Nico Pitney's Priority Wire

An Abrupt Departure

2004-06-16T03:23:00.000-07:00

This beta version of PriorityWire has really been more successful than I had ever hoped. Unfortunately, I've got to shut it down, for now at least.

I've finished up college and, unwilling to submit to the soft bigotry of low self-expectations, will spend the next few months giving my all to The Cause, while also seeking out a graduate school (at which I can promptly and wistfully place myself in massive financial debt).

I'm committed to restarting this project though, and have begun applying for some grant money so I can get PriorityWire v.2.0 off the ground sometime soon with the resources it needs.

Until then, cheers!

Cheney's Office Approved Secret Halliburton Contract

2004-06-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reports:

In the fall of 2002, in the preparations for possible war with Iraq, the Pentagon sought and received the assent of senior Bush administration officials, including the vice president's chief of staff, before hiring the Halliburton Company to develop secret plans for restoring Iraq's oil facilities, Pentagon officials have told Congressional investigators.

The Times claims the "newly disclosed details ... do not suggest improper political pressures to direct business to Halliburton," but do "raise questions about" -- or, rather, reveal as lies -- "assertions by Mr. Cheney and other administration officials that he knew nothing in advance of the Halliburton contracts and that the decisions were made by career procurement specialists, without involvement by senior political appointees."

Plus: Congress refuses to hear testimony of new Halliburton contracting problems

corporate power | more: Halliburton Watch

Trade Just One Arm of US-Mid East Offensive

2004-06-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

Aziz Choudry has written an essential primer on US economic strategy vis-a-vis the Mid East, detailing the extensive set of Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs), Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) the U.S. is negotiating with states in the region en route to its end goal -- the regional Middle East Free Trade Agreement (MEFTA) that George W. Bush announced in June 2003.

Choudry details the substantial corporate collaboration (with high-level officials from US multinationals like Citigroup, ALCOA, CMS Energy, and Time Warner Inc. acting as trade pact co-chairs), geopolitical pressuring (Egypt, for example, is praised one week and slandered the next by US trade rep Robert Zoellick after deciding not to support a US-led WTO compaint), and all-around anti-worker, anti-environment, anti-public health bent that typify the trade offensive. A great read.

globalization | MakeTradeFair.org

Quote of the Day

2004-06-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

"I get a call last week from Intel, I get a call from Microsoft, I get calls from places we never used to get calls from. People are realizing that labor unions are the best-kept secret in America. You have no employment rights at work unless you have a collective bargaining agreement."

-- Andy Banks, organizing director for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers in Silver Spring, Md., on the fevered new interest in unions among white-collar workers whose jobs are being shipped overseas

globalization | more: United for a Fair Economy

UNCTAD Kicks Off

2004-06-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

Annan - Inquality Worsening: The UN Conference on Trade and Development informally began with a G77 ('group of 77' -- now 132 -- underdeveloped nations) forum celebrating the organization's 40th anniversary. "The sad truth," Kofi Annan told them, "is that the world today is a much more unequal place than it was 40 years ago." Nice words, as usual, from Annan, who nevertheless has overseen the largest expansion of this global income divide in history.

Rising Tide Drowns the Weak: Oxfam International issued a comprehensive new report that also addressed global inquality while pointing out that six of the world's 10 poorest countries are actually less prosperous than they were two decades ago.

U.S vs. Oxfam: Notably, Oxfam called for UNCTAD's role in global trade talks to be strengthened in the future, and for the conference to increasingly become a forum "for developing country governments to share ideas on 'pro-poor' economic development strategies, and to enforce political consensus and pro-development policies in other international institutions." As we reported here on Friday, the U.S. is leaning hard against these very reforms.

Trade Amongst Ya'selves: AP reports that G77 representatives are working hard to reduce barriers to trade amongst poor nations, a move that "would help them penetrate the markets of the powerful Group of Eight top industrialized nations," one official said. Still, some of the larger underdeveloped nations, like India and Brazil, are nervous -- India fears, for example, that Brazil's advanced agriculture would wipe out millions of Indian farmers.

globalization |

Corporations Sued for Complicity in Abu Ghraib Torture

2004-06-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

The Center for Constitutional Rights has filed suit on behalf of several Iraqi prisoners against two of the corporate contractors -- CACI International Inc. and Titan Corp. -- employed by the U.S. government at Abu Ghraib prison. The suit "charges them with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and alleges that the companies engaged in a wide range of heinous and illegal acts in order to demonstrate their abilities to obtain intelligence from detainees, and thereby obtain more contracts from the government."

The Washington Post notes that the suit "relies on the Alien Tort Claims Act, which has been increasingly used by groups or individuals seeking to hold U.S. corporations responsible for conduct in foreign countries that lack adequate court systems."

corporate power | more: Alien Tort Claims Act Under Attack

Room 347

2004-06-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

Beginning in 2001, when the Republican Party briefly lost control of the Senate, six top lobbyists have met "nearly every Thursday morning with the Senate's top Republican aides in Room 347 of the Russell Office Building." Taeggan Goddard calls it "perhaps the most exclusive lobbyist meeting in Washington":

Participants include:

-- Dirk Van Dongen of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
-- Bruce Josten of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
-- Dan Danner of the National Federation of Independent Business
-- Lee Culpepper of the National Restaurant Association
-- Mike Baroody of the National Association of Manufacturers
-- John Castellani of the Business Roundtable.

The Thursday Group was initially formed in 1994 and was critical in drafting the "Contract with America." But it disbanded once the Republicans consolidated their control on Capitol Hill. ... "The meeting has never been publicized" and participants have refused to comment.

corporate power |

Enron CFO's Wife Not Sent to the Cushy Prison She Wanted

2004-06-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

"The brewing irritation between a judge and the lawyer for the wife of former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew Fastow flared up Wednesday," the Associated Press reports, "after Lea Fastow was assigned to serve time at an urban high-rise (left) rather than the minimum-security women's prison camp she wanted."

The judge was already peeved with Lea Fastow's lawyer. Last month, the lawyer sent a confidential court report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons with a letter that noted her family hoped she would serve her year in prison at the camp in Bryan.

Plus: An Oregon state judge has ordered a regulatory hearing into whether Portland General Electric, a unit of Enron, fraudulently collected more than $665 million from ratepayers to cover corporate income taxes that Enron never paid.

corporate power |

Photo of the Day

2004-06-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

...And Starring Tony Blair as Mr. Pink.

The G8's 'Reservoir Running Dog Capitalists,' in Wonkette's words.

globalization |

US Pressure Seen in UNCTAD's New "Free-Market"-Friendly Approach

2004-06-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

This year's U.N. Conference on Trade and Development will see a "shift in focus from the anti-establishment rhetoric of yesteryear to pragmatic, free-market economics," the Financial Times reports. This year, it seems, UNCTAD will be "preaching supply-side economics" and export diversification rather than focusing on the collapse of commodity prices, which development groups say is one of the biggest causes of world poverty today.

"The US in particular leaned on Unctad not to use the São Paulo conference as a podium for developing nations seeking concessions in the WTO trade talks. Member nations also came under pressure to limit Unctad's future role in trade policymaking, observers said."

globalization | more: IATP's UNCTAD XI Resource Center

Labor Board Ruling Threatens Union Recruiting

2004-06-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

The National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, led by a 3-2 Republican majority, announced this week that it will take a "critical look" at the techniques currently used by unions (known as "card check" and "neutrality" agreements) to represent workers.

The other process that workers can use to unionize -- an election run through the NLRB -- "allows employers to delay or challenge the outcome of votes for years through litigation and to use intimidating tactics against workers," an AFL-CIO representative said. Most of the 400,000 to 550,000 new members the AFL-CIO has recruited annually in recent years has been due to the use of "card check" and "neutrality" agreements.

corporate power | more: Labour Start

They Get Letters

2004-06-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

From the New York Daily News...

Bad Coke
Manhattan: It is disappointing and deeply shameful that the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York is honoring Coca-Cola CEO Steven Heyer. Multiple investigations and fact-finding missions have documented evidence of Coca-Cola's complicity or direct involvement in gross human rights violations at its contracted bottling plants in Colombia.

Nico Pitney

I'll be interviewing Ray Rogers, a long-time labor movement veteran and lead organizer of the Killer Coke campaign, on Monday. He was a guest on Democracy Now! in April after he confronted Coca-Cola's CEO at a shareholders' meeting and was eventually dragged off by security guards.

corporate power |

G8 Update: Plans for 100% Debt Relief Dropped

2004-06-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Reports on Tuesday that the Bush administration was planning to support an initiative that would cancel 100% of the debt owed by the world's poorest countries have proven unfounded. Instead, the current program for assisting heavily-indebted countries -- what's known as HIPC -- will be extended for 2 years and provided additional funding.

The Jubilee Network, which advocates for 100% debt relief, called Bush's piecemeal plan "wholly insufficient," though they also noted that the serious, high-level discussions of 100% debt relief among the G8 nations was unprecedented and a serious step forward.

globalization | more: Bipartisan Debt Relief Bill Introduced to Congress

Updates

2004-06-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

I won't be able to update again until later this evening, though I'll be writing up a major summary of the G8 summit. Lots of important developments.

Action Alerts: Halliburton Ad, Garment Workers

2004-06-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

MoveOn wants to raise $1.1 million to air a new ad in swing states that calls the Bush White House on its cronyism with Halliburton. "We know from polling that for many people the Halliburton debacle illustrates a core weakness in the Bush program, and helps convince independent voters to vote against Bush."

Garment industry watchdog Behind the Label wants folks to email the owner of San Francisco-based clothing producer Ben Davis, Inc., who is using S.F.'s new minimum wage law to ask for concessions in health care, vacations, holidays and sick days. Ben Davis, Inc. workers joined UNITE last November and are currently negotiating their first contract with the company.

action alerts |

Latest G8 Updates

2004-06-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

Military Pullout: IndyMedia reports that Georgia Homeland Security has ordered the military to withdraw from coastal residential neighborhoods.

