---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
END THE U.S. OCCUPATION OF IRAQ IMMEDIATELY!
STOP THE IMPENDING NEW MASSACRE!
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
MARCH AND RALLY TO STOP THE WAR NOW!
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3RD, 5PM
ASSEMBLE AT POWELL AND MARKET-
MARCH TO 24TH & MISSION ST., S.F.
END THE OCCUPATION - OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
No matter who is elected, we say no to war and repression!
On November 3rd we will still be against the unjust war and
occupation, the police state restrictions of the Patriot Acts,
and the continuing attacks on our immigrant communities.
Bring flashlights, drums, and noisemakers. Permitted event
featuring the Loco Bloco Drum and Dance Ensemble.
Event initiated by Not in Our Name, and endorsed by Siafu,
Middle East Children's Alliance, Veterans for Peace-SF,
International ANSWER-SF, American Muslim Voice, Nor Cal RAWA
Supporters, American Friends Service Committee-SF, Bay Area
United Against War, CodePink, Central Committee for
Conscientious Objectors, Korean Americans United for Peace,
Blue Triangle Network, Socialist Action, Queers for Peace and
Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace, Lake Merritt Neighbors
Organized for Peace, International Socialist Organization,
Refuse & Resist!, Act Up East Bay, Korea Solidarity Committee,
War Resisters League-West, South Bay Mobilization to Stop the
War, East Bay Food Not Bombs, Alameda Peace Network, Bay Area
Radical Women, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, and United
for Peace and Justice-Bay Area.
Rock the boat - not just the vote!
For more info: http://bayarea.notinourname.net Or call 510-601-8000
| Also on Nov. 3: "Health Care NOT Warfare!"
| 9 AM gathering at Justin Herman Plaza, SF
| followed by march to the Fed Bldg for a
| noon rally. Sponsored by Beyond Voting,
| Code Blue, and Direct Action to Stop the War.
| For more info: http://www.actagainstwar.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
NEXT BAUAW MEETING:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 7:00 P.M.
1380 VALENCIA STREET
(BETWEEN 24TH & 25TH STREETS)
We ended up tabling on 24th Street in front of the Starbucks at
24th & Noe this Saturday, Oct. 30th. We handed out
posters, buttons and flyers for Yes on N and the
Nov. 3rd march and rally against the war.
It seemed to me that most of the people had already voted and
those that stopped said they voted Yes on N! Many took flyers
for Nov. 3rd.
The war will not be over on Nov. 3rd-everyone agreed to that.
The upcoming Nov. 3rd, 5PM March and Rally against the war will let
the world know that we still say no to war! U.S. Out Now!
End the Occupations from Iraq to Palestine! Bring the Troops
Home Now! Money for Human Needs not War!
We need to continue to build unity in opposition to the U.S.
War on Terror-War on the World!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Taking Stock of 100,000 Iraqi Deaths
By Amy Quinn
Peace and Justice News from FPIF
http://www.fpif.org/
November 1, 2004
2) Subject: [Al-Awda-SF] TONIGHT: ACCC Event-
Palestine: Analysis & Documentary
From: ACCSFBAY@aol.com
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 17:12:54 EDT
ACCC Presents
Friday Night Event
"The Current Situation in Palestine:
Analysis and Documentary"
A Presentation by Dr. Jess Ghannam
who recently returned from Palestine.
The Documentary, "Until When..."
looks at the lives of Palestinian
refugees in their own lands.
Friday, October 29th, 2004
7:30 p.m.
Free for Members
$5 non-members
Arab Cultural and Community Center
2 Plaza Avenue
San Francisco
For More Information, Please Call: 415 664 2200
The ACCC is located between Laguna Honda Blvd.
(7th Avenue) & Woodside Avenue.
To access ACCC by public transportation,
take MUNI K, L, or M trains to Forest Hill Station.
Upon exiting the station, turn left and walk one-half block.
http://al-awda.org
3) Best regards, and great job on Prop. N -- it's so refreshing
to have things to vote FOR not just against --
Toni, Bay Area Radical Women rwbayarea@yahoo.com
HAITI: Hidden from the Headlines Nov. 9th in San Jose
with Pierre Laboissiere, founding member,
Haiti Action Committee; Dave Welsh, San Francisco Labor
Council delegate; and Sasha Kramer, member, Human Rights
delegation to Haiti
Tuesday, November 9th, 2004, 6:00 pm
SEIU Local 715 Hall, 2nd Floor Great Room
2302 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95131
4) Kerry and Genocide: Know What You Are Voting For
By Merlin Chowkwanyun and Joshua Frank
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/frank.php?articleid=3890 >
November 1, 2004
"Barbara Deutsch"
Holbrooke key foreign policy advisor to Kerry
At 9:33 PM -1000 10/31/04, Viviane Lerner wrote:
5) Allawi ties Fallujah strike to peace talks
BY MATTHEW McALLESTER
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq
November 1, 2004
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/nyc-iraqbomb1031,0,6937938.sto
ry?coll=ny-top-headlines
6) Heavy Clashes in Ramadi
as U.S. Troop Buildup Begins
By Alistair Lyon
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Nov 1, 2004 07:32 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6675134&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
7) A wave of militant urban protests has erupted in China
over the past month against official corruption, social
inequality and the destruction of jobs.
By John Chan - www.wsws.org
1 November 2004
8) Human Rights in China, an organization
headquartered in New York,
reported that employees of the
Number 7 Textile Factory of Xianyang
city, in Shaanxi province have been
on strike for over 20 days. When
the factory was bought by the Huayun
group of Hong Kong, they called
for staff layoffs. The workers are
unwilling to sign the agreement.
By Wu Wei, The Epoch Times
Translated from the Chinese edition
9) Learning about the history of the United States forging
events to go to war, given what Bush's "think tank"
stated in writing that they were planning to wage war in
Iraq and that they were looking for a "new pearl harbor,"
I can only make three conclusions. (1) They set up the 9/11
events, or (2) they knew that it was in there interests not
to prevent 9/11, or (3) they were most definately were ready
to sieze on such events to implement their goals.
www.americanfreepress.net/12_24_02/America_Pearl_Harbored/america_pearl_harb
ored.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Taking Stock of 100,000 Iraqi Deaths
By Amy Quinn
Peace and Justice News from FPIF
http://www.fpif.org/
November 1, 2004
Introducing a new commentary from Foreign Policy In Focus
Taking Stock of 100,000 Iraqi Deaths
By Amy Quinn
Anne Arbor, MI, Bellevue, WA; Cape Coral, FL; Stamford, CT;
Green Bay, WI; Manchester, NH; Allentown, PA; Portsmouth, VA;
Cambridge, MA.
These are just a few U.S. cities whose populations hover around
100,000 people. In late October, public health experts calculated
that an equal number of Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the
U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Amy Quinn is a research associate with the Institute for Policy Studies
in Washington, D.C., co-author of "A Failed ‘Transition’: The Mounting
Costs of The Iraq War", and contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus
(online at http://www.fpif.org).
See new FPIF commentary online at:
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0410deaths.html
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0410deaths.html
With printer friendly PDF version at:
http://www.fpif.org/pdf/gac/0410deaths.pdf
Produced and distributed by FPIF:"A Think Tank Without Walls,"
a joint program of Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) and
Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
For more information, visit www.fpif.org
If you would like to add a name to the "WhatÂ’s New At FPIF" specific
region or topic list, please email:
communications@irc-online.org with “subscribe” and giving
your area of interest.
To add your name to this list, send a blank email to:
peaceandjustice-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to:
peaceandjustice-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net.
Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC)
http://www.irc-online.org/
Outreach Coordinator
Email: communications@irc-online.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Subject: [Al-Awda-SF] TONIGHT: ACCC Event-
Palestine: Analysis & Documentary
From: ACCSFBAY@aol.com
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 17:12:54 EDT
ACCC Presents
Friday Night Event
"The Current Situation in Palestine:
Analysis and Documentary"
A Presentation by Dr. Jess Ghannam
who recently returned from Palestine.
The Documentary, "Until When..."
looks at the lives of Palestinian
refugees in their own lands.
Friday, October 29th, 2004
7:30 p.m.
Free for Members
$5 non-members
Arab Cultural and Community Center
2 Plaza Avenue
San Francisco
For More Information, Please Call: 415 664 2200
The ACCC is located between Laguna Honda Blvd.
