Thai Editor Faces 20 Years for Others’ Posts | The Irrawaddy Magazine
THANYARAT DOKSONE / AP WRITER, April 30, 2012
BANGKOK—A webmaster accused of failing to act quickly enough to remove internet posts deemed insulting to Thailand’s royalty is waiting to learn her fate in a case highlighting computer-crime laws that rights groups have decried as an assault on freedom of speech.
If found guilty in a Bangkok court, Chiranuch Premchaiporn will face up to 20 years in jail for 10 comments posted on a now-defunct web board by readers she says she does not know.
The case has drawn sharp criticism from international rights groups who have expressed deep concern over Thailand’s computer-crime laws, which were enacted in 2007 under an interim, unelected post-coup government. The laws address hacking and other online offenses, but also bar the circulation of material deemed detrimental to national security, which includes defaming the monarchy.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said last week that the prosecution of Chiranuch “sends a chilling message to webmasters and Internet companies.”
Chiranuch’s newspaper, Prachatai, was founded by several respected journalists, senators and press freedom activists to serve as an independent, nonprofit, daily Internet newspaper. It has attracted an audience of critics of the status quo, especially on the web board where the comments at issue in the court case were posted in 2009.
Prosecutors say Chiranuch was guilty of “intentionally supporting or consenting” to post unlawful content by failing to delete the offending comments quickly enough. Her lawyers point out, among other arguments, that there are no guidelines on the matter.
Each posting carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, but since she faces 10 counts, the law limits the maximum penalty to 20 years.
Chiranuch is the first webmaster prosecuted under the law and her case could set a precedent for other online companies here.
The prosecution of Chiranuch—widely known by her nickname Jiew—has become a cause célèbre not only in Thailand but around the world.
Last year she was one of three winners of the Courage in Journalism award given by the International Women’s Media Foundation, and also one of 48 global writers given grants under a Human Rights Watch program for their commitment to free expression and courage in the face of persecution.
Chiranuch was initially detained but was granted bail and the freedom to travel abroad. In most cases directly involving charges of insulting the monarchy, known as lese majeste, bail has been denied.
Chiranuch’s case is inextricably linked to Thailand’s fractious politics of recent years, as the country’s traditional ruling class—allying big business, the military and royalists—has been desperately fighting to retain reverence for the monarchy and their influence over politics.
Most people still respect 84-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, but the evident involvement of palace circles in supporting a 2006 military coup against elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra opened the royal institution up to unprecedented criticism and questioning, and the internet allowed such doubts to circulate widely.
The Computer Crime Act has been applied where the authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute under the country’s lese majeste law, which mandates a jail term of three to 15 years for “whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent.” That law, believed to be the harshest of its sort in the world, has also come in for sharp criticism.
Supinya Klangnarong, a prominent media reform activist, said after Jiew’s arrest that the Computer Crime Act “has become a political tool of the state” to close websites and arrest people.
Thailand’s freedom of speech reputation has taken a battering in recent years, as successive governments have tried to suppress political opposition. Its standing in the Press Freedom Index issued by the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders slid to 137th out of 179 last year from 65th in 2002, when the ratings were initiated.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Analysis: What now for Malaysian PM after Bersih 3.0? | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Analysis: What now for Malaysian PM after Bersih 3.0? | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Yong Yen Nie Apr 30, 2012
On Saturday thousands of Malaysians again converted some of Kuala Lumpur’s busiest roads into a sea of yellow. Clad in yellow shirts, these Malaysians flocked into the city to push for electoral reforms in a rally known as BERSIH 3.0 ahead of a widely-anticipated general elections.
And again the supporters who chanted “Bersih”, or “clean up” in Malay, throughout the rally came away teary-eyed and choking from several rounds of tear gas fired by the police force in attempts to disperse the crowd, after some protesters tried to storm into the Independence Square – the venue earmarked originally by rally organizers as the main gathering point.
At first glance, the immediate outcome of the BERSIH 3.0 rally is not too different from its second rally held in July 2011.
The organizers of the rally still did not get permission to gather at the venue they wanted, the federal government still saw the rally for free and fair elections as defiant act against the ruling powers of the country and the mainstream local media still gave the rally bad press on Sunday morning, detailing how violent and shameful the rally supporters behaved the day before.
Nevertheless, the BERSIH 3.0 organizers could now claim some moral victory from the significantly larger turnout of supporters not just in the capital city of Malaysia, but also in other parts of the country as well as in the world.
A broad consensus among eyewitnesses put the attendance at the rally between 50,000 and 80,000 people – in what again appeared to be the largest protest in the country in recent history. The supporters have also evolved to be more multi-racial and cutting across social classes and age over the years – it is apparent that more middle-class Chinese had participated in this rally.
Over the years, Malaysians have come a long way from rallying for a particular political figure to rallying for a sophisticated political cause. It is also harder for people to tell whether the rally held was predominantly attended by only a specific race and creed.
For a nation that has been prominently divided according to race for more than 50 years, the demographics and turnout of the rally has set new benchmarks for the country’s political landscape. The sentiment of the rally is that there is now greater participation and political awareness seen among the nation than ever before.
The federal government, led by current Prime Minister Najib Razak, has some serious reputation issues to address. Depending on the severity of his popularity rating plunge, some say Najib may now have to reconsider the timing of the upcoming general elections, which has been widely anticipated to be held in the next one or two months.
Yet, it is likely that Najib and his administration is unperturbed by the massive rally, as it does not view the rally as a game-changer in the upcoming elections. At least, not yet.
After all, the National Front – the ruling party that forms the current federal government – has some fat carrots to dangle to other voters, including the expected windfall profit to rural Malay settlers following the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings. Earlier, Najib had also given out cash handouts to students and households in a move to woo voters.
Given that he could tap into the allocation of resources, the National Front – being the party that forms the ruling government today – would still have the upper hand in the upcoming elections and may hold out for several years more.
But, it will also gradually be harder for Najib to hold on to power as a reformed leader, if he keeps on failing to keep up with the times and listen to the voices of the people that came out to rally that Saturday in April.
Yong Yen Nie Apr 30, 2012
On Saturday thousands of Malaysians again converted some of Kuala Lumpur’s busiest roads into a sea of yellow. Clad in yellow shirts, these Malaysians flocked into the city to push for electoral reforms in a rally known as BERSIH 3.0 ahead of a widely-anticipated general elections.
And again the supporters who chanted “Bersih”, or “clean up” in Malay, throughout the rally came away teary-eyed and choking from several rounds of tear gas fired by the police force in attempts to disperse the crowd, after some protesters tried to storm into the Independence Square – the venue earmarked originally by rally organizers as the main gathering point.
The organizers of the rally still did not get permission to gather at the venue they wanted, the federal government still saw the rally for free and fair elections as defiant act against the ruling powers of the country and the mainstream local media still gave the rally bad press on Sunday morning, detailing how violent and shameful the rally supporters behaved the day before.
Nevertheless, the BERSIH 3.0 organizers could now claim some moral victory from the significantly larger turnout of supporters not just in the capital city of Malaysia, but also in other parts of the country as well as in the world.
A broad consensus among eyewitnesses put the attendance at the rally between 50,000 and 80,000 people – in what again appeared to be the largest protest in the country in recent history. The supporters have also evolved to be more multi-racial and cutting across social classes and age over the years – it is apparent that more middle-class Chinese had participated in this rally.
Over the years, Malaysians have come a long way from rallying for a particular political figure to rallying for a sophisticated political cause. It is also harder for people to tell whether the rally held was predominantly attended by only a specific race and creed.
For a nation that has been prominently divided according to race for more than 50 years, the demographics and turnout of the rally has set new benchmarks for the country’s political landscape. The sentiment of the rally is that there is now greater participation and political awareness seen among the nation than ever before.
The federal government, led by current Prime Minister Najib Razak, has some serious reputation issues to address. Depending on the severity of his popularity rating plunge, some say Najib may now have to reconsider the timing of the upcoming general elections, which has been widely anticipated to be held in the next one or two months.
Yet, it is likely that Najib and his administration is unperturbed by the massive rally, as it does not view the rally as a game-changer in the upcoming elections. At least, not yet.
After all, the National Front – the ruling party that forms the current federal government – has some fat carrots to dangle to other voters, including the expected windfall profit to rural Malay settlers following the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings. Earlier, Najib had also given out cash handouts to students and households in a move to woo voters.
Given that he could tap into the allocation of resources, the National Front – being the party that forms the ruling government today – would still have the upper hand in the upcoming elections and may hold out for several years more.
But, it will also gradually be harder for Najib to hold on to power as a reformed leader, if he keeps on failing to keep up with the times and listen to the voices of the people that came out to rally that Saturday in April.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Vietnam arrests US pro-democracy activist | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Vietnam arrests US pro-democracy activist | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News Apr 29, 2012 4:15AM UTC
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — State media say a Vietnamese-American pro-democracy activist has been arrested and accused of terrorism for allegedly trying to sabotage liberation celebrations commemorating the end of the Vietnam War.
AP News Apr 29, 2012 4:15AM UTC
The Tuoi Tre newspaper says 58-year-old Nguyen Quoc Quan was detained April 17 after arriving at the airport in southern Ho Chi Minh City. He is accused of planning to hold protests for Viet Tan, a banned U.S. exile group, during May Day festivities and the anniversary of the fall of the former U.S.-backed South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, on April 30, 1975.
The paper says authorities also found many documents in Quan’s possession on terrorist training.
The U.S. government has said it has seen no evidence that Viet Tan is a terrorist organization.
Huge rally raises question on Malaysia poll timing | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Huge rally raises question on Malaysia poll timing | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Apr 29, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A massive street rally demanding electoral reforms in Malaysia raised questions Sunday about when the long-ruling coalition government will call elections in the face of such a strong show of force by the opposition.
Police used tear gas and chemical-laced water Saturday against some 50,000 people and arrested more than 450 at the demonstration. All those arrested were released by Sunday.
The rally was held to pressure Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition — which has been in power for 55 years — to overhaul what the opposition and civil groups call biased electoral policies before polls which had been widely expected to be held as early as June.
Some analysts said the rally, the second in 10 months, undermines Najib’s efforts to bolster public support for his coalition and may prompt him to delay any plans to call early elections. Polls do not need to be held until mid-2013, but speculation had previously been rife that Najib may dissolve Parliament next month and seek a new mandate in June.
However, the protests could rattle Najib’s confidence, especially since the last election delivered the biggest opposition gains in Parliament ever — even though the ruling National Front retained power.
“The rally is a way for many Malaysians to show that they are no longer suppressed. It has whipped up anti-government sentiment and this could encourage Najib to call for later elections,” said Ong Kee Beng of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
The country’s largest English newspaper, The Star, said in an opinion piece Sunday that the more likely time for polls would be in the first week of September.
While the rally had reinforced anti-government vote in urban areas, it may not tip the scale in favor of the opposition, said James Chin, political analyst with Monash University in Kuala Lumpur. Najib’s battleground will be in rural areas, which account for about two-thirds of Parliamentary seats, he said.
