Imperialists launch new efforts to topple Zimbabwe governmentImperialists launch new efforts to topple Zimbabwe government
December 16th, 2008Cholera outgreak and medical crisis caused by sanctions
Fresh calls have been made for the overthrow of the elected Zimbabwe government headed by President Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front.
Demands for the resignation or forced removal of the government have been going on for more than a decade. The country has been under constant threat and attack since the government in this former British colony declared that it would redistribute land confiscated by the European settler class.
A current outbreak of cholera in the country, coupled with growing cases of anthrax infections in cattle, has given Britain, the U.S., European Union and their allies a false basis for plotting to engage in a western-backed regime-change project against the ZANU-PF, which fought for the national liberation of Zimbabwe during the 1970s.
Zimbabwe Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu condemned the western propaganda campaign against the government. He pointed to the years of economic blockade and disinformation as the root cause of the humanitarian crisis inside the country.
“Zimbabwe is a sovereign state, with a president elected in accordance with the constitution of Zimbabwe. No foreign leader, regardless of how powerful they are, has the right to call on him to step down on their whim,” Ndlovu told Reuters. (Dec. 
Leaders of the EU, meeting in Brussels on Dec. 8, made repeated calls for the overthrow of the ZANU-PF government. In a statement, EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said, “I think the moment has arrived to put all the pressure for Mugabe to step down.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is currently the head of the EU, remarked at the summit: “I say today that President Mugabe must go. Zimbabwe has suffered enough.”
EU leaders took under consideration a proposal to add more names to a list of Zimbabwean governmental officials who are banned from traveling inside their member countries. President Mugabe and other leading Zimbabwe cabinet ministers are not allowed to visit these European countries, many of which are former slave-owning and colonial states.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told Reuters that an intervention was necessary: “Cholera is killing. We need international intervention for this matter, not a military one, but a strong intervention to stop this cholera epidemic, which could allow for other things.” (Dec.
Zimbabwe has accused Britain of planning an invasion. Judging from recent statements issued by the regime of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, this, it seems, is in all likelihood in the works. British Foreign Minister David Miliband said, “There is a crying need for change in Zimbabwe.”
Other pro-western political leaders on the continent have followed the imperialist lead. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called upon the African Union, an organization of all independent states, to send military forces into Zimbabwe and forcefully remove the government.
This statement by Odinga comes less than one year after large-scale inter-party violence in that East African nation, stemming from disagreements over a national presidential election. Far more people died and were displaced in Kenya than have perished in Zimbabwe in the recent cholera outbreak. Odinga never called for western intervention during the Kenyan crisis of 2007-8, which required a negotiated settlement brokered by the AU and others within the international community.
Others who have called for removal of the Zimbabwe government include the pro-western Botswana Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani. Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has called for the forceful removal of the Mugabe government.
Government declares national emergency
The ZANU-PF government declared a national emergency on Dec. 4 as a result of the cholera outbreak.
The disease arises from the consumption of unclean drinking water. The government has stated that the imposition of sanctions and the country’s overall economic crisis has resulted in the lack of chlorine and other chemicals to purify the water systems.
The cholera outbreak had claimed 563 lives by Dec. 4. Dr. David Parirenyatwa, the minister of health and child welfare, said that problems were compounded by the crisis in the health sector. He said the hospitals were in dire need of drugs, food and medical equipment.
“Our central hospitals are literally not functioning. Our staff is demotivated and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived,” Dr. Parirenyatwa said.
The government issued an emergency appeal for the importation of medical equipment, surgical sundries, renal and laundry equipment, x-ray films and boilers. Dr. Parirenyatwa noted that shortages in medical supplies threatened to derail the country’s anti-retroviral program to HIV patients that has made some progress in recent years.
“The emergency appeal will help us reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the current socio-economic environment by December 2009. We are hoping that within the next 12 months we would have achieved the package,” Dr. Parirenyatwa said. (Zimbabwe Herald, December 4).
The government has taken measures to reverse the situation. According to the Zimbabwe Herald: “The Government has acquired 505 tonnes of aluminum sulphate and pledged a further US$1 million a week towards the procurement of water treatment chemicals with some Harare suburbs having started receiving water supplies on December 1.” (Dec. 4)
The neighboring Republic of Namibia has been the first country to respond to the national emergency. The government of President Hifikepunye Pohamba has donated water purification chemicals, drugs and medical equipment valued at US$200,000.
According to the Herald, “Handing over the donation which included malaria treatment drugs, antibiotics, needles and drips to the Government at Manyama Airbase in Harare yesterday, Namibian Minister of Health and Social Welfare Dr. Richard Kamwi pledged more medical supplies to help in the fight against cholera.” (Dec. 8).
Dr. Kamwi said: “Namibia had been following the health situation in Zimbabwe with concern and I feel we actually delayed in responding. You (Zimbabweans) deserve this donation. This is the first consignment from our own stocks and for now, we have just brought 60 percent and we will send the remaining 40 percent in due course.”
South African health officials visited Zimbabwe on Dec. 8 to assess the situation. Health ministry spokespersons in South Africa said that eight people had died from cholera in the Limpopo province, which borders Zimbabwe. Reuters also claims that cases of cholera have been cited in Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia. (Dec.
