1970: KENT STATE, JACKSON STATE, LAWRENCE, KANSAS

On May 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon escalated the Vietnam War and launched the invasion of Cambodia. Across the country, college campuses erupted in protest.

On May 4, 1970 the Ohio National Guard opened fire into a busy college campus during a school day. A total of 67 shots were fired in 13 seconds. Four students - Allison Krause, William Schroeder, Jeffrey Miller, and Sandra Scheuer - were killed. Nine students were wounded.

To this day, no one has been held accountable.

Following the shootings at Kent State students across the country took to the streets in ever more massive protests more often then not shutting down their universities.

At Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi, there was the added issue of historical racial intimidation and harassment by white motorists traveling Lynch Street, a major thoroughfare that divided the campus and linked west Jackson to downtown.

On May 14 police murdered two students there.

A five-story dormitory was riddled by gunfire. FBI investigators estimated that more than 460 rounds struck the building, shattering every window facing the street on each floor. Investigators counted at least 160 bullet holes in the outer walls of the stairwell alone -- bullet holes that can still be seen today.

When the order to stop shooting was finally given, two young men were dead. One of them was Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior pre-law major and father of an 18 month-old son; and the other was 17 year-old James Earl Green, 17, a senior at Jim Hill High School in Jackson, who was walking home from work at a local grocery store when he stopped to watch the action. Twelve other college students lay on the ground wounded.

The injured students, many of whom lay bleeding on the ground outside the dormitory, were transported to University Hospital within 20 minutes of the shooting. According to an investigation conducted into the shootings by US Senators Walter Mondale and Birch Bayh, police did not call any ambulances to treat the wounded until they had picked up all of the shell casings that they could find. In other words, they did not call the ambulances until they had removed the evidence.

Just as in the aftermath of the Kent massacre, officials claimed that they had been shot at. Of course, no evidence to substantiate this claim was ever found.

As an historic and personal footnote, I would like to add that the following July police in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas (and where I lived and did what I could) shot Rick "Tiger" Dowdell in the back of the head killing him instantly as he departed a meeting at Afro House. Rick Dowdell was not just any black teenager (heck, cops shoot young black men all the time), he was an active member of the Kansas University Black Student Union, a son of a well known local black family, a man who carried a weapon because his life had been threatened by local police on more than one occasion. His killing occurred when police chased and stopped the vehicle in which he was riding after spotting it leaving Afro House.

As the Oread Daily Review (a year end summary of events put out in a sort of comic book fashion by the Oread Daily collective) described then here is what happened. "After hitting the curb, the Volkswagen halted. Dowdell disembarked, and he headed up an alley. Firing commenced. Dowdell lay dead, shot by pig William Garrett. Shot, we might add in the BACK of the head."

After the Dowdell killing, uprisings occurred in the black community and in the white hippie-radical neighborhood. It was during those uprising that Nick Rice, a young white man was gunned down. I was standing a few feet from Rice when he was killed. We were part of a crowd that had been "herded" down the street by shotgun wielding Lawrence police. They opened fire, Nick was dead and another man, Mert Olds, was wounded.

Another local underground paper, Vortex, reported, "When others tried to aid the two men, they were driven back with more tear gas. Nick Rice lay bleeding and dying on Oread Avenue, shot through the head. As usual, police claimed that it was sniper fire that killed him."

I was there. There was no sniper fire. Rice was killed by police firing on an unarmed crowd that was backing away from them at the time.

An inquest which was held a few weeks later pretty clearly laid out exactly which officer fired the shot that killed Rice. Vortex reported, "Stroud says he fired only once at long haired youth, missed. Nick Rice was standing directly in line with Stroud's shot. Stroud fired with a 9 millimeter bullet. Wound in Rice was 9 millimeter. The truth is loose and rampages through the courtroom. Like a naked man walking through the room screaming yet nobody says anything about it."

Totally contradicting all of the evidence presented, the inquest amazingly concluded that Rice had been killed by unknown snipers firing from the other direction. That conclusion was absurd. Hundreds of witnesses (including yours truly) were there and saw or heard no snipers. There were no bullets found where these snipers bullets should have ended up. And why would snipers be out shooting Rice anyway. The inquests own evidence was absolutely contrary to that conclusion.

Kent State is oft remembered (and rightly so) but it should also be remembered that it was only one of many unnamed places where those who opposed racism, or the war, or, well you name your injustice, were shot and killed by the "authorities" who then went happily on their merry way. The truth should be known.

The following history is from the Kent May 4th Center. The schedule of events for today is from the May 4th Task Force as is the speech which follows.

KENT STATE 1970: Description of Events May 1 through May 4
written by
May 4 Task Force students
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

On April 30th, President Nixon announced on national television that a massive American-South Vietnamese troop offensive into Cambodia was in progress. "We take these actions," Nixon said, "not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam, and winning the just peace we all desire."

These were familiar words to a war-weary public. Some felt that this decision was essential for attaining a "just peace" and sustaining America's credibility in the world. Yet others, particularly students, believed that this action represented an escalation of the war and a return to ex-President Johnson's earlier hopes for a military victory. As the fires from the artillery began to burn in Cambodia, a raging fire of protest spread across the United States.

At Kent State University, the reaction to Nixon's announcement was similar to that of other campuses across the nation.

FRIDAY MAY 1, 1970

At noon about 500 students gathered around the Victory Bell on the Commons, the traditional site for rallies. A group of history students, who had organized the protest, buried a copy of the Constitution, which they claimed had been murdered when US troops were sent into Cambodia without a declaration of war by Congress.

Three hours later, Black United Students held a rally, which had been scheduled before Nixon had made his announcement. Some 400 people gathered to hear black students talk about recent disorders with the Ohio National Guard on their campus. Word spread quickly that another rally, one to oppose the invasion of Cambodia, was scheduled for Monday, May 4, at noon.

Friday night, one of the first warm evenings of the spring, several hundred students gathered in downtown Kent in an area with a number of bars, known as "the Strip," on North Water Street. A spontaneous anti-war rally began in the street. Twice, while the rally was in progress, passing police cruisers were hit with beer bottles. Afterwards, police stayed away from the area.

Meanwhile, more people were leaving the bars. Many in the crowd chanted anti-war slogans, and a bonfire was set in the street. The crowd blocked traffic for about an hour and then moved toward the center of town. Some members of the crowd began to break windows. Primarily "political targets" were attacked, including banks, loan companies, and utility companies.

After being informed of the events, Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom declared a "state of emergency," and arbitrarily ordered all of the bars closed. Kent police, along with the mayor, then confronted the crowd. The riot act was read and police proceeded to clear the area. People inside the bars were ordered to leave, forcing hundreds more into the streets.

The crowd was herded toward the campus with tear gas and knight sticks, which was in the opposite direction in which some of them lived. Fourteen persons, mostly stragglers, were arrested. About $5000 in damage was done as 43 windows were broken--28 in one bank.

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1970

On the morning of May 2, some KSU students assisted with the downtown cleanup. Rumors of radical activities were widespread, and KSU's ROTC building was believed to be the target of militant students that evening. During the Vietnam War, students on many college campuses opposed the presence of ROTC and often were successful in forcing the removal of ROTC from their campuses.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on the city of Kent, and students were restricted to the campus. At 5 p.m., shortly after assessing the situation, Mayor Satrom alerted the Ohio National Guard. KSU officials were unaware of this decision.

Shortly after 8 p.m., about 300 people gathered on the Commons, where a few anti-war slogans were chanted and a few brief speeches given. An impromptu march began and participants headed towards the dormitories to gain strength. Large numbers of people joined the march. The now 2,000 marches swarmed the hill overlooking the Commons and crossed the Commons. Then they surrounded the ROTC building, an old wooden World War II barracks which was scheduled to be demolished. Windows were broken and a few persons eventually set the building on fire.

Plain-clothed police who were standing nearby made no attempt to stop the students at this point. Firemen arrived on the scene but their actions were abandoned because some of the crowd attacked the firemen and slashed their hoses. The blaze quickly died out. The firemen eventually regained control and the fire died out. The building was ignited again. This time, however, firemen arrived with massive police protection. Police surrounded the building and dispersed the students with tear gas. The firemen again got the fire under control.

The crowd then moved to the front of the campus. The students retreated to the Commons to find the ROTC building smoldering at both ends. Within minutes, the building was fully ablaze.

The crowd then assembled on the wooded hillside beside the commons and watched as the building burned. Many shouted anti- war slogans. In the first two weeks of May, thirty ROTC buildings would be burned nationwide.

Armed with tear gas and drawn bayonets, the guard pursued students, protesters and bystanders alike, into dormitories and other campus buildings. Some stones were thrown and at least one student was bayoneted. The question of who set the fire that destroyed ROTC building has never been satisfactorily answered by any investigative body.

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1970

May 3 was a relatively quiet day. By now, however, the campus was fully occupied by Ohio National Guard troops, and armored personnel carriers were stationed throughout the campus. Although some students and guardsmen fraternized, the feeling, for the most part, was one of mutual hostility.

That morning, Ohio Governor James Rhodes, who was running for US Senate, arrived in Kent and along with city officials, held a news conference. Rhodes, running on a "law and order" platform, attempted to use this opportunity to garner votes in the primary election, which was only two days away.

In a highly inflammatory speech, Rhodes claimed that the demonstrations at Kent were the handiwork of a highly organized band of revolutionaries who were out to "destroy higher education in Ohio." These protesters, Rhodes declared, were "the worst type of people we harbor in America, worse than the brown shirts and the communist element...we will use whatever force necessary to drive them out of Kent!"

Later that evening, a National Guard commander would tell his troops that Ohio law gave them the right to shoot if necessary. This merely served to heighten guardsmen's hostility toward students.

