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ISSUE SEVEN | 04.03.02
Genocide
in Palestine
jerusalem.indymedia.org,
04.01.02
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Five
officers in the Palestinian security forces executed in a public
building in Ramallah.
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The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), armed
with the largest sum of US foreign aid given to any nation on earth,
are invading the Palestinian city of Ramallah, the contested city of
Bethlehem, and several other locations. As has been done to lesser degrees
for years, the Israeli government claims that it needs to dismantle
the Palestinian government, sweep through neighborhoods door by door,
and flush "terrorists" out of the city. IDF forces are taking
every Palestinian man they can find out of his home by force for interrogation,
have shot many people in the streets, and are wrecking the cities with
anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles shot at buildings full of people.
The Mosque in Manger Square, Bethlehem has been bombed.
The Palestinian government has said
that it is concerned about the spread of disease from so many unburied
corpses. As has been the case for years, incredibly poor Palestinians,
many living their entire lives in militarized refugee camps, are fighting
back.
The Israeli government has banned reporters
and ambulances from entering the conflict zone. The United Nations has
demanded that Israel withdraw from the contested cities. George Bush
has said that he supports Israel’s actions, but urges them to finish
the sweeps and move into a cease fire.
The War Expands
www.narconews.com,
03.25.02
The ‘War on Terror’ has established
it’s second target: Colombia, where a six month offensive has been
initiated under the title "Operation Thanatos", the name for
the Greek god of death.
On February 20th Colombian
president Andres Pastrana ruptured peace talks with the country’s
largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC
and began an offensive on the neutral zone granted three years ago to
FARC forces. On the first day of the campaign, warplanes and helicopters
carried out more than 200 aerial bombardments, dropping 500 lb. bombs.
Within hours, rebel units struck back, focusing their attacks on infrastructure.
The FARC blacked out wide sections of the country by dynamiting electrical
substations and transmition lines, blasting bridges, and blocking key
highways across the country.
The Colombian Air Force has bombed
the zone continuously since February 21st, causing forest
fires, and destroying homes, highways, and bridges throughout the region.
Many more deaths are expected as a result of the bombing. Most harmful
to the region is the fact that the paramilitaries have entered the area
to hunt down "guerrilla sympathizers." Colombian television
aired footage of hundreds of well-equipped paramilitary fighters amassed
at a jungle site entering the southern portion of FARC territory.
The US Ambassador to Colombia recently
explained "in the Western Hemisphere, Colombia is the ‘highest
priority’ for the United States…the FARC rebels are not a
terrorist organization of global reach but regional, and the US shares
this region."
The Bush administration is seeking
another $400 million for the next fiscal year as part of the War on
Drugs. An additional $100 million counter insurgency aid to protect
British Petroleum’s oil pipeline, $29 million to help Colombia
combat terrorist kidnappings and $25 million to provide "critically
needed training and operational assistance," all of which will
expand this war in Colombia.
Say
Hello to the Shadow Government
Washington Post, 03.01.02
Shortly after September 11th,
President Bush activated a long dormant Cold War plan to form a "shadow
government" hidden in bunkers underneath the East Coast of the
United States. This "shadow government" is intended to replace
the regular federal government in case Washington D.C. is destroyed.
It is made up of approximately 125 people from the Bush Administration’s
Executive Branch. Those selected have not been named publicly and Congress
had not been told of the existence of the "shadow government"
until reports of its existence were leaked to the Washington Post in
February. The President admitted that this was where Vice President
Dick Cheney had been when he was said to be in an "undisclosed
location." When asked, Bush said that though the original plan
was for the "shadow government" to only convene temporarily,
he has decided that it will instead be permanent.
E X P L O I T A T I O N , A
R R O G A N C E ,
A N D C O N T R O L
Suspects
Being Tortured
London Guardian, 03.12.02
The US has been secretly sending prisoners suspected
of al-Quida connections to countries where torture during interrogation
is legal, according to US diplomatic and intelligence sources. Prisoners
are being sent to countries such as Egypt and Jordan where they can
be subjected to torture and threats to their families to extract information
sought by the US.
According to a report in the Washington
Post, US intelligence agents have been involved in a number of interrogations.
A CIA spokesman said the agency had "no comment" on the allegations.
"After September 11th, these sorts of movements have
been occurring all the time," a US diplomat told the Post. "It
allows us to get information from terrorists in a way we can’t
do on US soil."
Jihad
Text for Children
Washington Post, 03.23.02
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Victim
of US textbooks and bombs, Jalalabad, 12.03.01.
