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
Washington, D.C. – In a pre-dawn civil disobedience action Monday morning, 41 War Resisters League members and others sat down and were arrested at a pedestrian entrance to the Pentagon, slowing foot traffic at that location and prompting officials to close the U.S. military headquarters’ sole stop on Washington’s Metroline for a period.
Protesters, including Elizabeth McAllister and her daughter, Frieda Berrigan, Susan Crane, Ken Crowley and others with a long history of peace activism and arrests for civil disobedience, leafleted or sat down to block people from entering Entrance Three of the sprawling U.S. military command.
In one group of six, Crane repeated to the backed-up line of civilians and military personnel waiting at the security checkpoint, “Remember the innocent victims in Iraq.” Another protester urged officers to think about what they were doing and “resign your commissions.”
Protesters, including Elizabeth McAllister and her daughter, Frieda Berrigan, Susan Crane, Ken Crowley and others with a long history of peace activism and arrests for civil disobedience, leafleted or sat down to block people from entering Entrance Three of the sprawling U.S. military command.
In one group of six, Crane repeated to the backed-up line of civilians and military personnel waiting at the security checkpoint, “Remember the innocent victims in Iraq.” Another protester urged officers to think about what they were doing and “resign your commissions.”
There has been a media circus fed by a huge Israeli government PR effort to drum up sympathy for the "painful" relocation of settlers from Gaza (less than 2% of total settler population). But who are these settlers and why were they brought there in the first place? Is Israel really leaving Gaza or merely switching to occupying it from outside rather than from inside? Will Gaza become a large open air prison with its population held hostage as Israel control its airspace, natural resources, and access? Few journalists dare to ask.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Katrina's victims may learn lessons from Thailand's tsunami where DNA and real estate profits have become priorities, and thousands of survivors still cannot cope eight months after rescue.
Unlike impoverished Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, quake-propelled tidal swells hit Thailand's glitzy tourist zone, killing more than 5,400 Thai residents and foreigners.
It became a crash-course for U.S. and international aid workers dealing with relatively prosperous victims in vicious floods.
Investigators needed to quickly determined the identities of Thailand's tsunami toll -- so relatives could file insurance claims, inherit property, and stay in business.
Interpol tried to ensure criminals did not fake their own deaths to dodge arrest amid the tsunami's chaos.
The uniqueness of popular tattoos became a valuable clue, identifying many Westerners' corpses in Thailand.
Expensive, private, American and other security firms became a growth industry, along with scam artists, clairvoyants and others seeking to profit from the hunt for missing loved ones.
Unlike impoverished Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, quake-propelled tidal swells hit Thailand's glitzy tourist zone, killing more than 5,400 Thai residents and foreigners.
It became a crash-course for U.S. and international aid workers dealing with relatively prosperous victims in vicious floods.
Investigators needed to quickly determined the identities of Thailand's tsunami toll -- so relatives could file insurance claims, inherit property, and stay in business.
Interpol tried to ensure criminals did not fake their own deaths to dodge arrest amid the tsunami's chaos.
The uniqueness of popular tattoos became a valuable clue, identifying many Westerners' corpses in Thailand.
Expensive, private, American and other security firms became a growth industry, along with scam artists, clairvoyants and others seeking to profit from the hunt for missing loved ones.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- After a dozen horrific beheadings in the Muslim-majority south, leaflets have appeared reportedly threatening to chop off the ears of any Muslim who works on weekends.
Islamist separatists are fighting to restore the south's long-lost independence from Buddhist-majority Thailand. More than 800 people have died since January 2004 amid bombings, assassinations, arson and other assaults.
In rebel-torn Yala province, along the border with Malaysia, intelligence officials were investigating leaflets "urging local residents to stop working on Saturdays and Sundays, or they would have their ears cut off," the Bangkok Post reported on Friday (Aug. 12).
Muslim fundamentalists in the south earlier demanded no one work on Fridays -- Islam's traditional weekly holy day.
For example, southern Honda motorcycle dealer Vithoon Khupanthawee said an anonymous person telephoned him and asked that he stop working on Fridays and close his showrooms.
Worried, he complied.
