From aaronj at interchange.ubc.ca Thu Dec 6 02:11:19 2001 From: aaronj at interchange.ubc.ca (Aaron James) Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 09:11:19 -0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1833] Confessions of a sweatshop inspector in China Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20011205091119.008a4ac0@pop.interchange.ubc.ca> Confessions Of A Sweatshop Inspector by Joshua Samuel Brown VISIT MONITOR archive of sweatshop articles sweatshop Garment workers in mainland china are usually in the 16 - 24 age group, but many smaller factories in Taiwan employed older women Halfway over the Pacific it dawns on me that I have no idea what my job is. It's October 15, 1998 and twelve hours ago, I was in the southern California offices of an independent monitoring company that inspects factories for safety violations and human rights abuses throughout the world. I had been hired over the phone a few days before. My sole qualification for the job? I speak Chinese and have a friend already working for the company. I assumed that there would be some sort of lengthy training process to teach me how to be a human rights inspector. There wasn't. Arriving in Los Angeles, I'm taken to Denny's by another inspector, then back to the office, where I putter around for a few hours before being driven back to the airport to catch my plane to Taiwan. I tell my manager that I feel a bit unprepared for the task ahead. "Don't worry, you'll do fine," he tells me, handing me a suitcase full of folders containing the names and addresses of 23 factories in Taiwan and $26 a day for meals. "You'll meet your partner in Taiwan, he'll show you the ropes," he says, passing me the company handbook. "You can learn about OSHA regulations and the manufacturers' codes of conduct on the airplane." Inspector Heart Attack sweatshop bathroom One of the more commonly-heard sweatshop horror stories is that workers are denied bathroom privileges. More common are situations like this, where the factory restrooms were so disgusting that only the most desparate workers would use them My partner's name is John, but everybody calls him Heart Attack. I find him sprawled on the floor of our Taipei hotel room early the next morning. Pieces of reports, violation sheets and photographs of factories are scattered over the floor. John is rooting through the mess, whining that he'd been awakened by a call from Marty at 4AM, something about a "failure to assess back wages in Saipan." Heart Attack looks extremely tense. "Back wages, John," he babbles in a mocking falsetto. "Assess the back wages, don't forget the back wages." I introduce myself, telling him I'm to be his partner, and he's supposed to train me. He looks up at me, eyes wide with loathing. "Training you?! Me? They're going to fire me over this Saipan thing, but first they want me to train my own replacement, right? I'm not going to dig my own grave, no thanks!" Things are tense, and I haven't even dropped my suitcase yet. I try to defuse the situation by offering to buy him a cup of coffee in the hotel lobby, assuring him that I know nothing about Saipan, or of any plans to fire him. Heart Attack seems to relax. "Sorry about that," he says, getting up to shake my hand. "Nobody trained me to assess back wages, you know." Not even knowing what he means by "back wages," I nod dumbly. I'm to spend the next two weeks learning how to be an inspector from Heart Attack. Despite his apparent neurosis, he has the instincts of a bloodhound, and proves himself an excellent inspector. On the job just over three months at the time, he's already considered a veteran at the company. "This company has a turnover rate higher than most burger joints," he warns me over coffee. Bad reviews mean little October 18, 1998 I'm learning from Heart Attack how this business works. Inspectors go into factories all over the world looking for signs of worker exploitation, egregious safety violations, child labor and quota violations. We are paid by our clients, major manufacturers whose stores and products are household names. On a good day, our company earns thousands of dollars from a few international inspections. The inspectors themselves are paid minimal hourly wages, with no benefits. Inspectors are expected to work 70-hour weeks, and to be on call 24 hours a day for calls from the L.A. office. The worse a factory is, the more often inspectors are sent, and the more money the company makes. My first day on the job, Heart Attack and I perform two surprise inspections. The first factory is a re-audit of a factory producing goods for Kmart. "Man, the last guy they sent really botched this inspection," Heart Attack says. "Look at this report." The report is for an inspection performed a year ago. It's written so generically that the writer could easily have been