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US aid workers in Afghanistan are faced
with a difficult task: ridding the country of militaristic children’s
text books provided by the US government. In order to foster a culture
that would encourage Afghanis to fight the Soviet Union, USAID spent
$51 million designing and smuggling textbooks into the country filled
with references to "jihad" (translated to "holy war"
primarily by non-Islamics). The books taught children to count using
pictures of tanks, guns and bombs. One page illustrates an Afghani Mujaheddin
fighter (then recipients of US aid) with a rifle slung over his shoulder.
Below him are words explaining that such men are obedient to Allah and
will sacrifice life to impose Islamic law on the government. Humanitarian
workers say the books are a crude tool that steeped a generation in
violence.
The
texts in question were used until this January, when the US began sending
new texts to Afghanistan. The new books still contain fundamentalist
Islamic teachings (as interpreted by the US) because officials say they
will be rejected by teachers without such ideology. Though US law prohibits
using tax dollars to promote religion, an AID spokeswoman said that
"the primary purpose…is to educate children, which is predominantly
a secular activity."
Editors Note: Remember this story the next
time someone says Islamic culture teaches violence, in this case it
was US tax dollars that made it possible!
Aid
for Sex
BBC News, 03.18.02
An investigation into reports of child
abuse by aid workers in Sierra Leone has discovered allegations against
a number of Britons, including UN soldiers. The accusations follow a
report by the UN Human Rights Commision and Save the Children which
said some aid agency employees were exchanging food and other supplies
for sex. International peacekeepers and aid workers from more than 40
agencies in West Africa were alleged to have sexually exploited young
women and children in exchange for money and humanitarian aid.
US
Soldiers
MSNBC News, 03.25.02
A US based charity that monitors child
prostitution has accused US soldiers stationed in Honduras of using
child prostitutes there. According to the organization, US soldiers
have been purchasing sex with street children, in some cases taking
them to the US military base for all-night parties, for more than 20
years. The US Embassy denied the allegations. The military base commander
said that it was up to the Honduran government to prove any such charges.
Editor’s Note: The US military
constructed its base in Honduras in the 1980’s to overthrow the
government of Nicaragua in what became the Iran-Contra scandal.
BLOOD
ON THEIR HANDS
"We know that there were several warnings that were given prior
to the events of September 11. From people in Germany to people
in the Cayman Islands…people were calling into the FBI and
CIA and they were giving information that was critical.
"Even prior to these warnings we had the trial itself from
the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and we had the trial from the
American Embassy bombing…and now the US government is being
sued by survivors of the Embassy bombings because it is clear that
America had warnings and did nothing.
"There was adequate warning. There were people who failed to
act on the warning. And that’s what ought to be investigated.
But instead of requesting that Congress investigate what went wrong
and why, we had president Bush (painful for me to say that, but)
we had president Bush placing a call to [Democratic] Majority Leader
Tom Daschle asking him NOT to investigate the events of September
11, and then, hot on the heels of the president’s call was
another call from the Vice President asking that Tom Daschle also
not investigate the events that led to September 11.
My question is, what do they have to hide? And why is it that the
American people are being asked to make tremendous sacrifices now
in our civil liberties? And the fact that we got this request for
an unprecedented hike in [military spending]…the hike alone
of $48.1 billion is more than any one of our allies spend total
on their defense."
US Representative (D) Cynthia McKinney from Georgia, Pacifica
Radio, 03.25.02 |
Colonial
"Free Trade" Expansion
Independent UK, 03.25.02
George Bush recently traveled to five
South American Countries to promote the Central American Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA), the newest round of NAFTA-like trade deals. Government
officials in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
began negotiations in September 2001 to begin "implementing economic
reforms to promote privatization, competition andmarkets."
The US exports around $8.8 billion to Central America every year and
imported $11.8 billion in goods to the US in 2000. The US government
says this will support the "development of democracy, enhanced
economic growth, and security for human rights" as well as promote
the implementation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by
January 2005. Trade, Mr Bush said, will "reinforce the region's progress
toward political, economic and social reform." Bush was met with violent
protests in each nation he visited.
Warming
is Global
Reuters Press Service, 03.28.02
Global warming has now begun to affect
species on every part of the planet. That was the conclusion of a group
of scientists who focus on plants, birds, animals and fish who recently
published their findings in the scientific journal "Nature".
The most significant temperature change has occurred in the last thirty
years, they said. Unlike previous periods of rapid temperature change,
many escape routes for threatened species are now blocked, paved over,
toxified or have been cut down by humans.
C U L T U R A L C O N T R O
L
I N T H E U $ A
The
Digital Angel
www.adsx.com
Americans may soon have microchips injected
under their skin. In what seems to be an intense media push, a Florida
based corporation called Applied Digital Solutions began marketing injectible
microchips for humans, prompting more than 30 major news stories around
the world in the last month promoting its’ positive qualities.
