Economic stimulus in China and the U.S. (Part 2)

from: PWW

Author: Wadi'h Halabi
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 12/12/08 14:03

(Part 2)

China has announced a 2-year, $568 billion program to deal with economic and social problems caused by the global economic crisis. The program includes investment in education and health care, environmental protection, housing, highways and rail transportation, and other infrastructure projects. China’s plan, and the ways in which it helps workers in the U.S., were discussed last week in Part I of this article.

The contrast between China’s approach and that of capitalist countries was highlighted in side-by-side articles on China and India in a recent Wall Street Journal. In India, “the credit crisis is delaying building by crimping the flow of cash for roads, ports and power plants,” the Journal reports. “Billions in infrastructure projects could be in jeopardy…. Interest rates on project financing have soared, banks are reluctant to lend, and investors are sitting on their cash. But the Indian government can’t afford to compensate with a huge infrastructure-spending program like China’s… Countries around the world are shutting down such projects…”

What accounts for the difference between China and India – and most capitalist countries? China and India are both large, populous nations that, since World War II, have been trying to emerge from a legacy of colonial and imperial domination by foreign powers. China is the product of a socialist revolution, while India has remained capitalist, fully embracing the unregulated, neoliberal model of global capitalism that came to dominate most of the world – including the United States — in the 1990s.

The economies of China and India are organized in fundamentally different ways, to serve fundamentally different interests. In all economies, factories, stores and other enterprises produce a surplus — their income from selling goods or services is greater than their expenses. In capitalist countries, most of this surplus goes as profit to the shareholders, bondholders and top executives, who use it as they see fit. But in China, which was formed by the socialist revolution, the state controls most of the surplus, and can direct it to meet human needs, including for jobs, as China’s latest stimulus package shows.

By contrast, in capitalist countries the state serves the interests of the capitalists, who control most of the surplus created by workers. The emphasis of the state and capitalists is on protecting profits, and the exploiters’ power.

Another Wall Street Journal article lays it out. “China’s banks, still largely under state ownership, will be expected to play their part in supporting the Chinese economy, rather than pulling up the drawbridge, as their foreign counter-parts have been doing... If that means earnings are pinched, few in Beijing will mind.” Contrast that with the Wall Street banks that are using bailout money to maintain investor dividends and executive salaries, instead of supporting the U.S. economy (and people) with student, consumer and business loans.

“Can China save the world?” This is the question recently posed on the cover of The Economist. The short answer is – No. But together, China and the workers of the world, our parties and unions, can “save the world,” both socially and environmentally, and we share a common interest in doing so. By contrast, the capitalists’ only interest is their profits and power, regardless of the cost to humanity.

The unfolding capitalist crisis at bottom is a crisis of “overproduction” (more, much more has been produced than the capitalists can sell at a profit) and simultaneously a crisis of unmet human needs, even for food and water. The crisis is pointing to tremendous deepening of poverty, political breakdowns and wars.

But the unity and common struggle of workers and our organizations, including the Chinese and other states formed by workers’ revolutions, Communist and workers’ parties, and trade unions internationally, can “save the world” — and bring extraordinary liberation to all of humanity.

econ4ppl@ cpusa.org

People Before Profits: Economic stimulus in China and the U.S.

from: PWW

Author: Wadi'h Halabi
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 12/03/08 11:06

(Part 1)

On Nov. 9, China announced a two-year, $586 billion program to address domestic dislocations arising from world capitalism’s unfolding crisis. Lower prices in China make this worth more than $1 trillion in the United States. Thousands of factories have closed in China, and hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs because of the sudden collapse of demand from capitalist countries.

The new program carefully builds on China’s 11th Five-Year plan (2006-2010) — few people realize China has maintained such plans. It allocates added billions to improve education, health care and environmental protection. It expands plans to build affordable, environmentally-conscious housing and repair or upgrade existing housing. It allocates billions to improve electrical service and roads in the countryside. This should help raise agricultural productivity and reduce the inequality between city and countryside, and slow the migration of agricultural workers to the cities. In addition, the plan allocates additional billions to accelerate recovery in areas devastated by May’s huge earthquake. This is in sharp contrast with the U.S., where hundreds of thousands of people – mainly low-income workers and their families — have been abandoned, many driven out of New Orleans and the other Gulf regions hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

China’s new program calls for building 10,000 more kilometers of rail lines by the end of 2010. (One kilometer is about 0.62 mile.) According to Yang Zhonming of the rail ministry’s Development and Planning department, rail construction will employ 6 million workers and require 20 million tons of steel and 120 million tons of cement. The 11th Five-Year Plan had called for expanding China’s rail network from 70,000 km to 90,000 km. Rail is usually the most efficient and environmentally sound way to transport people and goods between cities. The state can also direct the banking system to expand lending to meet desired goals.

Labor productivity in China has been climbing 15 percent or more annually in recent years. This makes it possible to cut shift hours without loss in pay, and hire additional workers to reduce urban unemployment. While no such program has been announced, in the past China has reduced the workweek and lengthened holidays with similar goals in mind.

China’s response to the crisis stands in sharp contrast with that in capitalist countries, where a few central bankers have undemocratically handed over trillions to cover the billionaires’ losses. At the same time, capitalist governments around the world are generally slashing education, health, housing, mass transit, infrastructure and environmental programs, while employers lay off millions and head to bankruptcy courts.

Workers in America should welcome China’s stimulus program for two reasons.

1. U.S. workers will be employed making the construction equipment, electrical generators, locomotives and other capital goods China will need for its massive infrastructure program. The U.S. will also gain jobs indirectly – for example, providing mining equipment or oil production services for other countries that are exporting to China. And China’s own productive capacity, both in primary goods (steel, cement) and consumer goods will be directed more to meet internal demand instead of directed toward export. Steelworkers in the U.S. will be glad to know, for example, that 20 million tons of Chinese steel will be staying in China to build up their rail system.

2. The incoming Obama administration is committed to an economic stimulus package that includes some of the same elements as China’s plan. But there will be fierce resistance from free market ideologues and reactionary corporate interests. And there will be debate on the size and scope of the U.S. stimulus plan. China envisages spending between 7 percent and 8 percent of its GDP each year on the program. With our larger economy, the US would have to spend about $1 trillion per year to have the same impact. If a developing country like China can react to the global economic crisis by making such a big commitment to meeting the needs of its people and environment, its example can help the U.S. to do so as well.

(Next week — Part 2 contrasts China’s response to the crisis with the response in capitalist countries)

econ4ppl@cpusa.org

"Nonviolence" in the mouth of "Dalai Lama"

from: People's Daily Online

Buddhists always preach that no living things are to be killed and all violent actions have to be opposed. "I say that 21st century should be one of dialogue," the Dalai Lama told his audience on May 19 when he delivered a speech in Berlin, and he said repeatedly that he only wants autonomy for Tibetans. "This (21st century) should be the century of peace and dialogue," he noted.

Can his remarks hold true for the whole 21st century? Only three days latter, on May 22, he alleged in Paris that if the talks between his personal envoys and China broke down, grave violence may occur in Tibet again.

So, it is quite possible for "nonviolence" and "grave violence" to slip back and forth in the mouth of the same person.

Dalai Lama has passed himself off as "a disciple of the Gandhi school" and so he adheres to the nonviolence. He, nevertheless, has hardly expected what Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, had explicitly said, "Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and put off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being."

But the Dalai Lama has indeed taken nonviolence as a garment to hide his shame and so he has put on and put off at will. Why does he need to put on such a garment? He could be overjoyed if "stayed naked and then he would have nothing to worry about," as a popular Chinese saying goes. It is not because he is not willing but he won't able to do so. As he had said explicitly in an address in Oslo in 1989: If Tibetans took up arms, Communist troops in China would have the excuse for the suppression of them and they would be possibly be extinct.

The Dalai Lama claimed that he advocates "nonviolence"but he is not able to stop the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) and other radical forces from going in for violence, as he said that some of the Tibetans in exile listened to him while others did not. As is known to all, 80 percent of the staff of the government in exile were TYC members, and the so-called "the charter (or constitution) of Tibetans in Exile" specifies that these Tibetans must obey the "supreme political and religious leader Dalai Lama."

Since the Dalai Lama is the "supreme leader" who controls and governs all the supreme power in politics and religion, how he is not able to check TYC and curb violence?

In numerous journals owned by TYC, there are often articles concerning the use of violence or to spouse armed struggle to materialize their dream of "Tibetan independence". There are also agitating articles in recent years to urge Tibetans to follow suit of Palestinians to carry out suicide bombing, and openly alleged that they had a lot to draw on from the terrorism of the September 11 attacks of 2001 in the U.S. The Dalai Lama, however, has turned a deaf ear and blind eye to all this.

