Pan-African News Wire

US Deficit At Record High: Same Bankrupt Solutions Offered by 'Think-Tank Theorists'

2008-04-29T17:34:00.001-04:00

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, covering the protest outside the Mortgage Bankers Association summit in Washington, DC on April 16, 2008. (Photo: Alan Pollock).
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Same Bankrupt solutions to the Deepening Economic Crisis

PANW Editor's Note: The following article from today's Christian Science Monitor is quite interesting since it does identify the growing federal deficit as a major problem and even mentions the combination of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan along with the economic downturn as if there is some relationship between imperialist militarism and fiscal health.

Yet the solutions offered are from the same think-tank theorists found at the Brookings Institutions and the Heritage Foundation, whose recipes for disaster have brought untold suffering upon working people in the United States as well as the further impoverishment of the masses in their own country and those throughout the world.

The permanant character of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq are accepted as natural and normal. There is no mention of ending the unjust wars against Muslim and developing countries, the militaristic and counterintelligence operations against nations including Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and the increasing cold war tactics used against the People's Republic China.

Consequently, these ruling class thinkers will only propose the continuation of what already exist in the form of waging wars that cannot be won, giving further sums of taxpayer money and labor power to the multi-national corporations and the financial institutions. At the same time they will step-up the intensification of the repressive apparatus which utilizes the mass media, educational institutions and the criminal justice system to ensure maintenance of the status-quo.

Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
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U.S. deficit at record high and rising

The federal deficit hit $311 billion for the first half of fiscal year 2008, up from $162 billion the year before

By Peter Grier
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
From the April 23, 2008 edition

Reporter Peter Grier discusses the lack of attention on the federal deficit in Washington

WASHINGTON - Deficit? What deficit? Three big intersecting events – war in Iraq, the economic downturn, and the presidential race – this year have combined to knock fiscal discipline far down the list of Washington's policy priorities.

In fact, the federal deficit hit an all-time high of $311 billion for the first half of this budget year, reports the Treasury Department. And Congress is discussing further moves to help distressed homeowners and stimulate the economy. Iraq and Afghanistan will cost at least another $170 billion in supplemental funds through the end of next year.

Given the need, the current rush of spending might be understandable, say some deficit hawks. But they worry that Washington will use recession and war as excuses to stop caring about red ink altogether. They also warn that current deficits leave Washington ill-prepared to face an imminent explosion of spending on Social Security and Medicare caused by retiring baby boomers.

"I've spent a professional lifetime worrying about the federal budget and fiscal responsibility. And I've never been more worried than now," said Alice Rivlin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, at a recent Brookings Institution symposium in Washington.

This February, in the president's annual budget submission to Congress, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) predicted the federal deficit for fiscal year 2008 would come in at $410 billion.

That figure would represent a big jump from the fiscal 2007 deficit of $162 billion, admitted the White House. But, measured as a percentage of the nation's gross domestic product, $410 billion in red ink is well within recent historical norms, according to administration budget documents. Moreover, the "primary" reasons for the rise would be short term: the cost of the stimulus bill and a slowdown in tax receipts caused by the softening economy.

Fast-forward to April. Treasury figures now show that the deficit is likely to be larger than OMB had anticipated, since it was $311 billion through the first half of the fiscal year alone.

Why the extra red ink? The economy has been even worse than the White House predicted – and Congress increased the size of the stimulus package beyond what the administration wanted.

A 300 percent increase

Tax receipts generally pick up in the summer, so the deficit is unlikely to surpass $600 billion. But $450 billion, or even $500 billion is possible.

"There is no fiscal discipline this year, and they have an excuse to not have any: the economy," says Stan Collender, managing director of Qorvis Communications and a veteran federal budget expert. "The deficit is going to increase close to 300 percent, and nobody is saying anything."

Next year, the gap between Uncle Sam's income and outgo might increase even further. Costs for Iraq and Afghanistan will continue to mount, even if large numbers of troops begin to come home. Congress may rein in the disliked Alternative Minimum Tax, costing the government further revenue. A new president is likely to have new – possibly expensive – priorities. "It's not hard to come up with a $600 billion [fiscal 2009] deficit," says Mr. Collender.

The degree to which parsimony is out of fashion in national politics perhaps can be seen in presumptive GOP nominee John McCain's April 15 speech on his economic proposals. Senator McCain emphasized tax reductions – he proposed eliminating the federal gas tax for the summer, for instance – and did not repeat his previous assurances that he'd balance the budget in his first term in office.

At an April 2 round table hosted by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin suggested that reducing the federal budget "is not an end in itself," according to a summary of the event published by CRFB. Rather than focusing on red ink, a president should talk about all the important issues related to the budget, including the need to protect US security and help American families, he said.

10,000 new retirees a day

Meanwhile, the baby boomers will become eligible for Social Security this year. That means the long-awaited tsunami of retirees washing into federal entitlement programs is almost upon the US. Over the next two decades, more than 80 million boomers will become eligible for Social Security and Medicare. That's about 10,000 people per day. By definition, spending for these programs is on auto-pilot. More beneficiaries means higher federal spending – much higher.

Due to entitlements, "without fundamental changes in our tax policy and our spending policy, deficits are going to grow from the rather benign levels that we've experienced in the last couple of years to levels that this nation has not experienced in peacetime," said Robert Reischauer, also a former CBO chief and president of the Urban Institute, at the Brookings symposium.

A bipartisan group of experts organized by Brookings and the Heritage Foundation recommends that Congress enact explicit long-term budgets for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and set limits on the automatic entitlement spending growth. Such action would force Congress to make trade-offs between entitlements and other fiscal priorities.

"What our proposal does is put those programs on the same playing field, if you like, as other programs," said Stuart Butler, vice president of domestic and economic studies at the Heritage Foundation. "There should be an orderly discussion about the commitment we make and how money is allocated and so on."

US War Bulletin: Military Admits 44 Deaths in April; Clashes Intensify in Baghdad; Afghan Resistance Spreads Throughout Country

2008-04-29T11:55:00.001-04:00

Mass demonstrations against the US occupation took place in Baghdad on Thursday, March 27, 2008. Fighting has escalated throughout the country against the imperialist occupiers and their surrogates.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Dozens dead after Baghdad clashes

Residents of Sadr City have faced a series of clashes between Shia fighters and US and Iraqi forces

At least 24 people have been killed and four US soldiers wounded in clashes between US soldiers and fighters in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, according to the US military.

Fighting broke out at about 9.30am (0630 GMT) on Tuesday when a US patrol came under fire, Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover said.

A US military vehicle, which was evacuating an injured US soldier, was also hit by two roadside bombs, small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, he said.

Stover said three other US soldiers were subsequently injured, and that US soldiers "killed 24 enemy forces in a protracted gun battle".

'Severe damage'

A resident of Sadr City said "the fighting was intense" and that "four houses [were] heavily damaged".

The Sadr city district of the capital is controlled by the al-Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia religious leader.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said that nine people were killed and another 25 were wounded in violence in Sadr City.

It was not immediately clear whether the two firefights were the same.

Iraqi and US forces have been fighting against Shia armed group since March 25 in Sadr City, as well as the southern city of Basra.

Hundreds of Shia fighters and civilians have been killed in the fighting.

At least 18 US soldiers have also been killed in Baghdad since the government led crackdown against Shia fighters was launched.

Source: Agencies

Attacks in Iraq kill 4 American soldiers

BY SLOBODAN LEKIC
ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 29, 2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Bombardments by suspected militants killed four U.S. soldiers Monday as troops tried to push Shi'ite fighters farther from the U.S.-protected Green Zone and out of range of their rockets and mortars.

At least 44 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for U.S. forces since September.

The U.S. military said three soldiers were killed in eastern Baghdad by indirect fire, a reference to mortars or rockets. The statement did not give an exact location for the attack, but the Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City has been the scene of intense fighting recently.

A fourth U.S. soldier was killed by a shell in western Baghdad, the military said.

A showdown between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army-led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- increasingly has drawn U.S. forces into the battles. U.S. commanders are particularly focused on trying to curb a rise in mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone.

At least three more salvos hit the Green Zone in central Baghdad, but there were no reports of injuries. In Sadr City -- the stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia -- U.S. soldiers battled deeper into the district a day after fierce clashes that killed at least 38 suspected militants, the military said.

Attacked: Militants tried to assassinate President Hamid Karzai in Kabul Sunday

Afghanistan's insurgency spreading north

Militant attacks are increasing outside the Taliban's southern stronghold, such as Sunday's on President Hamid Karzai.

By Anand Gopal
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
From the April 29, 2008 edition

Correspondent Anand Gopal talks about one member of the Taliban attending Kabul University

Kabul, Afghanistan - The attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai Sunday came as the latest sign of a trend worrying Western officials: that the insurgency is spreading from the Taliban stronghold of the south to the central and northern regions of the country.

