---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
NEXT BAUAW MEETING: WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 7 P.M.
1380 VALENCIA STREET, SF
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) HOTEL AND GROCERY WORKERS NEED OUR HELP!
2) Join Us at a Fundraising Party
for Prop N on Saturday, October 16
from 4 to 7 p.m.!
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange),
Howard Wallace (Vice Pres., SF
Labor Council), Susan Galleymore (Motherspeak),
Ann Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
Representative, Code Pink, Matt Gonzalez,
President, S.F. Board of Supervisors, and
others to be announced.
ALSO: Music and Refreshments
PLACE: Canvas Gallery in S.F.
(corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Way. @ Golden Gate Park)
3) Not in Our Name Bay Area
Get involved today!
Organizing Meeting for Upcoming
Anti-war March and Rally
Wednesday, October 13 at 6:30 PM
Not in Our Name Office
3945 Opal Street, Oakland (map)
At 40th Street, near Broadway -
a short walk from Macarthur BART.
4) Coming Actions Against
War, Racism, and Exploitation
December 5, 2004
Indoor Solidarity Rally with Haiti in NYC
initiated by the Emergency Campaign to Support
the Haitian People,
the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the Haiti
Support Network
January 20, 2005
Counter-Inaugural Demonstration in Washington DC
initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
March 19/20, 2005
Global Day of Coordinated Actions
on the 2nd Anniversary of the "Shock and Awe"
Invasion of Iraq
initiated by antiwar organizations worldwide
including the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
in the United States
October 16, 2004
Immigrant Rights March in Los Angeles
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
October 17, 2004
Million Worker March in Washington DC
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
5) Israeli Army Chief 'Emptied His Magazine'
at Girl in Gaza
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published on Tuesday, October 12, 2004
by the Independent/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1012-06.htm
6) * News from Indymedia *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2004
Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and
Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our
Websites"
7) Qalqilya Strangled by Israel's Wall
October 2004, pages 48-49
Delegation Trip
8) Major Assaults on Hold Until After U.S. Vote
Attacks on Iraq's rebel-held cities will be delayed,
officials say. But that could make it harder to allow
wider, and more legitimate, Iraqi voting in January.
By Mark Mazzetti
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by the
Los Angeles Times
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-02.htm
9) Mosque on Fire After U.S. Air Strikes in West Iraq
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by Reuters
BAGHDAD
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-20.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) HOTEL AND GROCERY WORKERS NEED OUR HELP!
Dear friends,
Both the UNITE HERE Local 2 hotel workers
and the UFCW grocery workers are in
intense struggles with the bosses. A key
issue in both struggles is the right to health
benefits. As health care costs go through
the roof, major employers in every industry
across the country are attempting to pass
down health care costs to workers, raising
premiums, co-pays, or dropping coverage altogether.
For hotel and grocery workers and other
low-wage workers especially, health care
coverage is key to their survival. At the same
time, this is an issue of tremendous
significance for all working people. Every
time a union contract loses health coverage,
it emboldens all other employers to try to
force the same cutbacks on their
workforce.
The ANSWER Coalition calls on all activists and
concerned people in the Bay Area to
· Support the HOTEL WORKERS at a rally in
Union Square on Tuesday at 4:30, and
· Support the GROCERY WORKERS at a rally
at the Church Market Safeway at 4 pm on
Friday.
The details are below. Community support
is an important act of solidarity and a
morale-booster for the workers in struggle.
In addition to these actions, we encourage
everyone to take time to join the Local 2
pickets outside several SF hotels (which are
listed below). You can pick up a "Support
the Hotel Workers! Healthcare is a Right!"
picket sign at the ANSWER office at 2489
Mission St. Rm. 24 in San Francisco. The
picket lines are all day long everyday.
Tuesday, October 12, 4:30pm
RALLY IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL 2 HOTEL WORKERS
Union Square (Powell and Geary St.) San Francisco
From Local 2 website:
"After six weeks on the job without a contract,
Local 2 initiated a limited, two-week
strike at four hotels on September 29th.
The strike was intended to present a
measured response to the employers'
refusal to bargain in good faith, maintain
employees health care benefits, and offer
fair wage increases."
"Even though the strike was a limited
in its scope and duration, the Multi-Employer
Group responded by locking out workers
at 10 other hotels for the duration of the
strike. Now, the MEG has announced that
they are locking their workers out past the
two-week deadline."
Join the picket lines at the following hotels:
Argent Hotel*
Crowne Plaza Union Square*
Four Seasons
Fairmont
Grand Hyatt Union Square
Hilton San Francisco*
Holiday Inn Civic Center
Holiday Inn Express
Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf
Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center
Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental*
Omni Hotel
Sheraton Palace
Westin St. Francis
* On strike until Wednesday, October 13th.
