International » peoplesworld

Athens burns after austerity approval

Dustin Buse — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:41:00 -0500

After approving a controversial new bill, which guts minimum wage and public services, Athens erupted in flames as rioters filled the streets with their outrage.

The actions were fueled by the widely-unpopular austerity measures in a desperate attempt to stop the country from going into default on its private loans to creditors and also receive an additional loan of 130 billion Euro ($172 billion) as the AP reports.

The passage of the bill marked the continuation of failed policies that have resulted in two years of 20 percent unemployment and deep spending cuts that have taken their toll on Greek workers but have been unable to fix Greece's economic problems. The vote on Sunday reaffirmed to 100,000 protestors that those in positions of power are out of touch with the workers and students of Greece.

The protest turned violent as rioters began smashing storefronts and damaged more than 110 buildings, 50 of which were burned. The AP reported that the stench of tear gas "still hung in the air on Monday, choking passers-by, while traffic lights at many major intersections were out after being smashed."

In total, 40 tons of broken marbles and rocks littered streets from the damage to cultural buildings and local public works.

The rioting left more than 170 people hurt, and 70 protestors were hospitalized. Additionally, police arrested 93 people who will be "charged with offenses ranging from attempted murder and possession of explosives to looting," reported the AP.

The AP further reported, "[o]nce again, those in positions of responsibility, even though they should have been prepared, were unable to fulfill their duty and secure the well-being of citizens and visitors."

Even with the passage of the bill, it is uncertain if the New Democracy Party will be able to fulfill their duty of enforcing the new bill amid strong dissent from the majority Socialists and rival Conservatives, and it is still unclear if Greece will meet the guidelines for another rescue package as outlined by Germany.

Photo: Protesters pass by a burning cinema in Athens on Feb. 12. (AP/Kostas Tsironis)

Flower workers: giving Valentine's Day new meaning

Blake Deppe — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:44:00 -0500

Today is Valentine's Day, and flowers will be sent to people all over the country. But the Colombian workers - mostly female - who cut and ship those flowers must endure substandard pay and conditions, reports the AFL-CIO. This holiday would provide an excellent opportunity to show support for them.

According to the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas project, workers in Colombia - where 60 percent of U.S. flowers come from - work long hours, and don't earn enough to support their families. They also endure sexual harassment, and any efforts they might make to form a union or to improve wages and conditions would get them fired .

And medical surveys indicate that two thirds of flower workers suffer from problems stemming from exposure to harmful pesticides, including nausea and miscarriages, according to a report by Oxfam International.

"The women have to come back into the greenhouses immediately after the flowers are sprayed with pesticides," said Dionise Trujillo, a former flower worker in Colombia. "Some of them get dizzy or have trouble with their blood pressure, and some of their children have been born with lung problems."

Colombia's Labor Action Plan, agreed to last year by President Obama and Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, has reportedly failed to create better conditions for Colombian working families. The plan was touted as a big step in ending violence against trade unionists and protecting workers' rights to come together in unions, but such progress has not been made.

In response, USLEAP is calling on people to fight for the rights of the nearly 100,000 flower workers, and to turn Valentine's Day into International Flower Workers Day. USLEAP asks everyone to support their cause and sign a letter to Colombian Minister of Labor Rafael Pardo Rueda, demanding that flower workers receive "fair wages, equal treatment, and justice."

As people in the U.S. buy flowers today for that special someone, most will not think about where they came from, and who had to suffer for it. Valentine's Day is considered to be a day of love, but many feel that as International Flower Workers Day, it could also be regarded as a day of fairness and equality for workers.

Unfortunately, for the Colombian flower workers, until conditions improve, today will simply mean more of the same.

Photo: Colombian workers pack roses to be shipped to the U.S. Fernando Vergara/AP

Saudi Arabia going nuclear - why no uproar?

Susan Webb — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:07:00 -0500

Saudi Arabia recently announced its intention to launch its own nuclear program, saying it needs to diversify its energy sources. But a Saudi prince raised the possibility that the kingdom might develop nuclear weapons if Iran joins Israel as a nuclear weapons possessor.

Why no international uproar?

While Iranian officials, whether sincerely or not, insist that their nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy purposes, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal openly linked his country's nuclear energy and nuclear weapons interests.

If both Israel and Iran have nuclear weapons, "it is our duty toward our nation and people to consider all possible options, including the possession of these weapons," Prince Turki, a former Saudi intelligence chief and U.S. ambassador, told a Persian Gulf security conference in Riyadh in December.

That same month, Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Zainal told a U.S.-Saudi business conference in Atlanta that his country will spend $100 billion on building 16 nuclear power plants over the next few years to generate electricity.

On Jan. 13, Saudi Arabia announced it had signed an agreement with China for increased cooperation in development and use of atomic energy, including maintenance and development of nuclear power plants and research reactors, and manufacturing and supply of nuclear fuel elements.

"The pact with China is the fourth nuclear agreement signed by Saudi Arabia following similar deals with France, Argentina and South Korea," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Saudi Arabia has also been in discussions with the U.S., UK, Russia and the Czech Republic over more cooperation on nuclear energy, the Journal said.

This is not a new program. Saudi Arabia set up the King Abdullah Atomic and Renewable Energy City, devoted to research and application of nuclear technology, in 2010.

Although Saudi Arabia and Iran are considered arch-rivals for regional dominance, their nuclear moves seem to have much in common.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is said to be "struggling to keep up with rapidly rising power demand." According to the Reuters news agency, "The kingdom plans to turn to solar and eventually nuclear energy to reduce its need to burn fuel oil for electricity and preserve oil for lucrative export markets."

Iran, with the world's fourth biggest oil reserves, is undoubtedly facing the same issues.

They share other characteristics too.

Speaking of Saudi Arabia's nuclear program in terms that could well apply to Iran, Lebanese commentator Housam Matar writes, "the program is partly prompted by a perceived need to transform the established image of Saudi Arabia from a state with a reactionary and corrupt rentier regime ... to one of modernity, progress, and science."

Saudi Arabia's soft power in the region, "which is essentially based on sectarian proselytizing and pumping money," is in jeopardy, says Matar.

"Since the regime is not about to change the nature of its internal policies, it has opted to launch initiatives in other areas that do not threaten the regime's control over Saudi society.

"The Saudi regime pushed the idea of a nuclear program to the forefront as a key element in reconstituting Saudi soft power."

"The Saudi nuclear initiative therefore does not target Iran as much as it aims to reinforce the Saudi regime's internal legitimacy and strengthen popular cohesion around the Saudi leadership, which is plagued with uncertainty, behind-the-scenes rivalries, and political infirmity.

"The move also seeks to strengthen the kingdom's regional presence."

Much the same can be said about Iran.

Iran has its repressive theocracy and ties to armed militias in other countries. Saudi Arabia, a feudal monarchy, has been linked to similar activity, for example in Iraq. And it is home to the fanatically reactionary Salafi sect of Islam also known as Wahabbism, to which the Saudi monarchy is closely tied. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 attackers came from Saudi Arabia, as did Osama bin-Laden. What if nuclear technology got into the hands of such elements?

Yet there has been barely a whisper in the U.S. media about Saudi Arabia's nuclear program. The State Department and European leaders appear to have been silent on the matter, even as they pursue an increasingly aggressive campaign over Iran's nuclear program, and even though President Obama has strongly advocated for nuclear non-proliferation. Republican warhawks have been silent on it too.

Meanwhile the Sidney (Australia) Morning Herald notes Saudi Arabia's close ties to nuclear-armed Pakistan:

"Throughout the 1980s and '90s, hundreds of millions of Saudi dollars were poured into Pakistan's efforts to build nuclear weapons, funding as much as 60 percent of the program.

"That money was given, it is widely believed, on an understanding that Pakistan would offer Saudi Arabia nuclear protection, or, at some future date, the chance to buy weapons or the technology to make them."

"Most analysts are convinced the Saudis will turn to Pakistan," the Morning Herald says. But it would have to be done covertly, since "Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the U.S., cannot be seen to be buying nuclear weapons from Pakistan, and Pakistan, already a nuclear pariah, cannot afford to be cast, again, as a proliferator of arms."

Photo: Stock image of a nuclear reactor. Michael Kappel // CC 2.0

In a first, Haiti attends Latin American ALBA meeting

Emile Schepers — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:44:00 -0500

On February 5, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) held its eleventh meeting Caracas, Venezuela, to decide on a joint economic program. ALBA welcomed two new guest members, and moves were made to include Haiti in the organization.

ALBA was founded in 2004 with just Cuba and Venezuela as members. It now includes a total of eight countries: Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Antigua, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. At last weekend's meeting, two more small states were brought in as guest members, a step toward their full integration into ALBA: St. Lucia and Surinam. Honduras had been part of ALBA, but after the 2009 overthrow of left-wing President Manuel Zalaya, withdrew from the organization.

ALBA's goal is to create enough regional integration to realize the dream of South American liberator Simon Bolivar that Latin America could thrive without dependence on, or interference from, the United States or Europe. It emphasizes trade agreements that, unlike the privatization and austerity policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund, encourage countries to increase their expenditures for education, housing and health care. Its ruling philosophy is solidarity among the peoples, not domination by multinational corporations and wealthy states.

