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Corporate Dominance
Privatization, corporate globalization, sweatshops
From the open publishing newswire:
[April 3] Its been a three weeks since clearing officially began for the NAFTA Superhighway, I-69. Trees have been felled in the first two miles (out of 142) of the route, and three out of the four homes (out of 400) which had already been seized by the Department of Transportation were demolished this week. Security is posted around the clearing sites, reflecting the state's fear of the wrath of local communities threatened by the road. And importantly, the Department of Transportation finished accepting bids for the construction of the first two miles today, April 2. So within the next weeks, the contracts for initial construction will be in place. Meanwhile, in Bloomington and Evansville, and across Indiana, dedicated people are working to mobilize our communities to shut this road project down. The next big round of actions is already being planned for April and May, while community organizing is being stepped up to plug as many people as possible into resistance at this critical time. We hope to see you soon in the forests and fields of southwest Indiana. Make sure you're here before they're all paved. In defense of the wild, Roadblock Earth First!
From the open publishing newswire:
As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) turns fifeen, more-and-more people are recongizing its faults and demanding a change. Unfortunately, the NAFTA agenda continues to move forward in unanticipated ways. Most Americans, including many dedicated trade activists, have yet to take a critical look at the Security and Prosperity Partnersip (SPP), which is often referred in neighboring countries as "NAFTA-plus."
In this panel discussion, a team of experts from Mexico, Canada and the United States will dissect the economic and security arrangements being forged behind closed doors under the auspices of the SPP. These backroom deals cover everything from water privatization to energy policy; homeland security to public health; transportation to immigration -- all without any real consultation with Congressional branches or the general public. This is a topic that deserves our close attention. Tuesday, April 8, 2008 7:00 pm First Unitarian Church, Eliot Chapel SW 12th and Salmon Portland, OR
From the open publishing newswire:
On September 1-4 of 2008, the Republican Party is descending upon
Minnesota to celebrate their latest conquests in global domination and exploitation. The RNC Welcoming Committee wants to make sure that this time the fear-mongers will be met with their own biggest fear: people mobilized, organized, and taking the future back into their own hands. The RNC Welcoming Committee will be at the Blue Heron Infoshop on Thursday, Feb 28th at 6pm to present subversion, critical analysis, and ideas for how the future is taken back today. All are invited to the free presentation Blue Heron Infoshop Reed College-3203 SE Woodstock BVLD Grey Campus Center room 34
From the open publishing newswire:
Back in the spring of 2007 there was a news story about Chiquita giving money to FARC, AUC and ELN. A US corporation aiding and abetting groups on the US government's Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Not only did Chiquita provide money, they also supplied hundreds of assault rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition. I thought, "wow, providing not only millions of dollars but weapons and ammunition to a terrorist organization - they are deep trouble".
 http://www.supportjonathan.org
From the open publishing newswire:
Palm Beach County - Early Monday morning dozens of concerned community members from Palm Beach County and all over the nation put their bodies on the line to halt construction of FPL's West County Energy Center (WCEC), demanding energy efficiency, truly clean, renewable energy and a moratorium on development in south Florida. Everglades Earth First! blocked the main entrance to the WCEC site, a proposed massive 3800 MW gas-fired power plant that would emit 12 million tons of CO2, a leading greenhouse gas, every year. The plant is currently under construction despite ongoing legal challenges to the plant's needed permits and certification, which have been spearheaded by the local Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition.
A dozen activists locked themselves together through metal pipes as 200 supporters rallied around them. The blockade stopped work on the construction site for six hours before a total of 27 people were arrested. Everglades Earth First! activists still locked up, in need of legal defense funds
From the open publishing newswire:
The public is invited to comment at the hearing in the Council Chambers, 4th and Madison at 2 PM, Wednesday. Comments can also be e-mailed to Karla Moore-Love, Council Clerk
 kmoore-love@ci.portland.or.us or given or mailed to her at 1221 SW 4th, Rm. 140, Portland 97204.
This is your opportunity to tell the Council what you think of more high-rise development, gentrification, and construction downtown. Moyer's architect is talking in the press like a planning Czar. He says he can put skyscrapers anywhere downtown using FAR stratagems if zoning does not allow, as with Moyer Tower. The Block-5 area has been a construction-sacrifice zone too often through the years :1997-2000, 2006-2008, and, if Moyer gets his way, it will be so again 2008-2011. "What market collapse?" say developers, who claim they're building "ten years into the future" and for "an exclusive market." What do you say to the makeover of your city for the benefit of some hypothetical upscale market from out of town? Moyer Tower stands for all of that and more of that.
From the open publishing newswire:
In Olympia this week, a Washington State House Committee approved a resolution asking Congress to roll back the FCC's recent deregulation of media ownership rules. At issue is a controversial FCC decision last December to allow media companies to control both a city's newspaper and TV/radio stations, in the 20 largest markets. The decision flies in the face of overwhelming opposition expressed by the thousands of people who testified against media consolidation at six public hearings, hundreds of thousands of comments submitted to the FCC, and an impressively bipartisan range of elected officials.
