Krugman, Sachs and the Asian Crisis
As summarized by Jeffrey Sachs in the penultimate Foreign Affairs, Paul Krugman had warned in the same journal a few years back that as Asian growth was driven by capital accumulation rather than pure productivity gains, the marginal productivity of capital would be likely to decline as the capital stock deepened-- that is, as capital per worker in the Asian economies rises to the level of Western economies. What do progressive economists make of the Krugman critique? Rakesh
Attorney General:Official version of Acteal has no credit
> Translated by: Arturo Lopez for Nuevo Amanecer Press > > * > > La Jornada, January 9, 1997 > > Attorney General: The official version of Acteal has no credibility > outside Mexico. > > by Jesus Aranda > > The Attorney General of Mexico, Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, recognized > yesterday that the killing of 45 indigenous people has become > "internationalized," and admitted that despite the efforts of the Mexican > government to diffuse its version of events, internationally there is a > lack of credibilty towards the official position. > > Before the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Rosario Green, and more than 70 > ambassadors and mexican consuls stationed abroad, Madrazo said that in > view of this situation "the only thing that can move us forward is the > truth, and if we make mistakes, tell it like it is." > > The Attorney General also informed those attending the meeting that Wednesday > night his department had interrogated the former governor of Chiapas, > Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, his former private secretary, Jaime Antonio Goimez > Mandujano, and the fomer director of Public Security of Chiapas, Jorge > Gamboa Solis, in regards to the events of December 22. > > Madrazo participated yesterday in the ninth meeting of ambassadors and > consuls of Mexico, in which his participation, originally planned to > address issues surrounding narco-traffic, ended in serious questioning by > the diplomats present in respect to the consequences for Mexico's > image due to the international distribution of images of the massacre that ocurred > three weeks ago in Chiapas. > > For his part, the Foreign Relations Secretary, Rosario Green, in the > inaguration of the event before Madrazo Cuellar arrived, instructed the > diplomats on what strategy to follow in order to make the Mexican > government's voice heard: > > "Maintain close, systematic and high-quality contact with media > representatives, political parties, non-governmental organizations, the > business community, academic institutions and other social actors who > could be relevant to the country of assignment." > > Questioning of Madrazo on Chenalho and the release of "El Chucky" > > During the closed-door session between Madrazo and the diplomats, the > latter questioned him regarding the consequences for Mexico in the > international community, of the Chenalho massacre as well as the > "unfortunate" judicial error in releasing Alfonso Gonzalez Sanchez, > known as "El Chucky," presumed murderer of United States businessman Peter > John Zarate. > > Madrazo Cuellar, in response to the diplomats' concerns, said that while > there is no agreement of "full peace" in Chiapas, there is a latent risk > that cases like Acteal be repeated. > > In this sense, he said the massacre of 45 people in Acteal constitutes yet > another case within the "barbarous" problematic initiated in Chiapas the > first of January, 1994, and which continues for lack of agreement among > the parties. > > One of the ambassadors present asked Madrazo about the version > distributed in > electronic international media, which had included information about how > the killing of the Chiapan indians in Chenalho had been done with > machetes, which spoke to the brutality of the events. > > The Attorney General responded that the cuts which appear in the bodies > are autopsy incisions, and commented further that the great majority of > the bodies had been shot in the back and in some cases showed the results > of an execution-style "shot of grace." > > Madrazo Cuellar insisted to the gathered diplomats that the President is > determined to investigate the case and punish guilty parties to the full > extent of the situation. > > The Attorney General recognized that "negative" information about the massacre has > predominated, despite the fact that the the Mexican government has > delivered timely reports on the advances towards confirmations of the > massacre and that it has already achieved the arrest of 40 people presumed > to be implicated. > > > > -- Forwarded message -- > Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 08:55:49 -0800 > From: moonlight <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Sin credibilidad en el exterior, la version oficial de Acteal: PGR > > La Jornada 9 de enero de 1998 > > Sin credibilidad en el exterior, la version oficial de Acteal: PGR > > Jesus Aranda El procurador general de la Republica, Jorge Madrazo > Cuellar, reconocio ayer que la matanza de 45 > indigenas en Acteal ya se ``internacionalizo'', y acepto que a pesar de > los esfuerzos del gobierno mexicano por difundir su > version de los hechos existe una falta de credibilidad a nivel > internacional sobre la postura oficial. > > Ante la secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, Rosario Green, y mas de 70 > embajadores y consules mexicanos en el exterior, > Madrazo dijo que ante esta situacion ``lo uni
Destroying National Currencies (fwd)