(7th Avenue) & Woodside Avenue.
To access ACCC by public transportation,
take MUNI K, L, or M trains to Forest Hill Station.
Upon exiting the station, turn left and walk one-half block.
http://al-awda.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Best regards, and great job on Prop. N -- it's so refreshing
to have things to vote FOR not just against --
Toni, Bay Area Radical Women rwbayarea@yahoo.com
HAITI: Hidden from the Headlines Nov. 9th in San Jose
with Pierre Laboissiere, founding member,
Haiti Action Committee; Dave Welsh, San Francisco Labor
Council delegate; and Sasha Kramer, member, Human Rights
delegation to Haiti
Tuesday, November 9th, 2004, 6:00 pm
SEIU Local 715 Hall, 2nd Floor Great Room
2302 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95131
From: Louise Auerhahn
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 00:08:57 -0700
Subject: Nov. 9th in San Jose - HAITI: Hidden from the Headlines
H A I T I :
Hidden from the Headlines
with Pierre Laboissiere, founding member, Haiti Action Committee;
Dave Welsh, San Francisco Labor Council delegate;
and Sasha Kramer, member, Human Rights delegation to Haiti
Tuesday, November 9th, 2004, 6:00 pm
SEIU Local 715 Hall, 2nd Floor Great Room
2302 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95131
Suggested donation $10 - $20
No one turned away for lack of funds!
All proceeds go to Haiti Action Committee
to support the people of Haiti
What news we hear about Haiti is
biased and distorted, and most of
the time events in Haiti are completely
absent from U.S. media. Yet violence
and repression in Haiti is growing at
an alarming pace. On Sept. 30th,
police opened fire on pro-democracy
demonstrators, and since then several
hundred people have been killed, hundreds
of Lavalas activists arbitrarily arrested
without warrants, and union leaders
intimidated and imprisoned.
Even in this climate of terror, the Haitian people continue to take to
the streets to demand the return of their democratically elected
president and an end to the political repression. Join us for
a discussion with three delegates recently returned from labor,
human rights, and fact-finding missions to Haiti.
Pierre Labossiere, founding member of the Haiti Action Committee.
Pierre will provide a historical perspective and share his views of the
current situation.
Dave Welsh, San Francisco Labor Council delegate, traveled to Haiti
in March on a fact finding delegation to learn how the coup has
affected labor. Dave will speak on the relationship between labor
and politics in Haiti.
Sasha Kramer, Ecology graduate student at Stanford, recently returned
from a human rights delegation to Haiti. The delegation was able to
meet with labor leaders, community organizers, political prisoners,
and elected officials who have been forced into hiding. Sasha will
show a slideshow and share the stories of the people she met.
For more information on the event, contact
info@southbaylaborforpeace.
For updates on Haiti, see
http://www.haitiaction.net
Sponsored by:
Haiti Action Committee
http://www.haitiaction.net
info@haitiaction.org
(510) 483-7481
SEIU Local 715 African American Caucus
(AFRAM)
afram715@yahoo.com
South Bay Labor for Peace and Justice
http://www.southbaylaborforpeace.org
info@southbaylaborforpeace.org
(408) 476-8298
South Bay Mobilization
http://www.southbaymobilization.org
sbm@southbaymobilization.org
(408) 998-8504
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Kerry and Genocide: Know What You Are Voting For
By Merlin Chowkwanyun and Joshua Frank
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/frank.php?articleid=3890 >
November 1, 2004
"Barbara Deutsch"
Holbrooke key foreign policy advisor to Kerry
At 9:33 PM -1000 10/31/04, Viviane Lerner wrote:
Kerry and Genocide: Know What You Are Voting For
by Merlin Chowkwanyun and Joshua Frank
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/frank.php?articleid=3890 >
November 1, 2004
Soon the tallies will be rolling in, and those who cast a vote for
John Kerry in hopes of altering the U.S. foreign policy paradigm
will have wasted their energy. What the mainstream media and others
have failed to disclose this election season is that one of Senator
Kerry's key foreign policy advisors, Richard Holbrooke, happened to
play a significant role in perhaps the largest U.S.-backed genocide
of the 20th century. Mr. Holbrooke is considered a likely tap for
secretary of state if Kerry defeats President Bush.
In 1975, during Gerald Ford's administration, Indonesia invaded East
Timor and slaughtered 200,000 indigenous Timorese. The Indonesian
invasion of East Timor set the stage for a long and bloody
occupation that recently ended after an international peacekeeping
force was introduced in 1999.
Recent transcripts of meetings among Indonesian dictator Mohamed
Suharto, Gerald Ford, and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
have shown conclusively that Kissinger and Ford authorized and
encouraged Suharto's murderous actions. "We will understand and will
not press you on the issue [of East Timor]," said President Ford in
a meeting with Suharto and Kissinger in early December 1975, days
before Suharto's bloodbath. "We understand the problem and the
intentions you have," he added.
Henry Kissinger also stressed at the meeting that "the use of
U.S.-made arms could create problems," but then added, "It depends
on how we construe it; whether it is in self defense or is a foreign
operation." Thus, Kissinger's concern was not about whether U.S.
arms would be used offensively, but whether the act could be
interpreted as illegal. Kissinger went on: "It is important that
whatever you do succeeds quickly."
After Gerald Ford's loss and Jimmy Carter's ascendance into the
White House in 1976, Indonesia requested additional arms to continue
its brutal occupation, even though there was a supposed ban on arms
trades to Suharto's government. It was Carter's appointee to the
Department of State's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs,
Richard Holbrooke, now the most likely candidate to be nominated for
Kerry's secretary of state, who authorized additional arms shipments
to Indonesia during this supposed blockade. Many scholars have noted
that this was the period when the Indonesian suppression of the
Timorese reached genocidal levels.
During his testimony before Congress in February 1978, Professor
Benedict Anderson cited a report that proved there was never a U.S.
arms ban, and that during the period of the alleged ban the U.S.
initiated new offers of military weaponry to the Indonesians:
"If we are curious as to why the Indonesians never felt the force of
the U.S. government's 'anguish,' the answer is quite simple. In flat
contradiction to express statements by General Fish, Mr. Oakley, and
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Richard Holbrooke, at least four separate offers of military
equipment were made to the Indonesian government during the
January-June 1976 'administrative suspension.' This equipment
consisted mainly of supplies and parts for OV-10 Broncos, Vietnam
War-era planes designed for counterinsurgency operations against
adversaries without effective anti-aircraft weapons, and wholly
useless for defending Indonesia from a foreign enemy. The policy of
supplying the Indonesian regime with Broncos, as well as other
counterinsurgency-related equipment, has continued without
substantial change from the Ford through the present Carter
administrations."
If we track Holbrooke's recent statements, the disturbing symbiosis
between him and figures like the hawkish Paul Wolfowitz, whom Kerry
supporters enjoy invoking when demonizing Bush, is startling.
"In an unguarded moment just before the 2000 election, Richard
Holbrooke opened a foreign policy speech with a fawning tribute to
his host, Paul Wolfowitz, who was then the dean of the Johns Hopkins
School of Advanced International Studies in Washington," reported
First of the Month following the terrorist attacks in 2001.
The article continued:
"Holbrooke, a senior adviser to Al Gore, was acutely aware that
either he or Wolfowitz would be playing important roles in next
administration. Looking perhaps to assure the world of the
continuity of U.S. foreign policy, he told his audience that
Wolfowitz's 'recent activities illustrate something that's very
important about American foreign policy in an election year, and
that is the degree to which there are still common themes between
the parties.' The example he chose to illustrate his point was East
Timor, which was invaded and occupied in 1975 by Indonesia with U.S.
weapons - a security policy backed and partly shaped by Holbrooke
and Wolfowitz. 'Paul and I,' he said, 'have been in frequent touch
to make sure that we keep [East Timor] out of the presidential
campaign, where it would do no good to American or Indonesian
interests.'"
In short, Holbrooke has worked vigorously to keep his bloody
campaign silent. The results of which appear to have paid off. In
chilling words, Holbrooke describes the motivations behind support
of Indonesia's genocidal actions:
"The situation in East Timor is one of the number of very important
concerns of the United States in Indonesia. Indonesia, with a
population of 150 million people, is the fifth largest nation in the
world, is a moderate member of the Non-Aligned Movement, is an
important oil producer - which plays a moderate role within OPEC -
and occupies a strategic position astride the sea lanes between the
Pacific and Indian Oceans. . . . We highly value our cooperative
relationship with Indonesia."