Around 8 p.m., a crowd gathered on the Commons near the Victory Bell. As the group increased in size, Guard officials announced the immediate enforcement of a new curfew. The crowd refused to disperse. At 9 p.m. the Ohio Riot act was read. Tear gas was fired from helicopters hovering overhead, and the Guard dispersed the crowd from the area. Students attempted to demonstrate that the curfew was unnecessary by peacefully marching towards the town, but were met by guardsmen.

Students then staged a spontaneous sit-in at the intersection of East Main and Lincoln Streets and demanded that Mayor Satrom and KSU president Robert White speak with them about the Guard's presence on campus. Assured that this demand would be met, the crowd agreed to move from the street onto the front lawn of campus.

The guard then betrayed the students and announced that the curfew would go into effect immediately. Helicopters and tear gas were used to disperse the demonstrators. As the crowd attempted to escape, some were bayoneted and clubbed by guardsmen. Students were again pursued and prodded back to their dormitories. Tear gas innundated the campus, and helicopters with searchlights hovered overhead all night.

MONDAY, MAY 4, 1970

At 11 a.m., about 200 students gathered on the Commons. Earlier that morning, state and local officials had met in Kent. Some officials had assumed that Gov. Rhodes had declared Martial Law to be in effect--but he had not. In fact, martial law was not officially declared until May 5. Nevertheless, the National Guard resolved to disperse any assembly.

As noon approached, the size of the crowd increased to 1,500. Some were merely spectators, while others had gathered specifically to protest the invasion of Cambodia and the continued presence of the National Guard on the campus. Upon orders of Ohio's Assistant Adjutant General Robert Canterbury, an army jeep was driven in front of the assembled students. The students were told by means of a bullhorn to disperse immediately. Students responded with jeers and chants.

When the students refused to disperse, Gen. Canterbury ordered the guardsmen to disperse them. Approximately 116 men, equipped with loaded M-1 rifles and tear gas, formed a skirmish line towards the students. Aware of bayonet injuries of the previous evening, students immediately ran away from the attacking National Guardsmen. Retreating up Blanket Hill, some students lobbed tear gas canisters back at the advancing troops, and one straggler was attacked with clubs.

The Guard, after clearing the Commons, marched over the crest of the hill, firing tear gas and scattering the students into a wider area. The Guard then continued marching down the hill and onto a practice football field. For approximately 10 minutes, the guard stayed in this position. During this time, tear gas canisters were thrown back and forth from the Guard's position to a small group of students n the Prentice Hall parking lot, about 100 yards away. Some students responded to the guardsmen's attack by throwing stones. Guardsmen also threw stones at the students. But because of the distance, most stones from both parties fell far short of their targets. The vast majority of students, however, were spectators on the veranda of Taylor Hall.

While on the practice field, several members of Troop G, which would within minutes fire the fatal volley, knelt and aimed their weapons at the students in the parking lot. Gen. Canterbury concluded that the crowd had been dispersed and ordered the Guard to march back to the commons area. Some members of Troop G then huddled briefly.

After reassembling on the field, the Guardsmen seemed to begin to retreat as they marched back up the hill, retracing their previous steps. Members of Troop G, while advancing up the hill, continued to glance back to the parking lot, where the most militant and vocal students were located. The students assumed the confrontation was over. Many students began to walk to their next classes.

As the guard reached the crest of the Blanket Hill, near the Pagoda of Taylor Hall, about a dozen members of Troop G simultaneously turned around 180 degrees, aimed and fired their weapons into the crowd in the Prentice Hall parking lot. The 1975 civil trials proved that there was a verbal command to fire.

A total of 67 shots were fired in 13 seconds. Four students: Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder were killed. Nine students were wounded: Joseph Lewis, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Robbie Stamps, Donald Scott MacKenzie, Alan Canfora, Douglas Wrentmore, James Russell and Dean Kahler. Of the wounded, one was permanently paralyzed, and several were seriously maimed. All were full-time students.
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Commemorating May 4 at Kent State

Here's what is happening today :

• Annual Silent Candlelight Vigil
What: The annual vigil will be held in
the spaces where the four slain students fell in the Prentice Hall Parking Lot. Participants will be standing for half-hour shifts.
When: Midnight to 12:24 p.m.
Where: Prentice Hall Parking Lot

• 36th Annual May 4 Commemoration
What: "The Cost of War: Then and Now."
Speakers include Medea Benjamin, founding director of Global Exchange and co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace, and Mary Ann Vecchio, witness to the May 4 shootings. There will also be performances by Emma's Revolution and ep3.
When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: KSU Commons
What else: Rain location will be in the
Kent State Ballroom.

• Arlington Mid-West Memorial
What: A memorial to the fallen soldiers
of Iraq and Afghanistan. Individual tombstone markers bearing the names of every casualty represent the cost of war and encourage open dialogue on the cost of war. Exhibit brought to campus by the Northeast Ohio Peace Coalition.
When: All day
Where: KSU Commons

• March for Peace
What: A rally will commence after the
commemoration and will proceed to the gazebo on Franklin Street in downtown Kent.
Where: Starts at KSU Commons
When: After the commemoration
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May 1 - Bury the Constitution! - Speech of May 1, 2006

This gathering has been called today by the May 4th Task Force to bury the Constitution of the United States. We do not harbor any malice towards the document, in fact, we mourn its death. The news that the Constitution is dead should not be alarming, for it has been dead for quite some time now. The occasion of this date marks the 36th Anniversary of the May 1, 1970 burial. Members of the World Historians Opposed to Racism and Exploitation interred this document because it had been murdered by the Chief Executive of the United States, President Nixon. President’s Nixon abuse of powers at home and abroad to execute an Imperialist war. The bombing of Cambodia was the incensing act that demonstrated how the executive branch had “become an all powerful fascist organ with the other three powerful branches of government serving only as remnants of a once dissipated power.”

It is at this gathering that we recognize the further desecration of the US Constitution at the hands of President George W Bush. The fear that Iran may be the Iraq War’s Cambodia is more than a small measure of concern. Meanwhile, Bush has learned from Nixon’s murderous ways, COINTELPRO has become NSA territory, the home of the domestic-spying program that has sidestepped FISA Courts. This product of Bush Administration’s “unitary executive theory” is just the beginning of a long list of grievances the US public has against its President and his murderous ways.

While signing statements ensuring the use of torture takes any remaining life from the Constitution, the freedoms of every American are being threatened, and the values we stand for made a mockery . An endless war has been protracted on the basis of lies and deception. Failures resulting in death and chaos only convince those motivated by greed to continue on with more occupation, more war, and more fear.

The role of the government is to perpetuate war.

As in 1970, “the Constitution now serves as a weapon to suppress the people rather than protect them from tyranny.

We, as vigilantes of justice and truth, and torchbearers of history at Kent State University now declare the Constitution dead. President Bush has murdered it – we only recognize the fact. For violating our legal rights, we now brand Bush an outlaw and a traitor and sorrowfully commit the remnants of the Constitution to its grave.

Power to the people.

Kevin Heade
Senior Education, Political Science Major /2006

Based on the original speech written by Chris Plant, as published in Middle of the Country (1970)

NURSES RALLY AT NEW YORK STATE CAPITAL AGAINST FORCED OVERTIME

Nurses are the backbone of healthcare and healthcare seems intent sometimes on breaking their backs. Nurses in New York like nurses all across the country are getting tired of it all.

The first article below is from the New York State Nurses Association. The second is from the Albany Times.

Union Nurses Join Forces to Protect Patients
Rally at the State Capitol, demanding end to mandatory overtime

ALBANY, N.Y., May 2, 2006 — Hundreds of nurses from four prominent nurses’ unions came to Albany today to call for legislation that would ban mandatory overtime and ensure safe nurse staffing.

Busloads of nurses came from all over the state to attend a rally on the steps of the State Capitol. They were members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the Nurse Alliance of New York State 1199 SEIU, the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF), and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).

Mandatory overtime is used by healthcare employers to keep nurses on the job beyond their regular shifts. Nurses say they are more likely to make mistakes in patient care when they work long hours. In a 2002 survey by the State Education Department, 59% of registered nurses reported they had been “mandated” – forced to work overtime.

“Nurses throughout New York State and across the country are struggling to deliver the care patients deserve,” stated 1199 SEIU Executive Vice President Jennifer Cunningham. “Chronic short staffing, low wages, and mandatory overtime have sent this industry into a crisis, and these issues need to be addressed immediately.”

“This isn’t a nursing issue. It’s a public health issue,” said Verlia Brown, president of the New York State Nurses Association and a critical care nurse at Kings County Medical Center in Brooklyn. “Short staffing and mandatory overtime put patients’ lives at risk. Our lawmakers must have the courage to ensure that patients have what is most fundamental to their well-being: care from registered professional nurses.”

“The negative effect of mandatory overtime on patients and nurses is becoming one of the most serious health care issues of our time,” said PEF President Roger Benson. “At least 11 other states have passed laws or adopted new regulations to protect the public by limiting the number of hours caregivers can work. It’s time New York state legislators and the governor addressed this problem.”

“In 2002, Capital Region reporter Michael Hurewitz died at a hospital in New York City after donating part of his liver to his brother,” said Alan B. Lubin, executive vice president of NYSUT, which represents several thousand nurses statewide. “An investigation found that Hurewitz didn’t receive adequate care after surgery due to insufficient staffing. It took his death to get the Department of Health to adopt minimum nurse staffing rules for liver transplants. Does another high-profile New Yorker have to die before the state establishes patient-to-nurse ratios for all patients?”


NYSNA is the oldest and largest state nurses’ association in the nation, with more than 34,000 members. It is the union for registered nurses working at 150 facilities in New York and New Jersey, including hospitals, nursing homes, county health departments, home care agencies, public schools, and New York City public hospitals and mayoral agencies. NYSNA is a constituent of the American Nurses Association and United American Nurses, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

NYSUT, the largest union in New York State, representing more than 525,000 classroom teachers and school employees, including 12,000 healthcare professionals: hospital nurses, school nurses, therapists, nursing instructors, lab technicians, and psychologists. NYSUT also represents academic and professional faculty at the state’s community colleges, State University of New York and City University of New York; other education professionals; and retirees.

