THE G-20 IN PITTSBURGH
by Tom Over 9-23-09
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On Tuesday, Sept 22, activists from Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh and other cities held a mock funeral procession to demand better policies for addressing the AIDS pandemic, a day ahead of the arrival of delegates for the G-20.
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The approximately 50 participants in the New Orleans-style funeral march drew a mix of interest, irritation, and amusement from onlookers in the business district of downtown Pittsburgh.
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At the head of the funeral march where pallbearers carried a cardboard coffin, a man shouted into a microphone while someone else carried a portable amplifier, “when people with AIDS are under attack, what do we do ?” and marchers shouted in unison, “fight back!”
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Amidst the early afternoon bustle of an weekday, the demonstrators repeated this call-and-answer and similar chants as the funeral march made its way around the perimeter of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the site of the G-20 Summit later this week.
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Erica Goldberg works with ACT UP Philadelphia. She said global health is not on the agenda of the G-20 Summit.
“One of the things that some of the G-20 nations have promised us is funding for the global fund to fight, TB, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. This is all really important, especially if we want to meet the United Nations’ Millennium goal of eradicating these diseases by 2015. As of right now, this won’t be met. We have to hold our leaders accountable. They are the ones making decisions for the poorer countries,” Goldberg said.
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She commented on the timing of the demonstration. “We wanted this to be the first thing they (the G-20 delegates) see. They’re coming here tomorrow. We’re holding them accountable. This needs to be on the agenda.”
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She said AIDS activists chose Sept 22, two days before the official start of the G-20 Summit, and one day before the arrival of the delegates, so as to not have to compete with other protests. Also, she said the AIDS activists figured there would be less of a chance of conflict with police if they staged their protest earlier in the week.
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“We hope that this will hit the papers tomorrow, that it’s the first thing they see when they walk in, that they have this on their conscience and know we’re not going away,” Goldberg said. She urges people to contact legislators about supporting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
“President Obama, as much as I love him, went back on his promise to fulfill the funding,” Goldberg said.
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She commented on how drug companies factor into all of this. “ Medication does not need to be this expensive. They can definitely lower their prices. We have big drug interests lobbying to prevent AIDS medication from getting” to developing nations.
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Goldberg said debt cancellation for developing nations is a factor that comes into play.
“When you don’t cancel debts of nations and they have to pay back loans to the IMF and the World Bank, they won’t have the funds necessary for getting AIDS medication, or they might get the medication but can’t pay the health professional because of their debt.
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She said vested interested motivated by huge profits stand in the way of doing a better job of addressing tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. “We have the power, the ability, and the medication.”
World News
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The United Nations granted refugee status January
9 to a Saudi teenager who fled her country and barricaded herself in
Bangkok's international airport, claiming she would be executed for
renouncing her belief in Islam, disobeying her brutal family, and
trying to fly to Australia.
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun's repeated statements that she had renounced
her belief in Islam may have been the strongest reason for her to
qualify as a refugee because punishment in Saudi Arabia could result
in lengthy imprisonment or execution by beheading.
"She said she has made a decision to renounce Islam. And I knew once
she said that, she is in serious trouble," Human Rights Watch's
Bangkok-based representative Phil Robertson tweeted.
"It's confirmed #UNHCR has determined #Rahaf is a refugee, & her case
has been referred to #Australia for protection & resettlement," Mr.
Robertson tweeted on January 9.
Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne was scheduled to arrive in
Bangkok on January 10 to discuss a similar asylum case involving
Hakeem al-Arabi from Bahrain.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- China is constructing seaports at two sites where
the U.S. 6th Fleet deploys, in Haifa next to Israel's main naval base
and Ashdod near Tel Aviv, prompting concerns about China's military
potential in the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East.
"The civilian [Chinese] port in Haifa abuts the exit route from the
adjacent [Israeli] navy base, where the Israeli submarine fleet is
stationed and which, according to foreign media reports, maintains a
second-strike capability to launch nuclear missiles," Israel's Haaretz
media reported.
"No one in Israel thought about the strategic ramifications," Haaretz
said in September.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke visited Haifa on
October 25 in support of the 6th Fleet which is headquartered in
Naples, Italy.
Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) signed the Haifa contract in
2015, began construction in June, and is to operate the Bayport
Terminal for 25 years starting from 2021.
SIPG signed memorandums of understanding with U.S. ports in Seattle,
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Tibet's government-in-exile cheered the U.S.
Senate's passage of an act demanding U.S. diplomats, journalists and
other Americans be allowed to freely visit Tibet, but Beijing warned
President Trump if he signs it into law, "China-U.S. ties and
cooperation in major areas" could suffer retaliation.
The Reciprocal Access To Tibet Act of 2018, now awaiting President
Trump's signature, includes preventing Chinese officials receiving
U.S. visas if they are involved in blocking Americans from Tibet.
"The Act interferes in China's domestic affairs with reckless
disregard for facts, and goes against the basic norms of international
relations," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
"We urge the U.S. administrative bodies to take immediate measures to
stop it being signed into law, so as to avoid impairing China-U.S.
ties and cooperation in major areas," Mr. Lu said in Beijing on
December 14.