Friday, Oct. 15, 4-5:30pm
UFCW RALLY - JOIN THE FIGHT TO DEFEND HEALTHCARE
Safeway at Church and Market St., San Francisco
From the UFCW website:
"This year northern California grocery
workers will be negotiating contracts with their
employers, and the stakes are high for
everyone. If the big grocery employers get
their way, 128,000 California grocery workers
and their family members would no
longer be covered by the joint union/employer
health plan. Most of these workers will
have to turn to publicly funded programs like
Healthy Families, Medi-Cal, or simply
the hospital emergency."
"The big 3 grocery employers˜Safeway, Albertson's,
and Kroger˜are trying to shift the
cost of healthcare on to taxpayers.
A recent study by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor
Research and Education shows that up
to $102 million in healthcare costs could be
shifted to taxpayers each year if grocery workers i
n northern California were to accept
the contract settlement from southern California."
"Safeway, Albertson's, and Kroger are
Fortune 50 companies, with higher annual
revenues than Microsoft, PepsiCo, and McDonald's."
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For addition or removal of addresses, We'll send a confirmation
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to complete the transaction.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Join Us at a Fundraising Party
for Prop N on Saturday, October 16
from 4 to 7 p.m.!
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange),
Howard Wallace (Vice Pres., SF
Labor Council), Susan Galleymore (Motherspeak),
Ann Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
Representative, Code Pink, Matt Gonzalez,
President, S.F. Board of Supervisors, and
others to be announced.
ALSO: Music and Refreshments
PLACE: Canvas Gallery in S.F.
(corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Way. @ Golden Gate Park)
Come learn more about Prop N among friends and activists.
Proposition N on the November 2nd ballot declares:
"It is the Policy of the people of the City and County of San
Francisco that: The Federal government should take immediate steps to
end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and bring our troops safely home now."
If you cannot attend, but would like to make a donation or otherwise
help out with the campaign, please fill out this coupon and return to
the address below.
I WANT TO HELP BRING THEM HOME NOW!
ˆ Enclosed is my donation of $ ____________________
(Make checks payable to: Bring the Troops Home Now Committee)
ˆ I want to help build a winning campaign with: ___ house signs,
___ a house party, ___ phone banking, ___ fund-raising,
other:_______________.
Name
Phone
Email (print)
Address
City/State Zip
Org./Church/Union
Bring Our Troops Home Now Committee
David Looman, Treasurer
325 Highland Ave., San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel. 415/861-0318
web: www.yesonn.net
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Not in Our Name Bay Area
Get involved today!
Organizing Meeting for Upcoming
Anti-war March and Rally
Wednesday, October 13 at 6:30 PM
Not in Our Name Office
3945 Opal Street, Oakland (map)
At 40th Street, near Broadway -
a short walk from Macarthur BART.
Only three weeks to go! We need your help to make sure that
the upcoming November 3rd "End the Occupation - Out of Iraq
Now!" march and rally sends a loud and clear message that the
Bay Area is against war and repression no matter who wins the
election. Volunteers are needed for flyering, phone banking,
event logistics, and much more. Come to Wednesday's meeting,
or call 510-601-8000 to get involved today.
For more information about the November 3rd march and rally,
see the event listing below.
Resistance Cinema free film screening of
"Lest We Forget"
Sunday, October 25 at 3 PM
The Parkway Pizza/Pub Theater
1834 Park Blvd, Oakland (map)
Lest We Forget: The tragic events on September 11th has left
a weight in our spirits, yet for many, the gash runs deeper. The
precautions to prevent further attack on U.S. soil has perpetrated
racial profiling. Since 9/11, thousands of individuals have been
detained, often later to be directly deported, most of who art
South Asian, Arab, and Muslim people. In New York, there have
been a consistent number of " disappearances" and a countless
number of racial harassment cases. For the detainees of the
confinement centers, many have been denied proper legal
representation, have not been given contact to their families,
or given definite detainment time. As this all continues, there
is a need to break down the stereotypes that are built up by
the American media and stop these human rights violations
from continuing (more movie info).
Speakers and discussion following the film.
Presented by Not in Our Name. Leaflet (PDF 449k)
Anti-war March and Rally
End the Occupation -
Out of Iraq Now!
No matter who is elected, we say no to war and repression!
Wednesday, November 3
5 PM at Powell & Market, San Francisco (map)
March to 24th & Mission.
Bring flashlights, drums, and noisemakers.
Permitted event.