The Nurse Alliance of New York State/1199 SEIU is the coordinating body for over 27,000 Service Employee International Union RNs, LPNs, and Advanced Practice RNs in New York State.

The New York State Public Employees Federation represents 54,000 professional public employees, including more than 8,500 registered nurses who work in the state’s 70 correctional facilities, three SUNY hospitals, 28 New York State Office of Mental Hygiene facilities; Roswell Park Cancer Institute and other state agencies.
==================================================================================

Nurses say they need less OT, more help

ALBANY — It's not uncommon to get a call 15 minutes before the end of a shift and be told you have to work more hours, nurses who want to end mandatory overtime and convince hospitals to hire more staff said during a rally outside the Capitol yesterday.

Working regular double shifts, often while sleep-deprived, threatens patient safety, they said. Studies have shown that nurses who work beyond their regular hours make more mistakes, according to four nursing unions that organized the event.

Barbara Serafin of Blauvelt and Beverley Williams of Spring Valley said there were more than a dozen vacancies for nurses at Rockland Psychiatric Center, plus workers out for injuries they got on the job.

Williams, 55, said she remembered being off one Christmas and receiving an early-morning call saying she was needed at the hospital. Fifteen minutes before her shift was over, she received a call telling her she had to stay until 11:45 p.m.

"I didn't get any sleep that night. I missed Christmas. I missed everything," she said.

At least 11 states limit the number of hours caregivers can work, Roger Benson, president of the New York State Public Employee Federation, told hundreds of nurses from around the state who gathered outside the Capitol.

"Nurses and other medical staff dispense medication, make life-and-death decisions and perform procedures that with one mistake caused by exhaustion can have life-threatening consequences," he said.

The Legislature is considering a bill that would bar health-care employers from requiring nurses to work more than eight hours a day or 40 hours in a week. There would be exceptions for emergencies, and nurses could voluntarily accept overtime. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, and Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, D-Queens.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, said he was in discussions with legislative leaders about passing a bill.

"We support it conceptually. We've got to get it done," he said.

The Assembly is holding a hearing on the issue May 18.

"We are seriously concerned that our nurses are being overworked to the point where fatigue is driving your colleagues out of the profession," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, told the nurses.

But Gov. George Pataki said patient safety should be paramount and sometimes working overtime might be necessary.

"Suppose there is a time when, at the last minute, two or three people call in and aren't going to be there for their shift. Are you going to tell the patients they won't have nurses for the next three or four hours?" he asked.

A spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State said the majority of hospitals do not have mandatory overtime.

"No one likes mandatory overtime. Employers don't like it. Staff don't like it," spokesman William Van Slyke said. "However, it's a reality and it's a manifestation of the real problem, and that is the critical nurse shortage New York and many other states are facing."

The best way to resolve it to get more people into nursing, he said.

According to the nursing unions, 59 percent of registered nurses reported in a 2002 survey that they had been forced to work overtime.

There are 237,000 registered nurses in the state, but more than 69,000 are not practicing, the unions said.

BOSTON COLLEGE, CONDI, AND THE JESUITS

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to give the keynote address at the 130th Commencement Exercises for the Class of 2006 on May 22, the Boston Collaege (BC) officially announced. She is also to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

BC Professor Father David Hollenbach says, as the point person and architect of the war in Iraq, Secretary Rice is not an appropriate role model for graduating seniors. Others agree.

The following is from the Boston Globe.

Invitation to Rice debated at BC
Honorary degree draws objections

Two leading theologians at Boston College have written a stinging letter objecting to the college's decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak at graduation and to give her an honorary degree.

Nearly 100 faculty members have signed the letter, according to the theology department, which declined to release their names.

The letter, which will be delivered to the president and board of trustees, has set off a fiery debate.

Kenneth Himes, chairman of the department of theology, and the Rev. David Hollenbach, who holds the Margaret O'Brien Flatley chair in the department, titled their letter ''Condoleezza Rice Does Not Deserve a Boston College Honorary Degree," and sent it to the entire faculty inviting members to sign on. The writers said they were distressed with the university's decision to invite Rice to commencement May 22. Her selection was announced Monday.

''On the levels of both moral principle and practical moral judgment, Secretary Rice's approach to international affairs is in fundamental conflict with Boston College's commitment to the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions and is inconsistent with the humanistic values that inspire the university's work," the letter said. It pointed out Pope John Paul II's opposition to the war in Iraq.

''I have no objection to her coming here to speak -- I am in favor of free speech -- but I don't believe we should be honoring her with an honorary degree," Hollenbach said.

The debate over the Rice invitation underscores the tensions between liberal and conservative Catholics. Both camps yesterday accused the other side of selectively invoking Catholic teaching in their arguments.

''This is the only time these people have cited Pope John Paul II on anything," said the Rev. Paul McNellis, who is an adjunct professor in the philosophy department.

Student activist Reena Parikh, a senior English major, found a contradiction in BC's taking a Catholic teaching stance against abortion and gay rights, while at the same time inviting Rice to accept an honorary degree.

''Boston College has selectively chosen which Catholic teachings it's going to privilege and which ideas of Catholic teaching it's going to censor," Parikh said.

Other faculty members and students supported the invitation, saying that having such a notable speaker is an honor for the university. Political science professor Marc Landy said the letter was a ''grotesque mistake" and sent a letter asking colleagues not to sign the Himes-Hollenbach letter.

''This isn't about agreeing or disagreeing with Condoleezza Rice," Landy said. ''She is the secretary of state of the United States, and there is a presumption in favor of according a warm and dignified reception to arguably the third most important executive officer."

Student and faculty groups are meeting to hammer our positions on the invitations, and propose courses of action.

The US State Department would not comment on the letter or say whether Rice had accepted the invitation. According to BC, however, she has confirmed.

''Given that Dr. Rice's schedule allows her to make only one commencement speech per year, we are pleased that she has chosen to address graduating students at Boston College, a university with a proud tradition of preparing its alumni for careers in public service," director of public affairs Jack Dunn said in an e-mail to the Globe.

The letter, which will be presented to the college president and the board of trustees, stopped short of asking BC's administration to rescind its invitation. But it didn't take long after the the letter hit cyberspace for some members of the faculty to suggest it.

The Rev. David Gill, a classics professor, said he thinks it would be a waste of time to ask the administration to rescind its invitation to Rice, because it would never do so. But he supported raising debate about it.

''The secretary of state can also find something else to do that day if she needed to," he said.

ANTI-IMMIGRANT HATE RHETORIC AND RACIST VIOLENCE

On April 28th the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), issued the following press release:

In a meeting today with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., asked for a Justice Department review into the brutal beating and sexual assault of David Ritcheson, a 16-year-old Hispanic resident of Houston, Texas. Ritcheson remains in extremely critical condition at a Houston-area hospital.

“Under any circumstances, this is a horrific and tragic crime. That the young man’s ethnicity may have played a role in the severity and savagery of the assault is appalling and unbelievable,” stated Murguía.

“Today we urged Attorney General Gonzales to use the full authority of the Department of Justice to look into this matter, and we very much appreciate that he agreed to do so. We also pledged to him that NCLR would do whatever it could to assist in this effort,” concluded Murguía.

In a case that's garnering national attention, the 17-year-old victim clings to life at Memorial Hermann Hospital while the two young men are in the Harris County Jail — charged with aggravated sexual assault after prosecutors accused them of beating and sodomizing him with a pipe because they thought he tried to kiss a 12-year-old white girl.

This hate crime did not just fall from the sky.

Earlier in April anti-Mexican slogans were scrawled on the sides of a San Diego area Mexican restaurant and the restaurant was set ablaze.

Last week came news that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante have been receiving death threats.

Last October a Sacramento, California man and two other suspects were arrested and charged with allegedly attacking and injuring six people in a hate-crime spree at two local parties. The perpetrators were charged with using brass knuckles after shouting epithets against Hispanics and proclaiming "white pride" at a party.

Read the excellent reportage below to get an idea of where it came from...and the growing anti-immigrant bigotry being promoted from the far right (and the not so far right).

The following piece is from our friend Bill Berkowitz and first appeared on Inter Press Service News Agency.

MIGRATION-US:
Amid Solidarity, "Nativists" Grow More Violent
Bill Berkowitz*

OAKLAND, California, May 2 (IPS) - Even as millions of people demonstrated across the U.S. Monday to call for amnesty for the nation's 11 million undocumented workers, other events have shed more heat than light and turned into boisterous anti-immigrant gatherings where violence against immigrants has become a rallying cry.

On Apr. 27 -- four days before a mass movement that includes undocumented workers, legal immigrants and U.S. citizens refused to go to work or school in observation of the "Great American Boycott" -- more than 1,000 people attended an anti-immigrant meeting called "Demagnetise America" in Franklin, Tennessee.

Those in attendance heard Nashville radio talk show host Phil Valentine say that he thought that U.S. Border Patrol Agents should consider shooting undocumented immigrants as they come across the border.

According to the news story posted at the website of the Centre for New Community's Building Democracy Initiative, Susan Tully, the national field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) -- present at the event -- "chuckled at the idea, while the large crowd erupted into applause".

The meeting was hosted by Valentine and broadcast over SuperTalk 99.7 WTN radio.

Devin Burghart, an expert on nativism at the Chicago, Illinois-based civil rights organisation, told IPS that the Centre for New Community "was the first organisation to report on Valentine's shooting remark".

According to Burghart, the centre has received a number of reports of veiled threats of violence coming from radio talk show hosts in other parts of the country as well.