National police spokesman Ramli Yoosuf said Sunday that 471 people were arrested but all have been released. It was not immediately clear if they would be charged later with any offense. Ramli also said the crowd size, earlier estimated at 25,000, doubled to near 50,000 at its peak.
Officials said three demonstrators and 20 police were injured.
Demonstrators wearing yellow T-shirts, waving banners and chanting slogans poured into downtown Kuala Lumpur, massing near a public square that police had sealed off with barbed wire and barricades.
“A lot of things are not done right and people are getting fed up. We have to take a stand and do something for our future generation,” businesswoman Kimberley Yang, a mother of three, said before the crackdown.
Najib’s popularity dipped after a similar rally last July by some 20,000 people were dispersed by tear gas.
He has since instituted a raft of reforms intended to build support — including overhauling decades-old security laws — and agreed to new electoral regulations that include using indelible ink to cast ballot to curb multiple voting.
But activists said the measures were inadequate, alleging that the Election Commission is biased and that voter registration lists are tainted with fraudulent names. They also sought longer election campaigning periods and changes to ensure citizens living abroad can cast ballots.
Saturday’s demonstration remained peaceful for several hours, until a small group appeared to suddenly breach the police barriers. Authorities responded by firing tear gas and water laced with stinging chemicals to disperse the crowd.
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said police acted “with utmost restraint,” but opposition leaders and rights groups said the excessive use of tear gas was unjustified.
“We are seeing a repeat of repressive actions by a government that does not hesitate to use force when it feels that its prerogatives are challenged,” said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Asia.
Najib has accused opposition activists of trying to create disorder to sully the government’s image.
“They are not concerned about fair and clean elections. It’s all about politics and taking over (the government), he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.
The National Front, which has governed Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957, suffered its worst performance in 2008 elections, when it lost more than a third of Parliament’s seats amid public complaints about corruption and racial discrimination.
AP News, Apr 29, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A massive street rally demanding electoral reforms in Malaysia raised questions Sunday about when the long-ruling coalition government will call elections in the face of such a strong show of force by the opposition.
The rally was held to pressure Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition — which has been in power for 55 years — to overhaul what the opposition and civil groups call biased electoral policies before polls which had been widely expected to be held as early as June.
Some analysts said the rally, the second in 10 months, undermines Najib’s efforts to bolster public support for his coalition and may prompt him to delay any plans to call early elections. Polls do not need to be held until mid-2013, but speculation had previously been rife that Najib may dissolve Parliament next month and seek a new mandate in June.
However, the protests could rattle Najib’s confidence, especially since the last election delivered the biggest opposition gains in Parliament ever — even though the ruling National Front retained power.
“The rally is a way for many Malaysians to show that they are no longer suppressed. It has whipped up anti-government sentiment and this could encourage Najib to call for later elections,” said Ong Kee Beng of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
The country’s largest English newspaper, The Star, said in an opinion piece Sunday that the more likely time for polls would be in the first week of September.
While the rally had reinforced anti-government vote in urban areas, it may not tip the scale in favor of the opposition, said James Chin, political analyst with Monash University in Kuala Lumpur. Najib’s battleground will be in rural areas, which account for about two-thirds of Parliamentary seats, he said.
National police spokesman Ramli Yoosuf said Sunday that 471 people were arrested but all have been released. It was not immediately clear if they would be charged later with any offense. Ramli also said the crowd size, earlier estimated at 25,000, doubled to near 50,000 at its peak.
Officials said three demonstrators and 20 police were injured.
Demonstrators wearing yellow T-shirts, waving banners and chanting slogans poured into downtown Kuala Lumpur, massing near a public square that police had sealed off with barbed wire and barricades.
“A lot of things are not done right and people are getting fed up. We have to take a stand and do something for our future generation,” businesswoman Kimberley Yang, a mother of three, said before the crackdown.
Najib’s popularity dipped after a similar rally last July by some 20,000 people were dispersed by tear gas.
He has since instituted a raft of reforms intended to build support — including overhauling decades-old security laws — and agreed to new electoral regulations that include using indelible ink to cast ballot to curb multiple voting.
But activists said the measures were inadequate, alleging that the Election Commission is biased and that voter registration lists are tainted with fraudulent names. They also sought longer election campaigning periods and changes to ensure citizens living abroad can cast ballots.
Saturday’s demonstration remained peaceful for several hours, until a small group appeared to suddenly breach the police barriers. Authorities responded by firing tear gas and water laced with stinging chemicals to disperse the crowd.
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said police acted “with utmost restraint,” but opposition leaders and rights groups said the excessive use of tear gas was unjustified.
“We are seeing a repeat of repressive actions by a government that does not hesitate to use force when it feels that its prerogatives are challenged,” said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Asia.
Najib has accused opposition activists of trying to create disorder to sully the government’s image.
“They are not concerned about fair and clean elections. It’s all about politics and taking over (the government), he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.
The National Front, which has governed Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957, suffered its worst performance in 2008 elections, when it lost more than a third of Parliament’s seats amid public complaints about corruption and racial discrimination.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
European, US Austerity Drive is Suicidal: Nobel Economist Stiglitz | Common Dreams
European, US Austerity Drive is Suicidal: Nobel Economist Stiglitz | Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff, April 27, 2012
Common Dreams staff, April 27, 2012
Europe is headed down the same path that most Republicans -- and many Democrats -- are suggesting for the US: reductions in the public sector, cuts in benefits, slashing investments in infrastructure and education.
Austerity is suicidal public policy warns US economist Joseph Stiglitz. Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz speaking in Vienna, Austria Thursday night said that it's a suicidal path for Europe -- and that such a policy has never worked in any large country.
Youth unemployment in Spain has been at 50 percent since the crisis in 2008 with “no hope of things getting better anytime soon,” said Stiglitz, who is a professor for economics at Columbia University. “What you are doing is destroying the human capital, you are creating alienated young people.”
In an interview earlier this week in The European, Stiglitz said, "When you look at America, you have to concede that we have failed. Most Americans today are worse off than they were fifteen years ago. A full-time worker in the US is worse off today than he or she was 44 years ago. That is astounding – half a century of stagnation. The economic system is not delivering. It does not matter whether a few people at the top benefitted tremendously – when the majority of citizens are not better off, the economic system is not working."
Austerity is suicidal public policy warns US economist Joseph Stiglitz. Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz speaking in Vienna, Austria Thursday night said that it's a suicidal path for Europe -- and that such a policy has never worked in any large country.
Youth unemployment in Spain has been at 50 percent since the crisis in 2008 with “no hope of things getting better anytime soon,” said Stiglitz, who is a professor for economics at Columbia University. “What you are doing is destroying the human capital, you are creating alienated young people.”
In an interview earlier this week in The European, Stiglitz said, "When you look at America, you have to concede that we have failed. Most Americans today are worse off than they were fifteen years ago. A full-time worker in the US is worse off today than he or she was 44 years ago. That is astounding – half a century of stagnation. The economic system is not delivering. It does not matter whether a few people at the top benefitted tremendously – when the majority of citizens are not better off, the economic system is not working."
* * *
Reuters is reporting:
VIENNA - Europe's attempt to save its way back to health is tantamount to economic suicide that could wreck the euro currency block, Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz said, calling for the continent to focus instead on fostering growth.
"I think Europe is headed to a suicide...There has never been any successful austerity program in any large country," the former World Bank economist told a panel discussion in Vienna late on Thursday. [...]
He urged rich European countries like Germany to invest more in infrastructure, education and technology, arguing that "the returns on those investments are an order of magnitude greater than the cost of capital".
Insisting on cutting debt and deficits as the way to shore up confidence in euro zone countries - as agreed by the currency bloc's leaders late last year - could end up having the opposite impact, Stiglitz said.
"What they have agreed to do last December is a recipe to make sure that (the euro zone) dies as we know it," he said, although he imagined a "core euro" shared among a handful of countries with the strongest economies could survive.
"I hope...the debate will be what are the things we can do to promote growth rather than how do we strangle each other together."
* * *
From The European interview:
When you look at America, you have to concede that we have failed. Most Americans today are worse off than they were fifteen years ago. A full-time worker in the US is worse off today than he or she was 44 years ago. That is astounding – half a century of stagnation. The economic system is not delivering. It does not matter whether a few people at the top benefitted tremendously – when the majority of citizens are not better off, the economic system is not working. [...]
The countries that are doing very well in Europe are the Scandinavian countries. Denmark is different from Sweden, Sweden is different from Norway – but they all have strong social protection and they are all growing. The argument that the response to the current crisis has to be a lessening of social protection is really an argument by the 1% to say: “We have to grab a bigger share of the pie.” But if the majority of people don’t benefit from the economic pie, the system is a failure. I don’t want to talk about GDP anymore, I want to talk about what is happening to most citizens. [...]
Yes, the Occupy movement has been very successful in bringing those ideas to the forefront of political discussion. I wrote an article for Vanity Fair in 2011 – “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%” – that really resonated with a lot of people because it spoke to our worries. Protests like the ones at Occupy Wall Street are only successful when they pick up on these shared concerns. There was one newspaper article that described the rough police tactics in Oakland. They interviewed many people, including police officers, who said: “I agree with the protesters.” If you ask about the message, the overwhelming response has been supportive, and the big concern has been that the Occupy movement hasn’t been effective enough in getting that message across. [...]
Let me put it this way: Some people criticize by saying that we have become too focused on inequality and are not concerned enough about opportunity. But in the United States, we are also the country with the biggest inequality of opportunity. Most Americans understand that fraud political processes play in fraud outcomes. But we don’t know how to break into that system. Our Supreme Court was appointed by moneyed interests and – not surprisingly – concluded that moneyed interests had unrestricted influence on politics. In the short run, we are exacerbating the influence of money, with negative consequences for the economy and for society.
# # #
NPA rebels step up activities, seize 66 assorted firearms | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
NPA rebels step up activities, seize 66 assorted firearms | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Edwin Espejo, Apr 28, 2012
Communist rebels have been stepping up their activities nationwide and have recently seized a cache of assorted firearms from a security agency in Butuan City.
The firearms, majority of them high-powered rifles, are more than enough to arm another company of New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas.
The NPA rebels belonging to the Cesar Cayon Command of the North Central Mindanao Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) reportedly posed themselves as agents and operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation in subduing the four guards manning the agency last April 23 (Monday).
The raid was over in 10 minutes.
The security agency Earth Saver is reportedly owned by a retired Philippine Army general Paul Nario and has been providing security services to several mining companies in the Caraga region.
The rebels took away 46 AK-47 assault rifles, 3 M14 sniper rifles, 10 shotguns and 7 assorted handguns without firing a single shot, according rebel spokesman Allan Juanito.
The rebel loot on Monday was the biggest in recent years in Mindanao. In 2010, the NPAs overran an army detachment in North Cotabato fleeing with them at least 32 assorted high-powered rifles. The biggest number of firearms seized by the rebels, however, was during an assault at a military armory in Negros Islands in the 1980’s where the NPAs fled with over 200 rifles and light artillery.
