October 2005 - Page 2 of 6

Panama protesters gear up for Bush visit

Super User October 26, 2005 Super User

PANAMA CITY – As if Pres. Bush doesn’t have enough critics at home, his planned Nov. 6-7 visit to Panama could expose him to militant students and trade unionists who oppose his neo-liberal trade policies and handling of Iraq. “We will give a warm welcome to the greatest genocidal killer on earth," university leader Javier Vasquez told Prensa Latina last week.

In anticipation of trouble, the government recently closed some schools and cracked down of protesters. As Vasquez sees it, the current Panama government obeys the mandates of "Emperor Bush," but most Panamanians don’t agree. Protests are expected to resume before the U.S president arrives, focusing not only on the visit but also on the recent rise in fuel prices and a possible increase in bus fares. read more

Laura Flanders: Anti-War Radio Journalist

Bob Feldman October 26, 2005 Bob Feldman

Laura Flanders is one of the most influential anti-war journalists in the United States. Her tough debating skills, powerful intellect and sharp wit have made her a force to reckon with in media today. In addition to hosting countless radio shows, including her current program on Air America Radio, she recently came out with Bushwomen, a book that examines the background of powerful Republican Party women like Condoleezza Rice and Lynn Cheney. Flanders became involved in activism in the 1980s as a student Barnard College, where she circulated petitions against the U.S. government's intervention in Central America and demonstrated against Columbia University's refusal to divest itself of its investments in U.S. corporations doing business in South Africa during the apartheid era. Flanders initially became involved in the U.S. alternative media world as a radical filmmaker.

Liberal Christian Organization Puts Theocrats on Notice

Jeff Nall October 25, 2005 Jeff Nall

In a move to save the integrity of the Christian faith and combat the extremist agenda of the religious right, a group of Jacksonville Floridians have formed the Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP). The group proclaims unequivocal support for economic justice, gay and lesbian rights, environmental stewardship, reproductive rights and universal health care.

Mission improbable: Challenging the official story of 9/11

Greg Guma October 24, 2005 Greg Guma

For more than four years, the public has repeatedly been urged to ignore "outrageous" conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that set in motion the so-called "war on terrorism." However, the official explanation that has been provided - and widely embraced - also requires the acceptance of a theory, one involving a massive intelligence failure, 19 Muslim hijackers under the sway of Osama bin Laden, and the inability of the world's most advanced Air Force to intercept four commercial airplanes.

Uganda: ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Lord’s Resistance Army

Rene Wadlow October 20, 2005 Rene Wadlow

Child Soldier in Uganda

On October 14, 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague announced that it issued warrants for the arrest of five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the first such step taken by the new human rights court. The ICC prosecutor has accused Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA and four of his closest commanders, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen, and Raska Lukwiya, of killing, raping and robbing civilians. The chief ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, put a special emphasis on the LRA's systematic kidnapping of children, forcing them to fight and using girls as sex slaves. The ICC has no police of its own and must depend on cooperation from Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire), where the LRA leaders are believed to be operating.

WTO opponents gear up for another round

Super User October 19, 2005 Super User

GENEVA – Starting this week, civil society groups around the world plan to stage a series of demonstrations leading up to major protests at a December ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Hong Kong. According to an analysis by Gustavo Capdevila on oneworld.net, the new mobilization against corporate globalization points to a renewal of the anti-globalization campaign that seriously disrupted previous WTO summits in Seattle and Cancun.

"We are going to stop the WTO negotiations because we don’t see any good prospects for all countries, especially in Latin America and Africa," said Lara Pietricovsky of the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Studies, quoted on oneworld.net. One of the slogans for the campaign is "Hong Kong will be the WTO’s Stalingrad." In 1943, Soviet Union troops defeated the invading Nazi German army in that Russian city, an event that many believe marked the beginning of the end of World War II. read more