WW News Service Digest #257 1) Struggle over FTAA Goes Hemispheric by [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2) Thousands Support Palestinian Right of Return by [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3) Habash on Palestinian Right of Return by [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4) Flounders on Palestinian Rebellion by [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03 Subject: [WW] Struggle over FTAA Goes Hemispheric ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 19, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- BUILDUP TO QUEBEC: STRUGGLE OVER FTAA GOES HEMISPHERIC By Greg Butterfield Skirmishes are breaking out across the Western Hemisphere as the clock ticks down to the April 19-21 confrontation between anti-capitalist protesters and big-business exploiters at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. A report by the Independent Media Center said that in Argentina on April 5 "more than 10,000 people assembled in the streets of Buenos Aires to march from the National Congress building to the Sheraton Hotel, where the 6th Business Forum of the Americas is being held and the interests of international capital will be presented to the FTAA negotiations." Trade officials from 34 countries in the Americas--all but socialist Cuba--were holding preliminary meetings on the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the plan to expand NAFTA throughout the hemisphere. "Over 10,000 mobilized and took action--diverse unions, farmers, students and parties of the left had converged without any hindrance at the fence surrounding the hotel," Indymedia reports. "Here where the diverse columns of people met, the police began their repression, armed with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. "The demonstrators were pursued and divided by the streets of the city, while the mounted police, assault cars and riot squads waited for opportunities to attack the protesters. Currently the numbers of arrests is unknown. Compañeros from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile and elsewhere took diverse actions." DETAINED ACTIVISTS STAGE BORDER PROTESTS On April 5-6 the Argentine government barred 1,000 Brazilian workers and peasants from crossing the border to join the protests in Buenos Aires. Argentine border police stopped 24 buses. They made the protesters sign documents saying they were "false tourists," which means they could be arrested if they crossed the border. (Reuters, April 6) "This has become a diplomatic conflict," said Lucia Simoes, a director for the World Social Forum, an anti-globalization group. "They don't have any justification for doing this since all of our papers were in order." Brazil's confederation of labor unions, CUT, urged the Foreign Ministry to intervene. It tried to help at least some of the buses get through. In the meantime, the busloads of activists held protests in the border cities of Paysandu in Uruguay and Uruguaiana in Brazil. On April 7 the trade officials reached an agreement to ratify the FTAA by the end of 2005, after the Group of Three- -Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico--objected to Washington's effort to "fast-track" approval by 2003. Outside, anti-globalization activists hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at police standing guard at the hotel where Argentine President Fernando de la Rua and the trade ministers were meeting with regional business leaders. Police clad in riot gear used tear gas and rubber bullets against the demonstrators. 'DON'T DIRTY THE CAPITAL OF QUEBEC' The detention of protesters at the Argentine border followed by four days the arrest of 87 people at a demonstration in Ottawa, Canada, April 2. About 400, including many students, had gathered at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to demand that the Canadian government release the FTAA draft agreement for public inspection. The super-secret FTAA plan is suspected of going much further than NAFTA in undermining labor laws, environmental protections and the national sovereignty of Latin American countries to benefit U.S. and Canadian big business. Dissension is spreading in Quebec itself. While police, national and local officials have gone all-out to militarize Quebec City against anti-capitalist protesters, many Quebec nationalist politicians say they are angry that the Canadian government foisted the summit on them. ''Don't come and dirty the capital of Quebec,'' Gerald Larose, chair of the province's French-language authority, told summit officials. "Out! Go do it in Winnipeg''--a city in the prairie province of Manitoba. Quebec Premier Bernard Landry denounced Canada's plans to fly the Maple Leaf flag and hand out balloons decorated with Canada's red-and-white national emblem at the summit in French-speaking Quebec. "The central government of Canada is indulging in an orgy of propaganda,'' Landry told the National Assembly, as the provincial legislature is called. In response, Quebec officials are erecting a 40-foot-tall electronic billboard on the side of the Quebec Capitol building, directly opposite the main summit convention hall. It will flash bright messages in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish expressing Quebec's desire for independence. (Boston Globe, April 7) 'CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE BY ACTION' In an April 1 talk to activists in New York's Hudson Valley, IAC Co-director Brian Becker explained why the April 19-21 actions hold such importance for the new anti-capitalist movement. "Now that there is no longer any alternative to capitalist globalization, such as a Soviet camp, it has become the responsibility of the peoples of the world to create an alternative by their actions," he said. "The thought of creating a 'continental NAFTA' may be a pleasant dream for U.S. corporations, but it's a nightmare for the working class," Becker