Monday, November 09, 2009

The Global Economic Crisis and the Imperialist Quest for Africa's Resources

The Global Economic Crisis and the Imperialist Quest for Africa’s Resources

Capitalist meltdown escalates western drive for continental control

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Over the last two years more than 7 million workers inside the United States have lost their jobs according to official figures supplied by the federal government. The impact has been felt in all sectors of the economy including heavy and light industry, retail, high technology, public service, education, healthcare and culture.

This economic downturn has resulted in an estimated 34 million workers being left either unemployed or underemployed. As of November 2009, the unemployment rate stands at 10.2 percent and there is no reasonable forecast that predicts a sudden upswing in employment during the immediate period.

Real wages have been in severe decline and trillions of the dollars in housing, savings, healthcare benefits, educational resources and pension funds have been taken from working families and the oppressed and turned over to the financial sector and the Pentagon. Despite the election of a Democratic congress and administration, the conditions for working people and the nationally oppressed has worsened during 2009.

This economic crisis which originated in the United States and other western imperialist states has had a tremendous impact on the oppressed nations that are former colonies and semi-colonies of Europe and the United States. In Africa tens of millions of people have been thrust into unemployment and poverty over the last two years.

At a recent meeting in Ethiopia of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), a United Nations sponsored research organization, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro delivered a major address in which she outlined the impact of the world financial crisis on the African continent. Migiro related the current situation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for 2015 which stated that poverty in Africa would be reduced by 50 percent.

The Deputy Secretary-General pointed out that “Despite some notable achievements, progress is off track across the continent.” (UNECA, November 9) Even though there was limited growth in Africa between 2000 and 2008, the recessions in the western countries have plunged the continent into a new round of economic decline resulting in social distress that has breed internal instability.

Migiro says that the growth rates during the earlier part of the decade were commendable, “But that good news is in peril. The economic crisis, for which Africa bears no responsibility, has drastically reversed recent trends.”

The growth rate for Africa in 2009 is projected to reach a paltry 1.7 percent. “Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals is likely to be adversely affected. The food and energy crises, as well as climate change, will also complicate our work.” (UNECA, November 9)

A task force of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) known as the Africa Steering Group, which was formed in July 2008, is scheduled to meet in New York on November 23. The Group is chaired by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and is calling for initiatives in the areas of education, health, agriculture and infrastructure designed to speed up progress towards the alleviation of poverty.

In regard to agricultural development, the Africa Steering Group has called for the international community to supply $750 million to assist in the short-term objectives resulting from the rapidly rising costs of food. The Steering Group also urged African states to work with other regions to launch a so-called “Green Revolution” in agriculture.

According to Migiro, “The economic crisis makes the need for action even more urgent. The crisis has pushed about 100 million people back into extreme poverty across the world. It has cost more than 50 million jobs this year alone.”

The U.N. official continued by saying that “Although some markets are bouncing back, the early signs of recovery have not produced many new jobs. For the crisis to be over, those who want to work should be able to find stable and productive jobs.”

The Global Crisis and the Drive for Africa’s Resources

Since the rise of the imperialist occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, more people in the Middle-East and Asia have intensified their resistance against United States foreign policy aims in these regions. Well over four thousand U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq and over thirty thousand have been wounded. Hundreds of thousands of others have suffered permanent physical and psychological injuries as a result of the occupations.

In Afghanistan the rate of death among U.S. soldiers is escalating at a tremendous rate. In October 2009, approximately 60 occupation troops were killed along with other personnel from the United Nations which is serving as a conduit of the occupying NATO forces. The military budget of the United States is at its largest in history despite the fact that the majority of people inside the country want a withdrawal from both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Moreover the impact of the occupations are most dramatic among the affected populations in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Pakistan. Various reports indicate that over million people have died in these countries since the beginning of the occupations and the expansion of the U.S. war into Pakistan.

On the African continent in the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia since the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion in December 2006, millions of people have been displaced both internally and outside the country. Flotillas of warships from the imperialist nations and other states are currently patrolling the Gulf of Aden in a purported anti-piracy campaign, while people inside the region are suffering from the worst food deficits in over two decades.

During the course of the recent period, the U.S. oil industry is relying more on exports of petroleum from the African continent. This reliance on oil exports has coincided with greater U.S. military involvement in West Africa.

In Ghana for example, the recent discovery of oil reserves off the coast of the country has set into motion a new scramble for these resources by the imperialist-based oil firms from the U.S., the U.K. and France. These efforts by the multi-national oil companies are clashing with the offers from the People’s Republic of China which is stepping up its economic cooperation efforts in Africa.

The activities of a Dallas-based oil firm Kosmos has angered officials in Accra as the company has been accused of attempting to reap windfall profits from the sale of its interests in the oil industry that were negotiated under a previous more conservative government.

In a recent report published in Ghana Public Agenda, it states that “Sources close to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) have described Kosmos’ behavior as recalcitrant and selfish. ‘They have misbehaved and are now resorting to tricks to cover their misdeeds.’ Kosmos’ alleged share-trading deal with Exxon Mobil, was described by Ghanaian officials as having no effect.” (Public Agenda, October 27)

This report continues by pointing out that “The move by the Texas-based company was clearly intended to hype the value of its stake and use that in its subsequent negotiation with the Ghanaian government. Kosmos again has been accused by GNPC as showing bad faith by disclosing vital technical and financial data to third parties without the express consent of its partners in the Jubilee Field (Ghana oil resources), including GNPC, an act for which GNPC is bent on exacting its pound of flesh.” (Public Agenda, October 27)

Illustrating the role of the PRC in this process, the article stresses that “Realising that it was losing ground to the Chinese, who have made generous overtures to the Ghanaian Government and are willing to go beyond helping GNPC to finance its purchase of Kosmos’ stake to providing some budgetary support to Ghana, Exxon Mobil has made a U-turn on its alleged deal with Kosmos and is now courting GNPC for the coveted shares.”

Other multi-national oil firms are also maneuvering for a share in Ghana’s oil wealth. British Petroleum (BP) is being advised by Goldman Sachs of New York on how to finance its expansion into the burgeoning West African oil industry. In addition, the French-based Total corporation is also interested in purchasing a stake in the quest for black gold.

In an article published on the Joyonline website it points out that there are so many western firms pressing hard for a portion of the newly-discovered oil resources. Joyonline asks “Why is the stake so valuable? It just so happens that Jubilee (the oil fields) may lie at the eastern edge of a 700-mile structure that could finish up at the western edge in Sierra Leone. Oil was discovered there recently in nearly 6,000 feet of water by a group that included Anadarko Petroleum, and Spain’s Repsol, along with the U.K.’s Tullow Oil and Australia’s Woodside Oil.” (Joyonline, October 28)

Other Resources Sought in Eastern and Southern Africa

In addition to the efforts by oil firms based in the western imperialist countries, in Somalia the efforts by the military and naval forces off its coasts and throughout the East Africa region are designed to control the flow of resources and goods through the Gulf of Aden as well as the Indian Ocean. Also the collapse of the Somalia government in 1991 provided the opportunity for western countries to take control of the enormous seafood resources in the region which had supplied a livelihood for people in the fishing industry.

Other reports have indicated that for many years the nuclear and chemical producing states have used the waters off Somalia to dump waste which have contaminated the waters and the shores. World Sentinel makes reference to this ongoing tragedy by citing a recently published article from the London-based Independent newspaper documenting the health effects of the dumping of toxic waste off the coast of Somalia.

“As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died”. (World Sentinel, November 8)

This article continues by pointing out that “this is the context in which Somali ‘pirates’ have emerged. Somali fisherman, Volunteer Coastguards, took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers. And ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somali news site WardheerNews found that 70 percent ‘strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence.’” (World Sentinel, November 8)

In the Southern African nation of Zimbabwe where the government of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF party have been battling for a decade to stave off attempts at regime-change carried out by the imperialist states of Britain, the U.S. and the European Union, a recent round of attacks have been leveled at the country in attempts to ban its diamonds from being distributed on the international market.

An Associated Press article stated that “The world’s diamond control body is calling on Zimbabwe to clean up a lawless field, but has stopped short of suspending the country from a process meant to keep ‘blood’ gems off the market. “ (AP, November 6)

These efforts can only be aimed at continuing the same imperialist aims of overthrowing the ZANU-PF government which has entered into an inclusive alliance with the western-backed MDC-T opposition party. The MDC-T is being funded by the U.S. as a parallel government and recently engaged in another attempt break up the inclusive arrangement in response to the arrest and threatened prosecution of a white settler businessman who was accused of smuggling arms into to the country for the purpose of staging a violent attack on the president and his party which fought for the national liberation of the country during the 1960s and 1970s.

The Role of AFRICOM Must be Challenged

For over a year now the U.S. Africa Command has been officially in operation in the western European state of Germany. The efforts of the U.S. imperialists to base AFRICOM directly on the continent generated considerable controversy and opposition during 2007 and early 2008. Consequently, the AFRICOM project has sought more subtle methods of enhancing U.S. military intervention on the continent.

The U.S. has established a military base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti at Camp Lemonier where some 2,000 troops are stationed. This base hosts the Combined Joint Task Force which is ostensibly set up to combat “terrorism” in the region.

In a recent article by Rick Rozoff published on the globalresearch.ca website based in Toronto, the author reviews the numerous U.S. military efforts on the African continent and the various countries involved in joint operations currently taking place under the Obama administration. These military operations are closely related to the desire on the part of the U.S. to control the flow of oil and other strategic resources from the African continent into the imperialist states.

For example the oil-producing West African nation of Gabon was the site of a large-scale military exercise involving the U.S. and a number of countries on the continent. Rozoff states in the article that “On September 29 AFRICOM led the militaries of 30 African nations in the ten-day Africa Endeavor 2009 maneuvers in Gabon off the coast of the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.

“‘The U.S. military has begun an exercise in the African nation of Gabon…to improve command and control between forces for possible peacekeeping or anti-terrorism missions. AFRICOM… is sponsoring the exercise and much of the instruction is done by U.S. military personnel based in Europe and the United States.’” (Global Research, October 27 and AP, September 30)

In addition to the exercise in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, in East Africa “From October 16-25 the U.S. headed a multinational military exercise, Natural Fire 10, in Uganda in which ‘More than 1,000 American and East African troops were…deployed…as the United States carried out its biggest military exercise in Africa this year.” (Global Research, October 27)

This article continues by stating that “Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi provided troops that joined 450 U.S. military personnel in drills which ‘involve live fire in the field as well as convoy operations, crowd control and vehicle checkpoints….” The author cites an African newspaper that was critical of the recent joint military exercise between various regional states and the United States. The article put forward the notion that the East African maneuvers were geared towards providing security for the U.S.-backed regime in Uganda which has been challenged for years by a rebel group in the north of the country. (The East African, October 12)

These U.S. military exercises are escalating at a critical period when the economies of both the imperialist states and the developing countries are undergoing tremendous upheaval and distress. Anti-war and anti-imperialist forces inside the United States and other western industrialized states must raise opposing views on the increasing military involvement in Africa as a major source of the continuing underdevelopment and destabilization on the continent.

The military maneuvers and exploitation of resources in Africa have not provided any relief to the hundreds of millions of people suffering from unemployment, poverty and food deficits on the continent. In conjunction with the workers, farmers and their organizations in Africa, the progressive forces in the United States must oppose all efforts aimed at the further exploitation of the continent’s resources as well as the occupation of its lands by the international capitalists and their military forces.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 3:40 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Mandela Endures as South Africa's Ideal

November 9, 2009

Mandela Endures as South Africa’s Ideal

By CELIA W. DUGGER
New York Times

JOHANNESBURG — The icon is a very old man now. His hair is white, his body frail. Visitors say Nelson Mandela leans heavily on a cane when he walks into his study. He slips off his shoes, lowers himself into a stiff-backed chair and lifts each leg onto a cushioned stool. His wife, Graça, adjusts his feet “so they’re symmetrical, and gives him a peck,” says George Bizos, his old friend and lawyer.

To Mr. Mandela’s left is a small table piled with newspapers in English and Afrikaans, the language of the whites who imprisoned him for 27 years. Family and old comrades sit to his right, where his hearing is better. His memory has weakened, but he still loves to reminisce, bringing out oft-told stories “like polished stones,” as one visitor put it.

“There’s a quietness about him,” said Barbara Masekela, his chief of staff after his release from prison in 1990. “I find myself trying to amuse him, and I feel joyous when he breaks out in laughter.”

Mr. Mandela, perhaps the world’s most beloved statesman and a natural showman, has repeatedly announced his retirement from public life only to appear at a pop concert in his honor or a political rally. But recently, as he canceled engagements, rumors that he was gravely ill swirled so persistently in South Africa that his foundation released a statement saying he was “as well as anyone can expect of someone who is 91 years old.”

Yet even as Mr. Mandela fades from view, he retains a vital place in the public consciousness here. To many, he is still the ideal of a leader — warm, magnanimous, willing to own up to his failings — against which his political successors are measured and often found wanting. He is the founding father whose values continue to shape the nation.

“It’s the idea of Nelson Mandela that remains the glue that binds South Africa together,” said Mondli Makhanya, editor in chief of The Sunday Times. “The older he grows, the more fragile he becomes, the closer the inevitable becomes, we all fear that moment. There’s the love of the man, but there’s also the question: Who will bind us?”

There is a yearning for the exhilarating days when South Africa peacefully ended white racist rule, and a desire to understand the imperfect, big-hearted man who embodied that moment. Because of this, various historians and journalists are at work on a new round of books about Mr. Mandela.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation agreed last month to sell publishers in some 20 countries the rights to a book, “Conversations With Myself,” based on material from Mr. Mandela’s personal papers — jottings on envelopes, journals, desk calendars, drafts of intimate letters to relatives written in prison and documents from his years as South Africa’s first democratically chosen black president.

“He was and still is an obsessive record keeper,” said Verne Harris, who has been Mr. Mandela’s archivist since 2004 and will knit together the excerpts with Tim Couzens, a biographer. “The oldest records we have in that collection are his Methodist Church membership cards, the earliest one dated 1929. So he was 11 years old then.”

There are telling nuggets in unexpected places. In his prison years, the authorities gave him a South Africa tourist desk calendar each year. He typically recorded facts in it — his blood pressure, or whom he met that day — but occasionally he noted a dream, like one in which his daughter Zindzi, whom he was not allowed to see from when she was 3 years old until she was 15, “asks me to kiss her & remarks that I am not warm enough.”

The book will also draw on 71 hours of taped conversations that Mr. Mandela had with Richard Stengel, who collaborated with him on his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” and Ahmed Kathrada, Mr. Mandela’s prison comrade.

“One of the amazing, uncanny things was his memory,” said Mr. Stengel,who is writing a memoir of his time with Mr. Mandela, called “Mandela’s Way,” to be published in March.

“It was like he was watching a movie of his life and then narrating it,” Mr. Stengel, Time magazine’s managing editor, continued. “He would do voices of his father, of his teachers, of his prison guard.”

Eventually, after a team at the foundation has catalogued the entire archive, the foundation plans to digitize it and put it on the Internet. The vast bulk of it is not yet public.

Historians say they are not expecting major surprises about Mr. Mandela’s generally well-known views, but hope to find rare glimpses of the man.

Mr. Mandela is looked after by his wife, Graça Machel, 64, the widow of a former president of Mozambique and a humanitarian activist. “They behave like young lovers,” Mr. Bizos said. “They hold hands.”

Here in Johannesburg, it is not unusual for residents of his neighborhood, Houghton, to gossip about how he is doing. Mr. Harris, seeking to douse rumors that Mr. Mandela was deteriorating, said he was still healthy but tired of small talk with strangers.

“He can reminisce at great length about things that happened years and years ago,” Mr. Harris said. “But you know what old age is like. Short-term memory starts to malfunction and you have bad days.”

His oldest friends, stalwarts of the anti-apartheid struggle, still visit. Mr. Bizos, who went to law school with Mr. Mandela in the 1940s, said Ms. Machel worried that Mr. Mandela would be alone when she was out of town, and eat too little without company. So from time to time, Mr. Bizos gets a call from their housekeeper to come for lunch.

Mr. Mandela sits at the head of a large table, with Mr. Bizos to his right. They relish their favorite dish — oxtail in a rich sauce — and talk about old times. Mr. Mandela tells how he walked into a law school class and sat next to a white fellow with big ears, who promptly changed seats to avoid sitting next to a black man. Mr. Mandela had wanted to invite the man to their 50th reunion at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1999, but the man had already died.

“He repeats it from time to time,” Mr. Bizos said. “He regrets he did not have the opportunity to meet him. He would have said to him, ‘Do you remember what happened? But please don’t worry. I forgive you.’ ”

Like a grown child for whom each goodbye to an aged parent feels as if it may be the last, South Africa seems to be preparing itself for the final farewell to its epic hero. And Mr. Mandela seems to have readied himself, poking fun at his infirmity. Mr. Harris recounted a joke he had heard Mr. Mandela tell and retell.

“When I die, I’m going to get up to the gates of heaven, and they’re going to say to me, ‘Who are you?’ ” Mr. Mandela says. “And I’ll say, ‘I’m Madiba,’ ” he said, referring to his clan name.

“And they’ll say, ‘But where do you come from?’ And I’ll say, ‘South Africa.’ And they’ll say, ‘Oh, that Madiba. You’ve come to the wrong gates. You see the ones down there that are very warm? That’s where you have to go.’ ”

Mr. Mandela’s wish is to be buried alongside his ancestors in Qunu, on the eastern Cape, where he spent the happiest years of his boyhood. In his autobiography, he describes it as a place of small, beehive-shaped huts with grass roofs.

