GPJA #492: What’s On & News from Aotearoa 7 the world – 28/2/14

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER No. 492, FEBRUARY 28, 2014

WHAT’S ON

Saturday, March 1, 10am-1pm, AUT –Sir Paul Reeves Building, Mayoral Drive, Auckland
Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific Day 1st March. It is the 60th anniversary of the Bravo detonation at Bikini Atoll. To acknowledge this day the Asia Pacific Human Rights Coalition is holding an information session with speaks and panels to discuss

• the Colonial nuclear Legacy in the Pacific
• Disarmament Treaties and Humanitarian impacts of Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Nuclear Disarmament and humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons
• Colonialism, Self-determination and Human Rights

Wednesday, March 5, 5.30pm, Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, Wellington
The Living Wage – Rev Charles Waldegrave. Christian Churches have been active in supporting the Living Wage campaign around the country. Rev Charles Waldegrave of the Family Centre has provided the background reasoning and calculations behind the Campaign’s target. I would like to invite you to hear Charles discuss the issues and the numbers at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, on Wednesday March 5th at 5:30pm. There will also be contributions from others involved in the campaign. All are welcome. Please register here. If you know of anyone else you think may be interested, please forward them this email.

Friday, May 9, 4-6pm, Room WG808 (Level 8), Sir Paul Reeves Building, AUT University
WHAT THE MEDIA DON’T TELL YOU: WHO’S RUNNING THE SHOW? AND IN WHOSE INTEREST? "We want an independent Aotearoa, based on policies of economic, military and political self-reliance, using Aotearoa’s resources for the benefit of the people of Aotearoa. "This country needs people power to let the world know that Aotearoa is not for sale." – Murray Horton, spokesperson for the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) and the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC). Murray will speak on:

• People’s rights before corporate profit
• Public service not private profit
• An independent foreign policy
• No unjust secret treaties

Saturday, May 10, 7.30pm, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington.
DREAMS LIE DEEPER – A CONCERT COMMEMORATING MINERS EVERYWHERE. The Orpheus Choir of Wellington, the city’s much-acclaimed symphonic choir, has programmed a major concert entitled Dreams Lie Deeper, as a tribute to miners the world over. It brings together three premières of choral music dedicated to miners, inspired by historical events that recall the tragedies, the struggles and also the rejoicing when rescue from a mining disaster was achieved. The theme of the evening will be dedicated to mining communities and a commemoration of events that have irrevocably changed the course of their lives.

The major work in the programme is the New Zealand première of 17 Days, by young UK composer James McCarthy. He was commissioned to compose a piece by Crouch End Festival Chorus, dedicated to the dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners in 2010. The work was premiered in the Barbican Theatre London in 2011 and received a standing ovation; a second performance last year was received with the same acclamation. It is a very moving expression of the tremendous emotion the whole world felt during those 17 days when the miners were underground and no word had yet been heard from them.

At our concert, the award-winning Wellington Brass Band and Wellington Young Voices, a recently established children’s choir in the city, join us in this very powerful presentation.

The second première is If Blood Be the Price, a work by New Zealand composer Ross Harris, inspired by the 1912 Waihi Miners’ Strike, and is set to a poem by NZ Poet Laureate Vincent O’Sullivan. The significance of the tragic consequence of the industrial action by those Waihi workers is indelibly written into mining history in this country, and the performance will be an evocative reminder of the working life of those who work under the ground.

The final focus of "Dreams Lie Deeper" will be on the tragedy that threw a whole community into turmoil and brought their plight into every New Zealand household overnight – the Pike River Mine disaster. The concert will showcase a new work by high profile and well-loved singer/songwriter, Dave Dobbyn, who has been commissioned to write both the lyrics and music for a tribute to the miners who lost their lives in the tragedy of 2011.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

