June 14, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

Kucinich Vows New Round of Impeachment Articles Against Bush if Measure Dies (Online Journal) June 13, 2008

The Myth of the Market: The increasing injustice and environmental destruction of recent years has been justified by the alleged 'efficiency' of the market. But both theory and evidence show that markets are economically inefficient, wasteful of human and natural resources. (21st Century Socialism) June 11, 2008

Three Cheers For The Irish "No" Voters!: Irish voters torpedoed the Lisbon Treaty Friday. In the face of an almost united political establishment, a majority of voters decided to vote in favour of Irish independence and neutrality and against the nefarious plans of the European Business elite and their paid political agents. (Greenman's Occasional Organ) June 13, 2008

Only Nuclear Dreams Mushrooming: The proposal by the Paris-based International Energy Agency for more than 1,400 nuclear power plants to be built over the next 40 years is unfeasible, environmental activists say. (Inter Press Service) June 13, 2008

Hunger Strike by Bhopal Victims in India: The three organisations of Bhopal survivors leading the 111 day-long campaign in Delhi, along with participants from more than 18 countries announced the launching of a global hunger strike from June 10. (Business Standard, India) June 9, 2008

Activists Launch Protests Against Corporations in 8 Brazil States: Thousands of landless rural workers invaded dams, railways, plantations and corporate headquarters in a wave of protests across eight Brazilian states on Tuesday. (International Herald Tribune) June 10, 2008

How Europe Underdevelops Africa And How Some Fight Back (Counterpunch) June 13-15, 2008

Racism in the Tar Sands: Exploiting Foreign Workers and Poisoning Indigenous People in Canada (Oil Sands Truth) June 12, 2008

May 26, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

Her Voice, Our Voices: Roslyn Zinn R.I.P. (Rebel Frequencies) May 22, 2008

Utah Phillips R.I.P. Some Thoughts From David Rovics (Songwriter's Notebook) May 25, 2008

Billions Wasted on UN Climate Programme: Energy Firms Routinely Abusing Carbon Offset Fund, US Studies Claim (The Guardian) May 26, 2008

Discredited Strategy: Increasing allegations of corruption and profiteering are raising serious questions about the UN-run carbon trading mechanism aimed at cutting pollution and rewarding clean technologies (The Guardian) May 21, 2008

South Africa is All of Us: The situation is the culmination of policies that have made the rich richer, and the poor poorer. But "the ruling elite is not South Africa. There are many within South Africa who are in solidarity with those under attack, and are opposed to the conditions that feed xenophobia." (Pambazuka) May 22, 2008

Moles Wanted: In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups (Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages) May 21, 2008

ILO: Workers In Israeli-Occupied Gaza And West Bank Suffering (Workers Independent News) May 26, 2008

Unionists Granted Bail in Zimbabwe (Green Left Weekly) May 23, 2008

May 24, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info Links

Amazon Indians Lead Battle Against Power Giant's Plan to Flood Rainforest (The Independent UK) May 23, 2008

US Empire in Somalia: Hidden Catastrophe, Hidden Agenda (Media Lens) May 13, 2008

US Senate Passes No-Strings War Funding Bill (Inter Press Service) May 23, 2008

“War, Inc.”: John Cusack’s New Film Satirizes the Corruption, Profiteering and Hubris Behind the Iraq War (Democracy Now!) May 23, 2008

Why Cusack's War, Inc.. Is Must-See Political Filmmaking (Alternet) May 21, 2008

Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU): Say No to Xenophobia (MR Zine) May 21, 2008

Union-Busting at Woodman’s Grocery Chain in Wisconsin (Socialist Worker) May 23, 2008

China Still a Small Player in Africa

Firoze Manji argues that in comparison to Europe and the US, China in Africa is still a small player.
By Firose Manji, Pambazuka, March 27, 2008

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Open any newspaper and you would get the impression that the African continent, and much of the rest of the world, is in the process of being ‘devoured’ by China. Phrases such as the ‘new scramble for Africa’, ‘voracious’, ‘ravenous’ or ‘insatiable’ ‘appetite for natural resources’ are typical descriptors used to characterise China’s engagement with Africa. In contrast, the operations of western capital for the same activities are described with anodyne phrases such as ‘development’, ‘investment’, ‘employment generation’(Mawdsely, 2008). Is China indeed the voracious tiger it is so often portrayed as?
China’s involvement in Africa has three main dimensions: foreign direct investment, aid and trade. In each of these dimensions China’s engagement is dwarfed by those of US and European countries, and often smaller than those of other Asian economies.
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The evidence available suggests that the drive to increasing the rate of profit is exhibited as much by Chinese as by western capital. The west has the advantage in having already established its dominant position that is potentially being threatened by the ‘new boy on the block’.
But China has the advantage of never having enslaved or colonized the continent. China has also not made any false promises coated with neo-liberalism. While the West, the IMF and the World Bank put conditions that only aid in their fleecing of Africa, China has so far been willing to provide unconditional aid and invest in infrastructure. At the same time, however, it freely takes full advantage of the opening up of markets that neo-liberal economic policies over the last 25 years have offered, unencumbered.
And so far, unlike the US, China has not sought to establish military bases in Africa to protect its economic interests, which the US has sought to establish through AFRICOM