“It was in the fields,” he wrote, “that I learned how to knock birds out of the sky with a slingshot, to gather wild honey and fruits and edible roots, to drink warm, sweet milk from the udder of a cow, to swim in the clear, cold streams, and to catch fish with twine and sharpened bits of wire.”
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 2:04 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Decides Against Attending Istanbul Conference

Sudanese President Decides Against Attending Istanbul Conference

Posted Nov 8, 2009 by Chris Dade

Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan and the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, has decided against traveling to Istanbul for a summit of Muslim nations.

The planned visit to Turkey by the Sudanese President had caused dismay in the EU, a body which the nation hosting the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Missoulian says the OIC has 57 member nations, is eager to join.

But Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly said that he does not believe Omar al-Bashir is guilty of the crimes against humanity in the region of Darfur that have prompted the issuing of the arrest warrant by the court in the Netherlands.

Indeed Mr Erdogan has indicated that speaking to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu would be more uncomfortable for him than addressing Mr al-Bashir.

According to the Irish Times, quoting the Turkish state-run news agency Anatolian, Mr Erdogan has said:

I wouldn’t be able to speak with Netanyahu so comfortably but I would speak comfortably with Bashir. I say comfortably, ‘what you’ve done is wrong’. And I would say it to his face. Why? Because a Muslim couldn’t do such things. A Muslim could not commit genocide

There are strong economic ties between Turkey and Sudan and Mr al-Bashir, President of his country for over 16 years, would not have faced arrest had he traveled to Istanbul as Turkey does not recognize the ICC.

It is not entirely clear why the Sudanese President, who the BBC says attended a China-Africa summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, will not be present in Istanbul for the summit on Monday.

However remarks made to AFP by a senior Turkish diplomat suggest that Khartoum realizes how much pressure Turkey is facing from the EU and human rights groups because of Mr al-Bashir's visit.

Officially Mr al-Bashir is said to be returning to Sudan in order to find a resolution to a dispute between his National Congress Party, which is currently in power in the Northeastern African country, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which is based in Southern Sudan and fought in a 22-year long civil war against the Sudanese government. But the Turkish diplomat is quoted as saying that "The Sudanese see and understand well the difficulties".

Those "difficulties" are quite possibly a reference to the criticism Turkey has attracted in light of its intention to welcome a man, it has been pointed out that Turkey did not actually issue the invitation for Mr al-Bashir to attend the conference, indicted on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Irish Times reports that the Sudanese President has not been charged with genocide, with the BBC reporting that he does face a charge or charges of that nature.

The Missoulian states that the 65-year-old President is the first government leader to be charged with war-crimes by an international body.

Since the issue of the arrest warrant in March Mr al-Bashir has visited other countries in Africa without any obvious problems.

The UN maintains that 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur, a region of Western Sudan, since 2003. That number is challenged by the Sudanese authorities. Mr al-Bashir is accused of causing in some way the deaths of at least 135,000 people.

Another 2.5 million people have been displaced as a result of the conflict in Darfur.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai arrived in Turkey on Sunday for the one-day summit.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 1:50 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Sunday, November 08, 2009

The Fate of Health Care Legislation Lies in the US Senate

Big question mark: Fate of health care in Senate

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.

Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."

The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate.

If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.

"The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said dismissively.

Democrats did not line up to challenge him. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has yet to schedule floor debate and hinted last week that senators may not be able to finish health care this year.

Nonetheless, the House vote provided an important lesson in how to succeed with less-than-perfect party unity, and one that Senate Democrats may be able to adapt. House Democrats overcame their own divisions and broke an impasse that threatened the bill after liberals grudgingly accepted tougher restrictions on abortion funding, as abortion opponents demanded.

In Senate, the stumbling block is the idea of the government competing with private insurers. Liberals may have to swallow hard and accept a deal without a public plan in order to keep the legislation alive. As in the House, the compromise appears to be to the right of the political spectrum.

Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who voted for a version of the Senate bill in committee, has given the Democrats a possible way out. She's proposing to allow a government plan as a last resort, if after a few years premiums keep escalating and local health insurance markets remain in the grip of a few big companies. This is the "trigger" option.

That approach appeals to moderates such as Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. "If the private market fails to reform, there would be a fallback position," Landrieu said last week. "It should be triggered by choice and affordability, not by political whim."

Lieberman said he opposes the public plan because it could become a huge and costly entitlement program. "I believe the debt can break America and send us into a recession that's worse than the one we're fighting our way out of today," he said.

For now, Reid is trying to find the votes for a different approach: a government plan that states could opt out of.

The Senate is not likely to jump ahead this week on health care. Reid will keep meeting with senators to see if he can work out a political formula that will give him not only the 60 votes needed to begin debate, but the 60 needed to shut off discussion and bring the bill to a final vote.

Toward the end of the week, the Congressional Budget Office may report back with a costs and coverage estimate on Reid's bill, which he assembled from legislation passed by the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The Finance Committee version does not include a government plan.

Reid has pledged to Obama that he will get the bill done by the end of the year and remains committed to doing that, according to a Senate leadership aide.

Both the House and Senate bills gradually would extend coverage to nearly all Americans by providing government subsidies to help pay premiums. The measures would bar insurers' practices such as charging more to those in poor health or denying them coverage altogether.

All Americans would be required to carry health insurance, either through an employer, a government plan or by purchasing it on their own.

To keep down costs, the government subsidies and consumer protections don't take effect until 2013. During the three-year transition, both bills would provide $5 billion in federal dollars to help get coverage for people with medical problems who are turned down by private insurers.

Both House and Senate would expand significantly the federal-state Medicaid health program for low-income people.

The majority of people with employer-provided health insurance would not see changes. The main beneficiaries would be some 30 million people who have no coverage at work or have to buy it on their own. The legislation would create a federally regulated marketplace where they could shop for coverage.

The are several major differences between the bills.

_The House would require employers to provide coverage; the Senate does not.

_The House would pay for the coverage expansion by raising taxes on upper-income earners; the Senate uses a variety of taxes and fees, including a levy on high-cost insurance plans.

_The House plan costs about $1.2 trillion over 10 years; the Senate version is under $900 billion.

By defusing the abortion issue — at least for now — the House may have helped the long-term prospects for the bill. Catholic bishops also eager to expand society's safety net may yet endorse the final legislation.

Lieberman appeared on "Fox News Sunday," while Graham was CBS' "Face the Nation."
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 4:03 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Landmark Health Bill Passes US House on Close Vote

Landmark health bill passes House on close vote

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House has narrowly passed landmark health care reform legislation, handing President Barack Obama a hard won victory on his signature domestic priority.

Republicans were nearly unanimous in opposing the plan that would expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.

The 220-215 vote late Saturday cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.

A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi compared the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later.

Obama, who went to Capitol Hill earlier on Saturday to lobby wavering Democrats, said in a statement after the vote, "I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year."

"It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it," said Rep. John Dingell, the 83-year-old Michigan lawmaker who has introduced national health insurance in every Congress since succeeding his father in 1955.

But minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion legislation.

"We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, `this is making me sick,'" said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich.

In the run-up to a final vote, conservatives from the two political parties joined forces to impose tough new restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance policies to be sold to many individuals and small groups.

The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it. Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees. Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defied the government's mandates.

Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history. The industry would also lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price fixing and market allocation.

At its core, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage. In the bill's most controversial provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private companies.

The bill drew the votes of 219 Democrats and Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

From the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, "We realize the strong will for reform that exists, and we are energized that we stand closer than ever to reforming our broken health insurance system."

To pay for the expansion of coverage, the bill cuts Medicare's projected spending by more than $400 billion over a decade. It also imposes a tax surcharge of 5.4 percent on income over $500,000 in the case of individuals and $1 million for families.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 8:43 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Saturday, November 07, 2009

China Offers Africa More Trade, Investment

China offers Africa more trade, investment

Associated Press | 07 Nov 2009 | 07:56 AM ET
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - China appeared on Saturday to be adopting a more nuanced investment approach in Africa amid stiff criticism that its aggressive quest for natural resources has ignored local human rights violations.

Ahead of a two-day China-Africa forum beginning Sunday, China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming said Beijing is offering to abolish import duties on some African commodities and ensure that its exports to the continent are safe.

The suggestions outlined in an article published Saturday appear part of an effort by China to show that it is balancing its mushrooming needs with those of a continent that is saddled with some of the highest poverty rates in the world, a debilitating AIDS epidemic and chronic corruption and conflict.

"Of course China's objectives are to grow its economy," said Edward K. Brown, director for policy services at the Africa Center for Economic Transformation, a research and policy advisory organization based in Ghana.

But Brown said Africa's leaders must also shoulder the same burden.

"Africans need to up the ante to see how they can best leverage their potential and ensure that Chinese investments are channeled into those areas where they generate the most value," he said.

The meeting Sunday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik is a continuation of a push launched in 2006 by the energy hungry Asian giant into a resource-rich continent — a drive that included billions in investments in infrastructure.

Chinese investments in Africa totaled $7.8 billion as of last year, while trade has rocketed 30 percent annually this decade, exceeding $100 billion last year, Chen said in an essay published in the state-run China Daily newspaper.

Africa, however, has not been China's only target.

While long major player in Sudan's oil industry, Beijing has also been reaching out to Gulf Arab states and other Arab OPEC members. It has signed a refinery deal with Kuwait and Chinese refiner Sinopec has set up a multibillion dollar joint venture petrochemicals plant with Saudi Arabia's SABIC.

Most recently, Chinese companies have bid aggressively to develop some of Iraq's most prized oil fields even as some Western oil majors have been reluctant to take on the task in a country still grappling with violence following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country.

But its Africa investments have been the lightning rod for critics, focusing attention on a country whose own human rights record has been the catalyst for continuous criticism by many Western governments and international advocacy groups.

An announcement that a little-known Chinese company signed a $7 billion mining deal with Guinea's repressive military regime only served to underscore that sentiment. The deal came shortly after Guinean soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in September, killing over 150 people.

Beijing said has said it was not involved in that deal and officials have in recent weeks stressed they are looking to foster responsible development in Africa, including through human resource development and agriculture.

Among the new measure outlined in the Saturday article by Chen, the commerce minister, are exempting unspecified types of commodities from customs duties, setting up logistics centers in Africa and creating an inspection system to weed out trade in substandard consumer goods.

China would also continue to build schools and hospitals, support malaria-prevention programs and improve farming methods in Africa, Chen said.

"China has closely followed the development of Africa and sincerely wishes to make its contributions to the African people in developing their nations and creating a better life," he said.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/33749161/
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 9:36 AM 0 comments Links to this post

"Black Is Back" Rally in Washington, D.C. Today

Black is Back

By Norman (Otis) Richmond

The year is 1981 and several Torontonians ventured to Buffalo, N.Y. to hear Omali Yeshitela, the Chairman of the African Peoples Socialist Party speak at the Harambee Book Store. The Harambee Book Store was like many African centered bookstores – a family affair.

The Aquarian Spiritual Center in South Central, Los Angeles, was the
spot for knowledge, wisdom and understanding. This bookstore was run by Bernice and Alfred Ligon. In Toronto, Gwen and Leonard Johnston did the same with Third World Books & Crafts. In Buffalo the African community was serviced by Harambee which was run by Sharon and Kenneth Holley.

Dionne Brand, Mitchell Holder and I were among the group who went to check the Chairman out. Yeshitela did not disappoint those of us who took the journey. He had just returned from Nicaragua and was fired up by the Sandinistas who seized state power in 1979.

While he supported the revolution he was concerned about the plight of the African-Nicaraguans on the Atlantic coast. Africans who are English speakers from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and other parts of the Caribbean live on the Atlantic coast.

After the lecture those of us from Toronto went to the Holley’s home.
We engaged in an all night debate and discussion about Africa and
Africans at home and aboard. The issues discussed then are still being debated and discussed today.

Yeshitela recently spoke in Toronto. The fiery Yeshitela was born in St. Petersburg, Fla.and is the founder of the Uhuru Movement. He is now the chair of the African Socialist International (ASI) and the African Peoples Socialist Party. He spoke on “Racism & National
Consciousness ’09 / Land and Freedom The 8th Annual New College Conference on Racism & National Consciousness “Land and Freedom”, to several hundred people and was well received.

The Chairman made a second Toronto appearance. He delivered
a keynote speech “Africans Unite-Build the African Socialist
at Downsview Branch Public Library . Chioma Oruh also presented a
keynote address on Africom. She is the ASI North American – Outreach Coordinator. Oruh and Yeshitela spoke about the newly formed Black is Back Coalition.

He is also one of the founding members of the Black is Back Coalition. Black is Back Coalition is a newly-formed Black coalition which has announced a Rally and March on the White House to take place November 7, 2009 beginning in Washington, D.C.’s historic Malcolm X Park.

The Rally and March are to protest the expanding U.S. wars and other
policy initiatives that unfairly target African and other oppressed people around the world. Known as the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, the coalition formed on September 12, 2009 during a meeting in Washington, D.C. of more than fifteen activists from various Black organizations, institutions and communities.

The Black is Back Coalition aims to draw upon the support of many of the leading anti-imperialist organizations, journalists, organizers,
artists and scholars of the African world. In this age of Obama, the
rally and march on November 7, 2009 aims to bring back the tradition
of resistance historically associated with Black communities around
the world.

Comprised of seasoned veterans of Black political struggle,
including members of the African People’s Socialist Party, the NAACP, MOVE, the Green Party, Black Agenda Report and many other grassroots organizations and efforts, this coalition is perfectly situated to do just that.

Besides Yeshitela the Black is Back campaign has been endorsed by Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente who ran for president and vice president respectively of the Green Party in the 2008 election, Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report, Stic Man, Dead Prez M-1, Dead Prez, Pam Africa, Free Mumia Campaign, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

There is a Canadian connection. Raheal Rayza, University of Toronto
Outreach Coordinator, Chakanda Gondwe, Toronto Community Outreach Coordinator and I are part of this process.

Brand, who made the trek to the birth place of former Torontonian Rick James, went to work in Grenada soon after the Buffalo encounter. Brand has recently been a news maker. Brand, a Governor General's Award-winning writer, has been named Toronto's poet laureate.

Toronto city council appointed the Trinidad and Tobago-born poet and novelist, now based in Toronto, to the post recently. The position was established in 2001 and has been held by Dennis Lee and Pier Giorgio di Ciccio.

"I have a great passion for this city — in its multiplicity it is
constantly rich and surprising," she said in a statement.

While Brand’s prize was celebrated by Toronto’s African community,
women and progressives of all nationalities she was viciously attacked by the Fred Flintstone types at the National Post. The article
mentioned the fact that Amiri Baraka was made the poet laureate
for the state of New Jersey and the state attempted to stripe him
because of a poem he wrote. When that proved legally impossible, the state changed its laws and the governor eventually did away with the laureateship altogether.

Marni Soupcoff of the National Post said with venom, “Here’s one way to look at it. Dionne Brand will now be $30,000 richer for serving as Toronto’s poet laureate for three years. Brand has nailed the job by focusing on predictable lefty favourite themes in her work: issues of social justice, race and — that old classic — white male domination.

Oh, and she’s a Marxist feminist, as well. That should go without
saying. Really, Brand might as well be the poster child for the
politically correct academic (she’s a professor at the University of
Guelph and held a chair in women’s studies at Simon Fraser
University). Whatever complaint you may have against “the man,” Brand has probably already made it... several times.”

The Barbados-born Holder came back and helped found the Committee Against Racism Within the Media (CARM). On the morning of July 31, 1982, Phil McKellar aka That Feller McKellar was hosting his regular music show on CKFM.

McKellar, a 34-year broadcast veteran, had for years been host of the
Sunday late-night "All That Jazz" program for CKFM.

This was a popular show for which McKellar had won much praise from African Canadian musicians and the African Canadian community.

He was viewed as a liberal until this time. At approximately 8:10 A.M. on July 31, 1982, McKellar was overheard on air to refer to the upcoming Caribana parade as "four million niggers jumping up and down." The microphone was on and his remarks - not intended for public consumption - went out on the air. Because of the campaign launched by CARM, CKFM permanently removed McKellar as host of "All That Jazz", though he did retain his other hosting duties at the station. He died on January 26, 1983.

As El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) taught us, “History is best
qualified to reward our research.”

Norman Richmond can be contacted Norman.o.richmond@gmail.com
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 9:18 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Diamond Watchdog Challenges Zimbabwe With Possible Banning of Its Diamonds

Diamond watchdog gives Zimbabwe time to comply

The Associated Press
Friday, November 6, 2009 9:43 AM

JOHANNESBURG -- The world's diamond control body is calling on Zimbabwe to clean up a lawless field, but has stopped short of suspending the country from a process meant to keep "blood" gems off the market.

Kimberley Process investigators had recommended Zimbabwe be suspended because its security forces are raping women, killing illegal miners and smuggling diamonds from the field in the troubled country's east.

In a communique issued late Thursday after meetings this week of officials from Zimbabwe and other Kimberley Process members, the group said its investigators found evidence of Zimbabwe's "significant noncompliance." Zimbabwe, however, agreed to take unspecified steps to get back into compliance, and would be given time to do so under Kimberley Process monitoring, the group said.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 8:54 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Friday, November 06, 2009

Total Third Quarter Profits Down by Half

Total Q3 profit halved, but better than expected

Associated Press

PARIS_Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, reported Wednesday that profits were more than halved in the third quarter, due to a sharp fall in energy prices, but were still somewhat better than expected.