> DESTROYING NATIONAL CURRENCIES > > by > > Michel Chossudovsky > > Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, author of "The Globalisation > of Poverty, Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms, Third World Network, > Penang and Zed Books, London, 1997. The author can be contacted at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa 1997. All rights reserved. > > > Since the onslaught of the debt crisis in the early 1980s, the IMF has > played a central role in exchange rate policy often requiring indebted > Third World countries to devalue their currency by 50 percent as a > "pre-condition" for the subsequent negotiation of a loan agreement. IMF > sponsored currency devaluations have invariably resulted in abrupt price > hikes and a dramatic compression of real earnings. > > What is distinct in the cases of Korea, Indonesia and Thailand is that the > devaluation (which preceded the bail-out agreement and the imposition of > sweeping macro-economic reforms) had not been explicitly demanded by the > Washington based bureaucracy. Rather it was the result of speculative > pressures on currency markets exerted by the large merchant banks and > financial institutions (through the use of a variety of speculative > instruments). > > In the context of the Asian financial crisis, "institutional speculators" > (rather than the IMF) have come to play an indirect role in the process of > macro-economic reform. In other words, international banking and financial > institutions have (in a de facto sense) dictated country-level foreign > exchange policy, --ie. through the deliberate manipulation of currency > markets. In this context, "institutional speculators" are involved in > "setting the stage" for the subsequent IMF bail-out operation. They are > also involved in routine consultations with the Bretton Woods institutions > pertaining to the various components of the macro-economic reform package > included in the bail-out agreements (eg. the deregulation of Korea's > financial sector and the opening up of Seoul's bond market to foreign > capital). > > In turn, the same Western and Japanese financial and banking institutions > (routinely involved in currency and stock market speculation) are the > creditors of Asia's central banks. They also hold large amounts of short > term debt and have, therefore, a vested interest in averting loan default > by Asian financial institutions. Not surprisingly, these same Western and > Japanese financial institutions have pressured G7 governments to implement > the bail-out operations of which they are the ultimate beneficiaries, --ie. > the 57 billion dollars under the IMF sponsored agreement with the Seoul > government will be used to reimburse Korea's creditors. > > How will these multi-billion dollars operations be financed? The > contribution of the Bretton Woods institutions and the Asian Development > Bank (ADB) constitutes but a fraction of the total. The largest > contributions to the bail-outs are from G7 governments, requiring the > issuing of vast amounts of public debt. > > In other words, G7 governments have come to the rescue of the merchant and > commercial banks by accepting to finance the bail-out, yet to undertake > this objective, G7 national treasuries are obliged to issue large amounts > of public debt which is invariably underwritten by the large merchant > banks. In other words, the "beneficiaries" of the bail-out are also the > underwriters of the public debt operation required to finance the bail-out. > An absurd situation: G7 governments are "financing their own > indebtedness"... > > While the bail-outs are conducive to the building up of public debts (in > both the Asian and G7 countries) --thereby reinforcing the stranglehold of > the creditors over the conduct of economic policy-- tens of billions of > dollars of public money are transferred into the hands of private financial > institutions leading to an unprecedented accumulation of private wealth. In > turn, the macro-economic reforms imposed in the context of the IMF > sponsored bail-outs are conducive to a dramatic collapse of the real > economy leading to the impoverishment of millions of people. > > > > > > > > Michel Chossudovsky > > Department of Economics, > University of Ottawa, > Ottawa, K1N6N5 > > Fax: 1-613-7892050 > E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Alternative fax: 1-613-5625999 >
A pow-wow in the East Village
I found the passage from Stephanie Koontz describing the meanness of 19th century Lakota society posted on the Marxism-International mailing-list most interesting. Stephanie was in the SWP around the same time as me, but I never got to know her that well. She was very close intellectually and politically to Evelyn Reed, the party's official "woman's liberation" theorist and anthropology expert. Evelyn was married to George Novack, who I got to know fairly well. In the process of accumulating material on the American Indian from the Columbia Library, I took a look at the essay written in 1949 by George in his "America's Revolutionary Heritage." It is appalling. It has the usual moralizing about how unfortunate it was for the Indians to get exterminated, but--after all--it was part of the historically necessary bourgeois revolution. When the workers overthrow the bourgeoisie, the accounts will be squared. It is just this kind of Hegelian nonsense that people like Stephanie and I were raised on. Stephanie makes the case that there was gender oppression and other forms of inequality in Lakota society as bourgeois society began to impinge on it more and more. Does this preclude the possibility that there is something resembling an Indian world-view that predates these social