Attending as an observer was Haitian President Michael Martelly, elected last year amid controversy. The most popular party in Haiti, former President Jean Bertrand Aristide's "Fanmi Lavalas", had not been allowed to run a candidate, and the candidate of the party of outgoing President Rene Preval, Jude Celestin, was pushed out of a runoff by heavy pressure from the United States and its allies. Martelly has had some dealings with people close to former U.S. supported dictators Francois "Papa Doc" and Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. He had called for the restoration of the army which Aristide had abolished. So, many have seen him as a potentially dangerous right winger. For him to show up at the ALBA meeting, hinting strongly that Haiti might like to eventually become a full member, surprised many.

Martelly and Venezuela's left wing president, Hugo Chavez, announced new bilateral agreements to increase already high Venezuelan aid to Haiti. After the disastrous earthquake of January 2010, Venezuela cancelled Haiti's debts. In Caracas, Martelly made a point of praising Venezuelan and Cuban aid before and after the earthquake, and said he hoped that the United States would not be angry and would understand that Haiti is in no position to turn away any friend.

Was Martelly misjudged, or has he been transformed by a year in the presidency? Haiti is destitute and its infrastructure wrecked. The country depends excessively on handouts from international donors, administered by foreign non-governmental organizations. Although there was a great outpouring of offers of aid after the earthquake, some of it has never come through and much of it comes with strings attached.

Plans elaborated for Haiti's future development by the United States, Canada and other wealthy nations were based on the idea that the country would forever function as a source of cheap labor for transnational corporations. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), especially in clothing and textile production, was to be the motor of "development." Companies would be attracted to Haiti by the cheap labor. This would create "jobs" for thousands of Haitians, many of whom had been displaced from the rural economy in the first place by a flood of taxpayer subsidized rice from the United States, dumped at prices with which Haitian rice farmers could not compete. The trouble is that FDI is only attracted as long as the conditions persist that made the country attractive in the first place. As soon as wages go up, foreign capital decamps to some even poorer place. So the FDI strategy is a recipe for perpetual poverty. Participating in ALBA provides alternative sources of economic support, especially Venezuelan oil sold on very favorable terms.

In March, ALBA will hold a meeting of foreign ministers in Jacmel, Haiti, focused on how the ALBA countries can better coordinate aid for Haiti's recovery.

The ALBA heads of state meeting in Caracas agreed on developing a joint program of economic development for the Caribbean, including Haiti. They also agreed to expand the use of the sucre, the ALBA-based virtual currency which is being developed as a means of trade within the group. They agreed that each country will set aside 1 percent of its international reserves for the purpose of creating a new area development and aid fund.

Finally, the meeting passed resolutions calling for freedom for the Cuban 5, for the liberation of Puerto Rico and for an end to outside interference in Syria. The participating countries also sharply denounced the unwillingness of the British government to reach a negotiated agreement with Argentina about the future of the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.

Egypt blocks National Endowment for Democracy

W. T. Whitney Jr. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:00 -0500

Egypt's military government announced recently that 43 people, including 19 Americans and 14 Egyptians, face prosecution on charges of using foreign money to influence Egyptian politics. By February 6, only six of the Americans remained in Egypt. One of those charged is Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

Egyptian police earlier had raided nongovernmental organization offices where the accused worked. The U.S. Congress and President Obama have threatened to withhold $1.55 billion in mostly military aid for Egypt.

U.S. citizens facing trial work with the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, and a journalism organization. The first two are associated, respectively, with the Republican and Democratic parties. One has $22 million available to fund programs in Egypt, the other $18 million. The four U.S. groups operate under the aegis of the private, nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy (NED), established in 1983. Active in 70 countries, the NED is "dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world," according to its website.

Says the New York Times: "United States law bars both groups from partisan activity in countries where they operate." Yet Venezuela's government closed down offices of NED-associated groups in December 2010 on grounds of meddling. The vigor of the Egyptian response to alleged NED intrusion was unprecedented, the Times reported.

U.S. government monies flow from the State Department's United States Agency for International Development to the NED and thence to private U.S. agencies funding thousands of foreign organizations. The objective of this arrangement may be to avoid embarrassment for the U.S. government by keeping its interventions indirect. The same goes with utilizing private, domestic organizations seen as respectable.

The NED system was instituted after decades of U.S. improvisation as to methods for exerting overseas control. Schemes moved from crude to less crude. Assuming ownership of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam came first, after 1898. Then, mini-invasions became the tool of choice, especially for setting up favorable arrangements in other countries, particularly financial. Sponsorship of friendly dictators was in vogue for a time. Resort to secret, often terrorist, U. S. agents came later.

Typically, NED funding for student groups, right-wing unions, U.S.-friendly media, and political parties has found use at election time. Such was the case especially in countries of the former Yugoslavia, in Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine, even France, Italy and Portugal. The NED has sponsored projects in Iran and China. Its record in U.S.-targeted Latin American countries is notorious.

Cuban journalist Jean Guy Allard and Venezuelan lawyer Eva Golinger, along with Wesibrot, have elucidated that story. Golinger has utilized Freedom of Information Act material. In Haiti in 2003-2004, the IRI fed money and guns to paramilitaries moving from the Dominican Republic to Haiti to precipitate the overthrow of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Brazilian government in 2005 denounced the IRI for changing election laws and thus trying to weaken then President Lula da Silva's Workers' Party. In Honduras, the IRI took a lead role in promoting the 2009 military coup that removed elected President Manuel Zelaya. It worked to legitimize fraudulent elections the next year making Porfirio Lobo president. The IRI has long participated in U.S. efforts to undermine Cuba's revolutionary government. Its 2011 grant for such work totaled $693,069.

Since 2002, the NED and its acolytes have availed themselves of $100 million in U.S. funds to bolster opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, especially during election cycles. The IRI took a prominent role in backing the failed coup against Chavez in 2002. In 2011, the Obama administration sought $5 million to support opposition groups in Venezuela.

Among those facing trial in Egypt are representatives of Freedom House, a U.S. organization with a worldwide reach receiving 80 percent of its funding through the NED. Allegations have repeatedly surfaced of Freedom House ties to the CIA and involvement with clandestine anti-government activities in foreign countries. Between 1997 and 2009, Freedom House gathered in $10.6 million for democracy-promotion work in Cuba.

Explaining NED activity in Egypt, commentator Mark Weisbrot suggests the U.S. government "is running an empire" involving "power and control over other people in distant lands." He adds, "These goals will generally conflict with many people's aspirations for democracy and national self-determination." At stake in the Middle East are "military bases and alliances."

Britain's Morning Star feels no joy on queen's anniversary

Morning Star — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:17:00 -0500

Is there to be no end to the pukefest laid on by our national broadcaster to convince the world that people in Britain are beside themselves with joy over the 60th anniversary of our unelected head of state?

From repeated trailers for programs featuring royal family members saying how wise and wonderful their relative is to breathless simpering TV reporters explaining why the utterly mundane is somehow magical, the BBC has lost all sense of proportion.

It even featured a "royal historian" who was given free rein to assert unchallenged that even those of a republican bent are delighted that Elizabeth Windsor has remained in post for so long.

At the risk of being accused of being part of a small resentful minority determined to spoil the joyous celebrations of a grateful people, the Morning Star says No.

We are not happy that, in the early part of the 21st century, an unelected person is designated head of state in Britain and remains so on the basis of hereditary right.

It is an outdated practice, which most of the world has rejected in favor of forms of democracy that allow every child to cherish the possibility, however unlikely, of becoming head of state rather than knowing that accommodation to privilege has established no higher destiny for us all than that of royal subject.

Defenders of the status quo assert that the monarchy is largely symbolic or even little more than a tourist attraction, but its residual powers are real, extensive and undemocratic.

The meshing of the royal prerogative with the office of the prime minister creates an executive power where the House of Commons is less authoritative and assertive than it should be.

Elected members of Parliament are excluded from the secret unminuted meetings between prime minister and monarch that take place on a weekly basis, which makes a mockery of parliamentary sovereignty.

Royal prerogative is also invoked to draw a veil over the constant intrusion by the Queen's eldest son in matters of state, interfering in government policy on a range of issues.

How much influence does he have? It would be reassuring to believe very little. However, it baffles belief that he would persist with his letter-writing campaigns to ministers if he was singularly unsuccessful.

But surely the most important aspect of Prince Charles's advocacy of pet projects is that he, as a member of the royal family without any particular talents or experience, has privileged access to ministers that is denied to the rest of us.

It serves as a reminder of the contradiction between democratic advances made in various fields as a result of popular struggles and the ever-present monarchical obstacle to full emancipation.

Arguments in favor of maintaining the monarchy stretch from fairytale sentimentality to assessments of the institution or the Queen personally as "a source of stability and security in a changing world," as Ed Miliband phrased it.

What a sad comment on the maturity of the people of Britain that, according to its politicians, we still need an anachronistic figurehead to see us through troubled times even though German, French, US and Russian citizens seem capable of managing without.

The Morning Star has no intention of surrendering to the tidal wave of officially approved and confected royal fervor.

Our goal is socialism, based on full democratic rights for all and a republican constitution.

This article originally appeared in the Morning Star newspaper.