Total posted third quarter adjusted net profit of euro1.9 billion ($2.8 billion), 54 percent below the year ago figure of euro4.1 billion but ahead of the euro1.8 billion that analysts forecast.

Adjusted profit is a key oil industry measure that excludes inventory gains and losses and tax charges and credits.

Total's earnings were on par with the steep drop in third quarter profits already reported by larger rivals Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC. The industry is struggling to adapt to lower demand and the volatility in oil prices that has seen the price of a barrel spike to nearly $150 last July, then stage a retreat back to around $30 early this year.

Barclays Capital oil and gas industry analyst Lucy Haskins said Total's third quarter production increase was reassuring, and that with new fields starting up this year, "should continue to show improvements into 2010." Haskins rates Total's shares at overweight relative to the oil and gas sector.

During the third quarter, Brent crude averaged $68 a barrel, while on Tuesday oil traded around $77 a barrel.

Experts say prices have not risen solely because of improving demand, but mostly due to the fall in the value of the dollar.

The U.S. currency is used to buy and sell crude, so when it depreciates investors holding euros or other relatively strong currencies can buy more crude.

Last week Shell CFO Simon Henry said there are "few if any signs of demand recovering" in Europe, while the improvement seen in U.S. demand "is not firm enough to call a recovery."

Oil demand in developed countries is forecast to shrink by 4.7 percent this year due to the global economic slowdown, and to grow only 0.1 percent in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency.

Analysts expect crude prices to remain well above the levels seen in the first quarter of this year as they forecast the economy to revive, helping oil companies post higher quarterly profits in 2010.

Total has also suffered from falling production over the past year, due to lower output from existing fields and slow startup of new fields as well as security disruptions at a field in Nigeria and cutbacks by OPEC.

Production fell 2 percent last year and 6 percent in the first half of 2009. Total's output finally returned to growth in the third quarter, pumping an average of 2.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 1 percent more than a year earlier.

Production is still down 4 percent for the first nine months of the year, though, and Total doesn't forecast a return to full-year growth in output until next year.

The company said output was lifted by ramping up production in fields in Nigeria and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as in new fields in Norway, Angola and Qatar. Total said it is pursuing new projects in Bolivia, Algeria and Thailand with the aim of further lifting production.

These investments accounted for some of the $12.2 billion that Total invested in its operations through the first nine months of the year. It has budgeted $18 billion of investments this year, excluding acquisitions, as it aims to find new fields to replace declining production from older sites.

In midday trading on the Paris stock exchange Total shares were flat at euro40.97.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 3:57 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Honduras Power Sharing Deal Dead, Says Ousted President Zelaya

Friday, November 06, 2009
22:39 Mecca time, 19:39 GMT

Zelaya: Power-sharing deal dead

Zelaya has been living in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since late September

Honduras's deposed president says that a US-brokered agreement has failed to end the country's political crisis.

Manuel Zelaya made the announcement on Friday after a deadline for forming a unity government passed.

"The accord is dead," he told Radio Globo. "There is no sense in deceiving Hondurans."

Reached last week with the help of US diplomats, the pact gave both sides until Thursday midnight to install a unity government with supporters of Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, who was named interim president by congress after Zelaya was ousted on June 28.

Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tegucigalpa, said that "supporters of Zelaya who were celebrating when the accord was signed a week ago are now looking sombre, demoralised and especially very, very angry.

"We understand from the people who negotaited this agreement that it was inherent in that agreement that Micheletti would stand down - but he has not done that. So Zelaya is calling for his supporters to boycott the [general] elections set for November 29."

Zelaya has long insisted that he be reinstated as president before the general election at the end of the month.

Onus on congress

Jorge Reina, a negotiator for Zelaya, said the pact fell apart because congress failed to vote on whether to reinstate Zelaya before the deadline for forming the unity government.

"The de facto regime has failed to live up to the promise that, by this date, the national government would be installed. And by law, it should be presided by the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya," Reina said.

The pact did not require Zelaya's return to the presidency - it left the decision up to congress. Zelaya interpreted that to mean that congress had to vote on the issue by Thursday.

Supporters of Micheletti, who was named interim president by congress after Zelaya was ousted, disputed that, saying the pact required that members of the unity cabinet be in place by Thursday but that there was no deadline for congress to meet.

Shortly before midnight, Micheletti announced that a unity government had been created even though Zelaya had not submitted his own list of members.

Micheletti said the new government was composed of candidates proposed by political parties and civic groups.

He did not name the new members.

No deadline

Zelaya, who has been living in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since his return in September, decided on Thursday that he would not present any candidates for the unity government, according to Rasel Tome, an adviser.

The same day, Jose Angel Saavedra, the congress president, said the 128-member body would not "avoid the historic responsibility" of deciding on Zelaya's return to power, but failed to give a date for the vote.

Zelaya was forced from power on June 28, the same day that he planned to hold a non-binding referendum on changes to the constitution that had faced opposition in the country's congress and supreme court.

Opponents of Zelaya say that the public vote was intended to measure support for an extension to presidential term limits, in Zelaya's favour.

Zelaya has dismissed those claims, saying that the vote was aimed at improving the lives of the poor in the nation of 7.6 million people.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 3:52 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Kenyans Side With Israel on United Nations General Assembly Vote

Kenyans side with Israel on UN vote

Africa Leader
Friday 6th November, 2009

Kenya has abstained from voting on the endorsement by the UN General Assembly of what is widely known as the Goldstone Report.

Justice Richard Goldstone, a former war crimes prosecutor at the UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, led an investigation of alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the 2008/9 Gaza War. He produced a 574-page report which was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, which referred it to the General Assembly.

On Tuesday night, on the eve of the debate of the report in the General Assembly, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 344-36 to reject the report.

Kenya sided with the Jewish state by abstaining from voting on the UN resolution. Regardless, the resolution was won convincingly with 118 nations voting for the report’s adoption against 18 dissenters. 43 other countries abstained from voting.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 3:39 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Support For Caster Semenya: Let Us Celebrate Our World Champions

Let us celebrate our world champions

Support for Caster Semenya

Courtesy of ANC Today
November 6, 2009

The ANC NEC of 17-19 September 2009, appalled by the manner in which the IAAF and the ASA handled the issue of Caster Semenya. The NEC was of the view that she has been victimised and subjected to unnecessary public scrutiny, and thus denied her rights and undermined her dignity.

The ANC established a task team to give concrete and practical support to Caster Semenya and her family. The team was lead by the ANC Secretary General and convened by ANC National Spokesperson, Jackson Mthembu.

It is constituted of senior ANC leaders, namely

Winnie Madikizela- Mandela (NEC)
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (NEC)
Gwen Ramokgopa (Gauteng PEC)
Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya (NEC)
Aaron Motsoaledi (NEC)
Joyce Mashamba (NEC)
Sisisi Tolashe (NEC/ANCWL)
Vuyiswa Tulelo (ANCYL)

The Caster Semenya Support Team was established to mobilise the South African civil society, our government, corporate South Africa, and the South Africa sporting fraternity to ensure that;

Caster and her family are afforded redress by all those who violated her rights during and in the aftermath of her gender testing;
Caster and her family are given professional help so as to deal with the implications of her gender testing;
Caster continues to advance her exceptional talent as a female athlete of international repute;
Her family, her community, South Africa at large, the continent and the world celebrate Caster's victory in Berlin and those of Mulaudzi and Mokoena.

In taking forward these four objectives and mobilising South Africans around the objectives above, the Task Team met with the family of Caster Semenya as well as the Moletjie community (a village where Caster was born) who welcomed the ANC initiative.

The task team also met the following stakeholders who fully agreed to support the Task Team and all its activities:

University of Pretoria
South African Student Congress (SASCO)
Athletic South Africa
Department of Sport and Recreation
ANC Parliamentary study group on Sport
Caster Lawyers
Med Scheme
Organised formation of South African musicians
Dr Harold Adams
SASCOC
Department of Transport
Department of Arts and Culture
SACP
COSATU

After concluding the consultations with all these organisations and after interrogating the volumes of submissions made, the task team decided to hand over its findings that deals with the redress on the mishandling of the gender verification process of Caster by Athletics South Africa and the IAAF, to the Ministry of Sport and Recreation, for further probing and conclusions.

The task team findings reveal that ASA took part in the gender verification process of Caster Semenya. The tests done in South Africa were conducted at their instance. They instructed their doctor to conduct such tests and provided resources including transport, a psychologist (who is one of their board members) to conduct counselling which ultimately was aborted.

In their submission to the task team ASA members were less than honest and very defensive and did not disclose their role in the process and in sanctioning the gender verification tests conducted in South Africa. They intentionally deceived South Africans, the President, Caster and her family.

Further, it is the view of the task team that ASA should have protected Caster before they left for Berlin and in Berlin and it must come clean to all South Africans and our government regarding their role in this saga.

With regard to the IAAF, the task team maintain that they should apologise to Caster, her family and South Africa as well as to the leadership of the Republic for the violation of Caster's rights and the resultant humiliation. It is the view of the task team that IAAF should declare the gender verification results conducted both in South Africa and Berlin null and void based on the following IAAF gender verification policy 2006:

a) The IAAF gender verification policy state that there should be a complaint or a challenge from another athlete/ team before an investigation can be conducted. The policy states that:

Gender issues are likely to arise as a result of:

Challenge' by another athlete or team as brought forward to authorities at an athletic event, including the President of the meet, technical delegate, medical delegate;

b) Suspicion’ raised as to an athletes' gender as witnessed during an anti doping control specimen collection; an approach made to the IAAF/regional AAA or National federation by an athlete or his representative for advice and clarification.

In the task team interaction with this matter, there is no evidence that any athlete or a team brought forward to authorities a complaint or a challenge against Caster in Berlin. As it applies to B, no suspicion was raised at any anti doping control specimen collection against Caster's gender.

c) If there is any 'suspicion' or if there is a 'challenge' then the athlete concerned can be asked to attend a medical evaluation before a panel comprising a gynaecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist, expert on gender/transgender issues. The medical delegate can do an initial check.

In the task team interaction with this matter ASA and IAAF conducted gender tests in SA and Berlin with no panel of such specialists as envisaged above was established to do a medical evaluation of Caster both in South Africa and in Berlin.

d) Accordingly, the steps to be followed in handling cases of gender ambiguity, the following must happen:

The athlete is referred to the investigating authority in confidence for further investigation and advice; The verdict is passed on to the national federation with advice for further action including appropriate advice to the athlete as the need to withdraw from competition until the problem is definitively resolved through appropriate medical and surgical measures;

There is evidence that Caster was not taken into confidence, because Nick Davis, the IAAF spokesperson, disclosed in a press conference publicly that such tests will be conducted on Caster. The alleged tests results were also leaked to the international media.

It is the view of the task team that the gender verification of Caster was not in accordance with the gender verification policy of the IAAF as demonstrated through the above facts. It is for the reasons above that we therefore call for the nullification of the results as they have been compromised. They cannot therefore be used for any decision-making.

The task team will continue its role to give whatever support that Caster and her family might need. It is also on-course regarding the articulation of a celebration programme for Caster, Mulaudzi and Mokoena. The programme that began with the gala dinner of the ANC Youth League will be carried forward with an intense eight weeks of activities from December 2009 to January 2010. The programme will include provincial and national activities.

The task team has established the support Caster contact facility and has received positive and encouraging feedback, pledges and commitments by individuals and institutions in support of the campaign.

People can call, fax or e-mail the task team office at:

Tel (011) 376 1052
Fax: 0866581053
Email: supportcaster@anc.org.za
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 3:29 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Large Union-Community Protests Target Bankers

Large union-community protests target bankers

By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Chicago
Published Nov 5, 2009 8:15 PM

For three days, from Oct. 25 to 27, thousands of poor and working people from across the U.S. came here to directly challenge the criminal bankers and bosses at an American Bankers Association conference.

Those protesting are fed up with taxpayer-funded trillion-dollar bailouts to the bankers, the foreclosure epidemic, the refusal of the government to implement a federally funded jobs program, the billions spent on U.S. wars instead of for people’s needs and much more.

“We are here to demand that the banks and the government bail out the workers. Everyone has to stand up for dignity, for respect, for our families, for the working class,” said Armando Robles, president of United Electrical Workers Local 1110. This UE local led the successful six-day sit-in at Republic Windows and Doors in December 2008.

Robles and his UE brother Keith Scribner, president of Local 174 at Quad City Die Casting in Moline, Ill., spoke before a sea of 5,000 poor and working people at a massive rally Oct. 27 directly in front of the Sheraton Hotel where the bankers’ conference was being held. The crowd hoisted banners and signs in various languages declaring “Stop foreclosures: State of Emergency NOW” and “We need jobs.” They chanted at the bankers, bosses and government officials, both Democrats and Republicans, who were hiding in the hotel: “We want our money back!”

Other speakers at the rally included Richard Trumka, newly elected president of the AFL-CIO; Anna Burger of the Change to Win Federation; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; and representatives of labor, community and student organizations throughout the Chicago region and beyond.

The rally was sponsored by the AFL-CIO and endorsed by numerous organizations throughout the U.S., including the Chicago-based community organization Action NOW, which says there have been 44,000 foreclosures in the Metro Chicago area since 2007 and more than 5 million foreclosures in the U.S. since 2007.

The main AFL-CIO demands were to stop foreclosures, stop bailout-funded bonuses, invest in jobs and small businesses, and invest in public services.

“We’re sending a message. Business is over. We’re shutting it down. We are not going to let bankers rule our country or our lives anymore. This is a new day,” said Trumka.

Labor-community-student delegations marched to the Oct. 27 rally and drove in. Significant delegations came from youth-student organizations, African-American organizations and immigrant workers, including Asian and Latina women.

A van sponsored by Southeastern Michigan Jobs With Justice carried members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs from Detroit. Workers from the Service Employees International Union, the Carpenters union, the International Association of Machinists, the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, UE and others participated.

On Oct. 25 protesters had crashed a large dinner meeting at the beginning of the bankers’ conference, resulting in arrests. Other protest actions, such as demonstrations at the hotel, took place on Oct. 26. (www.showdowninchicago.org)

Those protesting in Chicago were clear that the Oct. 25-27 actions were just one part of building massive, organized resistance against the bankers and bosses.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Page printed from:
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/chicago_1112/
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 3:20 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Workers Tell Ford Motor: No Right to Strike? No Way!

Workers tell Ford Motor: No right to strike? No way!

By Martha Grevatt
Published Nov 5, 2009 8:22 PM

Nov. 2—Losing a job is a scary thing for any worker to contemplate. It’s certainly scary for any worker lucky enough to still have a job with union wages and benefits. The fear of job loss has for several years led members of the once-mighty United Auto Workers to accept drastic concessions they normally wouldn’t consider.

Nevertheless, UAW Ford workers have overwhelmingly voted down the latest package of contract modifications, sending a powerful message to their bosses. “We’ve taken enough,” Dan Coll told the Detroit Free Press. “Enough’s enough.”

Coll, a member of UAW Local 600 at Ford’s Dearborn, Mich., truck assembly plant reminded the Free Press reporter that he and 41,000 other Ford workers had just approved major givebacks in March. These included suspending cost-of-living-allowance (COLA) increases and scheduled bonuses, weakening job and income security provisions, sacrificing an annual paid holiday, and break-time reductions that add up to 40 hours more free labor for the bosses each year.

Why, just seven months later, did Ford think it could ask the UAW leadership to convince the rank and file to give up more? Ford wanted the additional concessions that the bosses at General Motors and Chrysler, with the help of the U.S. Treasury, squeezed out of their hourly employees by threatening to liquidate operations altogether. The reorganized GM and Chrysler corporations will be able to freeze the wages of future workers at $14 an hour and impose a no-strike rule on all workers until 2015, even though the current contract expires in 2011.

That’s what Ford bosses wanted and what they said they needed to be “competitive.” UAW International President Ron Gettelfinger campaigned for a “yes” vote on the contract changes—which included a more limited no-strike rule and a bonus of $1,000 not offered at GM or Chrysler—with the argument that “we’re talking about 7,000 jobs that have either been created and/or protected by this agreement.”

“Members at Ford retain the right to strike on every issue—and I say every issue—except improvements in wages and benefits,” Gettelfinger told Frank Beckmann of WJR-AM. “If Ford was to propose a cut, we would maintain the right to strike. That would never even go to arbitration. This has become a flash-point issue, but this agreement is not about that.” (MLive.com, Oct. 27)

Ford hourly workers, who so far are voting down the concessions two-to-one, know better. The promise of job security—or more accurately the threat of job loss—has been used to pass concessions for decades, especially in the 2007 contract and again last March. Yet where are the jobs? At one time Local 600, which led the fight to unionize Ford in the 1930s, had 100,000 members at the sprawling Rouge complex. Now the total number of UAW hourly workers at Ford is 41,000 and falling.

Ford workers want no part of even a limited restriction on the right to strike. Wouldn’t they want to reserve the right to strike to restore COLA, for example, so their pay could start to catch up with inflation? Workers know that without the right to strike they have no leverage—they’re at the mercy of the companies.

That’s why a number of anti-concession leaflets—some from rank-and-file activists and some from local leaders—made the rounds on the shop floors. When UAW Vice President Bob King tried to sell the concessions at the Dearborn Truck plant, he was drowned out by workers chanting “No, no, no!” Only a small number of locals voted in favor of the modifications.

A healthy rivalry developed after 92 percent of the workers at the Kansas City assembly plant voted no. Dearborn Truck workers boasted of a 92.6 percent rejection rate, only to be outdone by a 93 percent no vote in Sandusky, Ohio.

