 |
 |
|
|
Home | Friday 8th March 2002 | Issue 345 WAKE
UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YER OILY RAG Story
Links: |
|
|
|
||
 |
OIL-DERADO“If they are moving toward a violent solution, encouraging the military
toward violence, then they are playing with fire. The business sector
continues to criticise us. So why don’t they do something to
help this country, like bringing back the $120 billion they keep
in banks overseas?” Three years ago Chávez was elected president of the fourth largest oil producer in the world. On a tide of public support he won with the biggest majority in four decades. The population of Venezuela were eager for drastic change. They wanted a government that would rid them of corruption and redirect the country’s oil wealth from the pockets of multinationals and towards the poor of Venezuela. In Venezuela 80 per cent of a population of 24 million live in poverty. Chávez set about changing the Constitution. Out went the prescribed Washington model of elections and political parties, and in came a participatory democracy with an emphasis on popular assemblies, social movements and continuous referendums. As a result Venezuela’s new constitution now includes guarantees for indigenous, and women’s rights, free healthcare and education up to university level. To reduce corruption Chávez restructured the courts and the legal system. In a country where the prisons are amongst the most dilapidated and dangerous in the world he met with prisoners and convinced them to hand over their weapons while promising to look at the prison conditions and the injustices of their sentences. He also introduced two new laws that have brought him to the edge of his demise and the country to the brink of a right-wing coup. Firstly, he increased the tax paid on oil exports from 16 to 30 per cent and passed a new energy law that requires 51 per cent government participation in all oil ventures. Secondly he introduced a land reform bill. The bill makes it possible for the government to take land that has remained unproductive for 2 years and re-distribute it to the poor. Within the law there is a provision that extends credit to any private farmer who wants to make his land productive rather than lose it. The bill is broad and does not differentiate between farm, private and church land. These two laws have prompted small but powerful sections from the unions, middle class, rich, media, high ranking military officers and the Catholic Church inside Venezuela to call for Chávez’s resignation. In the words of investigative journalist Greg Palast “the Church says the meek will inherit the earth, but not while they are alive.” The right-wing opposition are using tactics similar to those used to oust Salvador Allende in Chile during the early 1970s. The rich are being used to create a feeling of chaos and paint a picture of Chávez as the ‘dictator’. The military will then be encouraged to mount a coup seemingly for the sake of the country. NO MORE MR NICE GUYCriticisms of Chávez’s reforms outside of Venezuela have come from financial institutions, governments, and the CIA. The IMF is even willing to bankroll an interim government according to James Petras, professor at the State University of New York. He believes the IMF and other financial institutions are creating an economic crisis to oust Chávez. He says, “There is no economic crisis. The economic problems facing Chávez have always been there; they are problems that Chávez inherited. Venezuela is an oil rich country that pays its debts and follows IMF guidelines etc.” George Tenent, head of the CIA and Colin Powell, US Secretary of State have both been critical of Chávez. They claim that he is undercutting American foreign policy by opposing US counter-narcotics aid to Colombia, providing oil to Cuba and giving political support to guerrillas and anti-government forces in neighbouring Colombia. While Chávez has a long history of ‘irritating’ the US by attacking its foreign policy he has been careful not to allow himself to become involved in the civil war in Colombia. Chávez declared Venezuela neutral and has helped in the release of hostages from the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and helped the Colombian government during the peace talks. Chávez has a vision for a new world order “Rather than accepting the imposition of models and economic policies, what we should do is march in the direction of a system of international relations based on equality and mutual respect” he says. Sounds like there’s a leader who’s not prepared to sell his people up the river and go along with what neo-liberalism forces on his country, for a change. When four high ranking army officers called for him to be overthrown, each one was interviewed by a joint civilian and military team and released the next day. Imagine if that had happen here or in the US - the officers would have been charged with treason and thrown in prison. James Petras, believes that “Chávez is an extremely moderate politician who is being hammered for not allowing drug-surveillance flights over Venezuela, being opposed to Plan Colombia (SchNEWS 273) and working with OPEC.” Perhaps the most important figure in the foreign-sponsored destabilisation campaign is Alfredo Peña, the Mayor of Caracas and critic of Chávez. Peña has been visiting Washington recently meeting with the World Bank and the state department and is being groomed to replace Chávez. The irony of all this is that the backer of the coming coup, the US, is under the administration of a president who stole the presidency in a coup d’etat. According to Greg Palast “No one wants to be in the same room as President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela these days, much less stand next to him. He is a dead man walking. It’s not so much a case of if he gets assassinated it’s just a matter of when”. For more info on dodgy dealings in Latin and North America visit: SchNEWS recommended read: ‘The Best Democracy Money Can Buy’ by Greg Palast published by Pluto Press. ‘Exposing the Truth about Globalization, Corporate Cons and High Finance Fraudsters.’  
