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Video: Alternative
Views
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Censured Casualties
features rare footage
of war crimes against the Iraqi people suffered during
and after the Gulf War. The footage is from former Attorney
General Ramsey
Clark in his attempt to document the injustice
of United States military actions in the region.
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Video: Alternative
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Another Unknown
War
features a film on the
struggle of the indigenous people of West Papua to remain
sovereign in the face of an Indonesian invasion backed
by world capital. Footage of Noam
Chomsky on Western involvments in the region and
the relation to East Timor.
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Doug's New Books & Related
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TV/Radio
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Tuesday, April 30, 2002
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Venezuelan Asylum Seekers Fly to U.S. Via Bolivia
Once again the US is asylum for rightwing coup plotters who attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government; Bush coup adventures misfire and the US gets the dreck. dk
Monday, April 29, 2002 Print This | Email This
Venezuelan Asylum Seekers Fly to U.S. Via Bolivia
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Three retired Venezuelan military officers and family members who sought asylum in the Bolivian Embassy in Caracas after a short-lived coup against President Hugo Chavez have traveled via Bolivia to the United States, Bolivia's Foreign Minister said on Monday.
Gustavo Fernandez told reporters in Caracas the group of 10 Venezuelans had flown at the weekend first to Santa Cruz in Bolivia and then on to the United States.
Following the collapse of the coup that briefly deposed Chavez, who was restored by loyal troops April 14, the three anti-Chavez military officers and their families went to the Bolivian Embassy and asked for political asylum.
They had remained there as "guests", while negotiations took place for their departure, Fernandez said.
"Through their own free will, these persons asked to be allowed to leave to a third country, and my government agreed after consultations with the Venezuelan government and that country," the Bolivian foreign minister added.
"They left on the night of Saturday to Sunday and yesterday morning they made the connection from Santa Cruz to the United States," he added.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman told Reuters he had no information about the 10 Venezuelans or under what status they had traveled from Bolivia to the United States.
The group included retired Air Force Col. Pedro Vicente Soto Fuentes, his wife and three children, and another retired Air Force colonel, Silvino Jose Bustillos, accompanied by his spouse and two children. The other member was a retired National Guard captain Luis Garcia Morales.
All three of the officers had been forcibly retired by the Venezuelan president, himself a former paratroop officer, for speaking out in public against him before the April 11 coup that removed him from power for 48 hours.
Senior armed forces officers briefly deposed Chavez after refusing to obey his order to deploy tanks and troops during a huge anti-government march in which 17 people were killed after unidentified gunmen opened fire in central Caracas.
Chavez has ordered an inquiry into the April 11 deaths and into the subsequent killings of several dozen more people during protests by Chavez supporters and widespread looting.
The Bolivian foreign minister was in Caracas to fix a new date for a summit of leaders of the Andean Community (CAN) which was due to have been held May 3-4 in Venezuela but was suspended in the aftermath of the coup.
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Copyright © Reuters 2002. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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Monday, April 29, 2002
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Sunday, April 28, 2002
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AlterNet -- Bush's Master Oil Plan
Michael Klare, one of the best critics of oil companies, articulates Bush Administration Master Oil Plan
AlterNet -- Bush's Master Oil Plan
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Observer | 'Why the Left is failing us'
Former Brit Labor Party leader tells the Left to get it together and stand for someone if it wants to be major player in politics today.
Observer | 'Why the Left is failing us'
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Independent News
Evidence of atrocities in Jenin by British journalists;
Independent News
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The Frederick News-Post
There is serious suspicion that US military scientists were involved in the production of the highly developed and military grade anthrax used in post-September attacks through the US postage service; there was also a report recently that there was anthrax contamination at the main US chemical-biological weapons lab..
The Frederick News-Post
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Saturday, April 27, 2002
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Budget Deficit for '02 May Top $100 Billion (washingtonpost.com)
The Bush administration is wrecking the federal budget, returning to massive deficit spending. This is a conservative strategy to cut back on federal spending: in the face of a massive deficits, Repugs claim govt programs need to be cut. But it also distributes wealth upwards as banks and financial institutions benefit from financing of the deficit, scamming the people.
Budget Deficit for '02 May Top $100 Billion (washingtonpost.com)
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Protest Against McDonald's
McDonald's is now the poster child for protests against corporate capitalism. Everytime there is a major demonstration, McDonald's are targeted. Likewise, as the story below indicates, there are increasing protests against the building of McDonald's in many places where they are deemed undesirable. There is a group Mcspotlight that documents the worldwide struggles against McDonald's which has mutated in recented years from a symbol of the triumph of American capitalism globally to a symbol of massification, cultural imperialism, and bad food. Thus McDonald's is a contested symbol. Here is an example of an ungoing protest from the McSpotlight list which also tells how one can join.