While some locals are still voting as of this writing, Gettelfinger has acknowledged that the concessions will not pass. There are no plans for a revote or for further negotiations before 2011. Seen from a purely electoral point of view, this is a tremendous victory, and not only for the Ford workers. Some GM and Chrysler workers, whose plants are closing even after they agreed to such outrageous givebacks, are cheering the Ford vote.

All UAW members must categorically reject the idea that concessions—especially those that compromise the right to strike—are necessary to “protect and/or create” a specified number of jobs. The right to strike and the right to a job go hand in hand. In fact, both are recognized under U.S. and international law as a result of fierce class battles that took place in the 1930s.

Only the worst misleaders of the working class would suggest giving up one right—the right to strike—in exchange for a dubious promise to save a few thousand jobs. These jobs already belong to the workers as a property right!

Martha Grevatt has worked for 22 years at the Twinsburg, Ohio, Chrysler plant, which is scheduled to be closed next year. E-mail mgrevatt@workers.org.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Page printed from:
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/ford_workers_1112/
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 3:16 PM 0 comments Links to this post

US Army Major Kills 13, Injures 30 at Fort Hood

Friday, November 06, 2009
19:19 Mecca time, 16:19 GMT

Deaths in US army base shooting

The suspect has been named as Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist employed at Fort Hood

A mass shooting at the largest army base in the US has left 13 people dead and at least 28 wounded, military officials say.

The incident took place inside the Fort Hood military base in Texas as soldiers were awaiting medical and dental treatment at a processing centre for troops being deployed on missions to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lieutenant-General Bob Cone, the base's commanding officer, said the shooting took place at about 1:30pm local time (1930 GMT) on Thursday at a Soldier Readiness Facility.

The suspect has been named as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old army psychiatrist.

"There was a single shooter that was shot multiple times at the scene. He was not killed as previously reported. He is currently in custody and in stable condition," Cone said.

Hasan was born in the US to Muslim Palestinian parents who had emigrated from a small town near Jerusalem, US media said.

'Quick reaction'

Further bloodshed was narrowly prevented when Hasan was apparently blocked from reaching a graduation ceremony attended by some 600 people, just metres away from the scene.

"Thanks to the quick reaction of several soldiers, they were able to close off the doors to that auditorium," Cone said.

Josh Rushing, Al Jazeera's correspondent at Fort Hood, Texas, said: "[Hasan] is a first-generation American. He joined the army after high school and went to the Virginia Tech university to get a psychiatry degree through a military programme.

"He became a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington ... where he counselled soldiers coming back from war.

"Every day, he heard how horrible those stories were and he really started to question the wars, according to what his cousin and sources who knew him said.

"Hasan became more devout in his religion and started arguing with soldiers about whether the wars were right or not, to the point where he received disciplinary action and negative work reviews.

"He was transferred to the medical facility here at Fort Hood, where apparently these feelings continued.

"It raises a major question - how can a person responsible for the mental health of soldiers returning [from war] be allowed to continue in this profession when he has these kinds of questions himself?"

The rampage occurs at a time of stress for the US armed services burdened by two wars, with commanders struggling to ease the effect of repeated combat tours on troops and their families.

Repeated deployments

Suicides in the army hit a record level last year, with at least 128 taking their lives, and are on track to set a new high this year - surpassing the rate among the wider civilian population.

US commanders believe repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have played a role in the spike in suicides, as well a surge in post-traumatic stress and depression.

Hasan faced his own imminent deployment for military service, officials said.

Nader Hasan, a cousin, said Hasan was "mortified by the idea of having to deploy" and that he had been harassed by other soldiers for being a Muslim.

He told the New York Times newspaper that Hasan had retained a lawyer and sought to get out of the army before the end of his contract.

Security tightened

Fort Hood was locked down after the attack, which occurred on the same day as a graduation ceremony was due to go ahead at the facility.

Recent US mass shootings

April 3, 2009: Jiverly Wong, a Vietnamese immigrant, opens fire at an immigrant community centre in Binghamton, New York, killing 11 immigrants and two workers. Wong killed himself at the scene

March 10, 2009: Michael McLendon, 28, killed 10 people, including his Mother and four other family members in Alabama before himself committing suicide.

February 14, 2008: Former student Steven Kazmierczak, 27, kills five students and wound 18 more in shooting at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. He then killed himself.

December 5, 2007: Robert A. Hawkins, 19, opens fire in a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska killing eight people before taking his own life.

April 16, 2007: Cho Seung-Hui, 23, kills 32 students and staff at Virginia Tech before killing himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Some other bases across the US also stepped up security in the wake of the shootings.

Barack Obama, the US president, called the attack a "horrific outburst of violence".

"It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil," he said in Washington.

Patty Culhane, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington, said that the attack had come in spite of rigorous security protocols at the base.

"At every US military base since September 11, they do something that is called '100 per cent ID check' - that means that when you pull up to the gate, there are armed soldiers and also contractors there, and you have to have a special sticker in your car," she said.

"You also have to have a military ID. If you do not have that, you have to pull over to the side, and your car is usually swept for explosives, and you need an escort.

"Family members [of service personnel] do have ID, so they are allowed to go on to the base."

Fort Hood is home to about 50,000 troops, although Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas senator, said there were about 35,000 troops at the base at the time.

"Our dedicated military personnel have sacrificed so much in service to our country, and it sickens me that the men and women of Fort Hood have been subjected to this senseless, random violence," she said.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 1:10 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Zimbabwe News Update: VP Mujuru Blasts MDC-T Over Disengagement

Mujuru blasts MDC-T over disengagement

Bindura Bureau
Zimbabwe Herald

Vice President Joice Mujuru yesterday blasted the MDC-T’s disengagement from Government, saying it was a ploy calculated to derail preparations for the forthcoming agricultural season and discredit the land reform programme.

VP Mujuru was addressing Zanu-PF supporters at Bakasa Business Centre in Guruve during one of her tours of the district aimed at reminding people that they should remain focused and not be deceived by some political parties’ propaganda.

The meeting was attended by Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister Advocate Martin Dinha, Zanu-PF provincial chairman and Mt Darwin North House of Assembly representative Cde Dickson Mafios and other party legislators.

"The real issue behind their (MDC-T’s) boycotting of Cabinet meetings is that they intend to derail the agricultural season which is imminent," she said.

VP Mujuru said the last Cabinet meeting which the MDC-T boycotted had resolved to use part of the US$510 million disbursed by the International Monetary Fund.

"We sat as Cabinet and agreed that the funds we received from the IMF would be used towards inputs procurement, health, roads and other developmental programmes," she said.

VP Mujuru said Cabinet also agreed that the cost of inputs like imported fertilizer should be subsidised to cushion farmers.

"When we continue importing we will be subsidising foreign farmers instead of our own," she said. VP Mujuru said MDC-T was hampering Government’s efforts to recapitalise the Grain Marketing Board.

"We have since agreed as Cabinet that all the 84 GMB depots should be opened so that farmers travel minimal distances when they go and collect inputs.

"In Mashonaland Central Cabinet agreed that eight more sub-depots should be opened in some remote parts of the country to assist the farmers," she said.

VP Mujuru said Cabinet had mandated Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made to announce subsidised fertilizer and seed prices next week.

She said Zanu-PF had fulfilled all its GPA requirements but MDC-T was making fresh demands outside the agreement.

She said provincial governors, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor and the Attorney-General were appointed by the President in his capacity as Head of State and Government.

She said the present governors, RBZ head and AG were appointed according to the law before the creation of the inclusive Government and MDC-T should only raise queries after their terms expired.

"But he (MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai) is saying no I would like to chair Cabinet and also be nominated Acting President when Cde Mugabe travels outside the country.

"We say no because the law does not allow that," she said.

She said MDC-T had not fulfilled its GPA obligations after it called for the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe.

"They should go and tell Britain and America to remove the sanctions," she said.

VP Mujuru said there were reports that former white farmers were frequenting State-acquired land in the false hope that they would regain their farms from the new and rightful owners.

"Let us continue supporting the party (Zanu-PF) that brought independence and emancipated you from repressive colonial rule," she said.

Cde Mafios implored Government to look into the problems affecting Mashonaland Central ranging from roads, mobile networks and broadcasting services, which he said were in a deplorable state.


Tsvangirai ends boycott

From Morris Mkwate in MAPUTO, Mozambique

Sadc leaders yesterday convinced MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai to end his party’s "disengagement" from the inclusive Government following a mini regional summit here.

Speaking to the media at the end of a summit of the bloc’s Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, Mr Tsvangirai said they would, however, review their position after 30 days.

He did not say what course of action MDC-T would take if the issues he wanted addressed were not dealt with to his satisfaction at the expiry of the deadline.

Zanu-PF representatives could not be immediately reached to comment on the matter.

"We have suspended our disengagement from the GPA (Global Political Agreement) with immediate effect and we will give President Robert Mugabe 30 days to implement the agreement on the pertinent issues we are concerned about," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said he was "very satisfied" with the outcome of the summit.

The official summit communique had not been made public at the time of writing.

However, informed sources last night said Mr Tsvangirai’s announcement was in line with regional leaders’ expectations that his party engages the other partners in the inclusive Government to resolve any differences attendant to the GPA.

Sadc leaders, including President Mugabe, have in the past two weeks stressed that it is up to the parties in the inclusive Government to sort out their problems.

Opening the summit, President Armando Guebuza, who chairs the Troika, said Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations had shown commitment to resolving their differences and maintaining political stability for the country’s economic recovery.

He said indications were the parties "share more common views than disagreements".

President Guebuza said they should work on strengthening areas of convergence for the benefit of Zimbabweans and Southern Africa.

The Mozambican leader made similar observations on the political situation in Lesotho.

The summit was held to review the general political situation in the DRC, Lesotho, Madagas-car and Zimbabwe.

"In both Lesotho and Zimbabwe, we are fully aware that the political parties share more common views than disagreements," said President Guebuza, who was flanked by Sadc executive secretary Dr Tomaz Salamao.

"They do the most they can to overcome these disagreements and have shown great commitment in implementing policies and programmes that can answer the great desires of their people.

"We would like to point out that the challenges that have emerged can be overcome.

"In this framework, they must do the best they can to maintain political stability to allow foreign direct investment and the relaunch of economic activity in the country."

President Guebuza challenged the parties to pledge full commitment to working together.

He added that the report of the ministerial mission that visited Zimbabwe last week to review the Global Political Agreement provided useful pointers on the way forward.

Prior to the summit, media reports claimed that the ministerial mission’s visit and yesterday’s meeting were a direct result of MDC-T’s lobby following that party’s "disengagement" from Government.

The Organ chairman, however, indicated that the developments were in line with prior Sadc arrangements made at a summit of regional Heads of State and Government in the DRC in September.

President Mugabe, who is the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, attended the meeting after President Guebuza extended an invitation to him.

Mr Tsvangirai, Prof Mutambara and Ms Thoko-zani Khupe were also invited.

Apart from President Guebuza, other members of the Troika are Zambia’s President Rupiah Banda (deputy chair) — who was represented by his Defence Minister Dr Kalombo Mwansa — and Swaziland’s King Mswati III.

South African President Jacob Zuma was present as an observer.

Others present included Cdes Emmerson Mnangagwa and Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu-PF), Mr Tendai Biti, Mr Elton Mangoma (both MDC-T), Professor Welshman Ncube, and Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (both MDC).

Sources said MDC-T raised its usual concerns about Roy Bennett’s swearing in as Deputy Agriculture Minister, the appointment of provincial governors and the status of Reserve Bank governor Dr Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Mr Johannes Tomana.

Zanu-PF has said MDC-T has not played its part in the implementation of the GPA by calling for the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.

External interference in the country’s domestic affairs through the beaming of hate messages by pirate radio stations and the setting up of parallel government structures by the Prime Minister’s Office are also among Zanu-PF’s concerns.

"Zanu-PF maintains that these (MDC-T’s concerns) are peripheral issues compared to the substantial issue of sanctions.

"This embargo is hurting the generality of Zimbabweans," the sources said.

"In fact, there is dishonesty on the part of the Prime Minister because he wants to use sanctions as leverage against Zanu-PF.

"His party also wants to use the sanctions to get Zanu-PF to comply with its demands.

"There is evidence that they want the sanctions to remain in force and this was their brief to the EU Troika that visited the country recently. So Zanu-PF wants this addressed."

President Mugabe has pointed out that Bennett will only be sworn into office if he is cleared of the terror-related charges he is facing in the High Court.

MDC-T started boycotting participation in Government on October 16 and ministers from that party missed three consecutive Cabinet sessions.

President Mugabe indicated that State functions would not be paralysed by that action and Government would continue operating in the best interests of the people.

However, there were efforts at rapprochement and it is understood that had the three principals met on Monday, they would have agreed on a common position ahead of yesterday’s summit.


Nkomo nominated for VP post

By Lloyd Gumbo

Former PF-Zapu members who sit in Zanu-PF’s Central Committee met in Bulawayo yesterday and nominated national chairman Cde John Nkomo to fill the post of Vice President and Second Secretary left vacant following the death of veteran nationalist and hero Cde Joseph Msika in August.

According to a party source, Deputy Senate President Cde Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, who had expressed interest in the post, was nominated to take over as party national chairman.

According to the 1987 Unity Accord, the two positions, as well as that of Home Affairs Minister, will be filled by cadres who belonged to PF-Zapu before the merger with Zanu-PF.

Speaking on condition of anonymity after yesterday’s meeting, a former senior PF-Zapu and Central Committee member said Cdes Nkomo and Ndlovu were unanimously endorsed as the candidates of choice.

"All the Central Committee members who attended the meeting unanimously endorsed Cde John Nkomo as VP and Cde Naison Ndlovu as the party national chairman.

"This was the best meeting we have ever had. We hope other groups will take a leaf from this and we are proud that this nomination had good representation from all the provinces.

"We are there to give an advisory opinion to other provinces and we are sure the other provinces are going to rubber-stamp our decision," the source said.

In an interview last night, Zanu-PF’s acting political commissar, Cde Richard Ndlovu — who presided over the meeting — could neither confirm nor deny that Cdes Nkomo and Ndlovu had been nominated.

He simply said one name had been agreed on for the VP post and similarly for that of national chairman.

Cde Ndlovu said the candidates were nominated in line with the 1987 Unity Accord and everyone was satisfied with the outcome.

"We were consulting on who we want to assume the Vice President’s position and the national chairman and we all agreed on the candidates.

"However, I can’t divulge their names at the moment because it will be premature at this stage. I can only confirm that the nominations were unanimous.

"The meeting was very cordial and everyone was happy with the nominations and we believe the other provinces will consider our nominations because this was in line with the Unity Accord," he said.

Cde Ndlovu said former PF-Zapu Central Committee members from all the 10 provinces graced the occasion and those who failed to attend sent solidarity messages.

He said the nominations would be done on November 14, but the names would only be revealed at December’s national congress.

"All former PF-Zapu Central Committee members from all the provinces attended the consultative meeting and we spoke with one voice. Nominations by other provinces will be done on November 14 but the names are only going to be made public at congress.

"This meeting was part of our consultations and so far we are on track, but the final nominations will be done by all provinces," Cde Ndlovu said.

Zanu-PF’s Politburo last week directed former PF-Zapu members sitting in the Central Committee to consult and nominate a candidate of their choice to fill the vacant post.

The decision was in line with an understanding following the Unity Accord that one of the two Vice Presidents should come from the most senior surviving member of the former PF-Zapu still holding a senior post in Zanu-PF.


Central Committee nominations deferred

Herald Reporter

ZANU-PF has deferred to November 14 the nomination for Central Committee members that had been set for this weekend.

Addressing a Press conference in Harare yesterday, the party’s secretary for administration, Cde Didymus Mutasa, said various issues necessitated the postponement.

"We want to inform our members countrywide that the nominations of Central Committee members have been shifted from November 7 to 14. This was as a result of many reasons beyond our control.

"Firstly, we have noted that the nomination date was clashing with the Harare provincial elections set for this Saturday.

"We also wanted to give the Matabeleland region time to finish their consultations on coming up with a candidate to fill the position of the Second Secretary of the party," he said.

Cde Mutasa expressed optimism that the Matabeleland region would finish the consultations before the nomination date.

"There was a lot of advice for the Matabeleland region during the last Politburo meeting and I am sure that they will meet the deadline," he said.

Cde Mutasa said the party’s administration department was also yet to write to provinces informing them about their Central Committee membership quotas.

According to the party’s constitution, Cde Mutasa said, the nominations for the Central Committee members should be held on the same day in all provinces.

"The nominations for Central Committee members have to be done on the same day countrywide, so as a result of this Saturday’s commitments, we decided to shift the nomination dates," Cde Mutasa said.

He also took the opportunity to encourage provincial leadership to nominate mature and eligible members capable of dealing with the challenges facing the party.

Meanwhile, information at hand indicates that the party’s information and publicity department was seized with the drafting of the theme for the National People’s Congress set for next month.

The theme would be forwarded to the President and First Secretary of the Party, Cde Mugabe.

The Congress is expected to draw more than 10 000 delegates.


Tsvangirai driving Rhodesian agenda

By Alexander Kanengoni

POLITICAL events happening over the past two weeks have been so quick it took some time to understand them.

First, there was President Mugabe opening Parliament two weeks ago challenging the West for engagement.

Then followed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s surprising announcement that he was ‘‘disengaging’’ from the inclusive Government.

