#338: Part 2

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND
NEWSLETTER No. 338 (part 2), July 15, 2010

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND

Alternative Welfare Working Group starts tomorrow http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1007/S00081.htm

The Welfare Working Group held a two day forum in June. Professor Innes Asher’s presentation can be viewed here: Child Health and Government Policy

Sue Bradford wants to see all options considered to balance official views http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10657258

Gordon Campbell: On John Key Getting Us Mixed Up In Australia’s Problems With Asylum Seekers Asylum seekers? We’ve been here before under a National-led government. In 1999, the then-Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere used the spectre of 120 Chinese boat people coming over the horizon to rush through Immigration Act changes that allowed for mass, indefinite detention of asylum seekers… http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2010/07/07/campbell-key-and-australia%E2%80%99s-asylum-seekers/

Asylum seekers must not be political pawns, says Amnesty International http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1007/S00079.htm

FREE GAZA: New Zealand’s “Kia Ora Gaza” to join land and sea convoys to Gaza http://australiansforpalestine.com/26071

Rats and stink at Paper Reclaim a health hazard http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1007/S00110.htm

TV3: Paper Reclaim workers strike over pay dispute http://www.3news.co.nz/Paper-Reclaim-workers-strike-over-pay-dispute/tabid/817/articleID/164495/Default.aspx

Waihi gold miners on strike over pass-on http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1007/S00032.htm

NZ unions protest Mexican government’s use of force against striking workers http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1007/S00029.htm

TVNZ job cuts compromise quality news http://www.epmu.org.nz/news/show/173098

TV1; Better life a trade-off for Asian migrants http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/better-life-trade-off-asian-migrants-3627751/video

Refugee Council Opposes East Timor Detention Plan http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1007/S00087.htm

Whale Warrior "Captain Pete Bethune" Returns http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1007/S00134.htm

Government failed in duty to stand up for citizens http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10657917

CTU: Government spending cuts for their own sake http://union.org.nz/news/2010/government-spending-cuts-for-their-own-sake-12710

NZ ECONOMY

Brian Fallow: Business survey gives reality check http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10657183

Bernard Hickey: How de-leveraging is pressing down on economic growth, house prices and debt in NZ and elsewhere http://tinyurl.com/2cte35r

Gordon Campbell: Mood Of The Boardroom – Credulous So, why do business leaders keep on calling for cuts to welfare in future – when their own activities are currently failing to create sufficient jobs for those people likely to be tipped off welfare? http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2010/07/06/campbellbusiness-leaders-and-the-confidence-fairy/

Government trade policy must address land ownership 6.7.10 http://union.org.nz/news/2010/government-trade-policy-must-address-land-ownership-6710

CTU supports calls on RBNZ to hold back http://business.scoop.co.nz/2010/07/07/ctu-supports-calls-on-rbnz-to-hold-back/

FEATURES

Locked Out: The 12 Million People Without a Country, and Their Need to Become a Citizen http://tinyurl.com/24tkh3n

The General, the Journalist, and the Power of Israel – “As You Know, I Didn’t Say That” http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/07/the-general-the-journalist-and-the-power-of-israel/#more-19078

The Charge of the Media Brigade By John Pilger – The Associated Press, says the Pentagon, spends $4.7 billion on public relations: that is, winning the hearts and minds not of recalcitrant Afghan tribesmen but of Americans. This is known as "information dominance," and PR people are "information warriors." http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25893.htm

Robert Fisk: CNN was wrong about Ayatollah Fadlallah http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-cnn-was-wrong-about-ayatollah-fadlallah-2023179.html

When Criminals Rule The World http://mwcnews.net/focus/politics/3681-when-criminals-rule-the-world.html?showall=1

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

The Right Prescription for an Ailing Economy by Dean Baker http://www.thenation.com/article/36891/right-prescription-ailing-economy

Republicans: a party of unemployment – It may seem bad taste to accuse Republicans of wanting a rise in unemployment but their actions leave no other explanation http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/06/republicans-party-of-unemployment

Book Review: Epic Recession – How Did it Happen, How Bad will it Get? By Carl Finamore http://www.zcommunications.org/book-review-epic-recession-by-carl-finamore

We’re in a Recession Because the Rich Are Raking in an Absurd Portion of the Wealth http://tinyurl.com/2efhnc9

Calm surface, turbulent underneath http://economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2010/07/imf_and_world_economy?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/worldeconomy

The Crisis & the Euro by George Soros http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/aug/19/crisis-euro/?pagination=false

Krugman Says U.S. Should Do `Everything We Can’ to Boost Jobs http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-06/krugman-says-kitchen-sink-strategy-needed-to-stave-off-another-recession.html

The European right is capitalising on a crisis – Eurozone governments and European authorities are using the economy to justify pushing through rightwing policy changes http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/09/economic-dilemma-excuse-eurozone

FOOD, FARMING AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Oceans’ Demise Near Irreversible By Les Blumenthal – A sobering new report warns that oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climatechange already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, thefood chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather http://www.countercurrents.org/blumenthal070710.htm