said. He noted that nearly 400,000 U.S. jobs have been lost since NAFTA took effect because U.S. companies relocated to Mexico to take advantage of lower-paid workers and weaker labor standards. "Meanwhile Mexican workers have been super-exploited at higher and higher rates. Since NAFTA began, over a million additional Mexicans workers toil for less than the prevailing minimum wage of $3.40 a day and a million Mexican workers have tumbled from the lower middle class into poverty." Becker noted that in vast areas of Mexico, where corn is a staple food, many farmers have been impoverished by duty- free corn imports from more mechanized and subsidized U.S. agricultural monopolies. "Under the FTAA, these exploited Mexican workers would be pushed into competition against even more desperate workers in Haiti, Guatemala or Brazil by companies seeking tariff- free access into U.S. markets," Becker explained. "Meanwhile, U.S. companies would be protected from competition from the industrialized nations of Europe or Japan. "The only way to confront corporate globalization, the FTAA, the International Monetary Fund and the new right-wing regime in the U.S.--which all operate in tandem--is to create a mass mobilization of the people around a number of interrelated issues," Becker argued. MUMIA BRIGADES PLANNED The main demonstrations in Quebec City are planned for April 19-21. The U.S.-based International Action Center says it is organizing "Mumia Anti-Globalization Brigades" that will participate in all aspects of the demonstrations. Besides protesting the FTAA, these brigades will draw attention to the case of imprisoned Black revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal. The IAC is urging anti-globalization activists to join a pro-Abu-Jamal encampment in Philadelphia May 11-13. At a Workers World Party meeting in New York March 30, IAC organizer Gery Armsby reported on the plans for Quebec City: "Activists in Quebec City have formed a welcoming committee and issued a call for a 'Carnival Against Capitalism.' Canadian local and national unions have called their members to the demonstrations. Radio, TV and print media are projecting that as many as 50,000 demonstrators will come to protest April 19-22 against the FTAA. "The Quebec welcoming committee says that it has received over 15,000 requests for housing in the city. Students and others have negotiated with Laval University to house between 7,000 and 10,000 people from out of town. "There will be several large marches," Armsby continued, "including a mass march on the 21st when unions across Canada and some in the U.S. will also hold a major rally." Armsby said demonstrations were also planned at several U.S.- Canada border-crossing points, including Western New York and northern Vermont, and at the U.S.-Mexico border at San Diego/Tijuana. HOW TO GET THERE New York area activists are invited to attend an orientation meeting at the IAC's office on April 17 at 6:30 p.m. The location is 39 W. 14 St., room 206, in Manhattan. IAC vans are leaving New York before 1 a.m. on April 19 and returning early on April 21. Tickets are available on a sliding scale of $60 to $80 and must be purchased in advance. Readers can get tickets at the IAC office. Call (212) 633-6646 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more information. Transportation is also being organized from IAC chapters in Baltimore (410-235-7040, [EMAIL PROTECTED]) and Boston (617-983-3835, [EMAIL PROTECTED]). - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03 Subject: [WW] Thousands Support Palestinian Right of Return ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 19, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- THOUSANDS SUPPORT PALESTINIAN RIGHT OF RETURN By Richard Becker New York Thousands of people from across the U.S. marched and rallied on April 7 in New York in the second Palestinian Right to Return demonstration. The 6,000 participants doubled the size of the first Right to Return protest, which was held in Washington, D.C. last year on Sept. 16. The protest demanded that the 780,000 Palestinians expelled to make way for the state of Israel in 1948 and their descendants be allowed to return to their homeland. Nearly 5 million Palestinians now live in exile. The demonstration also called for the establishment of a true Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli Mission to the United Nations at 42nd Street and Second Avenue for an opening rally and then marched to Union Square. Organized contingents of Palestinian-Americans and supporters of the Palestinian cause came from many cities in the U.S. and Canada. There were seven buses from Massachusetts, eight from Washington, D.C., five from Chicago, and more than 50 people from California. The strong and organized presence from many campuses and cities reflected the growing strength of the Palestine solidarity movement over the past six months, since the second Intifada uprising began. Among the speakers at the rallies were Wakim Wakim, leader of the Abna al-Balad (Sons of the Land), a militant organization of Palestinians living inside the 1948 borders of Israel. Wakim spoke by telephone hook-up from Nazareth. Also addressing the rally was Palestinian scholar Edward Said and International Action Center representative Sara Flounders. A rousing message from Dr. George Habash, a central leader of the Palestinian struggle for more than 40 years, was read to loud cheers from the crowd. While ignored by most of the national corporate media, the Right to Return march was widely covered by New York television and radio stations, local newspapers and progressive media. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03 Subject: [WW] Habash on Palestinian Right of Return ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 19, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- "NO PEACE WHILE HALF OF PALESTINE IS EXILED" -- George Habash [Excerpts from the message of Dr. George Habash to the April 7 Palestinian Right of Return demonstration in New York City. Habash was the founder of the Arab National Movement as well as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the leading Palestinian Marxist party.] As you carry on your much appreciated tasks, a government of a war criminal is now presiding over the Zionist entity, unifying along with it all other Zionist parties to intensify the fascist and racist onslaught against our people throughout Palestine. Hence, your work and program of struggle commands a particularly important meaning in this era of imperial and colonial hegemony. Your actions also make it clear to the world at large that you will not allow the Zionist enemy to corner and isolate our people and hold them hostage to their programs of mass destruction and murder, through starvation, blockade and wea pons of mass destruction. Furthermore, your program of action around the right of return joins the remainder of our people in declaring null and void all attempts and agreements intending to marginalize this right, partition it, or segment it, and that our right to return to our home from which we were forcibly ejected and uprooted with vulgar and naked terror is an inalienable right that cannot be compromised, and that all dispossessed Palestinians will struggle until the full realization of our collective and individual right to return. The value of your activities and struggle in the United States also plays a significant and vital role in exposing the fallacies of the American/Israeli claims to be the protectors of democracy, human rights and international law, all while relegating Palestinian suffering to despicable invisibility. In fact, the successive U.S. administrations constitute the core provider and organic supporter for that garrison state, the Zionist polity. Our heroic and stubborn Intifada, the systematic campaign of resistance and program of national pride and defense, which draws on the never tiring and never ending sacrifice of our people, is but a loud and clear response to all successive and continuous attempts at marginalizing our national rights. It is a real, concrete and defiant response to all claims aimed at marketing the Zionist entity in our midst, to all attempts of normalization, to all attempts at stifling and suffocating our struggle. This was, yet once again, our people's cry in the face of all who surrendered and all who began to doubt the resilience of our people, including the acceptance of the United States as the broker and reference to peace and justice. There will never be peace so long as more than half of our people remain exiled and dispossessed. Our people in the West Bank and Gaza will continue their steadfast and heroic struggle, by all means possible, until the fulfillment of our national rights, including Jerusalem and our right to return. Our people within the 48 borders will remain steadfast in defending their national identity as Palestinian Arabs. Palestinians in exile have the duty to render support, by all means possible, to the struggle of our people at the front lines. By strengthening your collective and individual belief in the right of return you will help bring to the forefront the pillar of the Palestinian collective existence- our inalienable right to our homes and properties, to our homeland. I also call upon you to intensify your efforts in educating the American public and in identifying the geopolitical interests of U.S. imperialism and colonial agents. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: torstai 12. huhtikuu 2001 13:03 Subject: [WW] Flounders on Palestinian Rebellion ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 19, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- "REBELLION AGAINST U.S. ISRAELI TERROR IS JUSTIFIED" -- Sara Flounders [Excerpts from the speech by Sara Flounders of the International Action Center to the April 7 Palestinian Right of Return demonstration in New York City] Last November I had the honor to travel to Palestine with a delegation from the International Action Center and witness this heroic Intifada. Standing atop a roof in Ramallah we watched as Apache helicopter gunships--horrific weapons supplied to the Israelis by the United States government-- fired rockets and shells at civilian neighborhoods, destroying homes and offices. Today I look around and can read on so many hundreds of placards the slogan, "USA Stop Funding Israeli Terrorism." This slogan goes right to the heart of the relationship between the U.S. government and Israeli terror. Last week U.S. President George Bush was embracing the war criminal Ariel Sharon. And while he embraced Sharon he demanded that the Palestinian people "stop the violence." In Gaza I saw Israeli tanks fire rounds of shells at youths armed only with stones. This terror force has bulldozed thousands of homes, uprooted tens of thousands of olive trees and orange trees. It has placed Palestinian cities and towns under a total lockdown. Bush really means "stop the resistance" to Israeli terror and bow down to colonial domination. President Bush's embrace of Sharon in Washington and the U.S. veto at the United Nations confirmed once again 52 years of total political, diplomatic, military and financial support by the United States to the State of Israel. It is an admission to the world that neither justice nor peace is on the U.S. agenda. U.S. domination of the entire Middle East feeds on instability, war and crisis. U.S. policy is completely bankrupt and incapable of resolving any social problem. No peace is possible in Palestine until the totally justified demands of the Palestinian people for a real state on contiguous territory, with Jerusalem as its capital and with the right to return for the almost 5 million Palestinian refugees and in the Diaspora, is a reality. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)