What caused the crisis?
The Zimbabwe government and other progressive forces acquainted with the region have stated in no uncertain terms that the current crisis is caused by the imposition of economic sanctions by the western imperialist countries against the ZANU-PF state.
Since the implementation of a comprehensive land redistribution program in Zimbabwe since 2000, the country has endured a blockade; the financing of a right-wing opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change; plots aimed at overthrowing the administration; as well as a well-financed media campaign designed to vilify President Robert Mugabe and the ruling party.
The ZANU-PF government has embarked upon an extensive negotiation process for the creation of a national unity government with the opposition forces. The key opposition leaders in the Movement for Democratic Change—Tsvangirai faction have refused to implement an agreement signed several months ago in Harare. The agreement would create a broader cabinet and bring in politicians who have been supported by the U.S., Britain and the EU.
A so-called “Elders Group,” which is financed by western interests including British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and rock star Peter Gabriel, has received US$18 million toward a recent effort aimed at influencing the political situation on the African continent. Led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, retired Archbishop Tutu and Graca Machel, the group is in partnership with the Bridgeway Foundation and Humanity United.
African-American solidarity activist Obi Egbuna explains: “While the founder of Bridgeway Foundation, John Montgomery, started the group in 1993 after hearing a preacher in church discuss the work of Amnesty International, Humanity United is directly and openly affiliated with the Genocide Prevention Task Force co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Defence William Cohen and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright.”
“This task force is jointly convened by the U.S. Holocaust Museum, American Academy of Diplomacy and the U.S. Institute of Peace, which is directly funded by the U.S. Congress. The timing of the ‘Elders’ decision to visit Zimbabwe and the rest of its founding membership pool should arouse suspicion [and] force the masses of Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa, who are obviously tired of the West meddling in our political affairs, not to be misled.” (Zimbabwe Herald, Dec.
The Obama administration and Africa policy
This new push to overthrow the ZANU-PF government could be designed to take action prior to the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20, 2009. During the early days of his campaign in 2008, Obama was criticized by African solidarity forces for making statements that were perceived as hostile to the Zimbabwe government.
Current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in early December that it was time for President Mugabe to be overthrown. This provocative and illegal proposal represents the continuation of the hostile U.S. policy toward Zimbabwe and other states in Africa that refuse to follow Washington’s dictates.
It is important for anti-war and anti-imperialist forces in the U.S. and Western Europe to reject this new thrust aimed at regime change in Zimbabwe. In every state where the U.S., Britain and the EU have intervened, humanitarian, economic and political crises have developed which far outstrip the current situation in Zimbabwe.
In Iraq, it has been reported that more than 1 million people have died as a direct result of the U.S. occupation. In Afghanistan, resistance forces have charged the U.S./NATO forces with genocide.
Somalia—where the U.S. encouraged and financed an invasion and occupation by neighboring Ethiopia—has suffered the worse humanitarian crisis in Africa, leaving thousands dead and 2 million people displaced both internally and externally. At present the puppet government installed by the U.S. is near collapse, with Ethiopian military forces requesting approval from the U.S. to flee the country under growing attacks from the resistance forces throughout the country.
Inside the U.S. itself, working people, nationally oppressed and the poor are suffering the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. In November, more than 530,000 workers were thrown out of their jobs. Nearly 10 million workers are employed part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs. Financial institutions and industrial facilities are being propped up by the taxpayers, who are growing poorer every month.
Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. are without medical coverage. Hospitals have been closing for the last two years, while the defense budget is in excess of $720 billion.
Consequently, the U.S. and the imperialist states have no moral right to dictate policy to Zimbabwe or any other African country. Only the creation of a workers’ and peoples’ government in the U.S. can create the conditions for genuine international peace and reconciliation between the peoples of the U.S. and the global community.
Fresh calls have been made for the overthrow of the elected Zimbabwe government headed by President Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front.
Demands for the resignation or forced removal of the government have been going on for more than a decade. The country has been under constant threat and attack since the government in this former British colony declared that it would redistribute land confiscated by the European settler class.
A current outbreak of cholera in the country, coupled with growing cases of anthrax infections in cattle, has given Britain, the U.S., European Union and their allies a false basis for plotting to engage in a western-backed regime-change project against the ZANU-PF, which fought for the national liberation of Zimbabwe during the 1970s.
Zimbabwe Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu condemned the western propaganda campaign against the government. He pointed to the years of economic blockade and disinformation as the root cause of the humanitarian crisis inside the country.
“Zimbabwe is a sovereign state, with a president elected in accordance with the constitution of Zimbabwe. No foreign leader, regardless of how powerful they are, has the right to call on him to step down on their whim,” Ndlovu told Reuters. (Dec.
Leaders of the EU, meeting in Brussels on Dec. 8, made repeated calls for the overthrow of the ZANU-PF government. In a statement, EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said, “I think the moment has arrived to put all the pressure for Mugabe to step down.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is currently the head of the EU, remarked at the summit: “I say today that President Mugabe must go. Zimbabwe has suffered enough.”
