Lucky White Girl

Why hire a PR firm when you have the Washington Post?

A few weeks ago I pointed out the Washington Post's editorial in support of the free trade deal with Colombia.  On Sunday there was an interview published with Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, a man who has openly acknowledged having ties to paramilitary groups in the past.  Here are some of the questions this hard-hitting PR flak --er, I mean "reporter" had for Mr. Uribe:

• Haven't you stuck your neck out to be a good US ally in the war on terrorism and the war on drugs? Are you thinking about alternatives  to your alliance with the US if this [trade deal] does not go through?

• Try to explain to the American people how important the [deal] is to your country --what it means in terms of growth and how damaging it would be to you, who have been a strong US ally if the agreement is rejected?

• You put so much on the line for an ally, and Washington doesn't come through for you?

Today Mr. Uribe's administration is in the news again for another scandal (they've been having to deal with recent revelations that many other people in his administration have ties to paramilitary groups also.  The documentation of corruption and human rights violations in Colombia under the Uribe administration is compelling.  Here's just a sampling:

Reuters: Colombia scandal creeps closer to Uribe (April 2007)

National Security Archive: Documents Implicate Colombian Government in Chiquita Terror Scandal (March 2007)

Washington Post: Paramilitary Ties to Elite in Colombia (March 2007)

Council on Foreign Relations: Colombia Scandal Imperils US Alliance (May 2007)

The House Democrats are right to block a trade deal with a country so corrupt.  Uribe is not a honorable character and we should not be validating his administration with any kind of alliance. 

"Anyone who escapes or tries to leave without authorization will go to jail"

If that doesn't sound pretty much like slavery I don't know what does!  That's a quote from a really interesting This American Life expose of what happened to some guestworkers from India who came to work for a company in the U.S.  Workers beware!  Give it a listen.

Christmas 2007

(there's a video here in case you can't see it.  Click below)

Maybe next year things'll be different...

What makes me mad

Funeral held for girl denied transplant by insurance company.

"A leukemia patient, 17-year-old Nataline had been in intensive care at UCLA Medical Center for about three weeks after suffering complications following a successful bone marrow transplant Nov. 21, according to relatives. She was covered under the policy of her mother, a real estate agent.

UCLA doctors put her on a list for a liver transplant on Dec. 6 and a liver became available four days later, the family said. Her doctors told Cigna in a letter that patients in similar situations have a 65% chance of living six months if they receive a liver transplant.

But the transplant was not performed because Cigna deemed it experimental in Nataline's case and refused to pay for it....

She died last week.

'Tis the season... for exploitation?

"Between December and May, Florida produces virtually the entire US crop of field-grown fresh tomatoes. Fruit picked here in the winter months ends up on the shelves of supermarkets and is also served in the country's top restaurants and in tens of thousands of fast-food outlets.

But conditions in the state's fruit-picking industry range from straightforward exploitation to forced labour. Tens of thousands of men, women and children - excluded from the protection of America's employment laws and banned from unionising - work their fingers to the bone for rates of pay which have hardly budged in 30 years. [from The Unapologetic Mexican but originally from:Slave labour that shames America; Migrant workers chained beaten and forced into debt, exposing the human cost of producing cheap food]

Fighting xenophobia

MigraMatters is a really excellent blog by the way.

I stole the image up there to the left (under "Credo") from them.

Brave people, taking risks to do the right thing

I thought this was a very powerful analogy in the immigration debate: from a San Bernadino paper: a column on a new underground railroad?

I'd award them my official Creative Protest Award but I can't find an official press release about their warning system hotline.

Domincan Republic on strike

Workers in the Dominican Republic are on a 24 hour strike today and they have the backing of 2 of the 3 leading presidential candidates.  Organized by the Alternative Social Forum, a conglomeration of various unions and human rights groups, the protesters are demanding major changes in the government's economic policies.  This is the second national strike to come during the current President's tenure.  The first took place last July when the protesters succeeded in shutting down much of the capital.

While expected to be peaceful, "the Police said it will deploy the needed agents in the streets and test its recently-acquired water cannons".  Always good to have a bunch of protesters around for target practice.

Guess who opposes indigenous rights?

This is one of those news items that just make you roll your eyes and think how typical!  It's so not unexpected that it's painful and almost funny in a dark-humor kind of way. 

If you don't rely exclusively on corporate US news sources, you might have heard recently that the UN passed a resolution last week in favor of human rights for the world's indigenous peoples, specifically the right to self-determination and control of their own resources.   Now you'd think that'd just be common sense (I mean hey, one could wish we would have evolved past the colonialism stage yet, eh?) and that such a resolution would be a warm and fuzzy declaration that only The Simpson's Mr. Burns could object to. 

But you would be wrong.  Four countries objected to the resolution.  Guess which ones?  Here's a hint: they all have long histories of colonialism and all have sizeable chunks of indigenous people still living under occupation within their borders. 

The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  My roommate and I marveled over the fact that Britain didn't join them.  Good for Britain.  For the rest of us, how embarrassing!

p.s. This is why I'm a big fan of the General Assembly. 

In Memorium: Steve Biko

Yesterday was the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, also in Chile, it was the anniversary of the assassination of Salvador Allende and the beginning of the Pinochet dictatorship.  Today, September 12th is the 30th anniversary of the assassination of South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko.  Biko had been arrested by the South African police on the 18th of August under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act (yikes! sound familiar?) and was found dead in his cell on this day in 1977.  One of the greatest voices for freedom and equality silenced forever.  You can find visit the Steve Biko Foundation and read a short biography here.

"We have set on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horison we can see the glittering prize. Let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and brotherhood. In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible - a more human face." --Steve Biko