CRAP ARREST OF THE WEEKFor disagreeing with the government. Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy was given a one day symbolic prison sentence and threatened with 3 months more if she doesn’t pay a fine of 2000 rupees (£30). Her crime? Shouting slogans at a demo outside an Indian court last year (see below).
DAM IT ALLArundhati Roy was found guilty on Wednesday of ‘criminal contempt’ and given a symbolic one day prison sentence in Tihar prison, New Delhi and a fine. The judges said they were going easy on her because she was a woman! Nothing to do with the fact that she’s an internationally renowned author and winner of the Booker Prize (one of her opponents once called her the ‘hooker with the booker’). The charges were brought by a group of lawyers who said that she had shouted abuse at them at a demo in front of a court where approval was being given for construction of the Narmada Dam (see SchNEWS 280) which will displace more than half a million people if it’s completed. But raising your voice in protest against this is obviously a bigger crime. The campaigners did have some good news recently. The Rehabilitation & Resettlement sub-group refused permission for further construction because they aren’t happy about the resettlement of people who have become homeless because of the dam. Following this announcement, people from the Narmada valley ended a two-day sit-in in Delhi. * After the recent great news that direct action had forced Balfour Beatty to pull out of the Illisu dam - which promises to drown dozens of towns and villages including the world historic site of Hasankeyf, and making 78,000 people homeless (SchNEWS 331) - now the Export Credit Guarantee Department which was backing Illisu is thinking of backing another dodgy construction project in Turkey to the tune of £68 million. This times it’s construction company AMEC which is building the Yusufeli dam on the River Coruh in north east Turkey. The dam will make 30,000 people (mostly ethnic minority Georgians) homeless, impact on the surrounding environment, drown important cultural and archeological heritage, affect the supply of water to Georgia, and cause serious erosion on the Black Sea coast. At Hasankeyf, the Turkish government made the mistake of leaving the city standing, and therefore worth defending. It will not repeat this error. It intends to bulldoze Yusufeli in July, whether or not the dam is ready to be built, in the hope that its people and their supporters will give up once there is nothing to be saved but rubble. The people of Yusufeli and the surrounding villages will simply be dumped elsewhere. If they were to be given new homes the costs of resettlement would be greater than the value of the electricity the dam will produce. The people who fought the Ilisu scheme are turning their attention to the Yusufeli dam and are targeting AMEC at their AGM on the 8th of May in Manchester. If you’d like a free share so you could go along phone 020 7490 1555 or email kathb@foe.co.uk asap. * For more info on the Namada www.irn.org Limited Edition Mark Thomas Bootleg Video, Live in Brighton. See 2 hours of Mark in fine form the day after Balfour Beatty pulled out of the Ilisu Dam. £8 + 80p SAE from SchNEWS.
On An EmissionActivists from a group calling itself ‘Pie in the Sky’ - part of Rising Tide UK - this week disrupted a top-level £300 a head conference on the new market in trading carbon dioxide emissions. The soiree brought Shell, the International Emissions Trading Association, the UN, KPMG and the EU together to hear about the profit opportunities presented by this new market in emissions. Carbon Emissions Trading is pie in the sky: it pretends to be a solution to climate change, but is in fact the privatisation of the atmosphere. (See SchNEWS 311) Rising Tide 07762 252932 www.risingtide.org.uk
SchNEWS in brief
Positive SchNEWSDid you know that there are over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world and yet fewer than 20 species now provide 90% of the world’s food? Plants For A Future, with their two demonstration sites in Cornwall and Devon, have for the past 13 years been growing and collecting information on thousands of these. Anyone interested in getting involved and helping with the organisations ‘woodland gardening, vegan-organic horticulture, the use of perennial plants and a sustainable way of life’ should get along to a weekend ‘Shaping the Future of Plants For A Future’ 6-7th April at their Blagdon Cross Site in North Devon. Plants for a Future 1 Lerryn View, Lerryn, Lostwithiel Cornwall, PL22 0QJ Tel 01208 872 963 www.pfaf.org/ * Read Ken Fern’s book ‘Plants For A Future - edible and useful plants for a healthier world’ (Permanent Publications 1997), or get in touch for a copy of their plant catalogue.