EU leaders took under consideration a proposal to add more names to a list of Zimbabwean governmental officials who are banned from traveling inside their member countries. President Mugabe and other leading Zimbabwe cabinet ministers are not allowed to visit these European countries, many of which are former slave-owning and colonial states.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told Reuters that an intervention was necessary: “Cholera is killing. We need international intervention for this matter, not a military one, but a strong intervention to stop this cholera epidemic, which could allow for other things.” (Dec.
Zimbabwe has accused Britain of planning an invasion. Judging from recent statements issued by the regime of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, this, it seems, is in all likelihood in the works. British Foreign Minister David Miliband said, “There is a crying need for change in Zimbabwe.”
Other pro-western political leaders on the continent have followed the imperialist lead. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called upon the African Union, an organization of all independent states, to send military forces into Zimbabwe and forcefully remove the government.
This statement by Odinga comes less than one year after large-scale inter-party violence in that East African nation, stemming from disagreements over a national presidential election. Far more people died and were displaced in Kenya than have perished in Zimbabwe in the recent cholera outbreak. Odinga never called for western intervention during the Kenyan crisis of 2007-8, which required a negotiated settlement brokered by the AU and others within the international community.
Others who have called for removal of the Zimbabwe government include the pro-western Botswana Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani. Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has called for the forceful removal of the Mugabe government.
Government declares national emergency
The ZANU-PF government declared a national emergency on Dec. 4 as a result of the cholera outbreak.
The disease arises from the consumption of unclean drinking water. The government has stated that the imposition of sanctions and the country’s overall economic crisis has resulted in the lack of chlorine and other chemicals to purify the water systems.
The cholera outbreak had claimed 563 lives by Dec. 4. Dr. David Parirenyatwa, the minister of health and child welfare, said that problems were compounded by the crisis in the health sector. He said the hospitals were in dire need of drugs, food and medical equipment.
“Our central hospitals are literally not functioning. Our staff is demotivated and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived,” Dr. Parirenyatwa said.
The government issued an emergency appeal for the importation of medical equipment, surgical sundries, renal and laundry equipment, x-ray films and boilers. Dr. Parirenyatwa noted that shortages in medical supplies threatened to derail the country’s anti-retroviral program to HIV patients that has made some progress in recent years.
“The emergency appeal will help us reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the current socio-economic environment by December 2009. We are hoping that within the next 12 months we would have achieved the package,” Dr. Parirenyatwa said. (Zimbabwe Herald, December 4).
The government has taken measures to reverse the situation. According to the Zimbabwe Herald: “The Government has acquired 505 tonnes of aluminum sulphate and pledged a further US$1 million a week towards the procurement of water treatment chemicals with some Harare suburbs having started receiving water supplies on December 1.” (Dec. 4)
The neighboring Republic of Namibia has been the first country to respond to the national emergency. The government of President Hifikepunye Pohamba has donated water purification chemicals, drugs and medical equipment valued at US$200,000.
According to the Herald, “Handing over the donation which included malaria treatment drugs, antibiotics, needles and drips to the Government at Manyama Airbase in Harare yesterday, Namibian Minister of Health and Social Welfare Dr. Richard Kamwi pledged more medical supplies to help in the fight against cholera.” (Dec. 8).
Dr. Kamwi said: “Namibia had been following the health situation in Zimbabwe with concern and I feel we actually delayed in responding. You (Zimbabweans) deserve this donation. This is the first consignment from our own stocks and for now, we have just brought 60 percent and we will send the remaining 40 percent in due course.”
South African health officials visited Zimbabwe on Dec. 8 to assess the situation. Health ministry spokespersons in South Africa said that eight people had died from cholera in the Limpopo province, which borders Zimbabwe. Reuters also claims that cases of cholera have been cited in Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia. (Dec.
What caused the crisis?
The Zimbabwe government and other progressive forces acquainted with the region have stated in no uncertain terms that the current crisis is caused by the imposition of economic sanctions by the western imperialist countries against the ZANU-PF state.
Since the implementation of a comprehensive land redistribution program in Zimbabwe since 2000, the country has endured a blockade; the financing of a right-wing opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change; plots aimed at overthrowing the administration; as well as a well-financed media campaign designed to vilify President Robert Mugabe and the ruling party.
The ZANU-PF government has embarked upon an extensive negotiation process for the creation of a national unity government with the opposition forces. The key opposition leaders in the Movement for Democratic Change—Tsvangirai faction have refused to implement an agreement signed several months ago in Harare. The agreement would create a broader cabinet and bring in politicians who have been supported by the U.S., Britain and the EU.
A so-called “Elders Group,” which is financed by western interests including British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and rock star Peter Gabriel, has received US$18 million toward a recent effort aimed at influencing the political situation on the African continent. Led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, retired Archbishop Tutu and Graca Machel, the group is in partnership with the Bridgeway Foundation and Humanity United.
African-American solidarity activist Obi Egbuna explains: “While the founder of Bridgeway Foundation, John Montgomery, started the group in 1993 after hearing a preacher in church discuss the work of Amnesty International, Humanity United is directly and openly affiliated with the Genocide Prevention Task Force co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Defence William Cohen and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright.”
