Chile has again been hit by an earthquake of apocalyptic magnitude, like in the earthquakes of 1938, 1960 and 1985. With the precision of a Swiss watch, the centre and south of the country is hit every 25 years by a seismic movement that puts the country in a state of deep shock. The earthquake we saw on 27 February was one of the strongest recorded in history - 8.8 degrees on the Richter scale, 9 on the Mercalli scale.
The anguish of not knowing anything about our loved ones, of not being able to communicate with them, has followed the destruction, the isolation and death or disappearance of a great many people. Impotence is a shadow hanging over the heart. The death toll is now at about 700 - some are saying that they expect a final figure of about 2,000 when we eventually get the full picture of the devastation. Nothing is known yet about many in the affected provinces in the regions of Maule and Bío Bío. When people were still talking of about 300 killed, we learnt that the Constitución tsunami had swallowed up around 350 inhabitants, doubling the death toll. And we now know there were other places hit by tsunamis, though the extent of the damage is still unknown.
The consequences that this earthquake will have for the Chilean people are frightening. It is estimated that at present 2,000,0000 people have lost their homes and are literally on the streets. We're talking of more than 10% of the total population, which gives you an idea of the daunting task of reconstruction ahead.
more....http://www.anarkismo.net/article/15978
Friday, March 5, 2010
Cuba, the Corporate Media, and the Suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo
On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on the front page and emphasized the plight of Cuban prisoners.1
Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with this person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case deserves respect. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics.
Zapata, Political Prisoner or Common Convict?
Since 2004, Amnesty International (AI) has considered him among Cuba's 55 "prisoner of conscience." In addition, it has noted that Zapata's hunger strike was launched not only to protest his conditions of detention, but also to demand the impossible: a television, a personal kitchen, and a cell phone to call his family.2 Zapata was not exactly a model prisoner. According to Cuban authorities, he was guilty of several acts of violence during his incarceration, especially against the guards, leading to his conviction being increased to 25 years.3
Curiously AI has never mentioned the alleged political activities that landed Zapata in prison. The reason is relatively simple: Zapata never carried out any anti-government activities prior to incarceration. Instead, the organization recognizes that he was convicted in May 2004 and sentenced to three years of imprisonment for "disrespect," "public disorder," and "résistance."4 This sentence is relatively minor compared to the sentences, ranging up to 28 years, that were handed down to the 75 opposition figures convicted in March 2003 of "having received funds or materials from the U.S. government to carry out activities that the authorities consider subversive and damaging to Cuba," as recognized by AI, which is a serious crime in Cuba and any country in the world.5 Here AI cannot escape an obvious contradiction: on the one hand AI characterizes them as "prisoners of conscience" and on the other it admits they committed the serious crime of accepting "money or materials from the U.S. government."
Unlike the 75, the Cuban government has never accused Zapata of accepting funds from a foreign power and has always considered him a common convict. Zapata had a serious criminal record. Since June 1990, he had been arrested and convicted several times for "disturbing the peace, two counts of fraud, public exhibitionism, injury and possession of non-firearm weapons." In 2000, he fractured the skull of Leonardo Simon using a machete. His criminal record does not involve any political actions. It was only after his imprisonment that his mother, Reyna Luisa Tamayo, approached government opposition groups, and she has never been bothered by the authorities.6
Double Standards?
The United States and the European Union declared their consternation and demanded the "release of political prisoners." "We are deeply distressed by his death," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who denounced the oppression of political prisoners in Cuba. Brussels followed suit and demanded the "unconditional release of all political prisoners." France's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero announced that "following his situation closely, we called for his release along with the other detainees whose health seemed particularly worrying."7
Cuban President Raúl Castro "regretted" the death and responded to the uproar from Washington and Brussels by stating that "in half a century, we have not murdered anyone here, no one has been tortured, and there have been no extrajudicial executions. Well, here in Cuba there have been people tortured, but at the Guantanamo Naval Base," in reference to the torture center under U.S. administration. "They say they want to hold talks with us and we are ready to discuss with the U.S. government all issues they want. I repeated it three times in Parliament, all, all, all. We will not accept discussions unless both parties enjoy absolute equality. They can investigate or ask any questions in Cuba, but we have the right to ask about all the problems of the United States."8
During a visit to Cuba, Brazilian President Lula da Silva also declared his sympathy, but wished to highlight the double standards of the corporate media of Washington and Brussels recalling a sad reality: "I know about virtually all the hunger strikes that have taken place over the past 25 years in the world and many people have died on hunger strikes in many countries."9 The media ignored the vast majority of those tragic cases and absolutely none received the media coverage that has been afforded this Cuban inmate.