(The authors would like to thank Sunil K. Sharma for his research.)
***NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.***
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Allawi ties Fallujah strike to peace talks
BY MATTHEW McALLESTER
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq
November 1, 2004
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/nyc-iraqbomb1031,0,6937938.sto
ry?coll=ny-top-headlines
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi
warned yesterday that he could be on the verge of ordering a military
strike on the insurgent-controlled city of Fallujah if last-minute
peace negotiations fail, as many American military officials expect.
"We have entered the final phase to solve the Fallujah problem,"
Allawi told reporters in Baghdad, on a day that saw the bombing
of a hotel in Tikrit that killed 15 people. On Saturday, at least 30
people died in violence throughout the country, including eight
Marines killed by a suicide car bomb near Fallujah.
There was also heavy fighting yesterday between Marines and
insurgents in the city of Ramadi, which lies to the west of Fallujah.
With elections scheduled for January, the interim government and
American-led military forces are keen to take control of the Sunni-
dominated city of Fallujah and other militant-held towns in central
Iraq, including Ramadi. Without the participation of the Sunni Arab
minority, which held most positions of power during the regime of
Saddam Hussein, elections would lack legitimacy and could be
postponed.
Negotiations with Fallujah's nominal city elders have made almost
no progress, much of the city's civilian population has fled and the
American military on the outskirts of the city is preparing for what
could be the bloodiest battle since the invasion in 2003.
"Of course I'm nervous," said one 19-year-old Marine, eating his
dinner at a base near Fallujah last night. He then used an expletive
to describe exactly how scared he was.
Senior U.S. officers here will not say when the offensive is likely to
begin, noting that it is up to Allawi to make that decision.
If talks fail, Allawi said he would "have no choice but to secure
a military solution... . I will do so with a heavy heart, for even with
the most careful plan there will be some loss of innocent lives. But
I owe, owe it to the Iraqi people to defend them from the violence
and the terrorists and insurgents."
Fallujah has undergone a remarkable transition since the end of
the ground invasion in April 2003. The town surrendered without
a fight to the arriving Americans.
An incident late that month, however, sparked what would later
develop into a full-scale resistance movement. Saying they had
come under fire, American troops killed 17 demonstrators outside
a schoolhouse.
That marked the beginning of a deterioration in relations between
the American military and the residents of the city, many of whom
are strictly religious and former officials in the Hussein regime.
In April this year, Marines besieged Fallujah after the particularly
brutal killings of four U.S. security contractors but pulled out
before they had taken control of the whole city. Many Marines
consider that a fatal, and politically motivated, error that has
emboldened the resistance, given insurgents months to prepare
their defenses and necessitated a new offensive likely this month.
The American military believes Fallujah is the base for Jordanian-
born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of a group called
Al-Qaida in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for several
beheadings and suicide bombings. Yesterday the group said it
had killed Japanese hostage Shosei Koda, 24, whose decapitated
body was identified yesterday after being found in Baghdad,
wrapped in an American flag.
The Iraqi government has demanded that Fallujah's leaders hand
over al-Zarqawi, who has a $25-million price tag on his head,
but Iraqi intelligence officials and American military officers consider
such a handover extremely unlikely. They say they believe al-
Zarqawi and his Islamist extremist group to be stronger than
the more nationalistic insurgent element in the city.
In the past weeks, American military aircraft have repeatedly
bombed buildings in Fallujah that they believe to be hideouts
for al-Zarqawi and his followers. American officers at this base
have told reporters in the past few days that they believe negotiations
will fail and that an American-led assault on the city will be successful
but potentially costly both to the U.S. forces and local civilians.
In Tikrit last night, an explosion hit a hotel, killing 15 Iraqis, police
and hospital officials said.
Dr. Hassan al-Juburi, director of the Tikrit Teaching Hospital, said
the blast happened at 8 p.m. at the Sunubar Hotel. Eight others
were seriously wounded in the explosion, including two policemen.
Copyright (c) 2004, Newsday, Inc.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Heavy Clashes in Ramadi
as U.S. Troop Buildup Begins
By Alistair Lyon
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Nov 1, 2004 07:32 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6675134&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces battled rebels in Ramadi and
shelled Falluja on Monday, but there was no sign that an all-out
American-led offensive to retake the insurgent-held cities had
begun on the eve of the U.S. presidential election.
The U.S. military said it had begun to increase its troop strength
in Iraq ahead of nationwide elections due in January.
"The Second Brigade Combat Team has been informed that its
departure has been delayed for 30 to 60 days to provide a
secure environment for this election," a military spokesman
said.
While the 1st Cavalry's Second Brigade will stay longer
than planned, new troops have begun arriving, he said. The
United States already has about 138,000 troops in Iraq.
Three people were killed in the Ramadi fighting, including
an Iraqi cameraman filming for Reuters, hospital officials said.
Dhia Najim, 55, was covering fighting near his house in the
Sunni Muslim city's Andalus district when he was shot in the
head. The last footage from him showed flashes from gunfire and
smoke from explosions as U.S. Humvees race across a junction.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.
Falluja was generally quiet, apart from a brief Marine
artillery barrage against insurgent targets, a Reuters reporter
with U.S. Marines outside the Sunni Muslim city said.
The Marines are preparing to attack Ramadi and Falluja in a
drive to pacify Iraq before the Iraqi national assembly polls.
It is not clear if the assault will begin before Tuesday's
American presidential poll. Iraq has been a divisive campaign
theme, with President Bush defending the invasion to topple
Saddam Hussein and his handling of its aftermath against fierce
criticism from Democratic challenger John Kerry.
Gunmen assassinated the deputy governor of Baghdad, a day
after Iraq's U.S.-backed interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
said the government was losing patience with Falluja.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said Hatem Karim was killed
and two bodyguards were wounded in a drive-by shooting in the
southern Dora district of the Iraqi capital.
The Islamic militant Army of Ansar al-Sunna group claimed
responsibility for the assassination, according to a statement
on its Web site. The group said it had carried out "God's
judgment on the apostate" Karim.
Insurgents have assassinated many officials seen as
cooperating with U.S.-led forces in Iraq, while revenge
killings against former Saddam Hussein loyalists are also
common.
Gunmen killed retired Republican Guard Lieutenant-Colonel
Athir al-Khazraji and a passerby in Baquba, northeast of
Baghdad. A morgue official in the town said he had also
received the body of an Iraqi contractor working for U.S.
forces.
GUERRILLA BASTIONS
The government says former Saddam loyalists and militants
led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi operate in Falluja
and Ramadi, which have long been hotbeds for anti-U.S.
resistance.
Allawi said on Sunday the government, which has demanded
that Falluja people hand over Zarqawi's men, wanted to "free
this town from the grip of terrorists who came from abroad."
He said there could be no compromise with fighters loyal to
Zarqawi, Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden.
The Ramadi clashes broke out in the east of the city around
7 a.m. (11 p.m. EST Sunday). Black smoke rose from buildings as
gunmen fired grenades and mortar rounds amid heavy U.S. return
fire.
Families began to flee their homes as fighting intensified
and witnesses said they saw a U.S. military vehicle ablaze.
Hospital staff said seven people were killed and 11 wounded
in the city, 68 miles west of Baghdad, on Sunday.
In the northern Sunni Muslim city of Tikrit, 15 civilians
were killed and about eight wounded when a rocket fired by
insurgents hit a hotel used by southern migrant workers shortly
after evening prayers on Sunday, the U.S. military said.
Three mortar rounds hit the Sunni city of Samarra overnight
and hospital officials said seven people were wounded.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appeared to have
won public backing for his refusal to pull Japanese troops out
of Iraq despite the weekend beheading of a Japanese hostage.
But the killing of 24-year-old backpacker Shosei Koda has
re-ignited debate over whether Tokyo should extend the troops'
mission when their mandate expires in December.
Zarqawi's group, which have claimed responsibility for some
of Iraq's bloodiest suicide bombings and hostage decapitations,
had vowed to behead Koda unless Japan pulled out its 550
non-combat troops.