“This task force is jointly convened by the U.S. Holocaust Museum, American Academy of Diplomacy and the U.S. Institute of Peace, which is directly funded by the U.S. Congress. The timing of the ‘Elders’ decision to visit Zimbabwe and the rest of its founding membership pool should arouse suspicion [and] force the masses of Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa, who are obviously tired of the West meddling in our political affairs, not to be misled.” (Zimbabwe Herald, Dec.
The Obama administration and Africa policy
This new push to overthrow the ZANU-PF government could be designed to take action prior to the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20, 2009. During the early days of his campaign in 2008, Obama was criticized by African solidarity forces for making statements that were perceived as hostile to the Zimbabwe government.
Current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in early December that it was time for President Mugabe to be overthrown. This provocative and illegal proposal represents the continuation of the hostile U.S. policy toward Zimbabwe and other states in Africa that refuse to follow Washington’s dictates.
It is important for anti-war and anti-imperialist forces in the U.S. and Western Europe to reject this new thrust aimed at regime change in Zimbabwe. In every state where the U.S., Britain and the EU have intervened, humanitarian, economic and political crises have developed which far outstrip the current situation in Zimbabwe.
In Iraq, it has been reported that more than 1 million people have died as a direct result of the U.S. occupation. In Afghanistan, resistance forces have charged the U.S./NATO forces with genocide.
Somalia—where the U.S. encouraged and financed an invasion and occupation by neighboring Ethiopia—has suffered the worse humanitarian crisis in Africa, leaving thousands dead and 2 million people displaced both internally and externally. At present the puppet government installed by the U.S. is near collapse, with Ethiopian military forces requesting approval from the U.S. to flee the country under growing attacks from the resistance forces throughout the country.
Inside the U.S. itself, working people, nationally oppressed and the poor are suffering the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. In November, more than 530,000 workers were thrown out of their jobs. Nearly 10 million workers are employed part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs. Financial institutions and industrial facilities are being propped up by the taxpayers, who are growing poorer every month.
Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. are without medical coverage. Hospitals have been closing for the last two years, while the defense budget is in excess of $720 billion.
Consequently, the U.S. and the imperialist states have no moral right to dictate policy to Zimbabwe or any other African country. Only the creation of a workers’ and peoples’ government in the U.S. can create the conditions for genuine international peace and reconciliation between the peoples of the U.S. and the global community.
Sri Lanka: Tamil women and the struggle for freedom
December 7th, 2008The below article is abridged from a speech given by Mano Navaratnam from the Tamil Ealam Women’s Organisation (TEWO) at an October 30 Melbourne film screening of My Daughter the Terrorist, organised with the Socialist Alliance. The Tamil people, whose homeland is in the north and east of Sri Lanka, have been waging a long struggle for national self-determination against the Sri Lankan state.
The Sri Lankan government’s war on the Tamil people is fought on many fronts. I think most of you only know about the military onslaught, the arbitrary arrests, disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
When we say it is genocide, we mean not only the physical extinction; but also the other forms of genocide — cultural, religious, educational and ecological.
To many who have been following the conflict, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are known only as a fighting force engaged in battle with the Sri Lanka government for the establishment of a Tamil state. Those who have cared to scrutinise beyond their fighting capability, acknowledge LTTE’s endeavours and achievements as nation builders.
The defacto administration during 1990-1995 in the Jaffna peninsula and later in the Vanni during the ceasefire period has foreshadowed the potential for advancement towards nation building.
Many of the social reforms during this period stand proof of a just society as envisioned by the LTTE. Visits to the Tamil homelands during the ceasefire were eye openers. It was amazing to see what was achievable.
The LTTE has demonstrated its capacity to administer the Tamil areas, showing that they were not only fighting the massive Sri Lankan army but were also running an effective parallel administration inculcating self sufficiency and self respect in the minds of Tamils.
Though a highly literate society, traditionally most Tamil women were restrained by the age-old traditional manacles. There were selected professions like teachers, doctors and nurses, or office jobs that the women would aspire to.
With the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) atrocities against women and the loss of men, women joined the resistance. The first batch of trained women fighters were shunned by the then battle commanders, who refused to take them to the front.
But today we read how men are at the battlefront under the leadership of female commanders.
Women’s advancement during this period was phenomenal. Tamil women have come out as leaders in the running of courts, police forces and other areas of civil administration. These reforms brought about tremendous changes in the mindset of Tamil society.
However, the resumption of war (by the SLA in 2006) has changed everything. We now have a section of the population, women as head of families, without providers as many of the men have perished in battle.
Previously sheltered women are now facing the responsibility of providing for their families.
In any war, women suffer the most. They are the target for sexual violence by the military forces. They are bereft of a livelihood. The disruption of family life has rendered these women totally alone.
Most have become the sole source of support for whatever is left of a family unit.
Added to this is the trauma of displacement. Hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs, clutching their children and dragging their aged parents after them.
Tamil mothers also battle an inhuman embargo on food and medicines. They helplessly have to watch their children die in their arms through starvation or disease.