While parroting "nonviolence", the Dalai Lama has often instigatted and voiced his support to violence both in public or in private. Sufficient evidence has showed that the March 14 Lhasa violence was part of the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement," a schemed plotted by the Dalai clique. So, he was so elated that day and repeatedly exhorted that he appreciated with all his heart the Tibetans inside the border for their absolute loyalty, courage and determination.

What the Dalai Lama has"appreciated" is the unrest erupted in Lhasa on March 14 when rioters set fire to and looted public facilities, residential houses and shops. On the same day, he told American reports that he would not stop Tibetans because they had the right to do whatever they desired.

To date, the dust has been settled in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region, and the splendid, towering snow mountains around remain holy. The Dalai Lama, however, has turned somewhat impatient, anxious and restless, and he even predicted that grave violence could possibly recur in Tibet. Was it something not more plain and definite that what he had "appreciated" days before the "March 14th" riot'? And what he was really hinting, inciting and expecting?

With a too fast replacement of the "nonviolence" garment by the garment of "violence", it seems that flaws or burst seams are apt to be exposed. No wonder some personality in the West have referred to the Dalai Lama as the "Drama" Lama and often found what he said or preached joining in the fun or playing the game merely on the occasion.

In order to retain the Dalai Lama's "Buddhist" compassionate face and rope in the kind-heated people, the Dalai clique have all along brandished the "nonviolence" as their banner. Whenever following in their footprints, these people can see the stripes of "violence" on their buttocks, and then roar with laughters and disperse helter-skelter.

By People's Daily Online and its author is Zong Yiwen, a council member of the China Religious Culture Communication Association

Dalai clique is chief criminal of violent crimes

from: People's Daily Online

The three bombing cases that took place in eastern Tibet's Qamdo prefecture in April have recently been cracked. All suspects are Buddhist monks who have been instigated by the Dalai Cliques' separatist thought. Plots of the attacks echo the 3.14 unrest. The Dalai clique is the chief criminal of the three bomb attacks.

"Buddhists should believe in clemency. True Buddhists should learn Buddhist scriptures by heart; love their country and their religion; abide by the law; and bring happiness to people. They should not involve themselves in cruel murders and sabotage," said Dainzin Chilai, vice-chairman of the China Buddhist Association and vice-chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference of the Tibet Autonomous Region. His words are a reminder of the essence of Buddhism, and criticism to the Dalai clique and the few monks who are keen on violent attacks.

People's actions are inseparable from their thoughts. The bomb attack suspects are inspired and instigated by the Dalai clique's propaganda. Having listened to overseas radio broadcasts for a long time, they have accepted the Dalai Lama's separatist thoughts. Once know the happening of the Lhasa incident and the contents of "Tibet Uprising" planned by the Dalai Lama, they actively cooperated with the Dalai clique. The three bomb attacks indicate how dangerous the Dalai Lama's separatism is and therefore demands our attention.

Facts prove again that "Tibet Independence" is unpopular and violent acts are intolerable. Those who try to undermine social stability come to no good end; and the separatist activities will never succeed.

By People's Daily Online

The Strange Tibetan Theocratic Model

from Political Affairs magazine

The Strange Tibetan Theocratic Model
By Jean-Luc Mélanchon

Original source: l'Humanite

Are Western leaders truly defending human rights?

Is it possible to criticize the Chinese government without embracing the Dalai Lama’s theocratic project? For such is the impasse we are heading for as a result of the media-sustained agitation and brainwashing initiated by supporters of a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. So history will have taught us nothing. So we have forgotten all about the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games to protest the Red Army’s invasion of Afghanistan in support of Babrak Karmal’s communist government. And how, when it came to condemning this campaign and discrediting communism, just anything went: the US then did not stop at arming and financing all those who fought against the communist government and the Soviets, first among whom the Taliban, then Al Qaeda.



The threat of an Olympics boycott commits us to the same preposterous logic. Apparently, solidarity with the religious Tibetan faction and Tibetan supporters of independence is a must. Never mind if China is severed of a quarter of its territory: that is not something that should make us pause. The feudal regime of the Tibetan monks and their exiled king, the 14th Dalai Lama, must be supported. And the Dalai Lama should be extravagantly recognized as a living God and absolute ruler over the Tibetan people.

His grotesque claim to choose, with his higher clergy, the person in whom he professes he will be reincarnated should be assented…


Not content with all that silly stuff we should also negate the historical links between Tibet and China since the fourteenth century. Forget the fact that the independence movement was instigated in the twentieth century by Western powers at the height of their imperialist supremacy in order to carve China up.

Keep mum about what “the 1959 Chinese crackdown” really cracked down upon: the Tibetan monks’ revolt against the abolition of serfdom and feudal taxes and codes, by virtue of which there was a scale of prices for diverse categories of human beings and the monasteries’ masters had the power of life and death over their serfs…

We are also expected to protest indignantly against the police suppressing the demonstrations in Lhassa, and make nothing of the fact that these started with a pogrom of Chinese shopkeepers. Waste no pity on those who were clubbed to death and burnt in their shops with their families by those who claim to support the Dalai Lama. Have no scruple about calling “genocide” the more than doubling of the Tibetan population since the 1950s. Bow low before the Tibetans’ so-called religious identity at a time when those populations have embarked on the secularizing process characteristic of all developing countries. Turn a blind eye to the strange social code that fidelity to tradition and Tibetan identity as preached by Tibetan monks entails: the condemnation of abortion and homosexuality (deemed unnatural by the Dalai Lama himself), of mixed marriages between Tibetans and Chinese, considered impure, the recruitment of children at a very early age by the monasteries… Say nothing about the recent campaign against the railway linking Beijing and Lassa, with arguments that were used in the nineteenth century, e.g. the condemnation of railways by Pope Gregory XVI as a devilish means to spread new ideas and subvert religious tradition.



How can one invoke human rights and accept the negation of the secularist separation of church and state?

The present campaign in favour of an Olympics boycott therefore amounts to a manipulation; it is a trap for the setting of which the rights of Tibetans and Chinese merely serve as a pretext.

If the real aim was to put pressure on the Chinese government, why did Western leaders allow China to submit its application and why didn’t they say anything when it was elected to play host to the Games? Why do they keep signing contracts worth billions of dollars? Is China an eligible partner for the purchase of nuclear power stations or US Treasury bonds, but not for the organization of the Games? And why choose to meet it on the ethnic field rather than the social field? Is it not because Western powers would have a problem if social claims in China were met?

All this hypocrisy binds the US and Europe to an aggressive escalation against China as a nation: the result will be a unanimous surge of national feeling across the country. The strategists behind this worldwide campaign have rested their hopes precisely on this. The fact it is headed by Robert Ménard [1] is a sure indication that US neo-conservatives are behind it. When all’s said and done, the sorcerer’s apprentices will be found to have once more befuddled us all.



--Jean-Luc Mélanchon is a Socialist senator in France.



[1] Co-founder and general secretary (for life) of the French association Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF). Mélenchon remarks in his blog that the RSF "has shrunken, becoming this one individual" whose defense of civil liberties depends, in an opportunistic way, on the government in question, "being incapable of even token criticism of the use of torture by the U.S., or of seeking legal aid for those detained in Guantanamo.

"

From l'Humanite. Translated by Isabelle Metral.

Expert: Lhasa riot reveals hypocritical features of Dalai clique

The recent riots in Lhasa, capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and some other ethnic Tibetan areas revealed the hypocritical features of the Dalai clique, according to an expert on Tibetan studies.

The Dalai clique always claim that they would resort to "peaceful" and "non-violent" means to solve problems, but the recent riots only proves these claims are hypocritical, Monday's Guangming Daily reported, quoting Chen Qingying, a researcher from Institute of History under the China Tibetology Research Center.

The coincidence of recent riots in Lhasa and other ethnic Tibetan areas has proved the existence of a plot by the supporters of the Dalai Lama -- to seek "Tibet independence" at all costs, said Chen who has compiled a 10-volume General History of Tibet with other scholars.

"To realize their political ambition, they would not scruple to resort to violence," Chen was quoted as saying.

The fact the Dalai Lama and his supporters chose to create turmoil in Tibet and other areas ahead of the Olympics and make innocent people victims of riots shows that their "peaceful" and "non-violent" means are merely lies, he said.

Source:Xinhua

Tibet: What’s behind the protests?

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12731/1/415/

Author: PWW Editorial Board

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 03/20/08 13:38

As preparations pick up steam for this summer’s Beijing Olympics, the world has looked with growing dismay at the violence associated with protests seeking independence for Tibet.