(With reporting by Michael Georgy near Falluja, Sabah
al-Bazee in Samarra and Faris al-Mahdawi in Baquba)
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) A wave of militant urban protests has erupted in China
over the past month against official corruption, social
inequality and the destruction of jobs.
By John Chan - www.wsws.org
1 November 2004
A wave of militant urban protests has erupted in China over the past
month against official corruption, social inequality and the
destruction of jobs.
On October 18, the brutal assault of a worker by a government
official sparked a riot in Wangzhou, a city in the southwestern
province of Sichuan. According to some estimates, up to 80,000
workers and unemployed were involved in a night of clashes and
confrontations with thousands of police. Paramilitary units were
eventually called in from neighbouring cities to restore order.
The incident that provoked the unrest is a graphic example of the
contempt China's state bureaucracy and capitalist elite has for the
working class—especially the millions of so-called migrant workers
who have moved from the countryside to the cities in search of jobs.
According to accounts on the Internet, a worker, weighed down with a
load of goods across his back, accidentally bumped into the wife of
a local taxation bureau director. As he attempted to apologise, the
official knocked him to the ground. In front of dozens of stunned
onlookers, the official beat the man with a pole, breaking his leg.
With the worker lying in agony, the official then proceeded to boast
to the crowd that he could have him killed if he wanted. At one
point, he offered spectators 20 yuan if they would slap the injured
man's face.
Police, who arrived as the assault was unfolding, shook hands with
the official and made clear he would not be arrested. Outraged
workers attempted to detain the bureaucrat but he was secreted away
by the police.
News of the incident spread quickly throughout the city's working
class districts. By late afternoon, tens of thousands of local
residents had rallied outside the Wangzhou city government offices,
chanting "hand over the attackers", "punish the attackers" and "for
justice of the injured".
Workers pelted the riot police protecting the building with rocks
and smashed the glass entrance. Police cars were set ablaze.
According to the Asia Times: "The character of the demonstration
changed from a fight for justice to the expression of anger to the
government." As night fell, thousands of police and paramilitary
personnel were deployed to restore order, firing tear gas and rubber
bullets to disperse the demonstration. Street battles continued
until midnight.
The Chinese government attempted to downplay the incident, telling
the media that a "misunderstanding" had caused the revolt and that
the disturbances only involved "a few illegal elements". The
underlying causes of the riot, however, are obvious.
Some 250,000 people who were evicted from their villages to make way
for the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River were forcibly
relocated to the area, which already had high unemployment. Many of
the migrants have been unable to find jobs and are forced to live on
a 70-80 yuan monthly "living allowance" ($US9-10) paid by the
government. This payment for the Three Gorges refugees, however, is
scheduled to finish in 2005. On top of the poverty and deprivation,
the displaced villagers are treated with contempt by the state
bureaucracy and subjected to police harassment. The simmering
tensions eventually expressed themselves in an explosive fashion.
Broader unrest
Discontent has erupted in other Chinese industrial cities this
month. The reported protests, however, are likely to be the tip of
the iceberg.
According to Associated Press, 5,000 retirees from a major state-
owned textile factory, many of them women, protested in Bengbu city,
in eastern Anhui province on October 22, to demand an increase in
the poverty-level pension. Thousands of sympathisers joined them in
the streets, forming a kilometre-long demonstration that blocked all
traffic into the city. Riot police were initially deployed but they
were withdrawn out of government concerns that any repression would
trigger a Wangzhou-style riot. Several officials who mistakenly
entered the protest area abandoned their cars and fled on foot,
fearing that workers would attack them.
The retired workers only receive a monthly pension of 400-500 yuan
($US50-60). With inflation running at a seven-year high of 5.2
percent, they cannot make ends meet. In addition, many of the
retirees have serious work-related injuries or medical conditions.
Conditions in China's textile factories are so bad they are commonly
referred to as "coal mines on the surface". Every year thousands of
miners and textile workers are killed or maimed in industrial
accidents.
The demonstration was organised in the hope that Chinese premier Wen
Jiabao, who was rumoured to be attending the opening ceremony of a
local market, would listen to their demands. Instead of receiving
sympathy, however, a number of the retirees were arrested as they
distributed leaflets outlining their grievances.
On October 18, hundreds of employees from the state-owned Jining
Department Store protested in Jining City in eastern Shangdong
province against the low wages and extended hours they are being
forced to work after the company was restructured. As in Bengbu,
thousands of other workers joined the demonstration in solidarity
with their demands.
Nearly 7,000 workers from the state-owned Tianwang Textile Factory
in Xianyang city, Shaanxi province, have occupied the factory since
September 14 in protest against the takeover of the company by the
Hong Kong based China Resources.
The company sacked the entire workforce and demanded all future
employees sign a new contract on lower wages. The workers were also
forced to sell their shares in the firm to the new owners.
The occupation has received mass support in the area. On September
18, 1,000 police sent to evict the occupying workers were driven
back by a crowd of thousands of people who rallied outside the
factory. Protestors sang the Internationale and other revolutionary
songs.
On September 13, 1,000 employees from Shaanxi Precision Alloy held a
four-day traffic blockade to protest the privatisation of the state-
owned company. Workers demanded an investigation into missing assets
and raised banners such as "defend state-owned assets to
death", "children want school, elders want food, we want wages", "we
want our fruits of labour back" and "break the control of ideas".
Government officials have responded to each of these incidents with
worthless assurances that the workers' grievances would be given
attention. But the reality is that the Beijing Stalinist regime, in
line with its commitments to the World Trade Organisation, is
accelerating free market restructuring throughout China.
The shutdown and privatisation of state-owned enterprises in 1990s
wiped out millions of jobs, and eliminated subsidised housing,
pensions and health care. The new leadership of President Hu Jintao
has announced a firesale of the remaining 190,000 state-owned
enterprises, with only 190 companies remaining in government hands.
The growing working class protests are in direct response to this
policy. Robin Munro, research director of the Hong Kong-based China
Labour Bulletin, told Bloomberg News on October 26: "Protests like
these [the recent incidents] are happening all over. We expect many,
many more as the wave of privatisation of state-owned companies
takes off."
Class tensions are also intensifying in coastal province export
zones, where foreign firms brutally exploit tens of millions of
Chinese workers. With prices for oil and raw materials soaring in
recent months, thousands of sweatshops in these areas are demanding
that workers accept lower pay and longer hours in order to maintain
profit margins.
On October 10, 3,000 workers from a Hong Kong-based electronic
factory producing CDs in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in
Guangdong province protested on the main highway over their low
wages, disrupting city traffic for four hours. The company pays as
little as 230 yuan ($US26) a month for 12-hour working days,
compared to the official minimum wage of 610 yuan. Two young female
workers and five supporters were arrested.
Five thousand striking employees in Dongguan, another major
Guangdong manufacturing city, clashed with 500 anti-riot police
officers on October 6. The strike was over substandard food served
to workers in the Japanese-owned printing factory. Dozens of workers
were arrested or injured and a police car destroyed.
The growing class tensions underscore the reasons for the transfer
of control of the Chinese military from former president Jiang Zemin
to Hu Jintao at last month's Communist Party central committee
plenum. The new leadership is dependent on the armed forces to deal
with social unrest.
Calls are being made in Chinese ruling circles for a build-up of
paramilitary and police numbers. In an interview with state-
controlled China Central Television on October 17, Public Security
Minister Zhou Yongkang declared that police numbers
were "insufficient" and "could not win" where demonstrators vastly
outnumbered them.
Beijing's greatest fear is the massive growth of the Chinese working
class, both numerically and in terms of its social weight, over the
past two decades. The regime has 1.7 million police, one million
paramilitary police and two million troops in the Peoples Liberation
Army, to control a population of 1.4 billion. More than 110 Chinese
cities now have over one million residents.
Workers' leaders continue to be targeted for arrest in an attempt to
intimidate the population. The most recent detentions involve two
female workers, Liu Meifeng and Ding Xiulan, from a former state-
owned Funing County Textile Factory in Jiangsu Province. After
leading 3,000 workers in a month-long struggle against layoffs,
women were seized on October 20 at a public meeting organised by the
government in Yancheng city. They have been charged with "disturbing
the social order"—a political crime that carries lengthy prison
terms.
See Also:
Behind the military leadership changeover in China
[25 October 2004]
Hundreds of police break up factory occupation in China
[13 September 2004]
Chinese capitalism: industrial powerhouse or sweatshop of the world?
