Intervention in Zimbabwe: Humanitarian and Otherwise

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

Pauly blogs a rebuke to the BBC’s Sir Ronald Sanders argument for intervention in Zimbabwe:

Take Sanders’ own Great Britain, for example. As James Fiorentino points out in Socialist Worker, British banks have been investing heavily in Zimbabwe, extending credit to members of Mugabe’s inner circle. Additionally, the British mining company Rio Tinto has been heavily involved in the diamond industry in Zimbabwe. Far from asking his government to intervene, Sanders should demand that his countrymen get the hell out.

Die Linkspartei Under Attack From Media

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

Mick Hall writes:

The growth in working class support for Germany’s Die Linkspartei, [The Left Party] as expressed in recent regional election results and national opinion polls has clearly rattled Capital and its gofers in the Bundestag and media. This time in an attempt to halt the party’s rising popularity, reactionary forces have been rifling through the dustbin of history and dug up an old story about Gregor Gysi, one of the Left Party most charismatic leaders, who at one time was a member of East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party. [SED]

“Globalize” resistance and protest

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

Carol P. Araullo, the chairperson of BAYAN, a large umbrella front of progressive and left-wing organizations in the Philippines, blogs on the food crisis and the culpability of President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines:

But this time around, we can readily agree that the rice/food crisis is happening worldwide and its immediate causes and historical roots cannot be strictly confined to the specific policies and concrete situations obtaining in particular countries. Indeed, the international agribusiness cartels such as the small clique of corporations that control the world’s fertilizer and pesticide market, the largest seed companies (e.g. Monsanto), the largest grain traders (e.g. Cargill) and the world’s big food processors (e.g. Nestle), their local business partners in third world countries and the homegrown trading cartels (e.g. in rice) have made a killing in the midst of growing hunger, food riots and panic buying by governments and households.

Having said that, we reiterate that the Arroyo regime is not blameless, in fact it must own up to and be held accountable for the neoliberal policies and programs it has perpetuated and even accelerated in implementation that today aggravates the rice crisis.

McWane, Capitalism, and Safety

Cross-posted from The Ghost of Tom Joad.

I just finished watching a PBS Frontline special on McWane, called “A Dangerous Busniess: Revisited.”  In the documentary Frontline found the McWane willfully violated OSHA safety regulations in order to turn a profit.  The workers of McWane didn’t matter, all that mattered was recruiting new meat in order to operate the machinery in order to create more steel pipes in order to create more profit in order to enrich the philanthropic McWane family of Birmingham, AL.

Much of the documentation of McWane was from 1995 to around 2003 in where nine workers died and possibly hundreds were injured, many of them seriously, due to the profit driven nature of McWane management…(Read More)

Don’t Trust Dem Corporations

Cross-posted from The Ghost of Tom Joad.

Another reason to go vegan (which I’m not and maybe I should). From the New York Times:

The Department of Agriculture on Sunday announced by far the largest recall of beef in history, calling for the return of 143 million pounds of ground beef from a California slaughterhouse that supplies school lunch programs.

The acknowledgment came after the Humane Society of the United States distributed an undercover video on Jan. 30 that showed workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts and electric shocks to force them to walk.

The video raised questions about the safety of the meat because cows that cannot walk, called downer cows, pose an added risk of mad cow disease. The federal government has banned downer cows from the food supply.

Chavez: Devil? Christ? Neither?

The blog world when discussing many issues tends to discuss them in black and white terms.  This is mainly to the fact that complex ideas are spread out over many blog posts as long blogs tend to not be read and are just a bad blogging strategy in general; plus blogs tend to cater to those whom agree with the blog author.  However it seems as though many bloggers who label Chavez as a demon or angel are missing the point.  There’s more to the man than just the epitamy of the evils of communism or the only hope for socialism.  The Monthly Review letter from the editor has a good take on the previous elections a few months ago:

The victory of the No vote in the Venezuelan constitutional reform referendum in December is being treated by Washington as a major defeat for Chávez’s efforts to promote a socialism for the twenty-first century in Venezuela. But the opposition to the Bolivarian Revolution was so aware of its own weaknesses that it adopted as its final slogan “Chávez, Yes; Reform, No.” The defeat of the constitutional reform was guaranteed by the fact that 44 percent of the population, many of whom had supported Chávez previously, chose not to vote. This may simply be due to the fact that the proposed constitutional reforms were enormously complex with changes in 69 articles. But it is also true that a propaganda campaign authored and choreographed by Washington and the CIA, and implemented by the Venezuelan elites who control the private media, had a considerable effect in blocking the reform effort.