Talk of military intervention in Syria recalls Iraq debacle

Susan Webb — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:30:00 -0500

Reports that the White House and European allies are considering military action to topple Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime carry disturbing echoes of the Iraq debacle.

The talk of covert action, "no fly zones," and military involvement via proxies has ratcheted up following the Russian and Chinese veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution that, the Russians said, opened the door to "regime change" intervention.

As with Iraq in the run-up to the 2003 invasion, the U.S. and its allies appear to be relying on an exile-based alliance that is pressing for foreign intervention to oust Assad - the Syrian National Council.

SNC leaders "have been out of the country for a long time and ... are very savvy at talking to the West," Syria scholar Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma told the Canadian Broadcasting Company. The SNC includes Muslim Brotherhood and secular figures. According to Dubai-based al-Arabiya, a majority of the council's members live outside of Syria.

It recalls the exile-based Iraqi National Congress, led by the smooth-talking Ahmad Chalabi, which together with other Iraqi groups deemed acceptable by the Bush administration, coordinated with the U.S. military invasion in 2002 and 2003. According to a Council on Foreign Relations report in April 2003, these groups "all wanted to oust Saddam Hussein. But they have a long history of disagreement over a range of issues, including the ethnic composition of a post-Saddam government and whether the country should be a secular or an Islamist state. With the fall of Saddam, the infighting is continuing."

A Feb. 1, 2012, CBC article says of the Syrian National Council, "They are in favor of removing Assad from power and against negotiating with the regime but agree on little else ... The SNC has no coherent economic plan or vision of Syria's future, and the internal bickering within the council and lack of a strong, unifying leader threatens to render the council impotent."

But the SNC and its associated Free Syria Army are not the only Syrian element opposing the repression of the Assad regime. Landis and others emphasize the diverse nature of the opposition.

The National Coordinating Body for Democratic Change is, according to the al-Arabiya report, "an umbrella group of Arab nationalist figures, socialists, independents, Marxists and also comprises members of Syria's minority Kurdish community. The coalition is staunchly opposed to any international military intervention." The CBC report says this coalition backs "a peaceful transition of power" and is "willing to negotiate with the Assad regime."

Numerous local grassroots groups are also involved in protests against the regime.

Yet despite the diversity of the Syrian protest movement and the unclarity of the goals of the SNC pro-foreign-intervention elements, these are the forces that seem to be getting U.S. policymakers' attention.

The Feb. 1 Canadian report says SNC leaders have been "vague on whether they would support a foreign military intervention, with some factions saying they would accept Arab forces but not Western troops, and others voicing support for actions short of intervention such as a no-fly zone."

In Washington, "the National Security Council is said to be preparing a 'presidential finding,' an executive order authorizing covert action, as a policy option, but it is not clear whether the White House would take the risky step of signing it," the UK Guardian reports.

Any outside involvement in Syria would have "an Arab face," a former British intelligence officer told the Guardian.

Turkey and Qatar are backing "some sort of limited military intervention," says the Guardian. Options being discussed include NATO operations to set up a "buffer zone" and "humanitarian corridor" within Syria.

Commentator Evelyn Aissa warns that "any such effort would first require international forces to launch a preemptive air campaign to neutralize the government's air-defense systems. This would require bombing key military installations in and around Damascus, Aleppo, and Lattakia - all densely populated areas."

Compared to Libya, which is a relative backwater with regard to regional and global political dynamics, Syria is central to the political and economic dynamics of the Middle East. The bloodshed and deadly sectarian division that continue to wrack Iraq nine years after the U.S. invasion offer a warning of the possible consequences of foreign intervention in Syria.

Moreover, in addition to the severe political repression practiced by the regimes of Hafiz al-Assad and his son Bashar, economic issues play a central role in the protests. The 2005 introduction of neoliberal "social market economy" policies by Bashar al-Assad "exacerbated existing structural disparities and social discontent," writes Bassam Haddad, director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University.

"The increasing withdrawal of state subsidies and welfare, the gradual introduction of weak market institutions to replace corrupt but functioning institutions of the state, alongside continued notorious mismanagement of the economy, became a recipe for social unrest. The scant rainfall during the past decade further caused massive migration and a loss of jobs in the countryside." These added fuel to "the fire of social protest potential after 2010. All it took was a spark." The spark, Haddad says, was the self-immolation of the Tunisian street vendor a year ago.

Any resolution to Syria's crisis will have to address these issues along with democratization of the political structure.

Photo: Syrian flag flies over Damascus CC 2.0.

Dickens "more relevant than ever" in Britain

Morning Star — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:46:00 -0500

In the run-up to the 200^th anniversary of Charles Dickens's birth, his biographer Claire Tomalin warned that the great novelist's depiction of injustice in society was still "amazingly relevant."

Ms Tomalin said Dickens's portrayal of the proletariat still resonated in modern Britain.

"You only have to look around our society and everything he wrote in the 1840s is still relevant - the great gulf between rich and poor, corrupt financiers and members of Parliament, how the country is run by old Etonians* - you name it, he said it," she said.

"The world did become a much better place in postwar England. Attlee's government brought in the National Health Service. There was free university education for children of all classes.

"But now our health system is deteriorating, we do not have free university education and we have never been so divided."

Events taking place to mark Dickens's birthday include a street party in the road where he was born in Portsmouth and a wreath-laying ceremony at his grave at Westminster Abbey.

Reprinted from Morning Star's website.

* Editor's note: Eton College is the largest of the U.K.'s old (founded in 1440), traditional, expensive schools for boys aged 13 to 18 from "1%" families. The term "Old Etonians" refers to past pupils, including 19 British Prime Ministers and members of "royal" families from Britain as well as some Asian and African countries.

Guatemala dictator to stand trial

W. T. Whitney Jr. — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:04:00 -0500

Guatemalan prosecutors announced Jan. 26 that 85-year-old Efraín Ríos Montt, military dictator in 1982-1983, was going to trial in March. He's accused of responsibility for killing and disappearing thousands of mostly poor and indigenous Guatemalans.

Gratified, blogger Juan José Guerrero wrote: "I was surgeon in the Coban Regional Hospital when you (Ríos Montt) were the de facto government leader. The cadavers that arrived at the morgue - when they arrived - seemed to have come out of a diabolical nightmare: women raped and pathologically tortured beforehand; children ripped open."

A 36-year civil war ended in 1996 with peace accords signed both by the government and guerrilla insurgents known as Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). The war emerged out of chaos following CIA overthrow of an elected government in 1954 bent on mild land reform. Except during the Carter administration, U.S. support for the government side included military advisors, CIA operatives, military hardware, and funding. Both governments advanced the pretext of anti-communism.

The Guatemalan Conference of Bishops arranged for documentation of humanitarian catastrophe through the "Recovery of Historical Memory" (REMHI) project, led by Bishop Juan José Gerardi. The REMHI report "Guatemala: Nunca Mas," ("Guatemala: Never Again") issued on April 24, 1998, described eradication of 440 Mayan communities and the killing of 200,000 mostly unarmed, indigenous civilians. Blame fell largely upon the army and national government.

Efraín Ríos Montt is the first army leader called to account for war crimes. Impunity until now suggests the stage had been set with the peace agreement for traditional power brokers to go on with business as usual. Assassination of Bishop Gerardi by three army officers two days after release of the REMHI report set the tone, despite the jailing later on of the responsible officers.

Journalist Giorgio Trucchi's recent interview with former guerrilla leader Alba Estela Maldonado explored her view that people's needs now go unmet due to continuing oppression. She discussed a new book containing testimonials from former guerrillas edited by fellow guerrilla leader Ricardo Ramírez de León. They say poverty, racism, and subjugation are still the rule.

During negotiations, Maldonado asserted, rebel leaders sought a settlement aimed at "changing the prevailing economic and political model." While "the peace agreements constituted an important step in democratizing the country, [the] oligarchy took advantage of peace to introduce neoliberal policies...Basic reasons giving rise to the conflict are still intact."

Maldonado cited a "strong wave of privatizations, land stolen and concentrated in a few hands, labor without regulation, and criminalization of social protest." "Unregulated introduction of mono-crops like sugar and African palms, along with hydroelectric, mining, lumber, and petroleum megaprojects are examples...of new forms of domination." Guatemala is "a leading agro-exporter," says the U. K. Guardian. It boasts the largest GDP in Central America.

The Guatemalan oligarchy had earlier presided over wholesale slaughter. Now Guatemala confronts preventable, predictable deaths. Seemingly they are acceptable in ruling circles. Little regarded in political commentary, Guatemala's maternal mortality rate (MMR) illustrates one way people die. MMR represents the number of women dying from pregnancy or birth-related causes per 100,000 births. Guatemala's MMR, vying with that of Haiti as the highest in the Western Hemisphere, is now 290. Costa Rica's MMR is 30. During four years of the recently concluded Álvaro Colom presidency, 40,000 women died before or during giving birth, according to Revista Amauta.

That 50 percent of maternal deaths occur at home hints at reduced access to skilled birthing assistance. Victims are mostly indigenous and live in rural areas. Contributing factors include poverty - "Half of Guatemala's 14 million people live in extreme poverty, on less than $2 a day," reports the Guardian - and malnutrition, now affecting half of all children.