"In early March, Brian James, a fill-in talk radio show host with Phoenix AM radio station KFYI, suggested on the air that a solution to the immigration problem in Arizona would be to kill undocumented immigrants as they cross the border. 'What we'll do is randomly pick one night every week where we will kill whoever crosses the border,' James said in the broadcast. 'Step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it's your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun.'"

Burghart pointed out that "James said that he'd be 'happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope' and kill people as the cross the border. He also suggested that the National Guard shoot illegal immigrants and receive '100 dollars a head.'"

Even worse than the increasingly violent rhetoric is the marked increase in violent incidents, most recently exemplified by "the brutal attack in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, where two white power skinheads attacked a 16-year-old Latino, brutally sexually assaulting him with a PVC pipe, and stomping his head with their boots while cursing him as being a Mexican," Burghart said.

Recently, two civil rights organisations, the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League, issued reports documenting the rise in both violence and the threat of violence against undocumented immigrants.

The SPLC recently reported that Laine Lawless of the anti-immigrant group, the Border Guardians, has repeatedly called for violence against undocumented workers.

An e-mail dated Apr. 3 and sent to Mark Martin, commander of the Western Ohio unit of the National Socialist Movement, was titled, ''How to GET RID OF THEM!''

According to SPLC's report, Lawless, who was an original member of Chris Simcox's vigilante militia before it became the Minuteman Project in early 2005, suggested a number of ways to harass and terrorise undocumented immigrants, including robbery and ''beating up illegals'' as they leave their workplace.

''Make every illegal alien feel the heat of being a person without status... I hear the rednecks in the South are beating up illegals as the textile mills have closed. Use your imagination,'' Lawless wrote.

''Discourage Spanish-speaking children from going to school. Be creative,'' she said.

''Create an anonymous propaganda campaign warning that any further illegal immigrants will be shot, maimed or seriously messed-up upon crossing the border. This should be fairly easy to do, considering the hysteria of the Spanish language press, and how they view the Minutemen as 'racists and vigilantes.'''

In the e-mail, Lawless urged her followers to ''Make every illegal alien feel the heat of being a person without status ... I hear the rednecks in the South are beating up illegals as the textile mills have closed. Use your imagination.''

Lawless also suggested that Spanish-speaking children should be "discouraged" from going to school.

In its report entitled "Extremists Declare 'Open Season' on Immigrants: Hispanics Target of Incitement and Violence", the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) examines "how white supremacists, racist skinheads and others identifying with far-right extremist groups are using the national debate over immigration reform as a means to encourage likeminded racists to speak out, or even commit violent acts against immigrants".

"This report reminds us that there is a direct connection between the national policy debate and the atmosphere surrounding the daily lives of immigrants," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director.

"Extremist groups are seeking to exploit the flow of foreign workers into this country to spread a message of xenophobia, to promote hateful stereotypes and to incite bigotry and violence against Hispanics, regardless of their status as citizens."

While the overwrought Phil Valentine and Brian James, and a handful of neo-Nazi groups have openly advocated violence against the undocumented, anti-immigrant politicos and several cable news television personalities have contributed to the increasingly toxic climate.

On Apr. 24, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a longtime media watchdog group, issued a press release pointing out that anti-immigrant fervour was being stirred up on a regular basis by Lou Dobbs, the host of CNN's nightly programme "Lou Dobbs Tonight."

FAIR pointed out that "Dobbs' tone on immigration is consistently alarmist; he warns his viewers of Mexican immigrants who see themselves as an 'army of invaders' intent upon re-annexing parts of the Southwestern U.S. to Mexico, announces that 'illegal alien smugglers and drug traffickers are on the verge of ruining some of our national treasures,' and declares that 'the invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans' through 'deadly imports' of diseases like leprosy and malaria."

Jack Cafferty, a CNN personality who contributes to the afternoon programme "The Situation Room," "has attacked and belittled immigrants' rights protesters while ignoring or dismissing their concerns several times in recent weeks."

When asked about the increase in violent rhetoric and incidents against undocumented immigrants, Burghart said that, "Unable to muster even a fraction of the numbers that immigrant rights supporters have turned out, and fearful that Congress will pass some form of a 'guest worker' programme, the ramp up of these calls to violence is symptomatic of a nativist movement that has grown increasingly desperate and ever more radical."

"This new nativism is grounded in violence: from the hysterical 'invasion' and 'civil war' rhetoric, to the racist 'reconquista' conspiracy theories, to the dehumanising of immigrants, to the calls to form militias to 'round up' immigrants and worse. It's always been there, the current context has just pushed that violent undercurrent to the surface."

*Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column "Conservative Watch" documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the U.S. Right.

JANITORS WIN THIS ONE

After a sit-in, hunger strikes and a nine-week walkout, janitors at the University of Miami decided yesterday to return to work, as the university's cleaning contractor reached a settlement with the Service Employees International Union.

For theService Employees International Union it was a major win against a big U.S. janitorial.

A statement from Students for a New Democracy (STAND) put it this way,

"For those that remain unclear, this means basically one thing: we have won. We fought for the workers’ right to make their own decision under reasonably fair and democratic circumstances; we fought against UNICCO’s and the University’s insistence that only a (deeply flawed) NLRB secret ballot election was acceptable. We fought for the workers’ rights to organize in a safe environment and to choose their own electoral process, and despite vicious, almost-unrelenting, well-funded and well-publicized opposition, we won. We won, we won, we won. Or, more appropriately, the workers won, and we share their victory."

The following is an announcement from the SEIU.

Victory for Janitors at University of Miami is Second Win in a Week for Service Workers Uniting for Improvements at Major U.S. Campuses

Nearly 1,000 Faculty from Over 100 Universities Nationwide Signed Petition To Pressure Administration at UM

WASHINGTON - May 2 - Coming on the heels of a similar victory for janitors last week at Georgetown, 450 poverty-wage janitors at the University of Miami won an agreement yesterday that gives them the right to form a union and raise living standards for their families.

The agreement came after a two-month strike by hundreds of service workers at the UM, a 17-day hunger strike by 10 UM janitors and 6 UM students, and an outpouring of support from students, faculty, and religious leaders, as well as national leaders like former U.S. Senator John Edwards.

In a major national outreach effort to university faculty, nearly 1,000 professors from nearly 200 colleges and universities across the country – from UCLA to Yale, UT-Austin to the University of Michigan -- signed a petition to UM President and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala.

“This victory for workers at UM is a victory for workers throughout Florida and beyond,” said UM professor Jane Connolly. “Low-wage workers at other colleges and universities have been watching this struggle closely and will likely follow suit. My conversations with faculty across the country indicate that workers will have their strong support, just as they have had at UM.”

In addition to the University of Miami and Georgetown, other universities where there are now ongoing movements by students and faculty to improve conditions for service workers include Harvard and the University of Virginia.

UNICCO, the national company that has the cleaning contract at the University of Miami, agreed to a process to verify that a majority of its workers are interested in forming a union with SEIU. Under the agreement, once a neutral arbitrator has independently verified that 60 percent of the janitors working for UNICCO have signed cards saying they want to form a union with SEIU, UNICCO will recognize SEIU as the janitors’ union.

At Georgetown, cleaning contractor P&R Enterprises signed a similar agreement last week allowing janitors to organize through a majority sign-up process after university administrators stepped in on workers’ behalf.

In their petition to Shalala, faculty urged her to “bear your skills as a leader and an administrator in order immediately to resolve the strike… At stake are two core principles with far-reaching implications for tens of thousands of contract workers at institutions of higher education across the country: the basic right to stand up for a better life and choose to form a union free from intimidation or the threat of firing, and the ethical and moral responsibility of all institutions of higher learning to hold their contractors accountable for their actions, and to ensure contractors cannot break the law and violate their employees’ basic rights without consequences.”

UGLY RELIGIOUS SKINHEADS ATTACK GAY CLUB IN MOSCOW

Some extremely ugly idiots (see photo) attacked a gay club in Moscow last night. They hurled debris and shouted slogans and obscene invectives. Old women held strange icons.

Russian MP Alexander Chuyev (Just Plain Dumb People's Party) said gays had provoked Orthodox believers to hold such protest actions.

The extremely ugly protesters threatened to stage more battles if a pride celebration scheduled for later this month is allowed to go ahead.

In March Russian Patriarch Alexy II announced his backing for Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's refusal to give a parade permit to organizers of the event.

In an open letter Alexy praised the mayor for his decision to “prevent public propaganda for immorality”.

A month earlier the leader of Russia's Muslims called for a "violent mass protest" if gay leaders go ahead with Pride celebrations.

Chief Russian Mufti Talgat Tajuddin said gays could be killed if they go ahead with their plans.

The country’s Chief Rabbi joined his buddies in the hatefest.

Rabbi Berl Lazar said that anything promoting what he called “sexual perversions” does not have the right to exist (Didn't there used to be some guy named Adolph who used to make such pronouncements?).

You can always count on these religious leaders to demonstrate the beauty of their respective faiths at times like these.

Organizers of the pride festival and parade said it will go ahead as planned for May 26-27. They warn that if the city attempts to prevent the march they will take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

I gotta tell you, that will take some guts.

The first article is from the BBC. The second is from Pink News.

Protests cancel Moscow gay party

Protesters shouting homophobic slogans and hurling eggs and bottles have forced
a Moscow night club to cancel a mass gay and lesbian party.

Police kept back the crowd of at least 100 skinheads, nationalists and elderly
religious protesters.

No serious injuries were reported but revellers had to be turned away and police
escorted those inside to safety.

The incident comes weeks before Moscow authorities are due to rule on allowing
the city's first Gay Pride parade.

Organisers had been hoping to attract about 1,000 people to the "Open Party" at
the Renaissance Event Club on Ordzhonikidze Street in the south of the Russian
capital.