relations, and that is egalitarian and ecological on its own terms? It is as if someone argued about the value of socialism and was answered with the facts of the brutal history of the USSR. The ideal of socialism exists independently of the history of the USSR. Furthermore, we can even see traces of this ideal in the living history of the USSR, no matter how venal the behavior of the government. The resistance of the Soviet people in Stalingrad to Hitler rested on such beliefs, just as the Wounded Knee uprising rested on the beliefs of Crazy Horse and his ancestors. Socialism is defined in the speeches of such thinkers as Marx, Engels, Rosa Luxemburg et al. The beliefs of American Indians are defined in their poems, songs, stories, prayers and art. They have an independent existence that sustains them no matter the particular fortunes of Indian peoples at a given moment in time. On Saturday night I went to a pow-wow put on by the Thunderbird Dance Company at the Theater for the New City on the lower east side. This space is usually devoted to Brecht plays, performance art, etc., but once a year this company takes it over. The proceeds go to a scholarship fund for needy American Indian youth. I went there expecting to see a bunch of left-wing Jews in the audience like myself, but was surprised to discover that at least half of it was American Indians. They made no effort to look Indian--no feathers or buckskin--but their features spoke loudly. I wondered what they did for a living? Where did they live? I suspect that many lived on Long Island and probably had the same kind of jobs as other working-class people. I also suspect that they had the same foibles as other working class people. The men beat their wives, the kids took drugs, they all watched too much television. Meanwhile, they had trekked over fifty miles into the lower east side of Manhattan to see other Indians perform songs and dances from a distant past that had no connection to their daily experience. What kind of nostalgia trip was this? And then it dawned on me. What difference is there between them and me? When I attend a Brecht Forum weekend conference on the Communist Manifesto, I am among people whose daily lives have nothing to do with socialism. We are nostalgic for a set of ideas and a way of life that appears all but dead. The Paris Commune only lasted a few months, but somehow it has the power to inspire people like myself long after the event has entered the dustbin of history. A Hopi story-teller spun out a tale of her people coming to a pow-wow and celebrating the old ways. The site of the pow-wow was a beautiful clearing where the grass was green and the flowers were in bloom. Her mother and father danced and they had a look of joy on their faces. Her final words were something to the effect that the pow-wow was just a dream, but it is a dream that will not go away. The dream of such peoples and our own dreams as Marxists--and I will use the word "dreams" just to steam a few people up--are dialectically related. The communalist vision of the Hopi, the Lakota, the Mayans, the Quechua, the Yanomami et al lacks a material base. Bourgeois society mitigates against it. Meanwhile our own communist vision is morally, spiritually and politically exhausted. We have failed to provide an alternative to capitalism, except on the basis of doing what they do better. From the pen of one of its most sophisticated thinkers--Leon Trotsky--we discover that capitalism is a "straight-jacket on the means of production" and socialism will remove it. What a telling analogy! A straight-jacket is used to restrain a violent, insane person. So the goal is to remove the straight-
Re: Lean and mean
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tom Walker) > relevant tax here an overtime tax. Define "overtime" as weekly hours worked > in excess of a standard attained by dividing total labour force hours worked > by total number of labour force participants (both employed and seeking > employment). This could be an index the BLS could produce quarterly. How do you define the social costs of overtime? Not costs to the worker and employer, mind you, but to third parties. That would inform the design of the tax. MBS === Max B. SawickyEconomic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200 202-775-0819 (fax)Washington, DC 20036 http://tap.epn.org/sawicky Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute other than this writer. ===
More on Microsoft
Just to give Penlrs a better sense of just how far Microsoft is prepared to go... Anders Schneiderman >Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 19:02:07 -0500 >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: James Packard Love <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Animated Characters can't disparage Microsoft, according to Microsoft EULA >X-To: cni copyright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >X-Cc: fight-censhorship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN > >James Gleick forwarded me an interesting section of the Microsoft End >User License Agreement (EULA) for Microsoft Agent. Microsoft agent is >described as a "set of software services that supports the presentation >of software agents as interactive personalities within the Microsoft >Windows interface." These are cute animated figures that talk to you. >(http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/agent/). Microsoft also says the >"conversational interface approach facilitated by the Microsoft Agent >services is an extension and enhancement of the existing interactive >modalities of the Windows interface," so I guess its part