Then there was the flurry of movement from Sadc that culminated in the visit by the DRC president, Joseph Kabila of course this does not include UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowark’s unscheduled visit that unceremoniously ended in the VIP lounge at Harare International Airport.

The case for engagement with the West as part of efforts to get Zimbabwe out of the current economic problems cannot be over-emphasised.

But it is Tsvangirai’s announcement to disengage from the inclusive Government that is quite revealing.

The observation that the Rhodesian lobby could be controlling MDC-T, and therefore responsible for most decisions that the party takes, is frightening.

It was the Rhodesians that we fought against during the liberation war.

Although they may agree on many things, the West and the Rhodesian lobby are not the same. The two major distinguishing features of the Rhodesian lobby are:

-rabid racism and;

-a misplaced belief that they will one day, return to the farms

The Rhodesian lobby has always had disagreements with the West, particularly the British.

The lobby disagreed with the British over their view of Africans who the lobby regarded as unfit to rule the country.

A political deal the British had struck with nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo in London in 1960 envisaged a gradual increase in African representation in Parliament that would take up to 100 years for blacks to attain a parliamentary majority to enable them to elect the country’s first black ruler.

It was that deal that gave rise to popular euphemisms like: "The country is around the corner!" or "The country is in my briefcase!"

The Rhodesian lobby was livid. It would never give the blacks such a chance! "Not in a thousand years!" Ian Smith would boast three years later in 1963 after his Rhodesian Front party wrenched power from Winston Field’s Dominion Party.

Two years down the line in 1965, Ian Smith would rebel against the British Crown and declare independence.

Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister promised to crush the rebellion by force, but he never did it.

It must be noted that it was the rise to power of the Rhodesian lobby that precipitated the split in the nationalist movement.

Hardliners, who included Robert Mugabe, Ndabaningi Sithole, Leopold Takawira, Enos Nkala, Edgar Tekere etc broke away from Zapu to form Zanu arguing that there was not much to expect from the British but to take the Rhodesians head-on through armed insurrection.

We are our own liberators! was the rallying call at the Gwelo (now Gweru) congress where the new party was launched.

The point is the British and the Rhodesians have not always agreed. In his book, The Great Betrayal, Ian Smith accused the British of selling out the Rhodesians at Lancaster House, declaring Rhodesians were prepared to fight the nationalist guerrillas to the last man.

Implicitly, he was still holding on to the myth that blacks should never have been allowed to rule. The man went to his grave clinging to that delusion believing strangely the war between the Rhodesians and the nationalists had not yet been settled.

The tragedy is Ian Smith was not an eccentric voice speaking on the fringes of a defeated community.

He was speaking on behalf of a community that had regrouped in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Canada.

It’s one thing to see the Rhodesian lobby in other countries outside our borders but quite another to see it rearing its ugly head in our midst, through the opposition (MDC-T is still an opposition by virtue of opposing in the inclusive Government).

Because, when a high-ranking opposition leader, Eddie Cross, recently said the clause in the GPA that the land reform programme was irreversible be revisited, one could not help seeing a frighteningly Rhodesian agenda.

The Rhodesians still dream of going back to the farms.

His secretary for information, Nelson Chamisa tried to douse the anger and panic the statement had ignited but it was too late because the Rhodesians had spoken.

When Tsvangirai decided to ‘‘disengage’’ from the inclusive Government primarily over the case of Roy Bennett, most people were surprised by the power and influence that the Rhodesian lobby wields within the opposition movement.

There have been other black MDC-T leaders, including Government ministers, arrested in the past for various offences, but the party’s response had not been as swift and as resolute as it was in Bennett’s case.

If anyone ever doubted that MDC-T was at the beck and call of Bennett, it was time to awaken to the fact.

There has been idle talk that MDC-T queues at Bennett’s office at the end of each month for its stipend.

It’s hard not to believe it now.

The other interesting point is the choice of Bennett for the ministry of agriculture.

But considering the power that he wields in MDC-T, he must have assigned himself to that ministry.

The question becomes why he gave himself that ministry. But it is easy to understand within the context of Rhodesians’ delusion of returning to the farms.

The anger reflected in the vandalism that one sees along the highways and the country’s infrastructure, most of which is senseless, can only be attributed to people with the mentality: if we can’t have it, then no one else should have it.

All the road-signs along the highways are gone.

Some of us thought it was the aluminium that the vandals wanted for resell. But when they also destroyed the concrete blocks showing the distances along the roads, then the agenda became purely Rhodesian.

The same applies to the other infrastructure that is being destroyed without any intention to resale.

The Rhodesians want to come back.

If it is true that Prime Minister Tsvangirai wants the power and influence of war veterans in state institutions like the army and police force diluted before he can return to the inclusive Government, that is another frightfully Rhodesian agenda.

War veterans symbolise the defence of the gains of the liberation war.

They are the people who toppled the Rhodesians from power and the last people Rhodesians want to see.

Calling for the dilution of their influence is tantamount to calling for their demobilisation from the army and the police force.

It’s like calling for the people to lay down their arms in the middle of a war. Prime Minister Tsvangirai is driving a Rhodesian agenda.

The Rhodesian lobby is Tsvangirai’s burden.

But the problem with him for us is when he tries to facilitate their return.

When President Mugabe talks about engaging the West, he is certainly not talking about engaging the Rhodesians.

The only place to engage the Rhodesians is the battlefield.

That has been the nature of the relationship.

Ian Smith went to his grave, less than a decade ago, still believing blacks were not fit to rule; that it was the British who sold out the Rhodesians at Lancaster House.

He died unrepentant. But is it not said shamelessly that Rhodesians never die?

Several years after independence, Peter Godwin, a former Rhodesian, published a book with the title Rhodesians Never Die.

The case for engaging the West that President Mugabe raised in his opening address to parliament recently is significant.

It is such an engagement that will eventually lead to the lifting of economic sanctions. To expect the opposition to tell the West to lift sanctions would be folly because the powerful Rhodesian lobby will not allow them to do it.

There will be other voices besides ours, calling for the lifting of sanctions; Sadc and the AU for instance. But it will be us engaging the West, particularly the USA and Britain, that is key to getting sanctions lifted.

I don’t think there is much difficulty in that regard because the basis for such engagement already exists — the Lancaster House Agreement.

Both the British and the Americans were there and are signatories to the agreement.

There are still outstanding commitments agreed at Lancaster House.

The British pledged 36 million pounds towards paying off the white farmers and supporting a future land reform programme.

The Americans pledged an equal amount. I believe those commitments need to be revisited. We should ignore the letter by the then British secretary for International Development, Claire Short in November 1997 that reneged on her government’s commitment, as agreed at Lancaster House, to pay for the land because it is dishonest.

I believe it was that letter which was largely responsible for the tragedy that occurred between 1998 and 2008.

I do not believe the case for re-engagement with the Americans to repeal the US sanctions law; ZDERA (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act) is complicated either.

If we accept that the Americans enacted ZDERA in return for British military support for the invasion of Iraq and that Obama was elected on the promise of getting the Americans out of Iraq, then theoretically, the reasons for ZDERA fall away.

There are other reasons that make re-engaging the Americans less complicated.

There are many things about us that must fascinate the Americans, our resilience and prowess. The attempt to lure Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Gideon Gono to the World Bank was a clearly American initiative.

I believe there are two things they wanted to achieve.

They had correctly identified that he was the man preventing the country’s economic collapse and they wanted to remove him to hasten the process.

They were fascinated by how he had, literally single-handed, managed to save the country from economic collapse.

There is no doubt that the Americans are fascinated by our military prowess in Mozambique and the DRC. Our army cleared Renamo from the Beira Corridor and stopped Kinshasa from falling.

Who would not envy an army with such a string of accomplishments? There are many things about us that fascinate the Americans that they would jump at the slightest opportunity to work with us, sometimes at even the level of individuals as they tried to do with Dr Gono.

As far as the British, the land reform programme is a fait accompli.

It’s the powerful Rhodesian lobby and their own huge ego that they have to deal with. The lobby wants President Mugabe out of power in order to go back to the farms.

The British would want President Mugabe out of power not to facilitate the Rhodesians back to the farms, but as a way to exact revenge on the man who challenged their global supremacy openly and embarrassed them.

Such vengeance would soothe their bruised ego.

But I am sure they are already looking at their interests in Zimbabwe beyond the land reform programme.

An MDC-T official confessed recently in a discussion that the inclusive Government was the best thing to happen because if MDC-T had tried to govern alone, that government would have collapsed from ignorance and inexperience.

I cynically quipped his fears were unfounded because the Rhodesians would govern for them.

A colleague with us encapsulated the implications: "If the Rhodesians come back, then it will be another war!"


What does Morgan know about heroes?

Tarwireyi Matsika Chifambayi Tirivavi

EDITOR — In 2002 we came across a cartoon of Morgan Tsvangirai entitled "The Dreamer" which showed a sleeping Tsvangirai slouched in an easy chair, obviously in dreamland, an empty scud by his side.

The cartoon showed Tsvangirai dreaming of success in those aspects of his life where he had dismally failed. Consequently, he was dreaming of passing ‘‘O’’ Level, dreaming of joining the liberation struggle and dreaming about being President of Zimbabwe.

All along we thought The Dreamer cartoonist was being cruel to Tsvangirai because we thought the Right Honourable Prime Minister was not that much of a dreamer as depicted.

Alas how wrong we were, for how else can we explain the dream where he, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, expected to be consulted about the late national hero Cde Misheck ‘‘Makasha’’ Chando’s hero status.

Or perhaps Tsvangirai is against the hero status of Cde Makasha because to him Cde Makasha was a terrorist who had a bad habit of shooting at people like Roy Bennett?

Surely, the Prime Minister needs help, because it appears he does not understand a lot of things about Zimbabwe, which perhaps explains why during his sojourn to Germany early this year, Chancellor Merkel had to show our Prime Minister the Zimbabwean flag at the start of their joint Press briefing.

She had to literally drag Tsvangirai from the side of the podium that had the German flag to the side with the Zimbabwean flag.

Quite rightly, the ETV news presenter commented that "someone has to teach the Zimbabwean Prime Minister how his country’s flag looks".

That is Tsvangirai for you. Now he wants the Zanu-PF Politburo to consult him on liberation war heroes yet he fled the struggle to work, first in a textile mill in Mutare then at Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura.

What would he know about what was going on in the bush?

We wonder how Tsvangirai wants grieving comrades to consult him when he has disengaged from Zanu-PF. Furthermore, he has to attend the Politburo meeting where the issues are discussed.

The hogwash about MDC-T contributing to the liberation struggle should end because MDC-T is full of Selous Scouts like Bennett and Rhodesian Front members like Giles Mutsekwa. The reality is that Zanu-PF liberated this country and there is nothing anyone can do about that.

If MDC-T has its own ideas of heroes, fine, they should get a farm from somewhere and build their heroes’ acre of quislings, Selous Scouts, ex-Rhodesian Light Infantry, ex-Rhodesian African Rifles, ex-Pfumo Revanhu, sanctions mongers, and so on.

Come to think of it, MDC-T can also use its heroes acre to bury all its imaginary dead activists as well.

Tarwireyi Matsika Chifambayi Tirivavi.
Zimbabwe Heritage Project.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 11:12 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Unemployment Nears 10 Percent As Rebound Remains Slow

Unemployment nears 10 pct. as rebound remains slow

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON – The economy is rebounding from its deepest slump since the 1930s, but it probably won't seem that way when the government releases its monthly employment report on Friday.

Employers aren't expected to start adding jobs for several more months. Many are skeptical about the strength and sustainability of the recovery,

The nation's economy probably lost a net total of 175,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.9 percent, according to a survey of Wall Street economists by Thomson Reuters. The Labor Department report is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Most economists think the rate will eventually surpass 10 percent, a level last seen in June 1983.

The economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the government said last week, the strongest signal yet that the recession has ended. But that alone won't spur rapid hiring, raising the likelihood of a "jobless recovery."

"You need explosive growth to take the unemployment rate down," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for New York-based investment firm Miller Tabak & Co.

Greenhaus said the economy soared by nearly 8 percent in 1983 after a steep recession, lowering the jobless rate by 2.5 percentage points that year. But the economy is unlikely to improve that fast this time, as consumers remain cautious and tight credit hinders businesses. In fact, many analysts expect economic growth to moderate early next year, as the impact of various government stimulus programs fades.

On Capitol Hill, the House on Thursday sought to bolster the economy by approving a $24 billion measure that expands a popular homebuyers' tax credit and extends unemployment insurance for 14 to 20 weeks. The additional jobless benefits are intended to prevent almost 2 million recipients from running out of aid during the upcoming holiday season. It is the fourth extension of benefits during the recession and means that unemployed workers in some states can claim up to 99 weeks of support, a record.

The Senate approved the bill Wednesday and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it.

On Wall Street, a better-than-expected jobless claims report and an upbeat forecast from Cisco Systems Inc. buoyed investors Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average added nearly 204 points to 10,005.96, and broader indexes also gained.

Still, jobs likely will remain scarce even as the economy improves. The uncertainty surrounding the pace of the recovery has made many employers reluctant to hire, economists said. And many companies have cut hours for workers still on their payrolls, which means they can add those hours back before hiring new people.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, said that small businesses, a primary engine of job creation, still face tight credit and don't have the cash reserves to support extra workers.

Fein Tool North America, a Cincinnati company that supplies auto parts manufacturers, has cut about 100 workers, or 33 percent of its staff. But Fein President Ralph Hardt said the company can still fill its orders by using more overtime shifts and temporary workers.

Hardt said he plans to slowly rehire once the economy picks up again. "If I see signs of recovery, I am going to hire back, but I am going to be very prudent," he said.

The recoveries following the last two recessions in 1991 and 2001 also were considered "jobless" as the unemployment rate didn't peak until 15 months and 19 months, respectively, after they ended.

Economists cite several reasons why job growth is increasingly lagging recoveries. To begin with, layoffs are more likely to be permanent, compared with temporary furloughs by manufacturers in earlier downturns. And globalization has made it easier for companies to hire overseas when rebounds begin.

Many companies also are squeezing more production from their existing work forces. Productivity, the amount of output per hour worked, jumped 9.5 percent in the third quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday.

That's the sharpest increase in six years and followed a 6.6 percent rise in the second quarter. The increases enable companies to produce more without hiring extra workers.

Still, many economists saw a bright side: companies can only drive their existing workers so far. Eventually, they will have to hire more people as the economy improves.

"You just can't get blood from a turnip," Swonk said.

The Labor Department said Thursday that new jobless claims fell to 512,000 last week, the lowest level in 10 months.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of the pace of layoffs and an indication of employers' willingness to hire new workers. Claims remain well above the roughly 400,000 that economists say will signal job creation.

The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, said Wednesday that it will keep a key interest rate at a record low level of nearly zero for an "extended period" in order to support the economy.

The central bank said economic activity has "continued to pick up," but Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues warned that rising joblessness and tight credit could restrain the rebound in the months ahead.
___

Associated Press Writer Jim Abrams contributed to this report.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 1:46 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Thursday, November 05, 2009

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to Visit Turkey Despite ICC Warrant

Omar al-Bashir to visit Turkey despite warrant

Thursday, November 05, 2009
Opheera McDoom
Reuters

KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will visit Turkey next week for the first time since an international court asked for his arrest, government sources said, in a test of Ankara’s support for international justice. Predominantly Muslim Turkey has not ratified the 2002 Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), but it is under pressure to do so to bring it closer to European Union standards.

Rights groups say Turkey, anxious to secure entry into the EU, is obliged to arrest Bashir when he lands in Istanbul for a summit of Islamic nations.

One presidential source in Khartoum said on Wednesday: “The decision has been taken. Unless there are last minute changes, he is going.”

Ankara’s government, which has its roots in political Islam, has sought to deepen ties with Khartoum, putting it in an awkward position over the visit.

Asked if Turkish authorities would arrest Bashir during his visit, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity: “No, there are no such plans.”

A public outcry about Bashir’s visit to Turkey could still cause it to be canceled, which would embarrass Khartoum, a Sudanese analyst said.

Activists said there was sure to be opposition from civil society to the visit, adding Turkey had obligations to arrest Bashir as a UN member.

“We most certainly expect Turkey to show respect for this monumental decision by the ICC,” said Ozlem Altiparmak from the Turkish Coalition for the ICC.

“Turkey could see a backlash in public opinion and from civil-society groups if it fails to act while he is here.”

The UN Security Council referred Darfur’s atrocities to the ICC for investigation four years ago.

Based in The Hague, the ICC is the world’s first permanent court set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations.

Bashir has traveled to African countries, who reject the arrest warrant, since March when ICC judges said he was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region.

He was last in Turkey in August 2008, before the arrest warrant was announced.

Rebels in Darfur took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the arid region, and Sudan then mobilised militia who, alongside the army, waged a counter-insurgency campaign that drove 2 million people from their homes.

The fighting sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, which the UN says has claimed 300,000 lives.

Washington described the violence as genocide, a term Khartoum rejects. Bashir puts Darfur’s death toll at 10,000.

Turkey’s H1N1 death toll hits 15 amid vaccine row

ANKARA: The death toll from swine flu climbed to 15 in Turkey Wednesday amid simmering controversy over the country’s vaccination campaign following the prime minister’s refusal to have an injection.

The latest victims of the A(H1N1) virus were a 5-year-old boy, two women, aged 24 and 31, and a 55-year-old man, a Health Ministry statement said.

Fatalities have sharply increased this week after the first death was reported on October 24.

Hospitals began vaccinating medical workers on Monday, along with people planning to travel to Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage, amid widespread public concern over the safety of the swine flu vaccine.

