourage you from crossing, but the message from both sides would be one of good will." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 11) Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors for Border Control By ERIC LIPTON Correction Appended Correction: May 20, 2006 A front-page article on Thursday about a federal plan to use contractors to help secure the borders of the United States misstated the amount that Lockheed Martin made in federal government sales in 2005. Of $37.2 billion in sales, more than $31 billion, not $6 billion, was in sales to the government. May 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/washington/18border.html?ex=1150776000&en=b8293eb7e22efbf1&ei=5070 WASHINGTON, May 17 — The quick fix may involve sending in the National Guard. But to really patch up the broken border, President Bush is preparing to turn to a familiar administration partner: the nation's giant military contractors. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, three of the largest, are among the companies that said they would submit bids within two weeks for a multibillion-dollar federal contract to build what the administration calls a "virtual fence" along the nation's land borders. Using some of the same high-priced, high-tech tools these companies have already put to work in Iraq and Afghanistan — like unmanned aerial vehicles, ground surveillance satellites and motion-detection video equipment — the military | |