USA: More billionaires, more poor people
Communist Web Friday 25th February 2000 9.30pm gmt USA: More billionaires, more poor people by Betsy Leondar-Wright United for a Fair Economy has produced a report entitled: Divided Decade: Economic Disparity at the Century's Turn, showing that the record-breaking economic boom of the 1990s has left Americans even more polarised and debt-ridden. For a quarter-century after World War II (between 1947 and 1979), families at all levels of income distribution saw their incomes double. But the next quarter-century changed course dramatically. Between 1979 and 1998, the top fifth gained 38 per cent and the top five percent gained 64 per cent - while the bottom fifth lost five per cent of real income. In 1989, the United States had 66 billionaires and 31.5 million people living below the poverty line. A decade later, the US has 268 billionaires and 34.5 million people... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/usa/usa.html
Korean Central News Agency Feb 25
Kim Jong Il's work published in Bangladesh Pyongyang, February 25 (KCNA) -- The famous work of General Secretary Kim Jong Il "Socialism Is a Science" was published in booklet by the Natun Bangla Publishing House of Bangladesh on Feb. 15. The work proved the scientific accuracy of socialism as an inevitable consequence of the social development and comprehensively expounded the idea of the essential advantage and invincibility of the socialist society. The publishing house said in its introduction that the work was published on the occasion of the 58th birthday of Kim Jong Il and hoped the work would help the people who aspire after socialism and independence properly understand socialism and learn from it. 4th seminar of political parties on building new society held Pyongyang, February 25 (KCNA) -- The 4th seminar of political parties on building a new society was held in Mexico on Feb. 14 and 15. Present there were the coordinator of the national executive committee of the Worker's Party of Mexico, the general secretary of the c.c., the Dominican Communist Party and other party delegations and delegates from over 20 countries including the DPRK, Peru, Libya and Guatemala. Discussed at the seminar were the reactionary nature of the imperialists' "globalization" policy and its consequences, the measure to check and frustrate it, the necessity of the victory of socialism, the way of consolidating and developing it and the tasks for strengthening unity and solidarity among the international socialist forces. A special resolution supporting the just cause of the Korean people was adopted at the seminar. It extended positive support to the Korean people in their struggle to defend and develop the socialist idea under the uplifted banner of socialism. It also extended invariable support to the Korean people in their struggle for pulling down without delay the concrete wall built by the United States and the South Korean authorities in the area south of the Military Demarcation Line in a bid to perpetuate the division of Korea into the north and south and achieving the reunification of the country in accordance with the proposal for founding the Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo advanced by President Kim Il Sung at the sixth congress of the Worker's Party of Korea. Congratulatory visits paid to DPRK embassies Pyongyang, February 25 (KCNA) -- General secretary of the central committee of the Communist Party of Peru (Red Motherland) Alberto Moreno, the secretary general of the Peruvian Committee for Supporting the Independent and Peaceful Reunification of Korea, Minister of Youth and Sports of Democratic Congo Mutombo Tchibal, the president of the Soekarno Education Foundation of Indonesia, the first vice-president of University Bongkarno of Indonesia and other figures from all walks of life in different countries paid congratulatory visits to the DPRK embassies in their capital cities on the occasion of the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il. They laid floral baskets before the portraits of the President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il and paid their respects to them. DPRK circus awarded highest prize in Italy Pyongyang, February 25 (KCNA) -- Aerial acrobatics "flying girls" of the Pyongyang Circus of the DPRK was awarded the highest prize at the International Joint Circus Performance in Italy. The prize was awarded under the sponsorship of the World Talents Association, the World Circus Association of Italy and the National Circus Federation of Italy before the first performance in Genoa on Feb. 11. Egidio Palmeri, chairman of the National Circus Federation of Italy, told the audience before the prize-awarding ceremony that the highest prize was awarded to the acrobatics of the DPRK at a significant time when the diplomatic relations were established between Italy and the DPRK. There are at least 150 circuses, large and small, in Italy with a long circus history but none of them has been awarded the highest prize, and circuses of many countries have come but the prize has never been awarded to circuses of other countries, he said. He expressed his gratitude to Kim Jong Il, the great leader of Korea, for sending such excellent acrobatics to Italy. Padric Tonadegui, director of the art department of the organizing committee of the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival, said that it is very natural and just that the highest prize was awarded only to the aerial acrobatics of the DPRK at the international joint circus performance. Yedi Murillo, chairman of the World Talents Association, noted that as one of organizers of the international joint circus performance he had never felt pride like this time. No others have rocked the world with so new, unique and fine circus skill as the DPRK did, he said. A small group of the Pyongyang Circus performed in Milano, Savona and Genoa. GI's killing