Two days later, on April 25, NPA rebels in Ifugao in Luzon ambushed a convoy of soldiers returning from a military operations killing 11 Army personnel on the spot and wounding several others. Two other soldiers died several days later.
On the same day, NPA rebels also tried but failed to overrun a military detachment in Davao del Sur resulting into the death of two soldiers and four rebels.
The NPAs have been waging a Maoist-inspired guerilla warfare for more than four decades. It is one of Asia’s longest insurgency.
Peace talks between the CPP-NPA and its political umbrella the National Democratic Front and the Philippine government have been revived following the election of President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III. But the peace negotiation has again hit a brick wall after the rebels demanded the release of their captured comrades who they claimed are consultants to the peace negotiations.
Edwin Espejo, Apr 28, 2012
Communist rebels have been stepping up their activities nationwide and have recently seized a cache of assorted firearms from a security agency in Butuan City.
The firearms, majority of them high-powered rifles, are more than enough to arm another company of New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas.
The NPA rebels belonging to the Cesar Cayon Command of the North Central Mindanao Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) reportedly posed themselves as agents and operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation in subduing the four guards manning the agency last April 23 (Monday).
The raid was over in 10 minutes.
The security agency Earth Saver is reportedly owned by a retired Philippine Army general Paul Nario and has been providing security services to several mining companies in the Caraga region.
The rebels took away 46 AK-47 assault rifles, 3 M14 sniper rifles, 10 shotguns and 7 assorted handguns without firing a single shot, according rebel spokesman Allan Juanito.
The rebel loot on Monday was the biggest in recent years in Mindanao. In 2010, the NPAs overran an army detachment in North Cotabato fleeing with them at least 32 assorted high-powered rifles. The biggest number of firearms seized by the rebels, however, was during an assault at a military armory in Negros Islands in the 1980’s where the NPAs fled with over 200 rifles and light artillery.
Two days later, on April 25, NPA rebels in Ifugao in Luzon ambushed a convoy of soldiers returning from a military operations killing 11 Army personnel on the spot and wounding several others. Two other soldiers died several days later.
On the same day, NPA rebels also tried but failed to overrun a military detachment in Davao del Sur resulting into the death of two soldiers and four rebels.
The NPAs have been waging a Maoist-inspired guerilla warfare for more than four decades. It is one of Asia’s longest insurgency.
Peace talks between the CPP-NPA and its political umbrella the National Democratic Front and the Philippine government have been revived following the election of President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III. But the peace negotiation has again hit a brick wall after the rebels demanded the release of their captured comrades who they claimed are consultants to the peace negotiations.
Friday, April 27, 2012
March in Chile, 50,000 Strong for Education | Common Dreams
March in Chile, 50,000 Strong for Education | Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff, April 26, 2012
Common Dreams staff, April 26, 2012
Thousands of students marched in Chile on Wednesday in a continued campaign demanding free and better education.
(Photo: Mark Teiwes / I Love Chile News)
The government said about 30,000 students joined Wednesday's march in Santiago, but student leaders estimated more than 50,000 took part.
The students protesters faced a heavy handed crackdown when the government sent in thousands of police officers to shut down the march. Many claimed the use of force was excessive and unnecessary.
Gabriel Boric, student leader, said the government still treats education as a consumer product, rather than a universal right.
Protesting students argued that President Sebastian Pinera's plans to curb the cost of education fall short of the transformation the system needs. They have been demanding education overhaul in over a year of protests.
(Photo: Mark Teiwes / I Love Chile News)
The government said about 30,000 students joined Wednesday's march in Santiago, but student leaders estimated more than 50,000 took part.
The students protesters faced a heavy handed crackdown when the government sent in thousands of police officers to shut down the march. Many claimed the use of force was excessive and unnecessary.
Gabriel Boric, student leader, said the government still treats education as a consumer product, rather than a universal right.
Protesting students argued that President Sebastian Pinera's plans to curb the cost of education fall short of the transformation the system needs. They have been demanding education overhaul in over a year of protests.
* * *
Associated Press: Chile students protest president's reform proposalPresident Sebastian Pinera said Wednesday a tax overhaul he is sending to congress will raise $700 million that will be enough to bring real changes to Chile's education system. He spoke as thousands of students marched in the streets to denounce the plan as insufficient. [...]
Protesting students argued the plan falls short of the transformation of the system that they have been demanding for more than a year.
The government estimated 30,000 university and high school students joined the march in Santiago. Student leaders put their numbers at more than 50,000. They were mostly peaceful, carrying a large banner with an image of Albert Einstein wearing an Ernesto "Che" Guevara-style beret. Later, a small group of protesters set a guard booth on fire, tried to vandalize a traffic light and threw rocks at police, who responded with water cannons. [...]
Students want to return the government to the center of Chile's largely privatized education system, while Pinera's government has instead sought to lower lending costs and otherwise make private educations more accessible to working classes.
Pinera said the effect of his tax plan would be "huge," providing not only for loans but for scholarships for the neediest students. He planned to meet with leaders of his center-right governing coalition to discuss more details before unveiling the plan
Pinera's tax bill faces opposition from both the left and right in the Senate. Socialist lawmakers want more profound changes to the tax system, so the burden falls far more heavily on corporations that have reaped the benefits of a commodities boom in Chile, the world's top copper producer. The president's right-wing allies want the government to reduce taxes on fuels that they say feed inflation.
# # #
Thursday, April 26, 2012
GE Annual Meeting Interrupted by 99 Percent Protesters | Common Dreams
GE Annual Meeting Interrupted by 99 Percent Protesters | Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff, April 25, 2012
Detroit Police officers hold the crowd back as protesters carry signs and chant 'GE: Pay Your Fair Share" outside the Renaissance Center where the General Electric Shareholders meeting was being held in Detroit, Michigan April 25, 2012.
Hundreds of protesters affiliated with the "99 Percent" movement disrupted the start of General Electric Co's annual shareholders' meeting in Detroit on Wednesday, in an attack on the largest U.S. conglomerate's low tax rate.
Outside Detroit's Renaissance Center, thousands more demonstrators swarmed the area, chanting "This is What Democracy Looks Like." They were surrounded by dozens of police, including three mounted units.
A 2011 report by think tank Citizens for Tax Justice reported that GE had an effective negative tax rate from 2008 through 2010. CTJ’s summary of GE’s federal income taxes over the past decade shows that:
Hundreds of protesters carry signs and chant 'Pay your fair share" outside the Renaissance Center where the General Electric Shareholders meeting was being held in Detroit, Michigan April 25, 2012. (REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)
Common Dreams staff, April 25, 2012
Detroit Police officers hold the crowd back as protesters carry signs and chant 'GE: Pay Your Fair Share" outside the Renaissance Center where the General Electric Shareholders meeting was being held in Detroit, Michigan April 25, 2012.
Hundreds of protesters affiliated with the "99 Percent" movement disrupted the start of General Electric Co's annual shareholders' meeting in Detroit on Wednesday, in an attack on the largest U.S. conglomerate's low tax rate.
Outside Detroit's Renaissance Center, thousands more demonstrators swarmed the area, chanting "This is What Democracy Looks Like." They were surrounded by dozens of police, including three mounted units.
A 2011 report by think tank Citizens for Tax Justice reported that GE had an effective negative tax rate from 2008 through 2010. CTJ’s summary of GE’s federal income taxes over the past decade shows that:
- From 2006 to 2011, GE’s net federal income taxes were negative $3.1 billion, despite $38.2 billion in pretax U.S. profits over the six years.
- Over the past decade, GE’s effective federal income tax rate on its $81.2 billion in pretax U.S. profits has been at most 1.8 percent.
* * *
The Detroit News reports:While several thousand protesters made noise Wednesday in the city's downtown over feelings General Electric isn't paying enough in taxes, three dozen protestors stood up at the beginning of GE's annual shareholder meeting chanting "pay your fair share"
The group was escorted from the meeting room at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center by police and security without incident. They continued their demonstration outside in the lobby. A phalanx of security guards formed outside the ballroom to prevent them from re-entering.
The protesters with ties to the "99 percent" movement — made popular last year in light of corporate bank bailouts — made their frustrations known over GE's tax payments outside the building, stretching into nearby Hart Plaza.
Inside the Renaissance Center, security was tight. Shareholders were required to pass through metal detectors, and endure bag searches and wand scans in order to enter the lobby outside the meeting room. Only registered shareholders were allowed in, but it was clear by the union pins some wore that they would bring the protest inside.
Hundreds of protesters carry signs and chant 'Pay your fair share" outside the Renaissance Center where the General Electric Shareholders meeting was being held in Detroit, Michigan April 25, 2012. (REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)
A small group of union activists from the Service Employees International Union tried to enter the meeting with proxies from shareholders, but they were turned away by security and police.
GE CEO Jeff Immelt had planned to come out and mingle with investors but that was canceled out of security concerns.
Outside the Renaissance Center, demonstrators swarmed the area, chanting "this is what democracy looks like." They were held back by dozens of police, including three mounted units.
The protesters were loud and largely non-confrontational as they held up signs demanding that GE pay what they believe is its fair share in taxes. The protests were largely over by 11 a.m.
After gathering at Hart Plaza, a parade of protesters chanted their way to the Detroit River side of the RenCen. Chants of "We are the 99 percent," "GE pay your taxes" and "No justice, no peace" filled the air. The crowd was made up of young and old, black and white, senior citizens, retirees and the fringe elements who seem to show up at any protest.
Police largely kept the protesters to half the street and urged them to stay on sidewalks on the river side of the plaza. Police also locked the doors leading into the RenCen.
On Tuesday, about 20 protesters scuffled with Detroit police before they were escorted out of Cobo Center. The protesters blew whistles and attempted to enter the SAE World Congress being held there, but they were forcibly blocked from doing so.
Immelt defended the company's payment of income taxes after protesters interrupted his speech Tuesday at the event.
"Tax rate was 29 percent last year," Immelt told a couple protesters at Cobo Center as they chanted "pay your fair share" a few feet from where he was speaking.
At Grand Circus Park on Wednesday, half a dozen protesters gathered in the early morning sunshine, watching as the fountain sent a plume of crystal clear water into the air.
It was a second visit to the park for Curtis McGuire who camped in the park last year as part of the "Occupy Detroit" movement.
"We intend to march to the GM building for a large game of 'dodge tax ball,'" said McGuire, who was wearing a "Say Yes to Michigan" badge on his jacket. "Will what we do make a difference? Yes, it will be very powerful especially combined with other protests around the country.
"You have to knock on the door before you get in."
There was a definite, but discreet police presence outside the Renaissance Center early Wednesday as officers in perhaps a dozen cars kept watch on Jefferson Avenue. Police had also erected a temporary chain-link fence outside the massive building, with a single opening for people leaving or entering.
On the sidewalk, a group of about 40 protesters walked peacefully back and forth holding signs reading "Fighting for Pension Fairness — GE."
Earl Hornung drove up from Indiana to show how he felt about his retirement situation.