09/04/02
p r e s s c u t t i n g .
,
SEU News
,
ROMANIA
ACTIONS AGAINST McDonalds IN VORONEZH, ROMANIA
For more than two weeks protests against the building of a
McDonald's restaurant are going on in the historical center of
the city of Voronezh. Local citizens together with the
representatives of environmental, political and social
organizations are taking part in the protest actions.
McDonalds is supposed to be built on the place of the only
park in the city center. On the 14th of March 2002 'Stop
McDonalds' Committee was formed during the first public meeting
against the building of McDonalds on the place of city park.
The protesters' demand:
1. Stop the building of McDonalds! This project does not take
into account the opinion of the citizens, and violates many
regulations about the building of such objects.
2. Reconstruct the park as a historical place of Voronezh.
In Spring 2001 McDonalds Corporation acting through the false
firm has bought the right of the land-lease for the building of
four fast-food restaurants, one of them was supposed to be built
in the historical center of the city. Sale of the right for
land-lease was carried out with many breaks, which was confirmed
by the city prosecutor's department. Despite of the city
regulations and the opinion of the citizens the administration of
the city permitted the building of restaurant in the park.
Blockade of the building process lasted for five days and on
the 25th of March, the six day of the blockade, it was stopped by
the active intervention of the police and administration of the
city. The blockade went on since March 20, activists organized
daily duty in the park and did not allow the builders to start
their work, staying under the basket of excavator and taking
apart the fence around the park. On the morning conference
Voronezh major A. Kovalev, with red and angry face, shouted that
the building should be continued in spite of the protest, which
involved several deputies of the Regional Parliament, and that he
was going to organize the ceremonial beginning of the building
together with the main city architect.
Instead of the promised ceremony the police regiment arrived
in the park and pushed the protesters away from the building
machines. Local citizens reminded to the police, that in this
park two police officers were killed by the criminals ten years
ago, and that McDonalds could not be a good memorial to them. Two
hours later police arrested four participants of the protest for
'participating non-sanctioned meeting'.
"If this is called 'non-sanctioned meeting', about 200 people
participated in it together with us including bureaucrats from
the city administration, - said one of the arrested activists,
Svetlana Dorokhova. - It seems that if you support the building
of McDonalds then your participation is sanctioned, if you are
against then you break an order in the city." Next day the local
court made the decision that three activists of the Stop
McDonalds committee were not guilty.
Beside of it, about 20 paint-artists were already left
without place for selling their pictures as they were thrown out
of the park, and more than 10 beautiful old trees were sawed off
in the park. On 29th of March "Stop McDonalds" Committee
organized the street party, musicians from Voronezh and several
other cities played for free near the park to protect it. On the
3rd of April activists attended the exhibition of architecture
projects, where the project of McDonalds was presented, and
spoiled the opening ceremony, staying near mayor, head of the
region and the city main architect in the T-shirts with STOP
MCDONALDS slogan, and distributing the invitations to the meeting
against the building. Later they were removed from the exhibition
by the police 'for wearing wrong clothes'.
During the actions activists collected more than 1000
signatures against the building of McDonalds. After distributing
call-for-solidarity letter we received more than 50 letters of
support (and the city administration received the letters of
protest) from France, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Russia
and USA. Activists from Nizhniy Novgorod supported us with two
pickets of McDonalds restaurants in their city. 'Stop McDonalds'
Committee is not going to stop its activity, the struggle is
going on.
More info stop_mcdonalds@mail.ru Photos:
no-corp.voronezh.net/photo/090402
_____________________________________
---- the McLibel mailing list ----
McDonald's, McLibel, multinationals
http://www.mcspotlight.org
get on: send blank mail to list-subscribe@mclibel.org
get off: send blank mail to list-unsubscribe@mclibel.org
help: send blank mail to list-help@mclibel.org
human: send meaningful email to list-owner@mclibel.org
submit: send stuff to list-submit@mclibel.org
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Thursday, April 25, 2002
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Wednesday, April 24, 2002
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Media Reader
Here's a good source on media and politics including Danny Schecter's weblog
Media Reader
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Tuesday, April 23, 2002
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washingtonpost.com: Top Bush Aide Resigning as White House Counselor
big surprise! Hughes has been top Bush advisor since Texas and a master of Bushspeak; i.e. spin, lies, and evasion. She is confrontational and is not liked by significant members of the press corps. She was also in charge of propaganda effort in Afghan war, a policy that I argue was a resounding failure in part because Hughes is pretty dim and rightwing. Yet one wonders the story behind her resignation. Are the rats leaving a sinking ship? Is Hughes too much of an embarassment? Enquiring minds want to know....