The militant attack, the biggest in Kabul since mid-March, came during a public ceremony. Despite a massive security presence, militants managed to fire bullets and rockets at the president, killing two nearby lawmakers and a boy.

The insurgency in Afghanistan has not been "contained," Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell testified before a Senate subcommittee in February. "It's been sustained in the south, it's grown a bit in the east, and what we've seen are elements of it spread to the west and the north."

A recent study by Sami Kovanen, an analyst with the security firm Vigilant Strategic Services of Afghanistan, echoed this assessment. He reported 465 insurgent attacks in areas outside the restive southern regions during the first three months of 2008, a 35 percent increase compared with the same period last year. In the central region around Kabul there have been 80 insurgent attacks from January through March of this year, a 70 percent jump compared to the first three months of last year.

The numbers are part of a nationwide trend of rising violence. In the southern and southeastern provinces, including the insurgent hotbeds of Kandahar and Helmand, guerrilla attacks spiked by 40 percent, according to Mr. Kovanen's research.

Kabul itself has been largely free from the violence, but as Sunday's attack shows, there are signs that the Taliban's presence is growing here, too. On the sprawling, serene campus of Kabul University, where the nation sends many of its best and brightest, the Taliban has reached an unprecedented level of influence, students say.

Young men gather in campus dorm rooms and watch slickly produced DVDs of the latest insurgent attacks. One video shows Taliban fighters firing rocket launchers and shrieking, "God is the greatest!" as orange fireballs reach their targets, presumably Coalition forces, in the distance. The attacks are set to religious music, backed by a staccato drumbeat meant to impassion and inspire viewers.

"Many of us have contact with Taliban leadership," says one student and Taliban member, who asked to be called Naqibullah. "I talk to commanders based in the south maybe once a week on the phone." Naqibullah and others like him disseminate Taliban propaganda throughout the university, hoping especially to reach students from various parts of the country.

Naqibullah suggests that places like Kabul University might be a fertile recruiting ground for operations in the capital and in northern areas of the country. "There are many students waiting to launch suicide attacks," he says. "One student launched a suicide attack in Bagram," an American base north of the capital.

"I, too, would like to become a suicide bomber," Naqibullah continues. "But educated Taliban like me are needed to teach the uneducated ones." Instead, the young man is training to become a doctor so he can eventually treat the war wounds of Taliban fighters.

Many Afghans die in suicide blast

A suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan has killed 15 Afghans and wounded 25 more, the Nato-led military force has said.

The Taliban said it carried out Tuesday's attack near the district centre of Khogyani in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Afghan and foreign troops also called in airstrikes as they battled armed groups in a series of clashes that left at least 23 fighters dead and 20 others wounded, officials said on Tuesday.

The clashes happened in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where Taliban and other groups are waging an insurgency against government and foreign forces.

The joint forces clashed with fighters in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province on Monday, leaving six Taliban dead and eight others wounded, Zia Wali, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

There were no casualties among the Afghan and foreign forces, Wali said.

In southwestern Nimroz province, US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed several fighters on Monday during a clash in Khash Rod district, a coalition statement said on Tuesday.

The troops were targeting a fighter involved in the movement of weapons and fighters in the area, it said. They detained 14 other suspected fighters during the raid.

In another incident, US and Afghan troops fought off coordinated insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan and called in airstrikes that left a dozen fighters dead and a dozen more wounded, the US military said.

New operation

Meanwhile, US marines have pushed into Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand in a major new operation to flush out Taliban fighters.

The Nato-led force described the operation on Tuesday as the most significant in months in the troubled area, which is littered with poppy fields and classified as Taliban territory.

Several hundred marines, many of them veterans of the conflict in Iraq, pushed into the town of Garmser in predawn light.

US commanders say Taliban fighters have been expecting an assault and have been setting up improvised explosive devices in response.

The operation has been called Azada Wosa, which means Be Free in the Pashtu language of southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The marines involved in the new push are based in the neighbouring province of Kandahar.

Iraq veterans

The assault is the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 soldiers in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived last month from Camp Lejuene, North Carolina, for a seven-month deployment.

Many of the men in the unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once the stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The marines' mission is the first carried out by US forces this far south in Helmand in years. British troops, who are responsible for Helmand, have faced fierce battles on the north edge of the province.

The largely desert province of Helmand shares a long and porous border with Pakistan, across which Taliban reinforcements are said to cross.

Source: Agencies

Cynthia McKinney Statement on the Acquittal of NYC Police in the Murder of Sean Bell

2008-04-29T10:27:00.001-04:00

Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney at the Free Mumia rally in Philadelphia on April 19, 2008.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Cynthia McKinney Statement on the Sean Bell Verdict

April 26, 2008

"[T]he legislation and histories of the time, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument. . . . [A]ltogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

And with that, the United States Supreme Court ensured that the 20th Century would be defined, as W.E.B. DuBois wrote, by the color line. So, while we might be outraged at the Sean Bell decision itself, it comes directly from the flawed jurisprudence that gave us the Dred Scott Decision in 1857, Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Bakke in 1978, Croson in 1989, Adarand in 1995, Gratz in 2003, and all of the Ward Connerly-inspired attacks on the very same affirmative action hard won by students facing water hoses and dogs; men and women facing jail, lynch mobs, and death.

Interestingly, according to Attorney Roger Wareham of the December 12th Movement's International Secretariat, the criminal justice system in this country "always finds a rationale for letting off cops who kill black and brown people." Indeed, police officers seem to know that they can kill certain people with impunity.

Just in New York City alone, Wareham rattles off the murders that have defined police-"communities of color" relations over two generations:

Clifford Glover, 1972
Louis Baez, 1978 shot (22 times)
Randolph Evans, 1979
Eleanor Bumpers, 1985 (a grandmother)
Amadou Diallo, 1999
Patrick Dorismond, 2003
Sean Bell, 2006

Sadly, New York City isn't the only city, with this plague. In 2001, the Dayton Daily News reported that Cincinnati topped the list of police killings of Blacks, having had 22 people shot, 13 fatally. All black men. Three unarmed. Plus two additional deaths due to police use of chemical irritants.

The 2001 "Cincinnati Intifada" lasted for three nights after a white police officer murdered an unarmed black teenager. Timothy Thomas was the fifteenth black male killed by Cincinnati police over a six-year period. I traveled with Ron Daniels and others to Cincinnati to support the call by black residents, including Reverend Damon Lynch III and 36 other ministers, for a boycott of that city.

Still reeling from the effects of the boycott, Cincinnati made headlines again in 2003 when the world watched as one black and five white police officers repeatedly beat Nathaniel Jones with batons and then left him in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, only to be pronounced dead later at the hospital.

The "Benton Harbor, Michigan Intifada of 2003" lasted two nights after the murder of an unarmed black motorcyclist by white police officers. Adding insult to injury, the residents of majority-black Benton Harbor are reeling under an attempted takeover of the last "undeveloped" beachfront property on Lake Michigan. The residents are under attack by the Whirlpool Corporation, that wants to develop "Benton Shores" and move all of the residents completely out of the town.

The purported goal of the development is to turn Benton Harbor into one of the "hottest vacation destinations in the country," to include a members-only indoor water park, and a Jack Nicklaus golf course. According to Reverend Edward Pinkney, the valiant leader who is trying to save Benton Harbor for the people, Harbor Shores will result in a complete takeover of Benton Harbor, a city that is 96% Black.

Reverend Pinkney has been in jail since December 14, 2007 on trumped- up charges including violation of probation, for writing an article calling the chief judge racist. Mrs. Pinkney called the Office of Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee to ask for justice for the residents of Benton Harbor and for her husband.

Shockingly, Chairman Conyers refused Mrs. Pinkney's plea to get involved in this heroic struggle of a 96% Black community in his own state. When I visited Benton Harbor, it was clear to me that Reverend Pinkney has the full support of the area's residents, black and white, as they struggle to maintain the character of their community. Reverend Pinkney is recognized by the people as true hero and occupies a jail cell because of it.

Finally, however, someone broke the silence and admitted it. Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper wrote in his book, "Breaking Rank," that white police officers are afraid of Black men. He develops this theory in a chapter of the book entitled, "Why White Cops Kill Black Men." Finally: a hint of truth coming from the other side. In a June 16, 2005 interview with the Looking Glass News, Stamper says that he personally believes "that white cops are scared of black men. The bigger or darker the man, the more frightened the white cop. I can't shake that; it's a belief I will take to the grave."

So while the corporate press would have us believe that reporting on what a former Vice Presidential nominee says about a Presidential candidate is a discussion of race, the prospects are that black and brown men and women will continue to be murdered by police officers who, fundamentally, seem scared of black people. That fear apparently extends to the larger community because juries construct ways to let murderous police officers escape just punishment.

Roger Wareham, and the December 12th Movement International Secretariat raise, inside the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, the details of the type of police abuse in which a 92-year old grandmother, Kathryn Johnston, is murdered by police in Atlanta, Georgia and her family still has not seen justice or been made whole. Or where a young black male, also in Atlanta, can be sitting in his mother's car and is murdered because the police presume that the car is stolen.