On becoming president in January, former army general Otto Perez Molina indicated he'd seek resumption of U.S. military aid in order to combat drug trafficking. Such collaboration could entail assistance for Kaibiles military units whom Perez Molina is calling upon to take on drug traffickers and who during the civil war and since proved to be murderers and human rights abusers. Murderous Zeta paramilitaries in Mexico have recruited from Kaibiles ranks.

Dr. Reinaldo Pons heads the Cuban Medical Brigade active in Guatemala since Hurricane Mitch in 1998. His report last year epitomizes an alternative approach to international outreach that serves people's needs, unequivocally: 332 Cuban doctors were caring for 13.1 percent of the Guatemalan population.

They included 57 eye surgeons associated with Cuba's multinational Operation Miracle, 81 working in 23 hospitals, and the rest carrying out primary care in 29 departments and municipalities. In areas where they worked, infant mortality had fallen to eight deaths in the first year of life per 1000 births, down from 30-40 deaths elsewhere.

Guatemalan students pay nothing to attend Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine; 345 had graduated as of 2007.

Left or right - where’s the threat?

Victor Grossman — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:25:00 -0500

Late last year the German establishment was caught with its pants down. It was not a pretty sight! Alas, early this year, while still hastily struggling to cover itself up, its pantaloons fell again, dramatically revealing a second, no less abhorrent sight than the first one.

The first view displayed how Germany's major domestic spying agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or VS, had failed for over ten years to protect the country from a band of Nazis carrying out a well-planned series of cold-blooded murders. The victims were eight ethnic Turks, a Greek man (all of them small retailers or food shop owners), and one policewoman. Banks were robbed and bomb blasts injured over twenty people. The gang's aim was to spread confusion and hatred against "non-Germans."

As more facts leaked, it became clear that the group, larger than the three originally found (two dead men and one woman) had barely-concealed ties to the legal neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany, whose representatives all too often win seats in local and state legislatures. And somehow, though never completely concealed, they had gone undetected for so long.

And now, the other side of the picture has come into view. While the VS "protectors of the constitution" were finding it hard to track down a small gang of murderers, they were keeping close track of what they called "left-wing extremists" - thus claiming to balance two "equal evils."

The crime of those on the left, it seems, aside from occasional rocks or bottles thrown at Nazis, was an alleged failure to support Germany's "basic libertarian democratic order." Among those observed, now disclosed by the magazine Der Spiegel, were 26 democratically elected members of the Bundestag, the highest German parliament, all from the Left Party.

Ironically, two of those being secretly monitored are in parliamentary committees responsible for monitoring just such offices as the VS protectors. One, Petra Pau, is an elected vice-president of the Bundestag. Was this in fact illegal? The matter will now go to the usually very slow courts.

A flurry of excitement

At first, when this nastiness came to view, there was an embarrassed flurry of excitement. The man most directly responsible, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich from the Christian Social Union, asserted that only publicly available writings and statements of the deputies were being monitored. This soon proved to be a lie. Gregor Gysi, head of the Left caucus and one of the 27, was able to obtain parts of the file on himself, all full of blacked out lines and paragraphs. On one page everything was inked out except his name.

It soon had to be admitted; the VS offices in many German states had been far more intrusive - which usually meant reading mail, tapping calls, bugging meetings and conversations.

Some more decent delegates - including a few of the Greens - publicly rejected such spying on their colleagues. Others tried instead to split the Left delegates. All that talk about socialism or, a year ago, the fatal use of the word "communism" for some time in the future by party co-president Loetzsch, and then the 85th birthday greetings to Fidel Castro and the defense of some aspects of the GDR - all this was reason enough for spying and barring the Left from a respected place at the "libertarian democratic" table. It was up to the "reformers" to clean up the party and throw the radicals out. Or so it was arrogantly proclaimed.

But most of the 27 representatives were not from the more leftist wing of the party; they were, rather, those so-called "reformers" called upon to rescue the party from evil. Some guessed that they were chosen simply because most or all of them came from the eastern states, the former GDR. Then it was learned that the list was not complete; not 27 but at least 42 of the 76 Bundestag delegates, as well as many in state legislatures, had been spied on; many suspected that all those from the Left had been subjected to special "observation" ever since East Germany and its representatives were first attached to the Federal Republic in 1990.

After the early embarrassment at being caught had passed, some leaders revealed their way of looking at subjects like liberty and democracy. Family Minister Kristina Schroeder, also from the far-right Bavarian CSU, has always equated "extremists of both the Right and Left." She denounced the moderately left newspaper "Neues Deutschland" as being a "left-wing extremist" publication.

The propaganda machine in official circles has always equated "extremists of left and right" just as it equated the GDR with Hitler Germany. As it has repeatedly said, both were dictatorships. This markedly minimizes the fact that the Nazi rulers killed Jews, the Roma people, Russians, Poles, and others by the millions, something not even the angriest foes of the GDR could quite say about it. But such dangerously distorted equations of the left hand with the right hand did not simply reflect an F in school history classes. They were part of an old, established practice. And they could now be gaining ground again in German politics.

One scandal after another

Angela Merkel is a cool player: rarely angry, never extreme, and still fairly popular. But her party is facing difficult times, with a national election due next year. Her man in the office of German president, Christian Wulff, has been hit by one scandal after another in the past three months. Although the charges against him relate to minor scandals, the kind of corrupt practices and misuse of perks and influence common to politicians in nearly all countries, the media attacks against him have been fierce.

The junior partner in her coalition government, the once prestigious Free Democratic Party, now a mishmash bunch run largely by friends of big business, has become so unpopular that it will probably not get the five percent vote needed to get into the Bundestag and might thus largely disappear from the national scene. Merkel's CDU still leads in the polls, but without this junior partner it can hardly achieve fifty percent of the votes and the seats in the Bundestag and could thus be pushed out of office in 2013.

Yet the Social Democrats and Greens do not currently command fifty percent either. There seem to be only three possible solutions to this dilemma:

A.) The Greens could ditch their present Social Democratic buddies and join with their traditional foes on the right, Merkel's Christian Democrats and CSU.

B.) Far more likely - the Social Democrats will resort to the same tactic, ditching their Green buddies and joining their not so very hostile foes on Merkel's side of the aisle to form a "Grand Coalition" of the largest two parties.

C.) The third possibility: that Social Democrats and Greens collectively gnash their teeth and ask the Left to give them the necessary votes.

One major uncertainty looms over all such deliberations. Although Germany is economically stronger than any other European country and arrogantly throws its weight around as never before, no one knows what tomorrow will bring. Will the recession return with greater force and pain than ever?

The influence of the Left in 2009, as the only consistently socially conscious party in the Bundestag, cost the four older parties many, many votes and frightened them to the core. They quickly found it necessary to bend their party lines, at least in the media, in a more socially conscious direction. And in times of greater need, when more and more people are sick of capitalism, these powers-that-be will feel far safer if the Left is greatly weakened, with nothing like its present 76 seats in the Bundestag or, better still, fully wrecked - with no members there at all.

The neo-Nazis on the other hand, unpleasant and uncouth as they may be, and despite some of their radical slogans, have never been anti-capitalist but only anti-leftist and anti-foreigner. The prospect of angry "masses" fighting each other because of ability or lack of ability in speaking German or sticking to good German customs and clothing styles is far preferable to the idea of seeing them join together on behalf of the 99 percent to which they all belong!

Former Nazis accepted

This preference has been the official policy of the Federal Republic since its birth: in the earlier post-war decades it hit out sharply against leftists in every way while accepting the all-pervading strength of former Nazis. Indeed, some of the worst Gestapo and SS men built up the VS in the first place. Given its present priorities, one might suspect that some of those traditions have remained. The general top-level toleration of today's neo-Nazis, and constant legal and personal attacks on those really fighting against them, lead to one conclusion on their strategy on fascists: One never knows when they may be useful.

There is another worrisome aspect to all this. The Left, sharply and most deviously attacked in every way from the start, has been dangerously caught up in its own inner problems and quarrels. Some in the Left party clearly hope to play a key role after next year's election, expecting that the Social Democrats and Greens, in order to get a ruling majority, may be willing to accept the Left after all if only it tones down its too militant program. But others say contrariwise: "Nothing doing; we will not join them in a government until they change their dubious positions."

These disputes, often on a personal level, and the lack of any major fight on economic issues, plus the media attacks, have meant lower popularity ratings. In 2009 the Left got nearly 12 percent of the vote. Now it is down to six or seven percent in the polls, far too close to that strict five per cent hurdle so important in German politics.

For a while a leading light for left-wing parties in many parts of Europe, east and west, its position is now endangered even at home. What seems dreadfully necessary is a tough, clever fight for the rights of the people, and not one confined to the warmer (even if bugged) rooms of the Bundestag! One third of all German children live below the poverty level; countless working people have only temp and otherwise underpaid jobs while geographically mobile economic giants throw others out of work. Rents are rising, forcing people out of their homes. Even in times considered stable there is so much to be done! This is an urgent business; history never repeats itself, it is often said. Maybe not, but some worrisome recollections cannot be ignored!

Two state elections are due in coming months: in Saarland on March 25th and in Schleswig-Holstein on May 6th. They can indicate whether the Left is finally recovering from the doldrums of 2011, and can put up a good fight between now and the national election in 2013.