Health Minister Recep Akdag, eager to dispel the misgivings, had an injection before the cameras Tuesday.

But his gesture was soon overshadowed when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly chided the minister over his insistent calls on citizens to get vaccinated, saying that some experts doubted the safety of the drug.

He then told reporters he would not have an injection himself.

Erdogan’s remarks dealt an “irreparable” blow to the Health Ministry’s credibility, the Turkish Doctors’ Union said Wednesday.

It slammed the government for “failing to be convincing even within itsef” and cast doubt on “how competent it will be in managing a nationwide pandemic.”

The union insisted that “the benefits of the vaccine are much greater than the damage its possible side effects may cause.”

Opponents of the drug say its safety, efficiency and side effects have not been sufficiently tested. – AFP
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 12:38 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Zimbabwe News Update: No Substitute For Dialoge, Says Kabila

No substitute for dialogue, says Kabila

From Sydney Kawadza in MUTARE
Courtesy of the Zimbabwe Herald

DRC President Joseph Kabila has challenged Africa to follow his country’s example by actively seeking dialogue and pursuing national reconciliation as a means of solving any internal differences.

In his keynote address at the annual Dag Hammarskjold Commemoration Seminar at Africa University here yesterday, President Kabila said victory over foreign forces that threatened to tear DRC apart was partly attributable to political dialogue.

"Political dialogue, entailing compromise and give and take, had to be brought to bear in order to defuse misunderstandings, build confidence, mend the social fabric and induce reconciliation," the DRC leader said.

"Indeed, accepting to share power with adversaries, or granting amnesty to rebels is seldom an easy decision.

"It can be politically painful and even dangerous. It takes vision, wisdom and, above all, courage.

"Looking back, we do not regret having ridden that, at times, bumpy road.

"It led us to where we stand today: strong and tall, as it was meant to be," he said.

President Kabila challenged African countries to draw inspiration from the DRC and its rebirth through resistance, dialogue, reconciliation, democratic rule and hard work.

President Kabila’s presentation was titled "The State of the Congolese Nation Following Negotiations".

The war in the DRC ended in late 2002 and President Kabila subsequently formed a national unity government that roped in six vice presidents, four of them former rebel militia leaders.

President Kabila paid tribute to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces for their leading role in resolving, through Operation Sovereign Legitimacy, the armed conflict that claimed millions of lives in his country.

He said the DRC received "heroic support" from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia in those "dark days".

"I wish to seize this opportunity and, once again, pay tribute to these sister countries.

"As a nation, we will never forget the blood shed by their gallant sons and daughters to help us preserve our independence, territorial integrity and national sovereignty," he said.

In September this year at the last Sadc Summit in the DRC, President Kabila said he was grateful for Zimbabwe’s assistance and would soon visit the country to personally convey his people’s gratitude.

The seminar, which ends today, is being held under the theme "The Democratic Republic of Congo: The Road to Conflict Transformation and National Healing".

President Kabila chronicled the DRC’s conflicts, starting with the killing of iconic statesman Dr Patrice Lumumba in 1961 soon after the country’s independence from Belgium the previous year.

This resulted in a drawn-out liberation struggle led by nationalists such as Cdes Pierre Mulele, Antoine Gizenga and the current president’s father, Laurent Desire Kabila.

"Unfortunately, this took place at the peak of the Cold War (between the former USSR and the West) and their efforts got entangled in the East-West rivalry.

"They could not succeed at the outset."

President Kabila said the military coup of 1965 ushered in 32 years of Mobutu Sese Seko’s misrule, which only ended in 1997.

An era of freedom and democracy dawned, but this was almost nipped in the bud by invading armies.

"As if history was repeating itself, no time was given to the new revolutionary regime to organise and put people back to work. Just a year later, the DRC was dragged into a long and protracted war of aggression by her eastern neighbours," he said.

This was after Rwandese and Ugandan troops invaded the country in support of DRC rebel militias who were tacitly backed by Western powers.

The war lasted over five years and claimed millions of lives.

President Kabila said the conflict was the costliest war in terms of human losses after the Second World War.

The popular resistance organised by the late Laurent Kabila rallied friendly countries and saved the nation, though unfortunately it also claimed the liberation fighter’s life.

Meanwhile, President Kabila returned home last night after spending two days in Zimbabwe.

He bade farewell to President Mugabe at State House in the evening with the Zimbabwean leader expressing his desire for the two to continue interacting.

President Mugabe parting shot was: "Thank you for the visit. Let’s keep in touch."

During his visit, President Kabila met the three principals to the Global Political Agreement to get an insight into how the inclusive Government was functioning.


Zanu-PF Congress preps on course

Herald Reporter

Preparations for Zanu-PF’s National People’s Congress in December are progressing as scheduled, party national chairman Cde John Nkomo has said.

Delegates to the congress — expected to number about 10 000 — will elect the Presidium comprising the President and First Secretary, two Vice Presidents and Second Secretaries and a national chairperson. The First Secretary will, in turn, appoint members of the Politburo.

Speaking after meeting the Congress Co-ordinating Committee on Monday, Cde Nkomo said he had received progress reports but could not reveal the amount of money raised so far.

The party aims to raise US$5 million for the congress.

"I have received progress reports from all the sub-committees that are organising the Congress and they have confirmed that everything is progressing according to our plan. We are quite optimistic that by the time of the congress everything will be in place. As a committee, we have come up with a system where we meet with the sub-committees every Monday to monitor progress of the preparations."

Cde Nkomo dispelled rumours that the party was failing to raise sufficient funds to finance the five-yearly meeting

"Yes, in every endeavour there are challenges and our case cannot be an exception. But challenges are not problems," said Cde Nkomo.

"The challenges that we are facing are ordinary challenges that can be found in any project."

Almost all the 10 provinces have endorsed the current leadership of President Mugabe and Vice President Joice Mujuru ahead of the Congress.

Another Vice President and Second Secretary to fill the void left by founding nationalist Cde Joseph Msika will be elected at the Congress.


US can’t teach us anything

Zimbabwe Herald

THE Western alliance’s reaction to the abortive presidential run-off in Afghanistan should show all who were led to believe that Anglo-Saxon opposition to President Mugabe’s re-election was about the professed platitudes of electoral democracy, that they were sold a dead donkey.

American and British opposition to President Mugabe’s victory was because, in their own words, ‘‘he continues to pose a continuous and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States (and the British governments)’’.

A foreign policy, that we all know, is about plundering other people and their resources.

A bit of history will suffice here.

Zimbabwe held harmonised presidential, Senate, House of Assembly and local government elections on March 29, 2008 that saw the presidential contest failing to produce an outright winner when none of the four candidates garnered the 50 percent plus 1 votes required for a first round win.

A run-off was, therefore, called for June 27 pitting President Mugabe and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai. And after gauging the mood of the electorate, and with just days to go before the poll, Tsvangirai announced his ‘‘withdrawal’’ from the run-off, alleging violence against his supporters.

The British and American governments immediately began casting aspersions on the legitimacy of the outcome, saying they would not recognise President Mugabe’s legitimacy.

This was despite the fact that legal experts had described Tsvangirai’s ‘‘withdrawal’’ as a legal nullity since the run-off had already begun with the deployment of election officers and observers countrywide.

Fast forward to August 20, 2009, the day Afghanistan held its presidential election pitting two US-anointed candidates, incumbent Hamid Karzai and his erstwhile foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. Though Karzai initially claimed outright victory with over 53 percent of the vote in the first round, a UN probe into electoral irregularities unearthed massive fraud involving over 20 percent of the votes credited to Karzai.

The votes were docked necessitating a run-off that had been slated for Saturday, before Abdullah announced his withdrawal saying the run-off was going to be equally fraudulent.

What shocked many was that even before Abdullah’s withdrawal, the Obama administration had enthroned Karzai as Afghan president for another five years, saying ‘‘even if he were forced into a second round of voting he would almost certainly win it’’.

More was to follow after Abdullah’s withdrawal as the US was first off the block in congratulating Karzai even before the Afghan electoral authorities had declared him the winner.

This is not to say we expect the legitimacy of our leadership here to accrue from US blessings, no. All we are doing is exposing the hypocrisy of the self-appointed ‘‘international democrats’’ and ‘‘moral authorities’’ who, ironically, only yesterday opposed our own fight for democracy here.

A bit of history again.

When Ian Smith declared his UDI on November 11, 1965, the progressive world was naturally outraged and the UN Security Council responded by slapping the Smith regime with a raft of sanctions beginning that year till the brief restoration of British rule in December 1979.

Though the terms of the sanctions forbade trade or financial dealings with Rhodesia, the US supported the beleaguered settler regime regardless and covertly channelled assistance through apartheid South Africa.

US allies, among them Portugal (then under Marcello Caetano), Israel, and Iran (then under the US proxy Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi), also assisted and traded with Rhodesia. In an attempt to bypass the UN sanctions, the US passed the Byrd Amendment in 1971 and continued to buy chrome from Rhodesia in violation of the UN sanctions.

As if that was not enough, the US also contributed to the establishment of an armaments industry in Rhodesia that enabled the Rhodesian Front to kill over 50 000 innocent Zimbabweans whose only "crime" was daring to demand majority rule.

The US also provided the technical knowledge and support, again through apartheid South Africa, towards establishing the 700-kilometre Border Minefield Obstacle along Zimbabwe’s borders with Zambia and Mozambique. Mines aimed at stopping aspiring cadres from crossing to training camps and blowing up trained combatants crossing back into Zimbabwe.

Yet today, the US and its allies are trying to re-invent and pass themselves off as champions of democracy in Zimbabwe.

We urge all those who may have been swayed by the Anglo-Saxon rhetoric to acquaint themselves with our history to tell friend from foe.

Such knowledge is also vital to understanding the political dynamics at play in our country today lest we are led down the garden path.

The US can’t teach us anything.


Height of American hypocrisy

By Tendai Hildegarde Manzvanzvike

ZIMBABWE and Afghanistan are thousands and thousands of miles apart. What makes them suitable variables for comparative analysis? Why is the West — the United States and Britain in particular — interested in the two nation states? Why are their recent electoral processes of significance?

After the failure of the illegal regime change project in Zimbabwe, "legitimised" in part by the US sanctions law, the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, the US and its allies continue to refuse to recognise a Zimbabwe Government in which both President Mugabe and Zanu-PF are major players, preferring their handpicked stooges to be in charge.

They have continued to denounce Zimbabwe’s 2008 harmonised elections and the subsequent Presidential run-off on the basis of alleged issues of governance, rule of law, human rights, etc.

However, the culmination of Afghanistan’s presidential poll has revealed the levels of the West’s hypocrisy and double standards, especially the US, when it comes to Zimbabwe.

The Afghan issue shows that every principle of democracy, which the West preaches about and would want to export to every part of the world, has been thrown into the dumpster because their national interests took precedence over the wishes and interests of the Afghan people.

For, on November 2, Afghanistan’s Independent Electoral Commission announced that there was a new president, and he was none other than former president Hamid Karzai.

The Western world, Washington in particular, was quick to embrace and endorse Karzai as the legitimate leader of Afghanistan.

This contrasted with the West’s reaction to Zimbabwe’s run-off that invited a full-blown diplomatic offensive in order to reject not only the electoral results, but also de-legitimise President Mugabe, in favour of the US, Britain and their allies.

Large sums of money were disbursed through civic organisations in order to change the colour of Zimbabwe’s politics, a desperate attempt meant to reverse the gains of independence, especially the land reform programme, and also derail Zimbabwe’s sovereignty.

People’s memories are still fresh with the attempts made by the Bush administration, through his Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, to influence Sadc and the African Union. There were several vain attempts to have Zimbabwe on the UN Security Council agenda.

In fact, last week’s abortive visit by UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Dr Norman Nowak, was a clear demonstration that until a government of the West’s choice is in power in Zimbabwe; they will not relent in their quest for regime change.

It is a goal and objective that they are pursuing with impunity, even if it means funding parallel government structures within the inclusive Government in pursuance of their interests.

However, on September 15, after monitoring the Afghan elections, former US president Jimmy Carter described the Afghan poll as "despicable".

Said Carter: "Hamid Karzai has stolen the election . . . Now the question is whether he gets away with it."

Carter’s comments followed allegations of massive fraud.

Well, on November 2, it became official. Karzai defied the odds, stole the election and got away with it. If observers had expected disgust and dismay, they were actually surprised to learn that the Obama administration was the first to endorse Karzai as the "new president who (was) the same as the old president".

However, the announcement was just a formality meant to make the farcical exercise look credible because on October 31, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was reported as saying that the Afghan poll would be legitimate even if Abdullah Abdullah boycotted.

Said the reports in the media: "Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has said the Afghan elections would be legitimate even if Abdullah Abdullah boycotted the run-off poll, leaving President Hamid Karzai unopposed."

Clinton also said that a boycott of the run-off election which had been scheduled for November 7 by runner-up Abdullah would not de-legitimise the poll. This was after the Abdullah camp had refused to "participate in an election which (was) not transparent and fraud-free".

Long before Abdullah announced his withdrawal, both London and Washington were already anticipating that he would retire "graciously".

Clinton also said that the withdrawal of a candidate would not be "unprecedented" and would not affect the legitimacy of the vote.

"We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of the candidates decides not to go forward. I don’t think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election."

So now people know where the withdrawals, boycotts and ‘‘disengagements’’ come from.

Washington was the first to endorse Karzai as Afghanistan’s new legitimate leader, after the Independent Electoral Commission had cancelled the run-off in the wake of Abdullah’s withdrawal.

In his congratulatory message, US President Barack Obama threw his weight behind Karzai and acknowledged that although the election was "messy", his administration was happy that the poll had finally been resolved according to the dictates of Afghan law, and expressed hope that there would be fresh efforts to tackle issues that were part of Karzai’s first term: rampant corruption. He also urged a new chapter in Afghan politics.

Meanwhile, other Nato members were talking about a coalition. The allies appeared to be talking about the same thing in a different way. Maybe it was because the likes of Gordon Brown, who spoke about a coalition, were not happy with the final outcome.

It is evident from this that the American experiment plays itself differently in various parts of the globe depending on whose side one is.

Karzai is a liability to his people, but he is an asset to Nato, and a speedy conclusion of this electoral issue was not necessarily meant for the Afghan people.

The Obama administration has also continued with Bush’s so-called war on terror. Instead of pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama is actually looking at sending over 40 000 more soldiers to Afghanistan.

It appeared Karzai had to be endorsed fast since time is not on Uncle Sam’s side as winter is starting, and it will be very difficult to move troops in harsh weather conditions. This is despite the fact that the US administration has been advised that the Afghan war is unwinnable.

The Afghan war is also meant to boost Nato’s morale since the capitalist system is celebrating the demise of communism 20 years ago. This is despite the fact that the geo-political sphere is witnessing a resurgence of major political and economic players like China and Russia.


Zim’s sovereignty is irreversible

EDITOR — There is a Zimbabwean element that believes that Zimbabwe’s independence, let alone sovereignty, are irrelevant.

They believe that these aspects of our nationhood are reversible.

Last Saturday, one of these elements, ROHR (Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe), described as a radical human rights group, convened in the city centre around 10am with the hope of sending a message to the Sadc Troika "to take up a hard stance on the political parties, especially Zanu-PF and President Mugabe, to own up to their agreements under GPA".

The emblazoned ROHR on the T-shirts made one wonder whether Rhodies had made that daring move of reincarnation.

The irony was the message on the back of their T-shirts: "We will die for our rights." Meanwhile, a gallant son of the soil who had died for the true rights of the people of this country was being interred at the national shrine.

As if ROHR’s actions were not enough, we then learnt that MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai — who is the Prime Minister — was also playing golf as Cde Makasha was being laid to rest.

Not only was this very unfortunate, but it was also very embarrassing for someone in his position to be doing that. It was unfeeling to say the least. What was there to celebrate?

Although former US ambassador to Zimbabwe James D. McGee, who introduced Tsvangirai to the game, is gone, it is not difficult to hazard guesses of whom he was playing golf with.

There are still so many of them, and since golfing gives opportunities to discuss "serious" issues, the ‘‘disengagement’’ was probably the issue as they teed off.

The 11th hour is notable!

Did Tsvangirai give a thought to that?

To the Anglo-Saxons and not just the Rhodies, the 11th month, 11th day and 11th hour are significant, for this is the day and time when they honour their heroes from the First World War that ended in 1919.

Anglo-Saxons commemorate this day normally called Armistice Day very religiously. However, the renegade Rhodesian leader Ian Smith in 1965 declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on the 11th of the 11th of the 11th of 1965.

It was Smith’s action that made people like Cde Makasha leave home to take up arms and fight for the independence and true rights of this country.

With this little bit of historical context, the nation should ask what Tsvangirai’s actions meant, and what an independent Zimbabwe means to him and his party?

Nomagugu M’simang.
Harare.


We’re tired of MDC-T antics

EDITOR — Ever since MDC-T "disengaged" from the inclusive Government more than 10 days ago it’s still not clear even to the top leadership as to what they want to achieve with this move which President Mugabe attributed to the party’s reliance on "little emotional" rather than rational thoughts.

I came to this conclusion after Nelson Chamisa, the MDC-T spokesperson, was at pains to explain what MDC-T’s "disengagement" from Government means.

Chamisa, who had an interview with a local journalist, was incoherent and equally confused as he was quoted as saying: "We are not disengaging from the Government. There is no pullout from Government because we are Government ourselves. It is impossible for one to pull out of ourselves."