The December 12th Movement has asked for United Nations Rapporteurs to come to the U.S. on fact-finding missions so that the U.S. can finally be listed as a major human rights abuser and a Rapporteur assigned to this country. Already, the Special Rapporteur on Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance is coming to the U.S. from May 18 - June 6 and will be in New York City on May 21st and 22nd. The December 12th Movement is scheduled to have a hearing for him at the Schomberg Center where the issue of police killings will be raised. The Rapporteur is also scheduled to visit DC, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, and San Juan.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Summary and Arbitrary Executions, Mr. Phillip Alston, is conducting a Mission to the U.S. in June. The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is also interested in reports of police abuse. If a consistent and systemic pattern of abuse exists (which it clearly does in the United States), the United Nations General Assembly can pass a resolution which helps creates international public opinion and perhaps the political will to stop it.

Certainly, doing the same thing--a cycle of protest without punishment--will net the same results. Something different must be done. That's why I authored legislation to deny federal funds and the use of federal equipment to any law enforcement unit found to have violated the civil rights of the people it is organized to protect and serve. Imagine if we had the laws on the books and the apparatus of enforcement. Imagine if juries wouldn't grant impunity to killer cops.

Some of you have written to me suggesting that we do something different: perhaps a full-scale boycott. Perhaps a full-scale, all-out political response--something many in this generation have never done before.

Bobby Kennedy always said, "Some men dream of things that are and say why. I dream of things that never were and say why not."

It is not impossible for us to have justice. We don't have to lose any more people to police abuse, brutality, or murder. But, in order to change things, we're going to have to do some things we've never done before in order to have some things we've never had before.

Are you willing to entertain that idea? Today? Right now? If we demand more of our elected representatives, I'm convinced we will get it. And it should be clear exactly what is needed if we don't get what we demand.

To read more of my writings, please visit http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com

"And advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool."
PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.

-- Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time
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US Installed Afghanistan Regime Probes Parade Attack

2008-04-29T00:23:00.001-04:00

US surrogate forces respond to an assassination attempt against the American-installed leader Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan on April 27, 2008.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Afghanistan probes parade attack

Karzai was whisked away and appeared on TV shortly after to say that "everything is calm"

Afghanistan is investigating how elements from the Taliban movement could get within 500 metres of president Hamid Karzai and other top leaders to carry out a brazen attack.

At least six people, including a member of parliament and three attackers, were killed and nine others wounded in the assault near the presidential palace on Sunday.

The assault was an embarrassment for Afghan authorities as the event was supposed to showcase the army's growing strength.

The Taliban movement said it had launched the attack to show it had the power to strike even the nation's biggest annual military parade.

Karzai immediately announced an investigation to find out how the armed group breached security to hammer bullets into the back of the stage where he was seated with a host of Afghan and foreign dignitaries as well as launch rockets.

"First, it will investigate the plot and identify those behind the attack ... and second it will find out where the problem in providing security lay," General Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Afhgan defence minister, told reporters.

The inquiry would comprise the ministries of defence and interior, the intelligence agency and the presidential security guard, the general said.

The incident

Gunfire and explosions erupted after Karzai had taken the stage after an inspection of troops in what was meant to have been the largest annual parade of Afghanistan's military.

Hundreds of people, including government ministers and foreign dignitaries, fled the celebration.

Al Jazeera's James Bays said the event was one of the key events in Afghanistan's calendar every year.

"Its called the Mujahidin Day. It marks the victory of the Mujahidin over the Soviet Union, some 16 years ago," he said.

Karzai sped off in a motorcade in the immediate wake of the attack, which continued for a further 15 minutes.

He appeared on television for a live address shortly after the incident, assuring the public that the incident was over and that some of the attackers had been caught.

"Fortunately Afghan security forces quickly surrounded them ... Some of them were captured," Karzai said.

"Everything is calm, rest assured," he said.

Taliban warning

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr said that the Taliban had warned that they would carry out some sort of operation to disrupt the ceremony.

"To them, this ceremony should not be taking place because they are against the government and the foreign forces," she said.

"They said the target was to give them a message that they are not safe. We have to point out that there was a very tight security around the venue of the military parade and [still] they managed to infiltrate."

The security breach comes only two months after an attack on the Serena hotel in the diplomatic area of Kabul, she said.

"There have been reports that the government has not been able to control even 30 per cent of the Afghan territory and now with this attack it is not clear how the Taliban managed to infiltrate the security guards of the president."

Expected attack

Prince Ali Seraj, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the attack should have been expected by the authorities in Afghanistan.

"When you have all the dignitaries and the president of the country and all the ministers and ambassadors gathered together at one place, such an attack should have been expected and I believe that the entire perimeter should have been fortified with police and security forces," he said.

"From what I heard from my people, attackers were in military uniform. It is difficult to distinguish one soldier from the other, if you are not acquainted with each other.

"A group of people dressed in military uniform can infiltrate any one of the operations and be able to do what they did. But I think tighter security and identification cards should have been in place on a day like this."

Seraj said that the attack on the event was designed to gain publicity, given that ambassadors, diplomats from the United Nations and Afghan ministers were in attendance.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Zimbabwe Elections Bulletin: Vote Recount Almost Done, Says ZEC; Drive to Put Nation on UN Agenda Continues; AG Tackles SADC Tribunal

2008-04-28T21:59:00.001-04:00

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe greets members of the Politburo of the ruling ZANU-PF Party on Friday, April 4, 2008.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Vote recount almost done, says ZEC

Zimbabwe Herald Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission says it is concluding the recounting of election results in 23 constituencies and will thereafter invite presidential candidates or their agents to witness verification and collation of the presidential poll results.

The statement comes amid reports that MDC-T has retained two House of Assembly seats in Masvingo Central and Masvingo West constituencies while the Masvingo Senate seat remained in Zanu-PF’s hands after the recounting of votes.

ZEC deputy chief elections officer responsible for operations Mr Utloile Silaigwana yesterday said the commission was scheduled to invite presidential candidates or their agents to witness the verification exercise.

"Today we are concluding the recount in the 23 constituencies. Thereafter the commission will invite presidential candidates or their election agents for the verification and collation of the results," he said.

The commission, Mr Silaigwana said, was still compiling results from the 23 constituencies and these would be made public upon completion.

However, ZEC chairperson Justice George Chiweshe told journalists at the weekend that the commission was scheduled to invite the four presidential candidates who participated in last month’s poll to the verification and collation exercise.

Justice Chiweshe would, however, not reveal exactly when the announcement would be made.

"The process of feeding the recounted statistics into our systems has already begun. We trust that by Monday April 28, this process will have been concluded," he said.

"Immediately thereafter, the returning officer (chief elections officer) will invite the four presidential candidates or their agents to a verification and collation exercise, leading to the announcement of the results of the presidential election."

Justice Chiweshe said the chief elections officer and the candidates had agreed that each party would collate its own figures.

The statistics would then be compared at the end of the verification process.

He said several factors had hampered the announcement of the result and cited transport and communication challenges coupled with the recounting in the 23 constituencies.

In Masvingo Central, Mr Jeffreyson Chitando of MDC-T won the recount after he polled 4 908 votes against Cde Edmond Mhere of Zanu-PF, who managed 4 791 votes, according to final results displayed at the Masvingo Civic Centre, the venue of the recounting.

In Masvingo West constituency, Mr Tichiona Mharadza of MDC-T retained his seat after he polled 4 513 votes against Cde Jabulani Mbetu of Zanu-PF who polled 4 122 votes, while independent candidate Retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi came third with 917 votes.

Among other results that were displayed were the Senate vote recount in Masvingo Central where Cde Maina Mandava of Zanu-PF retained her seat with 4 552 votes while MDC-T’s Mr Alois Chaimiti came second with 4 178 votes.

Masvingo provincial elections officer, Mr Zex Pudurai, said the vote recounting process had been completed in all the nine constituencies in Masvingo and ended without incident.

He attributed the delay in completing the vote recounting to minor arguments among representatives of political parties and dismissed reports that some of the ballot boxes were found open or to have been tampered with.

"We have completed the recounting exercise in all the constituencies in Masvingo, but we have not yet managed to get final results from other constituencies and the delay in the recounting process was purely over small arguments, but the process went on quite well," said Mr Pudurai.

‘Drive to put Zim on UN agenda open’

Herald Reporter

Efforts continue by Britain and the US to get Zimbabwe onto the UN Security Council agenda, especially during April when South Africa chairs the top UN body.

On Thursday last week, Britain and the US requested the council to ask the UN secretariat to give the council a briefing on Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the UN, Mr Boniface Chidyausiku, said last night that this was, under council procedure, this was a normal request not open to objection and was made during the agenda item "any other business."

But he described as "mischievous" the continued attempts to bring Zimbabwe onto the agenda while South Africa chaired the council since Britain would take over the chairmanship in May.