Parade of the G8 Bodybags: "The body bags have been shipped in, locals are running scared, and foreigners are being arrested and deported. Organizers of this week's G8 Summit are taking no chances with security ... 2,000 body bags have been delivered to the clapboard Chamber of Commerce across the road from the bookstore ... Five minutes later, one of the island's fire chiefs drops by, fresh from a briefing. It's not a rumor. The body bags are here, together with a refrigerated lorry to take away the corpses ... A State of Emergency granting extra powers to local law enforcement was announced by the State Governor on 7 May, and while nowhere has yet been 'set aside' for the protesters to protest (a quaint notion in itself), a playing-field over on the mainland has been fenced for use as a detention centre." Hat tip to News Dissector...

G8 Expansion: Questions about whether and how to expand the G8 are being "sparked by the rise of China - still ranked as a poor, developing nation but coming on strong," the Christian Science Monitor reports. "At last year's summit in Évian, France, French President Jacques Chirac invited China's president, Hu Jintao, as a guest. The Bush administration did not invite Mr. Hu to this year's G-8 summit, which winds up Thursday on Sea Island, a coastal resort off Georgia. But possibly as a first step toward full membership, the United States is considering asking China's finance minister and chief central banker to the fall session of the Group of Seven (G-7)."

Iraq Debt to Be Repaid, But Details Sketchy: US calls for a vast reduction in Iraq's $120 billion debt to "ensure the country's stability," but France and Russia, Iraq's biggest creditors, want a smaller reduction because "they want to be repaid and because Iraq's oil resources are seen by some as substantial enough to warrant it paying a larger portion."

EU Swings Back at Bush: Yesterday, George Bush attacked Europe's economy and tried to "twist the arms" of European leaders to make "difficult" and "politically unpopular" structural economic reforms. Today, France and few other G8 states returned the favor, with harsh comments about U.S. trade and budget deficits. "There were some concern and reflections, that was my case, and I was not alone ... on the eventual consequences of the strong U.S. budget and trade deficits on the future, and notably on currency and interest rates," Chirac told reporters.

AFP - 'G8 Harmony Shattered': The United States and France are clashing again over Iraq and NATO's role in the occupation. George Bush called for greater NATO involvement in the occupation, seeking to ease the burden on American forces. "But French President Jacques Chirac ... erected an immediate rhetorical roadblock on the highly secured private island hosting the summit. 'I do not think that it is NATO's job to intervene in Iraq,' Chirac said. 'Moreover, I do not have the feeling that it would be either timely or necessarily well understood,' said Chirac."

globalization | more: NoG8.org

NAFTA vs. the Environment: The Battle Heats Up

2004-06-09T04:46:00.000-07:00

Two recent cases provide frightening evidence of NAFTA's ability to undermine domestic environmental protections and basic state sovereignty, and demonstrate in gritty detail how public goods (like the air we all breathe) are being sacrificed to protect the rights of profit-worshipping multinationals.

The Supreme Court ruled this week that Mexican freight trucks can travel across the U.S. border and onto U.S. highways despite the fact that they "are older and not subject to the Clean Air Act and other U.S. clean air laws" and so "emit more dangerous particulate matter and nitrogen oxides than U.S. trucks." The Sierra Club blasted the decision, which was supported by the Bush administration, as "NAFTA's latest blow to environmental protections."

Similarly, in a first-of-its-kind case held under NAFTA rules "meant to secure the rights of foreign investors," petrochemical producer Methanex is seeking $970 million in compensation for profits it claims to have lost as a result of California's 1999 ban on the harmful gasoline additive, MTBE. The decision will be a landmark and could set off a flood of new cases that target federal or state health and safety regulations. Interestingly, John Kerry led a 2002 legislative effort to weaken these NAFTA investment rules, singling out the Methanex compaint as the "most notorious."

globalization | more: Support Earthjustice, which is arguing the case against Methanex

Fair Trade Retailers Charging 'Huge Mark-Ups'

2004-06-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

European retailers of fair-trade goods "sometimes charge huge mark-ups on fair-trade goods," the Wall Street Journal reports. "They get away with it as consumers usually are given little or no information about how much of a product's price goes to farmers." One UK supermarket chain cited in the article "has sold fair-trade bananas at more than quadruple the price of conventional bananas - and more than 16 times what growers get."

The retailers say they're not exploiting fair-trade products, though the lucrative sales in Europe "have caught the attention of US companies, including Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and Dunkin' Donuts, which have all begun offering fair-trade coffee." Some nonprofits that support fair trade have protested the mark-ups, though many groups reportedly "worry that if they criticise retailers over pricing they will stop selling fair-trade goods - a charge the groups deny."

globalization | more: Global Exchange's Fair Trade Store

G8 Update: Bush to EU - Gut Your Social Market System

2004-06-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

The Bush administration has used international media focus on the G8 summit as an opportunity to criticize the E.U.'s economy and to "twist the arms" of European leaders to make "difficult" and "politically unpopular" structural economic reforms. According to this euphemism-laden UPI piece, the U.S. is pushing the EU to "make labor markets more efficient, thereby making it easier for firms to hire and fire, reform its expensive pension plans, undertake healthcare reform and reduce inefficient regulations." The report said it was unclear how France, Germany, and Italy - three G8 members - would respond to the comments.

U.S. desires to see Western Europe's social market system undermined have been documented for some time, and the recent EU enlargement was seen as a particularly important step towards that goal. Noam Chomsky offers this helpful overview of U.S.-Europe policy in a recent interview with David Barsamian:

The U.S. has always had an ambivalent attitude towards Europe. It wanted Europe to be unified, as a more efficient market for U.S. corporations, great advantages of scale. On the other hand, it was always concerned about the threat that Europe might move off in another direction. A lot of the issues about the accession of the East European countries to the European Union have a lot to do with that. The U.S. is strongly in favor of it, because it’s hoping that these countries will be more susceptible to U.S. influence and will be able to undermine the core of Europe, which is France and Germany, the big industrial countries, which might move in a somewhat more independent direction.

Also in the background is a long-standing U.S. hatred of the European social market system, which provides decent wages and working conditions and benefits. It’s very different from the U.S. system. And they don’t want that model to exist, because it’s a dangerous one. People get funny ideas. And it’s very explicitly stated that with the accession of Eastern European countries, with low wages and repression of labor and so on, it may help undermine the social and worker standards in Western Europe, and that would be a big benefit for the U.S.

globalization | more: Chomsky's homepage

Evening G8 Updates

2004-06-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

Nothing But Trouble: Georgia's First Coast News - "There was also quiet protest again this evening as people attended a candlelight vigil in memory of what protestors called, 'the victims of globalization.' But attendence was light. Some locals, like librarian Carey Knapp came to see what was happening. She brought her teenage daughter to give her an education on the exercise of free speech rights. Things have not been as difficult as many people feel they were led to believe. 'They made us feel like it was going to be nothing but trouble. I suddenly thought after a few days that it was important to start coming to some of these things and I wanted to bring my daughter.'"

Sudan on the Agenda: Earlier, we noted that the LA Times had called on Summit participants to address the mass killings in Sudan that have already taken some 30,000 lives. News now comes from the Guardian (UK) that "oil prices and the ethnic strife in Sudan" will be on the Summit agenda, as well as "a global HIV vaccine enterprise, a ... consortium to collaborate and share information in the hope of finding a vaccine as quickly as possible."

globalization | more: NoG8.org

Latest G8 Updates

2004-06-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

Ghost Town Lock Down: "Outnumbered and intimidated by armored Humvees and attack helicopters, demonstrators who have been the main event at other world summits failed to show up in numbers on the first day of the Group of Eight meeting on Tuesday. ... Much of Savannah was locked down tight and parts were closed off to the public. Most downtown residents have taken the week off and headed to the beach, locals said. Coast Guard speedboats with heavy machine guns patrol the river separating the town from a convention center on an island where most media have been based. ... Helicopters hovered overhead and military vehicles rumbled through the normally sleepy town."

The Actual State of Emergency: Jeff Taylor, writing for Reason.com: "Georgia officials have tried to compare the legal declarations and security prep in Glynn County and surrounding areas to the ones undertaken for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, with simple public order at issue. But there is one glaring difference that is perhaps too obvious to belabor. The Olympics or a golf tourneys are not primarily political events. G8 summits, in contrast, function primarily as political events, and every leader in attendance will come with a detailed political agenda. ... That is the actual state of emergency unfolding in Georgia, where massive state and institutional power will be used to secure political, personal, and very petty gain."

CNN - 'G-8 protest draws small crowd': "...several dozen protesters gathered Tuesday in Savannah's Forsyth Park, flanked by almost as many members of the media..." One can only wonder why. Perhaps Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue's rejection of the march permits, or his preemptive declaration of a state of emergency? Maybe the fact that the Forsyth Park meeting began at 8 a.m., or that the actual G8 summit is 80 miles away from the protests? Or might it have something to do with the 20,000 security personnel (in a town of 15,000) in riot gear surrounding the festivities?

Huge alert to protect G8 summit: A bioterrorism early-warning system has been set up around the summit, "scanning data to find any abnormal patterns of calls to emergency services to automatically alert authorities of possible outbreaks, including exposure to anthrax, SARS and other epidemics."

globalization | more: NoG8.org

2004-06-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

G8 updates continue in the post below. I did want to mention briefly that an article of mine describing the strange scenes at last weekend's Wal-Mart shareholders' meeting was just posted over at Common Dreams (though I'd suggest checking out the version found on this site, only because I included a few amusing photos from the event).

Also, since I'm expecting a number of new visitors today, I thought I'd say a short word about our little corner of the net here. My hope is that you find Priority Wire to be a daily source for interesting and accessible coverage of the most critical issues we face in the world today -- trade, sustainable development, global poverty/disease, and the like. These issues, as we all know, are far too often ignored or reported marginally (and usually in a manner that pleases policy wonks and manic depressives while boring the shit out of everyone else).

