Global Peace And Justice Auckland Newsletter #223, January 30, 2008

CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANISING MEETINGS HAVE MOVED: Civil Rights Defence Committee, 6pm, Tuesday Feb 5, 6a Western Springs Rd, Morningside, Auckland

A BAD CASE OF “TERRORISM” HYSTERIA by Murray Horton [http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr35-156.html]

COUNTER-TERRORISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND is a book written by Dr Alex Conte, recipient of the 2004 New Zealand Law Foundation International Reseach Fellowship. It is the first of two major titles to be published as a result of research undertaken under the Law Foundation's grant. To download a full copy of the title, [http://www.lawfoundation.org.nz/awards/irf/conte/full-ct-hr-nz.pdf]

QUOTE OF THE WEEK "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein

WHAT’S ON IN NEW ZEALAND

~ Thursday, 31 January - deadline for the return of signatures for the depleted uranium (DU) munitions national petition, which reads: "To the House of Representatives: that the House emulate the Belgian Parliament's decision of 22 March 2007 by prohibiting in New Zealand the manufacture, use, storage, sale, acquisition, supply and transit of inert munitions and armour that contain depleted uranium [DU] or any other industrially manufactured uranium." The printable petition form, with a fact sheet from DUET, is available at [http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/dupetition.pdf]

~ Saturday, 2 and Sunday, 3 February - Save Happy Valley: occupation celebration - 2 years! "You're invited to the Save Happy Valley Coalition's celebration of our second successful year of occupying Happy Valley. We have been continuously occupying Happy Valley since January 28th 2006 in order to prevent Solid Energy from turning it into an environmentally devastating opencast coal-mine. Despite spies, 6000 snails from Augustus transferred in ice cream containers, the destruction of a nearby mountain, Solid Energy's plans for massive expansion, and the October 15th raids on activists, people have managed to keep Happy Valley safe so far! Yay for train track blockades, film nights, alternatives to minerals forums, demos, radio interviews, everyone's actions, and the occupation! The Save Happy Valley Coalition, and anyone who wishes to join us for the weekend celebration, will be meeting at Les Warren Park, in Westport, at 8am on Saturday, 2 February (the majority of us will travel to Westport from Christchurch on the Friday night, car pooling can be arranged thru the coordinator). We hope you can join us. Please RSVP so we can coordinate easily Please let us know if you have any special needs that are of concern, we will be as accommodating as possible and we can provide you with as much information as you require." For more information, including the list of what you need to take with you if you are planning on going, and to RSVP, contact email [frances.feijoa@gmail.com]

Monday, February 4, 4pm into evening, Aotea Square, Queen St, Auckland City PEACE PROTEST AND VIGIL FOR SRI LANKA - The civil war has torn down Sri Lanka. The rights of Tamils are still not recognized and the civil war is continuing. Thousands and thousands of people are dying every year. Killings, disappearances and abductions have become a day-to-day occurrence. Further, the Sri Lankan Government has pulled out of the Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Fire Agreement (CFA). Although, in reality, the CFA only existed in paper for the last 4 years, the withdrawal of the Government only further highlights the lack of commitment, on the Governments parts, to bring an end to south Asia’s longest running conflict. To promote peace in Sri Lanka, Tamils living in New Zealand are organizing a peace protest with a candle light vigil. Your presence will be a great help to our community and we look forward to seeing you at our gathering.

Wednesday, 6 February, 11am, Unite Union, Level 12, Unite House, 300 Queen St MORNING TEA TO WELCOME CUBAN AMBASSADOR: José Luis Robaina Garcia is the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba. Mr Garcia’s last posting was as Minister Counsellor in the Cuban Embassy in the People’s Republic of China. From 2004 until now Mr Garcia was the Director of the Centre of Asia and Oceania Studies within the Department of International relations of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. He will be Cuba’s first Ambassador resident in New Zealand. CUBAN COFFEE, TEA, CAKES