However, just before 2200 (1800 GMT) on Sunday, as the final preparations were
being made inside, protesters began gathering in the street.
They included skinheads and elderly women carrying Russian Orthodox icons and
crosses.

Demonstrators chanted "Down with pederasts" and "No perverts here".

An AFP correspondent reports that at least one party-goer was beaten by
protesters before being rescued by police but there were no official reports of
injuries.

Party organisers say police numbers outside increased only gradually and there
was anxiety inside as messages arrived by mobile phone about missiles being
thrown at revellers trying to approach the club.

However, the officers were praised by gay rights campaigners for preventing any
serious violence.

Special buses laid on took people from inside the club into Moscow city centre.

Nikolai Alexeyev, one of the chief organisers of the Moscow Gay Pride, noted
that the protest had caught the city authorities unawares, coming on the eve of
the May Day holiday.

It was, he said, a "mass, coordinated action aimed at intimidating Russian gays
and lesbians".

Igor Artyomov, a leader of the Nationalist RONS party, told AFP outside the club
that the demonstration was a "peaceful" protest against "sin".

Moscow's authorities have said they will ban the Pride parade, scheduled for 27
May, because of the public disorder it might provoke.

A formal decision is not due until the middle of the month when the organisers
submit their application for permission.
================================================================================

Moscow gay club night cancelled following attack


The club in the Russian capital was attacked

Homophobic protesters hurling eggs and bottles have forced a gay club in Moscow to cancel what was billed as the city's largest gay and lesbian party.

Police were forced to intervene when at least 100 skinheads, fascists nationalists and elderly Christian fundamentalists clutching Orthodox icons descended on the club at 10pm (6pm GMT) last night.

Organisers had hoped to attract over a thousand people to the "Open Party" at the Renaissance Event Club in the south of Moscow.

The AFP news agency reported that at least one gay clubber was beaten by protesters although the police have not officially reported any injuries.

Nikolai Alexeyev, one of the organisers claimed of Moscow's gay pride which is due to take place later this month (with or without permission) said the attack was a "mass, coordinated action aimed at intimidating Russian gays and lesbians".

Igor Artyomov, of the Nationalist RONS party, told AFP that the demonstration was a "peaceful" protest against "sin".

The capital has been under scrutiny from the international community since its mayor, Yury Luzhkov said: “all attempts to organise a gay parade, in any form, open or disguised, will be resolutely quashed".

Responding to this, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone told PinkNews.co.uk in February, “I believe that equality for lesbians and gay men is a fundamental human right. Equality must include the right to hold Gay Pride Parades and other public events, which celebrate the contribution of the lesbian and gay communities to the life of the world's great cities. That is why I support the Moscow Pride Parade.”

MARCOS LEADS MARCH IN MEXICO IN SUPPORT OF IMMIGRANTS

A day-long protest dubbed "A Day Without Gringos" drew thousands of Mexicans into the streets on Monday and kept many away from U.S.-owned supermarkets and fast-food restaurants to support rallies in the United States demanding immigration reform. Subcommandante Marcos joined the rally in Mexico City and led a march to the U.S. embassy there.

The article below is from the Spanish news agency - EFE.

"Marcos" leads march supporting Mexican emigrants in U.S.

Mexico City, May 1 (EFE).- The head of the Zapatista rebels, Subcomandante Marcos, on Monday joined the business boycott staged by Mexican emigrants in the United States and led a protest march to the U.S. Embassy in this capital.

"We will expel the capitalists from Mexico, including the big U.S. capitalists," Marcos told the rally of some 3,000 people in front of the U.S. mission here.

The leader of the Zapatista rebels - who now eschew armed struggle for grassroots activism - has been traveling around the country for the past four months on a tour he calls "the other campaign" to differentiate it from the electoral activities of the political parties in the runup to July's presidential and congressional elections.

"We're joining the boycott against all the U.S. products that circulate in Mexican territory," Marcos said.

After the rally, Marcos, with his traditional military garb and with his face covered by a hood, headed a march designated "The other May Day," in which hundreds of people, among them some Italian and French tourists, participated.

The political parties also held a meeting in the lower house of the Mexican Congress to express their support for the emigrants fighting in the United States for favorable immigration reform in that country.

In the Mexican capital, spokesmen for the local Wal-Mart stores told EFE that their sales had not been affected by the so-called "commercial boycott," while the fast-food chain McDonald's refused to provide any information on their own sales.

In the northern industrial city of Monterrey, a group of women passed out tacos in front of a McDonald's as a sign of support for the boycott.

In Nuevo Laredo, some 300 people carrying signs with slogans against U.S. President George W. Bush blocked the international bridge and tried to prevent the passage of vehicles and people into the United States, causing friction with those who were crossing the border.

In Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, about 1,000 people blocked the Cordova international bridge for about 40 minutes and Mexican authorities said that the protest definitely had affected the flow of traffic across the international boundary.

At other international bridges there were also demonstrations that reduced the number of crossings. EFE ea/bp

BOLIVIA TAKES CONTROL OF HYDROCARBON INDUSTRY: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

With the words, "Considering that, through historical struggles at the cost of much bloodshed, the people have won the right to control our hydrocarbon riches..." president Evo Morales decreed the nationalization of Bolivia's oil and gas reserves, yesterday, May Day. Morales was acting in compliance with the results of a national referundum of July, 2004, in which the population voted to return ownership of the country's reserves to the state.

Later with threats of sabtage looming Morales sent troops to guard the fields as well.

In a speech at the Government Headquarter in front of a crowd that had waited many hours for his arrival from the southern region, where he signed the nationalizing measure, Morales told those companies who don't want to invest anymore in Bolivia, "to get out."

He added that those firms will be welcome if they accept the people´s sovereign will and follow the Bolivian laws and Constitution, as well as the nationalization decree.

Under the terms of the nationalization decree, all foreign operators in the country have 180 days to comply with the new rules; the most important of which is that the Bolivian state-run firm, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), is to has complete control over commercialization and will "define domestic and export conditions, volume and prices." The measure boosts to 82 percent the Bolivian participation in the profits of production from the main gas producing wells.

This is not the first time Bolivia has nationalized its petroleum sector. In 1937 in confiscated the assets of Standard Oil. And in 1969 it confiscated the assets of Gulf Oil. In a speech celebrating the nationalization, Morales called his May Day decree the "third, definitive nationalization."

The article below which explores what the future holds and what can be expected from the United States is from VHeadlines.

Evo Morales' courageous move now makes him a target along with Hugo Chavez

VHeadline.com commentarist Stephen Lendman writes: To get a good sense of where US policy is heading, one need only read the front page of the New York Times or Wall Street Journal -- painful as that may be to do. I skip the NYT but do read the WSJ daily because of the audience it reaches -- high level people in business and government who want real information to guide them in their work.

So despite the WSJ being a voice for US business and imperialism, knowing how to read it, and doing it carefully, yields useful information and clues about what future US policy is likely to be.

Today's WSJ was a good example as they had a feature front-page story headlined "Bolivia Seizes Natural-Gas Fields In a Show of Energy Nationalism." That alone signals a call to arms that's backed up strongly in the copy that follows.

The WSJ begins its heated rhetoric claiming Evo Morales has been "emboldened by Hugo Chavez's moves against private oil companies" and yesterday (symbolically on May Day celebrating working people around the world including in the US in a big way for the first time) nationalized the country's largest natural gas field, San Alberto, and ordered the army to "take control of it and the country's other fields." It went on to explain that it ordered foreign oil companies to relinquish control of the fields, accept "much tougher operating terms or leave the country."

Bolivian law is clear that the state owns the resources in the country.

Up to now it's allowed foreign investors to operate the fields and take the majority share of production from them to sell for their gain.

Last year, however, Bolivia raised the state's take to an effective 50% of production by increasing taxes and royalties. Yesterday the government went further by declaring the state owns the gas once it's been extracted and that the companies operating in the two largest fields would only get 18% of the production for themselves.

A little translation is in order. What the WSJ didn't explain, and never would, is that those "tougher operating terms" are simply Bolivia's right as an independent nation (and all other nations as well) to get the majority benefits from its own natural resources and that foreign investors are there sharing in them only because the country allowed them to.

But instead of being grateful, the WSJ makes clear, without stating it, that the investors are greedy and want the lion's share and on their terms.

What's also left unsaid or unsatisfactorily explained is nationalization does not mean expropriation.

Evo Morales has made it clear that foreign investors will not lose the rights to their investments. What they will lose once Morales' plan is implemented (he's giving them six months to comply) is their unfair share of the profits and benefits they never had a right to have in the first place.

Under the Morales plan, a new contract will be made between the government and foreign investors guaranteeing that the people of Bolivia will receive the majority of benefits from its own resources while at the same time foreign investors will receive their fare share but no more than that. It also means the government alone now will decide the terms of revenue sharing and tax obligations due rather than Big Oil dictating them with the long shadow of the US looming in the background, which is still the case, of course.

The WSJ then becomes more inflammatory than it has in its past and recent railings against Hugo Chavez. It claimed high energy prices have sparked a resurgent wave of nationalism from Caracas to Moscow.

Of course, it forgot to mention the one country above all others where so-called nationalism and protectionism is a national religion -- the United States of America.
Here where I live, no outside investors are allowed in (especially from developing nations) to profit except on the ironclad rules we set, take it or leave it. So by US imperial rules (the only ones, no others allowed), what's good for us is not acceptable or allowed for anyone else because we said so.

The WSJ went on to say Morales is mimicking measures against Big Oil by "Mr. Chavez" (he happens to be the President and should be addressed that way), and that Morales and Chavez are "both playing a game of chicken with foreign oil companies."

It also couldn't resist raising the specter of Fidel Castro and the fact that Chavez and Morales signed a free trade accord over the past weekend with the man the imperial US hates most.

There's more to this story as well which the WSJ points out into their long article...