NEW BOOK BY DAVID ROBIE
David Robie: Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific. Foreword by Kalafi Moala. Forthcoming title from Little Island Press http://littleisland.co.nz/store/view/id/34 Release date 25 April 2014. Available for pre-order now http://littleisland.co.nz/store/cart
http://littleisland.co.nz/store/view/id/34
A comprehensive "hidden stories of the Pacific" media and communication book about many of the region?s major issues of the past two decades such as the Fiji coups, Papua New Guinea?s Bougainville war and resource development crises, human rights in Timor-Leste and West Papua, nuclear testing and health challenges, environmental degradation and climate change. The author, Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie, writes with insight and personal experience of all the events covered. It is the tenth book by the author and the first since his Mekim Nius: South Pacific Media, Politics and Education http://www.autshop.ac.nz/mekim-nius-south-pacific-media-politics-and-education/ (published at the University of the South Pacific, 2004).
http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/publications/dont-spoil-my-beautiful-face-media-mayhem-and-human-rights-pacific

SOME OF ABC’S COLLECTION OF HISTORIC VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE

Withdraw US Bases_Okinawa https://www.dropbox.com/s/p5ov4vsbdiosbnb/Withdraw%20US%20Bases_Okinawa.mov

PKG-ECHELON https://www.dropbox.com/s/jmgd7vg1abr22sd/PKG-ECHELON.mov

Echelon – Sunday ’99 https://www.dropbox.com/s/3tcmu21bi0bfru9/Echelon%20-%20Sunday%20%2799.mov

Anti-Bases Campaign, Box 2258, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
abc
www.converge.org.nz/abc
www.facebook.com/AotearoaABC

SOCIAL SECURITY—THE MUSICAL!

The story of New Zealand’s Social Security Act of 1938 is one of our great stories.

And now that whole story is coming up on stage in Wellington in Once We Built A Tower.

It starts in the Waitaki valley, North Otago.

In 1928 a hydro dam was being built across the Waitaki river, near Kurow, with hillside camps to accommodate its work-force.

A Waitaki Hydro Medical Association was established as a health insurance scheme for the workers and their families and a doctor, Gervan McMillan, employed as medical officer.

Dr McMillan began bumping into the local Presbyterian minister and subsequent Party leader Arnold Nordmeyer, and the headmaster of Kurow District High, Andrew Davidson.

All three were Presbyterians, committed Christians believing in practical Christianity.

It was the time of the great slump. The trio discussed the hardship and desperation that the people of the Waitaki valley and the whole of the country were suffering.

They came up with a plan for national welfare based on the medical scheme operating at the dam. The doctor presented this to the Labour Party in 1934 who endorsed it as Labour’s Social Security platform.

The following year the doctor and the minister stood as Labour Party candidates in the General Election and were elected in a Labour landslide.

Jerusalem!

… Then came the hard work bit.

Labour had won control of the treasury benches, but New Zealand was a country devastated by economic depression and with a stubbornly entrenched ruling class opposed to reform.

It took three years of hard graft by the doctor and the Presbyterian minister before the Labour government finally passed legislation aimed at ending poverty in New Zealand.

Set in the 30s, Once We Built A Tower takes us back to Labour’s roots—and with fabulous music: “It’s only a Paper Moon,” “Pennies from Heaven,” “Brother Can You Spare a Dime.”

A hydro dam is constructed on stage.

There’s a power station so cathedral-like it requires Gregorian Chant.

There’s the winner of the Miss New Zealand contest 1928 who goes to Los Angeles and a studio engagement at MGM but is disappointed, saying it’s all sex and drink and she doesn’t drink… There’s Frances Nordmeyer, who keeps seeing the 19th century prophet Te Maiharoa…

Best of all, there’s Ethel McMillan, wife of fast-movin’, hard-talkin’ Dr. Gervan, who once wrote of her husband, “Had I known he would turn out to be a flaming red revolutionary, I probably never would have married him!”

You couldn’t make it up! Socialist miserabilism it’s not!

Presented by 2013 Chapman Tripp Theatre Critics’ Award winners (“Guts, Determination, Kiwi Ingenuity and Inspired Profligacy with Zero Budget”) The Bacchanals, it’s a great night out!

Once We Built a Tower, Bats theatre, Wellington, March 11-15.

MURRAY HORTON SPEAKING TOUR: MARCH-MAY 2014 – WHO’S RUNNING THE SHOW? AND IN WHOSE INTERESTS?