I tend to not believe the U.S. media hype on Chavez (as I have my bachelors journalism major and studied the elitist tendencies of the media) but am not fully convienced on his leadership skills.  Time will tell, however.  But I will say this.  Any country or movement that relies on one person and has only one leader for many years (if not decades) is bound for failure and shows the complete failure of its organization to breed new leaders.

Fire in the Delta

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

Black Looks blogs on the situation in the Niger Delta and posts a video:

In 2005, the High Court declared gas flaring illegal yet both the Nigerian government and oil multinationals have ignored the court ruling. Last year the Nigerian government once again promised to stop all gas flaring on the 1st January this year - a promise that goes back nearly 40 years. Companies defying the order were to be shut down. Once again the government has shown complete disregard and insensitivity to the communities in the Niger Delta and given into pressure from Shell, Chevron, Elf etc. The date has now been set for the end of the year but no one really believes that the government will once again bow to the oil multinationals.

[Hat Tip:  Change Seeker]

Malawi Ignores the Almighty Free Market

The New York Times reports:

Farmers explain Malawi’s extraordinary turnaround — one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa — with one word: fertilizer.

Over the past 20 years, the World Bank and some rich nations Malawi depends on for aid have periodically pressed this small, landlocked country to adhere to free market policies and cut back or eliminate fertilizer subsidies, even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers. But after the 2005 harvest, the worst in a decade, Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi’s newly elected president, decided to follow what the West practiced, not what it preached.

Instead of adhering to the free market and the World Bank Malawi actually decided to listen to common sense.  Here’s a little skit for all your pleasure:

World Bank Spokesperson: So in order to solved your famine problems all you need to do is open up your economy and eliminate fertilizer subsidies.

Malawi Farmer: Uh, but fertilizer is what will grow crops for me.

WBS: Yes, but with the free market you buy cheaper fertilzer.

MF: Uhhhh, but without subsidies I can’t afford fertilizer and grow my crops to feed my fellow citizens and Africans.

WBS: Hahaha, silly Negro.  Prices will rise but then eventually flatten out and then with open competition you can then buy some cheaper fertilizer a few years from now.

MF: But won’t Western corporations move in before then creating monopolies and buy up my land since I’ll have to sell it since I won’t be able to afford the fertilizer, crops, and taxes anymore?  Thus making me homeless?

WBS: Hmmmm…But with the free market you can have the freedom to move anywhere in Malawi and farm for the corporation that gives you the best salary.

MF: So I can work on the farm I used to own?

WBS: Why yes!  That’s the free market spirit!

MF: And than the corporations can sell the crops to the West and not sell them to Malawi because they can make more profit selling the crops overseas and in turn starving my people out despite there being an abundance of food?

WBS: Uh, yeeeeaaaahhhh, ummmmmmm….[Points up to the sky] WHAT’S THAT! [Scampers off].

Congressional Black Caucus Week

The blogger for What About Our Daughters writes:

I don’t usually do politics, but when I was in DC a few days ago, everybody kept asking me is I was staying for CBC Week. I was like Um NO! They were disappointed. Apparently CBC Week is like the Super Bowl of the Black Elite Establishment inhaling drank and vittles from corporate America, oh yeah and they have workshops too! The theme this year was “Unleashing Our Power!” Honey, don’t I KNOW it.