On TV programs from conservative talk shows to MSNBC, from Nickelodeon’s
News for Kids to Good Morning America, the "Veri-chip"–or
Digital Angel–has made its world debut.
The company’s CEO told the Palm
Beach Florida Post (12.20.01) that the Veri-chip could be an excellent
substitute for green cards to track foreigners. He also said that in
five years he can see the chips being used in children, the elderly,
prisoners and by employers at facilities such as airports and nuclear
plants. "Society, in general," he said "could use them
instead of ATM or credit cards." Likewise, the company’s VP
told the Washington Post (12.19.01) that use of the chip should remain
voluntary…unless the law allows otherwise. Though FDA approval
for marketing the chip for human use may take some time, the company
told a news show called TechTV (03.11.02) that it has already received
2,000 requests from children around the country wanting to have it implanted
in them.
Editor’s Note: Click
here for a full pamphlet on the Digital Angel.
Impending Water Wars
Public Citizen,
02.28.02 (www.citizen.org
search for Water Investment Act)
According to a UN report (03.23.02),
in fewer than 25 years about 5 billion people will be living in areas
where it will be difficult or impossible to meet all the needs for fresh
water, creating "a looming crisis that overshadows nearly two-thirds
of the Earth’s population." Given this crisis, capitalists
are jousting for the authority to profit off it. Water privatization
has been a major component of "free trade" agreements and
"structural adjustment" policies around the globe as the world’s
elite clash with the world’s poor over their right to access life’s
necessities.
Such policies have finally found their
way to the United States. The US Senate is currently considering legislation
called the Water Investment Act of 2001 (Senate Bill 1961) that would
require local water providers to "consider" selling their
facilities to private corporations before receiving any federal money.
Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Energy and Environment
Program says "instead of just extending a helping hand to communities
with crumbling water infrastructure, this bill forces vulnerable communities
to gamble with their most critical resource…we shouldn’t put
an essential resource in the hands of profit-oriented corporations."
Editor’s Note: We shouldn’t
have put the water into pipes and restricted it with dams in the first
place. Now, we are paying the price for such choices as we have become
dependent on government/corporate power to provide us with our "most
precious resource". Let’s not make the same mistakes again.
Hiding the Lies
Washington Post,
03.20.02
Jennifer Harbury is suing the government
in US Supreme Court for lying to her about the death of her husband.
Harbury is suing several members of the Clinton administration for telling
her they did not know where her husband was in 1993–although she
alleges they knew he was being held captive by CIA financed Guatemalan
military members who eventually tortured him to death. In early arguments,
the Justice Department’s top trial lawyer told the Supreme Court
that it is "easy to imagine an infinite number of
situations…where government officials might quite legitimately
have reasons to give false information out." Harbury is representing
herself in court–in one of the few times the US has had to admit
to CIA sponsored torture and killings in Guatemala.
Editor’s Note: The US government
has been involved in Guatemala since a CIA-engineered coup overthrew
the democratically elected president there in 1954. In order to suppress
Guatemalan political movements and maintain a political climate favorable
to huge US agricultural corporations, the CIA has continued to train,
fund and equip armed groups that have murdered at least 120,000 Guatemalans
in the last 50 years.
THOUGHTS
FROM THE EDITORS
We began putting War Time News together in an attempt to counter
the blatant propaganda of US corporate news. Our goal is to illustrate
US exploitation and arrogance around the world, the class war at
home, and creative resistance to the tightening noose of genocide
carried out by the global elite. There is no doubt that the ‘War
on Terrorism’ is a poor disguise for total control of the world’s
resources, ecosystems, and people. What we have found is terrifying
-- science fiction writers and conspiracy theorists could never
have dreamed up the sick shit occurring around this globe. It’s
scary, it’s life destroying, and worst of all, it’s real.
But the doomsday architects didn’t account for the global resistance
that continues to struggle for life, freedom, and autonomy. People
around the world are organizing and learning from one another. People
are rising up -- despite all the oppressive tactics and technology
-- with the vision of a far more sane and beautiful world. Primarily,
marginalized people are bearing the burden of this fight while comfortable,
privileged "activists" champion their efforts from the
sidelines. Not only is this racist, classist, and cruel -- it is
also ridiculous. Whether people recognize it or not, we are truly
fighting for our lives and the only way to ensure a livable future
is to take action now.