REVIEWS

Classic cartoon by Fred Wright: `How much do you pay your boss?’ http://links.org.au/node/1785

After having seen countless fictional and documentary movies about the warsin Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11?some good (The Men who Stare at Goats, TheGround Truth) and some not good at all (Redacted, No End in Sight)?there is onethat soars above all the rest: a documentary called The Tillman Story thatincorporates the kind of investigative journalism associated with the genre aswell as searing drama of the kind that fiction delivers. http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/the-tillman-story/

Iris Dement Wasteland Of The Free

Michael Moore: Why I Had to Hire 9 Bodyguards After Winning an Oscar – In awide-ranging interview, Moore talks about his controversial career, taking overhis local Democratic Party, and unloads on Obama’s handling of the Afghan war.http://www.alternet.org/story/147430/michael_moore%3A_why_i_had_to_hire_9_bodyguards_after_winning_an_oscar

America’s Tragic Descent into Empire – Engelhardt’s new book, "The AmericanWay of War," explores the U.S.’s jaw-dropping transformation into a globalmilitary empire. http://tinyurl.com/24s3y9d

Beyond the Borders of the Real – Video Gamers and the Future of Labor Rightshttp://counterpunch.com/jacobs06302010.html

AFGHANISTAN

The unknown Afghan body count – An unwillingness to track the number ofAfghan civilians killed undermines attempts to gauge progress in the country http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/04/afghanistan-body-count-civilian-deaths

Afghanistan is a Catastrophe By Simon Jenkins – Our leaders would ratheravoid embarrassment than be honest about the horrific futility of the wars weare fighting. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25919.htm

AUSTRALIA

Call for a national BDS conference in Australia http://australianbdscampaign.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/call-for-a-national-bds-conference-in-australia/

Gillard’s retreat to Howard’s policy on asylum seekers met with protests http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/44693

BOLIVIA

From Water Wars to the Fight for Climate Justice: Pablo Soln on the Lessonsof Cochabamba http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=2709

BURMA

Energy Insecurity: How Total, Chevron, and PTTEP Contribute to Human RightsViolations, Financial Secrecy, and Nuclear Proliferation in Burma (Myanmar) http://www.earthrights.org/publication/energy-insecurity-how-total-chevron-and-pttep-contribute-human-rights-violations-financi

CANADA

Tax Revolt Destabilizes Government in British Columbia by Roger Annis http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=1274

CHINA

Workers in China grasp the power of the strike – A spectre of labour unrestis haunting the country – and it terrifies the rulingCommunist party http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/04/workers-china-power-strike-communist

Chinese pay disputes mirrored across region http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ebeea956-8780-11df-9f37-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=Late_headline2/NL/APJuly%202010/Vanilla_Labour/0/

Companies brace for end of cheap made-in-China era – Costlier labor,currency are ending cheap made-in-China era; manufacturers struggle to adapt http://tinyurl.com/27tqrp8

GREECE

The Greek Laboratory: Shock Doctrine and Popular Resistance http://liammacuaid.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/%CF%8D-%CE%AC/

HAITI

Editorial: A Protectorate is now Installed in Haiti http://www.webofdemocracy.org/a-protectorate-is-now-insta.html

Venezuela leads the world in earthquake relief http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca/node/448

Exhausted Haitians pray for strength – Six months after the earthquake,little rebuilding has been done — and now it’s hurricane season http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Exhausted+Haitians+pray+strength/3260174/story.html#ixzz0tW6DHlI6

INDIA

An excellent new website on Kashmir which provides historical context toPalistine conflict is launched. It is edited by Akhila Raman, a researcher onKashmir. This website is expanded from a Kashmir chronology She compiled overseveral years. This site has a historical timeline and FAQ with clickableonline references to materials ranging from 1948 Indian White Paper, Instrumentof Accession to 1989 insurgency and recent human rights reports. http://www.kashmirlibrary.org/

INDONESIA

KiwiFM Audio: Wallace Chapman & Selwyn Manning – Indonesia PoliceVs Tempo Magazine http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1007/S00096.htm

IRAQ

Fallujah: Anatomy Of An Atrocity By David Rothscum: Chris Busby, MalakHamdan Entesar Ariabi have gathered scientific evidence of the genocide thepeople of Fallujah are suffering from at the hands of the imperialists thatinvaded Iraq http://www.countercurrents.org/rothscum110710.htm

US And Britain ‘Did Not Believe Iraq’s Weapons Programme Was A Real Threat’By The Telegraph – Former UK diplomat Carne Ross claimed that the Government”intentionally and substantially” exaggerated its assessment of Iraq’sweapons of mass destruction (WMD) in public documents. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25920.htm

KOREA

US Professors Raise Doubts About Report on South Korean Ship Sinking ByAkiko Fujita – Researchers J.J. Suh and Seung-Hun Lee say the South KoreanJoint Investigation Group made a weak case when it concluded that North Koreawas responsible for sinking the Cheonan. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25909.htm

