DJetteAporetics (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} djetteaporetics) wrote,@ 2005-08-25 16:39:00 |
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This Week: August 25
And Now...The 14 Symptoms of Fascism
Unions Launch International Wal-Mart Organizing Drive
In other labor news, a global coalition of unions is launching an unprecedented campaign to organize workers at Wal-Mart around the world. 900 unions spread across 140 countries are taking part in the campaign to unionize Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer.
After years of concerted but futile attempts to organize workers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., union leaders are joining forces to stop the world's largest employer from exporting its low-wage jobs across the globe. The effort, one of the most extensive union campaigns in modern labor history, is gathering speed. International labor leaders, meeting in Chicago this week to craft an anti-Wal-Mart campaign, say slowing the retailer is crucial to protecting the wages and living conditions of millions of workers.
Wal-Mart, union officials say, represents all that is wrong with the global economy, including sweatshop abuses and the extinction of mom-and-pop businesses.
"Our emphasis is to get Wal-Mart to abide by the rules," said Jan Furstenborg, head of the commercial division of Union Network International, a Swiss-based umbrella organization that represents more than 900 skills and services unions around the world. "We want the company to realize they have to change if they want to be part of the global business community."
Scary Bush Quote of the Week:
President Bush, speech in Idaho, August 24, 2005
"I made a decision -- America will not wait to be attacked again. Our doctrine is clear: We will confront emerging threats before they full materialize. And if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist. We will stay on the offense. We'll complete our work in Afghanistan and Iraq. An immediate withdrawal of our troops in Iraq, or the broader Middle East, as some have called for, would only embolden the terrorists and create a staging ground to launch more attacks against America and free nations. So long as I'm the President, we will stay, we will fight, and we will win the war on terror."
What about Pat Robertson?
God's Terrorist?
Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.
Two Turn Tables and Assault Rifles
Police Taser Anti-War Protesters in Pittsburgh
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania dozens of anti-war demonstrators attempted to shut down a military recruiting center on Saturday. Two protesters were hospitalized after suffering injuries at the hands of the police. Officers shot one woman with a Taser stun gun as she was lying on the street. Pittsburgh Indymedia captured the scene on tape. Another woman -- who was 68 years old -- was bit in the thigh by a police dog. At least five protesters were arrested. The police defended the level of force used. A spokesperson said, "When you're fighting with police officers, we're allowed to use the force necessary to effect an arrest, up to and including Taser."
Earlier this week, the Christian Science Monitor ran a new re-cap story on the movement to make schools recruiter free zones. In this update, the conservative National PTA has come on board to help raise awareness. “Local groups have lobbied school boards to create better forms spelling out families’ choices for release of contact information – allowing them, for instance, to give information to colleges but not the military.” Congress is looking at a No Child Left Behind amendment with 58 cosponsors that would reverse the opt-out system to an opt-in policy, where the default option is to keep students’ contact information away from recruiters. And counter-recruiting community groups are using workshops to educate at-risk kids about “everything from the legal details of military contracts to the options for claiming conscientious-objector status.” The article highlights one key difference between counter-recruitment campaigns today vs. in the Vietnam era – this time, parents are taking a prominent role. Scroll to the bottom of the piece for quick directions on how to opt-out.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/di
In Utah bush gave a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Estimates of the protesters range from 1,000 to 4,000. Great pics and the Mayor of Salt Lake City was there and gave a speech. what is goin' on?
Coca Cola closure in Kerala
The Plachimada village council in India’s southern state of Kerala had been fighting to evict Coca Cola’s bottling plant from their community for over two years, over groundwater depletion and drinking water pollution problems. This same plant has been caught dumping heavy metal-ladden sludge on the fields of poor farmers as free fertilizer. By refusing to renew its liscence, the village council was able to shut this plant down for almost 16 months, but the Kerala High Court would not allow them to force permanent closure. Now, the pollution control head of Kerala state has stepped in over Coca Cola’s cadmium contaminated waste, and closed the bottling plant again. Hopefully this closure will last.
Nigerian villages close Shell Oil facilities
Cutting into Shell’s production by 10,000 barrels per day, hundreds of angry Nigerian villagers have shut down an oil-pump and mounted surveillance along the connected pipeline to prevent the company from using them. The protesters are demanding adequate compensation for the impacts of a December 2003 oil spill and fire that damaged more than 500 hectares on the Niger Delta. “We were informed by insider sources that the undue delay in plugging the pipe and setting fire on the spill were to enable it [to attract a] huge contract from clean up operations to oil the pockets of some corrupt Shell staff,” the communities told ThisDay. Shell spent $1.7 on environmental clean-up and restoration activities that locals claim were never performed, while awarding the two most heavily impacted communities a total of less than $1,000 for their agricultural, fishery and cultural resource losses. In another part of Nigeria, the Ijaw people are threatening to blockade plants and dismantle pipelines if they are not compensated for a 1998 oil spill. Meanwhile, two cases in U.S. courts are putting Chevron on the spot for attacking Delta villages in retaliation for protests. The Nigerians plaintiffs in these cases are represented by EarthRights International and other lawyers.