While casualty figures are conflicting, it is tragic that deaths have occurred both among demonstrators for independence and among victims of violent protest actions that reportedly included torching of public buildings and homes in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa. It is urgent to end the loss of life.

The protesters acknowledge they are motivated by the publicity surrounding the Olympic Games. The head of the Tibetan Youth League, a major exile organization calling for independence, told the Chicago Tribune that with the spotlight on the Chinese, “We want to test them. We want them to show their true colors. That’s why we’re pushing this.”

The U.S. has consistently backed supporters of Tibet’s independence from China. Tellingly, the Voice of America — a notorious instigator of opposition in socialist countries during the cold war — said this week it is stepping up its broadcasts into Tibet.

Tibet, closely linked with China long before the 1949 revolution, has gained much, both economically and socially, from being an autonomous region within People’s China. While much remains to be done, the region has come from being an abysmally poor backwater to being an area where more and more people, both ethnic Tibetans and migrants from elsewhere in China, can access health care, education, and jobs in a modernizing economy.

Undoubtedly Tibetan culture could also use more support. But some western observers point out that over 90 percent of Tibetans speak Tibetan as their first language, and report that both Buddhism and the arts are doing well there.

The current situation should also be seen in the context of Washington’s longstanding campaign to break up socialist countries, including the USSR and Yugoslavia, with dire economic and social consequences for their populations. Most recently independence for Kosovo has held the spotlight.

A look at the bigger picture suggests it is important to end cross-border efforts to dismantle countries whose social policies Washington doesn’t like, as well as to end the loss of life in Lhasa.

"US-Russia anti-missile dispute" hard to settle

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91343/6371897.html

On March 10, US President George W. Bush and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that progress had been attained in their talks in the White House to allow the U.S. missile defense system to house in Poland. In return, the United States will help modernize Polish military as part of a U.S. plan to base components of the US anti-missile defense system in the country.

The U.S. and Poland began contacting secretly on the construction of an anti-missile system back in 2002. About five years later, in January 2007, the U.S. side proposed to resume its talks with Poland and the Czech Republic on the construction of the U.S. anti-missile system. It plans to install 10 missile intercepting facilities in Poland and to build a radar system in the Czech Republic.

Shortly after his assumption of office, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would move to improve ties with Moscow gradually and, whenever he made decision, he said, he would like to consult or have "dialogues" with Russia and other relevant nations. In his latest negotiations with the United States, his government asked the U.S. to help raise its air defense capacity. To be specific, Polish negotiators have asked the U.S. to provide Patriot 3 or THAAD missiles and listed 17 areas that the country could help modernize.

Russia, however, has been and remained in firm opposition to the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and its officials have given harsh, strong remarks time and again regarding the issue. Under such circumstances, both Poland and the Czech Republic will inevitably come under criticism by both sides.

Moreover, recent polls in Poland show that 57 percent of Poles opposed hosing U.S. missile defense base, and the former Polish Prime Minister has been jilted or sacked by his voters precisely for the dispatch of Polish troops to Iraq and his endorsement of the deployment of the anti-missile system.

Currently, the U.S. is faced with a number of "hard nuts to crack" in helping to modernize the Polish military and it is particularly difficult to modernize its air defense system. Superficially at least, the two nations have scored substantial progress on the issue. President Bush assured Tusk that his administration would appraise the Polish needs for military modernization carefully and meticulously and work out a concrete viable plan.

Meanwhile, the White House spokesman said the US task was up to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to accomplish. Earlier, President George W. Bush and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek also referred to a "breakthrough" progress they had attained in their talks, namely, the two countries have now been nearing the completion of their final agreement. The suspending issues, however, are only secondary matters that cover environment protection and other topics in this regard, acknowledged Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

To date, key stumbling blocks in negotiations have been removed, and the crux of matter, however, is to dissolve or do away with suspicions and opposition from Russia, the third party. The Russian side has never comprised or retreated despite the repeated assurance of President Bush, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Czech Prime Minster Mirek Topolanek that the U.S. anti-missile system was definitely not to direct against Russia. "The strategic missile troops will be capable of having these facilities (in Poland the Czech Republic) as targets and of having them destroyed if necessary, warned General Nikolai Solovstov, commander of Russia's mighty missile forces, recently.

Although such occurrences shall not occur ultimately, according to Russian media analysts. With components of the U.S. anti-missile system to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, it is possible for the United States to launch another, or a new round of arms race, which is hazardous to peace in the region and around the world. Consequently, it seems that the "US-Russia anti-missile dispute" will not lull and is unlikely to be settled shortly.

By Li Xuejiang, top "People's Daily" resident reporter in the U.S. and translated by PD online

President Hu: enhancing national defense for world peace

http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66102/6370486.html

Chinese President Hu Jintao (C), who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks to the deputies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 10, 2008. Hu Jintao attended the plenary meeting of the PLA delegation and made a speech on Monday. Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday called for redoubled efforts to step up defense and army building to guarantee national security and make greater contribution to world peace. Hu made the remarks when he attended a meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army to the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, or China's parliament. "We must intensify our effort to strengthen national defense and step up army building while going all out for economic, political, cultural and social development, so as to support and guarantee the progress of socialism with Chinese characteristics and make greater contribution to world peace," said Hu, also chairman of the Central Military Commission. The modernization of the armed forces should be aimed at combat readiness, and military training should be conditioned to the age of information technologies, he said. Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks to the deputies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 10, 2008. Hu Jintao attended the plenary meeting of the PLA delegation and made a speech on Monday. "We must aim at improving the capability to win high-tech regional wars and keep enhancing the ability of the military to respond to security threats and accomplish a diverse array of military tasks," the president said. While describing reform and innovation as strong impetus to national defense and army building, Hu underscored the policy of upholding coordinated development of the economy and national defense. "We should step up the establishment and improvement of the research and production system for weapons and dual-use equipment, the education system for military personnel training and the military logistics system, promoting defense and military modernization based on the achievements of China's economic and social development," the president said. Source: Xinhua

More than three million benefit from Cuban literacy method

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/marzo/mier12/yosipuedo.html

THOUSANDS of illiterate people in many different countries are learning how to read and write using the "Yes I Can Do It" method, which has already benefited more than three million people in 28 countries, education leaders noted.

During a press conference in Havana, Luis Ignacio Gómez, Cuban education minister, highlighted the island’s contribution in response to the humanitarian call to eradicate world illiteracy as part of the battle for social justice and human emancipation.

The Cuban project aims to help eradicate illiteracy in the world, where there are more than 774 million illiterate people, 72 million children without schools and a shortage of 30 million teachers, said Gómez. He added that many countries are interested in applying the Cuban method.

The minister reiterated that Cuba is to be the venue of the Ibero-American Congress for Literacy in Basic Education of Young People and Adults, which constitutes an acknowledgement of the island’s contribution.

The forum is to take place in Havana’s International Conference Center from June 9-12, sponsored by the Cuban Ministry of Education, the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture and the Ibero-American General Secretariat.

Translated by Granma International

Over 152 billion VND raised for Agent Orange victims

http://www.cpv.org.vn/english/socialaffairs/details.asp?topic=59&subtopic=157&ID=BT980769478

The Agent Orange (AO) Fund of the Viet Nam Red Cross Society has over the past nine years raised more than 152 billion VND (9.5 million USD) to support AO victims throughout the country.

A portion of the funds was doled out to provide 425,000 beneficiaries with micro-business start up capital, health care services, corrective surgery, wheelchairs, vocational training, allowances and scholarships, said Tran Duc Phan, managing director of the fund, at a press briefing in Ha Noi on August 9.

From 2002-2005, the government allocated close to 9 billion VND (roughly 562,000 USD) for surgeries and rehabilitation treatment for AO victims in the southwestern province of Tay Ninh and the Central Highlands, Phan said, adding that the figure will rise to 16.3 billion VND between the 2006-2010 period.

He added that many foreign organisations have played an important role in delivering services to the suffers. They include the Ford Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Cooperation and Development, the Belgium-Viet Nam Friendship Association, the US Fund for Reconciliation and Development, and Red Cross Societies from the US, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the UK and Spain.

Phan said the Viet Nam Red Cross Society is also organising a photo and writing contest to depict the lives of those affected with various related diseases from AO to mark this year’s Day of AO Victims, which falls on August 10.

China's foreign trade grows 23% January to February

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/6371657.html

China's total imports and exports in January and February amounted to 365.93 billion USD: 23% more than the same period last year, according to statistics from China Customs.

Of the total, exports account for 196.99 billion USD with a growth of 16.8%. The growth rate is 24.7% less than the same period last year. Imports account for 168.94 billion USD with a growth of 30.9%. The growth rate is 10.3% faster than the same period last year. The total trade surplus has decreased by 29.2% to 28.05 billion USD. In February, the trade surplus fell to 8.56 billion USD – 15.2 billion USD less than the same period last year.