We want an independent Aotearoa, based on policies of economic, military and political self-reliance, using Aotearoa’s resources for the benefit of the people of Aotearoa.

This country needs people power to let the world know that Aotearoa is not for sale.

Murray Horton, spokesperson for the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) and the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC), will speak on:

• People’s Rights Before Corporate Profit
• Public Service Not Private Profit
• An Independent Foreign Policy
• No Unjust Secret Treaties

See below for the national itinerary (as of January 2014). Full details will be publicised when all the details have been finalised. You can check out details of this speaking tour (such as venues, speaking times and local contact people) at http://tinyurl.com/cafcatour

ITINERARY

Monday March 31 – Dunedin

Tuesday April 1 – Timaru

Wednesday April 2 – Ashburton

Monday April 14 – Takaka

Tuesday April 15 – Nelson (2013 Roger Award event)

Wednesday April 16 – Blenheim

Monday May 5 – Auckland

Tuesday May 6 – Whangarei

Wednesday May 7 – Kaitaia

Monday May 12 – Hamilton

Tuesday May 13 – Te Awamutu

Wednesday May 14 – Thames

Thursday May 15 – Waihi

Monday May 19 – Ohope & Opotiki

Tuesday May 20 – Gisborne

Wednesday May 21 – Clive

Thursday May 22- Palmerston North

Monday May 26 – Whanganui

Tuesday May 27 – Paekakariki

Wednesday May 28 – Wellington

CAFCA & ABC, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, Foreign Control Watchdog, Anti-Bases Campaign

Box 2258, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

cafca

abc

www.cafca.org.nz

www.converge.org.nz/watchdog
www.converge.org.nz/abc

Facebook (CAFCA) http://tinyurl.com/cafcafb

Watchblog: http://tinyurl.com/watchblog

twitter:@NZN4S

Facebook (ABC) https://www.facebook.com/AotearoaABC

JOIN THIS YEAR’S AUSTRALIAN SOLIDARITY DELEGATION TO VENEZUELA DECEMBER 2 – 13, 2014

Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network. Registrations are now open for the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network’s 2014 solidarity tour to revolutionary Venezuela. http://links.org.au/node/3700

OBAMA – FREE THE CUBA 5 – SIGN NOW

Why this is important. Freedom for Five Cuban anti-terrorists unjustly imprisoned in the US. The objective of the Five was to protect innocent lives in Cuba. The Cuban Five collected evidence of terrorists’ plots from Cuban American groups in Miami, which was then presented to the FBI. On June 17, 1998, a historic meeting was held in Havana. There, Cuban officials implored U.S. law enforcement officials to act on evidence presented, in order to end the cycle of terror. Instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI rounded up the Cuban Five.

Fernando González, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, and Ramón Labañino were arrested on September 12, 1998, and placed in solitary confinement for 17 months. They were charged with failure to disclose themselves as foreign agents, to several counts of conspiracy. The Cuban Five were denied the right to an unbiased jury trial. The jury was intimidated, witnesses were bullied by the prosecution, and defense lawyers were denied access to some evidence. The Cuban Five were unjustly sentenced to four life terms and 75 years collectively.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Obama_Administration_Free_the_Cuban_5/

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND

EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENTS: NZ’s Govt Must Abandon Its Indifference To Collateral Damage By Selwyn Manning – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/26/nzs-govt-must-abandon-its-indifference-to-collateral-damage/#sthash.98oSrqYx.dpuf

Protest against the Israeli Apartheid DECA Dance company

Batsheva Dance Troupe Protest – Wellington New Zealand

Ambassador Benavidez disrespects NZ unions and media http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1402/S00284/ambassador-benavidez-disrespects-nz-unions-and-media.htm

Tracey Barnett: Grim precedent pulls plug on our human rights standing http://www.nzherald.co.nz/tracey-barnett/news/article.cfm?a_id=309&objectid=10891405

There’s pride in resistance, not apartheid http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/32/article_14689.php

Gordon Campbell on Richard Prebble’s return and our immigration policy http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2014/02/25/gordon-campbell-on-richard-prebbles-return-and-our-immigration-policy/

The surveillance state online http://thestandard.org.nz/the-surveillance-state-online/