By comparison, in France between January 1, 2010 and February24, 2010, there were 22 suicides in prison, including a 16-year-old boy. In 2009 there were 122 suicides in French prisons and 115 in 2008. State Secretary of Justice Jean-Marie Bockel declared his impotence in these situations: "When someone decides to commit suicide and is determined to do, whether they are free or in prison, [. . .] there is nothing you can do about it." The families of those victims were not entitled to the same media treatment as Zapata, nor even an official public statement from the French government.10
We must put the Zapata's case into perspective by looking at two much more serious situations deliberately ignored by the corporate media that clearly illustrate the politicization and manipulation of this ordinary incident that would pass unnoticed in most countries, except Cuba.
Since the coup in Honduras took place and the military dictatorship was established on June 27, 2009, led first by Roberto Micheletti and then since January 28, 2010 by Porfirio Lobo, there have been more than a hundred murders and countless cases of disappearances, torture, and violence. The abuses occur daily, but are carefully omitted by the corporate media. Thus, when Claudia Larissa Brizuela, a member of a group opposed to the coup, the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), was murdered on February 24, 2010, just one day after the death of Zapata, there was not a single word about it in the corporate press.11
A similar case further illustrates the duplicity of the corporate media. In December 2009 in La Macarena, Colombia the largest mass grave in the history of Latin America was discovered with no fewer than 2,000 bodies. According to testimonies collected by British MEPs on the ground in La Macarena, these were the bodies of union and peasant leaders killed by the paramilitaries and the Colombian army's Special Forces. Jairo Ramirez, lawyer and secretary of the Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Colombia, described the grisly scene: "What we saw was frightening. Countless corpses and hundreds of white wooden plaques inscribed with NN and with dates ranging from 2005 to the present. The army commander told us they were the bodies of guerrillas killed in combat, but the people of the region told us of the many community leaders, farmers, and community advocates who have disappeared without a trace." Despite the many testimonies and the presence of the MEPs, despite a visit by a Spanish parliamentary delegation to investigate, no corporate media has given even a little attention to this news.12
The suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo is a tragedy and his mother's pain must be respected. But there are unscrupulous people. The corporate media, Washington, and the European Union cares little about his death, just as they care little for the Hondurans and Colombians killed every day. Zapata is useful to them only in the media war against the Cuban government. When ideology is placed above objective information, truth and ethics are the first victims.
by Salim Lamrani
Thursday, March 4, 2010
PUBLIC MUST RALLY AROUND POLICE AND JOURNALISTS
Listening to Emmanuel Joseph on a program on the Peoples Business of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation has so bravely articulating some of the adverse conditions reporters have to encounter when pursuing a story, it was somewhat irritating.
Mr. Joseph continued without fear of contradiction, given an example of what can be seen as a blatant attempt by a privilege few to muzzle reporters in this country, it is unbelievable to me in this day and age that Barbados has come to this.
Just imagine professionals that are well trained to be allowed to serve the public under the banner of "free speech", are subject to "hand off" situations to protect a special interest group in our society.
However, Mr. Joseph also made mention of an incident when a police officer was hindered by being required to sign a book to enter one of the controversial gated communities, this humiliation must have impacted heavily on our officers, reporters, and skillful citizens that are providing two separate services that are important in any civilized society; There were treated like boy scouts.
Having said that, it is understood that the police and news media have some things in common, example: serving the public.
Therefore it is only logical for them to embrace each other like they recently have and are now busy working together to mend fences with a view to impact there relationship, which is a positive one.
The public which is demanding investigative journalism and also expecting a reduction in crime, must now accept its responsibility and rally around our police officers and reporters in concrete solidarity.
The above accusation must be taken seriously and the public will always be entitled to an explanation from the authorities.
Neville Roach
Mr. Joseph continued without fear of contradiction, given an example of what can be seen as a blatant attempt by a privilege few to muzzle reporters in this country, it is unbelievable to me in this day and age that Barbados has come to this.
Just imagine professionals that are well trained to be allowed to serve the public under the banner of "free speech", are subject to "hand off" situations to protect a special interest group in our society.
However, Mr. Joseph also made mention of an incident when a police officer was hindered by being required to sign a book to enter one of the controversial gated communities, this humiliation must have impacted heavily on our officers, reporters, and skillful citizens that are providing two separate services that are important in any civilized society; There were treated like boy scouts.
Having said that, it is understood that the police and news media have some things in common, example: serving the public.