Well some Black bloggers have a WHOLE LOT to say about the CBC and the Annual Legislative Conference so I did a little research…

Robert Murray Uses Tragedy to Attack Unions

Mike Hall blogs about Robert Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy, which owns the mine of the six trapped (or possibly dead) Utah miners. The mine was a non-union mine and used an extremely unsafe method of mining called “retreat mining:”

Murray has also used the spotlight to:

• Deny reports that a type of mining called retreat mining, that many safety experts warn adds danger to an already dangerous underground workplace, was being used at the Utah mine. But federal safety officials confirm retreat mining has been used at Crandall Creek.
• Dispute scientists who say that seismographic readings at the time of the collapse came from the magnitude of the collapse, not an earthquake that caused the collapse.
• Attack reporters and accuse them of posing questions provided by the Mine Workers (UMWA).
• Rant against the UMWA and its leaders, saying the union wants organize his workforce and “want to damage Murray Energy, Utah American and the United States coal industry for their own motives.”

It’s not the first time Murray has drawn down on the UMWA. The relationship between Murray and the UMWA goes back to1988 when Murray purchased an Ohio coal mine that came with a 300-strong UMWA-represented workforce.

Imagine…Being Your Husband’s Very Own Baby Machine

Holly, at Feministe, blogs about a new Nintendo DS game called “Imagine Babies:”

That’s right… it’s a game about TAKING CARE OF BABIES! I’ll give you one guess who it’s aimed at. OK, I’ll just tell you: it’s part of a series of games aimed at girls from the ages of 8 to 14, from video game giant Ubisoft — better known as the publisher games like Splinter Cell, Myst, Rayman, and Prince of Persia. According to their press release, the other titles in the series will include Imagine™ Fashion Designer, Imagine™ Animal Doctor, Imagine™ Master Chef, and Imagine™ Figure Skater.

Wow, Imagine™ all the things a girl can do! Making food, and making clothes, and making babies!! What’s next, Imagine™ Shoe Shopping and Imagine™ Housecleaning?

Link via Apurva.

National Day of Music Outrage

Bronze Trinity posts a press release from Al Sharpton:

“Reverend Al Sharpton, Founder and President of National Action Network (NAN), along with Tamika Mallory, Director of NAN’s Decency Initiative, has announced a national “Day of Outrage” against the continuous use in the music recording industry of the words “nigga,” “bitch” and “ho.” Reverend Sharpton, who has persistently challenged the entertainment industry on denigrating lyrics, will use August 7th to call for the withdrawal of public investments from companies that won’t clean up their act.”

The Hostility of the Hospitality Industry

Jan In San Fran blogs about hospitality workers taking on Woodfin Suites in the blog Happening Here:

The struggle of workers at Emeryville’s Woodfin Suites Hotel for a living wage and a measure of respect has taken some wild twists and turns in the last few days. I’ve written about this previously here, here, and here.

Like much of the “hospitality industry” this hotel keeps up its profit margin up by paying low wages to immigrant workers to do the dirty stuff. The city of Emeryville, collectively, said “enough already,” in 2005, and passed a living wage ordinance. The hotel unsuccessfully contested the law in court; workers brought a class action lawsuit for back pay. All of a sudden, the hotel began to question the workers’ immigration status, citing problems with their Social Security numbers.

Fighting for Fightings Sake

Will, over at KABOBfest, posts:

NOW Magazine in Toronto reports that Palestine solidarity activists from the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid have launched a boycott campaign against the chain of Indigo and Chapters bookstores, Canada’s largest bookseller. Its owners run a scholarship fund for Israeli soldiers without family in Israel — in other words, Zionuts who travel to Israel just to fight for the Zionut vision of an exclusive ethno-religious state that suppresses and dispossesses the native Palestinians. Which is, in a word, racist.

The Fashionability of Domestic Abuse

The blogger Vox at the blog Vox Ex Machina writes about a recent ad campaign by United Colors of Benneton:

Domestic violence is not fashionable. Violence in general is not fashionable, nor is rape. But, as a society, we are taught that fashion is, well, fashionable. Mixed messages, right?

If women and girls are constantly shown images of dead women, beaten women, bound women, raped women and ARE TOLD THESE WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL by the industry that DEFINES beauty, then eventually, some of them are going to start believing it.

And since we’re also taught from a young age that beauty is everything, with women’s magazines focusing almost exclusively on what bathing suit best flatters your frame, how to make your eyelashes look longer, choosing the right foundation, the best type of squats to get rid of butt flab, the best breakfast to help you lose weight … what higher goal does society dictate a woman should have, after over 150 years of women’s rights movements, than to be beautiful?