The statistics from China Customs shows that China's imports are increasing rapidly this year, especially those of state-run enterprises. In the first two months of this year, total imports and exports of foreign-funded enterprises was 204.52 billion USD, growing by 18.8%; while total imports and exports of state-run enterprises reached 89.05 billion USD, growing by 28.7%. The growth rate is 6.5% more than the same period last year.

In the first two months, the European Union was China's largest trade partner with the amount of bilateral trade totaling 61.16 billion USD, growing by 19.9%; the USA was its second largest trade partner with a total of 47.76 billion USD in bilateral trade, growing by 9%; and Japan was the third largest, with a total of 38.48 billion USD in bilateral trade, growing by 15.1%.

By People's Daily Online

Highlights: China launches sweeping institutional restructuring of gov't

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/6370831.html

Chinese lawmakers will on Tuesday afternoon deliberate a State Council proposal for institutional restructuring of the government, which involves the installation of "super ministries" on energy, transportation, industries and environment protection.

State Councilor Hua Jianmin, also Secretary General of the cabinet, is to make an explanation on the plan at the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC).

Following are the highlights of his report distributed to journalists before the meeting:

SUPER MINISTRIES

The target for this round of government reshuffle is to explore a "super ministry" system to streamline government department functions, and to form some "bigger departments" to strengthen macro-economic regulation, maintain national security of energy supply, integrate information development and industrialization.

It is also aimed at streamlining the country's transportation system by setting up the ministry of transport to annex civil aviation and postal services, and urban public transportation management of the Ministry of Construction.

The State Environmental Protection Administration will be elevated to be ministry of environment protection, and the Ministry of Health empowered with the function to oversee food and drug safety.

The State Council will have 27 ministries and commissions apart from the General Office after the reshuffle, compared with the present 28.

MACRO-REGULATION

To form a scientific, authoritative and effective macro-regulation system by reasonably rearranging government functions for macro-regulating departments,

-- The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will focus on macro-regulation and fade out from involvement in micromanagement of the economy and reduce its examination and approvals of specific projects.

-- The Ministry of Finance shall reform and improve its management over budget and taxation. The People's Bank of China shall strengthen the system of monetary policies, and improve the mechanism of exchange rate formation.

Source: Xinhua

China to set up five new "super ministries"

http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66102/6370841.html

China will set up five new "super ministries" in the current round of government institutional restructuring, and a plan for the reshuffle will be submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC), or parliament, for deliberation on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the plan, which was distributed to journalists before the parliament meeting, the five new "super ministries" are the ministry of industry and information, the ministry of human resources and social security, the ministry of environmental protection, the ministry of housing and urban-rural construction, and the ministry of transport.

State Councilor Hua Jianmin, also secretary general of the Cabinet, will make explanations of the plan to the NPC, China's top legislature.

Hua lists the reasons for the government reshuffle as follows:

-- The functions of government have not been completely transformed, and the intervention in micro economy is still more than needed. Public administration and public services are still weak.

-- Structure of government institutions is not rational enough. The problems including overlapping responsibilities, powers and responsibilities being not well matched and low efficiency are quite serious.

-- Powers in some regards were too concentrated and lack due oversight and checks. The phenomena of misuse of authority, abusing power for personal gains and corruption still exist.

Source: Xinhua

China announces overhaul of energy agencies, management

http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66102/6371433.html

China on Tuesday announced an integration of its energy management supervision and policies, functions that are currently dispersed among many government agencies, through the establishment of a high-level consultation and coordination commission.

The commission, called the national energy commission, will be responsible for studying and drafting an energy development strategy and considering energy security and development issues, Hua Jianmin, State Council secretary-general, said at the annual session of China's top legislature.

Accordingly, a national energy bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will be established as a standing body to undertake the new energy commission's day-to-day work.

Energy-related institutions and functions belonging to the NDRC, the entire National Energy Leading Group (NELG), and the nuclear power management of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense would be integrated into the energy bureau, Hua said.

The bureau would draw up and implement energy industry programs, policies and standards, promote new and alternative forms of energy and encourage conservation.

The bureau would be supervised by the NDRC to ensure the close coordination of energy management with national economic and social development programs and macro-control policies, Hua said.

The NELG and its executive organs would be disbanded, he added.

The restructuring plan was based on China's rapid economic expansion, growing energy demand, pressing desire for safe energy supply and better energy management, said Feng Fei, director of the Industry Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Energy strategy shall be put in a more important position, but the current energy management pattern cannot keep up with the changing situation, he added.

The integration of the energy sector has been mulled by the central government in recent years. In 2007, the country's imports of crude oil hit 159.28 million tons, rising 14.7 year-on-year and contributing 46 percent to the total crude consumption.

The combination of a sizzling economy, soaring investment growth in the heavy industrial sector and cars crowding urban streets have driven up China's demand for oil.

Meanwhile, government-controlled oil prices in the domestic market, which doesn't cover the international crude cost, were blamed for a shortfall of oil supply. Some refineries stop processing crude to avoid losses while some producers and dealers hoard oil in anticipation of possible price rises.

Ye Rongsi, an expert with the NELG who has been engaged in the drafting of a new energy law, said how to promote the reform of the energy pricing mechanism was one of the problems challenging the energy sector.

Other problems included the introduction of various property ownerships, an incomplete legal system, an unreasonable energy structure far from satisfying both sound and fast economic development, and heavy tasks in cutting emissions and coping with climate change, he said.

"These all need an integrated and authoritative organization to unify the management and promote reforms."

Since the energy ministry was dismissed in 1993, China has seen an absence of an authoritative department responsible for enacting uniform energy policies and programs. In 2005, the NELG was set up to help integrate the planning of the energy sector.

Source: Xinhua

Calls grow for Israel-Hamas truce

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12637/1/266/

Author: Susan Webb

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 03/05/08 16:31

Calls grow for Israel-Hamas truce
By Susan Webb

Calls are mounting for an end to the Israeli bombardment and lockdown of Gaza and for Israel-Hamas talks to end their armed confrontation. Egypt and other countries were reported to be working behind the scenes for an agreement that would end the violence and also provide some immediate relief for the besieged people of Gaza by reopening its border with Egypt.

Ori Nir, a spokesperson for Americans for Peace Now, said such steps are essential to a longer-term solution. “If the chief objective is to go on with the peace process, then an approach of escalation, isolation, belligerence, does not serve that goal,” he told the World. Americans should put pressure on the U.S. government to “lead, or at least not hinder,” efforts by third parties to resolve this crisis, he said.

Hussein Ibish, senior fellow with the American Task Force on Palestine, said diplomacy to end the armed conflict is urgent. In addition, opening Gaza’s border with Egypt is a “realistic, practical step” that should be pushed for, he said. “You can’t have people corked in a giant prison.”

The only real way to do it, Ibish said, is for Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to take over control of the crossings with observers from the European Union, and even perhaps the U.S. Hamas doesn’t want this, “but it’s the only realistic prospect,” he said, suggesting that Hamas will find it untenable to put its own political interests ahead of the people’s needs.

Israel’s ground offensive in northern Gaza last week left 117 Palestinians dead, half of them civilians including 22 children. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the action.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said the offensive had created a health crisis in Gaza, with hospitals “finding it almost impossible to function due to massive overload of injured people continuing to arrive for admission.”

Israel said it launched the assault in response to escalated and longer-range rocket fire from Gaza that killed one Israeli civilian and wounded others.

However, the Israeli attacks on densely populated Gaza communities drew wide criticism. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assailed the "disproportionate and
excessive use of force.”

Israel pulled its ground troops out days later, but has continued air and rocket attacks.

A coalition of Israeli and Palestinian groups said the suffering inflicted on civilians in Gaza “did not and cannot” solve the problem of rocket attacks on Israeli towns, and called for a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s military and economic siege on Gaza.

Even those supporting the Israeli government questioned its military actions, which have failed to stop the Hamas rockets.

According to the Jerusalem Post, recent polls show roughly two-thirds of Israel’s public supports truce talks, and a growing number of leaders say the government will have to try to talk with Hamas to work out a ceasefire. The Post quotes Education Minister Yuli Tamir saying, "Given the terrible situation, and given the fact that we don't have a perfect option that can guarantee quiet in the south, we should try such a move."

Nir, who grew up in Israel, said the mood on the Israeli street is “do whatever works” to end the crisis. Most understand that wiping out Hamas and reoccupying Gaza would come at a very high cost. “There’s a growing realization that this is just not possible,” he said, thus the feeling is, “we have to try dealing with Hamas somehow.”