Two Hops: How New Zealand’s Security Agencies Surveil Targets Without Warrants By Selwyn Manning http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/24/two-hops-how-new-zealands-security-agencies-surveil-targets-without-warrants/

Protest against “cultural ambassadors” for Israeli apartheid http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1402/S00271/protest-against-cultural-ambassadors-for-israeli-apartheid.htm

Matt McCarten: Iwi leaders risk losing touch http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11198636

Hone Harawira: Ngapuhi’s settlement role critical to future of Treaty http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11197284

OTAGO FLOTILLA COMES FACE TO FACE WITH ANADARKO DRILLSHIP http://oilfreeotago.com/2014/02/09/press-release-otago-flotilla-comes-face-to-face-with-anadarko-drillship/

Solidarity for Navvivek Singh

When the Rich Whinge about paying tax By Frank Macskasy – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/10/when-the-rich-whinge-about-paying-tax/#sthash.8uVXElep.dpuf

MATT MCCARTEN

Bryce Edwards: Is Matt McCarten a game changer for Labour? Labour’s electoral fortunes suddenly appear to hang on the appointment of an unelected backroom parliamentary official largely unknown by the public. The major political story of the week has been Matt McCarten suddenly becoming David Cunliffe’s right-hand man. Well known within the Wellington beltway and in the wider political sphere, McCarten may well be the leading leftwing activist in the country, but few people know a great deal about him. For an in-depth introduction to McCarten, it’s well worth going to two sources in particular. The must-watch item is a recently released 22-minute TVNZ documentary on The Life and Politics of Matt McCarten. And the must-read item is Steve Braunias’ Matt McCarten: Better red than dead. This online Metro feature is an insightful profile published in 2011 when McCarten was dying of cancer. Both items show why McCarten is both loved and loathed amongst the political community, but taken incredibly seriously by all. For a visual representation of both the past and contemporary politics of McCarten, see my blogpost of cartoons and photographs Images of Matt McCarten.

Matt McCarten links courtesy of Bryce Edwards

Mike Treen (Daily Blog): The McCarten Appointment

Brian Rudman (Herald): Good old days point way to Labour future

Jane Clifton (Listener): Snap, crackle and flop

Danyl Mclauchlan (Dim-Post): Reality check

Pete George (Your NZ): Where do Labour’s ABC’s fit in?

Cameron Slater (Whaleoil): A ‘Game changer’? Really?

Radio NZ: McCarten admits Key will be a challenge

David Farrar (Kiwiblog): The McCarten appointment

Pete George (Your NZ): Matt the Knife

Pete George (Your NZ): McCarten move a Green squeeze?

Will Matthews (Left estate): A Good Choice

Maiki Sherman (Maori TV): Matt McCarten appointed as Labour’s Chief of Staff

Jeremy Muir (Gisbourne Herald): Political veterans could have major impacts in new support roles

Waatea News: Mana loses strategist

Waatea News: Organisation skills key to McCarten pick

Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): McCarten still paying off overdue tax bill

Bryce Edwards (Liberation): Top tweets about Matt McCarten and Labour

Herald: Editorial: Double-edged sword in Labour arsenal

Dominion Post: Editorial: No easy task for McCarten

Chris Trotter (Bowalley Road): Now Is The Time … For A Game-Changer

Pete George (Your NZ): Presland never applied for chief of staff position

Lewis Holden: Prebble and McCarten

Willie Jackson (Stuff): Courage from David Cunliffe

McCarten: Cunliffe’s policies won me over http://www.3news.co.nz/McCarten-Cunliffes-policies-won-me-over/tabid/1607/articleID/333867/Default.aspx

McCarten & Cunliffe – political survivors and how they’ll use MMP to win By Martyn Bradbury – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/27/mccarten-cunliffe-political-survivors-and-how-theyll-use-mmp-to-win/#sthash.8jPTveib.dpuf

Labour leans to left with McCarten – Key read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Labour-leans-to-left-with-McCarten–Key/tabid/1607/articleID/333768/Default.aspx#ixzz2uaRGBUpA

Lunacy or Brilliance? Cunliffe appoints Matt McCarten as his Chief-of-Staff.