And Now...The 14 Symptoms of Fascism
Unions Launch International Wal-Mart Organizing Drive
In other labor news, a global coalition of unions is launching an unprecedented campaign to organize workers at Wal-Mart around the world. 900 unions spread across 140 countries are taking part in the campaign to unionize Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer.
After years of concerted but futile attempts to organize workers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., union leaders are joining forces to stop the world's largest employer from exporting its low-wage jobs across the globe. The effort, one of the most extensive union campaigns in modern labor history, is gathering speed. International labor leaders, meeting in Chicago this week to craft an anti-Wal-Mart campaign, say slowing the retailer is crucial to protecting the wages and living conditions of millions of workers.
Wal-Mart, union officials say, represents all that is wrong with the global economy, including sweatshop abuses and the extinction of mom-and-pop businesses.
"Our emphasis is to get Wal-Mart to abide by the rules," said Jan Furstenborg, head of the commercial division of Union Network International, a Swiss-based umbrella organization that represents more than 900 skills and services unions around the world. "We want the company to realize they have to change if they want to be part of the global business community."
Scary Bush Quote of the Week:
President Bush, speech in Idaho, August 24, 2005
"I made a decision -- America will not wait to be attacked again. Our doctrine is clear: We will confront emerging threats before they full materialize. And if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist. We will stay on the offense. We'll complete our work in Afghanistan and Iraq. An immediate withdrawal of our troops in Iraq, or the broader Middle East, as some have called for, would only embolden the terrorists and create a staging ground to launch more attacks against America and free nations. So long as I'm the President, we will stay, we will fight, and we will win the war on terror."
What about Pat Robertson?
God's Terrorist?
Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.
Two Turn Tables and Assault Rifles
Police Taser Anti-War Protesters in Pittsburgh
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania dozens of anti-war demonstrators attempted to shut down a military recruiting center on Saturday. Two protesters were hospitalized after suffering injuries at the hands of the police. Officers shot one woman with a Taser stun gun as she was lying on the street. Pittsburgh Indymedia captured the scene on tape. Another woman -- who was 68 years old -- was bit in the thigh by a police dog. At least five protesters were arrested. The police defended the level of force used. A spokesperson said, "When you're fighting with police officers, we're allowed to use the force necessary to effect an arrest, up to and including Taser."
Earlier this week, the Christian Science Monitor ran a new re-cap story on the movement to make schools recruiter free zones. In this update, the conservative National PTA has come on board to help raise awareness. “Local groups have lobbied school boards to create better forms spelling out families’ choices for release of contact information – allowing them, for instance, to give information to colleges but not the military.” Congress is looking at a No Child Left Behind amendment with 58 cosponsors that would reverse the opt-out system to an opt-in policy, where the default option is to keep students’ contact information away from recruiters. And counter-recruiting community groups are using workshops to educate at-risk kids about “everything from the legal details of military contracts to the options for claiming conscientious-objector status.” The article highlights one key difference between counter-recruitment campaigns today vs. in the Vietnam era – this time, parents are taking a prominent role. Scroll to the bottom of the piece for quick directions on how to opt-out.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/di
In Utah bush gave a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Estimates of the protesters range from 1,000 to 4,000. Great pics and the Mayor of Salt Lake City was there and gave a speech. what is goin' on?
Coca Cola closure in Kerala
The Plachimada village council in India’s southern state of Kerala had been fighting to evict Coca Cola’s bottling plant from their community for over two years, over groundwater depletion and drinking water pollution problems. This same plant has been caught dumping heavy metal-ladden sludge on the fields of poor farmers as free fertilizer. By refusing to renew its liscence, the village council was able to shut this plant down for almost 16 months, but the Kerala High Court would not allow them to force permanent closure. Now, the pollution control head of Kerala state has stepped in over Coca Cola’s cadmium contaminated waste, and closed the bottling plant again. Hopefully this closure will last.
Nigerian villages close Shell Oil facilities
Cutting into Shell’s production by 10,000 barrels per day, hundreds of angry Nigerian villagers have shut down an oil-pump and mounted surveillance along the connected pipeline to prevent the company from using them. The protesters are demanding adequate compensation for the impacts of a December 2003 oil spill and fire that damaged more than 500 hectares on the Niger Delta. “We were informed by insider sources that the undue delay in plugging the pipe and setting fire on the spill were to enable it [to attract a] huge contract from clean up operations to oil the pockets of some corrupt Shell staff,” the communities told ThisDay. Shell spent $1.7 on environmental clean-up and restoration activities that locals claim were never performed, while awarding the two most heavily impacted communities a total of less than $1,000 for their agricultural, fishery and cultural resource losses. In another part of Nigeria, the Ijaw people are threatening to blockade plants and dismantle pipelines if they are not compensated for a 1998 oil spill. Meanwhile, two cases in U.S. courts are putting Chevron on the spot for attacking Delta villages in retaliation for protests. The Nigerians plaintiffs in these cases are represented by EarthRights International and other lawyers.