Friday Feb 15 to Sun Feb 17, Kotare near Wellsford STORY TELLING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE SUMMER SCHOOL co-hosted by Auckland WEA and Kotare Trust; Feb 15 - 17 at Kotare, near Wellsford. Contact Christine Herzog, [coordinator@awea.org.nz] , 09 274 4270, for further information and registration forms. Christine Herzog, Coordinator, Treaty Resource Centre, (09) 274-4270 (ph & fax). An initiative of the Auckland WEA, Box 78-338, Tamaki Makaurau 1245

Monday, 18 to Friday, 22 February (registration deadline is Friday, 18 January) - Wellington CONFERENCE ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS, with approximately 350 participants expected from more than 100 governments, as well as around 100 civil society experts in the removal of cluster munitions, assistance to victims, and advocacy. Information for NGOs is available at [http://www.stopclusterbombs.org.nz/the-conference] If you wish to register for the conference, the registration form is at http://www.stopclusterbombs.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/nzcmc_wlgr... [http://www.stopclusterbombs.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/nzcmc_wlgregistration_form_26nov07.doc] - please note that participants from NGOs in Aotearoa need to register as soon as possible, the absolute deadline is 18 January. There will be public meetings in Auckland and Wellington (and possibly other cities) around the time of the conference; registration is not required for those events. Information about what you can, wherever you are, to support the conference reaching its goals will be available at [http://www.stopclusterbombs.org.nz/take-action/] in January; the government's web site for the conference is at [http://www.mfat.govt.nz/clustermunitionswellington/index.php]

February 21 -- Oxfam Breakfast – Auckland Is peace more than the absence of conflict? Oxfam is offering a unique opportunity to hear from two inspiring women, who have dedicated their lives to building lasting peace. Jody Williams won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work to secure the international ban on landmines. She chairs the Nobel Women's Initiative and advocates on a range of human security issues. Eileen Kolma leads Oxfam's work to tackle the root causes of tribal conflict and gun violence in Papua New Guinea and build stronger and safer communities. Join Oxfam for this inspiring breakfast event When: Thursday February 21, 7.30am - 9am Where: Auckland Museum Events Centre, Atrium Entrance, Auckland Domain, Parnell Tickets: Single tickets $45 each, or $400 to book a table of 10.

~ Friday, 14 to Sunday, 16 March - 'Promoting peace through active non-violent resistance' is the theme of the 2008 National Peace Workshops - postponed earlier this year, the National Peace Workshops have now been re-scheduled and will be held at the Quaker Settlement, Whanganui, in March. The weekend will include workshops and panel discussions with Maori, Moriori, Pacific and Pakeha contributors who have experience of community and individual non-violent resistance, and/or non-violent direct action in Aotearoa and overseas; as well as workshops on campaigns of our member and other groups. More information and registration details will be available in late January at [http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/npw08.htm]

Saturday, March 15, 8.30am-5pm, Auckland University On 15th March, the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland will be hosting a one-day Symposium entitled "Civil Society: Using Law as a Sword". The symposium will be open to the public, but pre-registration (cost $30) is essential. The organisers of the Symposium are Treasa Dunworth and Kris Gledhill of the Law Faculty, Rt Honourable Ted Thomas, Janfrie Wakim and Deborah Manning. We are also pleased to have the support of the Human Rights Commission with this initiative. If you are interested in this event or wish to register (there is a fee of $30.00) please email Treasa Dunworth at [t.dunworth@auckland.ac.nz] or phone on (09) 3737599 ext 88008.

~ Ongoing - Help us ban cluster bombs, online petition: "I support the global call to ban cluster bombs", you can add your name at [http://www.stopclusterbombs.org.nz/take-action/petition/]