Photo: The Riechstag building in Berlin is where the German parliament meets. At least 42 of the 76 Bundestag (the German parliament) delegates who are members of the Left Party have been spied on by the country's chief domestic surveillance agency. Wikipedia // CC 2.0

Pakistan generals profit from mayhem, communists say

Teresa Albano — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:53:00 -0500

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said this week that U.S. forces would end their combat role in Afghanistan in 2013, ostensibly ending the 12-year war there. With financial and budget crises in Europe and the United States, war spending has become a major issue among the NATO allies.

In a recent analysis, the Communist Party of Pakistan says the Obama administration is interested in working out a political settlement in Afghanistan "in order to cut down its colossal expenditures there."

A U.S.-friendly government in Kabul is one of the White House goals, the party says. But that would mean a big blow to Pakistan's military-industrial complex, which is profiting mightily from "jihad dividends," says the statement.

The statement, issued by the party's international department, paints a picture of two power centers in Pakistan: the military and the civilian government.

This "tussle among its top institutions" has grievous consequences for Pakistan, Afghanistan and the region, the party says.

Despite withholding some $700 million from Pakistan last summer, the U.S. has over the past decades supported Pakistan with billions of dollars in military aid.

"Under U.S. imperialism's patronage, for the last 40 years or so, almost all five-star generals and major generals have become billionaires," says the Pakistan CP. "Down to the rank of major, they have become millionaires."

The party calls the Pakistani military an "industrial and business corporation," in direct competition with the civilian government, which the military seeks to control.

These financial interests have fueled the policy that supports Taliban extremists and other shady networks in Pakistan and the region, the party suggests.

The reason the military supports mayhem is also found in its attitude towards India, according to the statement. The civilian government wants to normalize relations with its neighbor, while the military wants to justify its budget by keeping alive security fears over Kashmir, and the perceived encirclement of Pakistan by India. (India is playing an enhanced role in Afghanistan and that means Pakistan would be surrounded by the military's long-time enemy.)

However, there may be agreement between Pakistan's elected government and the military in one area: U.S. war threats towards Iran.

The Pakistani party suggests that - as in Pakistan with its two power centers - the military (along with extremist religious forces) and the civilian government (that includes the presidency and Parliament), there are two power centers in the United States regarding Iran. One is the White House and the other is the Pentagon, they say.

In their view, the Pentagon is seeking logistical support and help from the Pakistan army in the wake of possible military action against Iran. On the other hand, the party says, Pakistan's civilian government is trying to tactfully maneuver the White House to divert any impending U.S. military action against Iran.

While it's not clear how the generals will respond to Pentagon pressure, there is significant possibility they will strongly object.

Much of Pakistan's current crisis over Afghanistan is directly related to Cold War politics and the United States unrelenting drive for military and economic supremacy over any rival. U.S. and Pakistan formed an alliance during the 1980s to build up far-right forces cloaked in religion to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Iran sanctions are no solution, says solidarity organization

Special to PeoplesWorld.org — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:25:00 -0500

The UK-based Committee for the Defense of the Iranian People's Rights (CODIR) today condemned the European Union move to impose sanctions upon the Islamic Republic of Iran as effectively a declaration of war upon the Iranian people.

The organization, which has campaigned for 30 years against human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic, has been a prominent voice in insisting that dialogue is the only way forward in the current crisis. The sanctions imposed by the EU are seen as a provocative escalation of an already unstable situation which could be a precursor to military intervention by the West.

CODIR Assistant General Secretary Jamshid Ahmadi made clear the position of human rights and peace organizations in relation to Iran, stating:

"We condemn the Iranian regime for its human rights violations, its ongoing repression of religious minorities and the regime's persecution of human rights activists. However, embargoing Iranian oil through the de-facto ban on trade with Iran's central bank ultimately has a negative impact upon the ordinary people of Iran."

CODIR is also concerned that the reality of Western sanctions and the threat of military intervention will hand the regime a propaganda coup ahead of parliamentary elections in March. "These sanctions are a boost for the Iranian regime in advance of the elections in March," said Ahmadi.

"There is no proof of a nuclear weapons program, only secret service suspicions and allegations. What we really need is the escalation of human rights dialogue and serious negotiations for a nuclear-free Middle East."

CODIR is unequivocal in its condemnation of any external interference in the affairs of the Islamic Republic, stressing that it is for the people of Iran to determine their own future. Human rights, peace and trades union organizations must show solidarity in assisting the people of Iran to establish a truly democratic state, the organization says.

The possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear installations, making it one step removed from a direct U.S. intervention, has long been considered a tactical option by the West, and CODIR insists that the sanctions campaign makes such an attack more likely.

"We will continue to do all we can to support the people of Iran," said Ahmadi, "and we are looking to the peace movements across the globe to do everything they can to avert a conflict. The ordinary people of Iran will certainly be the first victims of sanctions or a war but many others may follow."

CODIR has declared its full support for demonstrations taking place on Saturday Feb. 4 in many cities across the world.

U.S. steelworkers campaign to free Colombian political prisoners

W. T. Whitney Jr. — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:05:00 -0500

The U.S.-Canadian United Steelworkers union is working with British unions to free David Ravelo and other Colombian political prisoners.

"We are working in close conjunction with Justice for Colombia in Great Britain on the political prisoners campaign," says USW Senior Counsel Dan Kovalik.

Increasingly, politically-motivated incarceration threatens Colombian unionists, human rights workers, and political activists. They are already too familiar with killings and disappearances at the hands of armed enforcers. International solidarity with victims has grown over recent decades, with the labor movement in particular taking on a prominent role in defending human rights in Colombia. British trade unions have been instrumental in bringing the fact of 7,500 Colombian political prisoners to the world's attention.

In 2008, the U.S. and Canadian United Steelworkers combined with the British union known as Unite the Union (itself the merger between British Amicus and Transportation & General Workers Unions) to establish the world's largest union, with 3.4 million workers. It's known as Workers Uniting. The planning agreement for that merger, signed in Ottawa in 2007, outlined five overall objectives. One identified "Projects [that] might include, but are not limited to, support of Columbia's trade union movement in the face of continued attacks on labor and human rights." (Other projects would involve "partner unions in Africa," ship breakers in India, and outreach in China.)

British unions created the Justice for Colombia group, notable for pushing Colombian authorities to honor prisoners' rights, and the USW has joined the Justice for Colombia group as well. One of the priorities for Justice for Colombia and Workers Uniting is the freeing of political prisoner David Ravelo, and they have called on the Colombian government - as well as its chief military patron, the U.S. - to "take all measures necessary to protect his life and the life of his family."

As USW Senior Counsel Daniel Kovalik explains, "Mr. Ravelo, a human rights activist with CREDHOS (a partner of Christian Aid) in Barrancabermeja as well as a former leader of the Patriotic Union - a political party which has suffered literally thousands of assassinations over the years - has been held in jail, without charge, for 14 months now." Kovalik further explains that "before being sent to prison, Mr. Ravelo received numerous threats against his life."

Ravelo once publicized a video showing ex-President Alvaro Uribe hobnobbing with paramilitaries. Ravelo had directed the local branch of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes, helped build the left-leaning Alternative Democratic Pole electoral coalition, and once served as Barrancabermeja city councilor. He was a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. The Catholic Church honored Ravelo for 35 years of dedication to human rights.

Interviewed in April 2011, he said of his jailing, "They are getting even for my longstanding, relentless work in defense of victims and for my unbreakable position against injustice."

The pretext for Ravelo's detention was conspiracy alleged in the murder 21 years ago of mayoral candidate David Nuñez Cala. That accusation came from imprisoned paramilitary chieftain Mario Jaimes Mejía, who reportedly is seeking a reduced sentence.

USW solidarity with Colombian political prisoners, via Workers Uniting, is no surprise. The USW had long opposed the recently approved U.S.-Colombia free trade pact, condemned Drummond Corporation impunity in the deaths of coal mine workers, and sued Coca Cola for complicity in the murders of unionists employed by Colombian affiliates.

USW Senior Counsel Dan Kovalik has travelled to Barrancabermeja and met with David Ravelo's human rights group CREDHOS on several occasions. Questioned via email in connection with this article, he replied:

"While there may be 7,500 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Colombia, Mr. Ravelo's case is particularly compelling as he is a leading human rights advocate being held without charge. We believe that his release would be a crucial part in the effort to begin releasing the thousands of political prisoners in that country."

Kovalik added: "The U.S. labor movement has been unanimous in its opposition to U.S. military assistance to Colombia since 2000 in light of its abysmal labor and human rights practices which, among other things, has claimed the lives of over 2900 unionists - a figure unprecedented in the world. I believe that an important step now is for U.S. unions to join the voices of labor, human rights and other social groups in Colombia who are calling for a peaceful, negotiated settlement to the armed conflict in that country. That is probably the greatest contribution we can make to Colombia at this time, and the release of political prisoners is a key step in this direction."

Photo: David Ravelo, via Peace Brigades International - Colombia.

Cuba's Communist Party holds national conference

W. T. Whitney Jr. — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:50:00 -0500

As arranged by the sixth Cuban Communist Party Congress of April 2011, a first-ever ever Party "conference" took place in Havana January 28-29. While the Congress concentrated on recommendations applying to Cuba's economy, the conference dealt mostly with Party functioning.