of Windows, >the OS, in some way, but it requires a special license for developers >who use it. > >This End User License Agreement for Microsoft Agent included the >following provision: > > > > > > > You may create scripts or programs that use the Microsoft Agent API >to animate the character and static or animated images that are >provided by Microsoft to enable the end-user selection of an animated >image, provided, however, that you do not: (a) use the Character >Animation Data and Image Files to disparage Microsoft, its products or >services or for promotional goods or for products which, in Microsoft's >reasonable judgment, may diminish or otherwise damage Microsoft's >goodwill in the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, including but not limited to uses >which could be deemed under applicable law to be obscene or >pornographic, uses which are excessively violent, unlawful, or which >purpose is to encourage unlawful activities; > >... >... >... > >-- >James Love >Consumer Project on Technology >P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.cptech.org >202.387.8030, fax 202.234.5176 > >
Re: Final Comment
At 03:21 PM 1/9/98 PST8PDT, Jim wrote: >> Surely nobody disagrees with the idea that sex-slavery or underage >> prostitution is wrong. The sex-workers comments were not aimed at >> coerced or non-consensual prostitution, but at prostitutes who bject to >> being criminalised in the name of saving their honour. >> James Heartfield > [ Jim replies with examples of stupid statements by Milton Friedman ] >... >Capitalism produces a whole host of slick facades to "show" that >choices are indeed free choices or if they are even "constrained >choices", we are all constrained and they are choices nontheless. >But the reality is that what appears to be "consensual" is the >"consent" given when the alternative is not simply less money but >rather no money; the "consent" given when the alternative is not >simply less comfortable shelter but rather no shelter; the "consent" >given when the alternative is a slow and horrible death. Jim, in case you've forgotten what list you're on, this is the Progressive Economists list, not the NeoClassical Economists list. Nobody on this list--including the two prostitutes who chimed in--is saying or even implying that prostitution is "consensual" when the choice is turning tricks vs. starvation, or letting one's family starve. Nobody. Honest. >Surely criminalization of prostitution will not solve anything and >surely criminalization leads to more underground activity and makes >it more difficult to control the disease trends. But the sanitized >brothels of Nevada and Canberra are light years away from the >brothels of Patpong, the conditions of young Indian prostitutes in >Great Falls or the conditions of a highway prostitute servicing long- >distance truck dirvers in India. And those, especially on the left >and even call themselves leftists, and then talk about "free choice", >or "free consent" or "consenual prostitution" under capitalism >and based on the isolated and perhaps self-serving or perhaps even >self-rationalizing rantings of a few white middle-class "high-class" >hookers in Canberra, well there is a party available for your >political action--the RIGHT-WING libertarian party. Again, who do you think you're arguing with? It's hard to imagine that in a country like, for ex, Thailand you could meaningfully talk about "consensual prostitution" when the alternatives to prostitution are awful, scarce, or nonexistant. But what does that have to do with prostitution in other regions of capitalism? I met a few Coyote activists when I was working at the Berkeley Free Clinic, and they really changed the way I think about prostitution. In my heart, I don't how someone can actually want to sell sex for a living if they've got any alternatives, but the women I met from Coyote said they genuinely preferred being a hooker to being a waitress, a secretary, or most of the other working class jobs that were available to them. At one point, I did ask, "would you want your daughter to become a hooker?" One said yes, the other said, "no, but I wouldn't want her to have to be a secretary or a waitress either, and I definitely wouldn't want her to be a housewife in a fucked-up marriage like I was; I want her to get an education and move up." Their goal wasn't just to legalize prostitution and improve working conditions for hookers but to improve the situation for all women, so that no women would end up becoming a prostitute because they felt they didn't have an alternative. If you want, you can treat the Coyote activists I met as suffering from false consciousness, or you can class-bait them as just speaking for 'a few white middle-class "high-class" hookers.' That seems to me like a pretty simple-minded way of dealing with a complicated issue. Like I said, I have trouble imagining turning tricks as feeling anything other than degrading, but what the hell do I know? There are lots of people who have sex lives that seem degrading to me, but they don't seem to be any less happy or more messed up than the rest of us. Would any of this still exist under Socialism? Who knows? Nobody on this side of the table is arguing in favor of putting people in situations where they choose to do things that feel completely and utterly degrading in the way that forcing someone to perform sex for money can--that amounts to contractual rape. Nobody here is saying that having the IMF include legalizing prostitution as part of their economic agenda for destabilized East Asian countries is something we should push for (although I'm sure someone will suggest it in the WSJ op-ed pages). All we're saying is, it doesn't make sense to argue that prostitution is inherently degrading when there are more than a few prostitutes who say that they don't experience it that way. Putting women in economic situations which they perceive as degrading, whether it's prostitution or marriage, is evil. But arguing that all true lefties have to see sex the same way is little more than political