South Africa, Zimbabwe and the Africa group on the council have repeatedly argued that the situation in Zimbabwe is not a threat to international peace and security and thus should not be on the security council’s agenda.

Mr Chidyausiku was also critical of reports in some papers that an MDC-T team was in New York and would address the council. He noted that only Governments could speak to the council, not individuals or parties, since the UN was made up of States. Any MDC-T team in New York could lobby its friends, but that was the limit of its role. It could not, and would not, address the UN Security Council.

Police set free 29 MDC-T political violence suspects

Herald Reporters

POLICE in Harare have released 29 of the 215 people arrested at MDC-T’s Harvest House headquarters last Friday while those remaining in custody will be tried if they are positively identified by victims of political violence as the perpetrators.

By late last night, three of the suspects had been positively identified for malicious injury to property and assault committed in Mashonaland East.

Yesterday, the Government said some excited MDC-T supporters attacked soldiers and the general public in Manicaland Province.

Police raided Harvest House last Friday on suspicion that the opposition was harbouring perpetrators of political violence there.

"We released 29 people on Friday, mainly women and babies and the elderly. We have invited victims of political violence where those we rounded up come from to identify anyone who could have committed crimes against them. This is the process we are currently carrying out," chief police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said yesterday.

"We have profiled everyone we rounded up so that if need arises, we will always make a follow-up."

Asst Comm Bvudzijena dismissed claims that those netted were mainly elderly people.

Statistics given by the police show that 75 of those arrested were aged between 16 and 30 years while only one was in the 61-70 age group.

However, MDC-T lawyer Mr Alec Muchadehama yesterday evening said the High Court had issued an order for the release of the opposition supporters.

He said he had gone round police stations where they were detained serving the order, but Asst Comm Bvudzijena said he could not comment on the order because he had not seen it.

In a related matter, the Ministry of Information and Publicity said the MDC-T supporters attacked soldiers who were training in Rusape.

"The latest incident in which MDC-T supporters sought to attack soldiers on training skirmishes around Chiwetu Rest Camp in Rusape leading to the death of one person and injury of two others is a case in point," the ministry said in a statement.

It warned that attacks on opponents in rural areas would not be tolerated.

"Seeking refuge at party national and provincial headquarters, including safe houses, after committing barbarous acts of politically motivated crimes will not save anyone from the might of the law.

"They will be pursued wherever and whenever until they are accounted for and brought before the courts of law," the ministry said.

The ministry said police had been briefed not to tolerate any acts of criminality anywhere in the country.

"Any victims of crime should immediately report such cases to officers on patrol or at their nearest police station so that any incident is quickly responded to. Crying the innocent victim to the international community is not a substitute for using recourse provided at law," the ministry said.

It said police and members of the defence and security forces would use necessary and appropriate force to ensure that life is respected and property protected.

"Uniformed forces will, therefore, remain alert on the ground to ensure peace and security for everyone in any part of this country."

The ministry appealed to everyone to observe peace and discouraged acts that could lead to anarchy.

It condemned a flurry of distortions and irresponsible statements from within and outside the country by people and organisations "who wish this country harm following the harmonised elections, which were held in an environment of peace and tranquillity".

AG to tackle Sadc Tribunal in land case

Herald Reporter

THE case in which white former commercial farmers are seeking to halt compulsory land acquisition in Zimbabwe is set to resume in Namibia next month with the Attorney-General’s Office expected to raise concerns about the manner in which the Sadc Tribunal has handled the matter so far.

The farmers applied to the Sadc Tribunal using Article 28 of the Protocol of the Tribunal as read with provisions of the Sadc Treaty to stop the State from compulsorily acquiring their farms in terms of the country’s relevant land laws.

On March 28, the tribunal granted the farmers interim relief against eviction, but an official in the AG’s Office has said the regional court erred in its judgment.

Efforts to get a comment from Deputy AG Mr Prince Machaya (Civil Division) were fruitless, but The Herald is reliably informed that Zimbabwe — as the first respondent — would seek to prove that the farmers unprocedurally filed their application for relief.

It is understood that the AG’s Office, in conjunction with the Ministry of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, has set up special teams to look at different aspects of the case and prepare the Republic of Zimbabwe for the May court proceedings.

"There are two issues that we will ask the Tribunal to reconsider. The first is to do with the manner in which the white farmers consolidated their application; and the second is to do with the involvement of Mike Campbell.

"As you know, Mr Campbell was the first white farmer to approach the tribunal and the court granted him interim relief against eviction.

"However, his fellow white farmers have listed him as a respondent in their application. How can a person be an applicant and a respondent at the same time? It does not make sense at all.

"In fact, Mr Campbell is listed as a second respondent, as Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd, in another application and Mr William Michael Campbell as a third respondent in yet another application.

"Secondly, for them to consolidate their application they should have first filed their papers with the Tribunal individually. They did not do this. They lumped their action and argued that a precedent had been set in the Campbell case and sought similar relief and yet they still list the same Campbell as a respondent.

"Furthermore, they did not prove how their case was urgent. Land reforms have been going on for a long time and now suddenly the matter is urgent after eight years of peaceful co-existence with the State because an election is due," an official in the AG’s Office said.

The official also said they were not satisfied with the tribunal’s contention that the farmers’ cases were similar and hence could be treated as a consolidated application.

"Some of these are individual farmers, some are farming as companies, and others have Bilateral Partnership Agreements and so on. So obviously all these peculiarities preclude any suggestion of homogeneity in the matter at hand. They are all different," the official said.

Deputy AG (Criminal Division) Mr Johannes Tomana said the tribunal’s judgment would not affect ongoing court proceedings in Zimbabwe against white farmers who were resisting land reform.

"We will continue to prosecute them under Section 3 of the Gazetted Lands (Consequential Provisions) Act. The judgment in Windhoek does not affect our domestic criminal proceedings against them," Mr Tomana said.

However, Government insiders suspect there was "political gerrymandering" in the court proceedings and found it odd that the judgment was delivered on the eve of Zimbabwe’s elections.

"If you look at the MDC-T’s flip-flops on the land issue just before the elections, you tend to think that they knew what the tribunal’s judgment would be.

Our reading of the matter is that (Morgan) Tsvangirai was going to use the judgment as an excuse to reverse land reforms had he won the presidential elections.

"The judgment would have given an MDC government the leeway to claim that Sadc was opposed to Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme and hence the mandate to reverse the process. This ties in with the way white ex-farmers went around the country threatening resettled black farmers soon after the polls," a Government official said yesterday.

He added that the Law Society of Zimbabwe had also got in on the act and "encouraged" local law firms to pursue similar court proceedings with the Sadc Tribunal in a bid to reverse land reforms.

On 21 April, LSZ executive secretary Mr Steven Murambasvina wrote a letter to the managing partners of all law firms in Zimbabwe (reference number SM/jp/Sadc Tribunal) in which he expressed joy at the judgment and suggested that it be used as a basis to challenge the Land Reform Programme.

"I have the pleasure of attaching herewith a judgment which was handed down by the Sadc Tribunal on a case between Zimbabwean farmers and the Zimbabwean Government. I hope it would serve as a precedent in cases were (sic) remedies do not fully guarantee our clients’ rights," he wrote.

Zimbabwe embarked on its fast-track Land Reform Programme in 2000 after the State found the willing-buyer/willing-seller system was not empowering the black majority at a reasonable pace.

As a result, land previously in the hands of some 4 000 white farmers has been distributed to over 300 000 black families across the country in the commercial and subsistence farming sectors.

Sadc must avoid being used by Westerners

EDITOR — Sadc should not allow itself to be abused by the Anglo-Saxon.

Zimbabwe is under siege from an unrelenting and shameless imperial bully.

The regional body should ensure that it serves the best interests of member-states and provide a shoulder to lean on in challenging times.

We have come together a long way and the darkest hour is before dawn.

Zimbabwe — in line with its democratic tradition — held its elections, the results of which on the Presidential vote are believed from unofficial reports not to produced an outright winner.

A situation which, as prescribed by the law, may lead to a run-off election.

Can anyone in their right state of mind, call this electoral position we are in a "crisis"?

Is it a national crisis when an opposition leader fails to garner enough votes to be declared winner?

It is an electoral crisis within MDC-T alone and those who represent them in Sadc, it seems. We have got other serious challenges socially and economically which anyone can describe the way they want, "dire", crisis, disaster or whatever brought about by illegal economic sanctions imposed by the West which Tsvangirai and his allies lobbied for with unparalleled vigour.

Zimbabwe is today described in the Western propaganda media as a country under wanton destruction by President Mugabe and Zanu-PF, and in terms that are alarming.

Opening or signing off statements in their Press are unfounded statistics of people alleged to be displaced, killed, commodity shortages and an impending genocide.

This impending genocide gospel has been preached to the world for many years with time frames given for their occurrences passing with no such incidents.

That gospel has found new converts.

Converts who are too close for comfort.

