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
Lago Agrio, Ecuador -- Before The Lord spoke unto Pat Robertson and told him to endorse Rudy Giuliani, family man, for President, the Reverend got a message that higher powers wanted him to arrange a hit on another President:
"Hugo Chavez thinks we're trying to assassinate him. I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it."
Robertson has a tough time separating Church and Hate. But when the vicious vicar declared it was time to take out the President of Venezuela, he was simply channeling the wishes of the Supreme Authority, Dick Cheney.
I'm asking you to see the story they don't want you to see in the USA: from the original investigations filmed for BBC Television, "The Assassination of Hugo"- a special DVD documentary by myself and Rick Rowley. NOT for general release - ONLY available as a gift to donors to the not-for-profit Palast Investigative Fund.
Why must they kill Chavez?
"Hugo Chavez thinks we're trying to assassinate him. I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it."
Robertson has a tough time separating Church and Hate. But when the vicious vicar declared it was time to take out the President of Venezuela, he was simply channeling the wishes of the Supreme Authority, Dick Cheney.
I'm asking you to see the story they don't want you to see in the USA: from the original investigations filmed for BBC Television, "The Assassination of Hugo"- a special DVD documentary by myself and Rick Rowley. NOT for general release - ONLY available as a gift to donors to the not-for-profit Palast Investigative Fund.
Why must they kill Chavez?
ASAT PUZZLE
China carried out its first successful test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon in January 11, 2007. Using a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile, the test knocked out an aging Chinese weather satellite about 537 miles above the earth on January 11 through kinetic impact, or by slamming into it. The first known satellite-killing test in space in over 20 years, the test has enabled China to become the third state with ASAT capabilities, second only to the United States and Russia. Since the test was known to the world in January 17, several countries including the United States, Japan and Canada had voiced concern over it. In the meantime, experts around the world speculated on China's incentives for the move.
China carried out its first successful test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon in January 11, 2007. Using a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile, the test knocked out an aging Chinese weather satellite about 537 miles above the earth on January 11 through kinetic impact, or by slamming into it. The first known satellite-killing test in space in over 20 years, the test has enabled China to become the third state with ASAT capabilities, second only to the United States and Russia. Since the test was known to the world in January 17, several countries including the United States, Japan and Canada had voiced concern over it. In the meantime, experts around the world speculated on China's incentives for the move.
PARIS: A group of U.S. and European human rights organizations is pursuing a legal complaint against Donald Rumsfeld in a Paris court that accuses the former defense secretary of being responsible for torture.
The group, which includes the International Federation for Human Rights, the French League for Human Rights and the Nork York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, filed the complaint late Thursday and unsuccessfully sought to confront Rumsfeld as he left a breakfast meeting in central Paris on Friday.
Jeanne Sulzer, a lawyer for the group, said the complaint was filed with a state prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin, who has the power to pursue the case because of Rumsfeld's presence in France.
Similar legal complaints against Rumsfeld have been filed in countries like Sweden and Argentina. German prosecutors dismissed a case in April, saying it was up to the United States to investigate the issue.
In France, the group is seeking to press charges against Rumsfeld for authorizing torture at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq under the 1984 Convention Against Torture, which France has used in previous torture cases.
The group, which includes the International Federation for Human Rights, the French League for Human Rights and the Nork York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, filed the complaint late Thursday and unsuccessfully sought to confront Rumsfeld as he left a breakfast meeting in central Paris on Friday.
Jeanne Sulzer, a lawyer for the group, said the complaint was filed with a state prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin, who has the power to pursue the case because of Rumsfeld's presence in France.
Similar legal complaints against Rumsfeld have been filed in countries like Sweden and Argentina. German prosecutors dismissed a case in April, saying it was up to the United States to investigate the issue.
In France, the group is seeking to press charges against Rumsfeld for authorizing torture at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq under the 1984 Convention Against Torture, which France has used in previous torture cases.
WASHINGTON - October 3 – Two well-respected US peace activists, CODEPINK and Global Exchange cofounder Medea Benjamin and retired Colonel and diplomat Ann Wright, were denied entry into Canada today (Wednesday, October 3). The two women were headed to Toronto to discuss peace and security issues at the invitation of the Toronto Stop the War Coalition. At the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Bridge they were detained, questioned and denied entry. They will hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon in front of the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC to ask the Canadian government to reverse its policy of barring peaceful protesters.
The women were questioned at Canadian customs about their participation in anti-war efforts and informed that they had an FBI file indicating they had been arrested in acts of non-violent civil disobedience.
WHEN: Thursday, October 4th at 1pm
WHERE: Canadian Embassy, 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC
The women were questioned at Canadian customs about their participation in anti-war efforts and informed that they had an FBI file indicating they had been arrested in acts of non-violent civil disobedience.
WHEN: Thursday, October 4th at 1pm
WHERE: Canadian Embassy, 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Burma is apparently using photos sent to Web sites, TVs and other media to arrest protestors, while praising China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown which turned foreign news videos into virtual wanted posters to capture its dissidents.
"Residents say military trucks patrol neighborhood streets during the night with loudspeakers broadcasting warnings: 'We have photographs. We are going to make arrests!'" the respected, U.S.-funded, Thailand-based, Irrawaddy magazine reported on Wednesday (Oct. 3). Associated Press and other news organizations also reported the chilling quotes.
Burma's junta employed camera-wielding security forces during September's pro-democracy marches.
But the regime is probably also gleaning the faces of protestors from countless video and still photos shot in Rangoon by journalists, bloggers, and residents who used cell phones, email, and Web-sites to transmit pictures during more than two weeks of public marches.