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SAY NO TO ORPHEUS DAY FEBRUARY 9TH Don’t insult tangata whenua. Learn about our history. What’s happening in Mangere Bridge on February 9th. The Mangere Historical Society, Mangere Community Board and the Manukau City Council have declared Feb 9th ‘Orpheus Day’. The Orpheus was a British Naval Corvette involved in supplying weapons to the British troops based in Onehunga in 1863. Fortunately it hit the sand bar at the entrance to the Manukau Harbour and sank with the loss of 189 lives. The weapons were to be used in the invasion and confiscation of Waikato and Taranaki Maori owned land. This was in total contravention of the Treaty of Waitangi. The colonial government of the time was controlled by wealthy land speculators in Auckland who had no regard for the law, the Treaty of Waitangi or Maori. They engineered the war to illegally gain control of 12,000sq km of land that the Maori owners did not want to sell to them. This is the political and social context that the Orpheus came sailing into on the 7th of February 1863 loaded to the gunnels with the weapons to be used to achieve part one of the land ripoff scam of the century. Why the Manukau City Council would want to commemorate the sinking of a warship from an invading army bringing weapons to assist in the alienation of what is now Manukau City needs answering. The tangata whenua whose ancestors lived through those obscene events are still acutely aware of the pain and darkness that descended on them. There was no tangata whenua involvement last year and there will be none this year. Let us not insult them with our ignorance. This event must not be given council sanction or funding. $40,000 was last year’s grant. Say NO to Orpheus Day February 9th Len Brown the mayor of Manukau is the guest speaker and will fire the Orpheus replica cannon. Email [len@lenbrown.co.nz] Phone/text 021893196 FOR MORE INFO Ph Ben 0210577478 – Email [bcorbett@ohs.school.nz] Waitangi Tribunal Report on Manukau claim http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/view.asp?reportid=D6BBBFAC-... [http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/view.asp?reportid=D6BBBFAC-EB90-4AEB-9113-8F8D2305BA3F]

LATEST PEACE RESEARCHER ONLINE - DECEMBER 2007 - A Bad Case Of “Terrorism” Hysteria – by Murray Horton - At Long Bloody Last: A Happy Ending To Ahmed Zaoui’s Ordeal – by Murray Horton - The Privatisation Of Spying Part 2 – by Mark Eden - Who’s Watching You? – by Frances Mountier, Maddie Walker, Kieran Gallagher-Power & Hayley McLay - Many US Military Flights Now Bypassing New Zealand – by Bob Leonard - Why Does Iran Want Nuclear Weapons? The US Drops Some Hypocrisy Bombs – by Joe Hendren - “An Acceptable Presence”: The New US Basing Structure In the Philippines – by Herbert Docena - Reviews by Jeremy Agar & Bob Leonard - Owen Wilkes Christchurch Memorial (Finally) Opened – by Murray Horton - The Case Of Professor Fred Hollows: Hounded Out Of NZ By SIS – by Hugh Price [http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/prcont35.html]

CLIMATE CHANGE - SOCIAL CHANGE CONFERENCE, APRIL 11-13, 2008, SYDNEY The world is teetering on the brink of unstoppable climate change. Many now recognise the need for serious change in the way we produce and use energy, our transport systems, food production, urban design and forestry practices. Yet politicians are still mouthing platitudes while allowing corporations to continue to profit from polluting our atmosphere and destroying our ecosystem. The need for social change has become an urgent part of preventing catastrophic climate change. Can the market fix the problem? What is the real record of carbon trading? How can we build a social movement capable of averting this disaster? What models and experiences can offer real solutions? To strengthen the exchange of ideas and contribute towards that urgent action Green Left Weekly is organising the Climate Change - Social Change conference from April 11-13, 2008 in Sydney. We are pleased to have confirmed: - John Bellamy Foster, author of Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature, editor of Monthly Review ([http://sociology.uoregon.edu/faculty/foster.php]) - Patrick Bond, Director of the Centre for Civil Society, University of Natal, South Africa; editor of Climate Change, Carbon Trading and Civil Society www.zcommunications.org/zspace/patrickbond [http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/patrickbond] - Roberto Perez, Cuban permaculturalist (featured in The Power of Community: how Cuba survived peak oil) () We invite your participation in making this more than just an exchange of ideas - important as that is - but a part of building up resistance to corporate-led climate change and strengthening the movement for sustainable development. To receive updates about the conference, send an email to [climatechange_socialchangeconf_announce-subscribe@yahoogroups.com] Please forward this conference call to your networks. In solidarity, Kamala Emanuel and Pip Hinman, Climate Change - Social Change conference organisers