Flea Market of the Formerly Rich
excerpt from an article that appeared in the 1/11 edition of the Orlando Slantinel, er, Sentinel... "The former rich flock to Thailand's flea markets (AP) Sniffing a bargain, the middle-aged woman in a fashionable silk dress squeezes through the crowd to take a closer look at the second-hand ring. If her bargaining is successful, she can wrap it up and take it home - which is a tad more convenient that the delivery arrangements for the slightly used small plane that is on the block nearby. Pretty up-market, this flea market. Welcome to the "Market of the Formerly Rich," a weekend affair where the baubles that sparkled so brightly during Thailand's boom times are being sold off to pay the bills. (article notes real estate and stock market speculation) (article points out that Thailand was second biggest market - behind Japan - for Mercedes Benz) The weekend market was the brainchild of a local Benz dealer who had a little time on his hand as the country slipped in to recession. Wasun P. Panon, at whose auto showroom the market is set up, says he recognized that Thais were guilty of overconsumption and wanted to campaign for people to stop buying more new things, especially imported goods. Wasun's sentiments are echoed in the media. A new TV commercial viciously lampoons conspicuous consumers and calls on Thais to - "Buy fewer imported luxury goods - Boost Thai exports." An old patriotic song plays in the background. The media's latest heroes are white-colar workers who have successfully coped with downsizing. The real estate broker turned sandwich maker. The finance executive turned taxi driver. The journalist turned milkman. Buying used goods, the English-language *Bankok Post* recently proclaimed, used to be something shameful for the well-heeled. Now, the papers says, the practice is acceptable, "even chic." (article indicates that antique cars, land and houses, motorboats, vintage wine and cameras are among the items available at "knockdown" prices) (article states that Mercedes Benz autos are best sellers with over 30 sold each week and that pianos are also good movers) (article places number of "visitors" at over 5000 each weekend) "This is a chance for the rich to get rid of their excess property," Wasun says. "And it is the turn of ordinary people to own what they wanted for a long time." (article is accompanied by picture of Buddhist monk eyeing a Benz) ob-la-di ob-la-da, Michael
Re: Baudrillard
At 12:26 PM 1/11/98 -0800, Jim Devine wrote: >Louis writes: >On the eve of the Gulf War, [Baudrillard] argued that >television made actual war superfluous. < > >Baudrillard was absurd, but it sure suggests the recent Robert de >Niro/Dustin Hoffman flick "Wag the Dog," in which a spin doctor and a >Hollywood producer conjure up an imaginary war with Albania in order to >distract the US electorate from the incumbent President's being caught >hitting on a 13-year-old girl. It's the flick that "Canadian Bacon" was >meant to be, complete with interesting (if a bit repetitive) insights into >the Gulf War. Too bad they didn't have the guts to base the movie on Larry Bensky's _American Hero_, in which the Gulf War was a desperate plot by a dying Lee Attwater to save George Bush's ass. "Wag the Dog" was roundly dismissed by critics, largely because it's absurd to suggest that you could get away with staging a pretend war (unless you were taking on the Martians). Even if you could fake it, why would you? So long as you know only pick wars you know you're going to win, here's what you get: burning up military equipment, giving the military a chance to practice, trying out experimental equipment, helping to bond our nation together & damper dissent with a bit of spilled U.S. blood. These are benefits that you can't get from pretend wars. Make war, not movies! Anders Schneiderman
the phoney war
Anders writes: >Too bad they didn't have the guts to base the movie on Larry Bensky's _American Hero_... "Wag the Dog" was roundly dismissed by critics, largely because it's absurd to suggest that you could get away with staging a pretend war ... Even if you could fake it, why would you?< It makes sense in terms of the movie because there are so few days before the election; setting up a full-scale war takes a lot of preparation. They don't care if people find out about the war being fake as long as it's after the election (though they do object to the Dustin Hoffman character telling everyone the details, how it was organized). The film is making fun of Tinsel Town along with US politics, which may be why it's more popular with critics here. Hoffman is also very good. I agree that a Bensky-based movie might be better, as with the film "Bob Roberts." Hollywood almost _always_ lacks the guts. And "Bob Roberts" was too preachy, as I'm afraid "American Hero" might be. I almost lost it during "Wag the Dog" during a scene where they had a mixed-race chorus singing a pro-war/anti-Albania song in the style of "Hands across America" and other liberal/feel good initiatives of the 1980s. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html "A society is rich when material goods, including capital, are cheap, and human beings dear." -- R.H. Tawney.
