Maoists: Die Ob : of Idthemajor Players in the Cur- Porate Game of Rebuilding Iraq.PU ....B
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Published at UCSD December 2003 By the n.i.collective 36th Year of Publication TeachingAssistants prepare to strike inside Unionprotests the University’s unfair labor and bargaining practices page2 As thispublication goes to press, versity’shandling of thebargaining U.S.Intervention inLatin America administrators,students, and instruc- process. torsat alleight University of Cali- BringHalliburton Home Beforethe Octoberstrike, the byNaomi Klein tbrniacampuses are preparing lbr a unionfiled 64 grievancesagainst strikecalled by the union representing the university,charging the UC page3 theUC system’steaching assistants, withthiling to honorbasic require- PressFreedom Falls Short in Iraq readers,and tutors. In a November mentsof the contractbargaining byRobert Fisk 25 pressrelease, the UnitedAuto process.Chuong-Dai Vo, a member WorkersLocal 2865, which repre- page4 of the UAW bargainingteam from TheChavez Government’s Economic sentssome 10,000 employees in the UCSD,chiims that the unionhas Policies UC system,stated that its bargaining "triedrepeatedly to get University byC.P. Pandya and Justin Podur teamhad "’voted unanimously to call negotiatorsto bargain in a produc- foran untP.iir labor practice strike at tive,cooperative, andlawful manner page5 allUC campuses."The strike, which withoutsuccess. That’s why we feel What’sDiebold Afraid of? byReia & Karantina isscheduled to begin during the week we haveno alternativebutto strike of December1, is expectedto impact at thistime--even though wc realize page8 theoperations of hundreds of courses thatit will be disruptive tothe entire MaoistInsurgency inNepal: Internal asthe Fall term comes to a close. universitycommunity." Dimensions Theaction may also impact other In additionto protestingtheUC’s byDr. Chitra K.Tiwari universityopcr~’.tions as unions rep- handlingof thebargaining process, resentingnurses, administrative staff, unionmembers have rejected Uni- andclerical workers have encouraged versityproposals to revampemploy- theirmembers to honorthe UAW’s cos"workload arbitration system and picketline. to prohibitthe UAW from striking in Theexpected strike follows a one- sympathywith other unions. daystrike carried out on October3, JinahKim, a TeachingAssistant inthe Warren College The UAW has receivedsupport a WritingProgram, grades a student paper. Hundreds of when academicstudent employees letterof supportfrom thirty Califor- academicstudent employees on theUCSD campus are walkedout in protestof proposed nialegislators, including District 78 expectedtogo on strike this week. contractchanges and of the Uni- AssemblywonlanChristine Kchoe. Politicalprisoners in Que se vayan todos... Chile on hunger strike Bolivia,gas, and neoliberal economics Thetiny Aynlara wonl~in in tileI’htza de Arnlassnliled :1I nle :IS she expl;lli~cdwhal 21 politicalprisoners in the Maximum thana year,despite having been cleared waswas wrong w’ilh lhe pl;iii lo export SecurityPrison ((’AS) of Santiagohave of thecharges :lg:linsl her twice, and is nainralgas froln t~Jolivia toNorth Anlerica declaredan indefinitehunger strike, demandingthat the courts finish process- throughthe Chilean port of Mejillones. puttingpressure on the governmentto ingher case within this year. Shehad a tableset up on theedge of the approvea law of pardonthat has been idle ThroughtOctober and November, squarewith flyers about the issues and in theSenate for nearly a year.The law titherprisoners and groupsof prison- collagesofnews articles and information, wouldmake political prisoners who have ershave been declaring hunger strikes and,along with several others was collect- beenimprisoned forover 10 yearseligible as well.The collective "’Kamina Libre", ingsignatures ona petitionand talking to tbrpardon and release. Most of the politi- fourex-members of the Mapu-[,autaropassers-byabout the issue. At thetime, 1 calprisoners who would benefit from the politicalparty imprisoned fortheir anti- hadno ideathat what the friendly woman hiwarc imprisoned for struggling against dictatorshipactivities, began their hunger in colorfulclothes was telling me about thePinochet dictatorship. strikeon 27 October,demanding l’reedom wouldrestllt in thelhll of a governmcnl Theprisoners who were arrested in the forall the Chilean and Mapuche political andnearly 100 deaths. 