describing half of the medium-sized cookware factories in Taiwan. The factory had been given a low risk assessment, ending with the often-used line, "The inspector was unable to find any violations that would be considered a risk at this medium-sized factory." I think that maybe we were at the wrong facility, because the one we are in is an unmistakable hellhole -- a dark basement factory with poor ventilation and dangerous equipment. There's no first-aid kit, and the fire extinguishers expired around the same time as Chiang Kai-shek. We interview the workers. They tell me they're paid only half of what they had been promised by contract, and one of the Thai workers confides in me that he wants to run away, but the boss keeps all his documents locked in a safe. I ask them why they didn't tell this to the last inspector, and they stare at me blankly. "A foreigner visited last year, but he didn't talk to us. Was he from your company?" I bring these problems up to the factory manager, and he looks at me as if I'm insane. "What problem?!" the manager says. "Last guy say everything OK! I sign paper, he leave! Why you bother me again!?" Later I call into our office and ask a manager just how the previous inspector could have given this sweatshop a low risk rating. "That guy didn't work out," I'm told. A few days later, Heart Attack and I are in central Taiwan, and I'm learning a lot more about the business. There seems to be an absolute lack of consistency in the attitudes of inspectors working for us. "Everybody has their own focus," John tells me. "Like, there are some who I call eye-wash inspectors. They can go into the worst factory in China and head straight for the first-aid kit. They'll ignore all of the other violations, and write three paragraphs in their report about how there was no eye-wash in the kit. Then they come back home and brag about how they can do five factories a day." I ask him why these eye-wash inspectors don't get fired for incompetence. He smirks and rubs his thumb and forefinger together in the universal symbol for payola. "This company cares about quantity, not quality," John says. We approach the factory, a place producing belt buckles for Calvin Klein. The facility has been under inspection for quite some time, and not by slacking eye-wash inspectors. This place has been thoroughly raked over. "Look at this last report!" Heart Attack hands me the previous inspection team's violation list. It has some pretty damning violations: * Dangerous metal-melting chemicals being mixed in vats by workers wearing flip-flop sandals * overtime not being paid at legal rate * imported workers denied access to their passports * 90 hour work weeks sweatshop housing Inside of worker's dorms, Donguan, China. With few exceptions, living conditions in factory dormitories in China ranged from bad to utterly appalling. This particular factory made shower curtains, and so the workers used ruined or otherwise unsellable vinyl curtains for privacy in a room that housed 24 workers There is a tacit agreement that what we write in our reports will be read by the manufacturers, who are supposed to pull out of those factories found to be continually in violation of their codes of conduct. Were this truly the case, we would not even be here: This factory has been on the high-risk list for two years. I ask Heart Attack if he thinks the client will pull out of this factory soon, and he snorts derisively. "We've been here five times already, and every time the factory gets a high risk," says Heart Attack. "Calvin Klein won't pull out of this factory until we find 9 year-olds chained to arc welders and strung out on speed. The boss knows that we're only paper tigers." Nonetheless, I try to convince the boss to mend his ways. Heart Attack is a crude man, a rare breed of sinophile, able to speak Chinese without an ounce of Chinese manners. I, on the other hand, have spent much of my adult life in Asia. I understand the use of polite shaming. I appeal to the boss's sense of patriotism and reputation. "News crews might come here one day," I tell him, switching from Mandarin Chinese to the native Taiwanese dialect. "The poor conditions we've found here might cause a loss of face to both you and the Taiwanese business community. Mainlanders will look at you and tell the world that the Taiwanese have no heart." The boss nods politely, promises to make the improvements suggested in our report, and invites us to have dinner with him. We decline, explaining that it goes against our own company's code of conduct. We are forced to give this factory yet another high-risk rating. The owner signs our findings sheet without a glance. Two weeks after our swing through Taiwan began, Heart Attack and I are trying to get all our reports in before returning to America. We have been awake for 30 hours straight. He tells