The leading Peruvian candidate, Ollanta Humala, in the upcoming presidential run-off election against US choice-by-default Alan Garcia, has also called for nationalization of the country's natural gas and mining resources.

...and Evo Morales has made it clear he intends to nationalize Bolivia's other natural resources likely beginning with its forests and mines.

Further, to cap off a growing US Latin American nightmare, last month Ecuador passed a law designed to cut the windfall profits of foreign crude producers (including US-based Occidental Petroleum) by giving the government (meaning the people) 50% of oil company profits whenever the international oil market exceeds the prices established in existing contracts.

There certainly is trouble for the US in Latin America and in the oil patch there as well as in Iraq, Iran, Nigeria and who knows where else it may spread.

So what can we make of all this ... and what is most likely to happen going forward.

The US is now spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to hold on to the oil treasure it stole by invading Iraq. It's also made it clear it has designs on those same resources in neighboring Iran, and may attack that country using nuclear weapons. And if that isn't enough on one plate to digest, it faces a dilemma in Venezuela it's tried unsuccessfully three times to solve.

Venezuela has even greater hydrocarbon reserves than Iraq or Iran (possibly the largest in the world even above Saudi Arabia's) and is led by a courageous man unwilling to surrender his nation's sovereignty to its imperial northern neighbor demanding it. And now the heavenly virus of the desire to be truly independent is beginning to spread to Bolivia, Peru (if Humala wins the run-off election), hopefully Ecuador and significant opposition groups outside the governments in other countries as well like Nigeria and Nepal.

These nations, or opposition groups in them, are demanding equity and justice for their people, and are beginning to raise their heads and demand the rights they're entitled to.

If they all get them, that's bad news for the US and the dominant corporate interests here that profit handsomely by exploiting the resources of underdeveloped nations and its cheap labor as well.

Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales know this and have spoken out and acted courageously against these long-time abuses in defense the rights of their own people. But their doing so is intolerable to the US which will do everything in its power to reverse the loss of its special privilege.

So what can we expect ahead.

I have no doubt whatever (and I've written about this several times), when the heat is turned up against US interests, this country won't go quietly into the night.

The plans are well underway now for a fourth attempt to oust Hugo Chavez that may include assassinations and possibly an armed assault by US invading forces.

Last Sunday, VHeadline published a commentary/review I wrote about Noam Chomsky's new book 'Failed States.' In an email I received from Chomsky on April 29 he updated the views he stated in his new book and gave a blunt assessment of what may be in prospect which I'll quote again here: he said he "wouldn't be surprised to see (US-inspired) secessionist movements in the oil producing areas in Iran, Venezuela and Bolivia, all in areas that are accessible to US military force and alienated from the governments, with the US then moving in to 'defend' them and blasting the rest of the country if necessary."

I share that view, although I'm not privy to what hostile plans my government has in mind. I'll only state my strong belief that something big is planned to oust President Chavez (and now maybe Evo Morales as well) that will only become apparent once the fireworks begin.

TO BE A WOMEN IN PRISON IN AFGHANISTAN TODAY

The following was reported earlier this year in an article in the New York Times on the current lot of women in Afghanistan.

"Homa is a typical young woman born and raised in rural Afghanistan. At 16 she was married and gave birth to a baby boy. After her husband was killed in the wars racking her country, Homa chose to remain a widow. The years rolled by uneventfully until a cousin, whose marriage offer she had rejected, found her home alone and raped her. She didn't dare report the assault -- rape is not against the law in Afghanistan, and women are commonly arrested for sex crimes if they speak out. However, the next time her cousin came, Homa was prepared. She defended herself with kerosene and a match, sending the man to the hospital."

"The man's father was sympathetic. At first he believed that Homa was acting in self-defense, but when his son died of complications, he demanded recompense. If Homa's father would give him several sheep, and Homa's two younger sisters, all would be forgiven. The court hearing the case stood poised to approve the agreement, but Homa refused. The judge was perplexed by Homa's disregard for social harmony and sentenced her to 15 years in prison."

The Times didn't report anything about what Homa's life was like after that.

Below you'll get an idea.

The following is from IRIN.

AFGHANISTAN: Misery for female prisoners

MAZAR-E SHARIF, 1 May (IRIN) - Lailoma, 10, has been living in squalid conditions with her imprisoned mother in a provincial jail in Mazar-e Sharif, capital of the northern Afghan province of Balkh, for years. "I cannot live without my mother, brothers and sister who have been here with me for a long time," grinned Lailoma.

Nisar Ahmad, 8, Lailoma's brother, has no idea about life outside the prison as he has been living in a poorly ventilated, dark room with a tiny window and small yard most of his life. "How can I go outside when the door is always locked and my mother is here?" he asked.

Although Lailoma and Nisar Ahmad have not been charged with any crime, they have become prisoners along with their mother, 35-year-old Tordai, charged with the killing of her husband. With nowhere to go, they stay with their convicted mother - the only parent - in the dilapidated facility.

"My four children have been living with me here in jail for nearly five years. This has become another headache for my miserable life with daily quarrelling and arguing," said the emaciated mother, sitting on a small plastic sheet in her prison cell.

"They [the children] have the same conditions as we do here in the jail," Tordai complained. "They have become illiterate … with no means of learning and studying here."

Shafiqa, 20, another female inmate, charged with adultery, complained about poor conditions in the detention facility. "There are no doctors, no medicine and not enough food to eat for us here," she said. The young women escaped from home two years ago after she was married to a man against her will.

Tordai and Shafiqa - along with other 12 female inmates and their 15 children - share the facility with 236 male prisoners in a mud-built compound, which was originally the city's traffic police department. The building has only two small yards and just nine cells for both male and female convicts.

The lack of space means those awaiting trial languish with the convicted in the same cells, Col Abdulrub, in charge of the prison, said.

"In addition to a lack of proper medicine and health care here, the issue of very old and overcrowded rooms is another trouble for prisoners living in this compound," Abdulrub explained, adding that up to 30 prisoners were living in a room originally built for 10 inmates.

Prison authorities in Mazar also complained about a lack of foodstuffs, proper medicine and education facilities for children living alongside their mothers in the prison.

"The government is only providing less then US $1 for each inmate per day, which cannot even buy their dry bread," the prison official said.

Rights bodies have expressed concern over poor prison conditions in the destitute central Asian state.

There are 34 prisons across the country and many lack separate buildings for female prisoners, many of whom are kept in cells in prisons originally built for male inmates.

"Some 90 children are living with their mothers, who have been charged with different crimes, without any kindergartens and other facilities for their development in all the prisons of the country," Azizi claimed.

"Prison conditions in Afghanistan remain extremely poor and prisoners generally have to rely on relatives for their food and other expenditures," the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said in its annual report for 2005.

"Prisons and their staff are severely under-resourced and no training is provided to them about caring for prisoners or their duties with regards to the human rights of prisoners," the report read.

According to the report, the rights body had helped secure the release of 1,386 illegally detained persons and removed 27 children from adult prison cells in 2005.

TODAY AT TILDENVILLE ELEMENTARY

Everyone will have big stories today about the boycots and marches. I decided instead to bring you a small one.

This comes from the Orlando Sentinel.

Tildenville Elementary absences blamed on demonstration

More than 40 percent of Tildenville Elementary's children failed to show up for class today, a phenomenon school officials attribute to today's demonstrations.

Tildenville is an old farming community served by a high-poverty, high-minority school. Hispanic children make up more than two-thirds of its enrollment. Yet nearly all 265 absent today are Hispanic, said Carmen Martinez, the school's dual-language program coordinator.

"We have children from everywhere -- Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Puerto Rico," she said, and their parents largely work in farming and the service industries.

It's not clear whether families kept the children home in silent demonstrations or brought them to Orlando to participate in rallies, she said. In the meantime, the school will remain open and it will be up to teachers to decide later whether to incorporate Monday's events into future lessons

OMAHA TO MAKE SCHOOL SEGREGATION THE LAW

Under a bill swiftly signed this month by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, the Omaha school district in 2008 would be carved into three new districts: one mostly white, one mostly black and one largely Hispanic. The law doesn't say that outright, but its mapping requirements make such an outcome inevitable, given the city's housing patterns.

The proposal was introduced to the legislature by Nebaraska's only black state senator, Ernie Chambers. Chambers has been described by some as the angriest black man in Nebraska.

Chambers is far and away the legislature's most liberal member and is a long time advocate on behalf of the downtrodden. He is not your typical state politician. He wears sweatshirts and jeans on the floor of the senate. Every year at the start of the session he introduces legislation to abolish the death penalty. He fought against an amendment to the state constitution to protect the right to hunt.

According to Mother Jones magazine, "He cajoled his colleagues into abolishing corporal punishment in schools, correcting the state pension system so that women would be treated equally with men, and back[ed] a switch from at-large municipal elections to district-based voting so that nonwhites would have a chance to serve. Under his sway, Nebraska led the nation in the 1980s in divesting in companies that did business with apartheid-era South Africa."

So what with his proposal which most see as an ugly throw back to Jim Crow days.

Chambers says the schools are already segregated in realtiy. He says that Omaha is already divided economically, socially and racially. The de facto segregation, he says, has resulted in an inequitable distribution of resources that leaves minority students on the short end of the stick. Minority students are receiving a poor quality education as a result. He argues, the change in the district lines would allow each minority group to control its own schools. That would give them the ability to allocate resources in a way that would give minority students a chance at a better education.

Segregation has always been here and always will be here, so ... how can you mitigate the harm it does to our children?" Chambers told Knight Ridder Newspapers. "The only chance they've got is if parents control the schools. ... It's as American as apple pie."