Islamist separatists are fighting to restore the south's long-lost independence from Buddhist-majority Thailand. More than 800 people have died since January 2004 amid bombings, assassinations, arson and other assaults.
In rebel-torn Yala province, along the border with Malaysia, intelligence officials were investigating leaflets "urging local residents to stop working on Saturdays and Sundays, or they would have their ears cut off," the Bangkok Post reported on Friday (Aug. 12).
Muslim fundamentalists in the south earlier demanded no one work on Fridays -- Islam's traditional weekly holy day.
For example, southern Honda motorcycle dealer Vithoon Khupanthawee said an anonymous person telephoned him and asked that he stop working on Fridays and close his showrooms.
Worried, he complied.
Why do they hate us? President George Bush posed this question to the American public shortly after 9/11. It is a strong affirmation of the power of propaganda that some Americans still pose this as a serious question, and are legitimately dumb-founded that such antipathy exists toward the United States. Our government, media and schools start burnishing the false notion of American moral superiority into our brains at a very young age. However, beneath the thin veneer of their white-washed accounts of history and current events, abundant sources of information reveal the true malevolence of the moneyed elite who rule America. There is a great body of evidence which obliterates the inane notion that the United States is a benevolent world leader. Despite the ready availability of contrary evidence, many Americans remain blind to the truth about our despised nation, and choose to believe the fairy tale version of “truth, justice and the American Way”. The sad reality is that America is an imperialistic, avaricious war machine ruled by the wealthy. Yes, much of the world despises this nation.
Scandal-plagued Halliburton -- the oil services company once headed by Vice President Cheney -- sold an Iranian oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, say Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies’ business dealings.
Halliburton was secretly working at the time with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and sold the components in April to the official's oil development company, the sources said.
Just last week, a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, whose miltary unit just reported a 284 percent increase in its second quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the means to build a nuclear weapon.
Halliburton was secretly working at the time with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and sold the components in April to the official's oil development company, the sources said.
Just last week, a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, whose miltary unit just reported a 284 percent increase in its second quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the means to build a nuclear weapon.
June 26, 2005 will mark the 30th year since the shoot-out at Oglala on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It was in this conflict between the American Indian Movement and the F.B.I. that three people lost their lives. The subsequent arrest, conviction and incarceration of American Indian activist, Leonard Peltier, is a nightmarish visible sign of social injustice.
The case of Leonard Peltier is a case of political failure, political manipulation, political intervention and political incarceration. Leonard remains a political prisoner in a country that claims it holds none. Leonard Peltier has nearly completed his 3rd decade in a cage in Leavenworth, Kansas. Below, please find Leonard's words as he approaches a fourth decade of this nightmare.
Dear Brothers, Sisters, Friends, Supporters, and All People,
The case of Leonard Peltier is a case of political failure, political manipulation, political intervention and political incarceration. Leonard remains a political prisoner in a country that claims it holds none. Leonard Peltier has nearly completed his 3rd decade in a cage in Leavenworth, Kansas. Below, please find Leonard's words as he approaches a fourth decade of this nightmare.
Dear Brothers, Sisters, Friends, Supporters, and All People,
BANGKOK, Thailand -- A defrocked Buddhist novice who roasted a baby to create a powerful ghost has been arrested for allegedly tricking women into giving him cash and sex during useless animist rituals, according to police and anti-corruption officials.
Police, Justice Ministry officials, and Anti-Money Laundering Office agents spent Tuesday (July 19) sifting through property they seized last week from Harn Raksajit, including skulls, Buddhist and Hindu statues, a Mercedes Benz, wax dolls, Viagra, women's underwear and a large, locked safe.
Harn's clients included several distraught women who claimed he promised to enhance their ability to attract men in exchange for hundreds of dollars, and occasional sexual favors, they gave the 45-year-old occultist.
Physically, Harn displays a freakish appearance with dense "magical" calligraphy and designs tattooed all over his body.
Many Thais believe tattooed quotes from Buddhist and Hindu scripture, written in ancient Pali and Sanskrit, can deflect death, including bullets, car crashes and other danger.
Police, Justice Ministry officials, and Anti-Money Laundering Office agents spent Tuesday (July 19) sifting through property they seized last week from Harn Raksajit, including skulls, Buddhist and Hindu statues, a Mercedes Benz, wax dolls, Viagra, women's underwear and a large, locked safe.