The Jerusalem Post reported that despite proclamations of victory, Hamas leaders indicated readiness for a truce. Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar told reporters his organization has been in touch with a third party to discuss a ceasefire.

Among the Palestinian victims in Gaza last week were two sisters, ages 13 and 18, killed when an Israeli shell hit their home, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Their uncle told the reporter, "There are no gunmen here. We wouldn't let them near. There are more than 20 children here. We don't want trouble and don't like it, but why did they shoot at us? What did we do to deserve this?"

The girls’ father used to work across the border in Israel. "Plasterer. That was my profession by you,” he said. “I always thought you wanted peace, but what did you do? What did you do? You slaughtered my two girls.”

Nir said he thinks many Israelis are using a “defense mechanism,” a kind of denial, “in order not to face the facts” that so many civilians are being killed.

Ibish called it a grim situation, with slim possibilities for immediate improvement. Nevertheless, he noted that in the U.S. Congress there is “a growing understanding, among those who support Israel, that this doesn’t really benefit Israel.” He believes that the prospects for Palestinian statehood in the next five to 10 years may be greater now than in the past 50 years. “The reason is, it’s in everyone’s interests.”

suewebb@pww.org

True costs of war

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12638/1/266/

Author: PWW Editorial Board

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 03/05/08 16:34

Just in time for the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a new book by economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes attempts to project the real cost of the war. “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict” was published Feb. 29.

Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning former World Bank chief economist, and Bilmes, a Harvard University economist, recently wrote in The Times of London, “A $3 trillion figure for the total cost strikes us as judicious, and probably errs on the low side.” The two pointed out that the $3 trillion applies only to the United States, and “does not reflect the enormous cost to the rest of the world, or to Iraq.”

The authors count war costs that are hidden in other parts of the U.S. defense budget. They cite the cost of privatizing much of the war and occupation, noting that contractors can make up to $400,000 a year while soldiers cost the government about $40,000. They point out that the price of oil, $25 a barrel before the invasion, has quadrupled in the ensuing five years.

But the biggest monetary cost, they say, is caring for veterans’ health and disability needs. Stiglitz told Democracy Now last week that these “will total hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decades.” Noting that so far, some 1.6 million soldiers have already fought in the war, he said it is estimated that 39 percent of those who fight will end up with some form of disability.

The resulting burden of pain and suffering for the veterans and their families is almost impossible to imagine, even if they receive state-of-the-art care. Numerous reports of substandard treatment and denial of care have revealed the real picture.

Now add the pain and suffering of the families of nearly 4,000 soldiers and countless Iraqis who have died. And the horrors experienced daily by millions of Iraqis left homeless, jobless and bereft of any normal life because of the conflict.

No troops, no bases, no war!

Venezuela resetting diplomatic ties with Colombia

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/09/venezuela.colombia/index.html?iref=topnews

(CNN) -- The Venezuelan government on Sunday announced it is re-establishing normal diplomatic ties with Colombia after the two South American countries resolved their differences over Colombia's recent cross-border attack on rebels in Ecuador.

From left, Uribe, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The move follows a meeting of the presidents of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador in the Dominican Republic on Friday. They signed a declaration to end a crisis sparked by the attack, when Colombian troops killed a rebel leader and 21 others inside Ecuadoran territory.

"The Venezuelan government will send to Bogota, immediately, diplomatic personnel charged with representing the republic before the government of Colombia," the Venezuelan government said in a statement posted online Sunday. "In the same manner, the Venezuelan government has communicated to the Colombia authorities their disposition to receive in Caracas, in a short time, the diplomatic personnel of the sister republic."

The declaration signed earlier stated: "With the promise not to ever again assault a brother country and the request for forgiveness [by Colombia], we can consider this very serious incident resolved," Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said Friday.

Correa, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe shook hands at the end of what had been a contentious meeting of the Rio Group of Latin American leaders.

In the accord, the leaders condemned Colombia's action and affirmed that no country has the right to violate the territory of another. Correa and Chavez also accepted Colombia's apology for the incident and accepted that Uribe would not repeat it.

The diplomatic spat began March 1 when Colombian troops and police crossed into Ecuador and killed 22 people.

The dead included Luis Edgar Devia Silva, known as "Raul Reyes," the second-in-command of the leadership council of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC in its Spanish acronym.

The Cost of war

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12600/1/412/

A look behind Kenya's power-sharing agreement

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12625/1/266/

Author: Dennis Laumann

Facing the prospect of a new round of mass protests, the Kenyan regime headed by Mwai Kibaki agreed to a power-sharing arrangement negotiated by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Signed on Feb. 28, the deal creates the new position of a powerful prime minister, to be held by Raila Odinga, the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the assumed winner of the disputed presidential election in December. In the interests of peace and reconciliation, the ODM dropped its earlier insistence that Kibaki resign and a new vote for president take place.

In fact, throughout negotiations over the past month, the opposition showed far more flexibility and sincerity while Kibaki’s ministers reneged on agreements and leveled unsubstantiated accusations against the ODM. Annan grew so frustrated with the government’s arrogant and incendiary behavior – one minister reportedly shouted at the former UN head and his team – that he halted the talks on Feb. 26.

Only two days later, the regime relented and agreed to share power with the ODM, which holds the largest share of parliamentary seats and draws support from across Kenya.

Kibaki’s misnamed Party of National Unity (PNU) is based almost exclusively in the Kikuyu areas of the country and his administration is dominated by that ethnic group. Indeed, one of the reasons for opposition to his rule has been the preferential treatment given to Kikuyus, not only in the allocation of governmental positions but also in the awarding of lucrative business contracts and rich agricultural land.

This dominance by the Kikuyu elite has historic roots stretching back to the period of British colonial rule and continuing through the administration of independent Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta.

In contrast, the ODM leadership reflects the nation’s diversity, not only ethnic, but also religious. Odinga’s party swept the elections along the largely Muslim coast as well as among marginalized groups in northern and western parts of Kenya. Moreover, the ODM’s support is strongest amongst the working class and unemployed who form the vast majority of the population.

From the so-called Kibera slum in Nairobi to struggling farming communities in the Rift Valley, the ODM’s campaign platform of redistributing the nation’s wealth and investing in social services resonated with a nation disillusioned with the promises of the free market model embraced by Kibaki and his predecessors.

The popular verdict was delivered in elections on Dec. 27 when the ODM crushed the governing PNU in parliamentary races. Once it became clear Odinga also would unseat Kibaki as president, the Election Commission suddenly suspended the announcement of results coming in from across the country, then bewildered Kenyans with the declaration on Dec. 30 that Kibaki had won a second term. Foreign and local election observers unanimously charged the government with fraud and tens of thousands of ordinary Kenyans took to the streets in protest.

Kibaki’s regime responded with violence and censorship, unleashing the police on peaceful demonstrators and banning live television broadcasts. In the ensuing conflict, more than 1,000 Kenyans lost their lives and at least 300,000 were forced to abandon their homes. Ignorant of the basic economic factors underlying the explosion of mass protests, the corporate media resorted to the colonialist, racist explanation for troubles in Africa, ascribing the conflict to “tribal” loyalties.

While there is no doubt the disputed presidential poll exposed ethnic divisions, blame for the post-election violence lies solely with Kibaki’s regime. Blindly embracing the dictates of neo-liberalism, partial to its own ethnic base, and rejecting the democratic choice of the Kenyan majority, it clung to power at all costs, agreeing to this week’s power-sharing deal only after the ODM promised to resume nationwide protests.

Even the Bush administration, his chief backer, encouraged Kibaki to assent to a coalition government as it became clear one of Africa’s strongest economies was being severely damaged by the dispute. Annan underlined this risk, saying "Compromise was necessary for the survival of this country."

Vladimir Lenin’s thesis on imperialism still rings true in this new age of capitalism. Like most underdeveloped countries, Kenya supplies raw materials to the industrialized world, imports manufactured goods, and is continually forced to further open its economy to foreign capital. More importantly to the Bush/Cheney gang, Kenya’s strategic proximity to the vast oil wealth of the Middle East makes it a crucial outpost of America’s global military network. Kenya is a key ally in Washington’s so-called War on Terror, providing military bases, communication networks, and intelligence-sharing. While Odinga’s progressive agenda may be perceived as a threat by Washington, even more dangerous would be Kenya’s collapse.

Across the world, far from the halls of the Pentagon, working-class Kenyans simply voted for a better future with Odinga and supported the battle to claim his electoral mandate. Their new prime minister has vowed to “destroy that monster that is called ethnicity from this nation". He declared, "With the signing of this agreement, we have opened a new chapter in our country's history, from the era or phase of confrontation to the beginning of cooperation.”