me we've had a successful trip. Of the 23 factories on our list, we found 22 of them, and were only denied access to one. Tallying up our profit and loss sheet, we figure that we've earned the company more than $20,000 profit. I've been working 13-hour days for two weeks, and am looking forward to reaching San Francisco for some R&R. While I am excited by my new job, I'm beginning to wonder just whose needs I'm serving. Am I helping the industry clean up its dirty laundry, or just to bury it a little further from the noses of the American consumer? The dog meat man November 15, 1998 There is a long trench with imposing razor ribbon fences on either side, and one bridge running across it. This is the path that leads from Hong Kong to China. This is where I'll be spending the next three weeks. It's my second trip as a sweatshop inspector, and my first trip into mainland China. Before leaving the office in L.A., one of the senior inspectors took me aside and told me that "no factory in China should ever get a low-risk rating." It was explained to me that all factories in China were so far against the clients' stated codes of conduct that if one were to be given anything other than a high-medium risk, whoever reviewed the report in the office would assume the on-site inspector hadn't really looked. I naively asked him why we even bothered inspecting factories if we knew that they'd fail; the senior inspector looked at me like I was nuts. It is also the first trip for my Hong Kong partner, Jack Li. Despite the fact that I've been on the job only one month, I will be training him. Before I leave the office, I'm given a chunk of cash to pay Jack's salary. His pay is half of my own, with no overtime pay. His per diem food allowance is $6 less than mine. How ironic, going overseas to uncover disparity in the workplace while committing it myself on my employer's behalf. I feel disgusted with myself, and decide to split the difference of our per diems between us. Jack and I inspect a typical Chinese factory a couple of days later. We find almost every violation in the book. The workers are pulling 90-hour weeks. The place has no fire extinguishers or fire exits, and is so jammed full of material that a small fire could explode into an inferno within a minute. There are no safety guards on the sewing machines, and the first-aid box holds only packages of instant noodles. Most of the workers are from the inland provinces, so I conduct the employee interviews in Mandarin while leaving Jack to grill the owners in Cantonese. With the bosses out of earshot, I fully expect the workers to pour out their sorrows to me, to beg me to tell the consumers of America to help them out of their misery. I'm surprised at what I hear. "I'm happy to have this job," is the essence of what several workers tell me. "At home, I'm a drain on my family's resources. But now, I can send them money every month." I point out that they make only $100 a month; they remind me this is about five times what they can make in their home province. I ask if they feel like they're being exploited, having to work 90 hours a week. They laugh. "We all work piece rate here. More work, more money." The worst part of the day for them, it seemed, was seeing me arrive. "I don't want to tell you anything because you'll close my factory and ruin any chances I have at having a better life one day," one tells me. sweatshop I ask if they feel like they're being exploited, having to work 90 hours a week. They laugh Jack and I tell the owner that she needs to buy fire extinguishers, put actual first-aid supplies in the first-aid kits, install safety equipment on the sewing machines, and reduce worker hours to below 60 per week. We figure if she takes care of the first two tasks, we've helped to make the world a slightly less ugly place. It's too late to hit another factory, so we sit down for some tea with the owner. We've just finished faulting her for just about every health, safety and payroll violation in the book, but she remains an excellent host. "Thank you for caring so much about our poor Chinese factory workers," she tells us. "But really, it's all about profit. If I paid my workers more money, I'd have to raise the price to my buyers, the people who are sending you here to inspect my factory. Do you think they would accept that?" I try to explain to her that a new consciousness is developing among American consumers, and that all of the American garment producers are trying their best to clean up their factories. "Gua yang tou, mai gou rou," she replies, quoting an old Chinese proverb. Translated: "Hang a sheep head but serve dog meat." "Calvin Klein, Wal-mart, Kathie Lee: They all want the same thing. Chinese labor, the cheaper the better," she smiles, pouring the tea. "They all want to project a smiling face, to appear to be caring and