Inside SchNEWSEmily Apple, a die-hard anti-capitalist non-stop direct action activist is being sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court next Wednesday (13). Emily and a friend handcuffed themselves to a docklands light railway train during protests against the Defence Systems Exhibition International last September (see SchNEWS 322) The ‘exhibition’ was Europes’ biggest arms fair, catering for dictators and oppressive regimes throughout the world, selling landmines hawkjets, cluster bombs, rocket launchers, anti-ballistic missiles, you name it. The action stopped delegates on the train - literally in their tracks - from reaching the place. Her friend has been acquitted but Emily was convicted and now faces up to two years in prison, with the judge during the trail declaring that ‘Society needs a break’ from Emily. People are meeting for a breakfast with her in the park in the grounds
of the court on: Wednesday March 13th Snaresbrook Crown Court, 75
Hollybush Hill, E11 (nearest tube Snaresbrook) at 9am. * Also at the infamous arms fair a WOMBLE (those with the white overalls, padding and helmets) who was acting as a medic, was found not guilty of “using threatening words and behaviour” after he was nicked for the crime of trying to help someone who had been assaulted by the cops. The case provides an important precedent as the judge didn’t accept the cops’ claims that people wearing padding and white suits were there to be violent (unlike the non-violent people down the road busy selling weapons to each other) He also clearly sided with the defence after asking if he’d been wearing anything to identify him as a medic. Will a hat with a massive red-cross on it do?
Shit HappensLast Thursday about 500 people gathered on the steps of the Argentinan Congress building in Buenos Aires and began throwing carrier bags of their own shit, which they had painstakingly saved for days against the steps of Congress shouting such inspiring slogans as, “Put the shit where it belongs.” and “Senators and members of congress - today we shit on you for a change”. As a comment on Indymedia Argentina said, “Shit isn’t just any object - it’s related to whether we eat or starve. What really disgusts us is the government, members of congress and all those who think we will continue to eat shit.” * Want to find out more about what’s happening in Argentina? Then get along to a SchNEWS public meeting next Monday (11) 8pm Prince Albert, Trafalgar St where will be videos and an eyewitness account and a chance for discussion.
...and finally...Fancy getting your own back on the cops for all those cameras in your face, Section 60s and all the general harassement? Well, next Wednesday (13th) the cops will be having their own demo/rally to protest against cuts in overtime and uniform allowance at the QE2 Conference Centre near Parliament Square and afterwards they’ll be having a photo call outside the building. To see if they like a taste of their own medicine, bring cameras (to pick out the ringleaders), banners suggesting things like “Move along please, you’ve made your point” and “We understand, my daughter’s a copper.” If it starts to get ugly we might have to use a citizens section 60 to keep them under control! Meet outside Politicos bookshop at 11am to make sure the “hardcore, violent element” don’t ruin it for everyone! For more info e-mail insurrectionist73@yahoo.co.uk
DisclaimerSchNEWS warns all readers that our only leader is the front page. Honest.
Cor-blimley-they’re-practically-giving-them-away book offer SchNEWS Round
issues 51 - 100 £4.50 inc. postage. In addition to 50 issues of SchNEWS, each book contains articles, photos, cartoons, subverts, a “yellow pages” list of contacts, comedy etc. All the above books are available from the Brighton Peace Centre, saving postage yer tight gits. Subscribe to SchNEWS: Send 1st Class stamps (e.g. 10 for next 9 issues) or donations (payable to Justice?). Or £15 for a year's subscription, or the SchNEWS supporter's rate, £1 a week. Ask for "originals" if you plan to copy and distribute. SchNEWS is post-free to prisoners. You can also pick SchNEWS up at the Brighton Peace and Environment Centre at 43 Gardner Street, Brighton.
|
|
|
@nti copyright - information for action - copy and distribute! |
||