KWILA CAMPAIGN – REQUEST FOR HELP TO PICKET OUTDOOR FURNITURE OUTLETS. The Indonesian Human Rights Committee (IHRC) is becoming increasing concerned about the amount of kwila products being sold in New Zealand. Recent Greenpeace research has revealed that nearly all New Zealand imports of kwila come from the diminishing rainforest in Papua New Guinea and West Papua. According to the World Bank 80% of all the wood from both countries is being logged illegally. Indonesia’s Minister for the Environment wants our help to preserve what remains of Papua’s forests but it is hard to stop the illegal logging. The New Zealand Government policy is to discourage the import of illegal wood and to forbid government departments from using it but Customs does not even record the amount of kwila coming in. IHRC members have surveyed Auckland outdoor furniture shops and found that not only were kwila products dominant in the market but also that most of the wood had been sourced from West Papua. Only a few retailers had any kind of certification about the status of their product. One of the worst offenders this summer is the Design Warehouse on the corner of Nelson Street and Wellesley Street. The IHRC is considering the idea of a picket at this outlet before the end of summer and would like support from others for this campaign and possibly a rolling picket of other outlets later Could you please contact us if you are interested. Joan Macdonald email [joanmac@pl.net] ph 360 8001 or Maire Leadbeater email [maire@clear.net.nz] ph 815 9000

NEWS MEDIA OWNERSHIP A revised version of my paper “News media ownership in New Zealand” is now available which includes updates to the 15 October 2007 version, including some suggestions from readers (many thanks). The changes are outlined below. It is available either by clicking this link http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Miscell... [http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Miscellaneous/mediaown.pdf] or going to the CAFCA web site www.cafca.org.nz [http://www.cafca.org.nz] .

WORKERS CHARTER - BROAD LEFT NEWSPAPER NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT The Workers Charter is a broad left newspaper published monthly (more or less) for the past two years. The paper has reported and supported campaigns, events, strikes and struggles in the workers', environmental, anti-war and other social justice movements. It has provided a forum for debate and discussion on the left, while promoting cooperation and solidarity among left activists and reaching out to new grassroots audiences. For the most part the paper has been handed out for free, with just a few hundred supporters around the country taking out subscriptions and making donations. To continue to grow and develop the Workers Charter needs your support. Right now, we need to raise money and to increase the paper’s distribution. Specifically, the Editorial Group has set a target of raising $15,000 by March this year. Already approximately $5000 has been raised. DONATIONS Donations can be paid into Kiwibank Account 38 9004 0785934 00. Or send a cheque, payable to 'Workers Charter', post to Box 56506, Dominion Road, Auckland. Please make sure you send information on the amount paid to Vaughan [svpl@xtra.co.nz] or text/phone 021-0415 082. So the amount can be recorded. If you prefer, set up a regular automatic payment to the Workers Charter account. $5 a week is $250 for the year, which would be a big help to the paper. SUBSCRIBE NOW Subscribe on-line by depositing $30 (ordinary) or $100 (solidarity subscription) in Kiwibank Account 38 9004 0785934 00 with your surname in the transfer reference, then email [editor@workerscharter.org.nz] with your name and address. Alternatively fill out the subscription form on page 2 of Workers Charter and mail to: Workers Charter, Box 56 506, Dominion Road, Auckland.

ANNOUNCING THE MAY DAY 2008 BRIGADE TO VENEZUELA Registration deadline: March 30th, 2008 (including payment). The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network’s (AVSN) next solidarity brigade to Venezuela is schedule for May 2008 and will coincide with May Day (May 1st) in Venezuela. The brigade will be a unique opportunity to see first-hand the unfolding revolution in Venezuela. The AVSN has organized five very successful brigades to Venezuela. Venezuela’s poor people, led by George W. Bush’s arch-enemy, President Hugo Chavez, have taken over many workplaces, set up thousands of cooperatives, established thousands of free public education and health programs, organized their neighborhoods and taken big steps towards exercising “popular power” in their country. Participants in the AVSN brigade will meet with a wide range of community organizations involved in transforming Venezuelan society, visit occupied factories and educational institutions, see “popular power” at work in the communal councils and people’s banks, and speak to government and grassroots organizations about the radical changes being implemented by the Venezuelan people. The itinerary will include time in Caracas as well as regional Venezuela, and will incorporate a special focus on meetings with Indigenous activists and communities. Accommodation, transport and English translation in Venezuela will be organized for participants. If you are interested in being part of this inspiring and educational experience, please send the completed registration form to [brigades@venezuelasolidarity.org], or phone Lara Pullin on 0439 601 277 or Roberto Jorquera on 0425 289 394.