By Chris Trotter – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/26/lunacy-or-brilliance-cunliffe-appoints-matt-mccarten-as-his-chief-of-staff/#sthash.80TAqrME.dpuf

NZ – POVERTY AN INEQUALITY

Gini: A Measure of Inequality http://thestandard.org.nz/gini-a-measure-of-inequality/

GI Blues: Inside the Glen Innes state house war zone http://metromag.co.nz/city-life/urban-design/gi-blues-glen-innes-state-housing/

POLICY WATCH, the fortnightly e-newsletter from the NZ Council of Christian Social Services. http://christiansocialservices.blogspot.co.nz/

Revised figures show government policies have failed poorest http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/revised-figures-show-govt-policies-have-failed-poorest/5/183001

See no poverty, hear no poverty, speak no poverty and count no poverty By Susan St John http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/28/see-no-poverty-hear-no-poverty-speak-no-poverty-and-count-no-poverty/

Children in poverty vastly underestimated http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9771016/Children-in-poverty-vastly-underestimated

Number of Kiwi kids in poverty jumps by 60,000 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11210883

This is what inequality looks like in NZ – beneficiaries vs CEOs by Martyn Bradbury – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/08/this-is-what-inequality-looks-like-in-nz-beneficiaries-vs-ceos/#.dpuf

NZ – ECONOMY

Jane Kelsey: TPP too tough for Groser’s talent http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/9769135/TPP-too-tough-for-Grosers-talent

Crunch time for National – Jane Kelsey on TPPA http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1402/S00287/crunch-time-for-national-jane-kelsey-on-tppa.htm

TPPA deal should not be possible without US “Fast Track” http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1402/S00281/tppa-deal-should-not-be-possible-without-us-fast-track.htm

TPPA Singapore meet ends with a whimper, not a roar http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1402/S00308/tppa-singapore-meet-ends-with-a-whimper-not-a-roar.htm

Neoliberal Monetary Policy – Economics or Theology? by Keith Rankin – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/28/neoliberal-monetary-policy-economics-or-theology/#sthash.azdCJLvX.dpuf

Hyping doesn’t help the economy, work does http://thestandard.org.nz/hyping-doesnt-help-the-economy-work-does/

Ideas Matter: Geoff Bertram Rattles the Neoliberal Cage http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/07/ideas-matter-geoff-bertram-rattles-the-neoliberal-cage/

NZ – WORKRIGHTS

Minimum wage increases without ending zero hours contracts won’t help underemployed, low paid workers. http://www.95bfm.com/assets/sm/214695/3/joooo.mp3

Nearly half of Kiwis back $15 minimum wage – poll http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/nearly-half-kiwis-back-15-minimum-wage-poll-5848703

MANA says minimum wage rise is nowhere near enough – Minto – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/24/mana-says-minimum-wage-rise-is-nowhere-near-enough-minto/#sthash.auqDd88V.dpuf

Qantas staff fear job losses in NZ http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/237239/qantas-staff-fear-job-losses-in-nz

Migrant worker abuse crackdown http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11209212

Ambassador Benavidez is Lying, Public Apology is in Order http://www.humanrightsphilippines.net/2014/02/ambassador-benavidez-is-lying-public-apology-is-in-order-migrante-aotearoa/

Are unions a good deal for workers? http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/9696643/Are-unions-a-good-deal-for-workers

Engineers and Servos Ponder Mega-Merger Union http://iso.org.nz/2014/02/06/engineers-and-servos-ponder-mega-merger-union/

Goodman Fielder confirms Hamilton job losses http://www.3news.co.nz/Goodman-Fielder-confirms-Hamilton-job-losses/tabid/423/articleID/331580/Default.aspx

STATS OF THE WEEK

The world’s “freest” economy? That distinction belongs to Hong Kong, says the Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom, an annual tally that rewards governments for keeping taxes low and regulations on business feeble. Yan Chi Keung probably doesn’t feel particularly free. The 57-year-old, profiled recently by photographer Brian Cassey, lives in a six-by-three-foot cage home that costs him $195 a year. Why do over 50,000 people in Hong Kong live in cages? Rents for even small one-bedroom apartments run over $2,000 per month. So who’s enjoying Hong Kong’s economic “freedom”? Maybe the city’s top 10 richest. These freedom-lovers, Forbes reports, average $14.3 billion each in net worth