There's simply no reason for it. These are fascinating topics with the potential to inspire the same level of creative thought and activity, citizen engagement, critical debate, and tactical strategizing as any other cause. Saying that, I certainly don't mean to discount the important work that so many, including those protesting at Sea Island, are doing. Rather, as someone who spent the last year interacting mostly with folks involved in the electoral sphere of political activism (where these issues are rarely discussed), I sense that there are throngs of folks who would be transformed into active members of the Global Justice movement if they were only offered an 'in'. Hopefully, for a few, this site will be such a catalyst.

Thanks again for visiting, hope you'll come back tomorrow.

Latest G8 Updates (Update 6)

2004-06-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Torture Advice Clouds Leaders' Meeting: Sigh. Just as G8 leaders were expected to agree to a reform plan "to promote freedom, democracy and prosperity in the broader Middle East," a leaked classified report revealed that U.S. lawyers had prepared advice last year saying that domestic and international laws against torture could sometimes be ignored while waging the "war on terror." The text of the report: "Because nothing is more important than 'obtaining information vital to the protection of untold thousands of American citizens', normal strictures on torture might not apply."

'G8 Must Address Sudan's Ethnic Cleansing': The LA Times called on G8 leaders to address the mass killings in Sudan, where more than 30,000 are thought dead and where ten times that number are expected to die of starvation and disease "even if relief efforts [are] accelerated," according to US AID. There has been little talk of Sudan in reports from Georgia, though truth be told, the Bush administration did pay some attention to Sudan recently. The U.S. removed the war-torn African nation from a list of terror-supporting states, thereby ending the arms embargo that prevented Sudan from importing American-made weapons.

Bush Now Supports British Debt Relief Plan: In what the Guardian (UK) calls a "last minute softening of his stance," George Bush has decided to back "an ambitious British-designed plan for more generous debt relief for the world's poorest countries." The late shift, which was likely planned in advance, is meant to persuade several hesitant G8 nations to forgive nearly $90 billion worth of debts owed by Iraq. The debt initiative will "make the world's 41 highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) eligible for 100% debt write-offs from their multilateral creditors such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, at a cost to rich countries of $1bn-plus per year."

Bragging Rights: Deputy Assistant Jim Wilkinson called the United States "the world's leader in food aid" at a press conference this morning, noting that over the years it has provided "more than $1.4 billion in emergency aid." Is that really a fact to highlight? Here are a few other things with a $1.4 billion price tag: the nuclear weapons program at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab; one year of federal subsidies to ethanol producers; a single U.S. aircraft carrier; PayPal (sold to E-Bay); the new terminal at JFK Airport. One other consideration: 160 million people around the globe today - more than half the population of the United States - are malnourished.

Blair Pushes Further Relief: Tony Blair will also propose to abolish the "sunset clause" that blocks several war-ravaged countries from entering HIPC and receiving debt relief. Moreover, Blair's plans include a $1 billion increase to the HIPC trust fund, though the development group Oxfam says the fund "needs $2.3 billion to meet existing commitments," as Priority Wire reported yesterday.

globalization | more: NoG8.org

Real World Econ 101: FDI to Developed v. Underdeveloped Countries

2004-06-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

We're introducing a new feature at Priority Wire to help improve basic economic literacy - the posts will be archived in a forthcoming set of links in the right-hand column.

I'm also working on adding a compendium of links to Congressional legislation on issues relevant to this site, and another with links to campaigns targeting corporations.

Our first lesson in Real World Econ 101 is from the unimitable thinker Noam Chomsky:

Most Foreign Direct Investment (not only US) is in developed countries, and the rest is mostly in a small number of countries. But the gross numbers are almost meaningless. Egypt had more FDI than South Korea until about 10 years ago, but it was mostly in the extractive industries, while Korea, which radically violated the rules and therefore was able to develop, controlled and targeted FDI for the purposes of economic development.

In the mid-1990s, during the period of great enthusiasm for "emerging markets" and the great investment opportunities they offered, Commerce Department figures for US FDI in the Western Hemisphere (minus Canada, considered part of Europe, rightly) showed that 25% went regularly to Bermuda, about 15% to the British Cayman islands, and about 10% to Panama. Not to build steel mills. The rest was largely takeovers, much of it close to robbery. One has to look at what is behind the numbers, always.

real world econ 101 |

China Lauded for Renewables Pledge

2004-06-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

China announced on Friday that it will generate 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010 - yes, China now has a more ambitious renewables policy than the United States. And it gets worse. "Officials at the meeting [in Bonn, Germany] from 154 countries pledged to promote renewable energy through a variety of steps," Grist Magazine reports, "but their joint communique did not set definite targets or timetables, reportedly because the U.S. was opposed to specifics.

"Still, organizers of what was billed as the world's largest meeting on renewables declared the gathering a success and happily noted that interest in renewables is climbing this year as a reaction to high oil prices."

sustainable development |

G8 Summit Tidbits

2004-06-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Secluded Locale: The summit partipants will meet "in an exclusive beach resort setting chosen," according to the New York Times, "to protect against a terrorist attack and far away from the antiwar and antiglobalization protestors expected to assemble near here."

Debt Relief? We Haven't Invaded You Yet: The development org Oxfam says that an initiative to reduce the deadly debt burden of the world's poorest countries needs $2.3 billion to meet existing commitments. Yet, despite a promise by the G8 finance ministers that the program (set to end this year) would be extended, they've decided to pledge only $1 billion. Scandalously, the US and Britain are pushing at the same time for 90% of Iraq's $126 billion debt to be written off.

Fissile for a Few: Bush will use the summit to press "for a broad effort to cut off the production of new nuclear materials that can be converted to fuel for nuclear weapons." However, Bush's proposal - like Kerry's, announced last week - allows a few select countries to continue producing new fissile materials. And, surprise! - "Several of those countries are represented here - among them, Britain, France, Japan and Russia - and none appear eager to give up their production capability."

Arab Rejection: Leaders from several Arab nations (including several dictatorships propped up by Washington) are boycotting the summit. They reportedly "feel patronised and outraged" at George Bush's "bridge-building exercise," the Greater Middle East Initiative. Plus: US plays down Egyptian, Saudi absence at G8 summit | G8 Agenda: Extend Imperial Reach

globalization | more: NoG8.org

Quote of the Day

2004-06-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

"Um, we've been doing and have been doing for two years a lot of activity in, you know, there's black, there's white and there's gray. Um, we have been endeavoring into the gray area when opportunities present themselves to make money. We have now moved out of the gray area into the clearly what's legal area... not even legal, but what's, um, there's like the letter of the law, the letter of the rules and the spirit of the rules. Um, we've been exploiting the letter of the rules--or literally interpreted--interpreting the rules, um, in California when we can make money..."

- Tim Belden, the mastermind behind Enron's notorious trading scams, speaking (with an ever-so-sensitive regard to his word choices) to Enron's vice president of regulatory affairs and one of the company's lobbyists in August 2000. According to Jason Leopold, the lobbyist "met with several members of the Bush administration in the spring of 2001 about Enron's opposition to price controls on electricity sales in California."

corporate power |

Reform at Walmart?

2004-06-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

It was a vast and shameless annual meeting worthy of the vast and shameless corporation that hosted it.

With blue and white concert lights flickering and Patti LaBelle belting out "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," more than 15,000 store employees, shareholders, and executives filled up the University of Arkansas' basketball arena last Friday to "cheer and wave flags" and celebrate the worker-exploiting, taxpayer-gouging, sprawl-inducing, sweatshop-abusing behemoth known as Wal-Mart.

The corporate culture of America's New Gilded Age was on full display. Store employees, many of whom make near-poverty wages, were urged by one wealthy executive to go out and tell "our" story because "we're under scrutiny like we never have been before." Later, Reuters reported, "Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe danced in the aisle and former CEO David Glass -- flanked by [Halle] Berry and actress Susan Lucci -- did the twist."

"Any criticism of the company," Reuters added, "seemed a million miles away."

Except that it wasn't -- in fact, it was just down the road. A coalition of Arkansas social justice activists called Against the Wal organized a convergence in Fayetteville to protest the shareholders' meeting, and will be leading a roadshow with musical performances and Wal-Mart teach-ins through the mid-south next month. The embedded Reuters reporter just didn't bother to look.

Still, the meeting's jovial atmosphere was understandable. Wal-Mart's profits soared 18 percent this quarter, and the company has announced plans to litter "big box" warehouses and superstores around the globe, from rural America to Europe, Japan, and China (the site, notably, of this year's Wal-Mart board meeting).

Moreover, the Bush administration is firmly backing Wal-Mart's favorite Congressional legislation that would force class action lawsuits out of state courts and into "defendant-friendly federal courts" -- great news for a company that is "sued more often than any American entity except the U.S. government."

The big story from this weekend's meeting, though, was a pledge by Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to cut bonuses to top executives by a measly 7.5 percent -- that's bonuses, not salaries -- if the store failed to meet diversity goals. Additionally, Scott said, the company will soon be reorganizing its pay structure. No details were announced, other than this one magnanimous promise sure to make workers salivate in anticipation of forthcoming riches: many employees will not receive a pay increase, but no one will actually see their wages drop.

CEO Scott (pictured right), it should be mentioned, makes 897 times the pay of the average Wal-Mart worker. I've had a good time daydreaming about that enlightening fact suddenly flashing up on the arena megatron behind Scott while he's announcing these sham pay tweaks.

Explanations for the reforms ran the cynical gambit. One 14-year Wal-Mart veteran "alluded to the bad publicity over Wal-Mart's pay and negative comments from politicians," Business Week reported. Others suggested "a response to the massive sex-discrimination case filed three years ago against Wal-Mart." Retail analyst Robert F. Buchanan guessed that Wal-Mart "may be hoping to use [them] as 'shark repellent against the unions,'" by goading employees into thinking that they don't need to organize to receive wage hikes.

