WW News Service Digest #246
1) 'Smart sanctions': New tactic in U.S. war against Iraq
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) Quebec City drops scarf rule after protests
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) South Africa provides free AIDS meds to mothers
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) Church fights New York women's health bill
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) Strawberry workers' victory
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
"SMART SANCTIONS": NEW TACTIC IN U.S. WAR AGAINST IRAQ
By Richard Becker
On March 7, Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before
the House International Relations Committee outlining plans
to step up military aggression against Iraq. Powell called
for a "three basket" approach: maintaining sanctions,
enforcing the U.S.-imposed "no-fly zones" and supporting CIA-
backed Iraqi opposition forces.
He also announced a new policy of allowing U.S. planes to
strike at "facilities or other activities going on in Iraq
that we believe are inconsistent with our obligations." In
the past, U.S. air strikes were supposedly limited to "Iraqi
air defense challenges to U.S. or British planes patrolling
no-fly zones in Iraq."
There has been a great deal of discussion in recent weeks,
much of it emanating from Powell himself, about shifting to
a policy of "smart sanctions" against Iraq. During his trip
through the Middle East in February, Powell advocated
"humane, smart sanctions," which he said would "target
Saddam Hussein, not the Iraqi people."
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahaf responded by
asking rhetorically, "If we are now talking of 'smart
sanctions,' does that mean that the sanctions of the past 10
and a half years have been stupid ones?"
Since Powell returned from the Middle East, strong
opposition had been heard from within the Bush
administration to anything but increased hostility against
Iraq. The Times of London carried a headline, "Powell out of
step over sanctions." Powell's March 7 testimony before
Congress was designed to refute any such notion.
Powell's "smart sanctions" proposals, moreover, were never
meant as a humanitarian gesture, but rather as a way to
maintain the deadly blockade of Iraq.
TURN IRAQ INTO 'A BACKWARD AND WEAK STATE'
The UN sanctions, which the U.S. insists on keeping in place
10 years after the Gulf war, have killed more than 1.5
million Iraqis. As designed, the blockade has devastated
Iraq, destroyed much of its infrastructure and civilian
economy, and set the country back many decades.
On Jan. 9, 1991, then-Secretary of State James Baker had
said, "Iraq will be turned into a backward and weak state."
The intense bombing campaign that began a few days later and
the sanctions that have continued ever since were intended
to turn Baker's threat into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Now, much of the world has turned against the sanctions.
Even some of the most compliant, pro-U.S. regimes in the
Middle East are opposing sanctions, opening trade and other
relations with Iraq. Deep anger over the sanctions, and the
U.S. role in oppressing the Palestinian people, has gripped
the entire region.
Powell proposes changing the outward form of sanctions by
"de-linking" economic from military sanctions. At the same
time, he has made it clear that there is no change in the
objective: keeping Iraq in a weakened state until its
present government is overthrown and replaced by one that
will accept the dictates of Washington.
What Powell wants might be called "sanctions with a human
face."
Powell told the House committee on March 7: "I think the
characterization that we are easing up or giving up is quite
incorrect. The sanctions were starting to fall apart. Saddam
Hussein and the Iraqi regime had successfully put the burden
on us as denying the wherewithal for civilians and children
in Iraq to live and to get the nutrition and health care
they needed.
"What we've been trying to do for the last six weeks is to
see how we could stabilize the collapsing situation and find
some basis of stabilization that would bring the [pro-
sanctions] coalition back together."
Powell later added, "We're also undertaking a fuller review
of other things that can be done to promote a regime
change."
'SMART SANCTIONS' = COLONIALISM
Coinciding with Powell's appearance, a liberal think-tank
called the Fourth Freedom Foundation issued a report on what
"smart sanctions" might look like. The principal author is
David Cortright, former executive director of the anti-war
group SANE/Freeze, now reborn as a consultant to the foreign
policy makers of U.S. imperialism.