Rush Limbaugh seemed to agree when he commented on a recent show, "You know, I also remember, I've had a couple -- well, a lot more than that -- I've had a lot of discussions with Dr. Sowell, Dr. Thomas Sowell who is also black and he grew up in Harlem and a lot of other places. I'll never forget one time he told me that when he grew up in Harlem before Harlem became what it is today, he said it was black, but you had black professionals, including teachers, and they were educated. They had values. They were all oriented around the church. The culture was intact, it was superb, and they held their own in academic contests with kids from white schools around New York and so forth, and once the integration came along, all that just disintegrated for some reason, and apparently what's happening is that they've finally owned up to the problem in Omaha, and so they're going to go back and try to fix it by turning back the hands of time."

However, the proposal did not sit well with most black leaders in Omaha.

"This is a disaster," Ben Gray, a television news producer and co-chairman of the African-American Achievement Council said in the New York Times. "Throughout our time in America, we've had people who continuously fought for equality, and from Brown vs. Board of Education, we know that separate is not equal. We cannot go back to segregating our schools."

The following is taken from the Afro-American Newspapers.

Black leaders silent on Omaha school plan
By James Wright
AFRO Staff Writer

The leaders of Black and civil rights organizations have yet to comment on the controversy regarding the Nebraska legislature dividing Omaha's school system into three districts, Black, White and Latino. The NAACP is the only organization that has issued a statement regarding the matter.

"We strongly oppose the Nebraska law that divides the Omaha public schools along racial lines," Bruce Gordon, CEO and president, said. "The Supreme Court ruled those 52 years ago that separate but equal schools result in inequality and poor education for minority children. We will use every advocacy tool, including legal, at our disposal to fight this unconstitutional law."

Gordon noted that in 1976, a federal court, ordered the 45,000-student Omaha school system desegregated. The city ran a mandatory busing program from 1976 to 1999.

"To think that in 2006, after all that has been done to desegregate schools, a state legislative body would pass, and a governor sign into law, a bill that intentionally segregates students based on their race or ethnicity is unconscionable," said Gordon.

Sen. Ernie Chambers (D-Omaha) introduced the legislation. In a previous edition of the AFRO, Chambers said the schools in his city were already segregated and his plan is a way for Black parents to have more control over their children's education.

A spokesperson for the Congressional Black Caucus said that Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), chairman of the group, has not made a statement regarding the controversy. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund said they were still studying its options.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has not had time to study the matter, but will be doing so soon, said a spokesperson for the Rainbow-Push Coalition. When the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights was asked for comment, a spokesperson referred to the NAACP statement.

The National Education Association, led by Reg Weaver, did not comment on the controversy.

"We have decided to let our affiliate in Nebraska handle this matter," said Ramona Parks, senior spokesperson for the association.

University of Maryland political scientist Dr. Ronald Walters said that Chambers is trying to remedy public policy that says that Black children are not important.

Omaha's plan will be implemented July 2008 unless the legislature makes changes, Chambers said.

ANTI-IMMIGRATION LEADER URGED NAZIS TO TAKE ON UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS

Laine Lawless is thrilled to death organizing against immigrants. As a leader of Border Guardians--an organization which has recently been grabbing headlines with members' festive burning of the Mexican flag--she's been inviting people down to her Arizona ranch to stand against the "invading hordes." Lawless is a former Minutemen who started her own group, she says, to keep tabs on what she calls "the open border lobby."

Lawless recently told KVOA in Tuscon, "“They (undocumented immigrants) have no right to protest. They have no right at all. They have the right to be deported.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama reported earlier this month it has an e-mail (see below) proving that Laine Lawless is trying to promote violence against illegal immigrants.

She says the e-mail is a fake.

You be the judge.

The following article and related e-mail comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Going Lawless
Border Guardians leader calls for violence
By Susy Buchanan and David Holthouse

A prominent anti-immigration leader has secretly urged the nation’s largest neo-Nazi group to launch a campaign of violence and harassment against undocumented workers in the United States.

Laine Lawless, who started a group called Border Guardians last year, sent an April 3 e-mail to Mark Martin, "SS commander" of the Western Ohio unit of the National Socialist Movement, which has 59 chapters in 30 states. It was titled, "How to GET RID OF THEM!"

The e-mail from Lawless, who was also an original member of Chris Simcox’s vigilante militia before it morphed into the Minuteman Project in early 2005, detailed 11 suggestions for ways to harass and terrorize undocumented immigrants, including robbery and "beating up illegals" as they leave their workplace.

"Maybe some of your warriors for the race would be the kind of people willing to implement some of these ideas," Lawless wrote. "I’m not ready to come out on this. ... Please don’t use my name. THANKS."

At the request of Lawless, who declined to respond to questions from the Intelligence Report, Martin posted her suggestions to a number of neo-Nazi bulletin boards. Those suggestions included:

"Steal the money from any illegal walking into a bank or check cashing place."

"Make every illegal alien feel the heat of being a person without status. ... I hear the rednecks in the South are beating up illegals as the textile mills have closed. Use your imagination."

"Discourage Spanish-speaking children from going to school. Be creative."

"Create an anonymous propaganda campaign warning that any further illegal immigrants will be shot, maimed or seriously messed-up upon crossing the border. This should be fairly easy to do, considering the hysteria of the Spanish language press, and how they view the Minutemen as ‘racists & vigilantes.’"
The Report contacted Lawless for comment, sending her copies of her own e-mails that included their original headers, as she requested. But after receiving the copies, Lawless refused to talk.

Lawless, the former high priestess of Sisterhood of the Moon, a lesbian pagan organization, has been heavily involved in anti-immigration extremism since 2004, when she joined Simcox's Civil Homeland Defense outfit, as it was then called. That same year, she invited militia members to her private ranch in Cochise County, Ariz. "I coordinate with Chris [Simcox], so anyone who wants to come is welcome," she wrote in a post to an online user group, "Border War" which was reposted on sites such as "A Well Regulated Militia."

Lawless was featured in numerous media reports on the first Minuteman Project campaign in April 2005, and has patrolled side-by-side with Minuteman vice-president Carmen Mercer. Lawless also traveled to Texas to join the Texas Minutemen in October, when she was quoted in The Austin Chronicle saying she gets an "intellectual and political orgasm" from spying on pro-immigration groups. In that interview, she accused one pro-immigration activist of inserting chants of "White Power!" into an audiotape of Minuteman rallies to discredit the movement.

This March 29 and 30, Lawless was quoted on CNN attacking a humanitarian group that leaves food and water for people crossing the Sonora Desert to illegally enter the United States.

In April, just six days after Lawless e-mailed her suggestions to neo-Nazi Mark Martin, Border Guardians made national news when Lawless and other members burned a Mexican flag in front of the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, where Lawless’ group is based. Before the flag was set aflame, Lawless held a press conference.

"As always, Border Guardians remains committed to only lawful actions to combat illegal immigration," she said. "We are committed to practice only peaceful, lawful action in defense of our country."

Her e-mail the prior week to the National Socialist Movement, however, clearly revealed a darker agenda. "There are several tactics, some legal and some not-so," she wrote. "Sabotage the things they like: entertainment, food, beer... . BRAVO to the person who cut down the Spanish language radio station towers just North of Phoenix! Now that sends a message!"

That April 3 E-mail was not the only contact between Lawless and the NSM. In that e-mail, she writes of leaving a voicemail message on the NSM’s hotline. And, in an earlier e-mail to NSM commander Martin dated March 6, she congratulated the NSM on provoking a riot in Toledo, Ohio, in October 2005. "I still think those riots were wonderful!" Lawless wrote.

The contact between Lawless and the NSM is not the first evidence to emerge of overlapping Minuteman and neo-Nazi membership. A few members of the National Alliance and Aryan Nations signed up with the original Minuteman Project in April 2005, and at least two frequent contributors to the white supremacist website Stormfront volunteered for Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist’s failed Congressional campaign.

Like Lawless, Martin would not comment for this story. But he did offer this tagline when he forwarded Lawless’ suggested tactics to other neo-Nazis: "The information contained in this email is Racially and Religiously privileged and confidential. It is intended for specific Aryan recipients only."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The text of the e-mail from Border Guardians leader Laine Lawless to "SS commander" Mark Martin.

Mon, Apr 10, 2006 1:29 AM
Page 1 of 3
Subject: [Wasp] Digest Number 233
Date: Monday, April 3, 2006 5:48 PM
From: wasp14@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: wasp14@yahoogroups.com
To: "wasp14@yahoogroups.com"
Conversation: [Wasp] Digest Number 233


Message: 7

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 14:41:08 -0700 (PDT)

From: Frank Furter

Subject: Fwd: How to GET RID OF THEM!





laine lawless wrote: Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 08:32:32 -0700 (PDT)

From: laine lawless

Subject: How to GET RID OF THEM!

To: Frank Furter



Would you do me a favor and send this onto your lists?

I'm not ready to come out on this, but I think my

ideas are good and should be shared. I posted this on

a small list on yahoo called remove illegals, but

that's as far as it's gone. Maybe some of your

warriors for the race would be the kind of ppl willing

to implement some of these ideas. Please don't use my

name. THANKS.

BTW, I did call your virtual number and leave a

message a few wks ago. Did you hear my message?

Laine



So far, it seems we have discussed everything but how

to GET RID OF THEM. There are several tactics, some

legal and some not-so:



1. As has been discussed, once the economic

incentives are removed, they will self-deport. In

order to do this, we need to intimidate employers into

NOT hiring them, as it seems the fedgov is doing a

lousy job of this.



2. Police departments need to be held accountable for

just giving a "get out of jail free" card to

unlicensed, uninsured drivers of unlicensed cars when

they are caught. No more sanctuary or Special Order

40. Citizens need to get together and pressure

mayors, city councils, and the police departments to

turn these people over to the CBP and ICE EVERY TIME

they are caught.



3. Make every illegal alien feel the heat of being a

fugitive and a person without proper status. I'm sure

there are many creative ways to do this. I hear the

rednecks in the South are beating up illegals as the

textile mills have closed. Use your imagination...



