Polaris report finds water in First Nations communities a “violation of fundamental human rights”

Boiling Point! | The Dominion.

“A change in the conduct of the Doha negotiations is needed to really deliver benefits to the poor,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder, adding “developed country governments have to assume their responsibilities to contribute some fairness to the world trading system and not require huge sacrifices in return for minimal commitments on their side.”Pro-development approach essential if WTO talks to resume.

Gary Leupp analyzes divisions within the Left.

“Marxist-Leninists see imperialism as a logical outgrowth of capitalism, it’s “highest stage” whereas libertarian and some other critics see it merely as a policy adopted by governments. They see it, in fact, as at odds with capitalism as an idealized system. We can leave that debate aside as we jointly try to build an antiwar movement in this particular capitalist, imperialist country, and as we try to understand the complex mix of factors that drive the current trend towards more war.”

–85% vote against privatization of Mexico’s energy sector.

–A new article from Ian Angus of Climate and Capitalism Blog.

On Saturday, August 2nd at 7:00 PM, CUPE and the Fredericton Peace Coalition are happy to host a presentation by Maria Fernanda Bolanos. The presentation will take place at Renaissance College, 811 Charlotte St. Maria is an employee of the publicly owned waste and sanitation services of Cali and a member of the Public Service International affiliate SINTRAEMSIRVA. On March 12, 2008 serious threats were made via email against Maria. Maria has worked in waste management for 15 years. She operates the weigh scale in the solid waste final disposal. Maria is a 34-year old single mom, and is the coordinator of the youth committee in her union (affiliated to Public Services International). She coordinates the campaign for union organizing with youth in Cali and Bogota and represents youth in the Andean sub-region in the Antigua. Its fight against the privatization of municipal services led to the killing of long-time union activist, Carlos Alberto Chicaiza, on April 15, 2004. Despite ongoing death threats, the union has continued to fight privatization and to protect jobs and benefits for its members by developing alternative proposals for keeping the company public.

For more info, contact info@frederictonpeace.org

“He loved playing football, watching cartoons and making slings to hurl stones. The morning before he was shot by an Israeli soldier, he was playing marbles in the street … After joining the village’s protest against the barrier on Tuesday morning, when protesters hurled rocks and Israeli soldiers retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets, [Ahmed] Moussa returned to the area later in the afternoon. He was killed by Israeli gunfire. A postmortem examination yesterday established that a live bullet caused his death … “Children resist with what? Stones. A 10 year-old-boy, what can he throw? How big can the stones be? Do you think that the children of Palestine live like the other children of the world?”"

–And the abuse of an oppressed people continues…

–Online petition and e-action to call for a ban of the use of cosmetic pesticides in New Brunswick.

“Israeli troops have shot dead a Palestinian boy during a protest near the separation wall in the occupied West Bank”

–The Alliance should make sure that they are working with the new PSUV and not against it. Sectarian struggles outside the party cannot be taken seriously at this time if they run candidates against likely PSUV winners in the elections. The PSUV is the mass part of the people and of the workers. To organize against the PSUV simple political sectarianism and egotism. There is no need to dissolve these outside parties, but there must be an understanding that the best socialist candidate should win and should be chosen through democratic processes not just at the end of the process but from the start.

–In the US it is increasingly hard to organize unions in the IT sector because of anti-worker NLRB decisions. Have a read here.

–Posted by the Monthly Review webZine:“This program, featuring Wole Soyinka and Ed Kashi, was broadcast on Al Jazeera on 22 July 2008.” The country is not just plagued by corruption but their leaders are slaves of economic imperialism. However, there is a vibrant resistance in Nigeria to this model, they just have not been able to organize political power yet.