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The U.S. Attempts to Tighten Its Grip on Africa

By Horace Campbell, Black Agenda Report, February 20, 2008

George Bush's foray into Africa revealed both U.S. intentions to militarize the continent and the limits of American coercive power in the current global environment. Bush scaled down his visit to five "safe" countries where his millions of dollars in "aid" would be warmly received, while avoiding nations where U.S. policies are unpopular. Oil lies at the heart of the U.S. thrust in Africa, the source of "more petroleum to the USA than the Middle East." Washington's plans for a headquarters on the continent for its African military command (Africom) have been frustrated by resistance from major players in the region, notably South Africa, Nigeria and Angola. But a full-blown, proxy offensive is underway in the Horn of Africa, where the U.S. foments and "fabricates" a war on terror. "Those who support real cooperation, solidarity and anti-racism must oppose the US Africa command."

Continue reading 'The U.S. Attempts to Tighten Its Grip on Africa'. . .

The Ravaging of Africa

The Ravaging of Africa is a four part audio documentary series about the destructive impact of US imperialism on the continent. Each part is around 30 minutes long. It was written by Asad Ismi and produced by Kristin Schwatrz. Thanks go to Black Agenda Report for putting it online. Go have a listen.

-Part One: Militarizing Africa

-Part Two: Economic War

-Part Three: Corporate Plunder

-Part Four: African Resistance

Climate 'Could Devastate Crops' in Africa and Asia

BBC News, January 31, 2008

Climate change could cause severe crop losses in South Asia and southern Africa over the next 20 years, a study in the journal Science says.
The findings suggest southern Africa could lose more than 30% of its main crop, maize, by 2030.
In South Asia losses of many regional staples, such as rice, millet and maize could top 10%, the report says.
The effects in these two regions could be catastrophic without effective measures to adapt to climate change.

Continue reading 'Climate 'Could Devastate Crops' in Africa and Asia'. . .

Corporations Reaping Millions as Congo Suffers Deadliest Conflict Since World War II

Democracy Now!, January 23, 2008

A new mortality report from the International Rescue Committee says that as many as 5.4 million people have died from war-related causes in the Congo since 1998. A staggering 45,000 people continue to die each month, both from the conflict and the related humanitarian crisis. Amidst the deadliest conflict since World War II, hundreds of international corporations have reaped enormous profits from extracting and processing Congolese minerals. We speak to Maurice Carney of Friends of the Congo and Nita Evele of Congo Global Action.

Continue reading, watching, or listening to 'Corporations Reaping Millions as Congo Suffers Deadliest Conflict Since World War II'. . .

Ethnic Woes a Legacy of Colonialists’ Power Game

By Caroline Elkins, Pambazuka, January 10, 2008

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If you’re looking for the origins of Kenya’s ethnic tensions, look to its colonial past. Far from leaving behind democratic institutions and cultures, Britain bequeathed to its former colonies corrupted and corruptible governments. Colonial officials hand-picked political successors as they left in the wake of World War II, lavishing political and economic favours on their proteges. This process created elites whose power extended into the post-colonial era.
Added to this was a distinctly colonial view of the rule of law, which saw the British leave behind legal systems that facilitated tyranny, oppression and poverty rather than open, accountable government. And compounding these legacies was Britain’s famous imperial policy of "divide and rule," playing one side off another, which often turned fluid groups of individuals into immutable ethnic units.
In many former colonies, the British picked favourites from among these newly solidified ethnic groups and left others out in the cold. We are often told that age-old tribal hatreds drive today’s conflicts in Africa. In fact, both ethnic conflict and its attendant grievances are colonial phenomena.

