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2002/06/23
Phil Reeves; Bush urged to join calls for peace summit, The Independent 23.06.2002
Mr Bush's speech is widely expected to propose an interim Palestinian state, leading to permanent statehood. Yet the current Palestinian leadership would be highly wary of accepting this without being sure that it would lead to a state based on the lines of 4 June 1967 (with minor border adjustments) within a specific and guaranteed timetable. Anything less would be sure to be opposed by the Palestinian militias; continuing violence, especially suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, would swiftly bury it. 2002/06/12
Mark Townsend; 'Failure' of poverty talks angers activists, The Observer Sunday June 9, 2002
Crucial talks aimed at tackling world poverty ended in anger last night, with environmentalists branding them a 'fudge'. The UN international conference in Bali, designed to produce a global development blueprint for the next decade, was condemned as a wasted opportunity that had failed the world's poor. 2002/06/08
Jonathan Steele; The Bush doctrine makes nonsense of the UN charter, The Guardian 07.06.2002
Many nations have exploited the "war on terrorism", either to gain favour with Washington or clamp down on dissent. The Bush doctrine goes further. The US president is hijacking the anti-terrorist agenda and crashing it into the most sacred skyscraper in New York: the headquarters of the UN. If his doctrine is not rapidly rejected by other states, preferably those which call themselves Washington's allies, Article 51 of the UN charter will have suffered a mortal blow.
John Cole; Peace plan ignores the working class, The Guardian 07.06.2002
A comprehensive definition of terrorism is impossible. Terror was certainly used during the French and Russian revolutions, yet these remain landmarks of the human spirit because they overthrew great tyrannies which could not have been removed by any other means. So are we saying that it is not terrorism when successful? I would reject that paradox but propose its converse: that violence which has no hope of achieving its objective, usually because the objective conflicts with the will of people concerned, can rightly be described as terrorism. It causes death and human misery for no purpose and results from what Aneurin Bevan called an "emotional spasm". 2002/06/07
Once again, African children are dying of hunger. But why is famine afflicting places of such natural wealth?, The Independent 07.06.2002
It is no coincidence that the countries worst hit by food shortages are those in the greatest political turmoil – Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. But only now are governments in the region admitting that they share the blame. Non-governmental organisations have criticised the IMF for encouraging Malawi, where up to 3.2 million people are going hungry, to reduce its grain reserves. Yet Malawi itself ordered the total sale, and the government is now investigating where the money went. The privatisation of agencies that previously regulated the price paid to farmers and the distribution of seed and fertiliser has also contributed to the crisis. Zimbabwe used to export food to the entire region. Now an extraordinary 5.3 million people need aid. Yesterday a minister in Mr Mugabe's government admitted for the first time that politically inspired invasions of thousands of white-owned commercial farms were partly to blame for the crisis. 2002/06/06
Associazione Amicizia Solidarieta' Italia-Nicaragua; Let's force the multinationals to refund the workers of bananeras in Nicaragua, Sand in the Wheels (n°131), ATTAC Weekly newsletter - Wednesday 05/06/02
Tumours, infertility, inability to work, deformations, congenital malformations, loss of hair, nails and skin, progressive blindness, nervous alterations. These are only some of the damages caused by indiscriminate use of pesticides by the multinationals on workers of bananas' plantations in Nicaragua and, in general, all over Central America. 2002/06/04
An article from Brazil about the MST movement.
Lourival Sant'anna; Landless' Movement - Mining a rich vein, O Estado de S. Paulo, Brazil, June 2002 Article 184 of the Brazilian Constitution says that "It is a task of the Federation to expropriate, on social grounds, for the purposes of agrarian reform, rural property which is not fulfilling its social function". This is the legal starting point for the action of theLandless Rural Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem-Terra, MST). However, the MST has also a political premise - that the Government represents "the elites", including the landowning elites, and by definition is not really interested in agrarian reform, at least not at the pace, the scope and the radicalism expected by the movement.
Nelson Valdés; American Democracy: A Lesson for Cubans, Counterpunch 11.05.2002
Although the taxpayers' money ends up in the pockets of Cuban exiles, we have decided to write this piece and publish it in a Cuban newspaper, without charging anyone. We certainly hope that this piece will contribute to a thorough understanding on the part of the Cubans on how "democracy" operates in the United States, where I live. Moreover, maybe the US Interests Section in Havana will distribute this information to all those Cubans who visit them in order to learn about the American democratic system and "free market economics" (i.e. capitalism)--which is a stated goal of American policy. A fundamental aspect of democracy is elections. You should know that in our democratic system presidential contenders have a limit on how much they can spend--if they receive federal funding. Yes, the federal government can finance candidates (but only if they obtained a certain % of the votes on a previous election. You might think that such practice is not fair for new political parties, but as President Jimmy Carter stated, the world is not fair.)
Tim Wheeler; Bush faces hard questions on 9/11 memos, People's Weekly World 25.05.2002
“The time has come for us to do what they did after the invasion of Pearl Harbor, do what they did with the assassination of President Kennedy,” Daschle said, referring to Blue Ribbon commissions that probed those past disasters. The White House is facing a torrent of demands that it release a CIA memo shown to George W. Bush last August warning of a plot by Osama bin Laden’s network to hijack jetliners in a dramatic terrorist attack. Bush received a briefing on the memo’s contents Aug. 6, yet did nothing to warn airline officials or step up airport security in the weeks leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in which 3,000 people died. There is growing anger that the White House kept the memo secret for eight months. It was leaked first by CBS. |
