We're winning the war
The economy is strong
Our justice system is fair
The environment is protected
The system is working
Comic by Andy Singer
|
|
|---|
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
The System is Working
We're winning the war
The economy is strong
Our justice system is fair
The environment is protected
The system is working
Comic by Andy Singer
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Happy May Day 2.0
I would argue our most important challenge as progressives is to build bridges between movements. Labour and Environmentalists. Feminists and indigenous peoples. Anti-war and anti-poverty activists. So, in that spirit this post is dedicated to the people, united (we'll never be divided).
Don't miss this article from Common Ground.
If springtime is all about rebirth and resurrection, perhaps it's time we dusted off a much-maligned holiday and upgraded it to May Day 2.0. The bounty from labour and capital is ultimately drawn from the harvest, so why not merge the worker and nature angles? They're a natural fit. We'd still keep Earth Day, but it would be a preliminary event leading up to the planetary celebration on May 1st, when we'd celebrate not just the Earth, but all beings that struggle on it – from the threatened creatures of the coral reefs to the disappearing tigers of Southeast Asia to the sweatshop workers of "free trade zones" to the native survivors of Canadian residential schools to endangered white collar workers.
Also, check out "our history of protest", today's series of amazing posts at Women of Color Blog.
A Selection of May Day 2007 News from around the world:
Canadian Unions need to re-energize:
Issues that were previously championed by labour: poor relief, affordable housing and job-creation initiatives -- tend to be spearheaded by community groups or other advocacy organizations that run outside and without the influence of the labour movement.
US: Wal-Mart Skirting Labour Protections:
The retail giant Wal-Mart exploits weak U.S. labour laws to prevent union formation and violates the fundamental human rights of its U.S. workers, says a report released Monday on the eve of the May Day labour holiday.
IRAQ: The Iraqi labour movement salutes May Day:
May Day is an opportunity for Iraqi working people to sharpen their resolve as they continue struggle for a better Iraq of Human rights, social justices and federal democracy, free from terrorism and sectarianism.Also GFIW proclaims: "Strong Unions Need Women" and Iraqi communists again call for an end to the occupation.
Palestinian Teachers on Strike
Palestinian teachers have held a one-day strike over unpaid wages prompting the deputy prime minister to suggest that the unity government be disbanded if the Western embargo is not lifted in three months. It is the first time a leader of the six-week-old unity government has made such a suggestion.
PERU: Striking Miners to March on Lima
Peru’s miners began an indefinite strike Monday demanding respect for labour rights. Their main complaint is against the outsourcing of jobs, as 80 percent of the 100,000 workers in the mining industry -- the backbone of the economy – are affected by the phenomenon of subcontracting and outsourcing.
SOUTH AFRICA: "You Have to Work Nine to Ten Times Harder Than a Male Farmer"
As activists focus on the challenges facing workers this May Day (May 1), Martha Moside is calling for attention to be paid to the situation of female subsistence farmers in South Africa.
RUSSIA: Of All, Russian Unions Begin to Lose Members
Squeezed between political change and budgetary difficulties, federal and regional trade unions are beginning to lose large numbers of active members. At many workplaces unions simply do not exist.
Venezuela to hike minimum wage 20% for May Day:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez raised the country's minimum wage by 20 percent, setting Latin America's highest pay scale.
More labour news from IPS News, and LabourStart.
Posters from labourhistory.org.za.
Watchdog - Ethiopia blocks opposition Web sites
Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day
Also in the news:[Freed oil workers arrive in Ethiopia capital] - [Lidetu's UEDP-Mehdin 'big announcement' creates confusion] - [Ethiopian opposition mulls defence in treason trial] - [Security Council deplores rising civilian deaths in Somalia]
International:
[Blair endorses Brown as Britain's next leader ] - [Royal, Sarkozy engage in battle for centrist vote ] - [Iran tops list of state terror sponsors] - [Reversing Alzheimer's memory loss may be possible ] and more of today's top stories!
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, released Chinese workers arrive at a military airport in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Monday, April 30, 2007. Seven Chinese workers, kidnapped Tuesday, April 24, 2007, in an attack on a Chinese oil company in Ethiopia, were released and arrived in Addis Ababa Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Wang Ying) Amharic Translation of HR 2003
International Ethiopian Women Organization Interview with Professor Al Mariam
SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE FOR ETHIOPIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS (SOCEPP) Town Hall Meeting
Yidres . . .
Poem by Tewodros Abebe
________________________________
Ethiopia blocks opposition Web sites - watchdog
ADDIS ABABA, May 1 (Reuters) - An Internet watchdog on Tuesday accused Ethiopia of blocking scores of anti-government Web sites and millions of Weblogs in one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cases of cyber-censorship.
Web monitor, the OpenNet Initiative, said the Horn of Africa country was stopping citizens from viewing opposition-linked Web sites, and blogs hosted by Blogger, an online journal community owned by Internet search engine Google Inc.