What's clear, of course, is that the harm caused by Wal-Mart and other large retailers must be mitigated, though there is debate over how best to accomplish that. Within the electoral sphere, anti-Wal-Mart activists face many of the same difficulties as progressives more generally when it comes to this year's presidential race.

A vote for Bush/Cheney is out of the question. In March, Vice President Dick Cheney actually toured a Wal-Mart distribution center in Arkansas, where he cited Wal-Mart "as 'one of our nation's best companies'" and, naturally, "marvelled at its efficiency."

John Kerry would surely be somewhat of an improvement. The presumptive Democratic nominee walked the picket line with striking UFCW workers last year and has railed against Wal-Mart in various campaign speeches. Yet other evidence suggests that activists will have to remain vigilant even if Kerry wins. For example, Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, frequently used the same rhetoric as her husband until it was reported in February that she owned more than $1,000,000 in Wal-Mart stock, much of it purchased as recently as 2002.

For this reason, others argue that change must be initiated primarily by independent, bottom-up activist campaigns. University of Deleware historian Susan Strasser has pointed to the grassroots resistance movements that other large, low-wage retailers faced in the past. "Woolworth openly boasted of its high turnover and low pay. Sears was so concerned about an anti-mail-order campaign in 1906 that it started shipping its packages in plain-brown wrappers, [...] and A&P fought a massive antitrust case." Even today, Strasser remarked, Wal-Mart's "success is stimulating countervailing forces."

And to those who doubt whether the goliath can ever be stopped, she noted that "Sears and A&P are now shadows of their former selves, while the Woolworth stores have vanished." Indeed.

So although Wal-Mart is the only major retailer to refuse to sell the popular anti-war flick, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War," you can still probably nab a copy of an old Propellerheads album with that hit track, "History Repeating." Turn it on at your next local anti-Wal-Mart meeting -- I hear it's great when you're doing the twist.

corporate power | more: Walmart-Blows.com

Slow Updates

2004-06-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Updates will be late today... I've got reams of work to finish.

'Bush Doesn't Like Meetings Like G-8'

2004-06-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

"In 1995, then Texas Gov. George W. Bush arrived in Vermont for a four-day National Governors Association conference. He left the next day," the Savannah Morning News reports. "'He told me he was totally bored,' said Paul Burka, executive editor of Texas Monthly. 'No one was doing anything. Everyone was sitting there and posturing. He just didn't like sitting around and doing nothing.'"

James Moore, author of "Bush's Brain" and the recently released "Bush's War for Reelection" agrees. "He absolutely hates that kind of thing. ... He despises dealing with the nuances of political and economic theory." And though Bush can't leave on the first day, "the White House has used its position as host to craft an agenda that humors Bush's preference by making this year's G-8 one of the shortest in history."

Even so, over the course of the meeting, UNCTAD informs us that 7,500 young children will die of malaria, a child will be orphaned by AIDS every 14 seconds, 65 million girls will be denied schooling, as they are throughout the year, and 13,000 children will die from diarrhoea - a result of poor water and sanitation.

globalization |

First Enron Criminal Case Heads to Trial

2004-06-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

The first Enron criminal case to go to trial "may be a sleeper" according to Reuters. Last week it was revealed that "the U.S. Justice Department's star informant," former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, "has testimony that was more helpful to the defendants, four former Merrill Lynch bankers and two ex-Enron Corp. executives." Fastow's testimony "appears to undercut the prosecution's key contention: that the defendants knew and hid the fact the $28 million barge sale [to Nigeria] was really a loan."

Plus: 'Disgusting' Tapes Dig Enron Deeper into Mire

corporate power |

Quote of the Day

2004-06-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Why outsource when wages are stagnating perfectly well at home?

Q: Companies that are rushing to outsource say the labor savings are enormous. Are they missing something?

A. Yes, they lose something in the very rushing to do it. A handful of years ago, 15 percent of our total cost was represented by direct labor. Today, it is less than 5 percent, and it is headed lower. I ask you: Does it take a genius to conclude that if it gets down to 1 percent or less, it doesn't matter very much whether we build the product in Indonesia or Indiana?

- Sidney Harman, executive chairman of Harman International Industries, in an interview with The New York Times. HII produces audio and electronic control systems for automakers.

globalization | more: United for a Fair Economy

Ethnic Cleansing: 'Torture, Starvation Haunt Sudan's Helpless'

2004-06-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Never again, eh?

The white-robed men on horseback shot two of Hamid Rahman's boys that scorching afternoon. They were 3 and 6. But they weren't the youngest or the weakest to die. The Arab marauders targeted the blind, the disabled, the women carrying children - anyone who couldn't run fast enough.

"They killed even babies," recalled Rahman, 40, a thin, bearded survivor with sad, glassy eyes that reflected his loss.

global crisis | more: Ethnic Cleansing Rages in Sudan (BBC News); Give now to the UN Refugee Agency

G8 Agenda: Extending Imperial Reach

2004-06-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

Differences over the handover of sovereignty to Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have led to several last-minute reforms to the G8 Summit agenda.

The Summit will still call for support for the Middle East's "civil institutions, private enterprise and businesses," though U.S. plans to sketch out a "Greater Middle East Initiative" have been "seriously scaled back." In addition, France and Russia have blocked plans for a U.S.-backed "Democracy Assistance Group", arguing that states would view it as "a back door to regime change."

The U.S. (along with Britain and Italy) is also pushing for an initiative that would draw international funds to offer support to countries that join so-called 'peace missions.' Joan Russow of the Global Compliance Research Project believes the initiative is an attempt "to train and equip peacekeepers from Africa and other developing nations as 'a standby brigade to clean-up after U.S. 'humanitarian interventions' or preventive/pre-emptive aggressive strikes -- as in Iraq and Haiti."

globalization | NoG8.org

Pentagon Tests Raytheon-Produced Energy Beam

2004-06-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

The Pentagon has conducted tests using a "directed energy beam" produced by Raytheon that made the volunteers feel "as if they were on fire," though "when they stepped aside, the pain disappeared instantly." The beam is "among the most potent of a new generation of futuristic, 'less-than-lethal' weapons being developed by the Defense Department - tools that could dramatically alter the way police control riots and soldiers fight wars," the Sacramento Bee reports.

The Bee notes that the technology raises some "thorny questions" arising from the potential use of the weapons on "unruly protestors" and "crowds in the Third World," or as torture devices. Not to worry: the head of the Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate insists that the use of these technologies as torture devices "'would be in direct violation of' the Pentagon's definition of nonlethal weapons. ... 'Nor, as professionals, would any of us sign up for it.'"

corporate power | more: WarProfiteers.com

G8 Summit 'Underlines Global Apartheid'

2004-06-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

"The G-8 summit underlines a symmetry in power in the world today" best described as global apartheid, says Salih Booker, the head of Africa Action. Africa pays more in debt payments ($15bn) "than the continent receives in development assistance, new loans or direct investment. And so as a result, Africa has the lowest life expectancies, the largest share of poverty, the greatest HIV/AIDS burden in the world."

Also:

The White House has announced that Iraq's new president Ghazi al-Yawer will attend the summit. Iraq's debt will be a prime topic at the summit; World Bank President James Wolfensohn has said "at least two-thirds of Iraq's debt would have to be forgiven to rebuild the country properly," though the U.S. is pushing for 90-95% of the debt to be relieved.

The funeral for Ronald Reagan may fall during the summit though a spokesman for the conference would not comment "on whether Secretary of State Colin Powell or another U.S. official would sit in Bush's place" if Bush attends Reagan's funeral. Given the election season, that appears to be a certainty.

globalization |

"Economic Recovery" and the Wage Recession

2004-06-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

John Kerry reacted to the announcement that 248,000 new jobs were produced in May by pointing to the continuing "wage recession" - "although economic growth is strong and corporate profits are growing, workers' salaries and wages are not, even as costs for health care and school tuitions go up."

Data from the Economic Policy Institute justifies Kerry's claim. According to the Washington Times, "EPI has calculated that, overall, the current recovery has been far better for corporations than workers. It found a 62.2 percent increase in corporate profits during the past three years, as opposed to a 2.8 percent increase in labor compensation. The average of the past eight recoveries was a 13.9 percent increase in corporate profits and a 9.9 percent increase in labor compensation."

corporate power |

Photo of the Day

2004-06-05T02:05:00.000-07:00

A boy representing a dead man carries an oversized model of a cigarette as he participates in a rally along with other underprivileged children to commemorate World No Tobacco Day in Bhopal, India. Smoking inflames poverty in poor countries as people sacrifice food and education for cigarettes, the World Health Organization has said, urging governments to implement stricter tobacco rules. (AP Photo/Prakash Hatvalne)

global poverty/disease | more: The Poor Smoke More

Groundbreaking Debt Legislation Introduced in US Congress

2004-06-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

Amazing news from Jubilee USA:

Representatives Waters (D-CA), Leach (R-IA), Frank (D-MA), Bachus (R-AL) and Lee (D-CA) introduced the JUBILEE Act today into the House of Representatives. The JUBILEE Act is groundbreaking legislation that would require the U.S. Treasury to work in appropriate multilateral settings to achieve 100 percent cancellation of the debts of 50 nations by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF would be required to finance the cancellation from their own resources without harmful conditionality.

Jubilee warns that the IMF will react to the proposal to cancel 100 percent of the debt "by pleading poverty," but multiple reports "have shown that the World Bank and IMF have enough resources to cancel 100 percent of the Heavily Indebted Poor Country debts without any impact on their credit rating or ability to lend, and could probably expand to cover cancellation for many countries outside the HIPC Initiative."

globalization | more: A Beginner's Guide to Debt

Financial Pressure 'Seriously Hurting' News Quality

2004-06-05T01:20:00.000-07:00

The Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism released a Survey of Journalists last week indicating that "the vast majority of journalists believe increased financial pressure is 'seriously hurting' the quality of news coverage," Eric Alterman writes. "Sixty-six percent of national news people and fifty-seven percent of local journalists see it this way," and the percentage is rising.