compassionate, because that makes people feel better about buying the products that have their names. "But we both know that all they care about is money," she continues. "If I did all the things you told me to do, my clothing would become more expensive to the manufacturers. Then they would just use a cheaper factory, one in Vietnam or someplace even less regulated than China." Finally, it hits me. I understand why my employer doesn't care if we do a good job or not. We aren't here to help change anything; we're only a PR prophylactic. Hiring an industry-friendly "independent" inspection company is the most cost-effective way for the manufacturers to maintain their profits while claiming to care about the people on whose sweat their profits depend. Jack and I finish our tea, thank the owner for her hospitality, and head back to our hotel, just a couple of sheep heads working for the dog-meat man. Joshua Samuel Brown has written for The Hong Kong Daily Standard, The Taipei Times, The China Post, Beijing Scene, and many others. His last article for the Monitor appeared in May, A Simple Fix For Our China Crisis. He is currently enroute to mainland China, where he will report regularly for the Monitor _____ Comments? Send a letter to the editor. Albion Monitor September 1, 2001 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor) All Rights Reserved. Contact rights@monitor.net for permission to use in any format. Jock Nash Washington Counsel Milliken & Co. (202) 775-0084 jocknash@millikendc.com ------------------ Aaron James 26 Bluebell Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R2V 2M3 Phone: 204-339-4484 Email: aaronj@interchange.ubc.ca ------------------ From amittal at foodfirst.org Fri Dec 7 09:55:03 2001 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 00:55:03 +0000 Subject: [asia-apec 1834] Fast Track Passage Won't Defeat the Seattle Coalition Message-ID: <0.700000824.1424893261-738719082-1007686507@topica.com> Today Fast Track passed by one vote (215 to 214). Thank you to all who participated in this fight. We were up against the most powerful corporate interests in the world. Once again, this vote confirms that Congress can be bought off by the highest bidder. However, our struggle continues as we build a peoples movement for a fair and just world. Here's an excellent overview by Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh of our movement's gains. You can also view the final vote count at: http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2001&rollnumber=481. Thank you once again to all who joined this fight!! FAST TRACK PASSAGE WON'T DEFEAT THE "SEATTLE COALITION" by Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies Today the U.S. House of Representatives barely approved fast track trade authority by a vote of 215 to 214, ending a long battle that pitted the Fortune 500 against a broad alliance of labor, environmental, religious, feminist, human rights, consumer, family farm and other activists. These diverse forces defeated fast track twice during the Clinton Administration and managed to delay a vote numerous times this year because of lack of support. Now that fast track has been approved, pro-free trade analysts would no doubt like to begin ringing the death knell of the opposition forces. To the contrary, there are several reasons why this vote is only a small setback in the fight against corporate globalization. 1. FREE TRADERS UNDERMINED THEIR LEGITIMACY WITH CHEAP SELL TACTICS The K Street lobbyists, Capitol Hill horse traders, and White House spin-meisters had to really hustle to pull this one out. We will never know how many millions of dollars in campaign contributions or pork deals were needed to eke out a win. When money wouldn't work, the Administration diverted Colin Powell from the war effort to try to persuade members of Congress with the ludicrous argument that fast track was needed to fight terrorism. (Now that Bush has fast track, can we expect Osama bin Laden to emerge from his cave waving a white flag?) All this last-minute manipulation makes it impossible for free traders to claim that fast track passed on merit. 2. JUST AS NAFTA PORK CREATED AN ANTI-FREE TRADE GROUNDSWELL, SO TOO WILL THIS VOTE DOOM FUTURE DEALS In 1993, NAFTA backers faced defeat in the House of Representatives even a week before the vote. Then, Clinton started buying support with promises of military contracts, research centers, and protections for various commodities. Although it succeeded in pushing the deal through, the strategy proved short-sighted. The tainted nature of that vote, along with NAFTA's dismal record, paved the way for the defeat of fast track in 1997 and 1998 and for the recent wave of mass demonstrations against globalization that first erupted in Seattle in 1999. This time around, we're likely to see similar fallout. Even free traders such as Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute warned in the days leading up to the vote that the last-minute arm-twisting could create such harsh feelings that Congress might reject future trade deals. 