The report notes Powell's call for smart sanctions in its
preface. "Our aim," say the authors, "is to provide a
technical study that spells out the meaning of a smart
sanctions strategy and is helpful to UN policy makers as
they respond to the dilemmas of sanctions in Iraq."
The report, "Smart Sanctions: Restructuring UN Policy in
Iraq," outlines the problem as follows: "After more than a
decade of controversy, the United Nations sanctions regime
in Iraq faces an unprecedented crisis."
Note that from the authors' point of view it's the policy--
not the people of Iraq--that is confronting a crisis.
"The comprehensive trade embargo, previously one of the
tightest in history, is unraveling in dramatic fashion," the
report continues. It outlines several reasons for this,
including the resumption of civilian air flights to Baghdad,
an increase in "unauthorized trade," and Syria's new free
trade zone and reopened oil pipeline from Iraq.
"Despite these dilemmas, the United Nations has an enormous
stake in preventing the collapse of its policy in Iraq," the
report adds.
In fact, the vast majority of the UN member states and the
world's people want the murderous sanctions against Iraq to
be ended. It is the U.S. ruling class and its political
servants, including the authors of this study, who are
committed to "preventing the collapse" of the sanctions.
The study, which according to a number of media reports
reflects Powell's viewpoint, includes such provisions as:
Revamp the current embargo in favor of a sharpened sanctions
system aimed at two key targets--the control of financial
resources generated by the export of Iraqi oil, and the
prohibition against imports of weapons and dual-use goods;
Maintain strict controls on Iraqi oil revenues and military-
related imports, but permit trade in civilian consumer goods
to flow freely;
Contract out to commercial companies the responsibility of
certifying and providing notification of civilian imports
into Iraq;
* Permit the ordering and contracting of civilian goods on
an as-required basis rather than in 180-day phases;
* Maintain UN financial controls;
* Continue to channel all Iraqi oil revenues through the UN
escrow account;
* Contract with an independent multinational oil-brokering
firm, through which all records and payments for permitted
oil purchases would pass, to manage the sales of Iraqi oil
and monitor any illegal surcharge payments;
*Establish a new compensation mechanism to provide economic
assistance to neighboring states and begin paying Iraq's
external debt;
* Freeze the personal financial assets of Saddam Hussein and
his family, of senior Iraqi political and military
officials, and of those associated with weapons production
programs;
* Tighten land-based monitoring by establishing at major
border crossings into Iraq fully-resourced Sanctions
Assistance Missions, modeled on the UN sanctions experience
in Yugoslavia;
* Establish a system of electronic tagging of approved dual-
use imports;
* Create a special investigative commission to track down
and expose sanctions violators;
* Assist member states in establishing effective penalties
for companies and individuals that violate the ban on
exporting weapons and dual-use items to Iraq; and
* Require Iraqi-bound cargo flights to submit to UN
inspection.
"No single element of this smart sanctions package stands
alone in wielding sufficient coercive clout," the study
says. "But linked together such controls provide a tightened
sanctions regime."
THREAT OF MILITARY ESCALATION
The chance of Iraq voluntarily accepting such a plan is
exactly zero. This proposal is an obvious and outrageous
plan to reduce Iraq to the status of a permanent colony. And
since the United States dominates the UN, it is clear who
the real colonizing power would be.
If such a proposal is formally made through the UN Security
Council, or if it is raised unilaterally--as was done with
the "no-fly zones"--by the U.S. and rejected by Iraq, then
new military action may well follow. Some top Bush
administration officials, including Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld--who really should be called secretary of
war--and his chief assistant Paul Wolfowitz, have already
openly called for a U.S. invasion of Iraq.
For the past half-century, a strategic objective of the U.S.
ruling class has been to secure its unfettered and
unchallenged domination over the oil-rich Gulf region. The
"smart sanctions" is just one more tactic aimed at achieving
that goal. The anti-sanctions movement must unmask this
poisonous fraud, and renew the demand to unconditionally
lift the genocidal sanctions against Iraq.