The aim of TEWO has been to support projects to help these women find that strength and that courage they so badly need. We also have a vision of what needs to be done both as short term and long term goals.
Most of all, we desire for a return to normalcy, so Tamil women can live the lives that we take for granted. They should be able to see their husbands go out and know that they will come home in the evening. Watch their children go to school and know that they will not be abducted or their daughters raped on the way home.
In the past, TEWO was able to fund a home for the young girls and provide funds for a coconut oil business run by single mothers. We also funded a shelter and care facility for mentally disturbed young women.
Nearly 3000 children have been orphaned by the aerial bombings and killings by the SLA.
With the escalation of the war in the Tamil homelands and the restrictions imposed in Australia on sending money even for humanitarian aid to the LTTE-controlled areas, we have not been able to assist these women and children as we used to.
The NGOs who were providing aid and assistance have been asked to leave by the Sri Lankan government. The Tamil people have been abandoned and now face aerial bombardments, starvation and annihilation at the hands of the SLA.
We need to enlist help for these traumatised women and children to find some sense of balance in their lives. Our long-term goals would be to help in the rehabilitation and empowerment of these Tamil women.
I would like to leave you with the thought that these selfless young women who are laying down their lives for the liberation of their people would, if not for the war, make great leaders, humanitarians and nation builders in a peaceful society.
It is heart-rending to realise that these women are giving their todays for our peaceful tomorrows.
From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #777 3 December 2008.
972 Baloch have been arrested in Balochistan, Iran only in November 08
December 7th, 2008December 5, 2008. (PCP) Tyranny has no any limits in Iran now. You as a human being and international community can prevent the expansion of tyranny in Iran. Tyranny began to grow when you as an individual, you as a leader, and you as a nation believed that you cannot stop it.
The Tortured body of Mohammad Brahouee was delivered to his family after being kidnapped on the first of December 08 by Iranian security forces, according to Balochistan Human Rights Watch. Mohammad was seriously beaten up in his own home, in front of his four children and wife and some neighbors. When he became unconscious, the security forces kidnapped him and informed his family after four days that he was dead.
When the family received the body, it was full of traces of torture, fractured fingers, and holes in his feet, scarves on his back and chest and severe injuries to his head. His whole body showed that he has been severely torture to death. This 37 years old victim of the Islamic Republic of Iran leaves behind a young wife and four small children.
The official Iranian Isna news agency also reported that one Baloch has been killed on second of December 08. The name of the victim was identified only as Abdullah. The Islamic regime usually does not give full details of identities of its victims. It is generally known in Iran that the Islamic regime usually arrests human rights and political activists mostly from Baluchistan and Kurdistan and executes them with ordinary criminals collectively to prevent the outrage of civil society activities.
Radio Baluchi, a reliable information source of Baluchistan, quoted Iranian official news agencies that 37 Sunni and Baluch have been killed in December 08 in Baluchistan and its neighbouring areas. Chief Sardar Nekouee announced that the security forces have arrested 972 men in Baluchistan during an operation which was aimed at establishing and promoting social stability in Baluchistan.
Colonel Molla Shahi, the commander of Iranian security forces in Baluchistan announced that three Baluch have been arrested and one was killed during an operation in which 28 tonnes of rice was confiscated. This is not the first time that the ordinary Baluch people are getting arrested or killed for trading foodstuff within the borders of Iran. The Baluch businessmen face severe limitations in conducting their legal businesses. The Islamic Republic of Iran deliberately limits the import of food in Baluchistan to create maximum poverty in this province which is the poorest province in Iran according to all United Nations researches. The three tracks that were carrying the rice were also confiscated. This is a clear indication of impoverishing policies of the Iranian regime in Baluchistan. .
The Islamic Republic of Iran is perpetuating tyranny by continuing the execution and torture of innocent people unless you make a decision to stop it. You can, we together, can stop tyranny.
How the regime can justify the killing of ordinary people who are involved in transport of rice in Baluchistan?
PFLP member sentenced to one life-term and 5 years for the assassination of Zeevi
December 3rd, 2008Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies
Israeli central Court in Jerusalem sentenced on Monday the head of the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahed Ghalama, for one life-term and additional five years for the assassination of the then-Israeli Tourism Minister, Rahba’am Zeevi, the Arabs48 news website reported.
The court claimed that Ghlama supervised the cell that assassinated Zeevi in 2001 in retaliation to the assassination of the PFLP secretary-general Abu Ali Mustafa. Mustafa was assassinated by the Israeli air force while he was at his office in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, several months before Zeevi was killed.
Ghalama, 40, is from Beit Forik village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. He was initially imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority at the Jericho Prison in 2002. The Israeli army broke into the prison, which was guarded by European guards who fled the scene shortly before the army attacked it.
Ghalama along with the secretary-general of the PFLP, Ahmad Saadat, and several other PFLP members in addition to the financial official of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) , Fuad Shobaky, were kidnapped by the army.
The lawyer of Ghalama slammed the court’s ruling and stated that Ghalama had nothing to do with the assassination of Zeevi, and added that he will appeal the ruling.