3. PLANNED TRADE DEALS FACE MANY OTHER OBSTACLES What the House passed today was merely a procedural matter. Free traders still face high hurdles to obtain actual new deals. The two most significant on the horizon are: FREE TRADE AREA OF THE AMERICAS: The idea to expand NAFTA to 31 other nations has few champions in the hemisphere. The populist government of Venezuela refused to agree to the timetable for negotiations worked out in April in Quebec City, Canada. The Brazilian government fears that it will lose its clout in South America by entering a hemispheric deal where it would be overshadowed by the United States. For Mexico, the FTAA would mean losing the privileged access to the U.S. market it now enjoys under NAFTA. Argentina is in economic meltdown and facing a growing backlash against free market polices. Small economies of the Caribbean fear that the loss of tariff revenues would cripple their public sectors. Meanwhile, a Hemispheric Social Alliance has formed that joins 50 million trade unionists and citizens networks across the Americas in opposition to the FTAA. WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: The Doha ministerial in early November managed to produce an agreement to launch a new round of negotiations, but the meeting hardly left the impression of rousing consensus. France (one of the biggest global agricultural exporters) and India (the world's biggest democracy) were both threatening to pull out at the 11th hour. Negotiators had to work past the deadline and through the night just to save face with an agreement that was so vague that countries on opposing sides of key issues could all claim victory. These divisions are likely to flare up once again once the real deal-making begins-and next time negotiators may not be thousands of miles away from the nearest protestor. 4. THIS IS ONE SETBACK AMONG MANY VICTORIES The growing movement to oppose corporate globalization is unprecedented in the breadth of its composition and its demands and in its many cross-border linkages. While U.S. activists have suffered a blow on fast track, there have been-and will continue to be-victories on many other fronts: WTO: At the recent WTO meeting, governments agreed to give poor countries better access to discounts on drugs for AIDS and other major killers. Previously, U.S. AIDS activists had pressured pharmaceutical firms and the U.S. government to back off challenges to South Africa's and Brazil's programs to offer affordable AIDS treatment. The U.S. government had alleged that these programs violated WTO rules on intellectual property rights. INTERNATIONAL BANKRUPTCY MECHANISM: Last week the IMF made the surprise announcement that it now supports an idea promoted for years by progressives to create an international bankruptcy mechanism for developing countries facing debt crises. While the details remain to be seen, the idea is to establish a procedure based on Chapter 11 of U.S. bankruptcy law that would protect governments from being sued by creditors during negotiations over debt restructuring. Progressives have long argued that such a mechanism was needed to ensure that private investors are not bailed out while the poor bear the burden of economic crises. MAI: in 1998, international activists, particularly in Canada and France, spearheaded the defeat of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment. Negotiated in the rich country club, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, the MAI would have severely restricted the authority of governments to control the activity of foreign investors. DEBT: since the late 1990s, several rich country governments have responded to pressure from religious and other activists by canceling debts owed to them by poor countries. (The IMF and World Bank also responded with a debt relief program, but this is only a partial victory since the institutions are demanding that debt relief be conditioned on onerous conditions and many impoverished countries, such as Haiti, are left out.) CORPORATE CAMPAIGNS: a number of groups have been successful in pressuring specific companies to modify their behavior (e.g. Rainforest Action Network's concessions from Home Depot to support sustainable forestry, certain companies pulling out of Burma over egregious human rights abuses). In addition, students have organized on dozens of campuses to pressure their administrations to adopt a code of conduct against purchasing college gear that has been made in sweatshops. WORLD BANK/IMF: since the late 1990s, there have been victories in individual countries against policies promoted by the World Bank