"We're trying to get a raise in our cost of living allocation," said Hornung, who worked for GE for 28 years. "We have one fellow here who is 90 years old who retired 30 years ago. He's hurting really bad due to inflation. I've been retired for 10 years and inflation is eating away at my pension, too."
At nearby Hart Plaza, several hundred protesters gathered near the fountain, many waving flags while others chanted "we are the 99 percent!" The vast majority of the protesters were from Wisconsin, pulling up in bus after bus.
"There's probably two to three hundred of us," said Milwaukee resident Ed Jude, 56, who had an American flag wrapped around his shoulders. "We are here because we want our voices to be heard. "If we pay our fair share of taxes, then the corporations like GE should pay their fair share, too. If they paid their taxes like us, there would be less of a strain on our social systems."
"Mr. Immelt, when are you going to pay the $26 billion in taxes," asked Shyquetta McElroy, a mother of two who traveled from Milwaukee. "I pay my taxes year after year — why doesn't GE?"
Few, if any, U.S. companies pay the statutory tax rate because of various tax breaks and incentives in the tax code.
* * *
Philippines-China standoff could spin out of hand | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Philippines-China standoff could spin out of hand | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Apr 26, 2012
AP News, Apr 26, 2012
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — It started like many other minor confrontations over the specks of isles dotting some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. But the risks in the latest flare-up over a South China Sea shoal are much bigger than the territory itself.
Armed vessels from the Philippines and its much more powerful neighbor, China, have faced off for two weeks at the horseshoe-shaped Scarborough Shoal. Either side could miscalculate – and consequences could bear down on the whole region, and drag in the U.S. too.
Here’s a look at the key players, issues and what’s at stake:
HOW IT STARTED:
The Philippine navy says it caught Chinese fishermen poaching, and on April 10 two Chinese vessels moved in to protect them. The fishing boats slipped away, leaving behind a tense standoff with each side hoping the other will pull out first.
HISTORY OF FLASHPOINTS:
The shoal is among 200 islands, coral outcrops and banks spread over the South China Sea, with rich fishing grounds and other resources. The biggest of them are the Spratlys, claimed all or in part by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
There have been sporadic shootouts at sea in the past few decades – China-Vietnam, China-Philippines, Taiwan-Vietnam and Philippines-Vietnam – with navies sinking ships and fortifying disputed islands. A major clash in 1988 between China and Vietnam killed 64 Vietnamese soldiers. China took over the Philippine-occupied Mischief Reef in a surprise mini-invasion in 1995.
Then in 2002, all parties agreed to a status quo.
It largely held. Until now.
POLITICAL CONTEXT:
Last year, Manila accused Chinese vessels of blocking its energy exploration ships in Philippine waters and firing to scare away Philippine fishermen.
It was just a year after Philippine President Benigno Aquino III took office promising to fight corruption and restore national dignity. His predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was accused of cozying up to Beijing and corrupt deals with Chinese investors. Contracts were scrapped, and Aquino turned to the country’s traditional ally, the United States, just as President Barack Obama sought to re-engage in Asia.
On the other hand, China – as a rising economic and military power – is asserting territorial claims and in no mood to show weakness.
OVERLAPPING CLAIMS:
Scarborough Shoal lies within Manila’s 370-kilometer (230-mile) exclusive economic zone, recognized under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. But China says the Philippines is misinterpreting the law. Beijing’s position is based on ancient maps, though it’s unclear how much weight they carry today.
China’s map submitted to the U.N. in 2009 claims virtually the entire South China Sea, but Beijing has failed to clarify the exact extent of its claims. It turned down a Philippine invitation for international arbitration.
U.S. ROLE:
Manila feels – and so does China – that the Philippines has U.S. backing.
That’s true up to a point.
The U.S. is obligated to defend the Philippines from outside aggression under a defense treaty, and has close ties with Manila’s security forces in their fight against southern Muslim militants. Recently, Washington has helped modernize the poorly armed Philippine forces, particularly the navy.
Washington angered Beijing in 2010 when it declared that unimpeded commerce and resolution of disputes in the South China Sea are in the U.S. interest.
But the U.S. – with ever-increasing economic ties to China – has always maintained it is not taking sides.
GAS AND OIL FACTOR:
Some of the tensions involve competition for petroleum. However, it isn’t clear how much the region holds and most published surveys suggest little evidence of substantial reserves apart from natural gas.
The overlapping territorial claims make exploratory drilling difficult.
The Philippines’ Malampaya and Camago fields, containing up to 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, are in waters claimed by China. Still, Manila has developed the fields and built a pipeline that already delivers gas that has become vital to its economy. But a Philippine plan to invite bids to explore two other areas has drawn strong Chinese protests and fears of escalating confrontations.
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Human Rights Experts Urge US Not to Drop Sanctions | The Irrawaddy Magazine
Human Rights Experts Urge US Not to Drop Sanctions | The Irrawaddy Magazine
LALIT K JHA / THE IRRAWADDY, April 26, 2012
WASHINGTON D.C.—Independent human rights experts have urged the Obama administration and US Congress not to relax sanctions on Burma, arguing reforms being initiated by the Burmese government are reversible.
“As much as we want to hope that the recent progress toward democracy in Burma will mark a turning point, nothing positive will last until the Burmese military stops committing atrocities and a political agreement is reached with the ethnic national states,” said former Congressman Thomas H. Andrews in his testimony before a Congressional subcommittee on Wednesday.
Andrews, who now heads the United to End Genocide NGO, said that Congress can help by renewing the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act and urging the administration to take a measured approach on incentives.
“It is imperative that the United States government engages with the legitimate representatives of each ethnic nationality and supports redress of their longstanding and unresolved concerns,” he said.
Noting that he understands the desire to declare Burma a success story, Andrews said he wants nothing more than to see true democratic transformation and an end to human right abuses.
“But, success isn’t marked by removing sanctions—it’s marked by lasting change for the people of Burma who have endured endless suffering under a brutal military regime,” he argued.
“We must choose our next steps wisely. Let us reward genuine progress, but let us not condemn the people—particularly those living in ethnic minority states—to increased suffering under a long oppressive military regime that is suddenly freed of accountability and consequences for its behavior.”
In his testimony, Aung Din, from US Campaign for Burma, asserted that Congress must renew restrictions on imports from Burma. “The US must remind and keep reminding the Burmese regime that their full cooperation with Aung San Suu Kyi and democratic MPs in the Parliament and achieving negotiated political settlements with ethnic nationalities through a meaningful political dialogue outside the Parliament are the sole factors to justify fully lifting all sanctions,” he said.
Aung Din added that before the removal of any financial sanctions takes place, the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on Burma, managed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, must be updated to include even more cronies and hardliners.
“It has been almost three years since the list has been updated. Many cronies, who are sanctioned by the EU and Australia, are still not included on the US SDN list,” he said. “This list should be a must-check reference for US companies that will do business in Burma.”
The implementation of a targeted easing of bans on investment and financial services should wait until we clearly see how National League for Democracy MPs and Aung San Suu Kyi are treated by the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and the military in Parliament, as well as an end to attacks against the Kachin people, he said.
And Aung Din said binding requirements or a compulsory framework for responsible business conduct should be imposed on any US business that seeks to invest in Burma.
“The US must pressure the Burmese regime to allow former political prisoners to obtain passports so they can make trips abroad, in response to the US easing of visa restrictions on Burmese officials,” he said.
Also the US must pressure Naypyidaw to allow members of Burmese civil society groups to form and operate non-profit organizations freely, in response to Washington granting permission to American organizations to support NGOs in Burma.
Earlier, nine influential American humanitarian organizations signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to prioritize democracy and human rights in Burma by exercising caution when it comes to the relaxation of sanctions.
These NGOs include AFL-CIO, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the Institute for Asian Democracy, Open Society Foundations, Orion Strategies, Physicians for Human Rights, US Campaign for Burma and United to End Genocide.
The letter comes on the heels of an initiative by corporate interests seeking to encourage Obama to ease restrictions on private investment across all sectors of the Burmese economy.
“We believe the best approach in the immediate future is to conduct a comprehensive update of the SDN list before relaxing the investment and financial services bans,” the NGOs said.
In the medium term, the US needs to work with civil society and ethnic nationality leaders in Burma to develop binding standards for US companies doing business in the country, claims the letter. The US could then lift restrictions for only a few sectors, carefully selected with the participation of the Treasury Department as well as Burmese civil society, democratic opposition groups and ethnic nationality leaders, they added.
“We also believe that the administration should communicate more effectively to Congress its overall policy objectives and proposed approach regarding Burma, and make clear that current sanctions relaxations are contingent and should continue to be executed by waivers, not underlying legislative change, and that Congress will need to reauthorize underlying sanctions legislation as needed throughout the year,” the NGOs said.
LALIT K JHA / THE IRRAWADDY, April 26, 2012
WASHINGTON D.C.—Independent human rights experts have urged the Obama administration and US Congress not to relax sanctions on Burma, arguing reforms being initiated by the Burmese government are reversible.
“As much as we want to hope that the recent progress toward democracy in Burma will mark a turning point, nothing positive will last until the Burmese military stops committing atrocities and a political agreement is reached with the ethnic national states,” said former Congressman Thomas H. Andrews in his testimony before a Congressional subcommittee on Wednesday.
Andrews, who now heads the United to End Genocide NGO, said that Congress can help by renewing the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act and urging the administration to take a measured approach on incentives.
“It is imperative that the United States government engages with the legitimate representatives of each ethnic nationality and supports redress of their longstanding and unresolved concerns,” he said.
Noting that he understands the desire to declare Burma a success story, Andrews said he wants nothing more than to see true democratic transformation and an end to human right abuses.
“But, success isn’t marked by removing sanctions—it’s marked by lasting change for the people of Burma who have endured endless suffering under a brutal military regime,” he argued.
“We must choose our next steps wisely. Let us reward genuine progress, but let us not condemn the people—particularly those living in ethnic minority states—to increased suffering under a long oppressive military regime that is suddenly freed of accountability and consequences for its behavior.”
In his testimony, Aung Din, from US Campaign for Burma, asserted that Congress must renew restrictions on imports from Burma. “The US must remind and keep reminding the Burmese regime that their full cooperation with Aung San Suu Kyi and democratic MPs in the Parliament and achieving negotiated political settlements with ethnic nationalities through a meaningful political dialogue outside the Parliament are the sole factors to justify fully lifting all sanctions,” he said.
Aung Din added that before the removal of any financial sanctions takes place, the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on Burma, managed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, must be updated to include even more cronies and hardliners.
“It has been almost three years since the list has been updated. Many cronies, who are sanctioned by the EU and Australia, are still not included on the US SDN list,” he said. “This list should be a must-check reference for US companies that will do business in Burma.”
The implementation of a targeted easing of bans on investment and financial services should wait until we clearly see how National League for Democracy MPs and Aung San Suu Kyi are treated by the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and the military in Parliament, as well as an end to attacks against the Kachin people, he said.