We wonder why some who should be better informed to trash this propaganda and onslaught on a sister nation tend to be believing and justifying it.

Is it because the lies have been repeated too often such that they now take them for the truth?

Some religious leaders, people we expect to be morally upright, have been making statements that amount to inciting anarchy. Utterances that are so reckless and irresponsible, calculated at sowing tension, confuse and foment hostilities.

Our regional body, Sadc, seems to have been invaded by a cancer, which is engulfing even those we expected to be vaccinated and resistant.

Contaminated cells need to be quarantined. Sadc had been the most politically stable and peaceful region in the whole of Africa, any one who seeks to destabilise it for personal glory and egocentric motives should be damned by all progressive heads of Sadc. Someone is playing with fire here.

We have got a fantasist whose missions are Hollywood-inspired.

The onslaught on Zimbabwe is uncalled for. Westerners are building towers and towers of lies, and all that for regime change and imposing Tsvangirai on the people. Why foist this man on the people?

We will choke.

It is undisputed that a large number who voted for Tsvangirai and MDC-T were driven by a desire to have economic sanctions lifted, and not out of a genuine belief in his leadership capabilities nor as an endorsement of his policies.

How will Tsvangirai govern with no implementable policies, especially on land?

Trying to reverse land reforms will be tantamount to declaring war on the people, obviously reversal will be resisted.

The extent, form and shape of the resistance can only be imagined.

Tsvangirai will obviously be under immense pressure from his principals to deliver to their kith and kin the "Promised Land".

He has promised to deliver undeliverables. Without sanctions, even Langton Towungana will beat Tsvangirai hands down. Zimbabwe is better off without him, and will be more than happy to give him away for adoption.

For example, in the Mhangura House of Assembly constituency Zanu-PF got 11 042 votes against MDC-T’s 1 647.

It is a constituency comprising mainly of resettled farmers, will they comfortably and obligingly pack and return to a dilapidating compound of a defunct mine at the orders of Tsvangirai, foisted on them by sanctions and residents of Kuwadzana and Budiriro.

Tsvangirai can never rule without rendering the country ungovernable.

President Levy Mwana-wepi (where from) (Mwanawasa) what have you fallen for, to demonstrate such zeal over a Chinese ship with Zimbabwe’s arms, to ignore Sadc protocol and traditional procedures in convening such a summit on Zimbabwe’s elections.

Cad Mash
Harare

Zimbabwe Confronts Greatest Destabilization Effort Since Independence

2008-04-28T16:10:00.001-04:00

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, at the MLK Conference held on Sat., April 5, 2008 in Detroit. (Photo: Cheryl LaBash).
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Zimbabwe Confronts Greatest Destabilization Effort Since Independence

by Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire

Once again the imperialist nations and their allied press agencies along with other surrogate organizations have set out to destabilize the government of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zimabwe African National Union, Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) Party. Utilizing the circumstances surrounding the delay in the announcement of the results in the March 29, 2008 poll for the parliament and presidential elections, the chorus of calls for regime change have dominated the airwaves and print media.

US envoy Jendayi Frazer, who serves as Assistant Secretary State for African Affairs, was dispatched in late April to several countries on the continent to trumpet the idea of regime change in Zimbabwe. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has openly announced in the British parliament that Mugabe must resign and hand over power to the pro-western opposition party known as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The British went as far as to promise the MDC leadership the sum of one billion pounds annually in order to purportedly rebuild the economy of Zimbabwe which has been wrecked by the machinations of the former colonial power in London in cooperation with the United States and the European Union (EU). What moral right does these imperialist nations have to interfere in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe and consequently Africa as a whole?

With specific reference to the United States, the whole idea of criticizing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for its job inside the country represents the height of hypocrisy. Was it not the current Bush regime that came into office in 2000 as a result of the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters, many of whom were African-Americans, during the debacle in Florida that led to the ascendancy of the present administration?

Even in 2004 it was documented by the Congressional Black Caucus and other civil rights organizations that the decisive vote count in the state of Ohio gave the necessary margin to declare George W. Bush victor for a disastrous second term in Washington. Nonetheless, when democratic elections do not suit the interests of imperialism, such as what happened in Palestine when Hamas won the majority of seats in the Authority, the results were rejected not only by the State of Israel but also the United States.

Background to the Present Situation in Zimbabwe

When Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980 it was considered a major accomplishment that would eventually lead to the triumph of the national liberation struggles in southern Africa. Since the late 19th century when Cecil Rhodes, the imperialist agent of British colonialism, pressed for the seizure of the land of the Ndebele and Shona peoples which was rich in natural resources and agricultural potential, the country became a major source of cheap labor and profits for the white settler class and its international partners.

With the beginning of the Second Chimurenga (anti-colonial struggle) during the 1960s, the first taking place in 1896-1897, the masses took up arms to fight for the end of British rule and the return of their land and mineral wealth to the African peasants and workers. In order to avoid an outright military defeat by the armed forces of the Patriotic Front composed of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZANU), the British and the United States forced the white-settler regime of Ian Smith, which had ostensibly broken away from the UK in 1965, to negotiate a political settlement with the liberation movements.

Under the Lancaster House accords of 1979-1980, the British settlers would maintain control of most of the land in Zimbabwe for a period of ten years. The whites would be guaranteed a 20 percent bloc within the House of Parliament for a decade and the independent government would not nationalize the mines and other business interests inside the country.

However, it was agreed that the UK and the United States would supply funding for a land reform program within ten years to subsidize the gradual removal of the British from the prime land in Zimbabwe and the re-emergence of self-sufficient African farmers and agricultural workers.

After the conclusion of the 1980s, the debate within Zimbabwe intensified over the delayed land reform process. By the end of the 1990s, the ZANU-PF government of President Robert Mugabe, after patiently waiting for two decades for the unfulfilled promises of the former colonial power of Britain and their imperialist partners in the United States, the passage of constitutional amendments granted the right to seize the farms of approximately 50 percent of the white settlers for the re-settlement of the African people.

With the assistance of the revolutionary war veterans from the national liberation struggle of the 1960s and 1970s, these farms were occupied and the settlers, who held both Zimbabwean and British citizenship, were forced to leave and concede ownership to the government which developed plans for land redistribution.

Destabilization and the Neo-Liberal Agenda

Since 1998, when it became clear that the ZANU-PF government would eventually embark upon a radical land reform program, the western imperialist countries set out to bring down the administration of President Robert Mugabe. In a referendum to give a electoral mandate to the constitutional reforms designed to escalate the land redistribution program, the formation of an alliance of internal opposition forces that were backed by the settler-colonialists and their external allies in the UK and the US, were able to defeat the initiative.

Further evidence of the inroads made by the pro-western political interests in Zimbabwe was demonstrated by the growth of the recently formed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In the parliamentary elections held during June of 2000, the ruling ZANU-PF party won a majority by small margin after months of a concerted and well-financed propaganda campaign targeting the land reform program.

This was accompanied by the persistent efforts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other western financial institutions to weaken the economy of Zimbabwe. The country, which is geographically landlocked, depends heavily on the transport of goods through the neighboring Republic of South and Mozambique. By 2002, when presidential elections were held, the ruling ZANU-PF party had consolidated the land reform program and were able to defeat the opposition MDC at the polls.

Yet the efforts of the imperialists and their collaborators inside the country among the white settlers, the oppostion MDC leadership as well as the local capitalist class, continued their efforts to destabilize the Zimbabwe government under the leadership of ZANU-PF. When attempts to stage violent regime-change demonstrations failed, the economy came under siege.

The refusal of financial institutions to grant credit to the government, the hording of consumer goods to drive up prices coupled with sanctions and the eventual suspension of the country from the British Commonwealth had a dramatic impact on the ability of the ZANU-PF government to provide basic services to the people.

Eventually Zimbabwe would withdraw completely from the old colonially-imposed Commonwealth and develop a "Look East" policy which would emphasize greater cooperation and trade within Africa itself and between the country and Asian nations, particularly China. This policy helped provide breathing space for the ZANU-PF government, since China also offered diplomatic support to the Mugabe administration by preventing efforts to bring the country before the United Nations Security Council to discuss supposed human rights violations.

The role of the People's Republic of China in Africa has been a cause for tremendous consternation in western ruling circles. China has extended its economic cooperation within many countries on the African continent. In Sudan, they have provided an outlet for the distribution of petroleum resources from their growing oil industry which the United States has been prevented from participating in for over a decade.

During the month of April 2008, the United States and Britain attempted to impose an illegal arms embargo against Zimbabwe after it was discovered that a substantial shipment of weapons and military equipment was being sent to the country. First a white-dominated dock workers union in South Africa went to court to prevent the arms shipment sent by China from being unloaded and transported to landlocked Zimbabwe. It was recently announced that the Republic of Angola would allow the arms to be unloaded through their ports.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer was dispatched to the continent to pressure various governments to both support western efforts to set an embargo outside the UN Security Council and to also advance the notion of a so-called "government of national unity" where the pro-western MDC opposition party would be in the forefront.