"Residents say military trucks patrol neighborhood streets during the night with loudspeakers broadcasting warnings: 'We have photographs. We are going to make arrests!'" the respected, U.S.-funded, Thailand-based, Irrawaddy magazine reported on Wednesday (Oct. 3). Associated Press and other news organizations also reported the chilling quotes.
Burma's junta employed camera-wielding security forces during September's pro-democracy marches.
But the regime is probably also gleaning the faces of protestors from countless video and still photos shot in Rangoon by journalists, bloggers, and residents who used cell phones, email, and Web-sites to transmit pictures during more than two weeks of public marches.
October 2nd will mark the birth anniversary of Human Rights Activist,
Mahatma Gandhi and for the first time, the United Nations is officially
proclaiming this day to be the International Day of Non-violence. Hopefully,
on this day we can all spare a little of our time to reflect on how little
we have all understood Mahatma Gandhi's message, after all everyday we seem
to plunge into a worse state of affairs and drift away farther from Gandhi's
respectable message; "I object to violence because when it appears to do
good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Burmese man who hijacked a Thai International Airways passenger plane, to publicize his country's struggle against its military regime, says other protestors in Burma should not seize aircraft but find "dramatic" and "creative ways" to gain world support.
"I do not regret the 'hijacking'. I am proud of what I did -- this peaceful 'hijacking drama' in 1990 -- given the kind of situation at that time," Soe Myint said in an interview.
"There was very little international attention on how the peoples of Burma were struggling under the military regime," he said, reflecting on the reasons he and another Burmese activist commandeered the plane from Burma to India 17 years ago.
The two Rangoon University students wielded a fake bomb and forced the Bangkok-to-Rangoon flight to continue east to India's port of Calcutta in November, 1990, with 220 passengers.
"We were able to do it without any weapon, without harming anyone, and [with] the whole-hearted support we got from the peoples of India," after the plane landed in Calcutta, also known as Kolkata, Soe Myint said.
"I do not regret the 'hijacking'. I am proud of what I did -- this peaceful 'hijacking drama' in 1990 -- given the kind of situation at that time," Soe Myint said in an interview.
"There was very little international attention on how the peoples of Burma were struggling under the military regime," he said, reflecting on the reasons he and another Burmese activist commandeered the plane from Burma to India 17 years ago.
The two Rangoon University students wielded a fake bomb and forced the Bangkok-to-Rangoon flight to continue east to India's port of Calcutta in November, 1990, with 220 passengers.
"We were able to do it without any weapon, without harming anyone, and [with] the whole-hearted support we got from the peoples of India," after the plane landed in Calcutta, also known as Kolkata, Soe Myint said.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Dodging a deadly military crackdown, bloggers in Burma are now on the front lines providing news and photos of death and insurrection.
Their Internet blogs, written in Burmese language and grammatically-flawed English, are mostly by people living in the commercial port of Rangoon, also known as Yangon, where Buddhist monks, pro-democracy activists and residents have been defying security forces during more than a week of protests.
The bloggers rely on word-of-mouth, cell phones, online chat groups, instant messaging, and first-hand experience in barricaded streets amid tear gas and gunfire.
The best blogs provide photos, video and text updates purportedly by eyewitnesses, which are later confirmed by news organizations or, in some cases, can't be verified.
Burma's bloody pro-democracy protests have captivated the outside world, including U.S. President George W. Bush, the United Nations and the public, thanks largely to the bloggers' media.
Burma's military regime refused to grant visas to foreign correspondents, and blocked visas for many foreign tourists, after the mass uprising worsened several days ago.
Their Internet blogs, written in Burmese language and grammatically-flawed English, are mostly by people living in the commercial port of Rangoon, also known as Yangon, where Buddhist monks, pro-democracy activists and residents have been defying security forces during more than a week of protests.
The bloggers rely on word-of-mouth, cell phones, online chat groups, instant messaging, and first-hand experience in barricaded streets amid tear gas and gunfire.
The best blogs provide photos, video and text updates purportedly by eyewitnesses, which are later confirmed by news organizations or, in some cases, can't be verified.
Burma's bloody pro-democracy protests have captivated the outside world, including U.S. President George W. Bush, the United Nations and the public, thanks largely to the bloggers' media.
Burma's military regime refused to grant visas to foreign correspondents, and blocked visas for many foreign tourists, after the mass uprising worsened several days ago.
The most recent statements coming from Ford and General Motors, demanding massive cuts in the benefits paid to auto workers or those companies will move their factories to low-wage countries, demonstrates the complete failure of current government economic policies. The automobile manufacturers should not be able to make such threats nor should they need to make such demands. The failures of current government economic policy makes both a reality. Changes in government economic policies can quickly correct the situation.
Our falsely named “free trade” policy craze is simply crazy. The very idea that American workers should be forced to compete in our own domestic market with the poorest of the poor workers from all over the world is a recipe for long-term economic decline for America. It undermines the entire economic and political structure of the American nation.
Our falsely named “free trade” policy craze is simply crazy. The very idea that American workers should be forced to compete in our own domestic market with the poorest of the poor workers from all over the world is a recipe for long-term economic decline for America. It undermines the entire economic and political structure of the American nation.
“It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it’s more like a vulture. It used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody’s blood whether they were strong or not. But now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless. As the nations of the world free themselves, the capitalism has less victims, less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. It’s only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely.”
–Malcolm X
Striving with the unwavering dedication of true believers and slaves to the grind, those of us who exist within the geographic, social, cultural, economic, and political boundaries of the United States are collectively destroying the Earth.
–Malcolm X
Striving with the unwavering dedication of true believers and slaves to the grind, those of us who exist within the geographic, social, cultural, economic, and political boundaries of the United States are collectively destroying the Earth.