Richard Becker has visited Iraq twice with the Iraq
Sanctions Challenge project of the International Action Center.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
AS FTAA SUMMIT NEARS: QUEBEC DROPS SCARF RULE AFTER PROTESTS
By Josina Dunkel
Montreal
The hastily passed by-law which made wearing head scarves or
hats during the anti-capitalist globalization summit in
Quebec City this April has been overturned. Facing
widespread criticism and a direct challenge from civil-
rights lawyers, the government decided that this arbitrary
law simply was not worth the fight.
Though the Canadian government has repeatedly stated that it
encourages civil-society involvement in Quebec, all efforts
have been made to frustrate protesters' organizing efforts.
The protests against the summit for a Free Trade Area of the
Americas follow similar protests in Seattle, Washington and
Prague. Many estimates predict even larger protests in
Quebec City than at these earlier events. As hosts of this
summit, the governments of Quebec City and its suburb of St.
Foy have worked hard to undermine the anti-FTAA protest.
The largest police presence in Canadian history will be
assembled. Over 5,000 federal police will be reinforced by
more provincial and municipal police. An 18-foot fence has
been built around the walled city and a pass-system for
residents who live within the fence will be established. The
government intends to limit access to the summit by physical
and legal restrictions.
One distinct problem for organizers is the lack of
accommodations. Though hotel rooms have been reserved, they
will not be able to accommodate all the thousands of
protesters. The government has reserved almost all hotel
rooms in the city and has even cancelled some reservations
previously held by anti-FTAA organizations.
Letters have been sent out to churches and community centers
by municipal authorities to discourage them from allowing
protesters to sleep on their floors, implying that there may
be a loss of funding.
Despite these obstacles, organizing has continued.
Protesters are discussing camping out on the historic Plains
of Abraham, where in 1759 England defeated France, laying
the groundwork for British imperialist control over northern
North America. Students at universities and colleges in the
Quebec City region are discussing a strike in support of the
FTAA protests. This would also free up classroom space for
protesters.
-
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
AS DRUG COMPANIES SUE:
SOUTH AFRICA PROVIDES FREE AIDS MEDS TO MOTHERS
By Elijah Crane
On March 5, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association
and 39 transnational pharmaceutical companies brought the
South African government to court in Pretoria. The purpose
of their case is to block a 1997 law passed in South Africa
that would allow access to generic versions of AIDS
medications cheaper than those produced by drug giants like
Glaxo-SmithKline and Bristol Myers Squib.
At the same time, AIDS activists in nine countries and five
U.S. cities took to the streets for a Global Day of Action
initiated by Global Treatment Access Campaign. Protesters
demanded that the pharmaceutical giants immediately drop
their racist lawsuit.
In Pretoria, over a thousand people marched against the big
drug companies. Dozens were arrested.
More than 200 people marched in New York City, rallying at
the local offices of pharmaceutical corporations. They
chanted, "Pills cost pennies, greed costs lives!"
Similar actions were held in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Berkeley
and Boston.
Nearly 20 percent of the adult population of South Africa is
infected with AIDS--4.2 million people. More than 400,000
South Africans have died of AIDS-related illnesses.
President Thabo Mbeki and the South African government are
now considering declaring the AIDS epidemic a national state
of emergency. This is a sure-fire way to gain full access to
AIDS medications by importing or even producing generic
versions of the "innovator" drugs.
On March 8 an Indian pharmaceutical company, Cipla,
requested a license from the South African government to
import generic versions of eight anti-retrovirals and other
AIDS drugs. Cipla is seeking non-exclusive licenses under
South Africa's intellectual property laws on the grounds
that the patent-holding manufacturers are abusing their
copyright.
Cipla previously offered to make the "Cameron cocktail" of
stavudine, 3TC and nevirapine available for $350 a year to
the aid organization Doctors Without Borders and $600 to
governments in developing countries.