Initiated by Not in Our Name, and endorsed by:
Event endorsed by the Middle East Children's Alliance,
International ANSWER-SF, American Muslim Voice, American
Friends Service Committee-SF, Bay Area United Against War,
Queers for Peace and Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace, Lake
Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace, and the Peninsula
Peace and Justice Center.
Rock the boat - not just the vote!
The Not in Our Name Project
needs your support!
Donate online
donate.notinourname.net
Or send your tax-deductible contribution today to:
Not in Our Name
3945 Opal Street, Oakland CA 94609
www.notinourname.net
phone: 510-601-8000
email: bayarea@notinourname.net
local: bayarea.notinourname.net
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Coming Actions Against
War, Racism, and Exploitation
December 5, 2004
Indoor Solidarity Rally with Haiti in NYC
initiated by the Emergency Campaign to Support
the Haitian People,
the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the Haiti
Support Network
January 20, 2005
Counter-Inaugural Demonstration in Washington DC
initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
March 19/20, 2005
Global Day of Coordinated Actions
on the 2nd Anniversary of the "Shock and Awe"
Invasion of Iraq
initiated by antiwar organizations worldwide
including the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
in the United States
October 16, 2004
Immigrant Rights March in Los Angeles
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
October 17, 2004
Million Worker March in Washington DC
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
We will demand:
1) US Out of Iraq Now, End the Occupation -
Bring the Troops Home Now!
2) End Colonial Domination from Palestine to
Haiti, and Everywhere!
3) Health Care, Education, Housing, and a Job
at a Living Wage Must be a Right!
The people of this country, in cooperation with the people of the
world, have built a mass worldwide movement since October 2002,
when the first massive antiwar demonstrations took place. In that
movement lies the hope that the imperialist war drive can be
challenged. Do not count on the politicians who contest with each
other, not about principle, but about who would be more effective
in winning the war of aggression against Iraq. The antiwar movement
must be in the streets in the coming weeks and months - building
a politically independent movement. It is this movement of global
solidarity that poses the only real obstacle to the forces of militarism
and corporate domination, and that prioritizes meeting human needs
and embraces self-determination.
Bush's monstrous invasion and occupation of Iraq is now entering
the appalling next stage. A reign of terror has been inflicted on Najaf,
Sammarah, Sadr City in Baghdad, Fallujah and other areas outside of
the political control of the occupying forces.
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell and others are guilty of war crimes.
The world is disgusted as the carnage is unleashed from AC-130
gunships and by missile attacks on densely populated city streets.
Wedding parties destroyed by air attack, the grim pictures of the
bodies of children and other civilians being removed from the rubble
of buildings destroyed by what the Pentagon press office always calls
"precision bombings against known terrorist hideouts," torture and
brutality. This is the essence of Bush's plan to proceed with "democratic
elections."
And what is Kerry's response on Iraq? "We are talking about winning,
not leaving," Kerry told us in the first presidential debate. We, along
with a growing number of military families and soldiers, are insisting
that the troops be brought home now. More than 1,050 GI's are dead
and thousands wounded - many with horrendous life-altering injuries
- in this criminal war.
In Palestine, more than 100 Palestinians have been massacred in
a matter of days by Ariel Sharon's offensive in refugee camps in
Gaza. You'd hardly know about it from the U.S. mass media. Do Bush
and Kerry have a different view about this U.S.-financed slaughter?
They only try to compete with each other by their grandiloquent
declarations in support of Israel's actions - including the construction
of the hideous apartheid wall. We must stand with the people of
Palestine including support for their right of return.
In Haiti the death toll has risen to more than 3,000 from the aftermath
of Hurricane Jeanne. The Bush administration's stooge government
did nothing to help the people. They did not prepare for, order or
assist in an evacuation of people at risk. Instead they have focused
their energy on arresting hundreds of supporters of deposed President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The disaster caused by the Hurricane is "man-
made." It is the consequence of decades of neo-liberal policies
imposed on the country by the U.S. and the IMF that have resulted
in, among other problems, massive de-forestation, leaving the
country vulnerable to catastrophic flooding. What has Kerry done
to provide an alternative to Bush on Haiti? Absolutely nothing.
The massive outpouring of the renewed antiwar movement needs
your continued help to support these upcoming activities. Organizing
buses, printing hundreds of thousands of leaflets and posters,
phonebanking, mass mailings - these vital tasks take funds. The
generosity and self-sacrifice of those who believe in the importance
of building this movement has made all the difference in the past years.
We are creating the only real, viable force that can challenge the political
stranglehold exercised by the warmakers.