El Salvador unionists URGENT ACTION ALERT (fwd)
> >Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 21:12:30 -0800 (PST) > > >Subject: URGENT ACTION ALERT > >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > C I S P E S > >ACTION ALERT > > > >Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador > > > >National Office: P.O. Box 1801, New York, NY 10159 ~ 212-229-1290 3 > >Regional Offices: New York, NY 212-229-1290 3 Minneapolis, MN 612-872-0944 > >3 San Francisco, CA 415-648-6520 > > > >January 6, 1998 > > > >72 UNION LEADERS FIRED > >IN ATTEMPT TO BUST TELECOM UNIONS > > > >On Friday, January 2, CTE, the Salvadoran Telecommunications Company > >(formerly ANTEL), fired 72 leaders of the four ANTEL unions, including > >Wilfredo Berrios, ASTTEL Secretary General, and Wilmer Erroa Argueta, > >ASTTEL Secretary of International Relations. Many of you met Wilmer in the > >fall of 1996, during a CISPES-sponsored national tour. > > > >The firings were announced just after the union leaders began to solicit > >recognition of a single industry-wide union in the area of > >telecommunications, ATANTEL. Union leaders charge that the Government of El > >Salvador and the management of the privatized ANTEL want to destroy the > >unions before turning the company over to a strategic partner, (i.e. a > >global telecom giant), who will bid for and win the right to buy 51% of the > >company. The entire process of privatization is slated for completion in > >the first half of this year. > > > >CTE claims that the 72 employees were fired because of their poor > >performance historically and for carrying out union activities instead of > >their jobs. Juan Jose Daboub, the company's president, justified the > >firings on the grounds that the employees' union activism might discourage > >potential investors, while CTE's General Manager, Carlos Medina, stated, > >"These people threatened the process of privatization." > > > >Most recently the unions have protested the closing of the ANTEL Hospital > >and transfer of services to the Social Security Institute hospitals. (None > >of the ANTEL Hospital workers are being recontracted and chronic patients > >that have been receiving care as family members of ANTEL employees are no > >longer going to be eligible for continued care.) > > > >The fired leaders and their unions have denounced the company's actions as > >violating their constitutional right to organize; the privatization of > >ANTEL law, which stipulates 18 months of job stability; as well as the > >labor contract that CTE signed with its employees on Dec. 29, 1997. > > > >The company claims that it is complying with the privatization law by > >giving the fired workers extra monetary compensation for the 18 months of > >labor stability promised. The workers are refusing this compensation, > >insisting that they be reinstated. They are considering organizing protests > >and undertaking legal procedures to challenge the constitutionality of the > >firings. Article 47 of the Constitution allows for free association, the > >right to defend one's interests and unionize. It also prohibits the firings > >of union leaders for one year after they are no longer in their respective > >office. > > > >For over 2 years workers warned that the privatization of ANTEL would > >dramatically undermine workers' rights and ability to organize. The fired > >union leaders and their unions are calling for solidarity to denounce this > >violation of their rights and insist upon the workers' reinstatement! > > > >ACTION STEPS: > >1. Call and fax Dr. Armando Calderon Sol, President of the Republic of > >El Salvador. (See letter below.) Tel: 011 503 271 1555; Fax: 011 503 281 > >0018. > > > >Fax copies of messages to Dr. Juan Jose Daboub, President of CTE, > >Fax: 011 503 281 0017, and to > >Lic. Carlos Medina Novelino, Fax: 011 503 