The problems associated with the delay in elections results in Zimbabwe were utilized as an excuse to make a major push toward regime change in this southern African nation. According to the MDC, the ruling party lost the elections held on March 29. Yet the actual figures from the first tabulation and the recount only place the MDC slightly ahead of ZANU-PF in the lower house of parliament. Neither the opposition or the ruling party achieved an outright majority.

ZANU-PF has speculated that the results of the presidential elections would not give a majority to either the ruling party or the opposition MDC. The ZANU-PF politburo in a recent meeting stated that they were prepared for a run-off election, while the MDC has rejected the idea of a second round in the elections which is mandated by the constitution if no party wins more than 50 percent in the race for head-of-state.

All of the major western corporate and governmentally-controlled press agencies have come out in support of the opposition MDC. The leaders of this party are given prime coverage through interviews and the publicizing of their unsubatantiated accusations related to vote rigging, alleged violence committed by the ZANU-PF government and its neo-colonial schemes purportedly designed to restructure the economy of Zimbabwe.

Amid massive criticism from western press agencies and governments, President Thabo Mbeki has refused to aid in the western destabilization efforts aimed at toppling the Zimbabwe state and the placing of the pro-western MDC in power. Mbeki has rejected the notion that there is a crisis in the country requiring international intervention.

In addition, the newly-elected president of the ruling African National Congress of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, who recently visited the UK and met with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, also refused to condemn the Zimbabwe government. Despite the convening of a special summit of the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) in early April to discuss the political situation in Zimbabwe, the grouping of 14 states in the sub-continent have not taken any action that would interfere in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe and its ruling ZANU-PF Party.

The Right to Self-Determination and Sovereignty

Spokespersons for the Zimbabwe government have rejected the statements and actions of the UK and the US as attempts to overturn their government and impose a neo-colonial solution. The only real program of the opposition MDC is to carry out the political and economic designs of the western imperialist nations and their class collaboraters inside of Zimbabwe. The MDC has every intention of returning the farms seized by the ZANU-PF government after 2000 to the white-settlers.

Also the "Look East" policy has been a specific target of the anti-Mugabe forces because a change in this foreign policy orientation would damage relations between Zimbabwe and China. China has been a staunch supporter of Zimbabwe extending back to the era of the armed struggle for national independence during the 1970s.

Moreover, the United States and Britain have supplied arms and economic support to those regimes in Africa and other so-called Third World countries which carry out their policies. In Africa, the United States supports the regime of Hosni Mubarak of Egypt which receives the second largest grant of American aid, only followed by the Israeli state in occupied Palestine.

In Latin America, the US supplies massive amounts of military and economic assistance to Colombia, which is the third largest recepient of American aid behind Israel and Egypt. This US assistance is provided to supposedly fight narco-terrorism, yet the major purveyors of violence in Colombia are those counterrevolutionary elements that have firm links to the drug trade and who serve as a surrogate military force to prevent the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) from coming to power inside the country.

The internal political and economic problems of the nation of Zimbabwe can best be resolved by the people themselves. It is obvious from the long history of American and UK involvement in Africa that these imperialist nations have always been the perpetuators or supporters of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

During the many years of brutal oppression and exploitation under colonialism, the United States never supported any genuine liberation movement in Africa. Since independence the US policies have only hampered these nations from gaining genuine liberation from the economic tentacles of international finance capital.

What has occured in Zimbabwe over the last several years is the direct by-product of imperialist intervention and manipulation of the political economy of this southern African country. The government of President Robert Mugabe, like any other sovereign state, has the right to protect its own interests and to safeguard its people and institutions from outside forces seeking undemocratic forms of regime change.

Detroit Forum Held on the History of Irish and African Struggles

2008-04-28T00:26:00.001-04:00

Participants in a public forum on the historic links between the Irish and African national liberation struggles. Abayomi Azikiwe pictured in second row. The event was held on April 19, 2008 in Detroit. (Photo: Alan Pollock).
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Forum on Irish struggle history

Published Apr 25, 2008 8:01 PM

On April 19 the Detroit branch of Workers World Party sponsored the forum, “In the Spirit of the 1916 Irish Rebellion: James Connolly and the 1981 Hunger Strikers.” Ed Childs of UNITE HERE Local 26 in Boston, WWP member and longtime Irish liberation fighter; Abayomi Azikiwe of the Pan African News Wire; Kris Hamel of WWP; and Workers World newspaper Contributing Editor Bryan G. Pfeifer spoke. Debbie Johnson of WWP chaired and, along with Mike Shane of WWP, prepared a traditional Irish meal.

Talks and discussion topics included the roles of revolutionary Irish women, dual power, the Black and the Green struggle, the 1981 hunger strikers, the Irish and Irish-Americans, the legacy of James Connolly, the 1916 rebellion, Bobby Sands and Mairead Farrell, Ireland today, communism, the science of dialectical and historical materialism, transitional demands, the American Axle strike, the moratorium campaign and the fight for socialist revolution in the U.S. and internationally.

The role of Irish internationalism and the relationships between the Irish and Cubans, Indians, Mexicans, the Black and Native nations in the U.S., Palestinians, Puerto Ricans, South Africans and other oppressed peoples sparked deep discussions with regard to self-determination, the national question and nationalism vs. socialism from the packed house.

A screening of a DVD depicting the barbaric U.S.-British colonial activities in the North of Ireland in the 1980s and the relationships between national liberation struggles drew rapt attention, as did a clip from the movie, “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.” Participants from throughout Michigan and Milwaukee attended.

Pictures on lecturn are of Mairead Farrell and Assata Shakur.

—Bryan G. Pfeifer

Somali News Update: Ogaden Fighters Decry Arrests; Imperialists Plot Direct Occupation

2008-04-28T00:17:00.001-04:00

Somali women fighters from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Somalia: Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels decry arrest of two of their top leaders

Fri. April 25, 2008 02:00 am
By Bonny Apunyu

(SomaliNet) Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels on Thursday condemned the arrest of two of their top leaders by the authorities of Somalia's northern breakaway Puntland region.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) - a Somali-ethnic movement which has battled Addis Ababa for two decades - said its leaders were arrested on Tuesday.

"The two ONLF political prisoners were removed by force from their hotel in Garowe in central Somalia by security forces of the Puntland administration," the rebel movement said in a statement.

The two ONLF leaders were then driven in the personal vehicle of Puntland's finance minister back to the Ogaden border and handed over to Ethiopian security, the rebel group said.

The Ethiopian government in 2007 launched a massive military crackdown targeting the ONLF in its oil-rich southern strongholds. - Sapa-AFP

Pirates free crew of Spanish boat

The Playa de Bakio was attacked 400km off the Somali coast

Pirates have released a Spanish fishing boat and its 26 crew members seized off the coast of Somalia last week.

The Playa de Bakio, a Basque tuna fishing boat, was released along with all of its crew on Saturday, the Spanish government says.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega said the crew were safe and on their way to "safer waters".

She said the release had been achieved through talks. A local official told the BBC a $1.2m ransom had been paid.

"Five men on a speed boat came to the ship and informed the pirates that they were ready to meet their demand of ransom," said Abdi-salam Khalif Ahmed, a local leader in the Somali port town of Haradhere.

"They then boarded the ship and handed a bag with $1.2m to the leader of the pirates."

Ms de la Vega, who did not comment on whether a ransom had been paid, said her government had taken steps to ensure that "a similar situation does not taken place again".

"We must put an end to maritime piracy," she added.

The Basque tuna boat was attacked by pirates armed with grenade launchers about 250 miles (400km) off the coast of Somalia on 20 April.

The government was making plans to repatriate the crew of 13 Spaniards and 13 Africans, Ms de la Vega said.

Somali coastal waters are among the most hazardous in the world.

Last year, more than 25 ships were seized by pirates in Somali coastal waters.

Somalia has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity.

Spain backs UN anti-piracy force

The Playa de Bakio was attacked 400km off the Somali coast

The Spanish government has called for a United Nations-backed force to tackle piracy at sea, after a Spanish trawler and its crew were seized off Somalia.

Spain's ambassador to Kenya has gone to Somalia to press for the release of the 26 crew of the Playa de Bakio.

In a statement the government said there should be a "powerful and effective collective security system" in the Indian Ocean.

It said it was discussing a UN resolution with France and the US.

France proposed the creation of an international force earlier this month when the 30 crew of a French luxury yacht were taken hostage and later freed after a ransom was paid.

Six Somalis were then captured and charged by a court in Paris.

The Basque tuna boat was attacked about 400km (250 miles) off the Somali coast on Saturday.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told public television that no demand had yet been made by the kidnappers.

"We have to listen first to what they want, what are their demands, so we have to wait," he said.

A Spanish warship was due to arrive off Somalia late on Wednesday but Mr Moratinos told RNE radio that an international response was now necessary.

