NEW ZEALAND: Maori party scores 92% in by-election
Maori Party leader Tariana Turia scored the new party's first election victory on July 10, picking up 6869 of the 7454 votes cast in a by-election in the Maori electorate of Te Tai Hauauru. Turia, the previous sitting member, sparked the by-election in May when she resigned from the Labour Party because it pushed through legislation preventing Maori freehold on the foreshore and seabed, and formed the Maori Party. Until now, Labour has held all seven Maori electorates in New Zealand. Although Labour did not contest the seat, the reasonably high voter turnout and overwhelming support for Turia has been greeted with jubilation in the party. "We are saying we will no longer travel as passengers on someone else's bus, unhappy with the direction and the road on which the bus is travelling, but afraid to get off", Turia told the party's launch on the evening of July 10.
AFGHANISTAN: Elections delayed
The first Afghan elections since the country was invaded in 2001, which were planned for September, have been postponed, because violence is deterring people from registering to vote. This is the second delay of elections that were first scheduled for June. More than 23 election workers have been killed in the last month. Then, on July 7, a school being used to register voters near Khandahar was attacked by 30 armed Taliban fighters. A new date for the elections has yet to be set.
EGYPT: Workers fight deadly conditions
Workers at the asbestos company Ora-Egypt have been on strike since June 6 over their deadly working conditions. Forty-six of the company's 90 shop-floor workers have contracted cancer due to asbestos exposure. Earlier this year the government forced the company to cease operations until new safety standards were implemented. Soon after the company stopped paying the workers' wages. Asbestos-related cancer is not acknowledged by the public health system as an occupational disease so the workers are unable to access insurance benefits. The striking workers are demanding payment of wages owing to them; the implementation of safety measures; and compensation and health insurance. [Visit <http://www.labourstart.org/>.]
WEST PAPUA: Man indicted in Freeport killings
Anthonius Wamang, a West Papuan man, was indicted by the US attorney-general on June 25 for the 2002 killing of two US citizens. The indictment implied the Free Papua Movement (OPM) was involved in the attack, an accusation that the OPM vehemently denies. Speaking to Dateline on June 30, West Papuan human-rights campaigner John Rumbiak said that Wamang, who claimed to have intended to shoot Indonesian soldiers, has close business dealings with the Indonesian military while being an OPM member. A June 29 OPM statement said: "Wamang... has never been an operational commander of the OPM. He has, however, been a suspected member of Cassowary Force, a pro-Jakarta Papuan Militia ... Any attempt by the US government to blame the OPM for the Freeport killings or label it a terrorist organization is not only wrong, but counter productive." [To support West Papuan independence, visit <http://www.converge.org.nz/wpapua>.]
GUATEMALA: Cuban doctors bring hope
Guatemalan health department figures released on July 9 confirm that since 470 Cuban physicians arrived in the country in 1998, infant mortality has declined from 40 per 1000 live births to 16 per 1000 live births and there has been a 90% increase in vaccination. According to Cuban authorities, the doctors have treated more than 800,000 patients, performed more than 2500 deliveries and successfully operated on 9000 people, as well as conducting training programs. Two-hundred Guatemalan young people have just registered to study at the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine.
BRITAIN: Sainsbury's blockaded
On July 1, Sainsbury's five biggest British chilled food centres were shut down by protesters opposing genetically modified food, which the chain feeds to its dairy cows. The depots in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Sheffield were closed by hundreds of activists, some on tripods and others chained to steel tubing or to each other. The action demanded that farmers be paid a fair deal of two pence per pound of non-GM milk. Two years ago, public outrage stopped Sainsbury's from selling genetically modified food in Britain.
HONDURAS: Maduro faces strikes and protests
About 60,000 teachers have been on strike since June 5, demanding that the Honduran government comply with the wage conditions enshrined in the 1997 Teaching Statute. They are claiming back pay worth a total of US$17 million. However, the government has offered $11 million, which the union is prepared to accept if the government incorporates the payment into teachers salaries and maintains the teaching qualification system. The workers have been holding frequent protests, and on June 24, blockaded many cities and highways out of the country. President Ricardo Maduro is also facing protests and strikes by 3500 telecommunications workers, and on July 2, 20,000 protesters brought the country's capital to a standstill protesting neoliberal policies and the presence of US troops in the country.
From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004.
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