Therefore it is only logical for them to embrace each other like they recently have and are now busy working together to mend fences with a view to impact there relationship, which is a positive one.
The public which is demanding investigative journalism and also expecting a reduction in crime, must now accept its responsibility and rally around our police officers and reporters in concrete solidarity.
The above accusation must be taken seriously and the public will always be entitled to an explanation from the authorities.
Neville Roach
Monday, March 1, 2010
REJECT ANTI-WORKING CLASS ECONOMIC ADVICE
PRESS RELEASE
Over the past two weeks, a concerted effort has been made by a number of ‘economic gurus’ - Dr David Estwick, Mr Owen Arthur, Professor Avinash Persaud and Mr Peter Boos - to foist their opinions on a Barbadian public that they seem to believe is relatively naive and bereft of a healthy sense of its own self interest.
We in the Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) make this observation because all of the views expressed conformed to an elitist class and ideological perspective, and yet these "gurus" seemed to expect that they would be uncritically accepted by the mass of poor and working-class Barbadians.
Dr David Estwick
Our neophyte Minister of Economic Development has proposed that the best way to tackle Barbados’ economic predicament is to impose what was initially described as a ‘national wage freeze’, and later modified to a ‘public sector wage freeze’. But how does one justify treating a maid who is barely surviving on $300.00 a week, in the same manner as a Permanent-Secretary or a top executive who is earning $90,000.00 or $200,000.00 a year respectively? Surely, any proposal for wage restraint in Barbados must be tied to an effort to restructure and ameliorate the extreme disparity between wages at the top and bottom ends of the ladder!
Furthermore, how can one talk about freezing wages without also proposing a companion price restraint policy for the big businesses of Barbados and the state enterprises that charge fees for their services? And what about wealthy corporate shareholders and professionals such as doctors, engineers, accountants and lawyers - how can one expect lower level public servants to carry the burden of restraint, but exempt wealthy professionals? Dr Estwick needs to ‘wheel and come again!’.
Mr Owen Arthur
Our former Prime Minister’s fourteen year reign was defined by his unreserved acceptance of such elitist North American and European orchestrated concepts as liberalisation, free market, free trade, neo-liberalism and globalisation. Indeed, he spent his years in office preparing Barbados to enter a so-called ‘Free Trade Area of the Americas’; reducing Caribbean integration to a narrow preoccupation with concepts of free trade and free market; and embracing such ‘globalizing’ mechanisms as the ‘World Trade Orgainsation and the ‘Economic Partnership Agreement’.
Well, the global economic crisis has forcefully demonstrated the folly of these liberalisation and globalisation nostrums, and perceptive analysts have recognised that the old order is mortally wounded and that a new world system is emerging. And yet Owen Arthur is still lecturing about "Transforming The Economy in the Age of Liberalisation", and urging that Barbados’ economic policy should be based upon accommodating another round of liberalisation! It is time for Arthur to wake up and smell the coffee! His economic prescriptions are outdated and dangerous. Our future has to hinge around the development of a regional economy based on new regional industries, programmes of import substitution, and engagement with new non-traditional development partners.
Professor Avinash Persaud
After Cave Hill’s Dr Michael Howard had advised that Government should deal with the fiscal problem by reducing the number of Barbadian students at the University of the West Indies, Professor Persaud latched upon this and recommended that we should curtail funding of university education and instead focus on primary school education! What a load of backward thinking rubbish! But we are not surprised. This, after all, is the same Persaud who, in an article published in the Barbados Business Authority of 27th October 2008, approved of job cuts as a "sensible" way for local firms to deal with the international recession. Some-one should inform this self appointed "guru" that we will not permit him to lead us back onto the old plantation!
Mr Peter Boos
When the private sector guru, Peter Boos, was Chairman of our Cricket World Cup Organising Committee, he used to speak as though he was the de facto Prime Minister of Barabdos. He fed us a load of grandiose ‘hogwash’ about the supposed tremendous future benefits of the World Cup to Barbados, and encouraged us to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. Virtually none of Mr Boos’ promised benefits have materialized! However a number of his private sector peers walked away from the World Cup as millionaires, while the government and people were left holding the bag of debt. Mr Boos has never apologised to the people of Barbados - yet he has the effrontery to suggest that the main encumbrance to Barbados’ future progress is our public sector!
Conclusion
The PEP rejects the so-called ‘advice’ of all of these supposed gurus. None of them has properly analysed our predicament, and they are therefore offering fundamentally flawed recommendations. Furthermore, they are offering self-interested prescriptions that conform to their class positions or to their preconceived ideological biases.