And Aung Din said binding requirements or a compulsory framework for responsible business conduct should be imposed on any US business that seeks to invest in Burma.
“The US must pressure the Burmese regime to allow former political prisoners to obtain passports so they can make trips abroad, in response to the US easing of visa restrictions on Burmese officials,” he said.
Also the US must pressure Naypyidaw to allow members of Burmese civil society groups to form and operate non-profit organizations freely, in response to Washington granting permission to American organizations to support NGOs in Burma.
Earlier, nine influential American humanitarian organizations signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to prioritize democracy and human rights in Burma by exercising caution when it comes to the relaxation of sanctions.
These NGOs include AFL-CIO, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the Institute for Asian Democracy, Open Society Foundations, Orion Strategies, Physicians for Human Rights, US Campaign for Burma and United to End Genocide.
The letter comes on the heels of an initiative by corporate interests seeking to encourage Obama to ease restrictions on private investment across all sectors of the Burmese economy.
“We believe the best approach in the immediate future is to conduct a comprehensive update of the SDN list before relaxing the investment and financial services bans,” the NGOs said.
In the medium term, the US needs to work with civil society and ethnic nationality leaders in Burma to develop binding standards for US companies doing business in the country, claims the letter. The US could then lift restrictions for only a few sectors, carefully selected with the participation of the Treasury Department as well as Burmese civil society, democratic opposition groups and ethnic nationality leaders, they added.
“We also believe that the administration should communicate more effectively to Congress its overall policy objectives and proposed approach regarding Burma, and make clear that current sanctions relaxations are contingent and should continue to be executed by waivers, not underlying legislative change, and that Congress will need to reauthorize underlying sanctions legislation as needed throughout the year,” the NGOs said.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Groups to World Bank: Stop the Land Grabs! | Common Dreams
Groups to World Bank: Stop the Land Grabs! | Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff, April 24, 2012 by Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff, April 24, 2012 by Common Dreams
As the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty takes place in Washington DC this week, farmers and environmental groups have organized to push back against the Bank's pro-corporate, pro-privatization land grab attempts and the rights and environmental violations they bring.
Screen grab from film (see below) from La Via Campesina and Friends of the Earth International on the devasting impacts of the World Bank's land grabs on Uganda.
The groups -- including Focus on the Global South, Friends of the Earth International and GRAIN -- say the World Bank is a leading force behind the land grabs, which allow giant global corporations to gobble up land and resources from local communities.
In a group statement on the Bank's conference, the protesting groups say, "The World Bank is playing a key role in this global land grab by making capital and guarantees available for big multinational investors, providing technical assistance and support to 'improve the agricultural investment climate' in so-called recipient countries, and promoting policies and laws that are corporate-oriented rather than people-centered."
"Rural people are losing control over land and water because of this global land grab," adds Honduran farmer leader Rafael Alegria of the international farmers' movement La Via Campesina. "We want the land grab stopped and the lands taken to be returned to the local communities.
"Decades of World Bank programs promoting market-based approaches to land management have set the stage for a massive takeover of peoples' lands, massive environmental destruction, and a massive backlash by farmers and other frontline communities," says Giulia Franchi of Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale.
La Via Campesina and Friends of the Earth International have released two short films to coincide with the World Bank's conference to highlight the human rights abuses and environmental destruction that comes with the land grabs.
Screen grab from film (see below) from La Via Campesina and Friends of the Earth International on the devasting impacts of the World Bank's land grabs on Uganda.
The groups -- including Focus on the Global South, Friends of the Earth International and GRAIN -- say the World Bank is a leading force behind the land grabs, which allow giant global corporations to gobble up land and resources from local communities.
In a group statement on the Bank's conference, the protesting groups say, "The World Bank is playing a key role in this global land grab by making capital and guarantees available for big multinational investors, providing technical assistance and support to 'improve the agricultural investment climate' in so-called recipient countries, and promoting policies and laws that are corporate-oriented rather than people-centered."
"Rural people are losing control over land and water because of this global land grab," adds Honduran farmer leader Rafael Alegria of the international farmers' movement La Via Campesina. "We want the land grab stopped and the lands taken to be returned to the local communities.
"Decades of World Bank programs promoting market-based approaches to land management have set the stage for a massive takeover of peoples' lands, massive environmental destruction, and a massive backlash by farmers and other frontline communities," says Giulia Franchi of Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale.
La Via Campesina and Friends of the Earth International have released two short films to coincide with the World Bank's conference to highlight the human rights abuses and environmental destruction that comes with the land grabs.
* * *
GRAIN: Farmers demand the World Bank and Wall Street stop grabbing their lands at opening of the Bank’s annual conference in Washington, DC.The World Bank is playing a leading role in a global land grab, say farmers' movements and their international allies. The World Bank’s policies for land privatization and concentration, have paved the way for corporations from Wall Street to Singapore to take upwards of 80 million hectares of land from rural communities across the world in the past few years, they say in a collective statement released today at the opening of the World Bank’s Conference on Land and Poverty in Washington DC.
"Rural people are losing control over land and water because of this global land grab," says Honduran farmer leader Rafael Alegria of the international farmers' movement La Via Campesina. "We want the land grab stopped and the lands taken to be returned to the local communities. In Honduras, we demand that the law for rural modernization promoted by the World Bank be canceled and that a new law for agricultural transition be adopted".
The World Bank will be meeting with government officials and private sector investors during its annual conference, where they will discuss large-scale farmland acquisitions by foreign corporations in developing countries. The World Bank will be promoting its controversial Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI).
"The World Bank's RAI principles are an attempt to legitimize corporate land grabs and the expansion of an industrial model of agriculture that is destroying people’s livelihoods and the planet," says Giulia Franchi of Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale. "Decades of World Bank programs promoting market-based approaches to land management have set the stage for a massive takeover of peoples' lands, massive environmental destruction, and a massive backlash by farmers and other frontline communities."
The global land grab was denounced at over 250 worldwide protest actions on April 17th, the International Day of Peasant's Struggle. Tomorrow another major farmland investor conference in New York City involving the World Bank and big money managers like the Canadian Pension Fund, TIAA-CREF and PensionDanmark, will be targeted for protests by New York’s Ethiopian Community, Occupy Wall Street and others.
"U.S. farmers, particularly young and beginning farmers, can't afford the rising costs of good land and are in no position to compete with speculators and Wall Street investment schemes,” says Bob St.Peter, Director of Food for Maine's Future and Executive Committee member of the National Family Farm Coalition. “Here in the U.S., 400 million acres of farmland are going to change hands over the next 20 years. Whether those lands will support diversified family farms or multinational corporations is one of the most important political questions in the U.S. today."
* * *
WORLD BANK: GET OUT OF LAND!"Land governance in a rapidly changing environment" is the theme of the 2012 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty being held April 23-26 in Washington DC. Corporate investors, governments and International Financial Institutions are meeting at World Bank headquarters to “discuss issues of concern to land practitioners and policymakers worldwide”. While they devise ways to help corporations acquire land around the world, people on the ground are suffering from the corporate-friendly land policies and laws promoted by the World Bank and its allies.
The World Bank has for decades pushed a market-based approach to land management based on its political and economic recipes for poverty reduction. It has promoted land privatization and sought to create the conditions for land markets to be established by transforming traditional and customary land rights into ready-to-be-marketed titles and by funding land-titling programs in many countries -- in support of a corporate-led agri-industrial model of development.
Its land programs have increased the concentration of land in the hands of a few and set the stage for a massive global land and water grab. Attracted by high food prices and an increasing demand for agrofuels, feed, and raw materials, multinational agribusiness corporations and players from the financial industry, such as private banks and pension funds, are rushing to gain control of land and other associated resources such as water. An estimated 80 to 230 million hectares of land have been leased or bought up in recent years, mainly to produce food, feed or fuel for the international market. As a result, peasants, herders, fishers and rural households are losing their access to and control over natural resources (land, water, fisheries, forests, pastures) and production processes, and therefore being dispossessed of the means to feed themselves and their communities. Local populations are being evicted and displaced, human rights such as the right to food and housing are being violated, and the environment, as much as traditional community structures, are being destroyed.
The World Bank is playing a key role in this global land grab by making capital and guarantees available for big multinational investors, providing technical assistance and support to “improve the agricultural investment climate” in so-called recipient countries, and promoting policies and laws that are corporate-oriented rather than people-centered. All this is being done while the Bank promotes its seven principles of Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) to legitimize the global capture of people’s lands by big corporate investors for industrial agriculture. The World Bank continues acting in total impunity. States must stop it and fully comply with their extraterritorial human rights obligations.
While the World Bank meets inside its headquarters with the global land grabbers, people outside are mobilizing around the world to outlaw land grabbing and to reclaim all the grabbed territories. They assert that no corporate-led transparency or responsibility schemes will ever make the expropriation of people’s land or the agri-industrial model acceptable or sustainable.
In the framework of the International Day of Peasant Struggle launched by La Via Campesina for April 17, we join with farmers and fisher-folk movements, agricultural workers’ organizations, students, human rights activists and environmental groups, women’s organizations and social justice movements in the struggle to oppose land grabbing and the corporate control of lands and to stop any attempts by the World Bank and its corporate allies to package the expropriation of peasant farmers’ land worldwide as a responsible deal.
World Bank, get out of land, now!
Signed by Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale, FIAN International, Focus on the Global South, Friends of the Earth International, GRAIN, La Via Campesina, and the Transnational Institute - 23 April 2012
Philippines govt, MILF agree to scrap ARMM | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Philippines govt, MILF agree to scrap ARMM | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Edwin Espejo, Apr 25, 2012
In a bid to salvage the stalled peace talks between the government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), members of both negotiating panels have agreed to the creation of a “new autonomous political entity in place of the ARMM” (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).
The major agreement is contained in a joint declaration signed late Tuesday afternoon in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which has been hosting the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the country’s largest Moro rebel group.
In a report, Mindanews’ Carolyn Arguillas said the two parties have also agreed to meet again in May.
The joint declaration contained 10 principles that will guide both parties in addressing the decades old Moro rebellion in Southern Philippines.
GPH peace panel chair Marvic Leonen said the signing of the agreement is a major step in “the discussions of substantive issues in these negotiations.”
Leonen explained that the 10-point principles “are commitments that can be properly accommodated by our current legal and political realities.”
Tuesday’s Kuala Lumpur meeting also included a “list of agreed principles focused on power-sharing and wealth-sharing between the national government and the new political entity, with the following matters reserved for the competence of the national government: defense and external security, foreign policy, coinage and monetary policy, citizenship and naturalization, postal service; common market and global trade, although it added a footnote that the power to enter into economic agreements already allowed under RA 9054 “shall be transferred to the new political entity.”
The peace talks stalled in August last year when the Philippine government offered a 3-for-1 proposal that limited its commitment to “massive economic development; political settlement with the MILF; and cultural-historical acknowledgment.”
It was rejected outright by the MILF who accused the government of failing to address its ancestral domain claim.
Both parties earlier expressed optimism for a negotiated political settlement after Philippine President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III and MILF chair Ibrahim Al Haj Murad held an unprecedented meeting in Japan also in August last year.