"I think the international community must react, to establish a rotational checking and monitoring mechanism with our naval forces, in order to guarantee the security and protection of all those who work and pass through that area," Mr Moratinos said.

Last year, more than 25 ships were seized by pirates in Somali coastal waters.

Somalia: Britain seeks stronger U.N. presence in Somalia

Thu. April 24, 2008 04:49 am
By Bonny Apunyu

(SomaliNet) In what would open the door to a stronger U.N. presence and a possible deployment of U.N. peacekeepers, Britain has circulated a draft resolution on Somalia to members of the Security Council.

Meanwhile, Somalia's transitional government has been urging the council to send U.N. peacekeepers to help stabilize the lawless Horn of Africa country.

Sources say while the 15 UN Security Council members agree the situation is dire, most have been reluctant to send U.N. peacekeepers to Somalia, where warlords, Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian-backed Somali government forces are battling.

The draft text, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday, asks the Security Council to "welcome" a recent report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on preparations for a U.N. force to replace African Union peacekeepers, known as AMISOM.

The Draft also calls for Ban's office "to continue its planning for deployment of a peacekeeping operation, taking account of conditions on the ground, and considering additional options for the size, configuration, responsibility and proposed area of operation on the ground."

The Security Council in February extended for six months, U.N. endorsement of the AU peacekeeping mission. It consists of two Ugandan battalions, totaling 1,600 troops, and an advance party of 192 Burundians.

Meanwhile, talk of U.N. intervention is still colored by memories of a battle in 1993 in which 18 U.S. troops and hundreds of Somali militiamen died. The incident inspired a Hollywood movie, "Black Hawk Down" and marked the beginning of the end for a U.S.-U.N. peacekeeping force.

The British draft says the council is also concerned about human rights in Somalia and the "worsening humanitarian situation" and says the country "continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region."
It urges U.N. member states to boost their support for AMISOM with money, personnel, equipment and services.

Western diplomats on the council said the British would revise the text based on comments from other council members and hope to put it to a vote over the next week.

SANCTIONS, PIRACY

The British text also threatens to impose sanctions "against those who seek to prevent or block a peaceful political process, or those who threaten the (peacekeepers) ... by force, or take action that undermines the stability in Somalia or the region."

It calls for a list of "individuals or entities" that would be targeted by sanctions to be given to the council within 60 days from the adoption of the resolution.

The draft asks the council to back Ban's recommendation that the U.N. Somalia operations be moved from Nairobi to Mogadishu, a measure diplomats said would enable the United Nations to strengthen its presence on the ground in Somalia.

Also, France and the United States are drafting a companion resolution that will deal exclusively with the issue of piracy off the coast of Somalia and elsewhere. The second resolution would authorize countries to fight piracy more effectively.

A surge in maritime hijackings for ransom off Somalia have made it one of the world's most dangerous shipping zones.

The British draft contains several paragraphs that urge U.N. member states and regional organizations like the AU to fight piracy "to protect shipping involved with the ... delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia."-Reuters

UN pursues Somali peace talks despite chaos

Submitted by wararka on Sat, 04/26/2008 - 05:23

The United Nations remains determined to bring Somali factions together for talks despite an upsurge of violence that has left peace as elusive as ever in nearly two decades of civil war, an official said on Friday.

"What happened this week is terrible and should be condemned ... but it is not new. It has been going on for 18 years," U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told Reuters.

About 100 people died in fighting last weekend between allied Ethiopian-Somali troops and Islamist insurgents.

And in an incident inflaming passions on all sides, beheaded corpses lay outside a Mogadishu mosque where Ethiopian soldiers were accused of killing about 20 people, including an imam and Koranic students. Addis Ababa has denied that as "lies".

Ould-Abdallah, a Mauritanian with one of the toughest jobs in international diplomacy, is trying to bring representatives of Somalia's government and exiled opposition group together at a low-profile meeting in Djibouti on May 10.

"I am trying to tell the Somalis they should meet at a very technical level to have a minimum political understanding. Instead of running from one (foreign) capital to another, they must talk to each other," he said at his Nairobi office.

Hardline Islamists, who have waged an insurgency since early 2007, are refusing to join peace talks until Ethiopian troops have left. And some moderate Islamist leaders, who had said they would support talks, are doubtful after the latest violence.

But Ould-Abdallah indicated he would be flexible on the timetable, saying that starting the process was more important than being fixated on a particular date.

INTERNATIONAL "ABANDONMENT"

The Horn of Africa nation of nine million people has suffered constant violence since the 1991 fall of a military dictator. Ethiopia sent thousands of troops in 2006 to help the Western-backed interim government oust Islamists from Mogadishu.

Saying it was impossible to verify facts on the ground without a permanent U.N. presence, Ould-Abdallah called for the world body's mainly Kenyan-based offices dealing with Somalia to be moved into the country, with proper security.

"We cannot, for 18 years, be sitting in Nairobi and say we will work on Somalia ... by remote control," he said.

"Either we move closer to the victims of abuse, of violence, of drought, of famine ... Or we give up on Somalia and devote these resources to other places."

The envoy saw little prospect of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia until there was internal political progress.

"This will not happen if we don't have a group of Somalis who have the courage to sit together and make that minimum agreement," he said. "The U.N. has so many things on its plate. They are requested and welcome in many other places, so I don't see them rushing to Somalia unless there is minimum stability."

A small 1,800-strong African Union force, mainly Ugandans, has done little to stem violence in Somalia, though it has won plaudits for providing medical care and securing areas like Mogadishu's port and presidential palace.

Ould-Abdallah said the awkward truth was that some Somali leaders were "comfortable" with perpetuating war for selfish motives, despite the immense suffering to the population.

He criticised the international community for its "neglect, terrible abandonment" of Somalia, particularly on failing to pursue justice for war crimes as it had done in places like Ivory Coast, Cambodia or former Yugoslavia.

"I have not seen anyone put on the blacklist ... or sanctions against criminals and their foreign associates, people sending weapons," he said.

Source:Reuters

Somali children freed from mosque

Witnesses said civilians were among the dead, some with their throats cut

Most of the Somali children captured during a raid on a mosque have now been released, the police say.

Amnesty International had called for the release of the 41 boys taken from the al-Hidaya mosque in the capital, Mogadishu.

Ethiopian troops said they had detained the boys because they suspected they were being trained as insurgents.

About 80 people were killed this week during fierce fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamist fighters.

Among the dead were religious leaders from the Tabliq Sufi sect, which had stayed out of the conflict.

The UN emergency relief co-ordinator John Holmes has called for action against those involved in the attack.

Mr Holmes said there had been an increasing trend of indiscriminate use of force against civilians by all parties in the conflict in contravention of international humanitarian law.

Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein says the government was defending itself during the weekend clashes.

The recent fighting is threatening plans for reconciliation talks between the interim government and the Somali opposition alliance which includes the Islamists.

The Ethiopians intervened in 2006 to help government forces oust Islamists who had taken control of much of southern Somalia.

The UN says that more than half of Mogadishu's population has fled recent fighting in the city.

The country has not had an effective national government since 1991.

Remember Oliver Tambo: A Dream That Gave Hope to the Despised

2008-04-27T22:03:00.001-04:00

Mama Adelaide Tambo photographed with former South African President Nelson Mandela. Her funeral was held on February 10, 2007. Mandela celebrated his 89th birthday on July 18.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Remember Oliver Tambo

A dream that gave hope to the despised

Courtesy of ANC Today
Friday, 25 April, 2008

During the month of April, the ANC has remembered the contributions of some of its most outstanding leaders. This week, we remember Oliver Reginald Tambo, who led the organisation for close on three decades and who passed away 15 years ago. He was, in the words of his close comrade, colleague and friend, Nelson Mandela, "a great giant who strode the globe like a colossus".

His life and contribution serves as inspiration to us today as we grapple with the challenge of building a free and democratic society that truly belongs to all who live in it. Oliver Tambo died almost exactly a year before the dawn of freedom. Yet he did more than most to bring about that historic event. As we celebrate our freedom this weekend, we should dedicate ourselves to serve the nation as he taught us - selflessly, ceaselessly and with humility.

Speaking at Tambo's funeral, held just a fortnight after the nation had laid Chris Hani to rest, Mandela said:

"A great giant who strode the globe like a colossus has fallen. A mind whose thoughts have opened the doors to our liberty has ceased to function. A heart whose dreams gave hope to the despised has for ever lost its beat. The gentle voice whose measured words of reason shook the thrones of tyrants has been silenced.

"We say he has departed. But can we allow him to depart while we live! Can we say Oliver Tambo is no more, while we walk this solid earth! Oliver lived not because he could breathe. He lived not because blood flowed through his veins. Oliver lived not because he did all the things that all of us as ordinary men and women do.

"Oliver lived because he had surrendered his very being to the people. He lived because his very being embodied love, an idea, a hope, an aspiration, a vision."

We remain engaged with this vision, driven by this idea, and fuelled by this hope.