"Interestingly," Alterman points out, "management is considerably more sanguine about the current state of journalistic affairs. Most executives at national news organizations (fifty-seven percent) feel increased business pressures are 'mostly just changing the way news organizations do things' rather than seriously undermining quality."

corporate power |

Kerry Will Have Opportunity to Back Up 'Fair Trade' Rhetoric

2004-06-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

Should anyone believe career free-marketeer John Kerry when he makes campaign pledges to reject trade pacts that lack strict and enforcable labor and environmental standards? Kerry will be able to show that there's substance behind his recent fair trade rhetoric when the Senate faces a vote to extend what's called the "Africa Growth and Opportunity Act" (AGOA) sometime in the next several months. And though AGOA doesn't make a blip on the media radar (even in progressive circles), "the pressure on Kerry to vote for AGOA will come from many quarters," Jonathan Tasini observes, "including the New Democratic members of the party."

The AGOA was "highly sought after by the oil industry" and, according to Public Citizen, singles out Africa for "imposition of harsh IMF-style domestic social and economic policy changes, budget cuts in health and education, privatization through divestiture of public assets, cuts in corporate taxes, etc. as a condition for U.S. trade relations."

globalization |

Art and Activism: 'The Corporation'

2004-06-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

The filmmakers behind the amazing documentary, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, premiered their latest pic, The Corporation, today in San Francisco. The reviews in both of San Francisco's main dailies have been very positive.

"The Corporation" is "as audience-friendly as it is pointed and scarier than anything you'll find in 'Van Helsing,'" the San Francisco Examiner claims. "Using reportage, facts and figures and interviews with 'seven CEOs, three VPs, two whistle-blowers,' and notables such as filmmaker Michael Moore, MIT professor Noam Chomsky and economist Milton Friedman, Canadian directors Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott have created a primer on the growth of the corporation, from its 19th-century origins as a chartered public-service entity to its current distinction as the world's most powerful institution."

The San Francisco Chronicle remarks that the "evenhanded" film "nonetheless leaves audiences with a cold shiver. Viewers come away with the uneasy sense that the defeat of communism may very well have cleared the way for another form of heartless, godless totalitarianism to threaten freedom -- governments of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations."

corporate power | more: Full text of Chomsky's Necessary Illusions

Wal-Mart Pay Tweak is 'Shark Repellent Against Unions'

2004-06-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

With more than 15,000 packed into the University of Arkansas' basketball arena for the Wal-Mart's annual meeting, corporate execs "pledged to work harder to promote women to management and announced a new pay system that would be more fair for hourly workers."

The likely motivations for the changes were "bad publicity over Wal-Mart's pay and negative comments from politicians," BusinessWeek reports, and indeed, vice-president of Wal-Mart corporate affairs Betsy Reithemeyer urged the audience of Wal-Mart employees to tell "our" story: "We're under scrutiny like we never have been before, and we've got to tell our story like we never have before." One wonders whether a top Wal-Mart executive and a Wal-Mart floor clerk have the same story to tell.

The Financial Times reports that "many other large US companies already link bonuses to diversity, often with more aggressive targets," and another analyst said that "Wal-Mart may be hoping to use [the changes] as 'shark repellent against the unions.'"

Still, "criticism of the retailer seemed a million miles away" as "Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe danced in the aisle, and former CEO David Glass -- flanked by [actress Halle] Berry and actress Susan Lucci -- did the twist." Ugh. Gag me with a spoon.

corporate power | more: Help Unionize Wal-Mart: United Food and Commercial Workers

Undocumented Workers Fear G8 Crackdown

2004-06-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

An underground population is worried the security crackdown for the G8 Sea Island Summit could get them in trouble.

"First time for everybody", says the 34 year old, who ask us to call him Miguel. He's worried about revealing of his identity because his immigration papers are still being worked out. That's why the G8 economic summit and its flood of law enforcement has him worried. "My wife is a little nervous", says Miguel.

globalization |

More Calls to Investigate Killer Coke

2004-06-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

It's exciting to watch the Stop Killer Coke campaign develop. The campaign's potential to mobilize students and activists is just huge, in my view. For one, the fundamental grievance - a high-profile and seemingly unaccountable company directly implicated in egregious human rights violations - is a great rallying point. The campaign is also a powerful educational microcosm of the horrendous labor conditions in Colombia (and Latin America generally), and Coca-Cola's shrill reaction just adds to the fun.

And as expected, the campaign keeps growing. On May 21, Macalester College became the fourth university to ask the national Workers Rights Consortium "to investigate allegations that Coke bottlers in Colombia are cooperating with right-wing paramilitaries in killings, kidnappings and violence against workers, especially union leaders." In addition, "the campus' Social Responsibility Committee voted unanimously that Macalester should not renew the contract in 2005 if Coke does not cooperate with the independent investigation," Workday Minnesota reports. Onward...

coporate power | more: My Letter to UJA-Fed Regarding Killer Coke

Quote of the Day

2004-06-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

"They have made us so paranoid about everything. I don't know if I should sit outside with my shotgun."

- Georgia resident Charles Lott, on the "overwhelming security presence" being deployed in the lead-up to next week's G8 Summit.

"Everywhere, residents can see evidence of the sharply heightened security presence," USA Today reports. "Small military encampments dot the causeway leading to Sea Island and are visible on nearby Jekyll Island. Helicopters and military jets fly overhead practically non-stop. Stacks of concrete barricades are everywhere, awaiting deployment. People here talk about Seattle in tones of dread."

globalization | more: NoG8.org

Bush Trade Rep: No CAFTA Renegotiations

2004-06-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

A Bush administration trade rep has said that no revisions to CAFTA will be considered when the trade pact is voted on by Congress, North Carolina's Charlotte Observer reports. Due to the "fast track" process, only the President can alter the trade pact; members of Congress can vote for or against it, but cannot make changes.

This is important because several Republicans in districts with prominent industries that are sour on CAFTA (such as textiles and sugar) are beginning to campaign against the trade pact as the election season heats up. As reported here last week, Louisiana Republican, Rep. David Vitter, is running as "a prototypical George Bush Republican" but claims to be "actively rounding up votes against" CAFTA in his state.

globalization |

Doctors Without Borders: CAFTA Endangers Millions

2004-06-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

"The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned that .... [CAFTA] will endanger the health of millions of people living in Central America" by "[hingering] access to affordable medicines by restricting generic competition and blocking the safeguards reaffirmed in the Doha Declaration."

MSF points out these intellectual property provisions are included in most trade pacts currently being negotiated by the United States, and are "part of a US strategy to span the globe with bilateral and regional free trade agreements and undermine the international consensus reached at the WTO, enshrined in the Doha Declaration, about the need for appropriate balance between the protection of private intellectual property and of public health."

globalization | more: StopCAFTA.org

Activists Prepare to Unwelcome the G8 in Georgia

2004-06-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

New site launches...

Running opposite the G8 Summit are several days packed with alternative events aimed at demonstrating what a sustainable world looks like, and how we get there from here. Both Brunswick and Savannah are the setting for an anti-G8 Georgia convergence that brings together anti-war activists, environmental groups, pagans, anarchists and other global justice activists for the first time since last November's FTAA Ministerial in Miami.

activst art & culture | more: "Who we are, why we protest, and what we want"

The Bottom Line Weighs Heavily, Including in Africa

2004-06-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Nearly two-thirds of companies in Africa surveyed by the World Economic Forum expect HIV/AIDS to have a significant adverse effect on their business, according to a study released Thursday. But few are taking action.

....While 89 percent of respondents said they were concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their business, and 60 percent envisaged a significant adverse effect, only 12 percent had written policies on the subject.

....The impact in Africa is so severe the World Bank has warned HIV/AIDS could result in economic collapse in parts of the continent if effective action is not taken to combat the spread of the disease.

sustainable development | more: The Global Fund

Bill Clinton Using Clout to Fight AIDS

2004-06-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

"Three years after leaving office, Bill Clinton is starting to show AIDS activists the leadership they wanted to see during his presidency," the Associated Press reports. "They say he is using his celebrity clout and fund-raising prowess to fight AIDS around the globe as never before."

Though his administration was "distracted and unfocused" regarding AIDS during the 1990s according to one observer, Clinton has since proven an effective activist. "He has negotiated deals with several major pharmaceutical companies to supply AIDS drugs at discounted prices to the Third World. He has sent policy experts to help countries deal with the outbreak. And he has steered hundreds of millions in private donations and contributions from governments to AIDS-stricken parts of the world -- especially Africa, where the disease is rampant -- for treatment and public education."

Get Bill Clinton's "My Life" now for just $21.00

sustainable development | more: The ONE Campaign

My Letter to UJA-Fed Regarding 'Killer Coke'

2004-06-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

To: contact@ujafedny.org
From: Nico Pitney
Subject: Honoring Steven Heyer

Given the United Jewish Appeal-Federation's mission statement, which includes the phrases "caring for those in need" and "rescuing those in harm's way," it is particularly dissapointing that you would choose to honor the CEO of Coca-Cola Company, Steven Heyer, on June 7.

Multiple investigations and fact-finding missions have documented evidence of Coca-Cola's complicity or direct involvement in gross human rights violations at their contracted bottling plants in Colombia. A January 2004 delegation led by New York City Councilman Hiram Monserrate found it "indisputable that Coke workers have been systematically persecuted for their union activity." The delegation cited "179 major human-rights violations of company workers, including nine murders and the abduction and torture of workers' relatives."