You can make a donation online through a secure server by clicking
here: http://www.pephost.org/ANSWERdonate Credit card donations
made online are not tax deductible. To make a tax deductible credit
card donation, call 202-544-3389. You can also make a tax deductible
donation by writing a check to A.N.S.W.E.R./AGJ and sending it to
A.N.S.W.E.R., 1247 E St. SE, Washington DC 20003.
Reminder
Saturday, October 16 Sunday, October 17 - is the weekend of action
for immigrant and labor rights. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is
supporting both of the demonstrations taking place this weekend.
Regional March and Rally for Immigrant Rights: On Saturday, October 16,
gather at 12 noon at Olympic and Broadway in Los Angeles - Nearly
ten years ago, on October 16, 1994, the Latino immigrant community
and its allies convened and held the largest ever mass march and rally
by Latinos in the history of the United States. The main issue then was
the movement to defeat Proposition 187, which aimed to deny basic
human services and constitutional and labor rights to immigrants.
That historic march united the Latino community and their allies like
never before and unleashed a rise in the political consciousness of
millions of people in California and throughout the rest of the country.
To commemorate that historic march is important. We must also
elevate the level of struggle to win full rights for undocumented
workers and their families at this critical time. This call for a
demonstration on October 16, 2004, was initiated two years ago
by a pro-immigrant coali! tion led by Latino Movement USA
Hermandad Mexicana Nacional on October 22, 2002, during
the rally held at the Immigrant Rights March in downtown Los
Angeles.
Million Worker March: On Sunday, October 17, gather at 12 noon
Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC - According to the Million
Worker March Committee, "This mobilization is being proposed
in response to the attacks upon working families in America and
the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration and with
the complicity of Congress." The march is also calling to Bring the
Troops Home Now. It was initiated by The International Longshore
and Warehouse Union, Local 10 and endorsed by many labor,
community and activist organizations. Click here for logistical
information: http://www.answercoalition.org/campaigns/mwm/logistics.html
(directions, maps, housing, etc.).
War Crimes in Iraq
From the Independent UK
Take them out, dude: pilots toast hit on Iraqi 'civilians'
By Andrew Buncombe
Washington DC
October 6, 2004
The Pentagon said yesterday it was investigating cockpit video
footage that shows American pilots attacking and killing a group
of apparently unarmed Iraqi civilians.
The 30-second clip shows the pilot targeting the group of people
in a street in the city of Fallujah and asking his mission controllers
whether he should "take them out". He is told to do so and, shortly
afterwards, the footage shows a huge explosion where the people
were. A second voice can be heard on the clip saying: "Oh, dude."
The existence of the video, taken last April inside the cockpit of
a US F-16 fighter, has been known for some time, though last
night's broadcast by Channel 4 News is believed to be the first
time a mainstream broadcaster has shown the footage.
At no point during the exchange between the pilot and controllers
does anyone ask whether the Iraqis are armed or posing a threat.
Critics say it proves war crimes are being committed.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War End Racism
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
To remove your address from the list, just send a message to
the address in the ``List-Unsubscribe'' header of any list
message. If you haven't changed addresses since subscribing,
you can also send a message to:
For addition or removal of addresses, We'll send a confirmation
message to that address. When you receive it, simply reply to it
to complete the transaction.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Israeli Army Chief 'Emptied His Magazine'
at Girl in Gaza
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published on Tuesday, October 12, 2004
by the Independent/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1012-06.htm
Two separate official investigations are under way into the fatal
shooting of a 13-year-old girl in Gaza by the Israeli army after
soldiers testified that their company commander "emptied his
magazine" at her after she had been shot and was presumed dead.
Relatives of 13 year-old Palestinian girl Iman Al Hams, mourn over
her body at the family house during her funeral in Rafah refugee
camp, southern of Gaza Strip, Tuseday, Oct 5. 2004. The girl was
shot and killed by Israeli soldiers, according to local and army
sources, when she wandered from her normal path to school.
(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra).
The army has already admitted that the killing of Iman al-Hams
in the town of Rafah a week ago was a mistake and that her bag,
which it says soldiers thought carried explosives, contained
school books.
Soldiers have come forward to explain that her body was riddled
with 20 bullets because their immediate commander "confirmed
the killing" by shooting two bullets at her already prone body
before withdrawing a short distance and then firing a burst of
automatic gunfire at the corpse.
The Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avi Mandelblit, has
instructed the military police to launch a criminal investigation
against the commander in the Givati Brigade's crack Shaked Battalion
as a result of the claim. Unusually, the investigation was ordered
even though the army inquiry is incomplete.