What Barbados desperately needs is a group of people oriented professional economists who are grounded in the science of ‘physical economy’, and who understand the need of a developing country to invest in physical infrastructure and new industries, and to unleash the initiative, energy and ability of the masses of people.
DAVID A. COMISSIONG
President
Over the past two weeks, a concerted effort has been made by a number of ‘economic gurus’ - Dr David Estwick, Mr Owen Arthur, Professor Avinash Persaud and Mr Peter Boos - to foist their opinions on a Barbadian public that they seem to believe is relatively naive and bereft of a healthy sense of its own self interest.
We in the Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) make this observation because all of the views expressed conformed to an elitist class and ideological perspective, and yet these "gurus" seemed to expect that they would be uncritically accepted by the mass of poor and working-class Barbadians.
Dr David Estwick
Our neophyte Minister of Economic Development has proposed that the best way to tackle Barbados’ economic predicament is to impose what was initially described as a ‘national wage freeze’, and later modified to a ‘public sector wage freeze’. But how does one justify treating a maid who is barely surviving on $300.00 a week, in the same manner as a Permanent-Secretary or a top executive who is earning $90,000.00 or $200,000.00 a year respectively? Surely, any proposal for wage restraint in Barbados must be tied to an effort to restructure and ameliorate the extreme disparity between wages at the top and bottom ends of the ladder!
Furthermore, how can one talk about freezing wages without also proposing a companion price restraint policy for the big businesses of Barbados and the state enterprises that charge fees for their services? And what about wealthy corporate shareholders and professionals such as doctors, engineers, accountants and lawyers - how can one expect lower level public servants to carry the burden of restraint, but exempt wealthy professionals? Dr Estwick needs to ‘wheel and come again!’.
Mr Owen Arthur
Our former Prime Minister’s fourteen year reign was defined by his unreserved acceptance of such elitist North American and European orchestrated concepts as liberalisation, free market, free trade, neo-liberalism and globalisation. Indeed, he spent his years in office preparing Barbados to enter a so-called ‘Free Trade Area of the Americas’; reducing Caribbean integration to a narrow preoccupation with concepts of free trade and free market; and embracing such ‘globalizing’ mechanisms as the ‘World Trade Orgainsation and the ‘Economic Partnership Agreement’.
Well, the global economic crisis has forcefully demonstrated the folly of these liberalisation and globalisation nostrums, and perceptive analysts have recognised that the old order is mortally wounded and that a new world system is emerging. And yet Owen Arthur is still lecturing about "Transforming The Economy in the Age of Liberalisation", and urging that Barbados’ economic policy should be based upon accommodating another round of liberalisation! It is time for Arthur to wake up and smell the coffee! His economic prescriptions are outdated and dangerous. Our future has to hinge around the development of a regional economy based on new regional industries, programmes of import substitution, and engagement with new non-traditional development partners.
Professor Avinash Persaud
After Cave Hill’s Dr Michael Howard had advised that Government should deal with the fiscal problem by reducing the number of Barbadian students at the University of the West Indies, Professor Persaud latched upon this and recommended that we should curtail funding of university education and instead focus on primary school education! What a load of backward thinking rubbish! But we are not surprised. This, after all, is the same Persaud who, in an article published in the Barbados Business Authority of 27th October 2008, approved of job cuts as a "sensible" way for local firms to deal with the international recession. Some-one should inform this self appointed "guru" that we will not permit him to lead us back onto the old plantation!
Mr Peter Boos
When the private sector guru, Peter Boos, was Chairman of our Cricket World Cup Organising Committee, he used to speak as though he was the de facto Prime Minister of Barabdos. He fed us a load of grandiose ‘hogwash’ about the supposed tremendous future benefits of the World Cup to Barbados, and encouraged us to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. Virtually none of Mr Boos’ promised benefits have materialized! However a number of his private sector peers walked away from the World Cup as millionaires, while the government and people were left holding the bag of debt. Mr Boos has never apologised to the people of Barbados - yet he has the effrontery to suggest that the main encumbrance to Barbados’ future progress is our public sector!
Conclusion
The PEP rejects the so-called ‘advice’ of all of these supposed gurus. None of them has properly analysed our predicament, and they are therefore offering fundamentally flawed recommendations. Furthermore, they are offering self-interested prescriptions that conform to their class positions or to their preconceived ideological biases.
What Barbados desperately needs is a group of people oriented professional economists who are grounded in the science of ‘physical economy’, and who understand the need of a developing country to invest in physical infrastructure and new industries, and to unleash the initiative, energy and ability of the masses of people.
DAVID A. COMISSIONG
President
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