We have put together some stories that help shed light on our current
reality -- they may even help us figure out where we can take action
most effectively. But knowledge will die with us if it does not
inspire resistance. Let us move forward courageously, with a clear
understanding of who we are fighting. These people are cruel, calculating,
and wield sophisticated technology beyond our understanding. But
they are limited by their own corruption and greed. People on this
continent have struggled against colonization, enslavement and misogyny
for hundreds of years. They have won many victories. Let us carry
forth their determination with humility, rage, and hope. There is
no turning back. Let us re-learn what our ancestors held sacred
centuries ago and make it present in every aspect of our current
struggle.
Thank you for reading…
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Harassment
Orders
Chicago Tribune,
03.24.02
The head of the Chicago Police Department
unit that patrols public housing in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood has
ordered squad members to increase the number of arrests or face poor
performance ratings. One day later, according to the department officials,
a "corrected version" of the memo was issued that eliminated
specific numbers to be arrested, but still demanded increased arrests
and recorded contacts with residents. Attorney Tom Peters, who has successfully
sued Chicago police for violating civil rights of arrestees in the past
said "that’s just telling police to go stop young male blacks
and prove you’re making contact with them, which is basically harassing
them."
Death
Sentence for the Homeless
www.dc.indymedia.org,
03.25.03
Homeless people in DC are dying because
they’ve been cut off from the medication they need to survive.
DC General Hospital used to give free prescription drugs to any resident
of DC, but it was closed last year despite hunger strikes and protests.
"I’m literally bleeding out my ass since they have closed
DC General. I can not get the mediation I need because of the costs
that I cannot afford," explains David Gatling who is dying of intestinal
cancer. David, a homeless activist, now cannot afford the $25 a week
payments to fill prescriptions he needs to keep his insides from bleeding.
During a recent protest, Mayor Williams was asked if he knew that people
died because of the closing of DC General. He responded, shrugging his
shoulders, "yes, people are going to die, but people always die."
Editor’s note: To donate
or get more info contact the Olive Branch at . (Photo:
homeless activist David Gatling)
Rebuilding
Cultural Norms
Washington Post,
03.21.02
The Bush Administration is drafting
plans to give money to regional, state and local government and religious
agencies to carry out a "saturation approach" to "rebuild
cultural norms." The plan is to fund media campaigns promoting
marriage, "families" and fatherhood. Some critics say that
the plan, which would work through existing programs for collecting
child support payments, would take away money desperately needed by
those services.
Religious
Influence Gone Again
Associated Press, 03.20.02
A perception that religion is playing
an increasing role in American life rose sharply after the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, but that feeling has faded, a new poll says. Surveys
taken near the end of the year showed more than three-fourths of the
public felt the influence of religion was increasing. The poll released
Wednesday, with Easter and Passover nearing, showed that 52% now think
religion's effect is in decline — about the same number who felt
that way a year ago.
"Religion was in the air after Sept.
11 in a way that hadn't been the case for a long time and may not be
the case for a long time in the future," said Andrew Kohut, director
of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which released
the poll. "I've never seen such a dramatic change disappear so quickly."
In the same survey, when people were asked whether "some religions"
are more likely to encourage violence than others, almost half agreed,
and four in 10 disagreed.
Landless
Reclamation
BBC, 03.26.02
Members of Brazil’s Landless Workers
Movement have begun occupying land owned by some of the countries most
powerful elite. Just 20% of the population owns 90% of the land in Brazil,
leaving a huge gap between the very rich and the very poor. Last weekend,
the Landless Movement took over land around the home of Brazil’s
President. When 16 people were arrested for that action, the Landless
Workers moved to the property of one of the President’s closest
business associates. They are demanding that the government seize land
from the super wealthy and give workers with no land some of their own
to farm. (photo: MST flag, Landless Workers Movement).
2 Million in Roma
www.indymedia.org,
03.23.02
Up to 2 million marched in Rome against
the proposed abolition of Article 18 of their constitution, a labor
law that prevents workers from being fired without valid reasons. The
demonstration went ahead despite calls from the Berlusconi government
to suspend it in the wake of the assassination of their Minister of
Welfare. Although the "Red Brigades" were blamed for the killing,
many who participated in the march believed that it could be a government
"set-up" aimed at weakening the "left".
Editor’s note: 2 million
people obviously didn’t care about the politics behind the assassination.
They seem to know a raw deal when they see it coming and act on it.
Back Off Bush
Reuters News Agency, 03.24.02
On March 24th George W. landed
in the capital of El Salvador on his last stop of a three-country Latin
America trip to promote "free trade". Bush met with the president
on the 22nd anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s
assassination by a right-wing, School of the Americas graduate (Fort
Benning, Georgia). He was "welcomed" by 15,000 demonstrators
and was "protected" by more than 7,000 police. Police checkpoints
restricted people from entering San Salvador from outlying provinces,
so most likely the demonstrations would have been even larger without
the official harassment. Bush was greeted in similar manner in Peru
and Mexico.