Cuba signs UN human rights pact

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12630/1/266/

Author: W. T. Whitney Jr.

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 03/04/08 16:04

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque announced at a Feb. 28 press conference at UN headquarters in New York that he had just signed two human rights accords originally introduced in the world body in 1976. Opponents of Cuba’s revolutionary government have long criticized Cuba’s reluctance to sign the treaties until now.

James McKinley, writing in The New York Times, raised the possibility that Cuba’s action signified a loosening of restraints under the presidency of Raul Castro. Yet the government’s intention to sign the agreements had been announced on Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, 2007.

Perez Roque said the change of course was inspired by the United Nations’ decision in 2006 to replace its widely criticized Commission on Human Rights with a refurbished Human Rights Council. He said the former agency had unfairly subjected Cuba to U.S. “pressure and blackmail.”

Under the new circumstances, Cuba has agreed to allow the UN Rapporteur on Human Rights to visit Cuba for monitoring purposes, with the first visit expected in 2009. Last June, the UN Human Rights Council dropped Cuba from a special list of countries subject to mandated inspections, which Cuba had refused.

Perez Roque assured reporters that Cuba signed both treaties — the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — as a “sovereign decision.” He pointed out that “Cuba has never and will never act under any pressures.”

He added that “it was the Revolution that made it possible for the Cuban people to enjoy those rights included” under the pacts.

The New York Times recalled objections to the treaties expressed by President Fidel Castro in 2001 that mandates for independent labor unions invite manipulation by imperialists and that provisions on educational rights may open the door to privatization.

Perez Roque pointed out that in Cuba “the most serious obstacle to the enjoyment of rights enunciated in those agreements” stems from “the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States and its policy of hostility and aggression against Cuba.”

In New York the Cuban foreign minister met with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, General Assembly president Srgjan Kerim, and the Coordination Bureau of the Movement of Non-Aligned Nations. Cuba currently serves as president of that organization.

The next day in Geneva, Perez Roque met with Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, other UN officials, and representatives of the Movement of Non-Allied Nations to plan the group’s next gathering in Iran. He addressed the UN Human Rights Council on March 3.

atwhit @roadrunner.com

Economy continues to grind to a halt

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12623/1/266/

Author: John Wojcik

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 02/29/08 19:26

The government, in a transparent attempt to “spin” bad economic news, said Feb. 29 that consumer spending posted a 0.4 percent rise in January and that this was better than economists had been expecting.

A closer look at economic indicators, however, shows that all of that increase came, not from people having more to spend but from people having to spend more for less. A continued surge in inflation, particularly in prices of food and fuel, forced people to spend more of the little they have.

Minus inflation, people have been purchasing less now for several months. Not counting the months just after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, consumer spending figures have not been as dismal since November, 2001, when American workers were struggling to recover from the first Bush recession, a recession many have not yet overcome.

The government also claimed in its Feb. 29 report that in January incomes posted a 0.3 percent rise. The reality here is that the “higher” January income figures resulted from a one time event – obscene annual bonuses paid to corporate executives.

President Bush told reporters on Feb. 28 that he did not think the country was in a recession. The readings mean that President Bush’s claims notwithstanding, a second Bush recession is a reality. Flat or declining spending figures for the end of last year and the beginning of this year mean an extremely weak economy because consumer spending accounts for two thirds of total economic activity.

Other parts of the Commerce Department report issued Feb. 29 tell more than what Bush was willing to admit when he spoke with reporters. When analyzed, they show that the economy had already grounded to a halt in the last quarter of last year when the effects of the slumps in housing and credit caused everyone to tighten their belts tighter than they have in a long time.

The Commerce Department report noted that the gross domestic product increased at a tiny 0.6 percent pace in the last quarter of 2007. In the prior quarter it had grown 4.9 percent.

Gross domestic product, not spending figures unadjusted for inflation or CEO salary hikes, are a better measure of the country’s economic health. Gross domestic product measures the total value of all goods and services produced in the United States.

Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke, using well modulated and often incomprehensible phrases such as “downside risk,” discussed the weakening economy at congressional hearings the day before the figures were released.

Workers, of course, don’t need to debate whether or not we are in a recession. For millions the first Bush recession never ended.

Median income has declined by $1,100 per year since Bush took office.

Worker productivity rose by seven percent since Bush took office while wages suffered the same decline as median income has. This, of course, means that extra profits from this rising productivity have gone directly into the pockets of the corporations.

More than one fifth of the total income in the U.S. is going to the top 1 percent. A shrinking share goes to the so called middle class and to the bottom 20 percent. That completely reverses the trend that started after World War II and lasted until the early 1970s. The U.S. now has the greatest inequality of incomes in any developed nation with the gap wider now than it was before the Great Depression.

Does it really matter whether we call this a recession?

$300 Million from Chavez to FARC a Fake

Greg Palast
Axis of Logic
March 8, 2008

Do you believe this?

This past weekend, Colombia invaded Ecuador, killed a guerrilla chief in the jungle, opened his laptop – and what did the Colombians find? A message to Hugo Chavez that he’s sent the FARC guerrillas $300 million – which they’re using to obtain uranium to make a dirty bomb!

That’s what George Bush tells us. And he got that from his buddy, the strange right-wing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.

So: After the fact, Colombia justifies its attempt to provoke a border war as a to stop the threat of WMDs! Uh, where have we heard that before?

The US press snorted up this line about Chavez’ $300 million to “terrorists” quicker than the young Bush inhaling Colombia’s powdered export.

What the US press did not do is look at the evidence, the email in the magic laptop. (Presumably, the FARC leader’s last words were, “Listen, my password is ….”)

I read them. While you can read it all in español, here is, in translation, the one and only mention of the alleged $300 million from Chavez is this:

“… With relation to the 300, which from now on we will call “dossier,” efforts are now going forward at the instructions of the boss to the cojo [slang term for ‘cripple’], which I will explain in a separate note. Let’s call the boss Ángel, and the cripple Ernesto.”

Got that? Where is Hugo? Where’s 300 million? And 300 what? Indeed, in context, the note is all about the hostage exchange with the FARC that Chavez was working on at the time (December 23, 2007) at the request of the Colombian government.

Indeed, the entire remainder of the email is all about the mechanism of the hostage exchange. Here’s the next line:

“To receive the three freed ones, Chavez proposes three options: Plan A. Do it to via of a ‘humanitarian caravan’; one that will involve Venezuela, France, the Vatican[?], Switzerland, European Union, democrats [civil society], Argentina, Red Cross, etc.”

As to the 300, I must note that the FARC’s previous prisoner exchange involved 300 prisoners. Is that what the ‘300’ refers to? ¿Quien sabe? Unlike Uribe, Bush and the US press, I won’t guess or make up a phastasmogoric story about Chavez spending money he doesn’t even have.

To bolster their case, the Colombians claim, with no evidence whatsoever, that the mysterious “Angel” is the code name for Chavez. But in the memo, Chavez goes by the code name … Chavez.

Well, so what? This is what.

Colombia’s invasion into Ecuador is a rank violation of international law, condemned by every single Latin member of the Organization of American States. And George Bush just loved it. He called Uribe to back Colombia, against, “the continuing assault by narco-terrorists as well as the provocative maneuvers by the regime in Venezuela.”

Well, our President may have gotten the facts ass-backward, but he Bush knows what he’s doing: shoring up his last, faltering ally in South America, Uribe, a desperate man in deep political trouble.

Uribe’s claims he is going to bring charges against Chavez before the International Criminal Court. If Uribe goes there in person, I suggest he take a toothbrush: it was just discovered that right-wing death squads held murder-planning sessions at Uribe’s ranch. Uribe’s associates have been called before the nation’s Supreme Court and may face prison.

In other words, it’s a good time for a desperate Uribe to use that old politico’s wheeze, the threat of war, to drown out accusations of his own criminality. Furthermore, Uribe’s attack literally killed negotiations with FARC by killing FARC’s negotiator, Raul Reyes. Reyes was in talks with both Ecuador and Chavez about another prisoner exchange. Uribe authorized the negotiations, however, he knew, should those talks have succeeded in obtaining the release of those kidnapped by the FARC, credit would have been heaped on Ecuador and Chavez, and discredit heaped on Uribe.

Luckily for a hemisphere the verge of flames, the President of Ecuador, Raphael Correa, is one of the most level-headed, thoughtful men I’ve ever encountered.

Correa is now flying from Quito to Brazilia to Caracas to keep the region from blowing sky high. While moving troops to his border – no chief of state can permit foreign tanks on their sovereign soil – Correa also refuses sanctuary to the FARC . Indeed, Ecuador has routed out 47 FARC bases, a better track record than Colombia’s own, corrupt military.