[31 January 2004]
Beijing's WTO concessions signal a new stage in China's capitalist
restructuring
[28 June 2000]
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Human Rights in China, an organization
headquartered in New York,
reported that employees of the
Number 7 Textile Factory of Xianyang
city, in Shaanxi province have been
on strike for over 20 days. When
the factory was bought by the Huayun
group of Hong Kong, they called
for staff layoffs. The workers are
unwilling to sign the agreement.
By Wu Wei, The Epoch Times
Translated from the Chinese edition
Oct 14, 2004
Human Rights in China, an organization headquartered in New York,
reported that employees of the Number 7 Textile Factory of Xianyang
city, in Shaanxi province have been on strike for over 20 days. When
the factory was bought by the Huayun group of Hong Kong, they called
for staff layoffs. The workers are unwilling to sign the agreement.
At present, the government has three security groups stationed at
the factory. Shaanxi's deputy governor also visited the scene
personally, but the government has not given the workers a sincere
answer to their questions. The workers are complaining about the
factory, and have refused the factory and government's requests for
them to resume work. At present, the big strike is still continuing.
Currently, over a thousand workers are picketing the factory's
entrance in the daytime, and are being watched by some 45 policemen
to maintain order. At night, there are still several hundred workers
at the scene. For the last few days, the striking workers have been
singing loudly, "The Internationale," a workers' anthem from the
early days of the communist movement.
The workers are asking that the higher authorities meet with the
factory workers and solve the problem, and that the government
defend the workers' rights. At the beginning of this 20-day strike,
the workers shouted protests through the wind and rain. Now, voices
have grown hoarse, and there are only a few occasional shouts.
The Hong Kong Ming Pao newspaper reported that at the start of the
strike, related departments sent out large numbers of public
security agents and police to the scene, but they did not take any
action. Although Shaanxi authorities sent an official to meet with
the workers, there hasn't been any results yet. Neither side is
willing to compromise. The Hong Kong Huayun group has refused to
comment on the matter.
It is understood that the company previously controlling the
factory, which recently changed its name to Tianwang group, was a
large state-owned enterprise for 46 years, controlled by the Shaanxi
national asset committee. It has a staff of about 6,000 people, and
a property value of 500 million yuan (US$60.4 million). At the
beginning of last year, the committee reformed the plans for state-
owned enterprises and began to negotiate with the Hong Kong based
Huayun group. The Number 7 Textile Factory was sold to the Huayun
group this June and July.
After the Huayun group took control of the factory, the workers were
immediately requested to follow new rules and sign new worker
contracts. Workers' requests were rejected. The group was not
willing to accept conditions such as not reducing the staff. All of
these factors stirred up dissatisfaction among workers.
One worker recalled, "When the factory repeatedly turned down the
reasonable requests of the workers, workers could find no way to
repress their anger. On September 14, thousands of workers gathered
at the entrance of the Tianwang group entrance in Xianyan city.
Among them, many were women. They have been maintaining constant
vigil until now, no matter if it is daytime, night, or during the
continuous rain of autumn. In this way, they are guarding their
legitimate rights. No one knows how much longer they will stay.
During this time, many people have been injured, including two women
who are in the hospital. People encouraged by the Tianwang group
officials hurt them. The workers restrain their anger. They don't
block traffic, and they aren't chaotic. They just sit on the sides
of the sidewalk."
Suppression Failed
On September 17 and 18, over a thousand police and over a hundred
police vehicles were sent out. They branded the workers Falun Gong
practitioners and hoodlums, and were prepared to suppress them. The
retired workers and factory staff heard of the news and rushed to
support the workers; altogether 10,000 people gathered in support of
the workers.
The people on strike began to sing, "Police, police, I love
you," "Police, police, the people's good police," and the theme song
from "Plain-clothed Police." A worker said that the police were so
touched that they had tears on their faces and were too embarrassed
to take action against them.
Strike Not Reported by Chinese Media
In late September, some workers who went to Beijing to appeal were
sent back. Workers say that until now, Mainland media sources have
not reported news of the strike and complain that the media will not
properly report events. The Mainland search engine, Baidu, has
deleted information about the strike from its articles.
How Long Will the Workers Persist?
ight now, the strike is still continuing. The workers are waiting
for the central authorities' involvement, but it is hard to say if
that day will ever come. Will there be suppression or a peaceful
solution? Will the authorities once again lie and administer
consequences when this is over? Will the common people make a
decision? Time will reveal all.
Over six thousand workers, the great majority of them women, have
been on strike at the Tianwang Textile Factory in Xianyang City,
Shaanxi Province, since 14 September in a determined show of protest
against attempts by the factory's new majority shareholder - China
Resources, a mainland-invested company listed in Hong Kong, New York
and London - to force them to sign unfair labour contracts after the
factory's recent change of ownership. The striking workers have
halted all production at the factory for the past three weeks and
are maintaining a 24-hour vigil, in rotating shifts of around 200
workers at a time, on either side of the factory's main gate.
Banners hanging from the factory gate declare: "We want to
survive", "Protect workers' rights" and "Give us back the funds we
worked hard for". Workers with loud-hailers are leading their fellow
protestors in singing songs and chanting slogans throughout the day.
The new owner of the Tianwang factory, China Resources (Holdings)
Co. Ltd (Hua Run Jituan), has demanded that all the workers accept a
one-off severance payment equivalent to one month's basic salary for
each year of service in the factory, after which an unknown number
of the workers would be re-employed on a "no-seniority" basis (that
is, their previous years of service will no longer be recognized) -
and at substantially lower wage levels than before. In addition, all
those re-employed by the factory would have to serve a six-
month "probationary work period" during which they would receive
only 60 percent of their new salary.
The workers, most of whom have served at the factory for well over
ten years, regard this as a thinly disguised ploy by management to
reduce their income still further, and as an insult to their
professional skills. They are also angry that China Resources,
contrary to government regulations, has refused to pay them any
compensation for their change of status from state-owned enterprise
workers to employees of a privately owned enterprise. Worst of all
from the workers' point of view, their new employer is refusing to
pay their future retirement pension and medical insurance premiums
once the new contracts have been signed.
Four days into the strike action, at around 10.30pm on 18 September,
as many as 1,000 police suddenly appeared in front of the factory
gates carrying water cannon and prepared to forcibly disperse the
demonstrating workers. But after some of the workers ran back to the
Tianwang staff dormitory area and banged on their wash basins to
wake everybody up, thousands of other workers and their families
came out on to the street to protect the workers stationed by the
factory gates. Faced with this united show of resistance, the police
officers then retreated without using the water cannon.
Workers' Discontent over the China Resources' Sale Agreement
Tianwang Textile Factory, previously a state-owned enterprise known
as the Xibei No.7 Cotton Factory, until recently employed about
seven thousand workers. Workers at the factory have told China
Labour Bulletin that the factory's total assets are worth 330
million Yuan, but China Resources estimated them as amounting to
only 80 million Yuan. The local government's acceptance of this very
low estimate has given rise to widespread suspicion among the
Tianwang workers that the factory's assets were improperly disposed
of in the course of the merger with China Resources, which
reportedly now owns a 51 per cent share in the factory. According to
the workers, one of the new management's first moves after taking
over the factory was to abolish both the official trade union branch
(ACFTU) and also the factory's Party Committee.
Ironically, about three years ago, when the Xibei No. 7 Cotton
Factory was reorganized as the Tianwang shareholding company, the
workers were pressured by management into buying shares in the
factory: each worker was expected to purchase 4,000 Yuan's worth of
shares; cadres had to purchase 8,000 Yuan's worth of shares; and
senior cadres had to buy 16,000 Yuan's worth. Earlier this year,
when the merger with China Resources was about to take place, the
workers were then summarily ordered by management to sell their
shares back to the company, receiving a premium of around 25 percent
on the original share price.
Numerous workers at Tianwang have told CLB that they are extremely
unhappy and angry about the way the China Resources sale agreement
has been forced on the factory. Indeed, even the factory's own
management originally opposed the sale on the low terms being
offered by China Resources: apparently, the municipal government has
been obliged to change the factory's top manager no fewer than three
times over the past two years in order to force through the sale
agreement.