He added that Israel imprisoned and sentenced every person allegedly behind the assassination of Zeevi but did not imprison any Israeli official behind the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa. He also said that Israeli military and political officials behind the killing and assassination of thousands of Palestinians were never brought to justice.
PFLP legislator, Khalida Jarrar, stated that this unjust ruling was issued by an “illegal Zionist Court”.
Jarrar added that the court session was supposed to only to decide whether Ghalama is “guilty or innocent” and that the court was not supposed to sentence Ghalama during the same session.
She slammed the Israeli military court and said that this court is part of “Zionist terrorism” against freedom fighters, and called on the international community to intervene and denounce the Israeli occupation and its crimes against the Palestinian people and the detainees.
Wafa’, the wife of Ghalama, said that she is sad for the verdict but proud to be the wife of a great leader. She added that the Israeli courts will not and cannot break the will of her husband and the will of thousands of Palestinian political detainees.
In September 2008, the same court sentenced Majdi Al Reemawi, a PFLP leader, to one life-term and additional eighty years for “planning to assassinate Zeevi”. He was indicted on July 2008.
Another Israeli court sentenced in 2006 Mohammad Fahmi to one life-term and Salah Olwy to 12 years. Both were kidnapped by the army shortly after Zeevi was assassinated.
On December 3, 2007, the Israeli court sentenced Hamdi Qar’aan to one life-term after accusing him of shooting Zeevi.
On February 5, 2008, the court sentenced Basil Asmar to one life-term and additional twenty years for “participating in the assassination of Zeevi”.
CMKP Strongly Condemns the Terrorist Violence in Mumbai
December 3rd, 2008CMKP strongly condemns the barbaric and heinous acts of planned murder and destruction carried out by terrorists in Mumbai India. We express our sincerest condolence with all the people who fell victim to this savage crime.
We also salute the entire Indian Left that is doing its utmost to reign in reprisals by Hindu fundamentalist forces against the Muslims of India.
We strongly feel that the role of the Left in Pakistan is to expose and organize against right-wing forces, both inside and outside the Pakistan Military, that harbor an agenda against harmonious relation between Pakistan and India.
The Left and the people of both countries should not let Mumbai terrorist attacks undermine the Pakistani India peace process. Such a development will provide the Pakistan Army with an excuse to continue a heavy deployment on the Pak-India border and play in the hands of religious extremists to carry on with their deadly vendetta against the people of both countries in the name of religion, race and caste.
The people of both Pakistan and India have been a victim of religious terrorism. It is for the people to understand that such terrorist organizations and action sprout from the ideology of hate and divide on religious grounds which is preached by both the Hindu and Muslim Fundamentalists. People should not allow any agenda put forward by such organizations to further the oppression of religious minorities.
Crimes of such barbarity must make people realize that the moment has arrived for the people of both India and Pakistan to develop a unified commitment towards peace and harmony in the world and combat extremism and terrorism in all its shades and colors.
Russia to institute death penalty for rapists
November 27th, 2008Source: Pravda (English)
The Russian parliament, the State Duma, will consider two amendments to the articles of the Russian Federation Penal Code, originally submitted by deputy Yury Napso. The amendments intensify the punishment for rapists, particularly in those cases when a victim dies in an attack. The deputy offered to cancel the current 15-year punishment for such cases and replace it with either life in prison or death penalty. Experts say that the Penal Code already contains an article stipulating a punishment for murder and that they see no point in toughening the punishment for involuntary manslaughter.
The author of the bill believes that the incumbent measure of punishment give criminals an opportunity to be included in the amnesty to continue committing deadly crimes afterwards.
Legal experts consider the above-mentioned amendments pointless. Yury Kostanov, a chief spokesman for the Moscow Bar, said in an interview with the Novye Izvestia newspaper that a rape committed with deliberate manslaughter will be categorized as aggravated murder, which already has the lifetime punishment stipulated in the Russian Penal Code.
The expert said that there was no need to toughen the punishment if death was caused inadvertently during an act of rape.
Pavel Krasheninnikov, the chairman of the committee that is currently considers the bill, said that the Duma would not pass the document. “It goes without saying that the scum committing such crimes deserves a severe punishment. However, the problem is not about a short prison term. The problem is about the timely capturing of criminals. If only we could solve this problem, the principle of the inevitable punishment would work for a hundred percent, and no one would say that we have to either behead or shoot everyone,” the official said.