Kenya is also introducing legislation to import generic AIDS
drugs.
Drug companies made sales of more than $315 billion in 2000.
This is more than the gross domestic product of all 12
countries in the Southern African Development Community,
according to the Global Treatment Access Campaign web site.
And yet even under pressure from organizations and
activists, the best offer pharmaceutical companies such as
Merck, Inc., have made is to sell the pills for $2 a day.
But this is only part of the full cocktail required in a
daily anti-HIV regimen. The total cost would still amount to
almost $1,500 per year, per person at those rates--a
staggering and unaffordable cost for most African people.
While the media and pharmaceutical mega-corporations put
forth a racist attack against President Mbeki, blaming him
for the crisis, South Africa continues to make provisions to
advance its health care system.
The South African government has initiated a program to
provide free anti-HIV medicine to pregnant women. The drug
nevirapine helps prevent transmission of HIV from mother to
baby.
According to a Feb. 18 New York Times article, "United
Nations officials say [South Africa] will run one of the
largest anti-AIDS drug distribution programs in Africa."
The remaining challenge is that while the rate of HIV
infection will likely decrease in newborns as a result of
preventing transmission during childbirth, mothers with HIV
remain untreated and lack access to affordable medications.
CUBA EXTENDS SOLIDARITY
Among the many attacks on Africa is the claim that due to a
lack of infrastructure Africa would not be able to
distribute the anti-HIV medications even if they were more
accessible.
Yet Africa's underdevelopment is a result of centuries of
colonial exploitation and imperialist plunder. Sub-Saharan
Africa was carved up by Britain, France, Germany and Belgium
and robbed of its rich natural resources while the U.S.
stole its people for slavery.
However, the people of Africa have a long history of
struggle against imperialist invasion and domination. And as
demonstrated by social programs such as those that provide
free medicine to pregnant women, African leaders do not lack
commitment in the fight against AIDS.
While corporations from the richest countries in the world
take the government of South Africa to court to block the
delivery of medicine, doctors from the tiny socialist island
of Cuba stand ready to help build the infrastructure to
distribute the much-needed AIDS medications.
In a speech in New York in September 2000, Fidel Castro said
that Cuba is ready to send 2,000 doctors to Africa to help
build its medical infrastructure. This is over and above the
thousands of doctors that Cuba has already sent to Africa
and the African doctors who have been trained in Cuba.
Cuba provides this medical and humanitarian assistance to
Africa as an act of solidarity, without any profit motive.
This illustrates the very stark contrast between a
capitalist and socialist approach to a public health
emergency on a global scale.
The U.S. ruling class has gotten rich off the stolen labor
and resources of the African people. Imagine how much could
be done to solve the AIDS crisis if the imperialists finally
paid long-overdue reparations to Africa.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
NOW IT'S BIRTH CONTROL: CHURCH FIGHTS WOMEN'S HEALTH BILL
By Sue Davis
New York
Battle lines have been drawn over the Women's Health and
Wellness Act currently being drafted in the New York state
legislature. Women's groups and unions are mobilizing
against opposition by conservative religious groups.
The act includes a provision that all New York state
employers' health insurance plans must cover birth control.
Women's health activists have been demanding coverage for
birth control since they discovered in 1999 that men could
get prescriptions filled for Viagra. In December 2000 the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission backed them up. It
ruled that prescription coverage that doesn't include
contraceptives violates federal anti-discrimination laws.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 stipulates equal
treatment of women "affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or
related medical conditions" in all aspects of employment,
including fringe benefits. The law specifically protects all
women from discrimination because they "have the ability to
become pregnant," not just women who are already pregnant.
CAMPAIGN FOR 'NO LOOPHOLES'
The Catholic Church, however, is demanding a so-called
"conscience clause." This loophole would exempt religious
organizations opposed to birth control from providing such
coverage.