washingtonpost.com: Top Bush Aide Resigning as White House Counselor
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Sunday, April 21, 2002
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Crises Strain Bush Policies (washingtonpost.com)
One of the first US establishment critiques of complete incoherency and growing failure of Bush administration foreign policy; the WP article cites lack of clarity in Afghan and Terror War policy; muddle in the Middle East; confusion over Venezuela coup; and growing conflicts and lack of "conviction, clarity, and stability" in the Bush administration
Crises Strain Bush Policies (washingtonpost.com)
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Friday, April 19, 2002
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Front
Oddly, the story of four Canadians being killed yesterday in Afghanistan from US "friendly fire" has hardly gotten any US coverage. There were no stories on it in the NYT and WP today for instance. In Canada, of course, it is a very big question.
Front
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Thursday, April 18, 2002
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Wednesday, April 17, 2002
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Howard Zinn interviews on Terrorism and War
Dear friends,
I wanted to let folks know that a new book of interviews I edited with
Howard Zinn called "Terrorism and War" is now available from Seven Stories
Press (and in bookstores). It is the second book in the important new Open
Book series, following Noam Chomsky's best-selling 9-11.
More info at:
http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100383580
In solidarity
Anthony
*
New book of interviews with Howard Zinn now available!
Terrorism and War
By Howard Zinn
Edited by Anthony Arnove
http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100383580
Based on new interviews conducted since the tragic events of September 11
and the bombing campaign against Afghanistan, Terrorism and War provides
Zinn's most up-to-date thinking on war, terrorism, the new global order,
and resistance.
Truth is indeed the first casualty of war, but war has many other
casualties, Zinn argues, including civil liberties on the home front and
human rights abroad.
In Terrorism and War Zinn explores the growth of the American empire, as
well as the long tradition of resistance in this country to U.S.
militarism, from Eugene Debs and the Socialist Party during World War One
to the opponents of U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan today.
Terrorism and War includes eight chapters, appendices, and suggestions for
further reading. It is the second book in the important new Open Book
series, following Noam Chomsky's best-selling 9-11.
Howard Zinn is professor emeritus at Boston University. He is the author of
the classic A People's History of the United States, "a brilliant and
moving history of the American people from the point of view of those .
whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories" (Library Journal).
Anthony Arnove is publisher and an editor at South End Press in Cambridge.
He is the editor of Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and
War. An activist based in Providence, Rhode Island, he is a member of the
International Socialist Organization and the National Writers Union.
Available at independent bookstores and from Seven Stories:
http://www.sevenstories.com/about/index.cfm?fa=contact#order
Also available as an E Book:
http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100383580
See other books in the series:
http://www.sevenstories.com/openmedia/
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Tuesday, April 16, 2002
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The Administration's Latin American Folly
Good critique by Paul Krugman in the NYT showing folly of Bush Administration support for those who attempted failed coup in Latin America; US was sole country to support that coup; rest of Latin America was appalled;
Losing Latin America
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Monday, April 15, 2002
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More McKinney
Representative McKinney has called for an investigation in Bush administration policy before September 11 and intelligence failures; She is getting attacked by various sources for this reasonable request and here is her response to her critics:
ajc.com | News | McKinney comments
See my own analysis of September 11 and the failures of the Bush administration
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Report on Venezuela Drama
Here's an excellent report on situation in Venezuela from Zmag, dk
Please visit www.zmag.org/weluser.htm for continuing coverage not only of the events in Venezuela, of course, but the Mideast, and the world
more broadly -- for essays on strategy, vision, news, and analysis -- updated daily.
But, for this morning...our voice from Venezuela, reports again...
---
Venezuela: Not a Banana-Oil Republic after All
Gregory Wilpert
The Counter-Coup
It looks like Venezuela is not just another banana-oil republic after all. Many here feared that with the April 11 coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela was being degraded to being just another country that is forced to bend to the powerful will of the United States. The successful counter-coup of April 14, though, which reinstated Chavez, proved that Venezuela is a tougher cookie than the coup planners thought.