Naxalite movement in Andhra Pradesh: Contradictions and questions
November 17th, 2008Naxalite movement was strong in Andhra Pradesh during the time between 1991 - 1999. After 2000, naxalite activities reduced in Andhra Pradesh but they increased in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa. Some time back, central government authorities have shown reports that around 80% of naxalite related violent incidents were recorded in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa. But in Andhra Pradesh, authorities are not clearly stating about that whether naxalites are following temporary silence or not. There were also cases of naxalites attacking ruling class leaders or police after some period of temporary silence. In past decade, many people joined naxalite movement in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh against corrupt and bankruptive government led by Chandra Babu Naidu and Janardhan Reddy etc. Naxalites also committed errors by blasting telecom properties and railway properties. Bankruptive minded ruling class leaders who sell state owned industries to private entrepreneurs do not mind if telecom’s properties or railway properties are blasted. So, naxalite movement has seen failures in Andhra Pradesh. It is possible to revive naxalite movement in Andhra Pradesh if naxalites do not commit such errors. Some landlords deserted villages and shifted to towns when naxalite movement was strong in Andhra Pradesh. Now these landlords are thinking about returning back to villages and occupy lands again. Some farmers sell their lands to landlords @ cheap price if they borrow some loan for expenditures for marriage rituals or some other and unable to pay debt. Villagers are highly religious and they prefer to spend much for rituals like marriages. Natural calamities also cause heavy losses to small farmers and force them to sell their lands. Landlords are making benefit from these conditions and grabbing lands @ cheap cost. It is possible to revive naxalite movement in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh in contradiction of semi-feudalism. It would be also possible to extend their movement in urban areas if they concentrate on slum dwelling urban proletarian class. Though Andhra Pradesh has urban population of above 25%, Andhra Pradesh towns are not much developed in industrial capitalism. Most of the urban capitalists in Andhra Pradesh are middle class merchant capitalists and not industrial capitalists. Middle class capitalists do not employ bulk number of workers. So, proletariat (working class) is not in large number in urban areas of Andhra Pradesh. There are also industries in some areas of Andhra Pradesh and strikes also happen in those factories. Naxalites can also gain support of industrial workers if they concentrate on problems in industrial capitalism. If naxalites do not commit errors such as blasting railway properties and telecom properties etc, they gain support of majority of people of Andhra Pradesh in contradiction to anti-progressive classes.
Obama, Rudd must end the Afghan war
November 16th, 200815 November 2008
The November 7 Sydney Morning Herald reported that an advisor to US president-elect Barack Obama, Jeffrey Bader, had stated that the “first priority” of the Obama administration would be to seek a greater contribution from Australia to “winning the war in Afghanistan”.
While the meltdown of the US economy fuelled support for Obama’s slogan of change, the initial impetus for his successful election campaign was precisely a rejection of President George Bush’s pro-war policies.
While the post-9/11 “war on terror” was justified by the Bush administration as “combatting terrorism”, its real agenda was US domination — the projection of US power globally, and in particular over the oil-and-gas rich areas of the Middle East and Central Asia.
However, as the Bush era closes, the failure of this drive leaves the US more isolated and with less influence than at any time since the end of the Cold War.
* * * * * *
“Without Green Left Weekly, freedom of the press and public truth-telling in Australia would be gravelly ill.” — John Pilger, journalist and film maker
Get Green Left Weekly delivered to your door every week, and help ensure Australia’s best independent news sources can continue being produced, subscribe now.
* * * * * *
As if to underscore the need for genuine change, while US voters went to the polls on November 4, a US air-strike on a wedding party in the village of Wech Bagtu in Shah Wali Kot district, Kandahar province, killed 40 civilians, including 23 children.
Then on November 6, another US air-strike in Badghis province killed 30 civilians.
So frequent have such air-strikes against civilians become that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, despite being installed and maintained in power by the US-led occupation, felt compelled to raise the matter when congratulating Obama on his election victory.
On November 13, 20 civilians were killed in a suicide bombing
that also killed a US soldier. At the same time, two British Royal Marines were killed in a separate attack.
While the death toll of occupation soldiers in Afghanistan — currently stands at just over 1000 — is only a quarter of that in Iraq, since May the number of occupation-force casualties in Afghanistan has exceeded Iraq.
The death toll of Afghan civilians has never been counted, but is probably greater than the 1 million civilian deaths in Iraq as a consequence of the war estimated by British medical journal The Lancet in October 2006, particularly if war-related hunger and epidemics are taken into account.
Unfortunately, part of Obama’s re-assessment is based on the false premise that while the invasion and occupation of Iraq was a mistake, that of Afghanistan was a legitimate blow against terrorism — bringing democracy and development.
This has never been true.
The nature of the West’s commitment to “democracy” in Afghanistan has been apparent since the late 1970s, when the CIA began arming disparate warlords and religious fundamentalist groups to undermine the left-wing government of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and draw the neighbouring Soviet Union into an unwinnable war.
In the process, the Western powers helped create Afghanistan’s booming heroin industry and the international Islamist terrorist network that became known as al-Qaeda.
Despite its many flaws, the PDPA regime increased access to education and healthcare, and improved gender equality and development — outperforming any other Afghan regime before or since.
The PDPA fell in 1992. In 1996, with the quiet approval of the West, Pakistani military intelligence helped the Taliban to power.
Meanwhile al-Qaeda, slighted by the West making clear that they were no longer needed in the post-Cold War “New World Order”, began a series of attacks on their former sponsor, culminating in the 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Centre.
For the US government, 9/11 provided a justification for a war-drive that formed part of an imperial strategy to control the world’s oil and gas resources.
Both Iraq and Afghanistan have proven that invading a country is easier than imposing permanent control.