The ARMM was created in 1989 under Republic Act 6734 as a result of the then ongoing peace negotiations between the government of the late president Corazon Aquino and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) headed by Nur Misuari.
The law was amended by Republic Act 9054 which expanded the provinces and cities that composed the ARMM. At present, ARMM includes the provinces Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and all their component cities.
The MILF however has reject ted the ARMM and has demanded a delineation of what it claimed a Bangsa Moro juridical entity or a sub-state.
The MILF broke away from the MNLF in the early 1980s after major disagreement over the signing of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the decision of Misuari to abandon its secessionist stand.
Under the chairmanship of the late Salamat Hashim, the MILF grew to become the largest armed rebel group in the country.
After the death of Salamat, the MILF dropped its bid to establish an Islamic state in southern Mindanao as it opted to enter into a negotiated political settlement with the Philippine government.
Negotiations between the MILF and the Philippine government have been marked by major armed clashes.
In 2000, former President Joseph Estrada declared all out war against the MILF out laid siege to the rebels’ major encampments in Mindanao. The government overran most of the MILF rebel camp but failed to wipe away the rebels.
In 2001, ex-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pursued peace negotiations with the MILF only to launch a major counter-offensive in 2008 in the wake of Moro rebel attacks following the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
Edwin Espejo, Apr 25, 2012
In a bid to salvage the stalled peace talks between the government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), members of both negotiating panels have agreed to the creation of a “new autonomous political entity in place of the ARMM” (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).
The major agreement is contained in a joint declaration signed late Tuesday afternoon in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which has been hosting the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the country’s largest Moro rebel group.
In a report, Mindanews’ Carolyn Arguillas said the two parties have also agreed to meet again in May.
The joint declaration contained 10 principles that will guide both parties in addressing the decades old Moro rebellion in Southern Philippines.
GPH peace panel chair Marvic Leonen said the signing of the agreement is a major step in “the discussions of substantive issues in these negotiations.”
Leonen explained that the 10-point principles “are commitments that can be properly accommodated by our current legal and political realities.”
Tuesday’s Kuala Lumpur meeting also included a “list of agreed principles focused on power-sharing and wealth-sharing between the national government and the new political entity, with the following matters reserved for the competence of the national government: defense and external security, foreign policy, coinage and monetary policy, citizenship and naturalization, postal service; common market and global trade, although it added a footnote that the power to enter into economic agreements already allowed under RA 9054 “shall be transferred to the new political entity.”
The peace talks stalled in August last year when the Philippine government offered a 3-for-1 proposal that limited its commitment to “massive economic development; political settlement with the MILF; and cultural-historical acknowledgment.”
It was rejected outright by the MILF who accused the government of failing to address its ancestral domain claim.
Both parties earlier expressed optimism for a negotiated political settlement after Philippine President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III and MILF chair Ibrahim Al Haj Murad held an unprecedented meeting in Japan also in August last year.
The ARMM was created in 1989 under Republic Act 6734 as a result of the then ongoing peace negotiations between the government of the late president Corazon Aquino and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) headed by Nur Misuari.
The law was amended by Republic Act 9054 which expanded the provinces and cities that composed the ARMM. At present, ARMM includes the provinces Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and all their component cities.
The MILF however has reject ted the ARMM and has demanded a delineation of what it claimed a Bangsa Moro juridical entity or a sub-state.
The MILF broke away from the MNLF in the early 1980s after major disagreement over the signing of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the decision of Misuari to abandon its secessionist stand.
Under the chairmanship of the late Salamat Hashim, the MILF grew to become the largest armed rebel group in the country.
After the death of Salamat, the MILF dropped its bid to establish an Islamic state in southern Mindanao as it opted to enter into a negotiated political settlement with the Philippine government.
Negotiations between the MILF and the Philippine government have been marked by major armed clashes.
In 2000, former President Joseph Estrada declared all out war against the MILF out laid siege to the rebels’ major encampments in Mindanao. The government overran most of the MILF rebel camp but failed to wipe away the rebels.
In 2001, ex-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pursued peace negotiations with the MILF only to launch a major counter-offensive in 2008 in the wake of Moro rebel attacks following the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Vermont's Push to Force GMO Labeling Faces Obstacles | Common Dreams
Vermont's Push to Force GMO Labeling Faces Obstacles | Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff , April 23, 2012
Common Dreams staff , April 23, 2012
Vermont's drive to force food packaging to clearly label whether genetically-modified ingredients are contained in products is making progress in the state legislature, but advocates of the move are disappointed at the slow pace of the pending laws and worry that powerful forces aligned against them, like Monsanto and other large agribusiness firms, will use the delay to consolidate their opposition.
Legislators have heard a drumbeat of support for labeling, according to the Burlington Free Press. Some 300 people turned out for a public hearing before the House Agriculture Committee at the Statehouse earlier this month, where every person who spoke did so in favor of labeling genetically engineered foods.
“We have a right to uncontaminated agriculture in this state,” Peggy Luhrs of Burlington told the committee at the hearing, echoing a common sentiment of uneasiness with the science of genetically engineered seeds. Many noted that 50 other nations require some sort of labeling, reports the Free Press.
Writing in support of the labeling in an op-ed in the Times-Argus, Bondville resident Fred Swchacke wrote today, "It is clear from the turnout of citizens at the Vermont Department of Agriculture hearings on GMO that Vermonters, like Americans in general, are nearly unanimous in their agreement with our European neighbors. They simply want to regain control over the quality of their food and demand it’s accurate labeling. It’s time that our government and the 4th estate line up to support them in the fight against Goliath."
Jeff Weinstein, managing partner of Two Guys of Vermont, seen at the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier on April 11. Weinstein is in favor of labeling genetically modified food. (GLENN RUSSELL, Free Press)
The Burlington Free Press: GMO Label Movement Faces Hurdles in Vermont
Legislators have heard a drumbeat of support for labeling, according to the Burlington Free Press. Some 300 people turned out for a public hearing before the House Agriculture Committee at the Statehouse earlier this month, where every person who spoke did so in favor of labeling genetically engineered foods.
“We have a right to uncontaminated agriculture in this state,” Peggy Luhrs of Burlington told the committee at the hearing, echoing a common sentiment of uneasiness with the science of genetically engineered seeds. Many noted that 50 other nations require some sort of labeling, reports the Free Press.
Writing in support of the labeling in an op-ed in the Times-Argus, Bondville resident Fred Swchacke wrote today, "It is clear from the turnout of citizens at the Vermont Department of Agriculture hearings on GMO that Vermonters, like Americans in general, are nearly unanimous in their agreement with our European neighbors. They simply want to regain control over the quality of their food and demand it’s accurate labeling. It’s time that our government and the 4th estate line up to support them in the fight against Goliath."
* * *
Jeff Weinstein, managing partner of Two Guys of Vermont, seen at the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier on April 11. Weinstein is in favor of labeling genetically modified food. (GLENN RUSSELL, Free Press)
The Burlington Free Press: GMO Label Movement Faces Hurdles in Vermont
Despite the clamor, labeling appears to be a long ways off in Vermont. Legislation that emerged from the House Agriculture Committee on Friday afternoon comes too late in the legislative session for there to be any hope of it making its way through the full House, the Senate and into law. In addition, the resistance that the legislation ran into highlights the chasm that can exist between the goals of a burgeoning political movement and the pressures legislators face as they seek to fashion laws. [...]
Supporters of labeling also came away unsatisfied, as the bill included a sizable hurdle. Any implementation would be delayed until 365 days after California and at least two Northeastern states enact similar laws. The 9-1 margin was encouraging to labeling supporter Andrea Stander, executive director of Rural Vermont, but the delay in implementation was a big disappointment, she said.
“They passed a piece of legislation that has its arms and legs tied and eyes and ears covered,” Stander said. “There’s a real concern that if we don’t do something about this soon, there aren’t going to be any GMO-free foods.” [...]
* * *
* * *
Times-Argus op-ed by Fred Swchacke: Support GMO Food Labeling Monsanto’s use of its massive financial, legal and political clout to destroy all who stand in the way of its efforts to bully Americans into acceptance of their GMO foods in our kitchens is simply unacceptable. In a free country one of our most basic rights is to know what we eat, and one of the government’s most basic responsibilities is to protect our food supply.
In a world where corporate giants claim the right to do whatever they see fit to our food supply under the banner of a “free market economy,” over 90 percent of consumers demand that the content of what goes onto their kitchen table be clearly and accurately labeled. The real “Free Market” has spoken with exceptional clarity and the moral choice and responsibility of government is clear.
Fifteen years or so ago, Monsanto espoused the need for the public to know about their GMO products, and actually promoted them in an advertising campaign in France. Quoting their statements of the time: “You have the right to know what you eat, especially when it’s better … After several months of debate, Europe has just adopted a new law for the labeling of food that comes from genetically engineered plants … We believe that products that come from biotechnology are better and that they should to be labeled.” But that was before the massive consumer backlash that all but killed the market for genetically modified foods in Europe.
It is clear from the turnout of citizens at the Vermont Department of Agriculture hearings on GMO that Vermonters, like Americans in general, are nearly unanimous in their agreement with our European neighbors. They simply want to regain control over the quality of their food and demand it’s accurate labeling. It’s time that our government and the 4th estate line up to support them in the fight against Goliath.
* * *
Burlington Free Press (continued): Big Agribusiness Lawsuit?The House committee members said they heard clearly from Rachel Lattimore, a Washington lawyer specializing in biotechnology, that they would be facing a lawsuit if the legislation passed.
[Vermont Gov. Peter] Shumlin said he was worried the state would lose that lawsuit. The Attorney General’s Office agrees.
Ryan Kriger, an assistant state attorney general, warned that the GMO bill is very similar to the bovine growth hormone labeling law struck down in 1996.
Kriger said requiring labeling of genetically engineered products could face a challenge on several counts in court. An opponent could argue that states are pre-empted from regulating food products by the FDA, that states are restricted from controlling interstate commerce or that companies’ right to free speech is protected by the First Amendment.
Kriger said courts would require the state to prove it had a valid interest in restricting the speech and that the solution is related to that interest. The court ruled in the milk case that a consumer’s curiosity is not enough, he said.
If the state’s interest is in ensuring food safety, it would run up against the FDA’s declaration that genetically engineered foods are safe, Kriger said.
Supporters of labeling argue that since the 1996 decision, courts have viewed such cases differently. Alaska passed a law requiring the labeling of genetically engineered fish, the Center for Food Safety said in a memo to the House Agriculture Committee that argued a labeling law would be legally defensible. [...]
Numerous speakers at the public hearing told the committee that a court fight would be worthwhile and they are willing to pay for it, accusing Shumlin of being afraid to stand up to Monsanto. The Organics Consumer Association, a national group, even started a legal defense fund for Vermont or any other state that’s sued.
Legislators know that not all Vermonters share the appetite for lawsuits. Conscious of the cost of defending recent drug marketing and Vermont Yankee laws that were shot down in court, lawmakers are wary of creating another.
