Jun 8, 2002

Palestinians protest forced isolation of West Bank communities/China comments on NATO-Russia Council/Argentina: Protests vs. gov’t handling of crisis/Protests set for South Korean unionists/Metalworkers vow to continue strike/Long-term dangers from India-Pakistan war

Foreign policy is too important to be left in the hands of the State Department. U.S. transnational corporations and the Bush administration have very different world interests than American labor. In the era of capitalist globalization, “Workers of the World Unite,” is not just a good idea, it is critical to the very survival of the labor movement. For the entire article, click on the headline. To view a press release from the United Steelworkers on this topic, click here.

The fact that more than 40 million U.S. citizens have no health insurance increases our country’s vulnerability to a bioterror attack, two public health experts have charged. For the entire article, click on the headline. To see the original article in Science Magazine by Dr. Wynia, click here.

DALLAS – ExxonMobil oil company held its annual shareholders’ meeting May 29 in one of the poshest settings here, the Meyerson Symphony Hall, but they didn’t get to ignore the furor they have created around the world. Protesters included spokespersons from as far away as Colombia, Tibet, Indonesia and Russia.

PANAMA CITY, Florida (Prensa Asociada) – Contrario a las afirmaciones frecuentes sobre las ventajas sin paralelo de la isla de Vieques, un oficial de la Marina de Guerra dijo el lunes pasado que mudar los ejercicios con fuego vivo de Puerto Rico, en algunas manera, mejorará el entrenamiento de la Marina.

PIRAEUS, Greece – Striking sailors and other port workers at the Greek port of Piraeus were viciously attacked by hundreds of Special Port Corps police and Navy Special Forces “frogmen” May 29, in an action reminiscent of the assault on longshore workers in Charleston, S.C., over two years ago.

BALTIMORE – Judith Le Blanc, correspondent of the People’s Weekly World and vice chair of the Communist Party USA, spoke about her April visit to Israel and the Occupied Territories at Stony Run Friends Meeting House here May 31. About 45 attended the discussion sponsored by the Communist Party of Maryland and the Baltimore Peace Action Network.

TEL AVIV – June 5 is the 35th anniversary of the day Israel’s “Defense” Army crossed the 1949 armistice lines, recognized by the world as Israel’s borders, to invade Egypt and Syria, the Jordanian-occupied Palestinian West Bank including the Arab part of Jerusalem, and the Egyptian-held Palestinian Gaza Strip. Israel thus opened what was later called the “Six Day War” – which has already lasted over 12,500 days. The Israeli government’s drive to conquer all of Palestine from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean coast, while cleansing it as much as possible of the indigenous Palestinian Arab people, still undermines any hope for true and lasting peace.

Defenders of the Bill of Rights charged this week that Attorney General John Ashcroft’s new FBI guidelines, announced May 30, open the door for wider FBI spying on law-abiding people, spreading fear and intimidation while doing nothing to curb terrorism. For the entire article, click on the headline. To view a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union on this issue, click here.