The move follows interviews with soldiers serving in the company
published in the Israeli newspaper Yedhiot Ahronot . It quoted them
as saying the commander should have been stood down immediately
after the incident. One soldier told the newspaper: "The company CO
who sprayed the girl with bullets turned us all into vicious animals
and besmirched us all ... If he is not dismissed, we will not agree to
serve under him." Another said the commander had "desecrated the
body".
According to figures produced by 11 UN agencies, 24 Palestinians
under the age of 17 have been killed since 28 September when the
army entered northern Gaza in response to the firing by Palestinian
militants of two Qassam rockets which killed two Israeli children in
Sderot. A nine-year-old girl was among 11 Palestinians killed in the
Gaza Strip over the weekend.
The investigations opened as security sources told the newspaper
Haaretz that the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had rejected a request
from army commanders to withdraw from the densely populated
Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the grounds that the
fortnight-old operation "Days of Penitence" was endangering troops
and that militants had now removed rockets to positions outside
the camp.
Mr Sharon told the Knesset at the opening of what promises to be
a difficult winter session for the government that it would be voting
on 25 October on his plan to withdraw some 7,500 settlers from Gaza.
The level of difficulty was underlined last night when the legislature
opposed by 45 to 33 a routine motion noting Mr Sharon's speech.
Although it does not threaten Mr Sharon's administration, the defeat
emphasised the strong opposition to the plan from the extreme right
of Israeli politics and from the far right of his own Likud party, seven
of whose members abstained last night.
(c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
###
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) * News from Indymedia *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2004
Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and
Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our
Websites"
Evidence is beginning to mount that the authorities of at least four
countries (Switzerland, Italy, U.K. and U.S.A.) are involved in last
week's seizure of two of Indymedia's servers that brought down more
than 20 of the Indymedia network's web sites and several internet radio
streams. Indymedia has yet to receive any official statement or
information about what the order entailed or why it was issued.
An FBI spokesperson, Joe Parris, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that
the FBI issued a subpoena to the provider who hosted the Indymedia
servers in the U.K., but that it was "on behalf of a third country."
(1) Daniel Zapelli, senior federal prosecutor for Geneva (Switzerland),
confirmed that he has opened a criminal investigation into Indymedia
coverage of the 2003 G8 Summit in Evian. (2) Zapelli will provide
details of that investigation at a press conference on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutor of Bologna (Italy) Marina Plazzi has also stated
that she is investigating Italy Indymedia because it may "support
terrorism." (3) Plazzi says she will provide more information on
Thursday, October 14th.
Meanwhile, international journalist associations have come forward in
support of Indymedia. "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive
international police operation against a network specialising in
independent journalism," said Aidan White, General Secretary for the
International Federation of Journalists. (4)
Indymedia is consulting with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
on how to retrieve its servers and prevent further government attacks
on free speech. "EFF is deeply concerned about the grave implications
of this seizure for free speech and privacy, and we are exploring all
avenues to hold the government accountable for this improper and
unconstitutional silencing of independent media.," said EFF Staff
Attorney Kurt Opsahl. (5)
As of Monday, October 11, five of the downed websites have been
restored, including Brasil, Euskal Herria, Poland, UK and Nice.
Indymedia volunteers are working around the clock to restore the
remaining sites, however at least four of them - Uruguay, Italy,
Western Massachusetts and Nantes - have suffered data loss as a result
of the governments' action.
"This FBI operation gives us even more reason to continue with what we
have been doing for several years," says an activist from Italy
Indymedia.
"Uruguay has a long history of media repression. We don't have the
money to pay for web hosting, and so we rely on the solidarity of other
countries. Actions like the seizure of the servers make the whole world
insecure for free media," says Libertinus, an Indymedia volunteer from
Uruguay, one of many Indymedia web sites that was caught in the FBI
actions as a bystander. "Uruguay's national elections will take place
on October 31st. It's a bad time for this to happen."
For more information, visit www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi, email
press@indymedia.org, or call:
Tomasso at +39 3383903806 (Italy)
Hep Sano at +1-415-867-9472 (San Francisco)
David Meieran at +1-412-996-4986 (Pittsburgh)
* Notes to the editor *
(1) On October 7, 2004, Rackspace, a web hosting provider based in San
Antonio (USA), turned over two servers at its London officer after it
was issued a court order under the Mutual Legal Assistence Treaty.