The 811 delegates representing 800,000 Party members first approved a resolution cataloguing objectives of Party work. Later, they accepted recommendations and opinions from four Party commissions that heard testimony from delegates and guests.

Worldwide media attention focused on proposed changes affecting party leadership, one that would limit high-level party and government officials to two five-year terms, after passage of a constitutional amendment; and another calling for replacement of 20 percent of central committee members within five years. The central committee will hold two open meetings annually to monitor production goals, budgetary compliance, and implementation of the economic and social policy guidelines approved at the sixth Congress.

The final resolution called for an expanded role for party committees at all levels, fewer permanent commissions, improved intraparty diffusion of information, party leaders working directly with community activists and local party organizations, improved supervision of rank and file party workers, and party-wide participation in implementing national economic plans.

Recommendations applying to "political and ideological work" would have Party activists supporting "national unity around the Party and the revolution," rejecting corruption and unethical or illegal actions, and combating family and gender violence.

Party membership was reaffirmed as voluntary and earned through exemplary standards, and approval at the community level. Party activists would adapt the teachings of Marxism-Leninism "to the present conjuncture" and honor the "anti-imperialist legacy of Jose Martí as an essential foundation of revolutionary practice." Other objectives for members include respect shown for non-state employment, conservation of resources, and the "productive character of work."

With an eye to assuring future Party leadership, delegates attended to the question of youth recruitment. New members should "have solid technical-professional training," emerge from the grassroots, and demonstrate "agility and initiative in decision-making." They recommended "selective rotation of political cadres with a view to rounding out their training," also improved party schools. A goal much reiterated was that of attracting women, youth, and African-descended Cubans to the Party and preparing them for leadership positions. Almost 43 percent of conference delegates were women and 37.5 percent were Black.

The Conference outlined measures to revitalize the Union of Young Communists and expand Party work within "mass organizations" such as unions, farmers' organizations, and the Federation of Cuban Women.

Predictably, U.S. media reaction to the conference centered on one-party rule and the presumed autocracy of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro. But speaking to Conference delegates, President Raul Castro highlighted the "profound democratic character" of conference preparations.

Beginning in October 2011, Party and UJC groups held thousands of meetings to discuss 96 proposed objectives for future party work. A central committee plenum reviewed tens of thousands of opinions as did conference delegates meeting locally in early January. As a result, 78 of the objectives were modified and five new ones added.

The Party Conference convened on the 159th anniversary of Jose Marti's birth. Historians trace the origins of the current Communist Party to the Cuban Revolutionary Party founded by the Cuban national hero in 1892. Marti that year wrote, Cubans "understood that in order to defeat a divided adversary, the only thing needed is to unite." The word "party" is used to mean "they are joining forces in a well-organized effort, and with a frank set of rules and a common purpose...The Cuban Revolutionary Party is the Cuban people."

President Raul Castro reminded delegates that "only the Party [brings] together the revolutionary vanguard and [is] a secure guarantor of the unity of Cubans." He condemned so-called "representative democracy" which has "invariably become the concentration of political power in the class which holds the economic and financial hegemony of each nation."

Cuba's aspiration, he said, is "to promote the greatest democracy in our society, starting with providing an example within the ranks of the Party." Castro affirmed the right within the Party "to disagree and argue, to even disagree with what leaders say." He warned against what he described as the "real and potential damage corruption poses for the present and future of the nation."

Lastly, Castro portrayed the Party as exerting its leadership role through government supervision, "through encouraging, confirming, [and] reviewing, never intervening or giving orders."

Dresden citizens say, “Don’t privatize our hospitals!”

Tim Steinhelfer — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:22:00 -0500

In Dresden, Germany, citizens voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to halt the privatization of the city's two municipal hospitals. In what is seen as a major blow to corporate interests, over 84 percent of voters rejected privatization by voting "Ja" to retain public democratic control over the hospitals. The referendum prevents privatization of the hospitals for the next three years.

According to Left Party council member Annekatrin Klepsch, "The results of the referendum are without a doubt a great victory for all residents of the city. The referendum shows that it is indeed possible to successfully fight back against the current privatization mania. This victory does not mean that we can back down - the vote only ensures that the hospital will remain in public hands for the next three years. The pressure on political decision makers to make another attempt at privatization will not stop. No one should labor under the delusion that corporate interests will give up the idea of turning hospitals into an industry driven by profit."

Since 2009, Dresden's city council has been evenly divided between the right wing faction (Christian Democrats and Libertarians) and the left wing or working class faction (Social Democrats, Greens, and the Left).

With the support of the increasingly conservative Green Party, however, the right wing faction was able to pave the way for privatization of the municipal hospitals.

The Left Party, Social Democrats, and grassroots citizens' organizations were able to prevent legislative railroading of the issue, however, by gathering the 37,000 signatures necessary to send the question to the voters.

The city of around half a million people is the capital of the state of Saxony in eastern Germany and a historically relevant leader in the nation's arts and culture.

Saxony's Left Party leader Rico Gebhardt followed up: "Health is not a commodity. This is a clear signal that the will of the people is on the side of public democratic control."

The municipal hospitals receive no tax money from the state or city. Rather, they bring in marginal income for the city of Dresden. The hospitals treat over 68,000 patients yearly. They employ around 3,000 people, all of whom are covered by a collective bargaining agreements that would likely be nullified under private control. The vote is seen as a repudiation of the neo-liberal tactic of privatizing state assets and services in order to cover short-term budgetary shortfalls - a tactic that is now running rampant in the United States.

Is seal killing at an end?

Blake Deppe — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:51:00 -0500

Sealing - a grotesque business that involves killing seals for both their fur and meat - may soon see its last days in Canada. With the consumption of seal products dropping, Canadian Parliament member Ryan Cleary believes that sealing may become a thing of the past.

Cleary said that Canada and its province Newfoundland and Labrador have been taking flack from critics of commercial seal hunting, and that the sealing industry was worth just $1 million to Newfoundland and Labrador last year - a clear sign that desire for seal products is waning.

This wouldn't be the first time that excessive killing of animals came to an end, Cleary pointed out. "Part of our history is also whaling, for example, and the day came when the whaling industry stopped," he said. "Now, is that day coming with the seal hunt? It just may be."

Perhaps the largest piece of evidence to support this assertion comes from outside of Canada: the countries of Russia, Belarus and Kazahkstan have banned the import and export of seal pelts.

Seal hunting has been vehemently criticized by celebrities like Pamela Anderson and Kelly Osbourne, and musicians including metalcore band The Agonist and singer Sarah McLachlan. World leaders like President Obama and Vladimir Putin have also said they disapprove of sealing.

Opposition to sealing from such notable names may have added to the initiative of Canadians to avoid seal products, or changed their opinions on the way these animals have been treated.

The controversial practice involves the deaths of thousands of seals, including young pups. They are savagely beaten over the head, hooked in the eyes, nose, or mouth, and pulled across the ice, often while still alive.

Sealing is more devastating during a time when seal pups are dropping off at a dramatic rate, due to thinning winter sea ice, as found in a study by scientists from Duke University and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The study concluded, moreover, that sea ice cover (in areas that serve as breeding regions for harp seals) has been declining by about 6 percent per decade for quite some time, due to climate change.

David Johnston, research scientist at the Duke University Marine Lab, remarked, "The kind of mortality we're seeing in eastern Canada is dramatic."

After finding that 80 percent of the seal pups born in 2011 died due to lack of ice, IFAW has said that Canada ought to work toward ending the seal hunt for good, noting that all hunters should be compensated fairly for their work and retrained for other jobs.

"It is time for the Canadian government to face the reality that commercial seal hunting is neither viable nor necessary," said the organization.

"We know that the world appetite is [no longer] there for seal meat," said Cleary. And, "the world appetite for seal products ... I don't know if it's there [either]. And you know what? I might get shot for saying this - but that's a question we all have to ask."

Photo: A seal hunter drags a slaughtered seal back to his snowmobile during an annual seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Jonathan Hayward/AP

"Bread, freedom, human dignity": Mass protest returns to Tahrir Square

Susan Webb — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:09:00 -0500

Hundreds of thousands rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square and in other Egyptian cities Wednesday on the first anniversary of the Jan. 25, 2011, uprising that led to the ouster of dictator Hosni Mubarak.

BBC reporter Jon Leyne said the huge crowd in Cairo was "possibly the biggest gathering in Tahrir Square since that day nearly a year ago when they celebrated the departure of Hosni Mubarak. But as to the political significance - that's a bit harder to assess."

"There are now many competing agendas in Egypt," Leyne said. "On one side of the square the Islamists reveled in their recent success in the parliamentary elections. Their leaders are in behind-the-scenes talks with the military over a negotiated handover of power later this year. On the other side of the square, liberals and representatives of the youth movement were more openly antagonistic towards Egypt's military rulers. Many more people came just to enjoy what felt like a huge street party."

The Associated Press called it "a show of strength by secular groups in their competition with the country's powerful Islamists over demands for an end to military rule."

News reports, and the video below, indicate masses of protesters expressed anger over the slow pace of trials for those accused of killing protesters last year, demanded an end to military trials for civilians, and called for the ruling military council to hand over power to elected civilian government.