NEPAL

Women’s Role in the Nepalese Movement: Making a People’sConstitution by Hisila Yami http://monthlyreview.org/100313yami.php

PACIFIC

Cursed by plenty – Paying a covert visit to Papua’s fighters in the foresthttp://www.economist.com/node/16524650?story_id=16524650&source=hptextfeature

Organisasi Papua Merdeka & The Forgotten Birds Of Paradise http://dancull.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/the-forgotten-birds-of-paradise/

PALESTINE

Witch-Hunt Begins In Israeli Schools And Colleges By Jonathan Cook:Nazareth: Hundreds of Israeli college professors have signed a petitionaccusing the education minister of endangering academic freedoms after hethreatened to “punish” any lecturer or institution that supports aboycott of Israel. http://www.countercurrents.org/jcook120710.htm

The Two Sides of a Barbed-Wire Fence By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/opinion/01kristof.html?src=me&ref=general

The NY Times Is Waiting For Gandhi: Here They Are By Eileen Fleming – Acrtiique of Nicholas D. Kristoff’s New York Times Op-ed "Waiting for Gandhi".Eileen Fleming asks, is Kristoff unware that Palestinians are engaging innonviolence for decades. http://www.countercurrents.org/fleming120710.htm

B`Tselem: One-fifth of settlements’ built-up area is privatePalestinian land; Settlements control 42 percent of West Bank land area http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=40946

Noam Chomsky: The Real Threat Aboard the Freedom Flotilla – Israel’sviolent attack on the Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gazashocked the world. http://www.zcommunications.org/the-real-threat-aboard-the-freedom-flotilla-by-noam-chomsky

BDS campaign wants Israel to abide by international law – Boycott Divestmentand Sanctions strategy arises from realisation that the occupation will not endunless Israelis understand it has a price http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/11/israeli-academic-boycott-commentary

Israel’s ‘street apartheid’ By Mya Guarnieri http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/07/20107101335494763.html

Palestinians face being walled by Israeli security barrier http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/palestinians-israeli-security-barrier

Slaughter at Sea – Written by Free Gaza Team http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/56-news/1236-slaughter-at-sea

Documentary: "The Rooftops of Hebron" – Restrictions on movement

Breaking the Blockade of Gaza – Video of talks by Flotilla participants http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest110710.html

PHILIPPINES

UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston criticized government institutions,particularly the executive branch and the military, for their apparent failureto curb the spate of political killings in the country. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100706-279399/UN-report-raps-govt-for-failure-to-stop-killings

Amnesty International urged Secretary De Lima to end the culture of impunityamong security forces and establish a working group to review all reportedcases of extrajudicial killings and disappearances since 2000 to ensureprosecution of the perpetrators. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100706-279398/Bayan-activist-shot-dead

Militants call for junking of RP-US military pact over unexplained deaths http://tinyurl.com/263jlav

Bayan: US military aid is ‘bribe’ for VFA retention – As the Philippine Armybragged about the $8.9 million worth of protective equipment it has received asa grant from the US, under the US Excess Defense Articles Program, the umbrellagroup Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) warned of "those who bring gifts inone hand and a knife in the other." http://www.bayan.ph/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1278637405&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1

THAILAND

Reporting from the ‘Red zones’ http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/44743

UK

Unite members need more than just tough talk – Terms and conditions havebeen eroded because of the leadership’s reluctance to take action

UK factory saboteurs acquitted By JONNY PAUL – Activists smashed armsfactory to "prevent Israeli war crimes." http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?ID=180316

Six years in jail, no charge: the war on terror’s forgotten victim speaks http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/six-years-in-jail-no-charge-war-on-terrors-forgotten-victim-speaks-2021138.html

Jury clears activists who broke into Brighton arms factory – Five found notguilty after arguing they were seeking to prevent Israeli war crimes in Gaza http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/30/activists-arms-factory-acquitted

USA

Questions Asked Regarding U.S. Knowledge of, and Response to, Attack thatKilled One U.S. Citizen, Others Injured and Detained http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/rights-group-files-foia-requests-regarding-israel-attack-flotilla-delivering-aid-gaza

Profiling 5 Key Right-Wing Mouthpieces Who Spread Paranoia and Hatred toExtremists on the Fringe – From Glenn Beck and Andrew Napolitano at Fox News tothe conspiracy radio network established by Alex Jones. http://tinyurl.com/2d8p444

SEIU’s Andy Stern Joins The Corporate Elite http://www.countercurrents.org/cooke070710A.htm

Marijuana Law Reform Is a Civil Rights Issue – It is time to end the failedwar on drugs by decriminalizing and regulating marijuana to save ourcommunities. http://tinyurl.com/25nvozl

Growing wage inequality http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/do-you-earn-more-than-your-parents-did/?src=tptw

U.S. Social Forum a Mechanism for Change http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2571-us-social-forum-a-mechanism-for-change

VENEZUELA

Foreword – John Bellamy Foster: "I’m certain that this process isirreversible. This movement of change, of restructuring, of revolution, willnot be stopped." —Hugo Chvez, 20021 http://www.monthlyreview.org/100701foster.php