Then can the party please explain to the layman on the street in plain Shona, as we cannot talk of English what to "disengage" means? The party is not attending Cabinet meetings and the Council of Ministers where I am sure Government business is discussed and direction as to the operations of the ministries is given. On the other hand, Chamisa was quoted as saying: "Our ministers are going to their offices and executing their duties diligently as ministers of excellence." Can MDC-T please stop insulting the intelligence of the masses, more so their supporters who indicated that the party should stay in the inclusive Government during their consultative meetings.

Which takes us back to the question of whose interest are those in MDC-T serving as reports are that a day before making the decision to ‘‘disengage’’ Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC-T leader, met with officials from the US, Britain, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, France, Norway, Switzerland, Holland and Australia, who overwhelmingly pressured him to announce a "collapse of the inclusive Government".

People are tired of MDC-T antics, which for a long time are exposing their naivete and gullibility, which borders on the ridiculous. There seems to be no exceptional strategic advisers to this embattled party as time and again they have found themselves in the deep end when they can’t even swim.

MDC-T leaders should be told in no uncertain terms that these childish antics will not move Zanu-PF, a party of seasoned politicians, to give in to the regime change agenda.

Susan Chipanga.
Avondale,
Harare.


Boost for Malawi-Zim trade

Herald Reporter

Government has called for the expeditious implementation of measures that promote trade between Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Officially opening the eighth session of the Zimbabwe-Malawi Joint Commission in Harare yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, said the two countries should work to clear obstacles affecting trade between them.

"In this regard, we need to remove all impediments to trade, such as non-tariff barriers, bottlenecks at border posts and unnecessary bureaucratic procedures that are hindering trade relations between the two countries," he said.

"We should also bring the private sector including SMEs on board to ensure that our engagements as governments are relevant and meaningful to our entrepreneurs."

Minister Mumbengegwi underscored the need to create an enabling business environment saying that would benefit both countries’ economies.

He said Zimbabwe and Malawi had strong business ties hence the need to undertake measures that ensured less taxation of the entrepreneurs.

"We, therefore, welcome the proposal to sign the Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation as a measure to stimulate further investment between our countries."

He commended the government of Malawi and the Sadc region at large for rallying behind Zimbabwe in the face of Western illegal sanctions. Although the Zimbabwe-Malawi Joint Commission last met in 2002, Minister Mumbengegwi expressed gratitude on the progress it had made since.

"Although it has been a long time since the last session of the Joint Commission, we have witnessed the signing and implementation of the Revised Bilateral Trade Agreement, the MoU on Agriculture and the MoU on the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises," he said.

Minister Mumbengegwi took a swipe at Western governments for maintaining illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe in spite of their condemnation by Sadc, Comesa, the Non-Aligned Movement and the African Union.

Malawi Foreign Affairs Minister Professor Etah Banda said her country was committed to upholding the mutual relationship between the two countries. She said Malawi would do everything on its part to strengthen trading relations between Zimbabwe and Malawi.

"We will do our best to ensure that we achieve our goal of enhancing trading relations between our two countries," she said.

Prof Banda said in the face of modern global challenges, it was imperative that the two countries explored new areas of co-operation to deal with emerging global challenges such as climate change.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 11:52 PM 1 comments Links to this post

US House Rejects Goldstone Report

Wednesday, November 04, 2009
12:37 Mecca time, 09:37 GMT

US House rejects Goldstone report

The Goldstone report alleges that Israel used disproportionate force in its war on Gaza

The US House of Representatives has rejected as "irredeemably biased" the findings of a UN-sponsored report which says Israel committed war crimes during its military assault on the Gaza Strip.

The house on Tuesday voted 344 to 36 in favour of a non-binding resolution calling on Barack Obama, the US president, to maintain his opposition to the report, which was written by a panel led by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge.

The report accused Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group, which has de facto control of Gaza, of war crimes during the 22-day conflict in December and January.

But most of its criticism was directed towards Israel's conduct during the offensive, in which human rights organisations say about 1,400 Palestinians - many of them women and children - were killed.

Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were also killed over the course of the war, Israel has said.

Steny Hoyer, the Democrat House majority leader, said it was important to adopt an official resolution against the Goldstone report as it "paints a distorted picture".

It "epitomizes the practice of singling Israel out from all other nations for condemnation," he said on Tuesday.

UN assembly pressure

The US house vote came a day before the United Nations General Assembly is expected to debate its own resolution endorsing the findings of the Goldstone report.

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey, reporting from the UN in New York, said that while the majority of the assembly's member nations were expected to vote in favour of the resolution, the US vote on Tuesday, although non-binding, was likely to dampen its impact.

"Remember - the key recommendation of Goldstone is to get a credible investigation into the alleged war crimes that the Goldstone commission found evidence of in Gaza, and the UN Security Council is the only body that can move forward and demand an investigation," she said.

"The general assembly just does not have that power. Of course, on the security council, the United States is a veto-wielding member and, as the congressional vote underscores, the US is not going to be interested in moving forward in the security council to call for an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC), or anyone else for that matter."

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN, criticised the Security Council for so far failing to act "in triggering the mechanism that Goldstone wanted, the investigation, the monitoring and then reporting after six months before considering moving into the ICC".

"The General Assembly, in a responsible way in the draft we have submitted by the Arab group, which hopefully in the next two days will receive large support, has taken some of the responsibility from the security council ... and asked for the investigation to begin," he told Al Jazeera.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, which sponsored the Goldstone commission, has already voted to endorse the report.

Bias claims

Steven Rothman, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, told Al Jazeera that the report was biased against Israel, even after the Goldstone commission's mandate was expanded so that it could investigate war crimes alleged to have been committed by Hamas.

"The report was not written to talk about 12,000 rockets intentionally sent by Hamas to slaughter Israeli men, women and children, versus the Israelis trying in many respects to minimise the damage to Palestinian civilians," he told Al Jazeera.

"So there have been completely different standards applied."

But when asked if he had read the Goldstone report in full, Rothman said he had read only the report's executive summary.

"I did not read the 400 or 500 pages, but I read the executive summary designed for members of congress and other world leaders to read, and I found it terribly, terribly biased and one-sided," he said.

But Brian Baird, a Democrat congressman for Washington state, said that the resolution failed to "accurately characterise" the Goldstone report and made no attempt to reflect the situation on the ground in Gaza.

"My belief is that it is incumbent on all of us who care about justice and peace in the region to look equally, with an equally critical eye, and all sides of this argument," he told Al Jazeera.

"One of the important elements of working towards peace and justice is that if someone of the calibre of Justice Goldstone, with the deligence and thoroughness of his investigation, ... reports on the kind of events that occured that merits further consideration.

"The resolution before us in the House would block that."

Goldstone clarifications

The result of Tuesday's vote had been widely anticipated.

In January, as Israel bombarded the Palestinian territory, the House had overwhelmingly backed a resolution "recognising Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Israel".

The influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) had lobbied strongly for the latest resolution and said it "strongly applauded" the House's action on Tuesday.

Goldstone last week sent a letter to the US House of Representatives saying that the text of the US resolution had "factual inaccuracies and instances where information and statements are taken grossly out of context".

He offered several rejections and clarifications of the ideas expressed in the resolution.

In response to Goldstone's criticism, three parts of the resolution were amended on Tuesday to clarify that Goldstone had sought an expansion to the commission's mandate so that his team could investigate claims that Hamas had violated international law during the Gaza war.

The Goldstone report, which accused Israel of using "disproportionate force" and of deliberately targeting civilians, called for independent investigations to be held into Israel's and Hamas's conduct during the war.

The report called for the cases to be referred to the ICC in The Hague if Israel and Hamas do not investigate the war crimes allegations against them within six months.

Hamas has agreed to hold such an investigation, but Israel has not.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 10:02 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah Assassination Update: Detroit Groups to Protest FBI Terrorism; More Organizations Condemn Killing, Arrests

Detroit groups to protest FBI terrorism on Nov. 5

Feds change story about Imam’s assassination

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Detroit
Published Nov 2, 2009 9:29 PM

Funeral services for Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah were held Oct. 31 at the Muslim Center on Detroit’s west side. More than a thousand people attended the memorial from the Detroit area and around the United States. The Muslim leader had been gunned down by FBI agents on Oct. 28.

Speakers at the services stressed that Imam Abdullah was known throughout the city and country as a peaceful man who worked tirelessly to help the poor people in the community surrounding the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque, where he had presided for decades. Questions were raised about the account of the events given by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s office and the corporate media.

According to information that surfaced just days after his assassination, the Imam was shot 18 times by FBI agents at a warehouse in Dearborn, located right outside the city of Detroit. The warehouse had been set up by the FBI in an attempt to frame the mosque members for involvement in “stolen goods.” The purported “stolen goods” were also supplied by the FBI.

Imam Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan, told the Fighting for Justice radio program, which aired on the Detroit affiliate of Air America on Nov. 1, that “Imam Luqman was shot 18 times before he was handcuffed and placed on a stretcher. In a meeting between the FBI, representatives of the U.S. Attorney’s office and area leaders of the Muslim community on Friday, they informed us that Imam Abdullah never fired on the federal agents. They said that the Imam shot at an FBI dog and then he was shot by the agents. The dog was medivaced to a veterinary hospital while the Imam received no medical attention,” Imam Walid said.

Also speaking on the program was Imam Abdullah Bey El-Amin of the Muslim Center, where the funeral was held for the assassinated leader. Imam El-Amin corroborated that “Imam Abdullah had multiple, multiple, multiple gunshot wounds to his body.” El-Amin, a funeral director by profession, prepared the slain leader’s body for burial.

Imams Walid and El-Amin, plus other prominent Islamic leaders in the Detroit area, have called for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Imam Abdullah’s death. Callers to the radio program viewed the shooting and the arrests of other Masjid Al-Haqq members as a continuation of the federal government’s Counter-Intelligence Program (Cointelpro), which was implemented against so-called dissidents between the 1950s and the 1970s.

The African-American community suffered the most damage from the Cointelpro terror operations, which resulted in the deaths of numerous leaders and the framing of others by the federal government and local police agencies across the country.

Groups to demonstrate at Federal Building

In response to the assassination of Imam Abdullah, the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) has called for a mass demonstration outside the federal building in downtown Detroit on Nov. 5, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. The demonstration is designed to both condemn the assassination of the Islamic leader as well as demand an independent investigation into his death at the hands of the FBI.

A statement issued by MECAWI on Nov. 2 said that “The FBI and the media headlines are trying to cover up this outrageous murder. But their story has changed every day as more and more facts have come to light. Even the government’s own ‘criminal complaint’ makes it clear that there was no reason for this huge assault on the Muslim community.”

Groups endorsing the demonstration include the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Latinos Unidos of Michigan, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Detroit Green Party and Workers World Party.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Page printed from:
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/fbi_terrorism_1112/


Stop FBI Terrorism Against Detroit’s Islamic Community

Demand an Independent Investigation Into the Assassination of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah of Detroit's Masjid Al-Haqq

Demonstration – Thurs. – Nov. 5 – 4:30 PM
FBI Office – McNamara Federal Bldg
477 Michigan Ave. at Cass in downtown Detroit

On October 28 the FBI launched a terrorist attack against members of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque on Detroit’s west side. Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah was gunned down – 18 bullets in his body. Eleven of his fellow Muslims were arrested.

The FBI and the media headlines are trying to cover up this outrageous murder. But their story has changed every day as more and more facts have come to light. Even the government’s own criminal complaint makes it clear that there was no reason for this huge assault on the Muslim community.

There is no mention of any “terrorism” charge in the government’s documents.

Most of the charges are rights of all citizens under the U.S. Constitution:

The victims owned guns (so does half the population).
The victims had knives (so does half the population).
The victims preached separatism (freedom of speech).

Other charges are about receiving stolen goods – usually not an FBI concern – except that in this case the FBI set up an entire warehouse operation to lure in and entrap victims. These charges were based on informants who were themselves criminals.

Charges of mail fraud are the same as those used to frame-up and jail Marcus Garvey. The FBI called in a medivac helicopter for the dog that was shot, but gave no medical attention to Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah.

Community members know the work of the Imam and his followers in feeding and housing poor people for the past 30 years or more.

The FBI is well known historically as a racist, murderous and terrorist organization.

Their own documents – released under the Freedom of Information Act – have shown how they collaborated with the KKK in the 1950’s and 60’s to threaten, beat and kill civil rights workers (remember Detroiter Viola Liuzzo).

The FBI followed, wiretapped and threatened Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his family. Many believe that the FBI was party to Dr. King’s assassination.

The FBI carried out raids, arrests and murder of Black Panther Party members, the American Indian Movement and others in the 1960s and 1970s under its Cointelpro Program.

The FBI was involved in harassing and threatening the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X for many years. Many believe the FBI was involved in Malcolm’s assassination.

This demonstration is being called by the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) – (313) 671-3715 – http://mecawi.org

And endorsed by:

Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality
Latinos Unidos/United de Michigan
Students for Justice in Palestine
Green Party, Detroit Chapter
Workers World Party


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2009
11:05 AM

CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG) [1]
Paige Cram, Communications Coordinator,
212-679-5100, ext. 15, communications@nlg.org

National Lawyers Guild Calls for Immediate and Independent Investigation Into Assassination of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah by FBI Agents in Dearborn

NEW YORK - November 2 - The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) calls for an immediate and independent investigation into the FBI's fatal shooting on October 28 of Islamic leader Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah in Dearborn, Michigan. The FBI killed him during a series of raids of the Masjid Al-Haqq Mosque by federal and local law enforcement officials in which 11 others were arrested. While mainstream media outlets are calling the killing and arrests a counter-terrorism operation, the raids arose out of criminal complaints containing no specific allegations of violations of federal law or acts of terrorism.

All reports from local residents and community leaders indicate that Imam Abdullah and Mosque members were dedicated to improving the community, feeding hungry neighborhood residents and helping young people in need, even letting many sleep in the mosque during inclement weather.

By publicizing the killing and arrests as related to terrorism, absent any such allegations in the complaint, the FBI seems to be engaging in the same tactics used in its Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), in which it spied on, infiltrated and disrupted political movements. Imam Abdullah had a close relationship with Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, was a field organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and later served as national chairman of the Black Panther Party (BPP).

The FBI and mainstream media blamed the organizing work of SNCC for the urban rebellions in over 200 cities in the late 1960s. The Black Panther Party was COINTELPRO's primary target, but it targeted a vast array of others, including Martin Luther King. In light of these events, we cannot trust the claim that COINTELPRO has been abandoned. Many have been imprisoned on spurious charges-Al-Amin, for example, maintains his innocence in the deaths of Atlanta law-enforcement officers and has sought an appeal of his case. Reports indicated that he has been harassed and placed in isolation in the Georgia prison system. Over two dozen BPP members were killed by law enforcement between 1968 and 1971.

The National Lawyers Guild advocated on behalf of, and represented, members of the BPP and other political organizations. The FBI tried to have the Guild labeled as a subversive organization, and for many years spied on and infiltrated the association and its individual members.

Guild president David Gespass said, "It took more than twenty years to prove in court that Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were targeted and murdered by the FBI and Chicago police. We cannot wait that long for the truth of what happened to Imam Abdullah."

The National Lawyers Guild [1] is dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system. Through its members--lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers and legal workers united in chapters and committees--the Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as an effective political and social force in the service of the people.


The International National Council for Urban Peace, Justice and

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 4:54pm.
October 30, 2009

We, as members of the International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment are appalled by the raids on Masjid Al-Haqq and a halal meat packing plant that left Imam Luquman Ameen Abdullah dead. We are demanding an independent investigation into this action that is clearly the result of a climate of Islamaphobia fed by law enforcement and a media bent on sensationalism.

This complaint and the resulting raid are nothing more than government sponsored terrorism against a group that was working to help the community. This action is inconsistent with statements by President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder which call for mutual respect for Muslims in the United States. The inconsistencies in this investigation are glaring. The case is based on the sworn statements of informants. These informants were convicted criminals who were paid by the federal government for their 'work'. These criminals were used to engage and entrap law abiding citizens.

We have seen the media statements that Imam Abdullah was the head of a separatist group called Ummah, which means Brotherhood. Ummah means community--not brotherhood. Al-Ummah is not now, or has ever been, a Black Separatist and radical group, as any discrimination on the basis of skin color is forbidden in the Koran. We as an organization have never heard Imam Abdullah make any statements consistent with the statements in the complaint. We have never seen any actions that would be consistent with the allegations in the complaint.

The media has stated that there is a sign at the mosque that states that "There is no God but Allah." There is only one god, who is known by many names in many cultures. Why was this statement even mentioned? The FBI has stated that this was not a terrorism case. However, the investigation was conducted by a counter terrorism unit. They mention threats against the government and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Is this a terrorism case or not?

Much is also being made of the fact that many of the members of the Masjid Al-Haqq converted to Islam while in prison. The inference is that, while they served their time in prison, sought to change their lives by developing a practicing faith--they have not really changed.

Much is also being made about Imam Jamil Al-Amin being the leader of Al-Ummah. Various articles state that he is serving time in a federal prison facility for federal charges after murdering two police officers. The fact is that those were state charges and he is being housed in a federal penitentiary on state charges. All of the facts--not just the words of paid informants--need to be brought out in a clear and unbiased manner.

The fact is that Masjid Al-Haqq, under the direction of Imam Abdullah, fed the hungry, housed the homeless, worked with gangs and the formerly incarcerated to turn a crime ridden and drug infested neighborhood around to becoming a productive community. The fact is that a complaint is not an indictment.