For his cool, peaceable handling of the crisis, I will forgive Correa for apologizing for his calling Bush, “a dimwitted President who has done great damage to his country and the world.”

Amateur Hour in Blue

We can trust Correa to keep the peace South of the Border. But can we trust our Presidents-to-be?

The current man in the Oval Office, George Bush, simply can’t help himself: an outlaw invasion by a right-wing death-squad promoter is just fine with him.

But guess who couldn’t wait to parrot the Bush line? Hillary Clinton, still explaining that her vote to invade Iraq was not a vote to invade Iraq, issued a statement nearly identical to Bush’s, blessing the invasion of Ecuador as Colombia’s “right to defend itself.” And she added, “Hugo Chávez must stop these provoking actions.” Huh?

I assumed that Obama wouldn’t jump on this landmine – especially after he was blasted as a foreign policy amateur for suggesting he would invade across Pakistan’s border to hunt terrorists.

It’s embarrassing that Barack repeated Hillary’s line nearly verbatim, announcing, “the Colombian government has every right to defend itself.”

(I’m sure Hillary’s position wasn’t influenced by the loan of a campaign jet to her by Frank Giustra. Giustra has given over a hundred million dollars to Bill Clinton projects. Last year, Bill introduced Giustra to Colombia’s Uribe. On the spot, Giustra cut a lucrative deal with Uribe for Colombian oil.)

Then there’s Mr. War Hero. John McCain weighed in with his own idiocies, announcing that, “Hugo Chavez is establish[ing] a dictatorship,” presumably because, unlike George Bush, Chavez counts all the votes in Venezuelan elections.

But now our story gets tricky and icky.

The wise media critic Jeff Cohen told me to watch for the press naming McCain as a foreign policy expert and labeling the Democrats as amateurs. Sure enough, the New York Times, on the news pages Wednesday, called McCain, “a national security pro.”

McCain is the “pro” who said the war in Iraq would cost nearly nothing in lives or treasury dollars.

But, on the Colombian invasion of Ecuador, McCain said, “I hope that tensions will be relaxed, President Chavez will remove those troops from the borders - as well as the Ecuadorians - and relations continue to improve between the two.”

It’s not quite English, but it’s definitely not Bush. And weirdly, it’s definitely not Obama and Clinton cheerleading Colombia’s war on Ecuador.

Democrats, are you listening? The only thing worse than the media attacking Obama and Clinton as amateurs is the Democratic candidates’ frightening desire to prove them

Okinawa rape provokes fury at role of U.S. base

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12629/1/266/

Author: Dan Margolis

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 03/04/08 13:42

What would happen if there was a highly organized group of people in a U.S. state that was responsible for more than 100 crimes per year on average? What if a member of that group was likely responsible for the rape of a 14-year-old junior high school girl? What if another member was responsible for another rape only a few weeks later?

What if, about thirteen years before, several members of that group were responsible for the gang rape of an elementary school girl?

This is not a made-up situation. The only difference from what is stated above is that the setting is not a U.S. state, but the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa—and the group is the U.S. Marines.

Last month’s rape of a 14-year-old girl, and then the rape of a Filipino woman four days later, both allegedly by U.S. service members, have set local residents on edge and have led to renewed calls for the removal of all U.S. bases.

On Feb. 15, a huge demonstration, called by women’s groups, teachers’ and other unions and medical professionals, took to the streets demanding justice.

“As a woman, I feel scared,” said a 25 year old bartender who works in the area where the incident occurred.

The alleged perpetrator was freed after the victim’s family decided not to prosecute. The girl was fearful of being involved in such a high profile case.

“Crimes occur wherever U.S. bases are located,” said Ichida Tadayoshi, leader of the Japanese Communist Party citing murder of a woman and an attempted murder of another woman in 2006, and a 2007 rape of a woman all in the areas of U.S. bases.

Tomon Mitsuko, the mayor of Okinawa City, said that there was a long list of other crimes committed by U.S. troops and that she had called on the U.S. military to tighten its discipline—and nothing had been done.

As of press time a curfew has been imposed on U.S. bases, but since Feb. 11, more crimes have been committed in Okinawa. A 54-year-old woman found Cpl. Shawn Cowdy sleeping on a sofa in her house at 4 a.m., Feb. 18. The 21-year-old corporal said he was drunk and had no memory of how he got there. A day before, another marine was arrested for drunk driving.

A day after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, of the pro-U.S. right wing Liberal Democratic Party and U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer vowed to crack down on the crime, a drunken soldier climbed over a fence, broke a glass door with a pipe and trespassed on the property of a local construction firm.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had to express “deep regret” on the Okinawa rape, while on a trip to Japan. U.S. officials have promised to take action.

But, “the unusual privileges that U.S. forces are given under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) can be a source of the serious crimes being committed repeatedly,” wrote the Japanese newspaper, Akahata.

Since 1951, there have been over 200,000 accidents and crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in Japan, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Japanese citizens. Because of agreements made in the SOFA, virtually none of them have been prosecuted. There are currently more than 33,000 U.S. soldiers in Japan, and the Japanese government pays about $2 billion annually to support them.

Echoing tens of thousands of citizens, elected officials and others, Nakama Yoshishige, who runs a local pharmacy told Japan Press Service, “I am really fed up with this. As long as U.S. bases exist, this will never end.”