A life of service

Born five years after ANC, Oliver Tambo spent most of his life serving in the struggle against apartheid. 'OR', as he was popularly known by his peers, was born on 27 October 1917 in Mbizana in eastern Mpondoland in what was then the Cape Province. His parents had converted to Christianity shortly before he was born.

At the age of seven he began his formal education at the Ludeke Methodist School in the Mbizana district and completed his primary education at the Holy Cross Mission. He then transferred to Johannesburg to attend St Peters College, in Rossettenville, where he completed his high school education.

From St Peters, Tambo went to study at the University College of Fort Hare, near Alice, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1941. It was at Fort Hare that he first became involved in the politics of the national liberation movement. He led a student class boycott in support of a demand to form a democratically elected Student's Representative Council. As a consequence he was expelled from Fort Hare and was thus unable to complete his Bachelor of Science honours degree.

In 1942, he returned to St Peters College as a science and mathematics teacher. He was among the founding members of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in 1944 and became its first National Secretary. He was elected President of the Transvaal ANCYL in 1948 and national vice-president in 1949.

In the youth league, Tambo teamed up with Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Ashby Mda, Anton Lembede, William Nkomo, CM Majombozi and others to bring a bold, new spirit of militancy into the post-war ANC. In 1946 Tambo was elected onto the Transvaal Executive of the ANC. In 1948 he, together with Walter Sisulu, was elected onto the National Executive Committee.

Tambo left teaching soon after the adoption by the ANC of the Programme of Action and set up a legal partnership with Nelson Mandela. The firm soon became known as a champion of the poor, victims of apartheid laws with little or no money to pay their legal costs.

During the Campaign of Defiance of Unjust Laws of 1952, Oliver Tambo was among the numerous volunteers who courted imprisonment by deliberately breaking apartheid laws. The apartheid government's attempts to suppress the Defiance Campaign resulted in one of the first mass trials in South African legal history. Though he himself was not among the accused, Tambo was close to the trial. It resulted in the designation of Sisulu and others found guilty of organising the Defiance Campaign as statutory "Communists". One result was that in 1955 ANC Secretary General Walter Sisulu was banned in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act and ordered to resign his post as Secretary General.

Oliver Tambo was appointed to fill the post, pending ratification by the annual conference. Hounded by banning orders and other restrictions, many of Tambo's peers were unable to attend the Congress of the People in June 1955. Tambo was not only on the platform but also served on the National Action Council that headed the mobilisation for the COP. It was because of this role that Tambo found himself among the 156 accused in the marathon Treason Trial in 1956.

In 1958, Oliver Tambo left the post of Secretary General to become the Deputy President of the ANC. The following year, 1959, he, like many of his colleagues, was served with five year banning order. After the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, Tambo was designated by the ANC to travel abroad to set up the ANC's international mission and mobilise international opinion in opposition to the apartheid system.

The international struggle

Working in conjunction with Dr Yusuf Dadoo he was instrumental in the establishment of the South African United Front, which brought together the external missions of the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the SA Indian Congress and the South West African National Union (SWANU). As a result of a very successful lobbying campaign the South African United Front was able to secure the expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth in 1961. After this initial success the SAUF broke up in July 1961.

Assisted by African governments, Tambo was able to establish ANC missions in Egypt, Ghana, Morocco and in London. From these small beginnings, under his stewardship the ANC acquired missions in 27 countries by 1990. These include all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, with the exception of China, two missions in Asia and one in Australasia.

The suppression of the 1961 stay-at-home strike led to the ANC adopting the armed struggle as part of its strategy. Tambo was again an important factor in securing the cooperation of numerous African governments in providing training and camp facilities for the ANC. In 1965 Tanzania and Zambia gave the ANC camp facilities to house trained Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) combatants. In 1967, after the death of ANC President General Chief Albert Luthuli, Tambo became Acting president until his appointment to the Presidency was approved by the Morogoro Conference in 1969.

During the 1970s Oliver Tambo's international prestige rose immensely as he traversed the world, addressing the United Nations and other international gatherings on the issue of apartheid. He became the key figure in the ANC's Revolutionary Council (RC) which had been set up at the Morogoro Conference to oversee the reconstruction of the ANC's internal machinery and to improve its underground capacity.

In 1985 Tambo was re-elected ANC President at the Kabwe Conference. In that capacity he served also as the Head of the Politico-Military Council (PMC) of the ANC, and as Commander in Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Among black South African leaders, Oliver Tambo was probably the most highly respected on the African continent, in Europe, Asia and the Americas. During his stewardship of the ANC he raised its international prestige and status to that of an alternative to the Pretoria Government. He was received with the protocol reserved for Heads of State in many parts of the world.

During his years in the ANC, Oliver Tambo played a major role in the growth and development of the movement and its policies. He was among the generation of African nationalist leaders who emerged after the Second World War who were instrumental in the transformation of the ANC from a liberal-constitutionalist organisation into a radical national liberation movement.

In 1989 Oliver Tambo suffered a stroke, and underwent extensive medical treatment. He returned to South Africa in 1991, after over three decades in exile. At the ANC's first legal national conference inside South Africa, held in Durban in July 1991, Tambo was elected ANC National Chairperson. He was also chairperson of the ANC's Emancipation Commission.

Oliver Tambo died from a stroke at 24 April 1993. His memory lives on in the daily struggles by millions of South Africans to forge a new nation, building on the foundation that he and his contemporaries laid, inspired by the vision to which he dedicated his entire life.

Democratic Republic of Congo Army Clashes With Former Militia Allies

2008-04-27T21:46:00.001-04:00

Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila Between His Wife and Mother at Campaign Rally
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire Photo File

Congo: army, former militia allies fight

By Eddy Isango
Associated Press Writer
April 27, 2008

KINSHASA, Congo—Congo troops clashed Friday with Rwandan Hutu militias with whom they were formerly allied, culminating a week of violence that has forced more than 12,000 people from their homes and prompted the U.N. refugee agency to suspend operations.

The Rwandan Hutu militiamen have been loosely tied to Congo's army for years, so the clashes appeared to mark a turnaround in government policy. Neighboring Rwanda has been calling for the government to confront the militias for years.

Officials say the militias are led by commanders who perpetrated Rwanda's 1994 genocide of more than half a million people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Friday's fighting pitted the army against Rwandan Hutu militiamen and some others in the villages of Kinyandoni and Ngwenda, about 50 miles northeast of the regional capital, Goma, said Caroline Draveny, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

She said fighting also erupted a few dozen miles to the west, in the village of Irangi, where the Rwandan militia clashed with gunmen loyal to a warlord.

There was no word of casualties linked to the fighting, but officials said more than 12,000 people were forced to flee.

Yonekawa Masako of the U.N. refugee agency said 11,000 people had fled to the village of Bulindi after the clashes in Irangi. Masako added that at least 1,700 people had fled Kinyandoni and Ngwenda, taking refuge in two churches and a makeshift camp.

Masako said the refugee agency suspended operations in the area Friday because of the insecurity. The agency provides displaced families with key items to survive.

A coalition of more than 60 human rights groups warned this week that there has been little progress toward peace in eastern Congo four months since the signing of a cease-fire, and called for an international human rights envoy to oversee implementation.

Congo emerged in late 2002 from back-to-back wars that split the Europe-sized nation into rival fiefdoms controlled by different factions. Despite a peace deal and a government of national unity, fighting has broken out sporadically in the east.

What People Can Do in Response to the Denial of Parole for MOVE 9 Women

2008-04-27T21:32:00.001-04:00

MOVE members at their home. The MOVE 9 women political prisoners being held in Pennsylvania were denied parole on April 22, 2008 by the state. They have been incarcerated nearly 30 years.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

What People Can Do in Response to the Denial of Parole for MOVE Women in the Pennsylvania Prison System

by Ramona Africa

Many many people are outraged about the recent parole board decision on my MOVE sisters. Everybody is asking what they can do now to continue their support of MOVE.

What people can do is write articles, Op-Ed pieces or letters to the editor in your local newspapers. Make this the national and international issue that is truly is. Don’t let it go unnoticed or be swept under the rug. This is the first step toward exposing this conspiracy against my family.

People in other countries should translate all communications into their own languages and circulate the information. That is extremely important. Also send us a copy so that we can circulate it to people we know that speak that particular language.

I will follow with more updated activities soon but we’ll start with this for now. Below are Philadelphia newspapers that people can write to. Write to some in your own local.

Thanks for your support---
Ramona

Philadelphia Daily News
400 N. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA. 19130

Philadelphia Inquirer
400 N. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA. 19130

Philadelphia Tribune (local so-called Black newspaper)
520 S. 16th St.
Philadelphia, PA. 19146

Philadelphia New Observer
1520 Locust St.
Philadelphia, PA. 19102

Philadelphia City Paper
123 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, PA. 19106

Philadelphia Weekly
1701 Walnut St.
Philadelphia, PA. 19103