Obama’s “reassessment”, is in fact based on a recognition by the US ruling elite that their imperial plans in Central Asia and the Middle East have failed.
The current regime in Afghanistan is a jigsaw puzzle of competing mafias and armed groups, both foreign and local.
At the top end of the scale, almost all of the US$15 billion post-2001 non-military aid to Afghanistan has either gone on inflated contracts to favoured corporations from the donor countries or straight into the pockets of the leading warlords.
This pattern continues down to the local level where militias extort “taxes” from peasants and even beggars. So predatory is the extortion of peasants taking produce to market that opium has become the only viable crop.
Afghanistan leads the world in maternal deaths in childbirth, infant mortality and heroin production. More than half the population live on less than the $2-a-day poverty line and famine threatens to overtake Western air-strikes as the leading cause of death this northern winter.
In this context many Afghans are reluctantly supporting the previously hated Taliban.
All this was acknowledged in an article in the October 20Independent by British Conservative MP David Davis. Unfortunately Davis concludes that the solution is more occupation troops — an assessment shared by Obama, who is proposing to redeploy troops to Afghanistan from Iraq.
Obama has not learnt the lessons of the Vietnam War. By 1968, it was apparent to US policy makers that their occupation of Vietnam had failed.
However, the search for an exit strategy involving “peace with honour” meant that the war continued for seven years with deaths of millions of Vietnamese and thousands of US soldiers — before the occupiers’ final humiliating departure from the roof of the US embassy in Saigon.
Obama has approved of spreading the war into Pakistan. This is already happening under the Bush administration, with almost daily attacks by unpiloted Predator drones into Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal areas, killing countless civilians.
More than 200,000 Pakistanis have been displaced by the conflict. The Pakistani military and political establishment, which has close ties to both the US and the Taliban, has lost what little legitimacy it previously had among the people.
Extending that war into Laos and Cambodia did not help save the US occupation of Vietnam, it merely brought death to millions in both countries.
While some opponents of the war in Iraq have maintained that a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would strengthen the warlords and terrorists, Malalai Joya, one of the few genuine democrats in the Afghan parliament (who is currently living in hiding) believes the opposite is the case.
“People here believe that the warlords are cushioned by the US troops. If the USA leaves, the warlords will lose power because they have no base among our people.
“The people of Afghanistan will deal with these warlords once US troops leave Afghanistan”, she said.
Like Iraq, this is a war that cannot be won. Many more lives will be sacrificed in a doomed attempt to impose imperial occupation.
In the interests of humanity, what is arguably Bush’s most devastating legacy to the world — the foreign occupations and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — must be ended.
Earth to carry the burden of over 9 billion people by 2050
November 14th, 2008The planet’s population will continue to grow every year, whereas the population of Russia will continue to decline, a new report from the United Nations Population Fund said Wednesday. The number of people living on planet Earth will increase 1.5 times by 2050 in comparison with the current year. The Russian population will decrease by 34 million.
Population bomb
The report says that there will be 9 billion 191 million 300 thousand people living on planet Earth by 2050. The increase will mostly take place due to African countries, where the population grows by 2.3 percent every year. The Democratic Republic of Congo will become the most populated country of the Black Continent. The nation will have the 186 million-strong population by 2050 (vs. the current 64.7 million), RIA Novosti reports.
The population increase in Asia is going to be a lot less – only 1.1 percent. The population of Asia’s largest country – China – will grow by less than 100 million in 42 years. China currently has the 1.336 billion-strong population, and this number is expected to grow to 1.408 billion by 2050. India will take the leadership over China at this point. By 2050 India will have 1 billion 658 million people living there against the current 1 billion 186 million.
As for the transit economy countries of the former USSR, Russia will obviously remain the most populated one of them all, although its population will drop by 34 million – from the current 141.8 million to 107.8 million in 2050. The number of Ukrainians will drop 1.5 times – from 45.9 million to 30.9 million. A population reduction is forecast for Belarus too – from 9.6 million to 7 million. Georgia, Armenia and Moldova will have the biggest population decrease at the ratio of 0.8 percent every year.
Population increase in the former USSR is to be reported in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The latter will be the leader with a 1.5 percent annual growth – from the current 6.8 million to 10.8 million in 2050.
The demographic situation in Europe will change for the worse as well, albeit no so quickly. The population of Europe will decrease from the current 731 million to 664 million (excluding 12 countries of the former USSR). The annual increase on the level of 1.8 percent will take place in Ireland, whereas negative indexes will be reported in ten countries of the Old World. The worst forecast is expected in Bulgaria – 0.7 percent.
Germany will remain Europe’s most populated country in spite of the fact that the country loses 100,000 people every year – 74.1 million vs. 82.5 million in 2008.
The population of the United States will grow up to 402 million. The number of American citizens will increase at the speed of one percent a year (the nation currently has the 308 million-strong population). The USA will preserve the leadership in the Western hemisphere at this point. Brazil will follow with an increase from 194 million people nowadays to 254 million.
Australia will be able to boast of a population increase too – from 21 to 28 million. The New Zealanders will grow by one million from 4.2 to 5.2 million.
Source: english.pravda.ru