Harn's clients included several distraught women who claimed he promised to enhance their ability to attract men in exchange for hundreds of dollars, and occasional sexual favors, they gave the 45-year-old occultist.
Physically, Harn displays a freakish appearance with dense "magical" calligraphy and designs tattooed all over his body.
Many Thais believe tattooed quotes from Buddhist and Hindu scripture, written in ancient Pali and Sanskrit, can deflect death, including bullets, car crashes and other danger.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Osama bin Laden cigarette lighter is adorned with his raised, chrome portrait, an embossed "9.11", sketches of the World Trade Center, an approaching airplane, and a big red splotch.
When you flick the sleek, metal lighter open, a light-emitting diode illuminates the splotch so it glows bright red on one of the buildings, emphasizing the first crash site.
Loud, computerized music beeps out a loop of Mozart.
Made in China -- as are many of the latest, gimmicky, Osama bin Laden souvenirs -- the butane lighter recently showed up in Cambodia.
"I paid two U.S. dollars for it, in the old Soviet market in Phnom Penh," a Canadian traveler, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview after visiting the Cambodian capital.
"One man's catastrophe is another man's cheesy souvenir. I bought three, for the novelty. I'll give them to people who would appreciate the irony that they even exist.
"When you open it, it plays a classical tune. It's quite freaky, eh?"
The lighter came boxed with a gold-and-black cigarette holder, and was manufactured by "Boerda Smoking Set Co. Ltd."
When you flick the sleek, metal lighter open, a light-emitting diode illuminates the splotch so it glows bright red on one of the buildings, emphasizing the first crash site.
Loud, computerized music beeps out a loop of Mozart.
Made in China -- as are many of the latest, gimmicky, Osama bin Laden souvenirs -- the butane lighter recently showed up in Cambodia.
"I paid two U.S. dollars for it, in the old Soviet market in Phnom Penh," a Canadian traveler, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview after visiting the Cambodian capital.
"One man's catastrophe is another man's cheesy souvenir. I bought three, for the novelty. I'll give them to people who would appreciate the irony that they even exist.
"When you open it, it plays a classical tune. It's quite freaky, eh?"
The lighter came boxed with a gold-and-black cigarette holder, and was manufactured by "Boerda Smoking Set Co. Ltd."
BANGKOK, Thailand -- About 6,500 ethnic Hmong, who illegally crossed the Mekong River into Thailand, suffered the death of a baby girl after Thai officials reportedly ordered people not to feed or help them.
Si Yang, cradling the pale corpse of her two-month-old daughter, said the infant perished on Wednesday (July 6) from fever and diarrhea after the family was refused medical treatment, food and water by Thais in the central province of Phetchabun.
"No medicine, no doctors. Our daughter died," a distraught Si Yang told reporters.
Several months ago, 6,500 minority ethnic Hmong allegedly paid human traffickers thousands of dollars to smuggle them across the wide Mekong River to escape landlocked, impoverished, communist Laos.
Some of the Hmong migrants claimed to be former rightwing mercenaries hired by the CIA during the 1960s and 1970s to fight communist Lao and Vietnamese forces during the U.S.-Vietnam war, only to be abandoned in 1975 when America lost and retreated.
Some younger Hmong said their fathers were CIA mercenaries who had died.
Si Yang, cradling the pale corpse of her two-month-old daughter, said the infant perished on Wednesday (July 6) from fever and diarrhea after the family was refused medical treatment, food and water by Thais in the central province of Phetchabun.
"No medicine, no doctors. Our daughter died," a distraught Si Yang told reporters.
Several months ago, 6,500 minority ethnic Hmong allegedly paid human traffickers thousands of dollars to smuggle them across the wide Mekong River to escape landlocked, impoverished, communist Laos.
Some of the Hmong migrants claimed to be former rightwing mercenaries hired by the CIA during the 1960s and 1970s to fight communist Lao and Vietnamese forces during the U.S.-Vietnam war, only to be abandoned in 1975 when America lost and retreated.
Some younger Hmong said their fathers were CIA mercenaries who had died.