"Those in uniform who shot Egyptians dead in front of me still walk the streets freely," a Cairo tour guide told the UK Guardian. "Those that, like Mubarak, ordered such shootings - they remain in power instead of being behind bars. Listen to chants around us: 'Bread, freedom, human dignity.' Where are those things? Can we see or touch them? No, and that's why we're here today."

The video was made by Mosireen, which describes itself as "a non-profit media centre in Downtown Cairo born out of the explosion of citizen journalism and cultural activism in Egypt during the revolution." It shows students, doctors, workers, women and others demanding "change, freedom, social justice": (text continues below video)

BBC reported that Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, chair of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (known as Scaf) said on Tuesday that the state of emergency, which has been in place in Egypt almost continuously since 1967, would be lifted.

But he said the law would still be applied in cases of "thuggery." The military has used the term "thugs" to justify the crackdown on people demanding a return to civilian rule, the BBC said. Repeal of the much-hated emergency law has been a key demand of the protesters, the British news agency said.

Last year, the military council widened the scope of the emergency law to include labor strikes, traffic disruption and spreading false information.

The Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions was formed a year ago, in opposition to the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation. The interim governing body has not recognized the approximately 300 independent unions that have been formed since then, with a membership of approximately 2 million, according to the Egyptian Independent, the English-language website of Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Reporter Jano Charbel writes, "Many workers say they have yet to see conditions change, despite their critical role in the protests that forced former President Hosni Mubarak from office. 'Workers continue to feel marginalized, just like they did under the Mubarak regime,' says Mahmoud Rihan, a leading organizer of the recently established Federation of Transport Workers."

Workers are demanding full-time contracts for full-time work, an increased minimum wage, official recognition of independent unions, passage of a trade union rights law, purging of corrupt officials from state institutions and companies, and re-nationalization of privatized companies, Charbel reports.

Thousands of protesters have remained in Tahrir Square since Wednesday. More than 50 political groups and parties announced additional protests planned for Friday, Jan. 27, which they are calling the "Second Friday of Anger." The Friday protests will demand Egypt's military rulers hand over power to an elected civilian authority.

Photo: Egyptians set up an obelisk in Cairo's Tahrir Square with the names of people who were killed during the 18-day uprising a year ago, to mark the uprising's first anniversary, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP/Amr Nabil)

Fracking banned in Bulgaria

Blake Deppe — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:05:00 -0500

Following major protests by environmentalists, lawmakers in Bulgaria voted to ban fracking, which thwarted plans for shale gas exploration by oil giant Chevron.

On January 18, the vote was 166 to six for putting a stop to the controversial gas retrieval process known as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing. Lawmakers also established a 100 million-lev ($65 million) fine for those who fail to obey this rule.

This development marks Bulgaria as the second country in the European Union to ban fracking, after France.

"The ban is for an indefinite period of time and is valid for the whole territory of the country, including the Black Sea territorial waters," said lawmaker Valentin Nikolov.

The legislation was passed four days after major demonstrations, in which several thousand people gathered at rallies to protest fracking. They had called for Parliament to put a moratorium on shale gas extraction.

The Chevron Corporation is headquartered in the U.S., where fracking has been criticized for the hazards it poses to the environment and the wellbeing of people. Environmental experts have linked the drilling process with underground water pollution, and a confirmed fracking-triggered earthquake in Ohio has led to stateside protests and a public hearing to investigate the situation.

Bulgaria would not be pushing the oil company out of the country entirely, as Energy Minister Traicho Traikov remarked, "Chevron can still have the right to test for oil and gas, but without using the controversial technology of hydraulic fracturing."

Chevron has recently decided to further explore the shale gas reserves of other countries, including Poland and the Ukraine, and is just one of several U.S. oil magnates to do so. Other major companies pursuing international fracking include Royal Dutch Shell, which is also drilling in the Ukraine, and Exxon Mobile.

The government of Bulgaria's fellow European Union state - Poland - meanwhile seems unfazed by these events and by the fracking ban. The Polish Foreign Ministry remarked that the Bulgarian legislation wouldn't sway the energy aspirations of the Polish government.

"This will not change Poland's existing position presented to the EU," said the Ministry in a statement. "Every member state has the sovereign right to define its own position regarding energy resources."

Poland has some of the richest shale gas deposits in Europe, which are currently under examination by both Chevron and Exxon Mobile. Though fracking protests have taken place in the country, they have so far not disrupted the Polish government's intention to pursue the practice.

In Bulgaria, although the Blue Coalition political party voted against the anti-fracking legislation, the party's co-leader Martin Dimitrov backed the moratorium, noting he was definitely "opposed to experiments done on Bulgaria. The time will come when the technology is [either proven] safe or its risks are clarified."

Photo: During a protest in Sofia, Bulgaria, an environmentalist protesting fracking holds up a sign that reads, "Shale gas - no thanks." Valentina Petrova/AP Photos

Lopez Obrador again runs for Mexico’s top office

Tim Pelzer — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:45:00 -0500

MEXICO CITY - After losing the 2006 elections through fraud, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is once again vying for his country's top office as Mexico prepares to go to the polls later this year.

Running for the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the Worker's Party (PT), he is again offering a sharp break from the right-wing policies pursued by successive Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI) and National Action Party (PAN) governments. He also said that he has laid the groundwork to ensure that electoral fraud does not take place again.

Lopez Obrador, a former schoolteacher and popular governor of the Federal District (a large state that includes Mexico City), ran as the PRD-PT's presidential candidate in 2006. Election officials announced that PAN candidate Felipe Calderon had narrowly won the elections over Lopez Obrador.

Evidence of widespread fraud and irregularities surfaced, however, as many of the final vote counts sent from each polling station did not match the numbers of people who reportedly voted.

The PRD and PT staged mass rallies and protests to demand a vote recount. Electoral authorities agreed to recount only 9.7 percent of polling places and fraud was uncovered. The final recount narrowed Calderon's lead over Lopez Obrador but the PAN presidential candidate was still declared the winner.

Since the 2006 elections, further evidence emerged of electoral fraud. A 2007 documentary made by well known Mexican filmmaker Luis Mandoki, "The Fraud that No One Saw," shows electoral authorities illegally tampering with ballots as well as sealed storage facilities for ballots that had illegally been opened.

Lopez Obrador is touring the country promising to implement social and economic policies to rescue the country from poverty and widespread unemployment if he is elected president. While Mexico is an oil and mineral rich country, 52 million people (out of 101 million) live in grinding poverty, according to newly released federal statistics. Out of the 52 million, 28 million suffer food insecurity, meaning they have difficulty getting enough to eat. Each year hundreds of thousands have to leave the country, many of them to the U.S., because there is no work.

"Mexicans suffer the paradox of living in a rich country with a poor people and it is obvious that this contradiction is not because of fate, destiny or bad luck, but because of political corruption, absence of justice and bad government," says Lopez Obrador.

"We are going to guarantee a minimum of well being and security to the population, from birth to death, from the cradle to the grave," he said, through the introduction of social programs. Mexico, a member of the Organization of Economic Development, spends one-third as much on social programs as do other member countries.

Lopez Obrador, who says his government will listen to everyone but will favor the most impoverished and humble, is promising a full range of programs to the population that will include free education and health care, scholarships for single mothers and pensions for the handicapped and seniors. He says he will also tackle rampant corruption within the government.

Lopez Obrador is critical of "free market" policies implemented in the 1980s and '90s through so-called free trade agreements with the U.S. and Canada that he says ravaged the Mexican economy.

He says that the better path for Mexico would be a program of growth that involves supporting national companies, small, medium and large, especially those that face unfair competition from powerful foreign rivals; investment in research and development to foster technological development; public works programs, such as environmental reclamation projects, roads and airport construction and bullet trains to connect urban centers, to stimulate the economy and create jobs and economic support to farmers in the countryside, where food production is declining.

Lopez Obrador sees economic growth and job creation as critical to resolving the drug gang violence that has swept the nation in the recent period.

"The problems of insecurity and violence are not going to be resolved just with soldiers, marines, police, jails, threats of 'mano dura' [tough hand] or severe laws, but with combating poverty and inequality," he says.

He also supports expanding educational opportunities for millions of young people who have been turned away from universities. The economic and social programs will be paid, he says, "through the elimination of privileges of high public functionaries, superfluous government spending and corruption. These measures will save $600 billion pesos from the public budget to be destined for development and public well being.",

The PRD-PT's presidential candidate also opposes privatization of the national oil company, PEMEX, and the electrical industry, as advocated by the PAN and PRI. Instead, he proposes to integrate the energy sector into one "grand company that will serve as a plank for national development."

During the 2006 elections, right-wing propaganda accused Lopez Obrador of being "a danger for Mexico" because he had the same radical agenda as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. During campaign speeches he has been careful, however, to distance himself from Chavez.

Lopez Obrador has spoken out against expropriating goods from the wealthy and has called on business people to support his campaign. He announced at a recent meeting with the business community in Guadalajara that he will appoint Fernando Turner Davila, ex-president of the National association of independent businesses and ex-director of several large businesses, as his economic secretary if he wins the elections. Obrador favors a mixed economy with public and private participation. "We are not enemies of business people," he says.

Many consider his record to be that of a left-wing social democrat.