Our Way: Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/36/

By Wang Yu

---

click here for related stories: Socialism

It has been 45 years since the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people under its leadership began to build socialism. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee convened at the end of 1978 blazed a trail for the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This trail wasn’t easily found: it was the result of hard exploration by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people for half a century and a heavy price was paid. Building socialism in an economically and socially backward populous eastern country like China is full of challenges. The national conditions Chinese Communists face are not only different from those envisaged by the founders of Marxism (where socialism would be built on the basis of a highly developed capitalist society), but also somewhat different from other socialist countries. In building socialism, neither blindly following what books say or wholesale copying other countries’ experiences will work. We must proceed from China’s realities and integrate the fundamental tenets of Marxism with these concrete realities, finding new ways of building socialism in China. This is the most basic historical conclusion Chinese Communists have reached in their practice. Development of internal transportation systems have accelerated growth in isolated regions of the country. For quite some time, China was “not wholly sober-minded,” “not very sure about” and “there were different understandings” of what socialism was and how to build it. As a result, the superiority of socialism was not given full play, the social productive forces were not fully developed, and the living standards of the people were not raised as they should have been. China failed to quickly get rid of poverty and backwardness. In the face of harsh reality, Chinese Communists and the Chinese people began to reflect on a basic question: what is socialism and how to build it? The first question to reflect on was what is socialism’s fundamental task and should socialism develop the productive forces? For a very long time, because the “left” policy of taking class struggle as the key link was followed, the task of developing the productive forces was severely neglected and people were asked to be content with poverty. As a result, production stagnated for a long time. There was little improvement in people’s quality of life, and China’s gap with developed economies widened further. All of this made Chinese Communists ask themselves time and again the following questions: Where on earth was the superiority of socialism? Was socialism rich or poor? What is revolution and what was its purpose? The theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, which took the development of the productive forces as its fundamental task, came into being amid and as a result of these reflections and reviews. The second question to reflect on was what form of production relations and ownership structure should be adopted? In handling the basic contradiction between socialist productive forces and production relations, the Chinese Communist Party erred in two aspects. One was to talk about production relations without taking into account the level of the development of the productive forces, thinking that with regard to socialist ownership, the bigger and more public the better. The other was the failure to give priority to the development of productive forces. Things that fettered development of the productive forces and were not essential to socialism were regarded as socialist principles and adhered to. Things that were good for the development of the productive forces under socialist conditions were condemned as capitalist and opposed. The form of production relations and structure of ownership should depend on whether it can develop the productive forces more efficiently and rapidly. It should depend on whatever form people like. There is no set model for the development of production relations. Their reform and improvement must be in line with the level of the development of productive forces and must favor the expansion of production. The third question to reflect on was whether a planned economy was still viable, whether a socialist economy was a commodity economy and whether a market economy could be practiced in socialism. These questions perplexed Chinese Communists for a very long time. Besides China, this issue was heatedly debated and explored in other socialist countries. After carefully reviewing their historical experience and lessons, the CPC came to realize that although the centralized planned economy was advantageous in that we could pool resources to accomplish big tasks, it was becoming a fetter on the development of productive forces. When production was more and more socialized, economic activities and relations were all the more complicated. The fourth question to reflect on was whether socialism was common poverty or common prosperity. Did socialism call for breaking [what we call] the “Big Rice Pot”? With farmers representing the majority of the population, egalitarianism was deeply rooted in people’s minds. Common prosperity was very often misconstrued as equally rich or egalitarian prosperity. Thus, for a very long time, people “ate out of a big rice pot.” Under low efficiency, the pursuit of common prosperity led nowhere but to common poverty. Egalitarianism was by no means socialism. It inhibited people’s enthusiasm and initiative. In order to achieve the goal of common prosperity, some people, some areas should be encouraged to become rich first so that they can help backward areas in an effort to realize common prosperity. Common prosperity is the important essence of socialism. Basic Theory and Practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics Socialism with Chinese characteristics is based on yet different from socialism defined by Marx. It is Chinese socialism in tune with China’s reality. It reflects the objective laws of building socialism in China in a more systematic, in-depth and detailed way and is a perfect combination of the universality and particularity of socialism. Therefore it can serve as a better guide for the CPC and the Chinese people in building socialism. There are seven points with regard to the theory and practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics: 1. It defines the essence of socialism for the first time and from a scientific viewpoint. The essence of socialism is to liberate productive forces, develop productive forces, eliminate exploitation and polarization, and finally achieve common prosperity. This definition deepened people’s understanding of socialism. By defining it as the fundamental task and the essence of socialism, it raises the importance of liberating and developing the productive forces. In the meantime, it places emphasis on the basic value and goal of socialism, i.e. to eliminate exploitation and finally achieve common prosperity. To reach this goal, we must adhere to the basic socialist principle, which retains a dominant position for public ownership and the system of distribution according to work. We must also adopt diversified forms for realizing the socialist essence. The above points to the correct direction for improving China’s socialist ownership structure. 2. It decides in a scientific way that China is in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long period of time. This scientific judgment combines the nature of Chinese society and its stages of development. It includes two aspects: first, China is already a socialist society and must adhere to socialism and never scrap it. Second, with a large population, weak basis and disparities in the level of development of different regions, the productive forces are far from developed. [Again], the development of socialism is in the primary stage and will remain so for a long time. This is the biggest reality in China. This scientific judgment also serves as the most important basis on which the CPC formulates its basic lines, programs and policies. 3. It encompasses an economic system combining the basic socialist system and a socialist market economy. In the process of exploring socialism, the CPC has come to realize that the full development of a commodity market economy is a phase that cannot be surpassed during socialist economic development. This is a breakthrough from traditional thinking that a planned economy equals socialism and market economy equals capitalism. Besides, the CPC has also come to realize there is no fundamental contradiction between socialism and a market economy. A market economy is indispensable to the allocation of resources in socialized production. By making the establishment and improvement of a socialist market economy as the goal of China’s economic restructuring, the CPC has found the ideal economic structure in the process of the socialist modernization drive. Combining socialism with the market economy is a creation and breakthrough in the Marxist theory on socialist economies. It is an extremely important and significant innovation during the development of the socialist system. 4. It establishes the basic strategy of the rule of law, the building of a socialist legal system and has put forward the important goal of building a socialist political civilization. China has a state system [of government] under the people’s democratic dictatorship. [This is a] system of political power as manifested in people’s congresses and a system of multi- arty cooperation and political consultation led by the Communist Party of China. All of these basic political systems are the results of people’s long-standing struggle and the natural choices of historical development. They are suited to national conditions and embody the essential requirements of socialist democracy. We must therefore adhere to and continue improving them. The key to promoting socialist democracy and political civilization is to combine the need to uphold the Party’s leadership and to ensure the people are the masters of the country with the rule of law. Leadership by the Party is the fundamental guarantee that the people are the masters of the country and that the country constitutes the essential requirement of socialist democracy. The rule of law is the basic principle the Party pursues while it leads the people in running the country. 5. It aims to build a socialist spiritual civilization (socialist cultural and ideological progress). Socialist spiritual civilization is a significant feature of socialist society and an important goal and guarantee of modernization. It has a direct bearing on the cause of socialism. Material progress serves as the basis and it is imperative to unswervingly take economic construction as the focus. However, if there is a lack of spiritual civilization, material progress will be hampered. It can even result in the degeneration and decaying of the society. Thus, socialism with Chinese characteristics can only be built on both material and cultural and ideological progress. Economic development offers the material basis for spiritual development while in return, cultural and ideological progress provides the ideological motive force and intellectual support. 6. It aims to improve Party building so that the CPC becomes a powerful leading core in leading the socialist modernization drive. Our Party plays a vital role in seeking solutions to all issues in China. History has endowed the CPC with great responsibilities while people have placed high expectations on it. Facing a new century, the CPC has raised and taken into its practice the “Three Represents:” the Party should always represents the development trend of China’s advanced productive forces, the orientation of China’s advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.” In this regard, it is imperative to further address the two major historical topics of how to enhance the Party’s art of leadership and governance and how to raise the Party’s capacity to resist corruption, prevent degeneration and withstand risks. Unyielding efforts should be made to ensure that our Party is forever the vanguard of both the Chinese working class and the Chinese people and nation as a whole. 7. Reform and opening up is a basic practice and national policy. It remains the most outstanding feature in building socialism with Chinese characteristics in that the implementation of all six aims and tasks above requires the adoption of reform and opening up. To reform and open-up is to view socialism and its systems as a process requiring gradual development and perfection. Specifically speaking, socialism and its systems can be developed and perfected through the reform of the economic system, political system, and cultural system, etc. Furthermore, through the deepening of reform and the expansion of opening up, all the fruits of human civilization can be made use of in serving the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Consolidating and developing socialism through reform and opening up is a vital law in the development of socialism and it adds vigor and momentum to the undertakings of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics has given comparatively systematic answers to a series of basic issues such as the road, stages, fundamental tasks, motive force, external environment, political guarantee, strategic steps, leadership of the party, forces to rely on and unification of the motherland. All in all, it has become the Marxism of contemporary China. Great Accomplishments In over half a century, especially in the past two decades and more since the beginning of the reform and opening up, great achievements have been made by the CPC through leading the Chinese people to pioneer and advance on the road of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Wide-ranging changes have taken place from urban areas to rural areas, from coastal cities to border areas, from ways of production, styles of living and patterns of consumption to ways of thinking, manner of behavior and even migration. These changes, which are unprecedented in China’s history in terms of its degree, coverage and size, lie mainly in three aspects: 1. The national economy has enjoyed a sustained, sound and rapid development while overall national strength has substantially improved. China’s economy has developed so much that it now ranks sixth in the world. From 1997 to 2002, China’s GDP grew from 7.4 trillion RMB to 10.2 trillion RMB with an average annual growth rate of 7.7 percent. Per capita annual disposable income of urban households increased from 5,160 RMB in 1997 to 7,703 RMB in 2002, with an annual growth rate of 8.6 percent. China’s per capita income reached $850 in 2000 and $1,000 in 2002 at the current exchange rate. The output of many of China’s industrial and agricultural products also leads the world. 2. A socialist market economy in the primary stage has been established and the reform and opening up has yielded great fruits. In the past two decades since the beginning of reform and opening up, the public sector of the economy has further expanded and the reform of state-owned enterprises steadily advanced. Non-public sectors of the economy such as the self-employed and private-owned economy including foreign-owned economy have developed rapidly. Systems of markets are being built. The state continues to improve its macro-control mechanism. The government is adjusting its functions. The reform of finance, banking sectors, circulation, housing and governmental structures has been further deepened. An open economy grows rapidly. A pattern of all-round, multi-level and wide-ranging opening up has taken shape. Total trade volume increased from $325.2 billion in 1997 to $620.8 in 2002, ascending from the tenth to the fifth on the international ranking list. Foreign reserves reached $286.4 billion in 2002 on the basis of $139.9 billion in 1997, being the second largest in the world. After China’s entry into the WTO, the opening up has reached a new stage. The pace of integration into the global economy is further quickened. 3. People’s living standard has generally reached the well-off level. Since the reform and opening up, residents’ income both in urban and rural areas has notably increased and a lot of durable consumer goods have become popular. Before the policy of reform and opening up was introduced, consumer goods such as watches, bicycles and sewing machines were symbols of family wealth. In present China, color-TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and cell-phones are no longer rare. Expensive consumer goods such as computers, real estate and automobiles have become popular among urban residents. The Engel Index (ratio of expenditure on food in total expenditure on consumption goods), which reflects changes in residents’ consumption structure, has plunged below 50 percent in 1994 (for urban residents) and in 2000 (for rural residents). The deposit outstanding for urban residents has reached 8,700 RMB, excluding banking assets such as stock shares, debenture, etc. In addition, people’s average life expectancy has reached 71.8 years in 2002, which approaches that of middle-developed countries. --Wang Yu wrote on behalf of the Communist Party of China.