According to the PRC Labour Law and other relevant regulations, the
agreement needed to be approved by the factory's Workers Congress
and the company therefore had to call a meeting of the Workers
Congress for this purpose. In addition, regulations stated that the
vote should be cast by all worker delegates in a secret ballot. In
the event, the factory management insisted that the voting be
carried out by only a selected minority of the Workers Congress
delegates, and moreover by means of a public show of hands.
Even then, many of the selected Workers Congress delegates
reportedly refused to endorse the sale agreement, but factory
managers then locked them all inside the meeting room and informed
them that no one would be allowed to leave until the merger with
China Resources had been approved. Only after many hours of
detention did the delegates finally consent to endorse the sale
plan. Subsequently, each Workers Congress delegate was given 100
Yuan in coupons by the company as a reward.
Official Trade Union Disowns Responsibility for Negotiating on
Workers' Behalf
When contacted by China Labour Bulletin, both the Shaanxi provincial
trade union authorities and also those at Xianyang municipal level
stated that they had no role to play in helping the Tianwang workers
resolve their confrontation with China Resources over the unfair and
unreasonable terms of the contracts being offered. An official named
Zhang Fengying - who concurrently holds the posts of Chairperson of
the Shaanxi Provincial Textile Trade Union and Deputy Party
Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Textile Company - confirmed that
she had a meeting with senior local government officials about the
strike at Tianwang Textiles.
But another cadre at the same provincial trade union office told CLB
that the union could not represent the workers in negotiating with
China Resources due to "various reasons embedded in the current
trade union system." Meanwhile, the management of China Resources'
branch in Xianyang declined to answer any enquiries by CLB as to
whether the company had entered into negotiations with the workers,
or whether there was even a trade union branch at the factory with
which to negotiate.
Later, a cadre from the Xianyang Municipal Trade Union explained to
CLB that the official trade union had not become involved in
handling the Tianwang dispute because it had "not received any
instruction from the Xianyang Municipal Government and the Municipal
Committee" to do so. He also had no idea as to whether a trade union
still existed in the factory after the ownership restructuring.
Since Tianwang was a subsidiary of the provincial textile company,
he said, it was "impossible for Xianyang Municipal Trade Union to
get involved with anything under the jurisdiction of the provincial
enterprise." The union official added that the case should instead
be handled either by the provincial trade union or by the trade
union of its parent company, Shaanxi Textiles. As noted above,
however, these bodies have already disowned all responsibility for
addressing or representing the Tianwang workers' complaints.
The striking Tianwang workers three main demands are: 1) that the
central government in Beijing should send an inspection team to
review the terms of the factory's merger with China Resources to see
if there has been any financial impropriety; 2) that more equitable
contracts should be offered to the workforce, with no requirement
for a "probationary work period", preservation of their individual
seniority status, compensation for their loss of state-owned
enterprise employee status, and continued payment by the company of
their pension and medical insurance premiums; and 3) that China
Resources should be held responsible both for the losses incurred
during the suspension of production and also for the workers' wages
during the period of the strike, since the new contracts offered by
the company are in breach of the Labour Law and the Trade Union Law.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Learning about the history of the United States forging
events to go to war, given what Bush's "think tank"
stated in writing that they were planning to wage war in
Iraq and that they were looking for a "new pearl harbor,"
I can only make three conclusions. (1) They set up the 9/11
events, or (2) they knew that it was in there interests not
to prevent 9/11, or (3) they were most definately were ready
to sieze on such events to implement their goals.
www.americanfreepress.net/12_24_02/America_Pearl_Harbored/america_pearl_harb
ored.html
A neo-conservative Washington-based organization known as the
Project for the New American Century (PNAC), funded by three
foundations closely tied to Persian Gulf oil and weapons and
defense industries, drafted the war plan for U.S. global domination
through military power.
One of the organization's documents clearly shows that Bush
and his most senior cabinet members had already planned an
attack on Iraq before he took power in January 2001.
The PNAC is part of the New Citizenship Project, whose chairman
is also William Kristol, and is described as "a non-profit,
educational organization whose goal is to promote American
global leadership."
Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, and Paul Wolfowitz
signed a Statement of Principles of the PNAC on June 3, 1997,
along with many of the other current members of Bush's "war
cabinet."
Wolfowitz was one of the directors of PNAC until he joined the
Bush administration.
The group's essential demand was for hefty increases in defense
spending. "We need to increase defense spending significantly if
we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize
our armed forces for the future," the statement's first principle reads.
The increase in defense spending is to bring about two of the
other principles: "to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and
values" and "to accept responsibility for America's unique role in
preserving and extending an international order friendly to our
security, our prosperity, and our principles."
A subsequent PNAC plan entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses:
Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century," reveals that
the current members of Bush's cabinet had already planned,
before the 2000 presidential election, to take military control
of the Gulf region whether Saddam Hussein is in power or not.
The 90-page PNAC document from September 2000 says:
"The United States has for decades sought to play a more
permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved
conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need
for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends
the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
"Even should Saddam pass from the scene," the plan says U.S.
military bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will remain, despite
domestic opposition in the Gulf states to the permanent stationing
of U.S. troops. Iran, it says, "may well prove as large a threat to
U.S. interests as Iraq has."
A "core mission" for the transformed U.S. military is to "fight
and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars,"
according to the PNAC.
The strategic "transformation" of the U.S. military into an
imperialistic force of global domination would require a huge
increase in defense spending to "a minimum level of 3.5 to 3.8
percent of gross domestic product, adding $15 billion to $20 billion
to total defense spending annually," the PNAC plan said.
"The process of transformation," the plan said, "is likely to be
a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event-like
a new Pearl Harbor."
ABC Reports US Military Chiefs Approved Terror Acts on
US Soil
Wed, 6 Oct 2004 08:56:53 -0700
Frederick Burks
[Al-Awda-SF] [Fwd. 100.000 IRAQI DEATHS!
WORLD WIDE PETITION AGAINST THE ESCALATION !]
IMPORTANT:
World Wide Petition Against the Escalation in Iraq,
an initiative of the Brussells tribunal
endorsed by the World Tribunal on Iraq
Dear all,
Prof. Jean Bricmont, a Belgian scientist, specialist in theoretical
physics, and author on politics, who was member of the prosecution at
the BRussells Tribunal, has written a short but strong statement
"Stop
the escalation" (see the text after this message, in English and
French). It has been signed already by several authors and our
organisations (see underneath).
We feel that we can't wait any longer to do something. We hope that
you and/or your organisation will sign this letter, giving the call
of
prof Bricmont the resonance it deserves and he aimed at in writing
it.
Now, on the evening of 28th of October 2004, that we know from an
article in the Lancet, based on a survey by Johns Hopkins University
that 100.000 Iraqi's died in the war (see below), we feel this
petition is urgent, so we send it out now.
We hope you join us in our outcry over the ongoing massacres by
signing Bricmont's warning against the escalation.
Yours in the struggle for peace
Lieven De Cauter, Dirk Adriaensens, Hana Al Bayaty and Patrick
Deboosere,
on behalf of the BRussells Tribunal committee.(see
www.brusselstribunal.org)
This letter is being distributed with full support of the the World
Tribunal on Iraq (see www.worldtribunal.org) of which the BRussells
tribunal Committee is part.
If you want to sign, PLEASE REPLY WITH "I SIGN" TO:
Info@Brusselstribunal.org . If possible add profession and locality.
STOP THE ESCALATION
"Excluding information from Falluja, a Lancet report of october 29
estimates that 100,000 more Iraqis died than would have been expected
had the invasion not occurred. Eighty-four percent of the deaths were
reported to be caused by the actions of Coalition forces and 95
percent of those deaths were due to air strikes and
artillery."(Reuters, octobre 28.2004))
Far from being over, the war in Iraq has only begun. The United
States do not seem to be able to defeat the Iraqi resistance with the
means they have been using. But neither can they accept their
setbacks. The very arrogance with which the war was declared and
waged has put all their prestige at stake in Iraq and, thereby,
decades of efforts to assure their world domination. The stakes are
even greater than in the Vietnam war. The United States cannot get
out of Iraq unless they leave behind a friendly government, but today
they have so few friends in that part of the world that no democratic
election can produce such a government.