As governor of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005, he introduced a pension for poor seniors, income support measures for single mothers, educational scholarships for poor children, a program to help thousands of homeless children leave the streets, a free health care health system for the poor and he built low cost housing. Instead of running the country with a "mano dura," Lopez Obrador is promising to run it democratically with an emphasis on public participation.

To prevent electoral fraud, he said that over the last six years he has toured the country and set up 40,000 committees to supervise and prevent the right wing from winning through fraud again. He stated that in 2006, "We did not have an adequate organization and l acted in good faith. I thought they were not going to dare [rob me]. But now we are organized and this time it will be distinct." The committees will ensure that there are people in each polling station across the country overseeing the vote count.

Meanwhile, polls suggest that PRI presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto is the front-runner in the upcoming elections. PAN is holding its primaries to elect a presidential candidate to replace Felipe Calderon who must step down this year because of the six-year term limit for presidents.

Photo: Andres Lopez Obrador speaks in Mexico City's main square, the Zocalo, in 2008. Chupacabras CC 2.0

Who's afraid of the big bad Wulff?

Victor Grossman — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:41:00 -0500

BERLIN - Americans wonder who will be president next January; Germans are still uncertain who will live in Berlin's presidential mansion this February. Its current resident, Christian Wulff, has been under strong pressure to do just the same as his predecessor did - resign!

For weeks the media have attacked Wulff with angry charges of corruption and lying to cover up the corruption. While still in his previous position as Minister-President of Lower Saxony, Wulffe bought a house for 500,000 euros which he had borrowed, not at the usual eight to ten percent interest rate but at only about four percent. from a millionaire friend named Egon Geerkens, who often accompanied him on state visits to other countries.

This could be considered preferential treatment - which is forbidden. When questioned in the legislature, Wulff denied financial connections with Geerkens, an old friend. When pressed, he insisted that the credit was not from Geerkens but from his wife. He also spent several vacations with the Geerkens and other wealthy friends; a few other dubious but minor transgressions were also discovered. This story lasted several weeks.

Then the media pounced again. It seems that Wulff, learning of the planned attack, had telephoned the editor and publisher of the huge newspaper BILD, the leader of the Wulff-hunters, and asked them to postpone publication until they could meet and talk things over. Otherwise it could mean legal action - and a war between them.

This private message, spoken in great anger, was lustily trumpeted by the media as proof that Wulff wanted to suppress freedom of the press. What a bad example for the nation - by the president! Now he must resign!

Some observers (like myself) are a bit skeptical. There is no doubt about the sleaze involved. And, despite his good looks and pleasant manner, Wulff's conservative background makes him hard to love.

But it is likely that rags like BILD, part of the mighty Springer network, similar in power and politics to the Murdock empire, have dirty dealings files on many if not most leading politicians. Was their choice of Wulff as prey really due to a sudden discovery of older sins? Wulff, after winning the presidency by the skin of his teeth, surprised many by taking moderate, even courageous positions on some topics, most notably by opposing vicious attacks on Muslims, which have been cranked up in recent years - especially by BILD.

In one important speech, for example, Wulff said, "We need to take a clear position. A view of Germany should not limit a sense of belonging here to a passport, a family background or a religious faith, it is far broader. Christianity certainly is part of Germany. Judaism is certainly part of Germany. That is our Christian-Jewish history. But in the meantime Islam has also come to belong to Germany."

BILD does not like such remarks. What BILD does like is the power to decide - using its 11 million readers - who should rule Germany and who should not. Until a year ago they were building up the jolly, handsome, rich, blue-blooded but very dangerous Baron Karl Theodor von Guttenberg as possible savior of Germany.

Their plans were stymied when it was found that his doctoral dissertation included plagiaries on 371 of its 393 pages. All attempts to save his job as cabinet minister proved impossible. He fled to the U.S., changed his image (no more gel in the hairdo) and wrote an autobiographical book titled, menacingly, "Defeated for the Time Being" ("Vorerst Gescheitert"). Now he has a job with the European Commission as consultant on assisting bloggers in "authoritarian countries." And he has hopes.

But even BILD cannot hope to make him president - not yet anyway! Yet it did want to force Wulff out.

The Greens joined the chase, so did the Social Democrats. Maybe they hoped to replace Wulff with the man he narrowly defeated, their choice, the East German preacher and Stasi-hunter Joachim Gauck, in no way progressive, perhaps closer in his anti-GDR polemics and general views to the one-time American hero J. Edgar Hoover. Promoting him would then offer another chance to provoke, embarrass and perhaps split the Left Party (whose co-presidents surprisingly joined the attack on Wulff).

It now seems that Wulff is stubbornly refusing to quit, despite BILD, and there is no impeachment process. And what is gradually becoming clearer to many Germans: the whole Wulff affair served to distract attention from other subjects, which were far too prominent for the bosses of BILD.

One was the increase in the pension age from 65 to 67, a gradual process which began on January 1st. Though originally passed by the Social Democratic-Green coalition with the approval of the current ruling powers, Christian Democrats and Free Democrats, and opposed only by the Left Party, the Social Democrats, hoping to regain power in 2013, have suddenly discovered that they made a mistake when in government.

Now they too are really opposed to a measure which clearly steals money from those workers in jobs too tiring for someone in their age group but also from all those who have trouble keeping or finding any job after 55 and will now have to wait until 67 to get much less in payments.

The Wulff affair also distracted from a very unpleasant pro-Nazi scandal. After the discovery of three pro-Nazi murderers, two of them in the form of corpses, more and more facts are leaking out about the incredible inability of the Constitutional Defense bureau - a German FBI - to find a criminal Nazi gang responsible for killing ten retail dealers of Turkish or Greek descent and a policewoman in well over a dozen years.

We now know more about close ties between the authorities and their spies within the Nazi movement who often held leadership positions and may well have been involved in some murders. Since German unification close to 200 immigrants and left-wingers have been murdered by right-wing extremists in Germany. The authorities, always active and interested in snooping on or damaging anyone on the left, have never gotten excited about Nazis.

The head of the Constitutional Defense Authority (Verfassungschutz), another man who refuses to step down, has just split the "extremism department" into two parts, left and right, and fired one department head in hopes of saving his own neck. The Bundestag is setting up a committee to investigate, a common method of changing nothing.

The woman who raises the issue of fascist violence every week in the Bundestag is a delegate of the Left Party. All its delegates have fought the neo-Nazi menace, both its suit-and-tie variety, the government-financed National Democratic Party (NPD), and its wide network of semi-secret (but well-known) brutal gangs of marching, maiming and sometimes murdering thugs.

For the most part it is they who get police protection, as in Magdeburg a week ago when 2,000 cops protected 1,200 Nazis against antifascists trying to block their way (past the rebuilt synagogue) into the center of town, where 10,000 had rallied to reject them.

The leaders of the anti-Nazi blockade in Dresden last February are still facing legal charges, and thousands of private Email and SMS messages of the more than 18,000 participants, carefully recorded, are still held in custody by the state authorities in Dresden and Saxony.

No one can predict what will happen next month, when the Nazis again try to rally and march in Dresden, and the anti-fascists again try to stop them with two main slogans: "Fascism is not an opinion, it's a crime" - amply proved in recent months - and, with memories of anti-fascists in Spain 75 years ago, "No pasaron!"

But those are not issues that BILD likes to offer readers. And now that Angela Merkel is maintaining support for Wulff the issue is fading, and BILD can again concentrate on its usual daily nudie photos and dramatic details about the Italian cruiser shipwreck.

Of little interest to BILD, the Left party and many smaller, more radical left-wing groups again took part in the annual pilgrimage to the grave sites of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, founders of the German Communist Party in January 1919 and brutally murdered two weeks later. Once again, tens of thousands either paraded for two miles to the site singing leftist songs and waving their banners or went by subway and walked quietly the last five or six blocks to place the traditional red carnations on the grave sites of the two and on sites dedicated to other old Social Democratic, Communist and GDR leaders and artists whose urns are set in the semicircular wall around the large memorial stone.

Noteworthy this time: there were present not only the faithful old-timers, many of whom worked most of their lives to build an anti-fascist, socialist Germany, who lost their struggle but maintain their dreams, but also, now outnumbering them, thousands of young people, mostly German but of other nationalities as well, who may carry on the fight.

A constant theme among the participants: Where is the Left Party going? It has been torn by personal and political disputes for over a year, has failed to overcome media opposition or general apathy, and has dropped from its high of almost 12 percent in the 2009 elections to a current level of 6 or 7 percent.

A meeting over the weekend pledged (once again, it must be added) to reverse the trend, stop fighting within the party and fight more for the people of Germany - and Europe, too, now threatened economically by the same powerful forces which are squeezing the money out of German working class and middle class pockets.

Will the Left Party succeed in overcoming its quarrels and get moving again? The probable return of the skilled orator and political leader Oskar Lafontaine to active leadership on a national level, next to Gregor Gysi and the others, is a good sign for many. A new fighting spirit is urgently needed.

I might add this closing detail: a small but novel one-day gesture has been decided upon for International Women's Day, March 8th. The female majority of 42 Left Party Bundestag delegates decided that on that day the 34 male delegates would work at jobs in the economy always relegated to women while the women delegates will hold all the party's speeches in the Bundestag.