The fact is that the media is engaging in an Islamaphobic feeding frenzy. The most disturbing fact is that a religious leader who reached out to his people and his community is dead, the victim of a society that sees anyone who is different as dangerous.

Amir El Hajj Khalid A. Samad and T. Rashad Byrdsong On behalf of the International Council for Urban (Formations) Peace, Justice and Empowerment Contact information


Washington's Imam Musa: FBI assassinated Luqman Ameen Abdullah to intimidate the Black American Muslim community

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:42:02 GMT

The following is the transcript of a Press TV interview with US Muslim activist and director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, DC, Imam Abdul Alim Musa, on the recent killing of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah by US federal agents during an alleged shootout in Detroit.

Over one thousand American Muslims gathered in the city of Detroit on Saturday to mourn the prayers leader who was shot several times by the FBI in an apparent attempt to arrest him.

As well as giving a new angle into what actually occurred, Imam Musa's intriguing comments can also provide an insight into the current atmosphere of the American Muslim community and the US establishment's attitude toward Islam in general.

Q. The FBI has said that Imam Luqman resisted arrest and shot the police dog before being killed. Do you have any other information on what took place?

A. I am now reading what I have in my hand, the indictment from the United States court. This is about a 42-page indictment, and this indictment has information that was given to the federal government by certain informants. I want to read a portion of this document to give you an idea why we call the Imam Luqman killing an assassination by the FBI.

If you notice the government, in order to do something to you, they have to prearrange a scenario so that they do whatever crime that they want to commit. When they wanted to invade Iraq they said there were weapons of mass destruction. So, this is what they said. Although it wasn't true it justified the invasion.

I would like to read what source number one, who is an FBI informant, says about Imam Luqman. This is in December 2007. It says source number one testified that on many occasions he heard Luqman Abdullah preach that Islam should be spread through violent jihad and advocate violence against the government and against law enforcement.

Abdullah told his followers that if the police tried to take his weapon or tried to apprehend him he would respond with violence and they will have to shoot him before they can arrest him. Ok, this is a government informer giving the government the information that they want to justify using violent means against Imam Luqman.

So, what we are saying is that we refer to his killing as an assassination by the federal government. This is to intimidate the rest of the Muslim community. The Muslims in America are under a lot of pressure and the masjids, the Muslim centers, the community centers are full of government infiltrators, spies, and saboteurs who try to break the back of this wonderful Islamic movement in North America.

So what the government is doing by assassinating Imam Luqman is trying to intimidate the Muslim community, especially the black community. And I say that because the immigrant community, which is about half of the Muslims in the United States and the African American Muslim community, which form the other half, have different views about Islam in America and how it should be fostered.

The immigrant community has been frightened since the 9/11 terrorist attack and they practice the kind of American style Islam. Now, the killing of Imam Luqman is to intimidate us. But our message is different. We will not be intimidated by the United States government or by the FBI.

We all state clearly what Imam Luqman said on one occasion. I have from the same information something that source two, another government informer said about Imam Luqman. This is on December 12 2007. Source two told me he had been with Luqman Abdullah outside the masjid on that day and he was able to surreptitiously record their conversation.

S2 told Abdullah he had authority to donate five thousand dollars to pay to have someone do something during the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit.

Abdullah said he would not be involved in injuring innocent people for no reason. If there is something to be done it is going to be legitimate. This is what we are saying.

This is from the FBI's own records. They had sent an informer to donate five thousand dollars to have Imam Luqman do some terrorist type thing at the super ball, which was in Detroit in 2006. Imam Luqman, by sticking to his principles of Islam, said and this is recorded on page four of the FBI indictment, it says that Imam Luqman said he would not be involved in injuring innocent people for no reason.

You see, so, this is the principle that we all follow here in America. This is in their own FBI record. They knew, already, that Imam Luqman was not violence prone. They already knew that he would not do any harm to any citizen, by his own words, that was not legitimate and that we would not harm innocent people for no reason.

But when you listen to the television and the radio and all of the news they try to portray Imam Luqman and his group, and the larger group, al-Ummah [not Ummah, which is usually interpreted as the overall Muslim community] as violence prone; as wanting to establish an independent Islamic state in North America ruled by Sharia law and that Imam Jamil Abdullah Al Amin, which is the leader who is now in a super max prison up in Florence, Colorado would be its leader.

Q. Can you give us a little bit of information about this group, Ummah. Can you explain a little bit about it?

A. al-Ummah is led by Imam Jamil Abdullah Al Amin who was a great civil rights leader during the 1960s. He converted to Islam in 1972 and became a part of one of our great Islamic movements in North America called Dar al-Islam Movement.

When that movement broke up in about 1980 and 1981 Imam Jamil Al Amin inherited or kept together one section of that group. That group became known as al-Ummah or basically the community, and so, they have centers all around America, in Atlanta in Detroit, in many cities in Philadelphia, and other cities around the country.

It is mostly an African American organization and it believes in the principle of strong leadership, and so, the goal of this leadership, and I am telling you from experience; I have worked very closely with the brothers, we have been friends and associates for 25 or 30 years now; this group's goal is to spread Islam in America, not through violent means, but by what the Quran says - bring to the way of the lord through wisdom and preaching.

So their goal is to invite the American people to Islam through beautiful preaching, through Da'wa [Arabic for invitation], through Tabligh [Arabic for proselytization] through all the legitimate means, but the government in America is fearful of any group that has any Islamic organization with good strong leadership, especially if that leadership has ties to Muslims around the world, which Imam Jamil Al Amin does.

So the goal of the government is to destroy this group and to send the message to other African Americans that the federal government will not allow any unified, organized Islamic activities to be carried on inside of the United States of America. But we have a message for them. We will not be intimidated by the government of the United States of America.


October 31, 2009

American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT) Calls for Probe Into FBI Shooting Death of Luqman Ameen Abdullah

A coalition of local and national organizations which includes the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), MAS-Freedom, Muslim Students Association - National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA) issued a statement and press release earlier today calling for a probe of the shooting death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah.

In the press release AMT states:

It is imperative that an independent investigation of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah's death make public the exact circumstances in which he died.

Locally, in the Chicagoland region at least one prominent American Muslim leader from the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago consultative body is urging the community's leaders to also make some noise in order to bring about an independent investigation of the shooting death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah. The crux of this leader's argument seems to be that since there is a presumption of innocence and Imam Luqman had not yet been proven guilty, the FBI shot and killed an innocent man.

In an email exhorting other Chicagoland leaders to step up in calling for an investigation into Imam Luqman's shooting this leader ridiculed the notion that Imam Luqman was anything but a peaceful man who fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless and worked for the community. If Imam Luqman was looking to wage a war on America why hadn't he done it yet asked the local leader rhetorically? Clearly Imam Luqman has at least one very passionate supporter in the Chicagoland leadership.

Others who were perhaps more close to Imam Luqman did not sanitize Imam Luqman's beliefs quite as much. Dr. Ihsan Bagby, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky and a board member of the Muslim Alliance in North America (a national African American Muslim institution on whose board Imam Luqman sat), reportedly told the Detroit News that Imam Luqman's organization - Ummah - is anti-government but does not advocate violence.

Many American Muslim leaders seem to want an independent investigation into th shooting death of Imam Luqman. The facts surrounding this shooting support the call for an independent investigation. Furthermore and under the circumstances, an independent investigation is an absolute must if the FBI is to regain/retain credibility with the American Muslim community.

The 43 page affidavit by FBI Special Agent Leone notes in multiple places, based on transcripts of audio recordings of conversations with Imam Luqman (purportedly recorded by undercover informants and without Imam Luqman's knowledge) that he was frequently armed, sometimes wore a bulletproof vest and spoke of dying in a shoot out rather than being arrested if he were ever confronted by law enforcement. Regardless of whether or not these claims by Imam Luqman were true, clearly the FBI was on notice that this man may very well put up a deadly struggle. As such, why didn't they attempt to arrest Imam Luqman in a setting that would have lessened the chances of deadly shootout taking place?

One cannot help but think of the recent "raid" on a slaughterhouse in Kinsman, Illinois (this raid was in connection with the then sealed indictment against Tahawwur H. Rana on charges of providing material support to a terrorism conspiracy). Unlike the move on Imam Luqman in Detroit which was based on an arrest warrant, the action on the slaughterhouse in downstate Illinois was based on a search warrant. According to local news reports including eye witness accounts the FBI had a used a massive show of force including nearly 100 agents and even a helicopter.

It may be reasonable to assume that the FBI used a large team of agents and resources as a deterrent for anyone at the Kinsman, Illinois slaughterhouse who may want to resist the execution of the search warrant. To a lay person this strategy of overwhelming force in order to protect law enforcement agents might make sense. Furthermore, this strategy, whether it is so intended or not, has the benefit of protecting the lives of individuals upon whom the search warrant is served by deterring them for even trying to resist.

So, if a search warrant merits a small army of federal agents, then why would an arrest warrant (which seems to be a far more serious matter than a search warrant) not merit similar or even greater precautions and deterrence measures? What did the attempted execution of the warrant on Imam Luqman and the others named in the arrest warrant look like? Why has this not been discussed by the media thus far?

Also, given that the FBI believed, based on what they purportedly heard from two years worth of audio recordings and informant statements, that Imam Luqman is armed and is likely to resist arrest with deadly force, why did the FBI not attempt to arrest Imam Luqman in a setting where there was a greater element of surprise and where he had fewer options to flee?

Lastly, there remains the question of whether or not deadly force was necessary. The news reports are not clear as to what exactly Imam Luqman did or did not do. It is known that an FBI dog was shot and killed. Reportedly the dog was killed by Imam Luqman. Did the FBI agents kill Imam Luqman in a moment of retaliation in an already tense and deadly situation?

These and other and better questions need to be answered in a independent investigation of the shooting death of Imam Luqman. American Muslim leaders have a responsibility to mobilize a grassroots civil action campaign to pressure the FBI into conducting an independent investigation.

The credibility of the FBI within sectors of the American Muslim community is abysmally low as a result of its policy and program of conducting "assessments" of potential threats by "proactively" pursuing leads that take undercover FBI informants into otherwise legitimate, lawful and constitutionally protected gatherings (this policy was revealed with Muslim Advocates and other civil liberties groups recently successfully sued to get the FBI to turnover some of it surveillence policies). The shooting death of Imam Luqman has the potential of escalating skepticism of the FBI's motives to the kind of deep-seeded distrust and even contempt or hate of the FBI as Imam Luqman was portrayed as having in the affidavit of Special Agent Leone.

This is not acceptable. It is not acceptable for the FBI and the American Muslim community to be at odds with one another. Like it or not, there are real threats out there. There are people who wish to bomb and kill and terrorize Americans in America for political gain. We know very well that the people who are responsible for this wanton violence are indiscriminate in their attacks and have no qualms about killing Muslims. That means American Muslims are at as great a risk of being victims of future terrorist attacks as anyone.

At the same time, if the terrorists wish to use American Muslim institutions and resources and try to recruit within the American Muslim community, then it is imperative that there be a strong relationship between law enforcement and the American Muslim community based on mutual trust and respect. American Muslims cannot possibly know what to look for and how to detect clues to extremist operations without the help and support of law enforcement (including the FBI).

An independent investigation into the shooting death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah is a must for all of the foregoing reasons. It is the right thing to do and it is the pragmatic thing to do as well.


The Killing of Imam Luqman Abdullah

Monday, 02 November 2009 16:51
Ali Jafri
Courtesy of Islamic Insights

What is the true story?

By now, most of us have heard the news of the killing of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah by the FBI in Detroit, MI. There are many questions surrounding the death of Imam Luqman. Although I do not have the answers to these questions, there are a few issues that come to mind.

Yesterday I was able to read the criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan (Case: 2;09-mj-30436) on October 27, 2009. Included in the complaint is a 43-page sworn affidavit by FBI Special Agent Gary Leone. This affidavit chronicles nearly two years of surveillance by the FBI on Imam Luqman and Masjid al-Haqq in Detroit. The complaint discusses terms such as kuffar, Qureish, revolution, Imam Jamil, jihad, hadith, etc. This is odd. The reason this is odd is that these terms have absolutely nothing to do with what the criminal complaint charges the 11 individuals with.

Law enforcement has drummed up this incident to be terrorism-related, or somehow related to the faith or political views of Imam Luqman and his community. The mainstream media has predictably followed suit. But the actual charges against these 11 individuals say otherwise. The charges mentioned are as follows: possession of body armor and fire arms by a convicted felon, providing firearms to a convicted felon, tampering with a motor vehicle identification number, mail fraud, and selling/receiving stolen goods. There are absolutely no terrorism-related charges in this complaint. There are no charges in any way related to the religious or political views of Imam Luqman. Two years of investigation, and no material support charge, no conspiracy charge, nothing. When asked why Imam Luqman had not been charged with terrorism, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Terrence Berg said, "The charges speak for themselves." And that is exactly my point.

As often has been the case in these so-called "terrorism" cases, smaller charges are brought and law enforcement still acts as though they brought terrorism-related charges. And the public doesn't know the difference. We have seen this pattern again and again under the Bush administration, and President Obama has continued this dishonest policy. Look at the words being used in the context of these arrests in the media and the statements given by law enforcement, and ask yourself what they have to do with the charges which are alleged. Why are they saying this is related to terrorism? Do they think we can't read what they themselves wrote? What does being a Sunni or a fundamentalist or a Muslim have to do with tampering with a motor vehicle identification number?

"O you who believe! If a liar/evil person comes to you with a report, look carefully into it, lest you harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what you have done." (49:6)

What was the nature of this investigation by the FBI? According to its complaint, at least three agents were used by the FBI in surveillance of Masjid al-Haqq. The complaint stated that these agents constantly said and did things in order to make Imam Luqman or others at the mosque say or do something which would lead to an arrest on terrorism charges. For example, the criminal complaint mentions how one agent told Imam Luqman he is interested in blowing up people during the Super Bowl in Detroit, and Imam Luqman responded that he would not be involved in killing innocent people (see information from confidential source S-2, paragraph 14). This is just one example, and there are many similar examples in the complaint. Obviously this does not come as a surprise, because this is what the FBI does for a living. But we should realize that after two years of this harassment, the best material they could come up with is in their complaint.

This incident is another reminder to the Muslim community. When someone is spending time and effort in order to set us you and put you in prison, they are not your friend. This is not an attempt to thwart a crime. This is an attempt to set your you-know-what up. There is a difference. Any criminal defense attorney will tell you never to speak to law enforcement without an attorney present. Most will tell you that if the FBI comes to speak with you, even with an attorney present, you would be crazy to speak with them. This is because the goal of law enforcement is to get a criminal conviction. It is beyond disappointing that some members of our Muslim community, both Sunni and Shia, know what the FBI is doing to their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters on a daily basis, yet they continue to want to buddy up to these same agents. How many more examples are needed before we open our eyes?

I do not know what all transpired with Imam Luqman and his community. I do not know if they are guilty or innocent of any of the alleged crimes. What I do know is that a man exercised his First Amendment rights, and he did not commit a crime by doing so. Had he committed a crime or a terrorism-related offense, it would be in the complaint. Instead, all we see are regular criminal offenses being alleged.

Unfortunately there is a segment of our community more interested in looking like the "good Muslim" than in standing up against oppression or finding out the truth. These Uncle Toms have predictably made irresponsible statements regarding Imam Luqman and his mosque without any of us even knowing all the facts. The Muslim community must stay away from these types of organizations and mosques, whose leadership will lead our community away from the sunnah of our Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny).

Let's for a minute believe all the allegations in the complaint. Would this justify this man being killed? Would it justify the alleged 18 shots fired at him? Why all the references to Islam in the complaint if he is not charged with any political or terrorism related offenses? Why all this talk about Imam Jamil?

Please, let us open our eyes.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 11:02 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Colombia and US Sign Military Pact

Friday, October 30, 2009
18:24 Mecca time, 15:24 GMT

Colombia and US sign military pact

The pact maintains immunity from prosecution for US personnel in Colombia

Colombia has signed an agreement that will expand the US military's exposure in the South American nation.

The pact, ratified on Friday in a low-key ceremony at the foreign ministry in the capital, Bogota, allows US forces greater access to seven Colombian military bases for ten years in order to combat drug traffickers and left-wing opposition groups.

Colombia's foreign ministry said in a statement that "the pact is based on the principles of total respect for sovereign equality, territorial integrity and not intervening in the internal affairs of other states".

But the move has been labelled a threat to regional security by Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, whose claim that it will lead to a US invasion of his oil-rich nation has been refuted by Washington and Bogota.

Chavez accuses the US of backing a 2002 coup attempt against him.

Brazilian backing

Bolivia and Nicaragua have also opposed the deal, for which the US has earmarked $46m, mostly to refurbish the Paleanquero air force base near Bogota.

But, after voicing initial resistance Inacio Lula de Silva, the president of Brazil, came round to supporting the pact following explanations from US officials.

Colombia is the world's biggest producer of cocaine - the fight against which Washington has contributed $6bn over the last nine years.

The pact marks the move of the US's anti-narcotics hub from Manta in Ecuador after Rafael Correa, the country's leader and Chavez's ally, refused to allow an increase in the US's presence in his nation.

Washington and Bogota said that the agreement would not lead to any breaking of the current limit of 800 military and 600 civilian contractors established by US law.

Some Colombians have criticised the decision to maintain diplomatic immunity from prosecution for US personnel in Colombia.

Ana Duque, the US embassy spokesman, said that the agreement's text would be released in the US Federal Record within about a month.

Source: Agencies
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 1:11 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)