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
Many words are taboo when used to describe Israel's actions against
Palestinians. One word in specific, genocide, sparks emotions that echo
across Israel, Europe and America. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines
genocide as 'the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial,
political, or cultural group.' What is happening in the West Bank, East
Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip today is dangerously encroaching on genocide,
close enough so that the pictures of Palestinians in Rafah loading their
meager belongings on carts and evacuating their homes are too reminiscent of
another time, another place and another people. These very same images
should be setting off alarms in the hearts and minds of Israelis.
Unfortunately, at stake is not the lexicon of conflict but rather, our
children, and we refuse to sit still to watch a deaf, dumb and blind world
steal their future from them.
A Delegation from the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) visited Haiti
from April 12-19, and documented serious continuing violations of human
rights, including killings, disappearances, burning of homes and
intimidation, often directed at supporters of Haiti's elected government.
The Delegation found a high degree of insecurity affecting all Haitians, as
criminal gangs, often lead by convicted killers, control large parts of the
country and operate with impunity. The Delegation also found that the
Multinational Interim Force (MIF) in Haiti was not acting to curb violence
by paramilitary gangs, and was involved in illegal, warrantless arrests and
holding of prisoners without documentation or legal justification. The
delegation issued a report available on the National Lawyers Guild's
website, www.nlg.org.
A personality disorder is a deeply ingrained, maladaptive, and inflexible pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that significantly impairs an individual's social or occupational functioning.
Personality disorders are pronounced accentuations of personality traits. Personality disorders are associated with failures to reach potential.
Collectively, the USA suffers from pathological Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
The Diagnostic Scholastic Manual IV Ed. is the psychiatric bible. To be certified NPD, one must meet 5 of the criteria. The USA scores nine out of nine.
1. A grandiose sense of self-importance. To be specific, the grandiosity is that of hubris. Hubris is that unique form of inflated ego that believes itself to be one with the Gods. To exemplify, the USA refers to its’ historical westward expansion and usurping of lands as ‘Manifest Destiny”.
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance... SUPER-POWER.
3. Believes that USA is "special" and unique ...
4. Requires excessive admiration
Personality disorders are pronounced accentuations of personality traits. Personality disorders are associated with failures to reach potential.
Collectively, the USA suffers from pathological Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
The Diagnostic Scholastic Manual IV Ed. is the psychiatric bible. To be certified NPD, one must meet 5 of the criteria. The USA scores nine out of nine.
1. A grandiose sense of self-importance. To be specific, the grandiosity is that of hubris. Hubris is that unique form of inflated ego that believes itself to be one with the Gods. To exemplify, the USA refers to its’ historical westward expansion and usurping of lands as ‘Manifest Destiny”.
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance... SUPER-POWER.
3. Believes that USA is "special" and unique ...
4. Requires excessive admiration
On March 21st Salvadorans went to the polls to elect their future President and Vice-President. The candidates of the ruling right wing ARENA party triumphed over three other contending parties, the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the National Conciliation Party (PCN) and the Coalition (PDC-CDU) of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC) and the United Democratic Centre (CDU). These were the third Presidential elections since the signing of the 1992 Peace Accords which marked the end of a twelve year long war in which at least 80,000 Salvadorans lost their lives and in which the Salvadoran military forces acted essentially as a surrogate of the US military.
The ARENA candidate, Elias Antonio Saca, polled 57.7 per cent of the vote, whilst his principal rival, the FMLN candidate, Schafik Handal, polled 35.6 per cent. The Coalition party polled 4 per cent and the PCN took less than 3 per cent. The voter turnout was a record 65 per cent.
The ARENA candidate, Elias Antonio Saca, polled 57.7 per cent of the vote, whilst his principal rival, the FMLN candidate, Schafik Handal, polled 35.6 per cent. The Coalition party polled 4 per cent and the PCN took less than 3 per cent. The voter turnout was a record 65 per cent.
April 25th 2004 is the Panchen Lama of Tibet's 15th birthday. The
Panchen Lama was kidnapped by the Chinese government in 1995 and they
continue to hold him and his family incommunicado.
More information can be found at tashilhunpo.org/amber_alert
More information can be found at tashilhunpo.org/amber_alert
HEBRON- Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has learned that ten days ago, the Abdul Jawad Jabber family
suffered another ruinous attack on their fields by reportedly forty
Israeli settlers, many of them armed. At about noon March 28, the
settlers, escorted and guarded by three jeeploads of Israeli soldiers,
invaded a Jabber grape arbor at the corner of the settlers-only entrance
road to Harsina Settlement and Highway 60 and began to systematically
saw down--level with the ground--twenty three grape vines. Some of the
vines were thirty years old and about three inches across at the cut.
CPTers learned of the destruction while making a collegial visit to their long time Ba'qaa Valley friends. While sitting on the porch of the Jabber home, overlooking the ruins of the house of one of Adbul Jawad's middle aged sons, Joudy, and which was demolished by the Israeli Army sixteen months ago, family members sadly told CPTers about their latest ordeal.