Rackspace officials claim that the order prevents them from divulging
the reasons for the seizure and to whom the servers were actually
given. They stated, "Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen
and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities." See
more details on www.indymedia.org/fbi and on the press releases from 8
and 9 October: http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/111999.shtml and
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/112047.shtml
(2) For more examples see: http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi.shtml
(3) AFP report:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1509&ncid=738&e=6&u=/
afp/20041008/tc_afp/us_internet_justice
(4) International Federation of Jounalists:
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2734&Language=EN
(5) Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): http://eff.org/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Qalqilya Strangled by Israel's Wall
October 2004, pages 48-49
Delegation Trip
Delegate J. Brady Kiesling (l) listens as Qalqilya farmer Atta Atta
reminds Israeli soldiers that they are standing on his land.
All photos by Michael J. Keating (photos not shown)
WE ASKED OUR hosts to show us Israel's new separation barrier.
They said it was impossible not to see from anywhere in the region.
We discovered that the wall does not separate Israelis from
Palestinians-Israeli settlers and soldiers often are on the Palestinian
side of the wall. Instead the wall separates Palestinians from other
Palestinians, and makes every Palestinian town a jail. Within 5 minutes
Israel can cage an entire city. The wall will directly affect more than
500,000 Palestinians.
On July 18 we visited the town of Qalqilya, north of Ramallah. Israel's
new wall has surrounded the town and cut it off from the rest of the
West Bank as well as from Israel. We wandered around fruit stands in
the central marketplace with few other customers. Everyone asked
where we were from, heard we were Americans and welcomed us.
Israelis are now forbidden by their government to shop for produce,
get haircuts or fix their cars in Qalqilya as they used to. Israel has
posted
signs saying it is forbidden even to enter Qalqilya. This town will not
survive without trade from Israel, and was dying before our eyes.
Qalqilya's market now has few Palestinian and no Israeli shoppers.
Ringing the city of Qalqilya is its agricultural wealth. The cultivation
techniques developed by Palestinian farmers over the centuries are
characterized by the intense development of small plots of land,
extensive use of greenhouses, and the jealous conservation of water.
Ringing even tighter round Qalqilya is Israel's wall. Nowhere-except
perhaps in Jerusalem-is the lie of security more clearly exposed. In
looking at a map of the wall at Qalqilya, it is clear that it wraps tightly
around the city, butts up close around other Palestinian villages, yet
swings wide and generously around every settlement, thereby allowing
for future expansion.
Israel is cordoning off Qalqilya's fields from its farmers. Farmers can
visit their fields outside the wall only when Israeli soldiers open the
gates. They open these gates erratically and subject to whim.
Our guide for the day, who asked us not to use her name for fear
Israelis will not renew her residence permit, introduced us to Atta Atta,
who, until two weeks earlier, had an ornamental plant business with
greenhouses on a couple of dozen acres on the edge of Qalqilya. In
one night, he told us, he lost a half-million dollar business he'd worked
14 years to build. His family first lost land in 1948. For 35 years he had
worked to buy this land, only to see it taken again. He now has no way
to support his six daughters and four sons, he said.
Israeli bulldozers destroyed a number of Atta's greenhouses, and cut
off access to the rest when they built the wall. The water wells are on
the Israeli side of the wall, he noted. We stared through a locked gate
at the crumpled ruins of Atta's greenhouses. The wall was concrete and
six meters high, with a watchtower and electronic sensors to protect the
land from its cultivators.
A farmer and his son wait with permit in hand to pass through a gate
to their fields outside Qalqilya. The gate is opened only two or three
times a day.
"You know who owns the land you're standing on?" Atta asked the
young sergeant who told us to step away from the wall, after one
ambassador had touched it, setting off an alarm. "I do. It's my land."
The soldier turned away.
"They don't want the people," Atta told us. "Only the land. Every child
knows this!"
Next we met Jalal Zaid, a poultry farmer whose chickens are on the
wrong side of the wall. When the wall was first built he was not allowed
to pass through, and more than 15,000 chickens died. Finally he
obtained a permit to work in his own chicken house. That permit was
about to expire. Zaid is afraid officials won't renew it as the area could
soon be off limits, because it is near a new military road.
Only landowners can get permits, Zaid explained, and then only
sometimes. Always they have to go through a paper chase. Moreover,
because his 40 laborers do not have land registry papers, they are not
entitled to receive permits to work in his chicken houses.
The gate opens three times a day, depending on the mood of the
soldiers, Zaid said. His farm's egg production has fallen from 1,500
cartons a day to 900. At this rate, he added, wringing his hands, he
won't be able to repay the loans he took out to pay for his new chickens.
Next we drove to Jayyous. The village was on land any negotiated
peace deal would place in Palestine. Its orchards and water wells,
however, had been placed on the Israeli side of the wall. Farmers
without a "security file" could get permits from the Israeli military
occupation authorities to pass through a gate-most of the time-to
till their fields in the shadow of the electric fence protecting the Israeli
settlement of Zufin. The clock is ticking, however.