4. Sabotage the things that they like: entertainment,

Page 2 of 3
food, beer, overpopulation, wife-beating, drunk

driving, treating American women with disrespect, etc.

Put them in their place. BRAVO to the person who cut

down the Spanish language radio station towers just

North of Phoenix! Now that sends a message!



5. Do the best you can to scare the bejeezuz out of

them if you encounter them crossing the border. This

doesn't have to be harmful; some good psy-ops would

do.



6. Send native agents provocateurs and disinfo

specialists into Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala (the

largest emigration nations) to discourage and sabotage

immigrants and their smugglers from coming to the US.



7. Deprive illegals of the smuggling money they pay.

Steal the money from any illegal walking into a bank

or check cashing place. Steal the money from the

smugglers. Expose slavery and prostitution rings run

by smugglers.



8. Create an anonymous propaganda campaign warning

that any further illegal immigrants coming here will

be shot, maimed, or seriously messed-up upon crossing

the border. This should be fairly easy to do,

considering the hysteria of the Spanish language

press, and how they view the Minutemen as "racists &

vigilantes." I say, if it bleeds, it leads, and why

not work on their fears? Create a totally false news

story and circulate it on the internet about how some

illegals were killed by vigilantes after crossing the

border.



9. Discourage Spanish-speaking school children from

going to public school. Be creative.



10. Stand in front of public voting places and ask

everyone who comes to vote if they speak English.



11. Lobby Congress or your local state legislature to

drop all ESL and classes conducted only in Spanish.



OK now, let's get going!




Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments is
Racially and Religiously privileged and confidential. It is intended for specific Aryan
recipients only and Brothers and Sisters of their choosing. If you are a jew, you can
only be in possession through deceit, treachery, guile, cunning, dissimulation and
chicanery, and such possession of this e-mail is contrary to law. You are hereby notified
that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this e-mail through the error of someone else, you must notify the
sender and permanently delete this e-mail and any attachments immediately. You should
neither retain, nor copy nor use this e-mail or any attachment for any purpose.
Disclosure of all or any part of the contents to any other jew is a punishable offense.



WWW.NSM88.COM WWW.NUKEISRAEL.COM

CITIZENS SAY NO TO NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN SINOP, TURKEY

Sinop is one of the most beautiful natural harbors on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. It is here that the government has decided to build a nuclear power plant. And it is here where the people are saying "no."

On a grass roots web site maintined by Sinopbizim Platform it states, "We shall declare repeatedly how the so-called peaceful nuclear energy creates a death cycle starting from the moment uranium is mined. Every phase of the process with radioactive materials involves a high risk to the environment and public health. Unseen, unheard, and odorless, radioactivity can only be detected with sensitive instruments. Every year, tons of radioactive nuclear waste is transferred to almost forever deadly waste storage sites; nuclear energy cycle in every inch paves the way to unheard of human disasters."

Greenpeace, which also opposes the plant, recalling the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986, points to that explosion's lingering effects in Turkey. Recent research carried out by the Turkish Doctors Union on the effects of Chernobyl revealed that over the last three years, 48 percent of deaths in the Black-Sea town of Hopa, close to the Turkey's border with Georgia, are due to cancer.

The first article beow comes from Hurriyet (Turkey). The second piece is from BIA News Center.

Anti-nuclear demonstration in Sinop

Thousands of anti-nuclear activists and environmentalists alike gathered in Sinop on Saturday for a peaceful demonstration against the planned nuclear power plant that the government say will be built on the Ince peninsula.

Up to 10,000 people marched through the Black Sea fishing village of Sinop in protest of the government's plans to build the plant not far from the town. The rally marched through the streets and congregated in the town square shouting anti-nuclear slogans and sang environmentalists songs. Members of the CHP were present, although no representative of the ruling Justice and development Party (AKP) were present.

Residents joined Turks, who had traveled from all over Turkey, and marched through the streets in protest of the government's nuclear plans. Buses traveled from Istanbul and Ankara carrying many NGOs such as "The Greens" and "Anti-Nuclear Platform". The trip was organised by the Chamber of Electric Engineers (EMO). The event was a peaceful event with a low police presence on the ground.

Following a meeting on April 14, of Turkey's top energy officials and representatives of 14 firms, statements circulated in the Turkish media that the government had confirmed Sinop as the site of where the new nuclear plant is to be built. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by the Turkish media on April 14 as saying the Black Sea coastal town of Sinop was "the one".

It is the second of such plans for Turkey. Nuclear ambitions were first initiated in the 1960s. A previous attempt to build a power plant at Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast also had to be abandoned after strong protests from locals and environmentalists.

A second rally is planned for June, but the location is not yet known.
==============================================================================

Amid Protests Ankara Heads for Nuclear Energy

BİA (Istanbul) - Turkey's Black Sea port city of Sinop has been chosen as the site for the country's first nuclear power station, according to an official announcement made this week.

Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) chairman Okay Cakiroglu said Wednesday that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had personally chosen Sinop from among eight alternative locations identified by 43 separate criteria, ranging from temperature of sea water, to local climate, wind and air conditions.

Energy Minister Hilmi Guler has already held talks with 10 Turkish companies and a model has been decided on for the nuclear power.

"What we want to do," Guler said Thursday, "is to build these with the skills of the private sector. They have expressed a desire to do this according to a model where the state will also contribute."

Guler said the model would involve the private sector working together with the public sector in nuclear power and added, "we see this as the sharing of risk. It does not have a Treasury guarantee from the beginning. There will be a model on the sales of the electricity that will be produced. If sales fall below this, the public sector will meet the rest."

According to the Minister, this is referred to as the Ireland Model and has already been put into practice by the Ministry of Transport at airports and terminals.

TTB concerned of cancer threat

The nuclear power station announcement comes simultaneous to the results of a Turkish Physicians Union (TTB) research on "Cancer in Turkey After the Chernobil Accident" that was disclosed Wednesday at the Istanbul Chamber of Doctors (ITO). The research showed the rate of cancer in the Black Sea town of Hopa close to the border as being higher than the Turkish average.

Although the research is not conclusive that the escalated ratio of victims is directly related to Chernobil due to lack of official data, it was stressed that this possible connection needed further investigation.

Reaction to nuke power mounts

A day after the disclosure that nuclear power would be hosted at what once was the legendary Amazon capital on the Black Sea and is regarded by part of its population as a promising tourism resort, reactions to the decision as well as the government's overall nuclear power policy started building up.

Dr. Uyar: It's dangerous

Marmara University Faculty of Engineering Energy Sciences Division Chairman and Turkish Environment Platform (TURCEP) Coordinator Assistant Professor Dr. Tanay Sidki Uyar blasted the decision saying that it was dangerous and whatever was claimed about energy production, since the primary purpose of nuclear power stations was to build atomic weapons, Turkey should look to natural resources.

"What is even more dangerous than the power station itself is the mentality of let's build a power station and we can also build the storage system" Ural said, criticizing the government for "choosing something good not for itself but for other countries at a time nuclear energy is a system that is being abandoned everywhere."

He added that since 1978 there had been no nuclear power station orders throughout the world and that 100 such orders had been cancelled.

"A nuclear power station that cannot be sold in Europe is being proposed for Turkey" he said, arguing that nuclear power is the most expensive, most pollutant, and most useless form of energy. Uyar said Turkey was a country rich with renewable energy resources and emphasized that both wind and solar energy could meet energy demands in far more economical and cleaner ways.

Nuclear power comes with hidden costs

Turkish Environment Platform (TURCEP) Coordinator Uyar also believes that the hidden costs of nuclear energy makes it a long term burden on a country's economy. Pointing out that the cost of a nuclear power station is not just about setting it up but involves also the security infrastructure, the licensing cost, operational cost and even the cost of closing it down.

"To country's like Turkey where the security infrastructure cost is too high, the World Bank does not give credit for such investments," he said. "Also, the competent commissions and ministries of countries, just like in the USA and Canada, have to issue a new license for plants that have operated for 20 years."

Uyar pointed out that the operational cost needed to include the uranium as well as the cost of those to be employed from abroad but noted that largest cost being that of discarding such plants.

Ozerdem: Truly too expensive

Mechanical Engineers Chamber Izmir Branch Acting Chairman lecturer Dr. Baris Ozerdem meanwhile, pointed out in a written statement on the issue that "since 1997 a nuclear power station has not been built in the United States of America."

"The reason for this", he added, "is that it is expensive, other than the environmental effects of nuclear energy. It is an energy which is dependent on abroad both in way of technology and fuel in country's such as Turkey which have an underdeveloped nuclear technology."

Ozerdem also argued that Turkey's electricity power needs should be met through renewable resources and said "electricity production particularly from hydrological, wind based and geothermal renewable resources should be encouraged." According to him, one priority before Turkey should be to renew the energy transport lines to avoid a loss reaching approximately 22 percent of total production and to minimize electricity piracy.

"It should be recognized that the cleanest and the cheapest energy is energy that is saved and importance should be given to the productive use of energy and in saving it" he said. "Expensive, risk-full and foreign dependent nuclear energy should be abandoned."

Sinopbizim: Touristic sinop vs. radioactive Sinop

The Sinopbizim Platform , which has been campaigning against nuclear energy in Sinop, is preparing a variety of activities that it will increase throughout April and has dedicated a Turkish and English language site to this controversial issue.

A signature campaign by the platform challenging the nuclear power decision is underway and will remain open until the end of the month while the platform will be active in various areas of Turkey.

A statement issued by the Platform and open to signature says "We reject the idea of bringing dangerous and outdated nuclear technologies into our country with excessive loans. To fulfill the Law for 'Procedures to Generate Electrical Energy Using Renewable Energy Resources' that was passed on 10.05.2005, we demand the government to give priority to rich alternative energy sources, and make a serious start to build the necessary infrastructure for the production of renewable energy."