CPTers learned of the destruction while making a collegial visit to their long time Ba'qaa Valley friends. While sitting on the porch of the Jabber home, overlooking the ruins of the house of one of Adbul Jawad's middle aged sons, Joudy, and which was demolished by the Israeli Army sixteen months ago, family members sadly told CPTers about their latest ordeal.
Seven more nations are joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and three more Central European nations have their applications pending. Although the Bush administration has set an overall course in foreign and military policy of treaty-breaking and unilateralism, it remains a strong proponent of NATO expansion.
Founded in 1949 as a security buffer against the Soviet Union, NATO has not only survived the end of the cold war. It is flourishing. Despite criticism that a post-cold war NATO would unnecessarily propagate the West-East security divide that shaped international relations for the four decades of the cold war, the U.S. government has led the drive to energize and expand NATO. In 1999, after contentious debate in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. approved the accession of Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary to NATO. Leading the NATO enlargement lobby was the neoconservative Committee to Expand NATO, which brought together several prominent neocons now serving in the Bush administration, along with conservative Democrats such as Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute and the Democratic Leadership Council.
Founded in 1949 as a security buffer against the Soviet Union, NATO has not only survived the end of the cold war. It is flourishing. Despite criticism that a post-cold war NATO would unnecessarily propagate the West-East security divide that shaped international relations for the four decades of the cold war, the U.S. government has led the drive to energize and expand NATO. In 1999, after contentious debate in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. approved the accession of Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary to NATO. Leading the NATO enlargement lobby was the neoconservative Committee to Expand NATO, which brought together several prominent neocons now serving in the Bush administration, along with conservative Democrats such as Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute and the Democratic Leadership Council.
In the early morning hours of 25 January 2004, IDF soldiers entered a-Nabi Saleh, a village in Ramallah District. The head of the village council, Bashir a-Tamimi, told B’Tselem that, around 2:00 A.M., soldiers knocked on people’s doors and ordered the residents to go to the village square. At the square, all the residents, including small children, were instructed to go to one soldier who recorded the person’s name, another soldier who took their photograph, and a third soldier who took their fingerprint on a blank piece of paper. When several young men refused to be fingerprinted on a blank page, the soldiers threatened them with weapons. At the end of the operation, one of the soldiers explained to the residents that the reason for these activities was that people from the village had thrown stones and paint at soldiers. The soldier warned the residents that if those acts continued, the soldiers would take harsher measures. A-Tamimi estimated that the soldiers photographed and fingerprinted about 450 of the 500 residents of the village. He added that, before the operation ended, soldiers took away three youths, who were about 13 or 14 years old.
On 18 February 2004, Majdi a-Saruji, age 31, an ambulance driver from the Balata refugee camp, and Jamal Abu Hamdeh, age 30, a medic from Nablus, both employees of the Palestinian Red Crescent, were on their way to a hospital in Ramallah with two patients in the ambulance: an infant heart patient and a person with a broken leg who was in a wheelchair. On their way, the passed three checkpoints, and then encountered an Israeli army jeep parked in the middle of the road near the Ofra settlement. One of the soldiers standing alongside the jeep ordered the ambulance driver to stop. A-Saruji got out of the ambulance, went over to the soldier, and handed over the ID cards of the patients and medical staff in the ambulance. In his testimony to B’Tselem, a-Saruji said: “The soldier looked at our ID cards and then suddenly kicked me, for no reason and without any provocation from me… I went back to the ambulance and sat down in the driver’s seat.” The soldier went over to Abu Hamdeh, ordered him to open the side door of the ambulance, and then ordered them to turn around and go back to where they came from.
On the morning of 12 January 2004, IDF soldiers entered the Tulkarm refugee camp and arrested Fatah member Haytham Luwaisi. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Office, Luwaisi had attempted to commit attacks in Israel. Three days later, the IDF demolished the home in which Luwaisi’s family lived. In the course of arresting Luwaisi, the soldiers used Ahmad ‘Asaf, age 33, a resident of the refugee camp, as a human shield. The use of human shields is forbidden by international law and by a High Court of Justice order. IDF operating procedures also prohibit the practice.
‘Asaf told B’Tselem: “He [a soldier] told me that I had to go inside houses that he would identify and open the door and windows and turn on the lights. He told me to tell anyone who was in the houses to go outside with their hands raised over their heads. He told me that if someone refused, I had to come outside and tell him and that if I didn’t tell him the truth, he would kill me or put me in jail."
‘Asaf told B’Tselem: “He [a soldier] told me that I had to go inside houses that he would identify and open the door and windows and turn on the lights. He told me to tell anyone who was in the houses to go outside with their hands raised over their heads. He told me that if someone refused, I had to come outside and tell him and that if I didn’t tell him the truth, he would kill me or put me in jail."