WLOE
E-News: 12 August 2003:
Remembering Hiroshima-Nagasaki; Women in Liberia; Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi;Hunger;
Why go on Strike? and more…
- REMEMBERING HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI
The 58th anniversary of the first
use of the atomic bomb in war was marked by rallies and actions in the US
and world-wide. In the U.S., 1,200 people rallied at the Lawrence Livermore
(nuclear weapons development) Lab on August 10:``When
you have an administration openly talking about a possible use of so-called
tactical nuclear weapons, we have to be out to talk about stopping it in places
like Livermore lab,'' said protester Damu Smith. "Demonstrators
lashed out against the government's ongoing research project on a new Robust
Nuclear Earth Penetrator, a nuclear bomb that could destroy deeply buried
targets but also create radioactive fallout…"
See: Protesters Mark Hiroshima Anniversary By Duncan Mansfield http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3012748,00.html
"Today, the administration's plans to develop new low-yield, earth-penetrating
nuclear weapons, aimed at destroying underground bunkers in conventional wars,
is a development that has many activists worried. Such a program would be
contrary to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and in violation of Article
VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, they say. "This
is the most dangerous U.S. administration in history. The Bush administration
is promoting the use of nuclear weapons and practicing a disastrous foreign
policy. Frankly, I'm terrified," said Max Obuszewski, media outreach
coordinator for American Friends Service Committee…"The count of nuclear
weapons in Iraq is zero. For the U.S. it is 33,000, and rising," he added...
"We mark this anniversary
as a very stark reminder as to just how serious the U.S. government is about
using nuclear weapons," Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United
for Peace and Justice, told IPS. "This
year we need to link this horrible history to the present reality in which
the U.S. has occupied a country without proving to anyone that there was a
reason to go to war," Cagan added...http://belgium.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/71577.php
In the US, see where people’s tax dollars go -- 47% for military, past and
present: http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm
- Liberian Fighters In Frenzy Of
Rape
Warlord-former
president Charles Taylor has left Liberia, but the situation for women there
remains desperate.
"Liberian rebels and government soldiers, some aged 12 or even younger,
are assaulting thousands of girls and women under the cover of war, aid workers
said yesterday. More than 600 rapes have been documented in Monrovia since
July, but that is thought to be a small fraction of the real figure."The
victims say that as President Charles Taylor's regime has crumbled, fighters
on both sides have treated the female civilian population as booty, thinking
it may be their last chance to exploit the anarchy before the peacekeepers
arrive…"
http://www.africancrisis.org/default2.asp
From Jan Lamprecht, Southern Africa in CrisisAfricanCrisis.Org,
The Daily Mail & Guardian - South Africa, 8-8-3 http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=18491
- Columnist Jayati Ghosh on "Women
and War"
"All through history, women
and young girls have been the object of attack – rape and abuse – from invading
forces and even from soldiers of their "own" side. "In
periods of civil war, such as now exist for example in the African country
of Liberia, women face the worst conditions of insecurity and constant likelihood
of attack and abuse…"The
Deccan Chronicle -- Saturday July 26 2003 http://www.deccan.com/columnists/jayati.shtml#Women%20and%20war
- Women Against War: It Started
With ‘Lysistrata’
By Judith Mahoney PasternakA
"brief outline of women’s efforts in the noble history of women’s and
men’s resistance to war (that) probably omits all too many heroes of peace.""’Lysistrata’
wasn’t the first antiwar play. It was, however, the first play about antiwar
organizing—and it stood Euripides’ vision on its head. If women were victims
of war, said "Lysistrata," perhaps women should do something about
war...http://www.warresisters.org/nva0703-4.htm
- Press Release: Free Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi
Friends of Burma Coalition, Chiang
Mai, June 19th 2003"We,
the friends of Burma coalition, strongly denounce the Burmese military junta
for its brutal and criminal acts against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her entourage
on May 30, 2003 in Northern Burma. We call on the military regime to immediately
and unconditionally release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners,
and stop any harassment of opposition members…"Asia
Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) http://www.apwld.org/
- HUNGER VIES FOR ROLE ON SECURITY
AGENDA AT G-8 MEETING
Americas Program, Interhemispheric
Resource Center (IRC )"Hunger
is a slow, quiet killer. It does not make loud explosions. It does not crumble
tall buildings. It kills mostly children, whose voices are small and weak."No
wonder it took a back seat to terrorism at the G-8 annual meeting held June
1-3 in Evian, France."The
political leaders did discuss important trade and global economy issues, but
as in last year's summit, the U.S. ensured that its security agenda was the
central focus. President Jacques Chirac, the summit's host, invited the leaders
of twelve developing countries (Algeria, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Malaysia,
Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and South Africa) to participate
in a "broadened dialogue" at the G-8 meeting. Predictably, however, the rich
and famous stole the spotlights. The press concentrated on picking up the
French barbs and Texan snubs that characterized the three-day meeting, reporting
more on who chatted with whom in the post-Iraq political sphere than on substantive
issues."Lula da Silva,
Brazil's working class president, raised the issue of world hunger…"
Read full story at:http://www.americaspolicy.org/columns/amprog/2003/0306g8.html
- "Going Global: Building A
Movement Against Empire"
By Phyllis Bennis…"There is
no country or group of countries capable of launching a military challenge
to Washington’s power drive. But for perhaps the first time since the end
of the cold war, there is a serious competitor challenging the U.S. empire
for influence and authority—global public opinion, including a mobilized international
civil society joined by key governments as well as the United Nations itself…"--
Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies writes regularly for Foreign
Policy in Focus (online at http://www.fpif.org).
This paper was prepared for the Transnational Institute's Fellows' Meeting,
held May 16 - 17, 2003 (online at http://www.tni.org)
and can be downloaded in a pdf print version at:
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/pdf/papers/DPjustice2003.pdf
- ENVIRONMENT: Subsidizing the Destruction
of the Commons
This important paper from Rachel’s
Environment and Health News shows that in the U.S., communities and states
with stronger environmental regulations – and fewer subsidies to corporations
– are doing better than those that sacrifice the health of our ‘commons’…
check out Rachel's website for years of good research on human health and
the environment:http://www.rachel.org
Rachel’s News #771 – Subsidizing the Destruction of the Commons, June 12,
2003Published August 7, 2003"For decades, major polluters have been claiming
that they cannot afford to clean up their acts without laying off workers:
"jobs vs. environment" is the common phrase. "Naturally, such talk can
make workers feel insecure and resentful of community activists. So for decades
the "jobs vs. environment" argument has served to divide workers from many
of their best natural allies -- activists concerned about quality of life
in their communities (including the natural environment AND jobs). All too
often, "jobs vs. environment" has allowed the polluters to divide and then
conquer whole communities, even whole states. "Recent economic research
shows that the "jobs vs. environment" argument doesn't hold water. Communities
and states that fail to protect their environment don't do well..." http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?St=1
- "Let's go eat some genetically
modified food for lunch,"
George Bush, at a meeting with EU
officials in Washington, June 25, 2003from:
"Welcome to the post 9/11 Republic of Genetically Modified Democracy"BioDemocracy
News #43 (August 2003)
http://www.organicconsumers.org/newsletter/biod43.cfm
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