As a result, one must seriously anticipate a military
escalation after the elections -- immediately in case Bush is
returned to office, perhaps more gradually should Kerry win. But the
Democratic candidate has no more intention than Bush of withdrawing
from Iraq.
The U.S. government will seek to defeat the resistance by all
possible means. The effort is already underway to demonize the
resistance in world opinion by associating it with abductions and
murders condemned by virtually the whole spectrum of political
organizations in the Arab world.
We demand that the United States face up to reality,
unconditionally withdraw their troops from Iraq, and draw the
necessary conclusions as to the unacceptable nature of preventive
war. It is an illusion to ask that the U.S. forces remain until Iraq is
pacified or stabilized, because their very presence is so hated that
it constitutes the main obstacle to any sort of pacification.
Meanwhile, we affirm that we shall oppose by all peaceful and
legal methods every attempt to crush the Iraqi resistance by a
military escalation such as was attempted during the Vietnam war. We
call on all governments to grant asylum to American military
personnel refusing to serve in Iraq. We shall do our best to spread all
available information to counter the war propaganda, and we shall try
to mobilize world public opinion, as in 2002, to demand that the
United States abandon their efforts to impose a military solution on
Iraq.
CONTRE L'ESCALADE
"Excluding information from Falluja, a Lancet report of october 29
estimates that 100,000 more Iraqis died than would have been expected
had the invasion not occurred. Eighty-four percent of the deaths were
reported to be caused by the actions of Coalition forces and 95
percent of those deaths were due to air strikes and
artillery."(Reuters, October 28, 2004)
Loin d'être finie, la guerre en Irak ne fait que commencer. Les
États-Unis ne semblent pas arriver à vaincre la résistance irakienne
avec les moyens qu'ils utilisent. Mais ils ne peuvent pas non plus
reculer: l'arrogance même avec laquelle la guerre a été déclarée et
menée fait en sorte que tout leur prestige est en jeu en Irak et,
avec
lui, des décennies d'efforts visant à la domination du monde. L'enjeu
pour eux est encore plus considérable que lors de la guerre du
Viêt-Nam. Les États-Unis ne peuvent quitter l'Irak qu'en laissant
derrière eux un gouvernement ami, mais ils n'ont aujourd'hui que très
peu d'amis dans cette partie du monde et aucune élection démocratique
ne pourra produire un tel gouvernement.
Par conséquent, il faut sérieusement s'attendre à une escalade
militaire après les élections. Immédiatement si Bush est élu, plus
lentement peut-être si c'est Kerry. Mais celui-ci n'a, pas plus que
Bush, la volonté de se retirer d'Irak. Ils chercheront à vaincre la
résistance par tous les moyens. On tente déjà de démoniser celle-ci
dans l'opinion publique mondiale en l'associant à des enlèvements et
des assassinats condamnés par la quasi-totalité des organisations
politiques du monde arabe.
Nous demandons que les États-Unis fassent preuve de réalisme,
retirent
leurs troupes d'Irak sans condition, et en tirent les conclusions qui
s'imposent concernant le caractère inaceptable des guerres
préventives. Il est illusoire de demander que leurs forces armées
restent jusqu'à ce que l'Irak soit pacifié ou stabilisé, parce que
leur présence est tellement détestée qu'elle constitue le principal
obstacle à toute pacification. En attendant, nous affirmons que nous
nous opposerons par tous les moyens pacifiques et légaux à toute
tentative d'écraser la résistance irakienne par une escalade
militaire, comme cela a été tenté lors de la guerre du Viêt-Nam.Nous
demandons que tous les gouvernements accordent l'asile politique aux
déserteurs américains. Nous nous efforcerons de diffuser toutes les
informations permettant de contrer la propagande de guerre et nous
tenterons de mobiliser l'opinion publique mondiale, comme en 2002,
afin d'exiger que les États-Unis renoncent à chercher une solution
militaire à la situation en Irak.
Jean Bricmont, prof. of theoretical physics and political publicist,
writer of this petition, Belgium
The BRussels Tribunal Committee
The World tribunal on Iraq Committee
Karen Parker, attorney, USA
Haifa Zangana, iraqi novelist and journalist, U.K.
Abdul-Ila Albayaty, Iraqi political refugee, France
Amy Bartholomew, prof. of political sciences, USA
Erik Swyngedouw, prof of social geography, Oxford
Lieven De Cauter, philosopher, Belgium
Patrick De Boosere, demographer, Belgium
Hana Al Bayaty, documentarist, France
Dirk Adriaensens, sos Irak, Belgium
and many others to come....
If you want to sign, PLEASE REPLY WITH "I SIGN" TO:
Info@Brusselstribunal.org . If possible add profession and locality
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background :
100,000 Iraqi Deaths
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
LONDON - A survey of deaths in Iraqi households estimates that as
many as 100,000 more people may have died throughout the country in
the 18 months after the U.S. invasion than would be expected based on
the death rate before the war.
There is no official figure for the number of Iraqis killed since
the
conflict began, but some non-governmental estimates range from 10,000
to 30,000. As of Wednesday, 1,081 U.S. servicemen had been killed,
according to the U.S. Defense Department.
The scientists who wrote the report concede that the data they based
their projections on were of "limited precision," because the quality
of the information depends on the accuracy of the household
interviews
used for the study. The interviewers were Iraqi, most of them
doctors.
Designed and conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University,
Columbia University and the Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad,
the
study is being published Thursday on the Web site of The Lancet
medical journal.
The survey indicated violence accounted for most of the extra deaths
seen since the invasion, and air strikes from coalition forces caused
most of the violent deaths, the researchers wrote in the
British-based
journal.
"Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women
and children," they said.
The report was released just days before the U.S. presidential
election, and the lead researcher said he wanted it that way. The
Lancet routinely publishes papers on the Web before they appear in
print, particularly if it considers the findings of urgent public
health interest.
Those reports then appear later in the print issue of the journal.
The journal's spokesmen said they were uncertain which print issue
the
Iraqi report would appear in and said it was too late to make
Friday's
issue, and possibly too late for the Nov. 5 edition.
Les Roberts, the lead researcher from Johns Hopkins, said the
article's timing was up to him.
"I emailed it in on Sept. 30 under the condition that it came out
before the election," Roberts told The Asocciated Press. "My motive
in
doing that was not to skew the election. My motive was that if this
came out during the campaign, both candidates would be forced to
pledge to protect civilian lives in Iraq (news - web sites).
"I was opposed to the war and I still think that the war was a bad
idea, but I think that our science has transcended our perspectives,"
Roberts said. "As an American, I am really, really sorry to be
reporting this."
Richard Peto, an expert on study methods who was not involved with
the research, said the approach the scientists took is a reasonable
one to investigate the Iraq death toll.
However, it's possible that they may have zoned in on hotspots that
might not be representative of the death toll across Iraq, said Peto,
a professor of medical statistics at Oxford University in England.
To conduct the survey, investigators visited 33 neighborhoods spread
evenly across the country in September, randomly selecting clusters
of
30 households to sample. Of the 988 households visited, 808,
consisting of 7,868 people, agreed to participate in the survey. At
each one they asked how many people lived in the home and how many
births and deaths there had been since January 2002.
The scientists then compared death rates in the 15 months before the
invasion with those that occurred during the 18 months after the
attack and adjusted those numbers to account for the different time
periods.
Even though the sample size appears small, this type of survey is
considered accurate and acceptable by scientists and was used to
calculate war deaths in Kosovo in the late 1990s.
The investigators worked in teams of three. Five of the six Iraqi
interviewers were doctors and all six were fluent in English and
Arabic.
In the households reporting deaths, the person who died had to be
living there at the time of the death and for more than two months
before to be counted. In an attempt at firmer confirmation, the
interviewers asked for death certificates in 78 households and were
provided them 63 times.
There were 46 deaths in the surveyed households before the war.
After
the invasion, there were 142 deaths. That is an increase from 5
deaths
per 1,000 people per year to 12.3 per 1,000 people per year - more
than double.
However, more than a third of the post-invasion deaths were reported
in one cluster of households in the city Falluja, where fighting has
been most intense recently. Because the fighting was so severe there,
the numbers from that location may have exaggerated the overall
picture.
When the researchers recalculated the effect of the war without the
statistics from Falluja, the deaths end up at 7.9 per 1,000 people
per
year - still 1.5 times higher than before the war.