TOUR FOR NOTED US CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER LEONARD WEINGLASS Dear Friend, The Cuba Friendship Society in Auckland invites you to be part of an international campaign calling for the release of five Cubans imprisoned in the United States. Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando González – the Cuban Five, as they are known – have been in U.S. prisons for nine years. They were convicted in 2001 of conspiracy to commit espionage for the government of Cuba, and related charges. The five men were monitoring Cuban-American organisations based in Miami in order to uncover plans and activities that posed a threat to the safety of the Cuban people. These organisations have an extensive record of carrying out violent attacks against Cuba from U.S. soil, including assassination attempts on Cuban officials, biological warfare, and bombings. Leonard Weinglass, one of the U.S.-based attorneys for the Cuban Five, will be touring Australia early April 2008 to raise awareness and build support for this campaign. He will be available to visit Auckland for two days as part of this tour. Beginning in the 1970s, Leonard Weinglass has defended many political activists, including Angela Davis, Mumia Abu Jamal, and leaders of the American Indian Movement. In 2004, the American Trial Lawyers Association voted to name an annual award, the Leonard I. Weinglass Award, honouring lawyers who contribute to human rights and civil liberties causes. If you want to help with the tour, need further information, or have ideas on fund-raising or others to approach, please let us know. Email: [cubafriendship@xtra.co.nz] More information about the Cuban Five can be found at www.freethefive.org [http://www.freethefive.org] GUARDIAN INTERVIEW: 'Society has become more punitive': For 40 years, Leonard Weinglass has been the defence lawyer in some of America's most spectacular trials, representing the Chicago Eight, the kidnappers of Patty Hearst and the man who helped bring down President Nixon. He tells Duncan Campbell why the current case of the Cuban Five shows how politics is derailing the US justice system [http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,,2237566,00.html]

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND Award: Open Letter to President of South Africa BY John Minto: I understand a nomination has been put forward for me to receive a South African honour later this year, the Companions of O R Tambo Award, on behalf of HART and the anti-apartheid movement of New Zealand for our work campaigning to end apartheid .. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0801/S00195.htm] Big brother creeps closer - Green MP Keith Locke is warning of the dangers of the New Zealand police buying into the FBI-led 'Server in the Sky' network to share biometric and other information. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0801/S00106.htm] McDonald's blocks Kiwi ex-employee's blog: The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ordered a former McDonald's employee to stop blogging about his work place after an injunction was sought by his employers. [http://www.stuff.co.nz/4362346a28.html?source=email] John Minto: KiwiSaver opens way to privatisation of national super [http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4370124a16155.html] Media: Bruce Jesson Award Adapts To Foreign Owned Media Marketplace [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0801/S00131.htm] Workers feel cost squeeze - New Zealand Council of Trade Unions “Higher food and petrol prices alongside a lift in mortgage interest rates mean that workers are feeling the cost pressures as we start the year”, said Peter Conway, CTU Economist. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0801/S00110.htm] The Long Walk against Climate Change Protest Save Happy Valley Campaign: Activists from the Save Happy Valley Coalition and other Environmental Organisations have protested outside the Prime Ministers constituency office today. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0801/S00132.htm] Cuba Solidarity - Blog of the Cuba Friendship Society Otautahi-Christchurch New Zealand [http://cubasolidarity.blogspot.com/] Raging against the system - Headlining this year’s Big Day Out is Rage Against the Machine. RATM stands out as one of the few bands to achieve mainstream success while putting an openly anti-capitalist message. [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/736/38100] He Aitua - Hone Tuwhare: 'No Ordinary Icon' - The Maori PartyThe Maori Party today lamented the loss of Icon Poet, Hone Tuwhare, of Ngapuhi-nui-tonu. “Hone Tuwhare was a great artist, and a great philosopher whose real talent was his simplicity,” said Hone Harawira, Maori Party MP for the Tai Tokerau. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0801/S00113.htm] Open Rescue Collective Open Rescue Collective activist Mark Eden is facing burglary charges relating to the November 2006 rescue of 20 battery hens from Turk's Poultry, an intensive egg farm in Foxton owned by Ron Turk. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0801/S00136.htm] Easter Trading: No Way Says Anglican Church - Leaders of the Anglican Church in this country have restated their opposition to the introduction of open slather Easter Sunday trading. The Government has invited submissions to the Department of Labour's Easter Trading and Holidays Legislation discussion document. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0801/S00138.htm] Abdelkader Belaouni: Kiwi's Concerned At Algerian's Treatment In Canada - A group of New Zealanders have put their names to a letter of concern to the Canadian High Commissioner in Wellington calling for the Canadian Government to grant permanent residence to Abdelkader (Kader) Belaouni. This activity was part of an international day of action. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0801/S00140.htm] Matt McCarten: West stands by while a whole population is illegally jailed http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=104889... [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10488995]