Editor’s Note: If you don’t
know about the School of the Americas, check it out! at www.soaw.org
Halting
Ecocide
Resource Watch of the Americas, 03.10.02
Since February, indigenous Mapuche communities
in Chile have been organizing protests geared at blocking a 225-ton
transformer from reaching the site of hydroelectric dam construction
project. Protests have continued for years, led primarily by seven families
who have refused to sell their land to make way for construction.
At 1am on March 5th, a group of more
than 100 Mapuche residents from surrounding communities began blockading
the Maya bridge so that the transformer could not cross. Military police
arrived several hours later with air support from two helicopters. The
police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons spraying a chemical
substance to try to disperse the Mapuche protesters who fought back
with rocks. Police finally managed to clear the road around 7pm, after
arresting 55 people and injuring 26 others (5 of them seriously). 18
police agents were also injured.
On March 6, a group of 20 Mapuche occupied
the provincial governor’s office to protest the previous day’s
police operation . Special Forces agents evicted them from the building.
As of March 9, Mapuche’s from
outside the area (joined by the Council of All Lands) were marching
to the area to join efforts to block the arrival of the transformer.
No
More Politicians!
Resource Watch of the Americas (www.americas.org)
and El Diario (La Paz, Bolivia), 03.14.02
Residents of two cities in Bolivia,
Oruro and Potosi have spent weeks marching to demand the resignation
of a nearby town’s mayor and every member of the city council for
corruption. Bolivia’s politicians have long split their loyalty
between drug lords and the US Embassy, sacrificing the Bolivian people
to exploitation and violence for their own profit. Protestors blocked
roads between the two towns and threw dynamite stolen from mining pits
when the police arrived to arrest them. The police were forced to retreat
and the Bolivian government sent in two high level negotiators. The
mayor of the town in question resigned, as well as three of the five
city councilors, but two remained in office. The protesters demanded
that the remainining two resign and that the Bolivian government provide
financial compensation for a youth whose hand was blown off handling
dynamite at the protest. After the government refused those demands,
the protestors took the negotiators hostage.
Clashes have also broken out between
thousands of indigenous Bolivians and the police in the city of Copacabana.
Thousands marched to protest "police agents and judges who protect
confessed murderers." Some demonstrators threw rocks at the provincial
police station and court building. Others took six police agents hostage,
stripping them of their weapons and uniforms.
Resisting the Colonizer
A-Infos, 03.19.02
As you know Hotel Crowne Plaza is realy the best, and so we choose it. . I am dreaming about this beautifull sterling skull rings and going to order it online.
Members and elders of the Dene Suline
indigenous nation in what’s now called Alberta, Canada have occupied
the office of their tribal government and called for the removal of
the band’s Chief. Last December the tribal government negotiated
in secret with the Canadian government to sell off 4,500 square miles
of Dene Suline land. Under the deal, each member of the indigenous nation
would receive $2,500 and their traditional land would continue to be
used as part of the Primrose Lake Air Weapons range. The land was leased
by force by the Canadian government in 1952, but that lease ended just
before last year’s secret renegotiations. Indigenous groups from
around the region have traveled to occupy and reclaim the land. It has
been used over the last 50 years as an oil field supplying $40 billion
worth of oil annually to outside oil companies and as a weapons range
for testing weaponry like Depleted Uranium (DU). DU tipped missiles
have been used in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan and leave a residue that
remains radioactive for thousands of years.
To support their struggle: contact
Dene Suline of Cold Lake Box 8497, Cold Lake, Dene Suline Territory
"AB" T0M 1M or
Kurdish
Ruckus
A-Infos, 03.21.02
Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish youth
put up barricades and battled police in towns throughout Turkey after
authorities banned Kurds from celebrating their New Year. Two demonstrators
were killed. Riot police used water canons, tear gas and tanks to disperse
crowds. At least 40 police were injured and approximately 1,000 Kurds
were arrested in the country. Authorities banned celebrations of Nowruz
-- the Farsi-language word for "new year" -- saying that the
festivities would be "exploited by outlawed groups to cause provocations."
Kurds have been battling the Turkish
government for cultural rights, including the right to speak their native
language, for years. The Turkish government has received millions of
dollars of US military aid to brutally repress those movements in exchange
for acting as an arm of US foreign policy in the Middle East.
Editor’s Note: According
to the Associated Press (02.21.02) more than 50% of the world’s
languages are currently threatened with extinction.
   
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