The Church wants an exemption to include many of the
employees in its social service organizations including
hospitals, charities, schools, and colleges and
universities. Some workers at Catholic hospitals do receive
birth control coverage as part of Oxford's or the Service
Employees International Union 1199's health plan.
Lawmakers in 12 other states have passed bills with similar
exceptions. But these vary from state to state. For
instance, in Hawaii, employees can go directly to their
health insurer to request birth control coverage. In
California, a religious organization must meet strict
criteria to qualify for an exemption.
The newly formed Women's Health and Wellness Coalition has
launched a campaign demanding "no loopholes" in the law. The
coalition is made up of 80 statewide groups concerned with
women's health, including unions.
The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League
and the National Organization for Women are mobilizing their
members and supporters in an extensive letter writing and
lobbying campaign.
NARAL's New York City political organizer Sara Sills calls
the "no loopholes" campaign the group's "top priority."
In response, Cardinal Edward M. Eagan hightailed it from New
York City to Albany on March 13 to lobby for a broadly
worded exemption.
Has Eagan been emboldened by President Bush's "faith-based
initiative?" Is this a sign that other religious
organizations will feel free to more aggressively pursue
other biased causes?
In the meantime many women workers in New York state must
shell out hard-earned money for the contraceptives they need
to prevent pregnancy.
Trudy Rudnick, organizer for American Federation of Teachers
Local 3882, noted that hundreds of clerical workers in her
union at New York University--mostly women of color--still
don't have coverage.
"NYU says it's too expensive to include coverage for birth
control in our health plan," she said. "That's exactly the
problem women workers face."
Rudnick noted that a recent student-led struggle at NYU
forced the university to change its health policy about
birth control for students. As of Aug. 21, students will
finally get coverage for oral contraceptives, emergency
contraception, contraceptive devices and voluntary abortion.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
STRAWBERRY WORKERS' VICTORY: UFW SIGNS LANDMARK CONTRACT
By Leslie Feinberg
On March 8 more than 750 strawberry pickers, most of them
Latino, made history. The United Farm Workers and Coastal
Berry Co. signed a landmark contract that gave the union its
first major foothold in California's $600-million-a-year
strawberry industry. Workers won this victory after a four-
year battle for union representation.
Under the three-year contract workers receive a company-paid
medical and dental plan covering themselves and their
families, whether in the United States or in Mexico. The
contract also provides life insurance, six paid holidays,
job security, a seniority system and a grievance procedure.
Workers will also receive wage increases from 7 percent to
15 percent over the three years, depending on job
classification.
Coastal Berry Co., based in Watsonville, Calif., owns 1,000
acres of strawberries in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties
and another 400 acres around Oxnard in Ventura County. The
contract covers the Oxnard workers.
"This breakthrough agreement with the largest employer of
strawberry workers in the country," explained UFW President
Arturo S. Rodriguez, "makes Coastal Berry's 750 Ventura
County employees the best-paid and best-protected workers in
the fastest-growing strawberry producing region in the
state."
He challenged other strawberry growers in the Ventura County
area to match these wages and benefits.
Rodriguez paid tribute to the protracted struggle by the
pickers. "They have demonstrated what can be achieved when
you are persistent, committed and when you refuse to give
up."
The 750 pickers now have one week to individually decide if
they want to join the union or quit their job.
Coastal Berry picker Javier Vasquez said he believes the
contract will improve working conditions. Strawberry pickers
are among the 700,000 poorly paid farm workers in California
that are, all told, the backbone of the state's giant
agribusiness industry.
They work doubled over, in furrows deep with water,
harvesting the fragile fruit by hand.
In remarks translated from Spanish, Vasquez said he looks
forward to enjoying "respect in the place of work." He added
there have been "too many firings and a lot of
discrimination toward the workers and sexual harassment that
I saw almost every day. Thatwhat motivated me to get
involved and to organize my co-workers."
UFW leaders say this contract bodes well for farm laborers
across the United States.