Even with Falluja factored out, the survey "indicates that the death
toll associated with the invasion and occupation of Iraq is more
likely than not about 100,000 people, and may be much higher," the
report said.
The most common causes of death before the invasion of Iraq were
heart attacks, strokes and other chronic diseases. However, after the
invasion, violence was recorded as the primary cause of death and was
mainly attributed to coalition forces - with about 95 percent of
those
deaths caused by bombs or fire from helicopter gunships.
Violent deaths - defined as those brought about by the intentional
act of others - were reported in 15 of the 33 clusters. The chances
of
a violent death were 58 times higher after the invasion than before
it, the researchers said.
Twelve of the 73 violent deaths were not attributed to coalition
forces. The researchers said 28 children were killed by coalition
forces in the survey households. Infant mortality rose from 29 deaths
per 1,000 live births before the war to 57 deaths per 1,000
afterward.
The researchers estimated the nationwide death toll due to the
conflict by multiplying the difference between the two death rates by
the estimated population of Iraq - 24.4 million at the start of the
war. The result was then multiplied by 18 months, the average period
between the invasion and the survey interviews.
"We estimate that there were 98,000 extra deaths during the postwar
period in the 97 percent of Iraq represented by all the clusters
except Falluja," the researchers said in the journal.
"This isn't about individual soldiers doing bad things. This appears
to be a problem with the approach to occupation in Iraq," Roberts
said.
The researchers called for further confirmation by an independent
body such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, or the
World Health Organization (news - web sites).
The study was funded by the Center for International Emergency
Disaster and Refugee Studies at Johns Hopkins University and by the
Small Arms Survey in Geneva, Switzerland, a research project based at
the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
http://www.thelancet.com
Jean Bricmont
UCL-FYMA
2, chemin du cyclotron
B-1348 Louvain la Neuve
Belgium
0032-10-473277(office)
00-32-2-5020141(home)
00-32-478908170 (portable)
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From: Louise Auerhahn
To: caacornsjro@acorn.org, caacornsj@acorn.org, masaos@earthlink.net,
samina_faheem@yahoo.com, Info@internationalanswer.org,
Arthurliou1@yahoo.com, asianlawalliance@pacbell.net, rwbayarea@yahoo.com,
info@bauaw.org, Blackbloc_riot@yahoo.com
Subject: Nov. 9th in San Jose - HAITI: Hidden from the Headlines
H A I T I :
Hidden from the Headlines
with Pierre Laboissiere, founding member, Haiti Action Committee;
Dave Welsh, San Francisco Labor Council delegate;
and Sasha Kramer, member, Human Rights delegation to Haiti
Tuesday, November 9th, 2004, 6:00 pm
SEIU Local 715 Hall, 2nd Floor Great Room
2302 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95131
Suggested donation $10 - $20
No one turned away for lack of funds!
All proceeds go to Haiti Action Committee
to support the people of Haiti
What news we hear about Haiti is biased and distorted, and most of the time
events in Haiti are completely absent from U.S. media. Yet violence and
repression in Haiti is growing at an alarming pace. On Sept. 30th, police
opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators, and since then several hundred
people have been killed, hundreds of Lavalas activists arbitrarily arrested
without warrants, and union leaders intimidated and imprisoned.
Even in this climate of terror, the Haitian people continue to take to the
streets to demand the return of their democratically elected president and
an end to the political repression. Join us for a discussion with three
delegates recently returned from labor, human rights, and fact-finding
missions to Haiti.
Pierre Labossiere, founding member of the Haiti Action Committee. Pierre
will provide a historical perspective and share his views of the current
situation.
Dave Welsh, San Francisco Labor Council delegate, traveled to Haiti in March
on a fact finding delegation to learn how the coup has affected labor. Dave
will speak on the relationship between labor and politics in Haiti.
Sasha Kramer, Ecology graduate student at Stanford, recently returned from a
human rights delegation to Haiti. The delegation was able to meet with
labor leaders, community organizers, political prisoners, and elected
officials who have been forced into hiding. Sasha will show a slideshow and
share the stories of the people she met.
For more information on the event, contact info@southbaylaborforpeace.
Haiti Action Committee
http://www.haitiaction.net
(510) 483-7481
SEIU Local 715 African American Caucus
(AFRAM)
afram715@yahoo.com
South Bay Labor for Peace and Justice
http://www.southbaylaborforpeace.org
(408) 476-8298
South Bay Mobilization
http://www.southbaymobilization.org
(408) 998-8504
Attack Kills 15 as Allawi
Warns Falluja Rebels
By JAMES GLANZ
BAGHDAD, Iraq
November 1, 2004
INSURGENCY
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/01/international/middleeast/01iraq.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 1 - Insurgents fired a rocket into a hotel in
Tikrit on Sunday evening, killing 15 Iraqis and wounding 8. The attack came
as Prime Minister Ayad Allawi issued repeated warnings that negotiations
with the rebels holding another Iraqi town, Falluja, were swiftly running
out of time and that an assault to retake the territory was imminent.
The rocket attack, about 7:50 p.m., struck a hotel where itinerant Shiite
workers often stay, a new Iraqi satellite television channel, Al Sharqiya,
quoted a local police chief as saying. Tikrit, about 100 miles north of
Baghdad, is Saddam Hussein's hometown and is dominated by Sunni Muslims.
The rocket, which struck the second story of the hotel, was one of two fired
by insurgents, said Master Sgt. Robert Cowens, a spokesman for the United
States Army's First Infantry Division. The second landed harmlessly, he
said.
On Monday morning, the deputy governor of Baghdad was assassinated when
unidentified gunmen fired on his convoy in the capital's southern district
of Dura, the Interior Ministry said. The deputy governor, Hatim Kamil Abdul
Fattah, was fatally shot, as were two of his four bodyguards, said the
ministry spokesman, Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman.
In a meeting with reporters on Sunday, Dr. Allawi said that unless his
government was allowed to establish control of Falluja immediately, he would
ask the American and Iraqi forces massed around the town to attack.
Dr. Allawi said that as recently as Saturday night he had met with tribal
and religious leaders from Falluja and nearby Ramadi, where clashes broke
out early Sunday between insurgents and United States marines. But there was
little sign of any progress, and the prime minister made it clear that
chances for a peaceful settlement were rapidly fading.
"The time is closing down, really," Dr. Allawi said. "I am not putting a
time schedule, but we are approaching the end."
An Army spokesman for the Second Brigade Combat Team in Ramadi said that one
marine had been killed and four had been wounded when a roadside bomb went
off during a patrol in Ramadi on Sunday. The spokesman had no information
about any civilian causalities.
The spokesman also said that on Saturday, two Iraqis were killed and four
were wounded when an armored personnel carrier shot at a suspected suicide
car bomb that turned out to be a taxi with six apparently innocent people
inside. The incident occurred at a vehicle control point.
A preliminary investigation found no explosives in the car, the spokesman
said. He added that the episode was "a very unfortunate, very tragic event,
and we hate it when these kinds of things happen."
"We have had six suicide bombs in the last week against our units," said the
spokesman. "At least one of them was a taxi, so you could understand the
soldier's actions. He fired first at the engine block, but it continued to
accelerate so the second time he shot into the cab, killing the driver."
In a meeting with reporters inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in
Baghdad, Dr. Allawi ticked off what he said were recent successes in killing
and capturing insurgents and their leaders in Iraq. He emphasized the
capture of what he said were 167 fighters who had come from outside Iraq,
but it was unclear whether they had come to the country recently to fight or
had immigrated years ago.
He was unambiguous about his motivations in the gathering storm around
Falluja.
"The terrorists and insurgents continue to use Falluja and the people of
Falluja as a shield," Dr. Allawi said, giving a list of recent insurgent
attacks. "That's why I cannot stand back and allow such attacks to
continue."
Dr. Allawi said that he would keep pressing for a peaceful resolution but
that "our patience is running thin."
Dr. Allawi declined to say much about something that has received intense
discussion in the American presidential campaign in the past week - the
disappearance of hundreds of tons of powerful conventional explosives from
Al Qaqaa, a weapons site south of Baghdad, around the time of the invasion
of the country last year.
"I don't like to really have a premature comment," Dr. Allawi said, adding
that he had ordered the "relevant authorities" to start an investigation.
"Once we have the results," he said, "we will make a public statement."
Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from near
Falluja for this article.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
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