This is, of course, a sensitive and complex issue; yet it is apparent that legitimate evidence of serious crimes has been documented, and that Mr. Heyer's company may be implicated. Until this matter is resolved, your decision to honor Mr. Heyer and his company should be viewed by citizens of conscience as deeply shameful and utterly contrary to your organization's stated principles.

Sincerely,
Nico Pitney

corporate power | more: Stop Killer Coke

Dems Press Investigation Into Cheney-Halliburton Ties

2004-06-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

"For the second day running," Reuters reports, "Democrats demanded more answers to questions raised by a newly unearthed Army e-mail that said Cheney's office 'coordinated' action on a contract to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure that was awarded to Halliburton." The House and Senate Dems are urging a special councel to investigate whether Cheney broke any laws.

Also: Halliburton tied to Tristar scandal...

Paris officials investigating suspicious payments from a consortium that includes French interests now have possible evidence of a Halliburton link. ... Swiss banking officials have confirmed to the French that Tristar paid at least $5 million of that suspicious $180 million into a Swiss bank account controlled by Albert J. "Jack" Stanley, recently retired chairman of Halliburton Co.'s KBR unit.

corporate power | more: Halliburton Watch

Congress May Take Up US-Australia Trade Pact By Summer

2004-06-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

The Bush administration is hoping Congress debates the deal by this summer, before election-year politicking lessens the chances for a vote in the Senate and House of Representatives.

"I assured the Prime Minister that I'll work with the leadership in our Congress to move this agreement forward," Mr Bush said. He gave no specific schedule for seeking a vote.

There has been speculation congressional leaders might speed up a vote by coupling the Australian free-trade agreement with a US-Morocco free-trade deal scheduled to be signed by Washington and Rabat on June 11.

globalization |

Trade Theory vs. Used Clothes in Africa

2004-06-03T02:12:00.000-07:00

Shoppers at Owino Market in the Ugandan capital of Kampala can buy secondhand American clothing for much less than new African goods, to the dismay of local clothing makers.

...The rich world's hand-me-downs offer visitors some of Africa's more peculiar sights. One afternoon in Kampala, Uganda's lively, diesel-fume-laden capital, a young man wore a black T-shirt that boasted: "I am what you fear the most: United States Marine." Another proclaimed its owner's allegiance to the "Watkins Warriors," presumably some small-town sports team.

So do the secondhand imports actually impact sales of locally-produced clothing? The Times claims that evidence is still inconclusive.

globalization |

Will CAFTA Create a Central American Middle Class?

2004-06-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

"Under the terms of CAFTA, businesses have little incentive to set down roots in Central America and make the kinds of investments in creating sustainable jobs that produce real economic growth," global justice activists Allan Paulson and Dave Tatro argue in the Seattle Times. "Their profits will come from exploiting cheap labor, outrageous tax breaks and flooding the market with cheap, subsidized agriculture commodities.

"Rather than building a new middle class that will create a long-term consumer market, they win only by stealing the markets of small producers and business people. In the end, even as multinational corporations report better profits and countries boast higher exports, nations are less secure and millions of people are left poorer than before."

globalization | more: StopCAFTA.org

Changes

2004-06-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

I've been tinkering with the design of the site a bit over the last few days. I've also begun adding a marker at the bottom of each post indicating which of the four general issue areas listed above (globalization, corporate power, sustainability, and activist culture) best applies to the post.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

'I Do' in 30 Seconds

2004-06-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

Building off the success of MoveOn's Bush in 30 Seconds contest, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) have teamed up to sponsor a new national competition, I Do in 30 Seconds.

Enterprising visual artists from around the country will compete "to create the best 30-second television commercial in support of same-sex couples gaining equal access to the rights, protections and responsibilities of marriage." The finalists will be determined by a panel of celebrity judges, featuring comedian Margaret Cho, producer Bruce Cohen (American Beauty, Big Fish), and actor, producer & activist Judith Miller of "Who's the Boss?" fame, among others. The campaign hopes to raise $300,000 with which to run the winning ad - you can pitch in here.

activist art & culture |

The White House is "Corporate Headquarters" in New Ad

2004-06-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Media Fund is one of the principal tax-exempt political action groups -- so-called 527's because of the section of the tax code under which they file -- supporting John Kerry and the Democratic Party during the 2004 election cycle.

The Fund has run a series of issue ads in 17 swing states over the last several months. The latest, entitled "Corporate Headquarters," details the Bush administration's ties to scandal-plagued corporations while depicting the White House being covered up with various corporate logos. It's an entertaining, effective ad - you can watch it here.

corporate power | more: Adbusters Culturejammers

Quote of the Day

2004-06-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

"I'm not only voting against the agreement, I'm actively rounding up votes against it. It's bad for Louisiana."

-- Rep. David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, on his opposition to CAFTA. Vitter is running as "a prototypical George Bush Republican, with one major exception: Sugar." Vitter is actively campaigning against the Central American trace pact in his southern, sugar-producing state, and he's apparently not alone. "A number of congressional Republicans are at odds with the Bush administration on the sugar provision of CAFTA and will oppose the bill whenever it is reintroduced for a final vote," the Congressional journal The Hill reports.

'Day After' is a Political Hot Potato

2004-06-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

The enviro-disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow, has become "a lightning rod for critics of the Bush administration."

The initial buzz about the film is attributed to a New York Times report last month that NASA employees had been told not to speak to the press about the film. "'No one from NASA is to do interviews or otherwise comment on anything having to do with' the film, according to an internal memo obtained by the newspaper. 'Any news media wanting to discuss science fiction vs. science fact about climate change will need to seek comment from individuals or organizations not associated with NASA.'"

And though the film's science may be fiction, the blockbuster "accurately portrays the current efforts of the Bush administration to deny and ignore the real science behind global warming," one environmental expert claims.

Sneak Preview: 'Juvies'

2004-06-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Juvies is a new documentary narrated by actor Mark Wahlberg. The film is the project of a video production class taught by the film's director at Los Angeles Central Juvenile Hall. A brief synopsis:

Four years ago, high school student Duc Ta was arrested for driving a car from which a gun was shot. Although no one was injured, and Duc was not a member of a gang, had no priors, and was 16 years old, he received a sentence of 35 years to life.

From award-winning documentary filmmaker Leslie Neale (Road to Return) comes a riveting look at a world most of us will never see: the world of juvenile offenders who are serving incomprehensibly long prison sentences for crimes they either did not commit or were only marginally involved in.

Duc's website is here.

US-New Zealand Trade Pact a No-Go

2004-06-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick met last week with the head of New Zealand's conservative opposition party, Don Brash.

"'Mr. Zoellick says it's unlikely any free trade agreement involving New Zealand would gain congressional support,' Brash said in a statement. 'It is certainly off the agenda until after the U.S. presidential elections.'"

Landmark Unocal-Myanmar Case May End in July

2004-06-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

On July 2, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge will decide whether a landmark human rights case against Unocal can continue. The case "marks the first time a U.S. corporation has faced a trial in this country for alleged human rights abuses committed abroad."

"The suit alleges that Myanmar soldiers raped women and girls after male family members were taken away to become slave laborers on the pipeline. The military also is accused of forcing people out of their homes to make way for the project. The plaintiffs include a couple who allege that their baby daughter died from wounds she suffered after a soldier kicked the infant and her mother into a fire."

More: EarthRights International, which is leading the case against Unocal

Report: Outsourcing Set to Increase

2004-06-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

The number of American IT jobs lost to India "has been much smaller than the hype that surrounds the issue," a report detailed in New Zealand's New Business Review states, suggesting that "many jobs thought to have been lost to offshoring were actually lost to a tight economy."

"It also says, however, that the American jobs bleed is nowhere near its full realisation and that India -- which will produce 1.5 million IT workers in the next five years -- will not only absorb most of the 700,000 IT jobs the US economy is predicted to generate in that period, but another 800,000 existing jobs." The report claims that corporations maintain cost savings of 30%-50% by outsourcing to India.

AIDS and Black Men On the 'Down Low'

2004-06-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Author J.L. King's new book, "On the Down Low", addresses the rise in AIDS cases among heterosexual black women that many believe is caused by sex with men on the "down low" -- "black men who have sex with men but do not mention their male relationships to their female sex partners, friends or family members."

The book is receiving critical praise. Kaiser's Daily HIV/AIDS Report highlights this review by Roni Rabin in Long Island Newsday:

King's book is one that "girlfriends have got to read" because "bisexual men have been a bridge carrying HIV from the gay community to straight women," Newsday columnist Rabin writes in an opinion piece. King's story "helps explain why women of color are being infected with HIV in record numbers," Rabin says, adding that in New York City, "only 6.5% of HIV-positive women are white -- 66% are African American and 26% are Latina."

Purchase "On the Down Low" now for just $13.17

Moore Finds Distributor, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Opens June 25

2004-06-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore's controversial documentary that criticizes President George W. Bush's handling of the the Sept. 11 attacks has landed a distribution deal in the United States.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" will be released June 25 by a partnership that includes a group formed by Miramax heads Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Lions Gate Films and IFC films.

From Hollywood Reporter:

Showtime is taking pay-TV rights to "Fahrenheit" through its output deal with Lions Gate. The film's home entertainment rights have not yet been sewn up, though one source close to the film said that they could land with Universal Home Video.

Although plans have not yet been finalized -- and summer screens can be hard to come by -- "Fahrenheit" is expected to roll out on about 1,000 screens, sources said. [...]

In presenting his film at last month's Festival de Cannes, where it won the Palme d'Or, Moore expressed his hope that "Fahrenheit" would hit theaters by the Fourth of July holiday weekend and subsequently be available on home video/DVD by the fall in order to impact the November presidential election.

Quote of the Day

2004-06-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

"I have total disdain for Moore ... It's a free country, so he's free to say whatever he wants. But I don't appreciate it. I don't like it."