Belgrade Blames West For Kosovo Violence
ListBot mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Belgrade Blames West For Kosovo Violence BELGRADE, Feb 25, 2000 -- (Reuters) Yugoslav officials blamed the West on Thursday for this month's violence in Mitrovica, rejecting accusations that Belgrade was fomenting trouble in the ethnically divided Kosovo city. "The sequence of events clearly showed that it was a planned and coordinated scenario," Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic told a news conference. Giving his view of events in the flashpoint city, he said: "First the terrorists (ethnic Albanians) threw bombs at a cafe, wounding 16 people of whom one child died, and then the tune 'Serbs are guilty' was played." He accused U.S. soldiers of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force of conducting what he described as a brutal search for weapons in schools and other buildings in the Serb-dominated northern part of the city. A Serbian ultra-nationalist leader took a similar line at a separate news conference. "The American anti-Serb strategy in Kosovo and Metohija has been completely exposed," said Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj, who also heads the Radical party. Sainovic, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and three other top Yugoslav officials were indicted last May by a U.N. court for alleged war crimes in Kosovo during NATO's March-to-June bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. Western officials have accused the Belgrade leadership of stirring up trouble in Mitrovica, where ethnic violence has claimed nine lives this month, most of them Kosovo Albanians. NATO military chief Wesley Clark said in an interview published on Thursday: "Mitrovica is going to be multi-ethnic, and that means ending the intimidation and other dirty work of the military units, gangs and thugs who have been sent there by Belgrade." American U.N. Envoy Richard Holbrooke accused Milosevic of trying to partition Kosovo with a line through Mitrovica, describing it as the most dangerous place in Europe. In response, officials in Belgrade said the West was cooperating with Albanian "terrorists" seeking to expel remaining Serbs from Kosovo. "The Americans are planning, instructing and coordinating their actions," Seselj said. Sainovic said events in Mitrovica were in fact orchestrated by those who blamed Belgrade for destabilizing the city. "In the end, the same tune under the same slogan comes from Clark, Robertson, Holbrooke: 'Belgrade destabilizes Mitrovica'." Milosevic last week called on KFOR and the U.N-led administration of Kosovo to leave, saying they had failed to bring peace and that Belgrade authorities should take over control of the troubled province. __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ http://www.listbot.com/links/winfreestuff2 __ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___
wwnews Digest #47
WW News Service Digest #47 1) Africans in the Western Hemisphere before Columbus by "WW" [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2) NYC transit contract and public workers' right to strike by "WW" [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3) Groups plan to shut down IMF meeting in April by "WW" [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4) AFL-CIO and immigrant workers by "WW" [EMAIL PROTECTED] This digest is sent to you because you are subscribed to [EMAIL PROTECTED]. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To switch to the non-digest, standard mode, E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send administrative queries to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: 008a01bf7ff6$a9363e50$[EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "WW" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [WW] Africans in the Western Hemisphere before Columbus Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 20:13:16 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Mar. 2, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - PART TWO OF AFRICA'S GIFT TO CIVILIZATION: AFRICANS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE BEFORE COLUMBUS By Pat Chin [Part 1 refuted the racist Eurocentric view of African history. It looked at ancient Africa's central role in the rise of civilization--from the world's first use of fire to the development of agriculture, metallurgy and the complex sciences underpinning the building of vast empires in Egypt, Ghana, Mali and Songhai. Part 1 also analyzed Africa's decline in relationship to the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and racism.] Many cultural parallels have emerged that point to the presence of Africans in the Western Hemisphere well before Christopher Columbus accidentally encountered the Americas in 1492. There is ample evidence from anthropology, linguistics and other scientific disciplines to support the view that the ancient Africans used their knowledge of sea currents and other navigation and boat-building skills to cross the Atlantic Ocean. These mariners came looking for trade. They brought with them, among other things, plants, animals, cloth, their knowledge of science, technology and the arts. Others may have washed ashore accidentally after being caught in powerful Atlantic currents. Modern experiments have shown that ancient African boats, including the "dug-out," could have been made seaworthy enough to cross the vast waters. Boat builders in Central Africa's Lake Chad constructed a papyrus craft that was sailed from North Africa to Barbados in the eastern Caribbean in 1969. Other similar journeys have shown that small boats can indeed survive the crossing. The pre-Columbian presence of Africans in the Western Hemisphere has been deliberately suppressed to reinforce the racist fiction of African inferiority. The Europeans invented