The OpenNet Initiative - a partnership between Harvard Law School, and universities of Toronto and Cambridge and Oxford - said it had gathered proof of interference.
"We have run diagnostic tests using volunteers in Ethiopia which indicate that they are blocking IP addresses," OpenNet research director Robert Faris said, referring to the unique numeric addresses of Web sites.
"The evidence is overwhelming that that is what they are doing. ... Most of the sites that we found blocked were related to freedom of expression, human rights and political opposition," he said by telephone from the United States.
The allegations could be embarrassing for the Ethiopian government, which is a major ally of the United States in Africa and has been criticised for a post-election crackdown on opposition that killed nearly 200 people in 2005.
"I think it's a decision that makes the Ethiopian government look extremely hostile to free speech and to open political discourse," said Ethan Zuckerman, research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society in the United States.(More...)
Lidetu's UEDP-Mehdin 'big announcement' creates confusion
"To come out with such an announcement is nothing short of stating that UEDP (Lidetu) is a subsidiary and avid follower of the EPRDF" - Beyene Petros
"The UEDP’s move is a positive one on the path to democracy, but it has come too late" - Bereket Simon (B.S)
"There is no politician like Lidetu Ayalew in Ethiopia. In any other country, he would have been laughed out of court donkey's years ago" - Ethio-Zagol
____________________________________
UEDP-Mehdin announced, at a press conference held on Friday, April 27, 2007, that it would be changing its current modus operandi from blind opposition to a ‘third way’.
The Party stated that this new system of working would appreciate the ruling coalition, EPRDF, when it accomplished positive feats and denounce it when it was involved in negative ones.
Following the May 2005 national elections, UEDP has experienced a political bankruptcy that is a result of a negative outlook that was developed by the voting public.
In the past 17 months, the Party has been trying to ease the tensions with the public as well as to solve internal conflicts that had practically spilt the Party in two. In its latest announcement, UEDP is attempting to use a political mannerism that is new to the nation and that can be a middle ground for the incumbent and opposition parties alike.
“The Party is trying to amend the mistakes that it has made during its years of struggle and to further strengthen its strong points,” said the statement presented on Friday. “We wish to continue as an opposition party in Ethiopian politics and have chosen this path to do it.”(More...)
Ethiopian opposition mulls defence in treason trial
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian opposition members accused of treason for their role in protests after 2005 elections said they were mulling a defence, after boycotting participation in a case they say is politically motivated.
Twenty-one defendants, who have been in jail for more than a year, said they wanted to review the evidence against them before deciding whether to mount a defence as ordered by the judge.
"We ask the court to make available to us documents of the court's decision ... and testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution to review the gravity of our case and decide whether to defend ourselves," defendant Abaynieh Alemu told the court.
Judge Adil Ahmed said he would decide by Wednesday. Chief prosecutor Shimeles Kemal objected to the defence move.(More...)
Ethiopia: Abay Tsehaye Removed From DBE Board
Abay Tsehaye, special advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Mobilisation with the portfolio of minister, was removed from his seat on the Board of Directors of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE).
In a letter signed by Neway Gebreab, chief economic advisor to the Prime Minister, the Management and Board Members of the Bank were informed of Abay's removal.
Abay, who is a party member of the EPRDF, and who headed the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) until he was replaced by Meles Zenawi, was appointed as a DBE Board Member on August 3, 2006.(More...)
Freed oil workers arrive in Ethiopia capital
ADDIS ABABA: Seven Chinese oil workers abducted by Ethiopian rebels after a deadly attack on an oil venture arrived here yesterday, a day after being freed, Chinese officials said.
The hostages arrived in Addis Ababa aboard a military helicopter from the country’s eastern Ogaden region, where they had been held since last Tuesday, when the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) raided the Chinese-run oil site, killing 77 people.
“Yes, they have already arrived. They are at the Chinese embassy as of now,” an embassy official at the airport said on condition of anonymity. He gave no further details.(More...)
Security Council deplores rising civilian deaths in Somalia
30 April 2007 – Deeply deploring the civilian deaths resulting from renewed fighting in Somalia, the Security Council today urged the country’s Government to reach out to all segments of the war-torn country’s society, while demanding that the warring parties allow relief aid to reach those in need.
In a statement read by Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of the United Kingdom, which holds this month’s rotating presidency, the 15-member body stressed the Government’s need to promote “the widest possible political dialogue across Somalia” and said that in particular, it must “intensify its dialogue with the clans” in the capital Mogadishu.(More...)
Today's Top International Stories
-White House spokesman back at work after cancer surgery-Blair endorses Brown as Britain's next leader
-Royal, Sarkozy engage in battle for centrist vote
-Iran tops list of state terror sponsors
-Pressure builds in Israel for Olmert to step down
-Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq reported killed
-Reversing Alzheimer's memory loss may be possible
________________________________________
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