–I have uploaded the full version of the NB Woodlot Owners’ two letters to Minister Arseneault about the move to allow UPM to export Crown Land wood. We must continue to support the small woodlot owners in this province and stand against legislation that allows for our Crown land wood to be exported or otherwise used to undermine our economy. Small woodlot owners need our support to fight this theft of our forests and our jobs. Get the letters here: Letter Re: UPM Exports (PDF)

During his state visit to Canada , Israeli President Chaim Herzog was invited to address the Canadian parliament on June 27, 1989. He was introduced by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney with these words:

"Canada played a part in that process by participating in the United Nations Commission that proposed the partition of Palestine, by voting for Israels membership in the UN and by contributing to the Middle East peace-keeping forces in the hope of stabilizing the region and of bringing peace to your country. Most of all, in the daring and difficult period of Israels infancy, when your nation needed friends – true friends – Canada was there. Canada was there over 40 years ago and our friendship and support remain with you today."

“This is $40 million invested in a project with very little return,” Bowen told The Associated Press in Washington. “A couple of buildings are useful. Other than that, it’s a failure.”

In the pecking order of corruption in Iraq, the dead-end prison project at Khan Bani Saad is nowhere near the biggest or most tangled.

Bowen estimated up to 20 percent “waste” — or more than $4 billion — from the $21 billion spent so far in the U.S.-bankrolled Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. It’s just one piece of a recovery effort that swelled beyond $112 billion in U.S., Iraqi and international contributions.

The St. Petersburg Times – World – $40Mln Wasted On Empty Iraq Prison.

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – In both the West Bank and Gaza, young people aged 15 to 24 are the most likely of any group to be unemployed, while the number of households in Gaza below the poverty line has reached an historic high of nearly 52 percent, according to a new report by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) issued Thursday.

"The unprecedented level of poverty in Gaza is bad news," UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness said to IPS in a call interview from Jerusalem. "To resign a whole generation to a future without hope is not in the interest of anyone. It is not in the interest of the refugees we serve as UNRWA, and it is not in the interests of anyone who believes in the wider interest of peace and stability."

In its report, UNRWA says "the number of households in Gaza below the consumption poverty line continued to grow, reaching 51.8 percent in 2007 (from 50.7 percent in 2006), despite significant amounts of emergency and humanitarian assistance." By contrast, household poverty levels in the West Bank fell to just over 19 percent from 24 percent in 2006, "likely driven down by the lifting of the international embargo on the Palestinian Authority."

ei: Poverty in Gaza hits “unprecedented” level.

POSTVILLE, Iowa – About 1,000 people, including rabbis, Hispanic immigrants and Catholic clergy, marched through this farm town Sunday, protesting working conditions at Agriprocessors Inc.

Following a raid on the plant in May, federal investigators said they found the plant had employed more than 20 underage workers, some as young as 13.

Some of the underage laborers said they worked shifts of 12 hours or more, wielding razor-edged knives and saws to slice freshly killed beef. Some worked through the night, sometimes six nights a week.

One, a Guatemalan named Elmer L., who said he was 16 when he started working on the plant’s killing floors, said he worked 17-hour shifts, six days a week. “I felt like I was a slave,” he said in an affidavit.

Trade union Comfia CCOO in Spain launched their http://www.comfia.tv website last week, proudly portraying their first show July 22nd “without a General Secretary’s opening speech”.

At the moment, comfia.tv is a weekly show, but Miquel Loriz, Head of Communications foresees this to become a live alternative to traditional media in the near future.

The current episode covers issues such as the National Health Day in Spain for office buildings, the AXA collective agreement as well as information on ongoing union issues at the Indra company.

The show gives union members a visual resumé of the unions’ weekly activities and one can see direct results of the conferences that have taken place – all in a 6 minute video.

UNI : First union TV web channel.

Russian analysts have long accused the United States of exaggerating Iranian capabilities to justify stationing a missile-defense system in Europe that really aims to counter Russia’s own nuclear deterrent. U.S. officials insist that they will not give Russia the right to veto its missile-defense operations.

The St. Petersburg Times – Opinion – Relaunching the Missile Debate.

Jute and Textiles Adviser Anwarul Iqbal has said government will allow limited trade unionism at factories soon in order to protect workers’ rights.

Presently, such trade unionism is prohibited under the state of emergency.

HANOI (AFP) — Nearly 14,000 workers at a South Korean footwear company in Vietnam have gone on strike to demand higher salaries, blaming the action on rising consumer prices, state media said Sunday.