“I appreciate the sentiment,” said Partridge, the committee chairwoman, “but the reality is I’d like to create a bill that’s really defensible in court.”
Partridge said she thinks her committee has done that. The bill cites a need to protect Vermonters’ health, environment, agricultural diversity and the food market from the increasing use of genetically engineered foods. She also argued that the bill cites legal precedent that allows a state to regulate foods. She noted that there is a push in California for a public vote on the issue this November and legislation brewing in more than a dozen other states.
“I think we put together a very good bill,” Partridge said. ”I think it could provide a model for other states that may be continuing to work on this.”
# # #
Police Arrest Protesters at Wells Fargo in Iowa | Common Dreams
Police Arrest Protesters at Wells Fargo in Iowa | Common Dreams
Laura Flanders, April 24, 2012 by The Nation
Laura Flanders, April 24, 2012 by The Nation
Add ten more Americans to the list of non-CEOS who’ve gone to jail since the start of the financial crisis. On Monday afternoon, police arrested ten protesters at the office of Wells Fargo in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, among them, a former Methodist minister, a Vietnam Veteran, several unemployed Iowans and at least a couple of family farmers.
Former minister, Stephanie Simmons, who was arrested Monday, explained her actions shortly after her arrest: “I love democracy and my concern, among other things, is the outrageous salaries and bonuses the bank executives are making when there are people just hanging on by their fingernails.”
Simmons lives in Guthrie Center, Iowa (population ca. 1,500). Her congregation of about 130 people supports twenty-seven families with food and other supplies every month.
“Our food banks have run short. Giving in the congregation is at an all time low because people just don’t have the money. Children are short of school supplies.” Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf needs to take a look, said Simmons. “Take a look at what you’re doing. If you have a conscience at all, you need to take a look.”
Des Moines, Iowa is the national headquarters of Wells Fargo’s Home Mortgage division. “Wells Fargo’s mortgage office here in Iowa is making billions in profits every year by kicking hardworking families out of their homes and they aren’t even paying taxes on their ill-got wealth,” said Kenn Bowen, a Vietnam veteran and retired communications worker from Winterset, Iowa another arrestee. “That ain’t right. Wells Fargo should be broken up into smaller, community banks that will put people before profits.”
Jim Yunclas, another arrestee, a retired Agriculture extension officer. lives on a so-called century farm—one that’s been in his family for more than 100 years. His farm is bordered by factory farms underwritten by Wells Fargo, factory farms that house some one million chickens and 500 hogs, he says. Those factory farms, run by absentee owners devalue local property, degrade the environment and drive up the local taxpayer spending on road maintenance, health care and rent, says Yunclas. “They want profits, not community. They’re a burden on society and we pick up the tab. Financing factory farms, Wells Fargo isn’t being a good community banker, they’re being a thief.”
Simmons and Yunclas, like most of the Des Moines arrestees, belong to Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, a community faith and labor coalition that has been active for thirty-plus years in the state.
“Iowa CCI has been standing up to corporate power for 38 years and this is the first time we have actively put our bodies on the line in the sense that we were willing to risk arrest,” said ICCI’s David Goodner in a phone call after the action Monday. All those who were arrested Monday had participated in a 99% Spring civil disobedience training last month. Two ICCI activists each bought one share of Wells Fargo, and are on their way to the shareholder meeting.
What the protestors wanted, they said as they spoke via human microphone at the locked-and barred bank entrance, was time during the Wells Fargo shareholders’ meeting in San Francisco Tuesday for their colleagues to present their grievances to the public and the officials of the bank. The action in Iowa came a day ahead of what is anticipated to be a thousands-strong demonstration inside and outside the shareholder meeting. Time on the annual shareholder agenda, organizers believe, is the public’s best chance to get in front of bank officials, shareholders, the media and the public.
It’s been four long years since the start of the financial crisis and Wells Fargo, whose mortgage division is housed in Des Moines, stands accused of just about every corporate crime in the bankers’ book—from predatory lending, to racial discrimination, tax evasion and profiteering of payday lending scams. They finance the factory farm industry too, and private prisons to boot, while spending hundreds of thousands on state ballot measures and state and federal elections. Yet Wells Fargo officials have yet to respond the public—to the people whom its policies have hurt, said organizers.
Monday’s actions represent a stepping up of pressure, said George Goehl, director of National People’s Acton, a co-sponsor of the Spring Trainings. Goehl was the tenth arrestee on Monday in Des Moines.
“This is hardly the first demonstration we’ve done, yet for four years Wells Fargo has refused to respond to the 99 percent,” said Goehl. “They’ve denied and deflected, denied and deflected. Well, we’re tired of being the only ones in crisis. Its time for Wells Fargo to be in crisis.”
Former minister, Stephanie Simmons, who was arrested Monday, explained her actions shortly after her arrest: “I love democracy and my concern, among other things, is the outrageous salaries and bonuses the bank executives are making when there are people just hanging on by their fingernails.”
Simmons lives in Guthrie Center, Iowa (population ca. 1,500). Her congregation of about 130 people supports twenty-seven families with food and other supplies every month.
“Our food banks have run short. Giving in the congregation is at an all time low because people just don’t have the money. Children are short of school supplies.” Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf needs to take a look, said Simmons. “Take a look at what you’re doing. If you have a conscience at all, you need to take a look.”
Des Moines, Iowa is the national headquarters of Wells Fargo’s Home Mortgage division. “Wells Fargo’s mortgage office here in Iowa is making billions in profits every year by kicking hardworking families out of their homes and they aren’t even paying taxes on their ill-got wealth,” said Kenn Bowen, a Vietnam veteran and retired communications worker from Winterset, Iowa another arrestee. “That ain’t right. Wells Fargo should be broken up into smaller, community banks that will put people before profits.”
Jim Yunclas, another arrestee, a retired Agriculture extension officer. lives on a so-called century farm—one that’s been in his family for more than 100 years. His farm is bordered by factory farms underwritten by Wells Fargo, factory farms that house some one million chickens and 500 hogs, he says. Those factory farms, run by absentee owners devalue local property, degrade the environment and drive up the local taxpayer spending on road maintenance, health care and rent, says Yunclas. “They want profits, not community. They’re a burden on society and we pick up the tab. Financing factory farms, Wells Fargo isn’t being a good community banker, they’re being a thief.”
Simmons and Yunclas, like most of the Des Moines arrestees, belong to Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, a community faith and labor coalition that has been active for thirty-plus years in the state.
“Iowa CCI has been standing up to corporate power for 38 years and this is the first time we have actively put our bodies on the line in the sense that we were willing to risk arrest,” said ICCI’s David Goodner in a phone call after the action Monday. All those who were arrested Monday had participated in a 99% Spring civil disobedience training last month. Two ICCI activists each bought one share of Wells Fargo, and are on their way to the shareholder meeting.
What the protestors wanted, they said as they spoke via human microphone at the locked-and barred bank entrance, was time during the Wells Fargo shareholders’ meeting in San Francisco Tuesday for their colleagues to present their grievances to the public and the officials of the bank. The action in Iowa came a day ahead of what is anticipated to be a thousands-strong demonstration inside and outside the shareholder meeting. Time on the annual shareholder agenda, organizers believe, is the public’s best chance to get in front of bank officials, shareholders, the media and the public.
It’s been four long years since the start of the financial crisis and Wells Fargo, whose mortgage division is housed in Des Moines, stands accused of just about every corporate crime in the bankers’ book—from predatory lending, to racial discrimination, tax evasion and profiteering of payday lending scams. They finance the factory farm industry too, and private prisons to boot, while spending hundreds of thousands on state ballot measures and state and federal elections. Yet Wells Fargo officials have yet to respond the public—to the people whom its policies have hurt, said organizers.
Monday’s actions represent a stepping up of pressure, said George Goehl, director of National People’s Acton, a co-sponsor of the Spring Trainings. Goehl was the tenth arrestee on Monday in Des Moines.
“This is hardly the first demonstration we’ve done, yet for four years Wells Fargo has refused to respond to the 99 percent,” said Goehl. “They’ve denied and deflected, denied and deflected. Well, we’re tired of being the only ones in crisis. Its time for Wells Fargo to be in crisis.”
© 2012 The Nation
Burma exiles urge US go slow on easing sanctions | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Burma exiles urge US go slow on easing sanctions | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Apr 24, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — The European Union’s suspension of economic sanctions against Burma has riled exiled activists, who are urging the United States to press for further reforms by the dominant military before following suit.
The activists’ opposition has exposed differences with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi whose cause they have championed for more than two decades, which helped drive the sanctions in the first place.
Suu Kyi endorsed the EU move during a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron to Yangon this month, but the activists are skeptical that sanctions could be re-imposed if Burma, also known as Myanmar, should backslide on the reforms. They say despite Suu Kyi’s winning a seat in parliament and cease-fires reached by the government with several ethnic armed insurgencies, the changes have yet to affect the lives of most citizens and rampant rights abuses continue.
“The EU has suspended sanctions knowing that its own benchmarks on Burma have not been met: the unconditional release of all political prisoners and a cessation of attacks against ethnic minorities,” Soe Aung of the Forum for Democracy in Burma said by e-mail from Thailand. He accused the bloc of rushing to reward “murky reforms.”
“It’s illogical and a little hypocritical,” Aung said.
While the influence of Burma activists who escaped the country in the years following a 1988 crackdown on democracy protesters is waning as the country opens up, they remain players in the debate. Last week, a group of them were lobbying opinion-makers in Washington, including at the State Department and the World Bank.
They say foreign investment before rule of law is established in the impoverished country would do more harm than good and benefit only the military and its cronies who dominate the most lucrative sectors of the economy, such as timber, gemstones, oil and gas. Most of those resources are in, and need to be transported through, remote, ethnic minority regions where hundreds of thousands of villagers have been displaced by fighting and where military abuses have been worst.
The Obama administration has taken those concerns on board. While the U.S. has led the charge in engaging Burma, it is moving more slowly than the EU in lifting sanctions. It is upgrading diplomatic ties and plans to allow U.S. investment in some sectors, but only in areas it judges would benefit the broader population.
Congressional committees that oversee U.S. policy toward Asia will take up the issue this week, hearing testimony by senior officials from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury Department.
Khin Ohmar, coordinator of Burma Partnership, a coalition of pro-democracy activists based in several Asian countries, said despite relaxation of restrictions on media and peaceful protests in Burma, the military still can act with impunity.
“People talk about President Thein Sein being reform-minded. That may be true. There’s always been reform-minded people, even under the repressive system. But what we need in Burma is institutional changes, not changes based on personalities,” she said in Washington.
She said the litmus test of political reform would be 2015 national elections, when the military’s control of parliament will be challenged. Even after winning 43 of the 45 seats contested in recent special elections, Suu Kyi’s party still controls fewer than 7 percent of the seats, and refused to take them up when parliament convened Monday due to a dispute over a single word in the oath of office, a sign of the formidable hurdles that remain in political reconciliation.