CLIMATE CRISIS Radical action needed now [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/736/38106] A New, Global Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/business/worldbusiness/19palmoil.html?... [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/business/worldbusiness/19palmoil.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin] Rich countries owe poor a huge environmental debt - "We know already that climate change is a huge injustice inflicted on the poor," said Dr Neil Adger at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Norwich, who was not involved in the research, "This paper is actually the first systematic quantification to produce a map of that ecological debt. Not only for climate change but also for these other areas." [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jan/21/environmental.debt1/print] Loss Of Antarctic Ice Has Soared By 75 Per Cent In Just 10 Years By Steve Connor [http://www.countercurrents.org/connor140108.htm]

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Ifugaos Contest ‘Theft’ of Their Lands at Magat Dam Area http://bulatlat.com/2008/01/ifugaos-contest-theft-their-lands-magat-dam-... [http://bulatlat.com/2008/01/ifugaos-contest-theft-their-lands-magat-dam-area] Queen of England Served Letter of Demand by Aboriginal People in Canada [http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390124.html] January 26 is "Australia Day" down under, now rebaptized "Invasion Day" by Indigenous activists and their supporters. Here is a statement by Socialist Alliance member Sam Watson, an Indigenous leader. I have taken the text from the Left Click website: http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/invasion-day-statement-january... [http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/invasion-day-statement-january-26-2008.html]

WAR ON FREEDOM Dear Friends of the Cuban Five: In recent months there has been a significant rise in news coverage of the Cuban Five case by major media. CNN's The Situation Room aired a 13-minute segment. BBC and Reuters conducted radio interviews with Gerardo Hernández. An important article appeared in The New York Times, National Public Radio broadcast a recent segment, and the Associated Press story on the Aug. 20 oral argument hearing was picked up by almost 100 U.S. daily newspapers. All of this coverage is easily accessible on this website. [http://www.freethefive.org/] The coddled "terrorists" of South Florida - Anti-Castro Cuban exiles who have been linked to bombings and assassinations are living free in Miami. Does the U.S. government have a double standard when it comes to terror? [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/14/cuba/print.html] Don't Even Think About It - Commentary: The war against "homegrown terrorism" is on. Enter the thought police. http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/01/homegrown-terroris... [http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/01/homegrown-terrorism.html]

ECONOMIC CRISIS Message From Davos: The Recession Is Coming By Gary Duncan, Economics Editor in Davos A full-blown, prolonged recession in America is now inescapable, with the rest of the world set to be dragged into a severe global slowdown despite yesterday's emergency US interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, leading economists said in Davos this morning. Continue [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19179.htm]

Devaststing Crisis Unfolds BY Robert Brenner [http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1417] Pay It off Later: Debt Is the New American [http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/66634] "Decline of the Dollar, Decline of the Empire?" A Roundtable with: Chris Rude, Scott Aquanno, David McNally, Sam Gindin. Moderated by Leo Panitch. Sponsored by: York Seminar in Comparative Political Economy. [http://www.socialistproject.ca/theory/declinedollar1.html] [http://www.socialistproject.ca/theory/declinedollar2.html]