221 2122. > > > >DEMAND that the 72 union activists be reinstated at CTE in accordance with > >the contract signed between the workers and CTE on Dec. 29, the Law for the > >Privatization of ANTEL and article 47 of the Constitution of El Salvador. > > > >2. Contact your congressional representative and the US State > >Department El Salvador desk and urge them to send the above message. > >Congressional switchboard toll free: 1-800-972-3524. Ask for your > >rep. by name! > >US State Department El Salvador desk: 202-647-3505 > > > >3. Contact labor unions, especially 1996 Tour relations, and urge them > >to take action to demand the reinstatement of the fired workers. > > > >PLEASE SEND COPIES OF ALL MESSAGES TO ASTTEL! > >Fax: 011 503 270 8056 or E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >Letter to the President > >Excelentisimo Señor Presidente: > > > >Con asombro este día hemos recibido la nota de despido de dirigentes > >sindicales y miembros de las bases de las telecomunicaciones de El > >Salvador. Es sorprendente que Usted en las giras que realiza por paises > >amigos vocifera y pregona que El Salvador avanza hacia una verdadera > >democr
Re: Destroying National Currencies (fwd)
If the people of East Timor had declared themselves to be legal tender, would the IMF have come to their rescue? Or maybe they should have declared their island to be a bank instead of a sovereign nation. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: A pow-wow in the East Village
Louis Proyect wrote: > From the pen of one of its most sophisticated thinkers--Leon Trotsky--we > discover that capitalism is a > "straight-jacket on the means of production" and socialism will remove it. > What a telling analogy! A straight-jacket is used to restrain a violent, > insane person. Even more like capitalism, a straight jacket can also make a sane person insane. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Good Morning, Campers!
All times are Eastern. 09:20 NY STOCKS SEEN OPENING LOWER AS EUROPE, ASIAN MARKETS FALL. 09:16 US TREASURY SEC RUBIN WARNS THAT U.S. LIVES IN 'ONE-WORLD ECONOMY'. 09:16 US TREASURY SEC RUBIN: KEY TO INDONESIA STABILITY IS IMF REFORMS. 09:15 US TREASURY SEC RUBIN: 'VERY HARD TO KNOW' IF ASIA HAS STABLIZED. 09:08 RUSSIAN TRADING SYSTEM STOPS SHARE TRADE AFTER RTS INDEX DROPS 7.5%. 09:03 LONDON'S FTSE-100 INDEX DOWN 142.9 TO 4995.4 AT 2 P.M. GMT. 09:00 HONG KONG PEREGRINE INVESTMENT HOLDINGS SAYS GOING INTO LIQUIDATION. 07:34 DEP. TREASURY SEC. SUMMERS TO MEET INDONESIAN PRESIDENT. 07:32 HONG KONG'S PEREGRINE BANK FAILS. 07:30 IMF'S FISCHER OPTIMISTIC AFTER TALKS WITH SUHARTO. 07:29 S.KOREA'S KIM MEETS IMF'S CAMDESSUS. 07:28 S.KOREA'S KIM DAE-JUNG VOWS TO MAKE LAYOFFS EASIER. 07:27 HONG KONG'S HANG SENG OFF 773.58 POINTS OR 8.7% TO 8,121.06. 07:24 INDONESIAN STOCK MARKET UP 2.2%; SOUTH KOREA UP 3.5%. 07:24 FRENCH, GERMAN MARKETS OFF MORE THAN 3% ON ASIAN CONTAGION. 07:23 JAPAN'S NIKKEI FALLS 330.66 POINTS OR 2.2% TO 14,664.44. 07:22 INDONESIA SR. ECON. ADVISER: JAKARTA WILL MAKE DEBT PAYMENTS. 07:19 INDONESIAN RUPIAH FALLS 10% TO 8700 AHEAD OF SUMMERS' VISIT. SEOUL, Jan 12 (Reuters) - South Korean President-elect Kim Dae-jung asked International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Michel Camdessus on Monday to help persuade union leaders to accept layoffs called for under the IMF's bailout plan for the country, said a statement by Kim's political party. ``Union leaders will understand better the need to accept layoffs if you explain,'' the statement by the National Congress for New Politics quoted Kim as saying during a lunchtime meeting with Camdessus. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^ Know Ware Communications Vancouver, B.C., CANADA [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 688-8296 ^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