this myth to justify the growing slave trade. But signs can be found in the oral traditions of Guinea and other African countries, as well as in the Native American nations--north and south. Documentary traces have also survived in Portuguese and Spanish writings, including the journals of Columbus. In addition, "An overwhelming body of new evidence is now emerging from several disciplines, evidence that could not be verified and interpreted before, in light of the infancy of archeology and the great age of racial and intellectual prejudice," wrote anthropologist and linguist Ivan Van Sertima. In 1492 the Native people of Hispanola--now Haiti and the Dominican Republic--gave Columbus proof that they had been trading with Africans--proof in the form of spears they called "gua-nin." The tips were made of gold, silver and copper, as Columbus later discovered, no doubt to his greedy delight. According to linguists, "gua-nin" is rooted in the Mande languages of West Africa. Moreover, metallurgy was first developed on that vast and ancient continent. Columbus later used this information, along with knowledge gained from Portuguese navigators, to sail the "Guinea Route" in 1498 on his third voyage to the Americas. He landed first on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, spotted the South American mainland and called the region the "New World." Days later, his men brought from a Venezuelan coastal settlement cotton handkerchiefs woven in the colors and styles of Guinea that were used in both cultures as headdresses and loincloths. This was one of the first documented traces of an African presence in America. "Within the first and second decades of the so-called `discovery,' " noted Van Sertima, "African settlements and artifacts were to be sighted by the Spanish." The historical record suggests that the European invaders first spotted a Black settlement on an island off Cartagena, Colombia. Africans also traded with Brazil and settled in Panama and elsewhere on the mainland. Peruvian tradition, for example, records a tale of Black men from the east who penetrated the Andes mountains before Columbus' arrival.
wwnews Digest #47
file. These sent a message to the mayor that the workers were prepared to strike for economic justice--despite the infamous, anti-union, strike-breaking Taylor Law that would fine them two days' pay for each day on strike. On the final day of the old contract, the mayor got a judge to put a gun to the head of the union to head off the strike. The judge issued an injunction that threatened fines of $25,000 and up for each striker and $1 million for the union--if they even talked about striking, let alone actually struck. It was an unprecedented, unconstitutional use of the powers of the mayor, the courts, and the cops--who threatened to round up members if they even said the word strike or carried a sign. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Giuliani's Democratic senatorial opponent, joined in by voicing support for the Taylor Law and denouncing any attempt by public-sector workers to strike. Unfortunately, the local and national AFL-CIO leadership failed to respond to these vicious strike-breaking tactics. The strike never materialized. Clearly, this was more than a struggle for a decent contract. It was class war unfolding. And it highlighted as a primary issue public-sector workers' right to strike. A great deal of credit should be given to New Directions. Its members aroused, organized and gave leadership to workers in the struggle to challenge the Taylor Law. And they stood up as well as they could to the anti-union drumbeat from the mayor, the media and Wall Street. The 33,000 MTA workers face another union election in the near future. The lessons of this bitter struggle and the conduct of those leaders who fought the hardest against the MTA, Giuliani and Wall Street should remain fresh in their minds at voting time. Inevitably, it will be these leaders who will have to again face the class enemies who are determined to undermine their union contract and deny them their basic constitutional right to strike. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) Message-ID: 009801bf7ff6$ec2010b0$[EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "WW" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [WW] Groups plan to shut down IMF meeting in April Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 20:15:08 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Mar. 2, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - BATTLE OF SEATTLE II: GROUPS PLAN TO SHUT DOWN IMF MEETING IN APRIL By John Catalinotto Building on the enthusiasm from the successful confrontation with the World Trade Organization in Seattle last November, groups all over the United States have called for a protest to shut down the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington on April 16. While organizing is in its early stages, students from many campuses and activists in other areas have indicated to Workers World that the movement that began in Seattle will have its first encore in Washington this spring. Even more than the WTO, the IMF is a direct expression of the desires of the major banks in the big imperialist countries. U.S., West European and Japanese big capital calls the shots in this institution. The World Bank, whose meeting is set for April 17, is in the same category. Almost all countries--certainly all countries that depend on the capitalist-run international economy--must be able to obtain credit to carry out international trade. They can't obtain credit unless the IMF approves their economic policies. But IMF approval is based on one major consideration: Will the banks that loaned money to the government or to firms in the particular country be paid back? To guarantee the payback, the IMF usually insists that the government balance the budget, end subsidies