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget." – Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living

"We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving." – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

Big Challenges Facing Janet Yellen http://critiqueofcrisistheory.wordpress.com/big-challenges-facing-janet-yellen/

This is no recovery, this is a bubble – and it will burst http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/24/recovery-bubble-crash-uk-us-investors?CMP=fb_ot

Future News: Starring Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter), Heike Makatsch (The Book Thief) and Javier Cámara (Bad Education), the Robin Hood Tax campaign takes a cheeky look at what the world might be like in 2024, with a tax which tackles extreme poverty, climate change and cuts to public services. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ghKdH1iJBc

LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Big Oil and Bad Air: Report Exposes Link Between Fracking and Toxic Air Emissions in Texas http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/27/big_oil_and_bad_air_report

CULTURAL DISSENT

Review: A World built on Slavery http://www.juancole.com/2014/02/world-built-slavery.html

George Takei on Arizona’s Anti-Gay Bill, Life in a Japanese Internment Camp & Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/27/george_takei_on_arizonas_anti_gay

AUSTRALIA

Manus Island violence product of inhumane policy https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/55905

BOSNIA

A Revolution on the Periphery of Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina on Fire by

Mate Kapović http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/940.php

CAMBODIA

A Week that Shook Cambodia: A Fact-Finding Report on the General Strike and Violent Crackdown in Cambodia http://amrc.org.hk/node/1363

HAITI

OAS Insider Reveals Details of Illegal Foreign Intervention Against Haitian Democracy http://www.globalresearch.ca/oas-insider-reveals-details-of-illegal-foreign-intervention-against-haitian-democracy/5370683

From Original Sin to Electoral Intervention http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/haiti-from-original-sin-to-electoral-intervention

Remembering the Overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government in Haiti. http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/21/remembering-the-overthrow-of-jean-bertrand-aristide/ Read Part One here http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/31/remembering-the-overthrow-of-haitis-jean-bertrand-aristide/ and Part Two here http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/07/the-haiti-occupation-continues/

QATAR

Over 500 migrant workers died in Qatar http://english.alarabiya.net/en/sports/2014/02/20/Over-500-migrant-workers-died-in-Qatar-.html

UK

Owen Jones’s ‘Agenda for Hope’: We want a fairer society – and here’s how we can achieve it http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/owen-joness-agenda-for-hope-we-want-a-fairer-society–and-heres-how-we-can-achieve-it-9086440.html

Public Far to the Left of Labour Party Finds Poll http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/left-wing-price-controls-nationalisation-yougov-poll-519684

UKRAINE

A Coup or a Revolution? Ukraine Seeks Arrest of Ousted President Following Deadly Street Protests http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/24/a_coup_or_a_revolution_ukraine

USA

Spies of Mississippi: New Film on the State-Sponsored Campaign to Defeat the Civil Rights Movement http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/25/spies_of_mississippi_new_film_on

Exclusive: Inside the Army Spy Ring & Attempted Entrapment of Peace Activists, Iraq Vets, Anarchists http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/25/exclusive_inside_the_army_spy_ring

5 Hypocritical Justifications the 1% Use to Justify the America’s Staggering Inequality http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37751.htm

USA – WORKERS REVOLT

The UAW at Volkswagen: Workers, Unions and the Left by Sam Gindin http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/939.php

VENEZUELA

Eva Golinger: ‘Don’t be fooled by what most media outlets are telling you about protests in Venezuela’ http://links.org.au/node/3721

Violent protest will not help Venezuela http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/23/violent-protest-no-help-venezuela

President Maduro salutes a crowd in Venezuela

The Revolution is Here to Stay – Venezuela Beyond the Protests http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/21/venezuela-beyond-the-protests/

The Coup Last Time – Venezuela and the Imperial Script, 2004 Edition by ALEXANDER COCKBURN and JEFFREY ST. CLAIR. This essay was written during the ill-fated 2004 campaign to recall Hugo Chavez. http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/21/venezuela-and-the-imperial-script/