1980’sfighting for a returnto democracyprisoners.Four more collectives ofpoliti- Twomonths hirer, back at school,I wcrctried and sentenced twice (some up calprisoners joined the hunger strike 10 couldn’tget her ott" my mindas I scoured to lburtimes) on the samecharges, by November,demanding the approval of the theLatin American press tbr information militaryand civilian courts. They have lawof pardon,and several more individual aboutthe increasingly chaotic situation beendenied access to dueprocess, tor- prisonersare hunger striking aswell. in Boliviaas thegovernment responded turedin prisonboth before and after the Therehave been several solidarity withfierce repression to protests against Bythe time that the situation inBolivia endof themilitary regime, and have been actionsthroughout the country, rang- thegas exportphin. "1 giveGent two finallymade the U.S. papers. I had been deniedbasic rights in theprison, such as ingfrom street theater in thePlaza de weekstops," I was saying, to a friendwho lbllowingitfor almost a month in various visits,medical atten,ion, andthe ability la Constituci6nandart displays in the waslooking at me as thoughi was from LatinAmerican newspapers and the BBC. to communicatewith the outside world. Plazade Armasin Santiago,to marches Mars,"maybe three if he doessome seri- 1 didn’tsee a singlearticle about it in the Theyhave been denied access to lawyers in Valparaiso,to a protestin downtown ousass-saving." In retrospect, I should’vc U.S.media until the government of S~in- andthe right to defendthemselves against Santiagothat ended in skirmisheswith triedto betmoney on it,because Gonzalo chczde Lozadahad already fallen and the thecharges, have been conviced based on thepolice and nearly 30 arrests.Activists S~inchezde Lozada(known as "’Gent"and deathtoll was over 70. testimoniesobtained under torture, and arebringing drinking water to theprison "thegringo dictator") hlsted a week and a So whathappened in Holivia?From havehad to waityears for the charges forthe hunger strikers, and organizing halfas president tit"Bolivia. a politicalscience perspective, (toni againstthem to bcprocessed. solidarityactions outside the prison every I rememberwhen the governnlent of pushed hisagenda tOO t),lr vlHhoul ship- Internationalhuman rights groups have Sunday. l)cla Ruafell in Argentina,what a sur- pingIo considerwhat lie had support for. condemnedthe judicial process by which IrmaV61iz, a paramedicwho works priseit was.Several of thepeople who 1 I to waseleclcd in 2002 with just 22.4f¢% thepolitical prisoners were convicted, in the(’AS, is concernedfor the health knewthai actually noticed had Io lookat of thevole. Raised and educaled in the theirconditions andtreatment incaptivity, of the hungerstrikers, some of whom a mapto findwhere Argentina was, tile I!.S.,he hada stronglyneolibcral ideol- andthe long delay in theSenate of the law havealready lost over 251bs. "I’m wor- vastmajority had never heard lhe nanlc of ogy,promoting privalizalion and foreign ofpardon. ried,"she said, "because scvcral years thedeposed president, and no onehad the exploilalionof Bolivian resources, like PatriciaTroncoso, imprisoned for her ago,when they took away their right to slightestidea what had led tip to thepro- the"(’hicago boys" in (’hileand other activismin solidaritywith the Mapuche receivevisits, they were capable of a dry testsand subsequent regime change. The I,alinAmerican ncolibcrals educated in (indigenouspeople of southernChile) hungerstrike of ninedays. They ended up pressin theU.S. does an cerily effective theIJ.,~., he believedin a Reagan-esque cause,began a hungerstrike on 12 Octo- jobof filteringinformation and shaping ber.She has beenimprisoned for more continuedon page7 thepublic discourse. continuedon page 3 new indicator new indicator Page3 U.S. Interventionin Latin America the new indicator Under US Control, Press ducedpaper -and the stress must instructionsevery day from the be on the word"produced"--is ministerof infbrmation,telling .rigi.al/yp,,bli.&di. &,,.is;, by saidthat the entire hemisfero was in the Nicaraguauntil 1933, acting as police copywhich is printed without a byline Az-Zaman,which, roughly maybe assumed to representthe us whatto writeand whatnot "EstudiantesRebeldes" in Santiagode "sphereof influence"of the U.S, and if andtaking all the income from customs positionofthe new Indicator collective. Freedom Falls Short in Imq translated,means The Ageand to writeit justgot worse and Chile anyEuropean country intervened in the dutiesto pay the national debt. When they is run by SaadAI-Bazaz, the worseover the last 13 years.’" Americas,the U.S. would consider it a finallyleft, they were replaced bya brutal articlesandletters arewelcomed. by RobertFisk fbrmerIraqi diplomat who fell Noone suggests that .iournal- Burriedin the newsabout the receW. threatto the "’peace and security" of the andrepresive National Guard under the pleasetype them and send them to: ofthe Arab world, including Iraq me fromthe Convention Palace outwith Saddam and published Freedomof thepress is begin- itselt:The resistance andthe ter- ismunder the Anlcricans bears conflictin Boliviaand the resignation entireAmericas and respond accordingly. controlofAnastasio Somoza. [email protected]