on items like food and gasoline, and cut government medical care and other social benefits. Poorer countries that rely on imports are required to drop trade barriers that hamper economic penetration by the richest imperialist powers. The latest big IMF squeeze, after the market and currency crash in Asia, led to millions of job losses and impoverishment of tens of millions of workers and their families in Indonesia, south Korea, Russia and elsewhere. People all over the world are encouraged to see young people in the United States protesting against the IMF and the World Bank and the WTO--because these organizations are the instruments the big banks and monopolies in the imperialist countries use to exploit labor worldwide. At a conference on "Globalization and Development Problems" held in Havana at the end of January, Cuban President Fidel Castro said Cuba is able to survive "because we
[IAC] Iraqi Sanctions Monitor, FYI
X-Authentication-Warning: beirut.leb.net: majordomo set sender to Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =Iraq Action Coalition http://iraqaction.org/ === Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 15:02:51 + (GMT) From: Mariam Appeal [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: *IRAQI SANCTIONS MONITOR (17)* *IRAQI SANCTIONS MONITOR (17)* -WASHINGTON LOOKING TO EASE SANCTIONS? -UNICEF (IRELAND) DIRECTOR SAYS ALL UNICEF STAFF WANT SANCTIONS LIFTED -DEATH OF A GENERATION -IN ISRAEL, MEANWHILEÖ -ACTION -WASHINGTON LOOKING TO EASE SANCTIONS? AP reports 25/2/00 that the White House is ìlooking for ways to ease restrictions that block Iraq from importing machinery, oil industry spare parts, pesticides and other industrial products, according to a published report.î Due to ìgrowing international and domestic pressureî, the administration has ìdiscretely been reviewing its screening of imports under the sanctions,î as reported by the the Washington Post today, quoting unidentified U.S. and Western officials. AP says that ìwhile maintaining a hard line against Saddam Hussein, the administration has been trying to accommodate U.N. Security Council allies who want to ease restrictions.î ìU.S. officials agreed this week to release a $80 million electrical repair contract on condition that U.N. workers verify that the parts are used as intendedî says the WP. The United States has frequently exercised its right as a member of the Security Council to block Iraq from acquiring ``dual use'' items such as pesticide sprayers, which can be [arguably; ISM ed] used for biological warfare as well as for helping farmers to grow food. The WP addss that the Washington veto on the sanctions committee has held up $601 million in contracts for repairing Iraq's power grid, and $297 million in spare parts intended for Iraq's oil industry, according to U.N. data. Britain, France and other U.S. allies are concerned restrictions on such technology are undermining efforts to ease humanitarian suffering in Iraq. Earlier this month several [in fact 70; ISM ed] congressmen asked President Clinton to ease the sanctions on Iraq, insisting children were suffering needlessly and Hussein's regime was benefiting from the measures. -UNICEF (IRELAND) DIRECTOR SAYS ALL UNICEF STAFF WANTED SANCTIONS LIFTED The Irish Times reports 24/2/00 that the director of UNICEF Ireland, Ms Maura Quinn, said after a 12-day visit to Iraq that Iraq has been devastated by the UN sanctions. Ms Quinn said her UNICEF colleagues in Iraq found it hard to deal with the situation, particularly because of the attitude of ordinary people. "It's awful that people don't feel as if it's ever going to change. They feel that the sanctions are going to go on and on. Instead of having three hours' electricity in Baghdad they will have one hour in a couple of years' time. That they'll have dirty water. They will have problems with sanitation," Ms Quinn said. Ms Quinn said the monthly food rations the Iraqis are dependent on from the UN last only two to three weeks and do not contain any protein, according to Ms Quinn. A UNICEF report which came out last August showed that 25 per cent of children under five years in Iraq are malnourished and over 4,500 die every month as a result (actually over 8,000 according to latest statistics. See ISM 16, ed). Ms Quinn says she expects this year's UNICEF report to show an even higher rate of death among children. Ms Quinn described hospitals as under-equipped with medicines and facilities and overcrowded, with up to three people sharing some beds and people lying on floors in corridors. The sanitation and water systems were also showing strain. The pillars supporting the main sewerage plant in Baghdad were crumbling and there were pools of stagnant water on the litter strewn streets. She said she visited schools where there was "no running water, no windows, no benches, holes in the roof, no clean water, no toilets, no books, the playground under rubbish with stagnant water". Long-term malnourishment, Ms Quinn said, was having an effect on children's development. "You could see it in the kids that were small for their age, in their reactions." All of the UNICEF staff Ms Quinn spoke to in Iraq wanted the sanctions lifted. -DEATH OF A GENERATION Arabicnews.com surveys 24/2/00 the grim hospital wards of embargoed Iraq. It mentions that ìthe cancer service of the Baghdad-based Saddam hospitalî has taken the name of "the death ward," ìin view of the high number of death cases.î Dr. Bassem Attallah Abdali told MAP's special envoy, "Every day we diagnose two cancer cases and the death rate of children with leukemia stands at 100%." Figures disclosed Wednesday by the Iraqi health department show that ìmore than 12,000 children and elderly have died since last January due to the sanctionsî, of which the major causes were ìdiarrhoea, pneumonia, breathing infections, malnutrition, hypertension, heart diseases and