Left: Sharif Omar won his court battle to keep his farm. Now Israel's
military may confiscate it anyway. Right: Mysterious signs in Hebrew
have appeared on Omar's property.
New Hebrew signs had gone up in the farmers' fields, labeling sectors
"Golda" and "Yisrael." Jeeps and unlabeled trucks had been spotted
going back and forth, our guide said. And now as we looked for
Sharif Omar, who owned the land we were driving on, a settler kid
with a radio who said he was Shin Bet-security police-accosted us,
telling us to turn around. We could not return until after 4 p.m., he
said, because military training was under way.
For good measure, when Kiesling asked where he was from, the settler
security guard with the walkie-talkie and gun answered, "Israel. And
I hate Americans."
Our guide called her IDF contact, with whom she had cleared our tour.
He advised her, most urgently, to get us "the f-- out of there." As we
drove away, we found Omar, owner of the 40-acre farm the settler now
guarded, astride his tractor, which he affectionately dubbed his F-16.
Omar, who spoke excellent English, has put seven children through
college by farming this cultivated land and harvesting his fruit trees.
He told us the Israelis tried to confiscate his land and water wells in
1996, but Omar took his case to court and won five years later.
Now the water and Omar's farmland will be expropriated on the
unchallengeable pretext of Israeli military requirements.
"This land is my paradise," Omar told us. "It's my Jerusalem. It's
my Al-Quds."
As we drove back to Ramallah, our guide told us that, during his
five-year court battle, there were days when this vibrant man couldn't
get out of bed, he was so depressed. She was afraid he wouldn't be
able to handle this latest turn of events.
"This is Israel's way to force Palestinians to leave. It's a quiet
deportation," she warned. "It's causing controlled despair, and
forcing some people past their limits."
Find this article at:
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Oct_2004/0410048.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Major Assaults on Hold Until After U.S. Vote
Attacks on Iraq's rebel-held cities will be delayed,
officials say. But that could make it harder to allow
wider, and more legitimate, Iraqi voting in January.
By Mark Mazzetti
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by the
Los Angeles Times
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-02.htm
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration plans to delay major assaults
on rebel-held cities in Iraq until after U.S. elections in November, say
administration officials, mindful that large-scale military offensives
could affect the U.S. presidential race.
Although American commanders in Iraq have been buoyed by recent
successes in insurgent-held towns such as Samarra and Tall Afar,
administration and Pentagon officials say they will not try to retake
cities such as Fallouja and Ramadi - where the insurgents' grip is
strongest and U.S. military casualties could be the highest - until
after Americans vote in what is likely to be an extremely close
election.
"When this election's over, you'll see us move very vigorously," said
one senior administration official involved in strategic planning,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Once you're past the election, it changes the political ramifications"
of a large-scale offensive, the official said. "We're not on hold right
now. We're just not as aggressive."
Any delay in pacifying Iraq's most troublesome cities, however,
could alter the dynamics of a different election - the one in January,
when Iraqis are to elect members of a national assembly.
With less than four months remaining, U.S. commanders are
scrambling to enable voting in as many Iraqi cities as possible
to shore up the poll's legitimacy.
U.S. officials point out that there have been no direct orders to
commanders to halt operations in the weeks before the November
2 U.S. election. Top administration officials in Washington are simply
reluctant to sign off on a major offensive in Iraq at the height of the
political season.
Asked for comment, White House spokesman Taylor Gross said,
"The commanders in the field will continue to make the decisions
regarding military operations, and will continue to assist the Iraqi
people in the pursuit of a more peaceful and safer Iraq."
Pentagon officials said they see a benefit to waiting before an
offensive in the so-called Sunni Triangle, the insurgent-dominated
region north and west of Baghdad. That would allow more time for
political negotiations and targeted airstrikes in Fallouja.
"We're having more impact with our airstrikes than we had expected,"
said a senior Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We see no need to rush headlong with hundreds of tanks into
Fallouja right now."
Because U.S. commanders no longer have carte blanche to run
military operations inside Iraq, they must seek approval from interim
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who has his own political future to
consider - even though he owes his position to the U.S.
U.S. officials said Allawi had backed a broad plan to retake insurgent-
controlled cities in Iraq before the January election. Allawi approved
the recent successful U.S. offensive in Samarra, which U.S. commanders
considered necessary only after a local government installed by Allawi
buckled under constant attack by insurgents.
Yet there has been occasional friction between U.S. commanders
in Baghdad and the Iraqi government that took power after the
U.S.-led coalition handed over sovereignty June 28.