The coup leaders against President Chavez made two fundamental miscalculations. First, they started having delusions of grandeur, believing that the support for their coup was so complete that they could simply ignore the other members of their coup coalition and place only their own in the new government. The labor union federation CTV, which saw itself as one of the main actors of the opposition movement to President Chavez, and nearly all moderate opposition parties were excluded from the new "democratic unity" cabinet. The new transition cabinet ended up including only the most conservative elements of Venezuelan society. They then proceeded to dissolve the legislature, the Supreme Court, the attorney general's office, the national electoral commission, and the state governorships, among others. Next, they decreed that the 1999 constitution, which had been written by a constitutional assembly and ratified by vote, following the procedures outlined in the pervious constitution, was to be suspended. The new transition president would thus rule by decree until next year, when new elections would be called. Generally, this type of regime fits the textbook definition of dictatorship.
This first miscalculation led to several generals' protest against the new regime, perhaps under pressure from the excluded sectors of the
opposition, or perhaps out of a genuine sense of remorse, and resulted in their call for changes to the sweeping "democratic transition"
decree, lest they withdraw their support from the new government. Transition President Pedro Carmona, the chair of Venezuela's largest
chamber of commerce, immediately agreed to reinstate the Assembly and to the rest of the generals' demands.
The second miscalculation was the belief that Chavez was hopelessly unpopular in the population and among the military and that no one except Cuba and Colombia's guerilla, the FARC, would regret Chavez' departure. Following the initial shock and demoralization which the coup caused among Chavez-supporters, this second miscalculation led to major upheavals and riots in Caracas' sprawling slums, which make up nearly half of the city. In practically all of the "barrios" of Caracas spontaneous demonstrations and "cacerolazos" (pot-banging) broke out on April 13 and 14. The police immediately rushed-in to suppress these expressions of discontent and somewhere between 10 and 40 people were killed in these clashes with the police. Then, in the early afternoon, purely by word-of-mouth and the use of cell phones (Venezuela has one of the highest per capita rates of cell phone use in the world), a demonstration in support of Chavez was called at the Miraflores presidential palace. By 6 PM about 100,000 people had gathered in the streets surrounding the presidential palace. At approximately the same time, the paratrooper battalion, to which Chavez used to belong, decided to remain loyal to Chavez and took over the presidential palace. Next, as the awareness of the extent of Chavez' support spread, major battalions in the interior of Venezuela began siding with Chavez.
Eventually the support for the transition regime evaporated among the military, so that transition president Carmona resigned in the name of preventing bloodshed. As the boldness of Chavez-supporters grew, they began taking over several television stations, which had not reported a single word about the uprisings and the demonstrations. Finally, late at night, around midnight of April 14, it was announced that Chavez was set free and that he would take over as president again. The crowds outside of Miraflores were ecstatic. No one believed that the coup could or would be reversed so rapidly. When Chavez appeared on national TV around 4 AM, he too joked that he knew he would be back, but he never imagined it would happen so fast. He did not even have time to rest and write some poetry, as he had hoped to do.
So how could this be? How could such an impeccably planned and smoothly executed coup fall apart in almost exactly 48 hours? Aside from the two miscalculations mentioned above, it appears that the military's hearts were not fully into the coup project. Once it became obvious that the coup was being hijacked by the extreme right and that Chavez enjoyed much more support than was imagined, large parts of the military decided to reject the coup, which then had a snowball-effect of changing military allegiances. Also, by announcing that one of the main reasons for the coup was to avoid bloodshed and by stating that the Venezuelan military would never turn its weapons against its own people, Chavez supporters became more courageous to go out and to protest against the coup without fear of reprisals.
Very important, though, was that the coup planners seem to have believed their own propaganda: that Chavez was an extremely unpopular leader. What they seem to have forgotten is that Chavez was not a fluke, a phenomenon that appeared in Venezuela as a result of political chaos, as some analysts seem to believe. Rather, Chavez' movement has its roots in a long history of Venezuelan community and leftist organizing. Also, it seems quite likely that although many people were unhappy with Chavez' lack of rapid progress in implementing the reforms he promised, he was still the most popular politician in the country.
The media and the opposition movement tried to create the impression that Chavez was completely isolated and that no one supported him any longer. They did this by organizing massive demonstrations, with the extensive help of the television stations, which regularly broadcast reports of the anti-Chavez protests, but consistently ignored the pro-Chavez protests, which, by all fair accounts, tended to be just as large. The television channels claimed that they did not cover pro-Chavez demonstrations because protestors threatened their lives. While this seems unlikely since the demonstrators usually unequivocally want their demonstrations covered by the media, they could have gotten protection, if they had cared to.
The Media
Nearly the entire media is owned and operated by Venezuela's oligarchy. There is only one neutral newspaper, which is not an explicitly anti-Chavez newspaper and one state-run television station. During the coup, the state-run station was taken off the air completely and all of the other media kept repeating the coup organizer's lies without ques | |