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Interview with Cynthia McKinney on Why She is Running for President and More

San Francisco Bay Area Indy Media, January 8, 2007

Note: The following interview with former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is reprinted from issue No. 268 of the ILC International Newsletter (Jan. 8, 2008), published weekly in multiple languages in Paris. The interview was conducted for the ILC International Newsletter by Alan Benjamin on Jan. 5.
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Question: Sister McKinney, as someone who is running for president of the United States on behalf of the Power to the People electoral coalition, how do you view the recent Iowa caucus?
Cynthia McKinney: I just received a three-page letter from a woman in Tennessee -- a veteran who did three tours of duty in Vietnam. She wrote to say how dissatisfied she is with the level of political discourse in our presidential election, with none of the Democratic or Republican candidates addressing the real issues that she and her family are facing in terms of health care, job offshoring, declining public education, stagnation of wages, and more.
She is looking for real answers and is not getting any from politicians and a media more interested in hype and hot-button issues (such as the "war on terror" or the "war on drugs") than in promoting any serious discussion of policy, much less offering any serious political alternatives.

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Africa, Global Warming, Developed Countries, and the Metabolism of Our Planet

By Bunmi Akpata-Ohohe, Africa Today, December 30, 2007

Africans are staring disaster in the face because of global warming, a United Nations report has warned. Experts on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, say Africa is faced with increasing aridity and, because of its poverty, is less able to adapt to the changing climate. Many nations are still failing to appreciate the seriousness of environmental threats to the planet, the United Nation's Global Environment Outlook report also warns. The study shows that greenhouse gases have reached dangerous levels, with emissions more likely to cause irreversible climate change, scientist Tim Flannery of Macquarie University in Australia, author of climate change book The Weather Makers and a leading expert on global warming, has warned.
Flannery believes that the world economy is "on a collision course with the metabolism of our planet."
The GEO report also states that progress made since a similar report studying major environmental issues affecting the planet in 1987 has been 'woefully inadequate' although "in some cases responses have been courageous and inspiring," according to the UN Environment Programme's Executive Director Achim Steiner. Experts say the most urgent task for politicians is to achieve "the right combination of adaptation and mitigation" whenever they discuss climate change policy. Although the report praises treaties on protecting the ozone layer, it cautions that developed nations must cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050 to reverse the threat of major damage to the planet.

LINK

Casualties in the Scramble for Congo’s Resources

By Maurice Carney and Carrie Crawford, Friends of the Congo, December 17, 2007

Over the past few months a lot of ink has flowed in mainstream publications about the situation in the Congo. In almost all of the articles, the underlying reason for the crisis in the Congo - the scramble for Congo’s spectacular natural wealth- has been consistently omitted or underplayed. The front-page article in Thursday, December 13, 2007 New York Times entitled “After Clashes, Fear of War on Congo’s Edge” by Lydia Polgreen is no exception. Not only were there key omissions, but also, a glaring factual error said volumes about the manner in which mainstream media covers Congo.
The error claimed that the 2006 Congolese elections “produced Congo’s first democratically chosen government.” Why is this inaccuracy so egregious even though to the casual reader it may seem like a minor oversight? Well, it obfuscates a narrative that is central in explaining why the crisis exists in the Congo and continues to date. Contrary to the New York Times front-page report, Congo’s first democratic elections occurred in 1960 and led to the formation of the first post-independence government with Patrice Emery Lumumba as its prime minister. Within months of Lumumba’s ascendancy to power, the West, mainly Belgium and the United States, induced their Congolese puppets to assassinate Patrice Lumumba who believed that the vast mineral wealth of the Congo should be used to benefit the Congolese people.1 Belgium apologized in 2002 for the assassination of Congo’s first elected leader. However, it was not sufficient to assassinate Lumumba, the West then installed and sustained one of the main culprits in Lumumba’s assassination, the brutal dictator Joseph Desire Mobutu, whom the West maintained in power for over 30 years. Whenever the Congolese people rose up to overthrow him, the West led by the United States rushed in to crush the aspirations of the people.
The current crisis is the latest eruption of the West’s 120-year history of controlling Congo’s enormous natural wealth at the expense of the Congolese people.

Continue reading 'Casualties in the Scramble for Congo’s Resources'. . .

Revolt in the ANC

Lenin's Tomb, December 17, 2007

Following on from the massive strikes in South Africa earlier this year and last week's miners' strike, the ANC is rocked by a political struggle which looks like it will result in the neoliberal wing of the party being defeated by the left.

Continue reading 'Revolt in the ANC'. . .

U.S-Instigated War Brings Mass Death to Somalia

By Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report, November 28, 2007

The United States remains, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world," through its own wars of aggression and by fomenting and manipulating conflicts that kill millions. It is also the most cynical power on the planet, crying crocodile tears over the carnage in Darfur (in which the U.S. is complicit) while simultaneously unleashing wholesale death in Somalia. Half a million Africans face starvation and disease as a direct result of U.S. instigation of the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia - an extension of Bush's "war on terror" and the underlying quest for Africa's wealth. United Nations officials now describe Somalia as the worst humanitarian crisis on the continent - more dire than Darfur.

Continue reading or listening to 'U.S-Instigated War Brings Mass Death to Somalia'. . .

