Protests mark World Bank's 60th birthday
On July 22, activists around the world marked the World Bank's 60th birthday with a global day of protest. Protests were held in Jakarta, London, Geneva, Lima and Washington DC. In Potosi, a Bolivian mining city that is a symbol of the poverty and social exclusion created throughout the bank's 60-year reign of austerity, about 100 community leaders and representatives of indigenous communities affected by a World Bank-funded mine protested. For more reports, visit the Friends of the Earth International website at <http://www.foei.org>.
UNITED STATES: Boston cops' police-state tactics
In an attempt to intimidate anti-war protesters who converged on Boston on July 25 to demonstrate at the Democratic National Convention, the Boston police department, in cooperation with the federal Department of Homeland Security, imposed police state measures. As part of mandatory "anti-terror" training, Boston bus drivers were shown films to help them identify "terrorists". The people shown in the film were not terrorists — they were anti-war activists. Bus drivers were ordered not to allow anyone onto buses carrying political signs. More than 75 high-tech cameras were installed throughout the city. These were linked to "monitoring stations", where federal Agents can zoom in on faces and car number plates. For more information visit <http://www.answerboston.org>.
SOUTH KOREA: GM Daewoo workers launch two-day strike
Some 2700 unionised workers at GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Company struck for two days on July 21 and 22, forcing South Korea's third-largest car maker to grind to a halt. The strike followed a series of failed negotiations between labour and management over workers' demands for pay hikes and guarantees of job security.
NICARAGUA: Latin American left meets
"Together we must fight to put an end to globalisation and the hegemony of the United States", declared Daniel Ortega, secretary-general of Nicaragua's Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), in his welcoming speech to a meeting organised by the Sao Paulo Forum to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Revolution. More than 100 delegates attended the event, held from July 17-18 in Managua, Nicaragua. The meeting was called to discuss the topic "Latin America's left-wing alternatives". Shafik Handal, leader of El Salvador's Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN), told Prensa Latina, that there is a revival of the revolutionary progressive movement in Latin America. [From Prensa Latina, <http://www.plenglish.com>.]
SWEDEN: 'Release the Cuban Five!'
STOCKHOLM — Tomas Widen, Toni Lappalainen and Daniel Maidana have been fasting since July 4, demanding the release of five Cubans imprisoned in the United States. Maidana joined the strike on July 17, to replace Lappalainen, who was forced to abandon the hunger strike for health reasons. Sweden's Movement of Solidarity has energetically denounced the irregularities in the trials of Cuban anti-terrorists Ramon Labanino, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, internationally known as the Cuban Five. The five were detained in the US in September 1998 and are serving harsh sentences there, ranging from 15 years to double-life imprisonment, on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. They had infiltrated Miami-based terrorist groups planning attacks on Cuba. [From Prensa Latina, <http://www.plenglish.com>.]
UNITED STATES: Socialist candidate wins court victory
Linda Averill, Freedom Socialist Party candidate for the Seattle City Council in 2003, scored a victory in Federal Court on July 15 when Judge Robert Lasnik upheld the privacy rights of donors to her election campaign. The decision comes almost one year after the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission ordered Averill to turn over the names, addresses and employers of her contributors. Averill refused to do so. She won a temporary injunction last August.
In his ruling, Lasnik said that the SEEC violated the free-speech rights and the freedom of association of Averill and her supporters by misapplying a Seattle ordinance governing campaign contributions. The city allows for exemptions from public disclosure requirements in cases where minor parties or candidates can show that they have a history of facing harassment, threats and persecution. The city has 30 days to appeal Lasnik's decision. Averill is asking supporters to email the SEEC (<ethicsandelections@seattle.gov>) and city attorney Tom Carr (<Thomas.Carr@seattle.gov>) to urge them not to appeal. For more information, visit <http://www.socialism.com>.
GREECE: No gold medal for Athens Olympics' environmental performance
The Athens Olympic Games have lost any chance for a medal on environmental performance, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the costs and benefits of the games by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It calls on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure that future Olympic host cities strictly abide by official environmental rules and regulations. The WWF report, Environmental Assessment of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games (<http://www.panda.org/downloads/general/olympicsscorecardenglish.doc>), evaluates the environmental wins and losses of the Athens Olympics. On a scale of 0-4, it rates the environmental record of the Athens Olympics at a very disappointing 0.77. "Unfortunately, the environment never figured as a priority in the planning of the Athens Olympic Games. While the IOC calls the environment its third pillar of Olympism, it has done very little to keep this from crumbling under the weight of other priorities", said Demetres Karavellas, chief executive officer of WWF-Greece.
From Green Left Weekly, July 28, 2004.
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