In August, top U.S. officers in Iraq and Pentagon officials were
angry when Allawi ordered a halt to a day-old, U.S.-led offensive
against Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's militia as it holed up
inside the sacred Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf.
Allawi called the cease-fire to allow time for negotiations with Sadr,
which ultimately broke down. U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington
argued that such frictions were just part of a gradual process of
reducing Iraq's dependence on the U.S. military.
"We made a deal, and that's what you get when you set up an
interim government," a senior military official at the Pentagon said.
"But the alternative is not recognizing them."
U.S. officials said the recent offensive operation in Samarra went
more smoothly than they had expected, and has boosted optimism
that more cities can be wrested from insurgent hands before
January's election.
"People looked at Samarra and said, 'Wow, this works.' It wasn't
nearly as difficult an operation as we had anticipated," the senior
Defense official said. "After Samarra, we now believe we can do more."
Just weeks ago, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Army
Gen. John P. Abizaid of U.S. Central Command began lowering
expectations about how comprehensive the January vote would
be, suggesting that some rebellious cities such as Fallouja might
have to be left out of the balloting.
U.S. officers in Baghdad said that the biggest difference between
the Samarra operation and the failed U.S. offensive in Fallouja in
April was that select units of the Iraqi national guard held their
ground under enemy fire. In April, the U.S.-trained Iraqi security
forces in Fallouja capitulated soon after the U.S. offensive began.
"You've got to have a credible Iraqi security force that the local
populace has confidence in," said Army Col. Bob Pricone, chief
of operations at the U.S.-led coalition forces' headquarters in
Baghdad. "Four or five months ago, the populace didn't have
a lot of confidence in the Iraqi national guard."
Still, Pentagon officials say that it may not be militarily feasible
to bring every Iraqi city in the Sunni Triangle under the control
of U.S. forces and the Iraqi government in time for the January
election. The military view was contradicted by senior State
Department officials who declared in recent congressional
testimony that there were no plans to exclude any Iraqi city
from voting.
"The State Department can talk about people voting everywhere.
But securing Iraq in time for the election can't happen without
the U.S. military," the Defense official said.
During a recent trip to Washington, Allawi expressed his interest
in reclaiming insurgent-controlled cities in the Sunni Triangle in
time for the January election, even in light of the potentially
negative political impact in Iraq that a bloody military operation
could have.
Yet officials say that the man who owes his job to President Bush
- and might not have such a warm relationship with a President
John F. Kerry - does not want to press his case too hard before
the U.S. election.
"A lot of his political future depends on our election," said the
senior administration official.
Conversely, much of the future of the U.S. in Iraq may depend
on Allawi and his ability to emerge from the shadow of the
occupation and ensure that Iraq reaches its own political
milestone in January.
For 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq trying to break the will of
a deadly insurgency, that means understanding - and sometimes
bending to - the needs of U.S. politics and the demands of their
Iraqi hosts.
Said Pricone, the operations chief: "We'll work through as many
cities as the Iraqi government wants us to."
(c) Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
###
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9) Mosque on Fire After U.S. Air Strikes in West Iraq
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by Reuters
BAGHDAD
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-20.htm
BAGHDAD - U.S. marines engaged in heavy clashes with scores
of insurgents near a mosque in western Iraq on Monday, leading
to U.S. air strikes which damaged the shrine and left it ablaze, the
U.S. military said.
A U.S. military spokesman said marines came under fire from around
100 insurgents near the town of Hit, about 107 miles west of Baghdad,
and engaged in an hour-long firefight.
"Some of the anti-Iraqi forces took up fighting positions in a mosque,"
the spokesman in Baghdad said.
"Air strikes were called in on the mosque position. The mosque is
partially damaged and is currently on fire," he said.
It was not immediately clear if it was a Sunni or Shi'ite Muslim mosque,
but the vast majority of people in Anbar province, which includes the
town of Hit, are Sunni Muslims.
The area has been a bastion of rebel activity over the past 18 months,
particularly around the towns of Falluja and Ramadi, which lie just east
of Hit.
Hit is on the main road that follows the Euphrates river toward Syria,
a route that U.S. forces suspect is used by foreign fighters to enter Iraq
and bring supplies to guerrillas.
U.S. forces have engaged in fighting near mosques previously in the
Iraq conflict, most notably around the Imam Ali shrine in the Shi'ite
holy city of Najaf earlier this year, but relatively little damage has yet
been done to shrines. Insurgents often accuse U.S. forces of damaging
mosques, while the U.S. military says guerrillas use the holy sites as
shields from which to attack them.
(c) 2004 Reuters
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