The Fight to Save Congo's Forests

By Christian Parenti & Laura Hanna, The Nation, October 22, 2007

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An estimated 40 million people depend on these woodlands, surviving on traditional livelihoods. At a global level, Congo's forests act as the planet's second lung, counterpart to the rapidly dwindling Amazon. They are a huge "carbon sink," trapping carbon that could otherwise become carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming. The Congo Basin holds roughly 8 percent of the world's forest-based carbon. These jungles also affect rainfall across the North Atlantic. In other words, these distant forests are crucial to the future of climate stability, a bulwark against runaway climate change.
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Over the past four years timber firms have set upon the forest in search of high-priced hardwoods. They control about one-quarter of Congo's forests, an area the size of California.
Blessed by the World Bank as catalysts of development, the companies operate largely unsupervised because the DRC lacks a functioning system of forest control. The government has written a new forestry code that requires companies to invest in local development and follow a supposedly sustainable, twenty-five-year cycle of rotational logging. But many companies ignore these stipulations; some have used intimidation and bribery; others log in blatantly illegal ways with no regard for the long-term damage they are causing.
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If these woodlands are deforested, the carbon they trap will be released into the atmosphere. Environmentalists say that if deforestation continues unabated, by 2050 the DRC could release as much carbon dioxide as Britain has in the past sixty years. On the ground, this would likely mean desertification, mass migration, hunger, banditry and war.
But an effort is afoot to halt Congo's plunder. "This is a make or break period," says Filip Verbelen, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace. "Logging is not helping the DRC's economy, and it is destroying the environment. The damage has to be contained now before it is too late."

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World Bank Accused of Razing Congo Forests

By John Vidal, The Guardian, October 4, 2007

The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo's government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.
Congo's rainforests are the second largest in the world after the Amazon, locking nearly 8% of the planet's carbon and having some of its richest biodiversity. Nearly 40 million people depend on the forests for medicines, shelter, timber and food.
The report into the bank's activities in Democratic Republic of Congo since 2002 follows complaints made two years ago by an alliance of 12 Pygmy groups. The groups claimed that the bank-backed system of awarding vast logging concessions to companies to exploit the forests was causing "irreversible harm".

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The U.S. Push to Seize Control of Africa’s Gulf of Guinea Oil

By Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report, October 3, 2007

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According to recent reports, Nigeria's government is organizing other African states to block the U.S. from establishing a military base in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea. The nations of the region have every reason to be alarmed. U.S. "strategic planners" - which is another way of saying "imperialists" - have marked the Gulf for deep penetration and eventual subjugation, as Washington's plans for global resource domination continue, unabated. Already, the Sahel region in the north of Africa is saturated with American military forces. Looking south, the Americans claim there is not a large enough military presence to "secure" the huge, largely untapped oil and gas reserves of the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe. In reality, the Gulf needs protection from no one - except the rapacious United States.

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AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources

By Bryan Hunt, HaitiAnalysis, September 23, 2007

By spring 2007, US Department of Energy data showed that the United States now imports more oil from the continent of Africa than from the country of Saudi Arabia. While this statistic may be of surprise to the majority, provided such information even crosses their radar, it’s certainly not the case for those figures who have been pushing for increased US military engagement on that continent for some time now, as my report documented. These import levels will rise.

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The White House and War Crimes in Somalia

The antiwar movement needs to target Somalia as well
By Sam Urquhart, Guerrilla News Network, September 21, 2007

Somalia is the forgotten front in the “War on Terror.” Americans are rarely told anything about what goes on there, who the actors are and, more importantly, the reasons behind conflict in the Horn of Africa. Hence it is not surprising that there has been no concerted activist challenge to U.S. support for Ethiopia’s war in Somalia, but such a challenge is urgently required.

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NGOs and Imperialism

By Yves Engler, ZNet, September 2, 2007

Facing the reality that most development NGOs are heavily reliant on Western government “aid,” which is usually directed towards countries of geopolitical importance to the captains of capitalism, may be unpleasant for some “progressives,” but it is true nonetheless.
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NGOs are significant beneficiaries of modern imperialism: They soften the edges of neoliberalism, while democracy promotion and military interventions alike bring a windfall of contracts.
Perhaps the question to be asked is: Are development NGOs compatible with real democracy?
In Canada and many other countries, most people, including all of those who are on the left, oppose private health clinics, seeing them as a threat to our universal, government-run systems of medical care. People everywhere see public schools as an important part of democracy. Citizens in all First World countries demand social services provided by their governments.
Yet the “development” model favored in the Third World for the past two decades involves destroying government services and handing them over to NGOs that willingly participate in this undermining of democracy

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