REVIEWS The Bourne Ultimatum: rejecting the CIA [http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16318] A Test of Poetry by James Longenbach: George Oppen, who wrote some of the most austerely beautiful poems of the twentieth century, is known best for not writing at all. After publishing Discrete Series in 1934, at the age of 26, he entered a period of silence that would not conclude until a quarter- century later, when The Materials appeared in 1962. Oppen called himself the oldest promising poet in America, but after Of Being Numerous appeared in 1968, it won the Pulitzer Prize. [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080211/longenbach]

AFGHANISTAN NATO hears 'noise before defeat' - When the blame-game begins in an indeterminate war, it is time to sit up and take note. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' interview with the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday rings alarm bells. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JA19Df06.html] Canada quietly halts prisoner transfers - Decision taken more than two months ago after diplomats found instruments of torture under chair in secret Kandahar prison http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080124.wafghandetai... [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080124.wafghandetainees24/BNStory/Afghanistan/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080124.wafghandetainees24]

AUSTRALIA Do You Remember When Heath Ledger Called John Howard A Dick For Invading Iraq? http://togsplace.blogspot.com/2008/01/do-you-remeber-when-heath-ledger.h... [http://togsplace.blogspot.com/2008/01/do-you-remeber-when-heath-ledger.html] Rudd must abolish racist policies [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/736/38102] Campaign against electricity privatisation launched [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/736/38114]

BOLIVIA Bolivia: 500 years of oppression, two years of change Rachel Evans, La Paz [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/737/38140] Bolivia: New constitution sparks right-wing revolt [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/736/38118] Interview with Bolivian Vice President Garcia: ‘Political crisis’ a media beat-up [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/736/38119]

BURMA Leading Pro-Democracy Activists Charged - Several pro-democracy activists have been charged with making illegal statements during last August's fuel price protests. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0801/S00299.htm] British Unions Call For Tourist Boycott Terry Evans - Britain's Trade Union Council (TUC) has called for a tourist boycott of Burma, citing the military's appalling human rights record. The TUC said tourist spending was helping to maintain the "brutal" military junta. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0801/S00195.htm] Burma: Bloggers' Site Blocked - Once again, Burma's paranoid generals are trying to halt the flow of information out of the country. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0801/S00200.htm]

CUBA The Coddled "Terrorists" of South Florida - Anti-Castro Cuban exiles who have been linked to bombings and assassinations are living free in Miami. Does the U.S. government have a double standard when it comes to terror? [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19076.htm]

DOMINICA Dominica Joins ALBA Revolution http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B9D9EFB74-D8F5-493D-AC42-4A31C... [http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B9D9EFB74-D8F5-493D-AC42-4A31C4B86D4D%7D])&language=EN

GERMANY Red balloon: Germany's Left party on the rise [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1266562-c83d-11dc-94a6-0000779fd2ac.html]

INDONESIA Mainstream media coverage of the unlamented Suharto, mass murderer and kleptocrat par excellence, has conceded that the West turned a blind eye to his murderous excesses, which killed well over a million people during his 30+ year reign of terror. That is a willful distortion of the facts. The West, in the shape of the US Central Intelligence Agency, actively aided and abetted Suharto’s “anti-Communist” genocide by which he came to power and consolidated his rule in the 1960s. For the details of this still unpunished crime against humanity, check out Peace Researcher 25, March 2002, Special Issue, “Ghosts Of A Genocide: The CIA, Suharto And Terrorist Culture”, by Dennis Small. It can be read online at: [http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr25intr.htm] Suharto’s brutal legacy: The "butcher of Baghdad" was hanged in a rushed execution, while the butcher of Dili died surrounded by the best medical attention money could buy. http://rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?sh_itm=3a0d242a4b9cb61ad705b2840c... [http://rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?sh_itm=3a0d242a4b9cb61ad705b2840c40de7c&rXn=1&] John Pilger: Suharto, The Model Killer, And His Friends In High Places [http://www.countercurrents.org/pilger290108.htm] Survivors Detail Suharto-era Massacres [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19229.htm]