Western governments maintain it’s important to act now to reward the Thein Sein’s government, to weaken the hand of conservatives in the military who oppose the democratic reforms.
The EU on Monday announced it was suspending most of its sanctions, except an arms embargo, for six months to a year while it assesses the country’s progress. The restrictions currently target more than 800 companies and nearly 500 people. Last week, Japan said it would take steps to forgive about $3.7 billion of Burma’s debt and resume full-fledged development aid.
Former political prisoner Aung Din of the U.S. Campaign for Burma who will testify at one of this week’s U.S. congressional hearings, says once Western businesses move into Burma it will be difficult to reverse the sanctions, and democracy advocates will lose leverage over the military. He questioned whether Suu Kyi and her party were properly informed of the risks before she endorsed the EU move.
Since the special elections, the U.S. has eased financial sanctions to allow private groups to do charity work in Burma, and is soon expected to open the way for investment in sectors such as agriculture, tourism, banking and finance. One influential lawmaker, Sen. Jim Webb has suggested easing trade sanctions too.
Despite abiding Republican skepticism about the administration’s willingness to reach out to authoritarian governments, the most influential lawmakers from both parties on Burma policy have broadly endorsed Obama’s approach — a rare example of bipartisanship in Washington.
“To most observers on the outside, it’s clearly time to negotiate a transition here,” said Priscilla Clapp, a former charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Yangon. “You can’t be so hard-nosed as not to compromise.”
AP News, Apr 24, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — The European Union’s suspension of economic sanctions against Burma has riled exiled activists, who are urging the United States to press for further reforms by the dominant military before following suit.
The activists’ opposition has exposed differences with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi whose cause they have championed for more than two decades, which helped drive the sanctions in the first place.
Suu Kyi endorsed the EU move during a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron to Yangon this month, but the activists are skeptical that sanctions could be re-imposed if Burma, also known as Myanmar, should backslide on the reforms. They say despite Suu Kyi’s winning a seat in parliament and cease-fires reached by the government with several ethnic armed insurgencies, the changes have yet to affect the lives of most citizens and rampant rights abuses continue.
“The EU has suspended sanctions knowing that its own benchmarks on Burma have not been met: the unconditional release of all political prisoners and a cessation of attacks against ethnic minorities,” Soe Aung of the Forum for Democracy in Burma said by e-mail from Thailand. He accused the bloc of rushing to reward “murky reforms.”
“It’s illogical and a little hypocritical,” Aung said.
While the influence of Burma activists who escaped the country in the years following a 1988 crackdown on democracy protesters is waning as the country opens up, they remain players in the debate. Last week, a group of them were lobbying opinion-makers in Washington, including at the State Department and the World Bank.
They say foreign investment before rule of law is established in the impoverished country would do more harm than good and benefit only the military and its cronies who dominate the most lucrative sectors of the economy, such as timber, gemstones, oil and gas. Most of those resources are in, and need to be transported through, remote, ethnic minority regions where hundreds of thousands of villagers have been displaced by fighting and where military abuses have been worst.
The Obama administration has taken those concerns on board. While the U.S. has led the charge in engaging Burma, it is moving more slowly than the EU in lifting sanctions. It is upgrading diplomatic ties and plans to allow U.S. investment in some sectors, but only in areas it judges would benefit the broader population.
Congressional committees that oversee U.S. policy toward Asia will take up the issue this week, hearing testimony by senior officials from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury Department.
Khin Ohmar, coordinator of Burma Partnership, a coalition of pro-democracy activists based in several Asian countries, said despite relaxation of restrictions on media and peaceful protests in Burma, the military still can act with impunity.
“People talk about President Thein Sein being reform-minded. That may be true. There’s always been reform-minded people, even under the repressive system. But what we need in Burma is institutional changes, not changes based on personalities,” she said in Washington.
She said the litmus test of political reform would be 2015 national elections, when the military’s control of parliament will be challenged. Even after winning 43 of the 45 seats contested in recent special elections, Suu Kyi’s party still controls fewer than 7 percent of the seats, and refused to take them up when parliament convened Monday due to a dispute over a single word in the oath of office, a sign of the formidable hurdles that remain in political reconciliation.
Western governments maintain it’s important to act now to reward the Thein Sein’s government, to weaken the hand of conservatives in the military who oppose the democratic reforms.
The EU on Monday announced it was suspending most of its sanctions, except an arms embargo, for six months to a year while it assesses the country’s progress. The restrictions currently target more than 800 companies and nearly 500 people. Last week, Japan said it would take steps to forgive about $3.7 billion of Burma’s debt and resume full-fledged development aid.
Former political prisoner Aung Din of the U.S. Campaign for Burma who will testify at one of this week’s U.S. congressional hearings, says once Western businesses move into Burma it will be difficult to reverse the sanctions, and democracy advocates will lose leverage over the military. He questioned whether Suu Kyi and her party were properly informed of the risks before she endorsed the EU move.
Since the special elections, the U.S. has eased financial sanctions to allow private groups to do charity work in Burma, and is soon expected to open the way for investment in sectors such as agriculture, tourism, banking and finance. One influential lawmaker, Sen. Jim Webb has suggested easing trade sanctions too.
Despite abiding Republican skepticism about the administration’s willingness to reach out to authoritarian governments, the most influential lawmakers from both parties on Burma policy have broadly endorsed Obama’s approach — a rare example of bipartisanship in Washington.
“To most observers on the outside, it’s clearly time to negotiate a transition here,” said Priscilla Clapp, a former charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Yangon. “You can’t be so hard-nosed as not to compromise.”
Monday, April 23, 2012
Chicago Continues Beefing Up 'Security' for NATO Summit While Protesters Still in Dark | Common Dreams
Chicago Continues Beefing Up 'Security' for NATO Summit While Protesters Still in Dark | Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff April 22, 2012 by Common Dreams
Common Dreams staff April 22, 2012 by Common Dreams
In the lead-up to the NATO summit in Chicago from May 20 - 21, the city has acquired 500 troopers from the Illinois State Police as well as 600 Illinois National Guard troops for the summit and accompanying protests. What protesters still don't know is the location restrictions that the Secret Service will enforce on protest areas, prompting concern from the ACLU.
Chicago Police Department facing Occupy protesters in October. (photo: ken fager)
The Chicago Sun-Times reports today that City Hall sources gave the information on hundreds of additional Illinois State troopers on Friday, while the Illinois National Guard disclosed its information on hundreds of guards for support earlier this week.
The ACLU has been demanding information on security perimeters for the summit to ensure “effective exercise of First Amendment expressive activities.”
While the Secret Service has said it would announce the perimeters two to four weeks ahead of the event, the ACLU believes that only two weeks notice would weaken the ability to have court challenges on the restrictions.
Chicago Police have already said they have a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) available for use during the protests.
ACLU: ACLU of Illinois calls on Secret Service to make public security plans for NATO summit by end of the day on Monday
Chicago Police Department facing Occupy protesters in October. (photo: ken fager)
The Chicago Sun-Times reports today that City Hall sources gave the information on hundreds of additional Illinois State troopers on Friday, while the Illinois National Guard disclosed its information on hundreds of guards for support earlier this week.
The ACLU has been demanding information on security perimeters for the summit to ensure “effective exercise of First Amendment expressive activities.”
While the Secret Service has said it would announce the perimeters two to four weeks ahead of the event, the ACLU believes that only two weeks notice would weaken the ability to have court challenges on the restrictions.
Chicago Police have already said they have a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) available for use during the protests.
* * *
Chicago Sun-Times: 500 troopers may help handle NATO protestersAs many as 500 troopers from the Illinois State Police will assist the Chicago Police Department in handling thousands of protesters expected to descend on Chicago during the May 20-21 NATO summit, City Hall sources said Friday. [...]
Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said the size of the State Police contingent is “evolving, as is the attendance and type of delegations” attending the NATO summit. [...]
Earlier this week, the Illinois National Guard disclosed that as many as 600 of its troops would help move international delegations around the city during the summit.
The National Guard also revealed that it has scheduled an emergency response drill outside the city during summit weekend so even more of its troops can be summoned to Chicago in the event of largescale trouble. [...]
[Police Supt. Garry ] McCarthy once served as operations chief for the New York City Police Department, which has extensive experience in crowd control, civil unrest and protection of visiting dignitaries.
* * *
Chicago – Seeking to protect the “effective exercise of First Amendment expressive activities” during the upcoming NATO meeting in Chicago, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois today asked the United States Secret Service to release its security plan for the area surrounding McCormick Place by the end of the day on Monday, April 23. Specifically, the ACLU asked the Secret Service to release specific details of the security perimeter and plan that it intends to maintain at McCormick Place during the NATO meeting.
The ACLU noted that McCormick Place currently operates under a federal court settlement agreement, from a 2003 ACLU of Illinois case, that regulates access to the facility by those wishing to engage in free expression during events at the facility. The agreement that resolved the ACLU case, Albrecht v. Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, mandates that at least one person be permitted at every entrance to McCormick Place in order to distribute leaflets and creates outdoor group expressive areas near McCormick Place where all forms of expressive activity is permitted.
The ACLU of Illinois letter, sent on Wednesday, April 18, notes that conversations with the Secret Service leads the ACLU to conclude that the security perimeter is likely to include the entrances and outdoor areas protected by the free speech areas and that persons not credentialed for the NATO meetings “will not be allowed to enter within the security perimeter, including groups and individuals seeking to engage in protected expressive activities, even if they are willing to go through the same security as the media.”
“The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the operators of McCormick Place, made an agreement enforceable by the federal courts that they would provide access to those engaged in expressive activities to attendees of events at the facility,” said Harvey Grossman, legal director of the ACLU of Illinois. “We need to know if the Authority and the Secret Service are planning to violate that agreement, their justifications for doing so and what alternatives for communication they are willing to provide to those seeking to engage NATO attendees.” If the circumstances justify court intervention, we need to proceed swiftly to protect the First Amendment rights of demonstrators.
“It is time for the Secret Service to release their plan.”
The ACLU letter also request information on any limitations on speech or association outside the security perimeter. Based on discussions with federal officials, it seems likely that large groups will be limited in their ability to gather even on the outside of the security perimeter. The ACLU specifically asks the Secret Service to specify where large groups will be allowed to assemble near McCormick.
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Sri Lanka to demolish mosque after monks’ protest | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Sri Lanka to demolish mosque after monks’ protest | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News Apr 23, 2012
Headlines from the Associated Press
AP News Apr 23, 2012
DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan officials have decided to demolish a mosque and a Hindu temple after a group of Buddhist monks and their lay supporters protested their presence inside a Buddhist sacred area.
Ruling party lawmaker Lakshman Perera said Monday that places of worship and other buildings will be relocated to alternate sites outside the designated sacred zone within six months and Muslim politicians had agreed with this.
Thousands of Buddhist monks and lay supporters stormed the mosque in the central Sri Lankan town of Dambulla on Friday because they said it was an illegal construction. They damaged the building.
Buddhism is Sri Lanka’s state religion and monks are powerful in political and social affairs.
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