--George Bush, Sr. on Michael Moore, as quoted in the New York Daily News. Bush also called Moore a "slimeball."

Internet Upstart Turns Insider

2004-06-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Times profiles Zach Exley, a former MoveOn staffer and now the director of Kerry's internet operations.

Exley's unlikely rise from union organizer and small-time software programmer to top campaign operative mirrors the rapidly expanding role of the Internet in politics. More valuable than decades of slogging in the trenches of the major parties is a few years' experience out in the free-form world of the Web -- a realm where the tools of the trade evolve every week and a joke can grab more attention than a thousand position papers.

Some good signs:

In the days of GWBush.com [1999], Exley told an interviewer that Democrats and Republicans were like "Coke and Pepsi — they try to create a perception of difference where none exists."

And after the Democrats lost ground in the 2002 midterm elections, he set up a now-defunct website called angrydems.com.

"Don't blame 9/11," Exley wrote then. "Don't blame the Greens. And sure ... don't blame the American people! Blame the Democratic Party leadership. Terry McAuliffe is an idiot."

McAuliffe was then, and remains, the head of the Democratic National Committee.

Exley said his views had changed in the past year and a half, so that he was now more willing to work from within the establishment. "It just shows that George Bush was right when said he'd be a great uniter," he quipped.

Report: Cheney Coordinated Halliburton Iraq Contract

2004-06-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

A Pentagon e-mail said Vice President Dick Cheney coordinated a huge Halliburton government contract for Iraq, despite Cheney's denial of interest in the company he ran until 2000. ... It was three days later that Halliburton won the contract, although no other bids had been submitted.

'Inequality Matters' Conference Puts US on 'Orange Alert'

2004-06-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday is when the Inequality Matters conference begins in New York City to discuss the biggest wealth and income gap -- and its consequences on society -- since the Hoover Administration. The Congressional Budget Office says the income gap in the United States is now the widest in 75 years.

While the richest one percent of the U.S. population saw its financial wealth grow 109 percent from 1983 to 2001, the bottom two-fifths watched as its wealth fell 46 percent.

Kudos to CBS Marketplace not only for reporting on this conference, but for highlighting the absence of discussion about these historic economic realities in the presidential debate thus far:

In an election year, you'd think these issues would be on the "front burner" already. But these overarching social trends reflect poorly on politicians and the government -- those supposedly elected to protect those members of society who can't protect themselves.

Debt Relief at the G8 Summit

2004-06-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Third World debt relief will be a prime focus of the upcoming G8 Summit. Gordon Brown, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, today described one of the proposals that is receiving significant attention - "an International Finance Facility, which by front-loading aid and leveraging in funds from the capital markets, would double aid to halve poverty." Britain's plan would devote an extra $50 billion per year to development financing. France, Brazil, the IMF and World Bank will all be offering proposals on an International Finance Facility in the months to come.

Aid is desperately needed now, Brown writes, "as aid to sub-Saharan Africa has fallen from $33 per head in 1980 to $20 today," and only the Scandanavian nations have reached the internationally agreed-upon aid allocation target of 0.7% GDP.

US Signs Investment Pact With Central Asian States

2004-06-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

The Bush administration has signed a "Trade and Investment Framework Agreement" with five Central Asian states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - that has "preceded full-fledged free-trade" talks in the past, Reuters notes.

In addition to potential trade benefits, the region has "appeal for the United States because of its potential undiscovered oil and natural gas wealth," and because the nations involved are "important partners" in the 'War on Terror'.

Limbaugh's Take on 'Day After'

2004-06-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

If only...

US Army's Latest Branding Campaign Backfires

2004-06-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Now it seems like just another major corporation using an athlete to endorse a product.

Only this time it wasn't Nike using Tiger Woods to sell golf balls. Or adidas using Tracy McGrady to sell sneakers. Or McDonald's using Yao Ming to sell Big Macs. This time, it was the U.S. Army using Pat Tillman to sell a war.

No 'Live Aid 2' Says Bono

2004-06-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

Irish rock star Bono played down rumours today that he and his friends in the music industry are planning a second Live Aid concert to raise money to fight AIDS.

He said a "Live Aid 2", nearly 20 years after the first epoch-defining event to help the starving of Ethiopia, would not raise enough cash to adequately tackle the AIDS crisis. [...]

Bono: "Right now we're after billions (of dollars) not millions. A Live Aid 2 would help, but it wouldn't fix the problem."

Kerry's Desired CAFTA Standards Threatened by Status of US Migrants

2004-06-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

John Kerry's pledge to renegotiate CAFTA to include tougher labor and environmental standards - notably similar to the unkept promise Bill Clinton made twelve years ago regarding NAFTA - will be difficult to fulfill, the Wall Street Journal argues.

Legal and trade experts said Mr. Kerry's pledge would open a can of worms. Trade rules enforceable in Central America also would apply in the U.S., laying the legal groundwork for possible international challenges to lax U.S. protections for migrant workers -- including lack of enforcement of minimum-wage laws and lack of standard benefits given to other U.S. workers, such as Social Security -- or the "right to work" laws in more than a dozen states that protect the right of workers not to join a union.

"Kerry will learn to his regret that teeth that bite south can also bite north," said Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Institute for International Economics.

The basic argument is that the bottomless pool of cheap, exploitable migrant labor would be threatened by enforceable trade rules, which would force Kerry to demand exemptions for the United States or to design a toothless regulatory process from the get-go.

Thousands Protest CAFTA Signing in Costa Rica

2004-06-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Some 10,000 Costa Ricans took to the streets of the capital or blocked major highways Monday, police said, in a protest over a new trade agreement between the United States and five Central American nations.

Unions in Costa Rica fear the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signed on Friday, will lead to the privatization of state insurance and telecommunications monopolies with the loss of jobs. [...]

Slow Memorial Weekend

2004-06-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the lack of posts over the weekend. I was hosting a few guests from San Diego and they ended up staying until late last night. A busy two weeks lay ahead, but I should be updating consistently.

I did get a chance to watch The Day After Tomorrow over the weekend - I'll post a review soon. In the meantime, I will say that I highly recommend the flick, despite 70% of the dialogue.

The Great Globalization Debate, Continued

2004-05-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

The free-marketeers at The Economist have responded to a UN report we discussed recently which argued that trade leads to growth in underdeveloped countries only when it's coupled with substantial investment aid "to boost technology, production and job creation."

The Economist acknowledges some "troubling trends" highlighted in the UN report: despite the fact that "least-developed nations" are "more integrated into the global economy than OECD (ie, rich) countries are (51% versus 43% in 1999-2001), ...average incomes are only slightly higher in LDCs than they were in 1990, and the overall incidence of extreme poverty did not fall during the 1990s."

The Economist argues, however, that trade is not the primary culprit. They point their finger at a variety of other factors:

Population growth: "high in most LDCs, so modest economic growth is not enough to make the average person richer"
Low market diversification: "most of these economies are so small that an apparent export boom often means no more than that exports of a single commodity have increased"
Fickle nature of oil profits: oil prices are volatile, and oil regimes in the poor world are often incredibly corrupt, meaning the wealth doesn't 'trickle down'
Massive informal markets in poor countries: "Formal statistics therefore overstate the extent to which such countries have globalised. Their exports as a proportion of measurable GDP may be high, but most of their people enjoy no links at all to the global trading system"
Internal violence: "60% of the LDCs suffered conflict in 1990-2001, up from 40% in 1978-89."

Plight of Mexican Workers Gets Official Hearing

2004-05-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Mexican workers recently travelled to Canada to talk about working conditions in their home country.

The workers discussed their "dirty, unsafe conditions"; how they were "harassed when they try to enforce their rights" and called bad names, sometimes referred to as 'bow-legged Indians'.

Employees at the plant of one speaker "worked without ventilation and emergency exits, and were not provided with face masks or drinking water. First aid stations weren't stocked with supplies, she added. Employees were forced to work overtime to meet high production quotas, she said. 'The guard would close the doors and nobody could get out.'"

Who cared to hear these stories? The workers were testifying before the National Administrative Office, a project of the Canadian government to deal with labor issues surrounding NAFTA. The NAO has heard complaints just once before, in 1998, which "led to consultations between Canada's and Mexico's labour ministers, but no further action." Perhaps this case will be different -- we'll keep our eye on it.

More: Maquila Solidarity Network

Another G8 Invitation Rejected

2004-05-30T03:06:00.000-07:00

As has been addressed in this space, a game of musical chairs is being played out in the lead-up to the G8 Summit in Georgia. Now, Saudi Arabia has followed Egypt's lead in rejecting an invition to the Summit, where reform in the Arab states will be a major topic of discussion.

Many Arabs have criticized the initiative, designed to counter militant Islam with political and social changes, for seeking to impose reform from abroad and for failing to address key regional issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Mahir said Arab identity should not be "dissolved" into a wider region under the US plan.

S.F. Gallery Owner Attacked Over Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Art

2004-05-30T02:38:00.000-07:00

After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a San Francisco gallery owner bears a painful reminder of the nation's unresolved anguish over the incidents at Abu Ghraib -- a black eye and bloodied brow delivered by an unknown assailant who apparently objected to the art work.

'Americans will not accept G20 offer'

2004-05-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

A less-than-rosy picture from this Financial Times report:

Trade diplomats said the proposal, a statement of broad principles rather than a detailed blueprint for expanding market access, was unlikely to satisfy Washington, which has insisted on an ambitious tariff-cutting agenda in return for slashing its own farm subsidies.

"I think we will have a bit of a crisis next week," said one WTO envoy from the Cairns group of agricultural exporting countries, who expressed disappointment with the proposal.

"We're not going to get a package unless there's something on market access for the Americans."

Cautious EU welcomes G-20 farm trade plans

2004-05-30T02:26:00.000-07:00

Ms Arancha Gonzalez, the spokeswoman for EU Trade Commissioner Mr Pascal Lamy, said it was good to see the developing nations had put forward a paper calling for tariff cuts by developed nations. "However, they did not put forward a formula on how to achieve these cuts," she said on the sidelines of a EU-Latin America summit here.