IRAQ How To Create Iraqi Orphans. And then how to make life worse for them By Robert Fisk Western mercenaries killed their 48-year-old Iraqi Armenian mother, Marou Awanis, and her best friend - firing 40 bullets into her body as she drove her taxi near their four-vehicle convoy in Baghdad. [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19177.htm] Return To Fallujah By Patrick Cockburn - Fallujah is more difficult to enter than any city in the world. On the road from Baghdad I counted 27 checkpoints, all manned by well-armed soldiers and police. "The siege is total," says Dr Kamal in Fallujah Hospital as he grimly lists his needs, which include everything from drugs and oxygen to electricity and clean water [http://www.countercurrents.org/cockburn280108.htm] The Uncounted Dead Of Iraq - The mainstream media are trumpeting a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that estimates the number of Iraqis who died from violence in the three years following the U.S. invasion as “only” 151,000. This figure is less than a quarter of a previous Johns Hopkins University estimate of approximately 600,000 dead as the result of violence since the U.S. invasion of 2003 [http://www.countercurrents.org/colson230108.htm]

KASHMIR Kashmiris Are Suffering - For India, Kashmir is perhaps an ‘integral part’ of the country, the only Muslim majority state and thus the bedrock of its democracy and secular preamble. For Pakistan it is not less than a ‘jugular vein’ and often supposed to be an unfinished task at the time of partition. While asserting this way both the countries have suffocated the Kashmiris in between [http://www.countercurrents.org/jeelani150108.htm]

MALAYSIA Malaysian Police Detain 53 Activists http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Malaysia-Protest.html?_r=2&oref... [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Malaysia-Protest.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin]

MEXICO NAFTA and Mexico's Agrarian Apocalypse - Zero Hour [http://counterpunch.org/ross01152008.html]

NEW CALEDONIA Clashes in New Caledonia as police break up USTKE strike [http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=37497]

PAKISTAN Face To Face With Munir Malik - We are publishing an interview with Munir Malik, the former president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association who was imprisoned and given drugs under the pretext of painkillers which caused him renal failure and liver damage, but who continues to be an inspiration for the movement for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Pakistan [http://www.countercurrents.org/ayaz140108.htm]

PALESTINE Genocide In Gaza, Ethnic Cleansing In The West Bank By Ilan Pappe - Not long ago, I claimed that Israel is employing genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip. I hesitated before using this very charged term and yet decided to adopt it. The responses I received indicated unease in using such a term. I rethought the term for a while, but concluded with even stronger conviction: it is the only appropriate way to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip [http://www.countercurrents.org/pappe280108.htm]

PHILIPPINES Cuba and Philippines: Common Colonial History, Different Gov’t Systems http://bulatlat.com/2008/01/cuba-and-philippines-common-colonial-history... [http://bulatlat.com/2008/01/cuba-and-philippines-common-colonial-history-different-gov-t-systems]

UK Guys, I'm afraid we haven't got a clue ...In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, experts warned Tony Blair that occupying the country and trying to impose a western-style democracy was doomed to failure. He dismissed their objections, convinced that victory was a formality. In the first of three extracts from his new book, Jonathan Steele looks at how Britain went to war unbriefed, unprepared and with no idea of the fallout that would ensue [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2244183,00.html]

USA “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill)” - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston joins us to talk about his new book, “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill).” Johnston reveals how government subsidies and new regulations have quietly funneled money from the poor and the middle class to the rich and politically connected. [http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/18/free_lunch_how_the] Emails reveal Starbucks spied on staff looking to establish union [http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/1941]

VENEZUELA Venezuela's Chavez: Socialism still our goal [http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/736/38128] Chavez threatens banks with takeover http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23080974-36235,00.htm... [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23080974-36235,00.html] Translations of the draft program and principles of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which are currently being discussed at its founding congress. The documents were drafted by the provisional leadership of the PSUV. [http://www.dsp.org.au/links/] Venezuela: The Struggle For A Mass Revolutionary Party By Federico Fuentes - In drawing up a balance sheet of why Chavez’s constitutional reform proposal — that aimed to create a framework for the transition towards socialism — was narrowly defeated in a national referendum on December 2, one factor stands out. The Bolivarian revolution’s Achilles heel is the lack of a political instrument capable of confronting the challenges faced in the struggle to construct a new, socially just, Venezuela [http://www.countercurrents.org/fuentes280108.htm]

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