The FCC's final public hearing on the issue was held in Seattle on Nov 9. Despite having less than a week's notice of the hearing date, over 1100 people turned out to testify at the nine-hour marathon hearing. This week, the Washington State House Committee on Technology, Energy and Communications unanimously endorsed a resolution urging Congress to enact the Media Ownership Act, a bill which would retroactively repeal the FCC's December ruling, and impose stronger public accountability requirements on future FCC decisions.
From the open publishing newswire:
The Washington State Democratic Central Committee voted on January 26, 2008 to support SJM 8016 and HJM 4027,the two memorials in the state legislature calling for impeachment investigation of Bush and Cheney.
The resolution quotes the text of SJM 8016 : "WHEREAS, America has only until January 20th, 2009 to signal to history that America will not sanction torture, America will not sanction unprovoked war, and America will not sanction illegal spying, including on its citizens"
From the open publishing newswire:
In Bern, thousands demonstrated against the WEF. Police were there to stop the demonstration - and the bourgeois press spoke of a"record-breaking police operation". They used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets, and during the course of the day they arrested 242 people.
The authorization for the demonstration had been taken back two days earlier (January 17). The official reason: the organizers didn't want to distance themselves from violence. In reality there were two reasons: firstly, the authorities wanted to avoid a defeat like on October 6, 2007, as a march by the racist, ringt-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP) in Bern was stopped by militant resistance. Secondly, they wanted to let the police practice different repression tactics in the run-up to the European Cup, which will be held in Switzerland and Austria in June. Police officers were stationed at every corner in the inner city and stopped young people, many of whom were arrested for "attempt to disturb the peace" (!!!). The spokesman of the demonstration committee was taken away by the police in the middle of a press conference. Even journalists were among those arrested. It must be considered a success that so many people followed the call from the "Alliance for Global Resistance" despite the prohibition of the demonstration.
From the open publishing newswire:
The subprime lending debacle should cause massive rethinking among those who have long proclaimed that the route to Black equality is through wealth accumulation. In a report titled, "Foreclosed: State of the Dream 2008," United for a Fair Economy details the catastrophic losses inflicted on Blacks and Latinos in the U.S. at the hands of predatory lenders - "the greatest loss of wealth to people of color in modern U.S. history." With more than half of Blacks in many cities caught in the subprime trap - and with even these usurious financing schemes disappearing in the wake of the bubble-burst - the prospects for Blacks to amass wealth have grown bleaker than at any time in living memory. At the current rate, it will take 5,423 years for Blacks to achieve homeowner parity with whites.
The money-lenders have already sucked the value out of whole communities, urban and suburban. The wealth loss is staggering: People of color have collectively lost between "$164 billion to $213 billion over the past eight years," with Latinos losing slightly more than African Americans. For the average American, wealth is passed on through the value of homes. That dream, as the report concludes, has been largely foreclosed.
From the open publishing newswire:
Downtown has steadily been becoming more and more a thing of the corporate interests who populate the buildings around Pioneer Square. Ordinances have been passed which have, by inches and degrees, driven out the people of downtown to make things more comfortable for the hordes of consumers who flock there to spend their money on frivolities from stores like Macys. Now, in Portland's living room, free speech expression is under attack as well.
For going on 6 years now, PPRC has met, drummed and marched from the NE corner of Pioneer Square every Friday like clockwork, BUT last Friday's rally was told in no uncertain terms: if you continue to do that you've been doing for the past six years, you will be issued a citation.
From the open publishing newswire:
Pacific Power has is using Oregon's newspapers to lie about the Klamath dams. Numerous reports show that keeping these polluting dams will cost costumers way more money then removing them, and that the dams do not provide for flood control. Science shows that these dams cause one of the worst toxic algae problems in the world while killing salmon. The Oregonian did not print the response of the Klamath Riverkeeper, or the other groups and tribes working to let Oregonians know the truth about why the dams should go. This is what we wrote in response to Pacific Powers lies.
http://klamathriver.org
From the open publishing newswire:
Naomi Klein, whose most recent book, "The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism" has become an international best-seller, spoke to an overflowing house in Portland Oregon on Friday, December 7, 2007.
She begins, "it's wonderful to be at the heart of Portland's legendary Progressive community; thank you for all the work you have done over the years in keeping up this fight. It is a revolutionary moment. There are moments when it feels less so, and Portland keeps on keeping' on, which we appreciate." "We're going to be talking about disaster tonight, we're going to be talking about disaster capitalism, and it seems only appropriate for us to begin this discussion by thinking about these disasters unfolding in this region, in other parts of the country, around the world......Think about when we see these images, when a community is living through these disasters, what our initial human response is. ...." |
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