Trade reps from the EU and the U.S. would have forced a smile in reaction to whatever the G20 had released. They're worried primarily about sustaining perception of momentum right now. The G20 can prefer whatever they'd like - the real job will be working through the web of domestic politics that will lead to American and European farmers being wrenched off the government teat.

Sudan Updates

2004-05-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

"Perpetrators of genocide do not want anyone watching, but individuals working in human rights organizations watch and witness, and courageously support the victims. These individuals represent, for all of us, a personal capacity to bear witness to the passion of the present; one candle lit against the darkness. However, before one can light a candle, someone has to strike a match: a donation to any of the human rights organizations active in Sudan will help the candlepower of witness overcome and extinguish the firepower of genocide."

From a new UK-based blog on the Sudan crisis, Passion of the Present.

The Poor Smoke More

2004-05-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

With tobacco use claiming one life every 6.5 seconds and causing an estimated annual economic loss of $200 billion worldwide, the United Nations health agency is devoting this year's World No Tobacco Day to the "vicious circle" that inextricably links tobacco and poverty.

....Studies across all regions in the world show that it is the poorest people who tend to smoke the most in both developing and developed countries, and who bear most of the disease burden. People with less education also tend to consume more tobacco.

Unheard Voices: Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan

2004-05-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

Fadidja Isaac Ali, 35 years old and from a town in Darfur called Mulli, sat before me with her baby in her arms as she talked. She had been shopping at the market in her village when the gunmen came.

"The bullets began to fly, people fell, people ran. The evil men had come", she said.

"Who are the evil men?", I asked. "The Janjaweed", she said.

On that day in Mullis market, she said, 55 people were massacred. The killers found that Fadidja had survived and three of them took her away, tore her clothes off, beat her, broke her arm and then raped her, one by one.

All the stories we heard were similar. No-one in the refugee camps spoke of gun battles between soldiers, only of massacres of civilians by the Janjaweed militia - Arab militiamen often seen fighting with the Sudanese government - or of massacres resulting from aerial bombings of villages by Sudanese government planes.

Email Your Representative About CAFTA

2004-05-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

Global Exchange today sent out an alert urging supporters to email their representatives about CAFTA.

You're also urged to call your Rep's district offices or the Washington, DC offices DC Capitol switchboard: 1-202-224-3121.
*If you call the switchboard, give the operator your zip code so they can connect you to your Rep and/or Senators. If you can't get through to the Member, ask for the trade staffer.

3 KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK:

1) WILL THEY OPPOSE CAFTA?
*If they tell you that it won't come up for a vote before the elections so they are not taking a position, let them know that the vote that counts is the vote YOU cast for or against THEM on November 2nd - and you want to know their position on CAFTA BEFORE you cast that vote.

2) WHY DOES CONGRESS ONLY GET TO VOTE NOW, AFTER THE TRADE AGREEMENT IS ALREADY FINALIZED AND SIGNED?
* Given that these agreements cover everything from jobs to food safety and agriculture to public services to government procurement laws and more, why is Congress' role limited to a yes or no vote with no amendments after an agreement has already been finished? Because of Fast Track Trade Authority, which was pushed through by Republican Leadership and the White House at 3am in July of 2002. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress exclusive authority "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations." (Article I-8). Fast Track is a mechanism that delegates away to the Executive Branch this congressional authority for setting trade terms as well as other powers.

3) CAN YOU GET A WRITTEN RESPONSE TO YOUR QUESTIONS?
*Ask whomever you speak with to to take down your name and address and send you a written response detailing your Representative and/or Senator's position on CAFTA. Then email us at gtwfield@citizen.org and let us know what they said.

'Day After' Storms Box Office

2004-05-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

May pull $100 million Memorial weekend...

New Campaign: Yum Foods

2004-05-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

Priority Wire will be now be following the progress of a multi-front campaign against Yum Brands - which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC - and their serious supply chain labor problems. Why?

In the United States nearly two million farmworkers, mainly immigrants, toil without rights, earn sub-living wages and exist in dehumanizing conditions. In the fields of Florida, California, North Carolina and other states, one million farmers earn less than $7,500 per year. To earn $50 a day a tomato farmworker must pick nearly two tons of tomatoes. The reason? The supply-chain model of global economics has tightened profit margins. In 1990 growers received 41% of the retail prices of tomatoes; by 2000 they were receiving barely 25%. Value is passed up the chain, while workers at the bottom pay the price.

Yum finally responded last week to the campaign. Unsurprisingly, they were less than enthused, as this Oxfam alert describes:

Yum issued a press release calling on the farmworkers to end their campaign against the company, in return for very limited concessions by the company. Their proposal was rejected by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an Oxfam America partner. Yum's public offer was limited to "support" for industry-wide surcharges and new legislation in Florida; it would involve no actual changes within their supply chain. The purchasing practices of institutional buyers like Yum contribute significantly to the abuses documented in Oxfam's report: "Like Machines in the Fields: Workers without Rights in American Agriculture."

Protests in Chicago's Federal Square

2004-05-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

Barbara England (L) of Chicago, looks on as Don Heidkamp places a flower on a flag-draped coffin during an anti-war protest in Chicago's Federal Plaza. Coffins numbering 108 are on display, with each of the coffins in black representing approximately 100 Iraqi's while coffins draped with the American flag represent 100 United States troops and civilians. (Reuters/Frank Polich)

G20 Releases Proposal on Ag Subsidy Cuts

2004-05-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

The G20 alliance of underdeveloped countries today released a counterproposal to the one offered by representatives from the U.S. and the EU.

According to the Reuters report, the G20 plan "puts most of the onus on rich states in the sensitive area of tariff cuts" and "asks relatively little of developing countries, who would not have to open their markets to imports in products they decide are too sensitive."

"Reform of farm trade lies at the heart of WTO negotiations to lower barriers to business across the globe, the so-called Doha Round, and trade envoys are racing to complete outline accords before the summer break."

Weinsteins Buy 'Fahrenheit 9/11' from Disney

2004-05-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore's controversial documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" moved a step closer to U.S. theaters on Friday as Miramax film studio founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein personally bought rights to the picture from Walt Disney Co.

....After more than three weeks of talks, the Weinsteins bought rights to the film for costs to date, estimated at about $6 million, and will arrange for theatrical and home video distribution, both sides said in a statement issued on Friday.

....By clinching a deal now, the movie could still be on track to get into theaters by the middle of this summer, despite a crowded field of U.S. releases, distributors have said.

UNCTAD: 'Aid Not Trade' Will Ease Poor's Plight

2004-05-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development has released a report arguing that "poor countries need investment aid first to boost technology, production and job creation before international trade can fuel growth."

"The notion that it is enough to integrate into the world trade system and liberalise your economy, that's simply not working. More is needed," Carlos Fortin, deputy secretary general of Geneva-based UNCTAD, told a news conference.

Indeed, the biannual report said least-developed countries, or LDCs, were already more open to international trade than rich country members of the World Trade Organisation, or WTO, which promotes the global exchange of goods and services.

The Financial Times observes, "Though a poor trade performance tended to increase poverty, a good trade performance did not necessarily reduce it. Countries that opened their economies moderately during the 1990s did better than those that opened them the most."

MTV Will Run 'Super Size Me' Ads

2004-05-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

After a low-level MTV employee asked for changes in an ad for the hit documentary "Super Size Me," the film's distributors tried to parlay the dust-up into a Michael Moore-type publicity blitz.

The dispute was quickly resolved — the ad will run, uncut, starting tonight — but the episode offers a glimpse into the new world of documentary marketing, in which controversy and big-league publicity gambits are increasingly part of the strategy for box-office success.

CPA Slow to Turn Over Halliburton Contracts

2004-05-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

"Two months since it asked the United States to turn over audits of contracts funded with Iraqi oil money and awarded to Halliburton without competitive bidding, an international watchdog agency said on Tuesday it was still waiting for the documents."

Photo of the Day

2004-05-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

CAFTA signed:

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, third from left, and Central American trade dignitaries, pause during the playing of the U.S. national anthem in Washington Friday, May 28, 2004 prior to a signing ceremony for the U.S. Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). From left are, Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Alberto Trejos, Salvadoran Economy Minister Miguel Lacayo, Zoellick, Guatamalan Economy Minister Marcio Cuevas, Honduran Minister of Foreign Trade Norman Garcia and Nicaraguan Minister of Industry, Development and Trade Mario Arana. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Coalition Calls for Protests Before June 30 'Transfer'

2004-05-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

A coalition of 42 national organizations making up the country's largest anti-war organization called today for a date certain for withdrawing all American troops from Iraq.

....The group [also] announced a weekend of nationwide protests of the Bush Iraq policy on June 26 and 27, just days before the U.S. says it will hand sovereignty of Iraq to a UN chosen administration. The weekend action will be organized with Win Without War members MoveOn.org and the Internet based organization TrueMajority as well as the coalition United for Peace and Justice.

Win Without War National Director and former Congressman Tom Andrews (D-ME) directed comments in the press statement at Sen. John Kerry: "There is no military solution in Iraq. We, therefore, call upon our government to commit to ending the military and economic occupation of Iraq and to withdrawing our troops by a date certain. There is no justification for letting any young American be the last to die for a mistake."

CEOs Get a Raise

2004-05-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

During a year when hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs were lost, the median compensation for chief executives at the largest companies rose to $4.6 million last year, up from $3.6 million in 2002, according to the latest pay survey by the Corporate Library.

....The rise in pay "shows that calls for pay restraint are being ignored. The increase for S&P 500 CEOs in 2003 is nearly three times the rise seen for 2002," the report added.

How can there be such wealth and economic prosperity in the midst of so much dreadful poverty?