China's retaliation may include denying some U.S. officials from
receiving visas to China, reported Beijing's Global Times.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Buddhist-majority Thailand is about to become the
first Southeast Asian nation to legalize medical marijuana, hoping its
traditional secretive potions, stoner "Thai Sticks," inexpensive
quality health care and export marketeers will rescue patients and
produce award-winning cash crops.
Thailand's coup-installed junta leader is so enthusiastic, he is using
draconian powers to defend Thai marijuana products from foreign
patents which have been applied for in Bangkok to monopolize future
herb-derived concoctions.
During the 1960s and 70s, American hippies and other smokers described
powerful Thai-grown marijuana as "Thai Sticks" because a small amount
was illegally sold skewered on a slender, pencil-long, wooden stick
the way grilled street food is offered here.
Marijuana is still illegal with long prison sentences meted out for
possession, sales and smuggling.
Nevertheless, Thailand is used for a monthly Full Moon Party on Koh
Phangan, where thousands of mostly young foreign tourists drink
BANGKOK, Thailand -- China's government sent more than one million
majority ethnic Han Chinese to live uninvited in the homes of minority
Uighur families in Xinjiang province and report if the Muslims display
Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs which need to be forcibly reformed.
"Had a Uighur host just greeted a neighbor in Arabic with the words
'Assalamu Alaykum'? That would need to go in the notebook," and
reported to China's authorities, said American anthropologist Darren
Byler.
"Was that a copy of the Koran in the home? Was anyone praying on
Friday or fasting during Ramadan? Was a little sister's dress too long
or a little brother's beard irregular? And why was no one playing
cards or watching movies?" Mr. Byler said, describing traditional
Muslim behavior which China's civilian monitors added to the dossiers.
Mr. Byler's 5,500-word investigative research was published by New
York-based Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations on October
25.
About two weeks after publication, the ruling Chinese Communist Party
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The army's new commander-in-chief in a veiled
threat warned he may unleash a coup if people "create riots" against
the results of next February's promised elections.
The polls are expected to won by the current putsch-installed military
regime's allies but a surprise victory could be achieved by their
civilian enemies.
Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong's remarks coincided
with the first visit to Thailand by Admiral Phil Davidson, Commander
of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).
The U.S. commander's October 16-17 meetings included 2014 coup leader
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, his powerful Defense Minister Prawit
Wongsuwan, and newly appointed Supreme Commander Gen. Ponpipaat
Benyasri.
"The U.S. remains committed, as a long-time friend and ally, to
working with Thailand in advancing regional security and prosperity,"
Adm. Davidson said.
Asked during a news conference if the highly politicized U.S.-trained
army which was placed under Gen. Apirat's command on October 1 would
BANGKOK, Thailand -- If Thailand's U.S.-backed military government
allows an election next year, the junta leader and his supporters are
expected to dominate thanks to heavy censorship, an appointed Senate,
and restricted or self-exiled opposition politicians.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a bloodless 2014
coup when he was army commander, is widely perceived as manipulating
an extension of his prime ministry.
"Why are you so interested in me?" the often moody Mr. Prayuth asked
reporters who wanted to discuss expectations he would remain in power
after the election.
"I will decide when I will announce. It's entirely up to me. What's
the point of exposing myself to criticism so soon?" he said on
September 19.
"The laws on the election of members of parliament and selection of
senators were announced in the Royal Gazette on September 12, 2018,
paving the way for an election between February and May 2019," said
New York-based Human Rights Watch.
" Thailand's military junta should immediately lift restrictions on
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Pentagon has conducted its first army-to-army
exercise in Brunei along the strategic, contested South China Sea
after the U.S. State Department suggested obedience to the sultanate's
Islamic Shariah laws which punish offenders, including homosexuals and
Christians.
The main job of Brunei's small army is to protect the country's
petroleum and natural gas fields.
The August 6-16 Pahlawan Warrior exercise included 33 U.S. Army and
Indiana Army National Guard soldiers under the U.S. Indo-Pacific
Command (USINDOPACOM) partnered with Royal Brunei Land Forces on
jungle warfare operations, urban terrain tactics and other practice.
They "spent four nights located deep within the nation's southwest
rainforest" in operations observed by Hawaii-based members of the 25th
Infantry Division Lighting Academy, according to the U.S. Army Pacific
Public Affairs Office.
"Bruneian Soldiers taught classes on jungle survival, movement to
contact, land navigation and ambush techniques. The training
culminated in a bilateral attack," the Army said.
Fascism is a disease, a delusion, a toxic worldview. It’s encouraged and manipulated by propaganda. Its characteristics are numerous and to various degrees widespread and long-lasting. At what point their combination in sufficiently extreme degree rises to the level of fascism, as opposed to moderately fascistic tendencies I’m happy to leave to others to decide.
Fascism is not a tendency born into subhuman monsters who threaten the purity of our anti-fascist homeland, as one might suspect when reading posters like “The only good fascist is a dead fascist” at anti-fascist rallies.
Fascism is not easily eliminated and not best eliminated by simply any random opposition to it, even opposition that much resembles it. Eliminating fascism and how best to do it is a reasonable topic of discussion which necessarily involves opposing some tactics as less effective than others. This means that it is possible to oppose an anti-fascist act without being a fascist — although not without getting called a fascist.