and IMF. Workers, peasants and others have been successful in fighting water privatization in Bolivia, gasoline price hikes in Nigeria, labor law reforms in Korea, and telecommunications privatization in Costa Rica. In the United States, Congress passed legislation in 2000 requiring U.S. representatives to the World Bank and IMF to oppose projects that include "user fees" on access to primary health care and education. These fees have been associated with lower school enrollment and reduced access to health care. GLOBAL FINANCIAL CASINO: promoters of a tax on speculative capital flows (known as a "Tobin Tax") have succeeded in obtaining support from some European nations and Canada. In September 2001, the European Commission agreed to study the feasibility of such a tax. Contacts: John Cavanagh, IPS Director, 202 234-9382x224, jcavanagh@igc.org Sarah Anderson, IPS Fellow, 202 234-9382x227, saraha@igc.org The Institute for Policy Studies is a multi-issue research and education center founded in Washington, DC in 1963. See: www.ips-dc.org for more information on globalization and other topics. -- For more information, to order Food First Books,or to join our member-supported organization, go to: http://www.foodfirst.org. Or send your tax-deductible check to: Food First, 398 60th St. Oakland, CA 94618 ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: asia-apec@jca.ax.apc.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://igc.topica.com/u/?aVxil2.aVxCnz Or send an email to: fianusa-news-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ From amittal at foodfirst.org Tue Dec 11 08:46:07 2001 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 23:46:07 +0000 Subject: [asia-apec 1835] Dates to Remember: Human Rights Now More than Ever Message-ID: <0.700000824.1883893435-951758591-1008027972@topica.com> Dates to Remember: Human Rights Now More than Ever By Sosamma Samuel-Burnett Coordinator, Economic and Social Human Rights Program Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy The events of September 11 seared that date and its significance into our national consciousness. In the wake of these tragedies, another date takes a renewed significance - December 10. This second date is Human Rights Day, which this year signifies the 53rd anniversary of the most widely recognized and accepted international human rights document -- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Now more than ever, our nation needs to know and understand what human rights means for people in our country and across the globe. By definition terrorist attacks violates fundamental human rights - most importantly the right to life. The fact that the September 11 events extinguished the right to life of a reported 3,900 people is the reason for our national mourning and outrage. The terrorists disregard for human rights should be our country's incentive to strengthen our awareness and support for fundamental human rights. In this context, we should also share outrage that the fundamental human rights of 36 million poverty-stricken Americans are violated and neglected. For these people the right to life, right to food, right to housing, right to healthcare, and related rights have been systematically denied by an economic and social system that has politicized the needs of the disadvantaged. As a country, we can do more than mourn them. While the United States responds to the September 11 terrorist attacks, we must not overlook those people in our country who bear the ripple effects of those terrible events. Although the airlines and other industries took government bailouts, thousands of displaced workers have no means to get a job or earn a viable income. While the priorities of our government shift to national security, food insecurity and economic vulnerability grows for millions of Americans who already lack adequate food, shelter, or healthcare to maintain the bare minimum for survival or good health. Particularly during difficult times, the concerns of the poor are indeed the concerns of our nation. To meet the fundamental human rights of all Americans, our government together with the private sector must directly and effectively address joblessness and homelessness, provide a living wage and affordable healthcare, and maintain safety nets that reach those that need them. In doing so, we need to understand and respond to the underlying structural and societal situation facing our nation's poor. Ensuring the health and survival of our people is not a handout but a necessity for the well being of the whole country. While our public and media become increasingly aware of the Talibans brutal disregard of human rights against the Afghan people, we must also realize the United States' troubling record on economic and social human rights for American people. Yet it is important to note that the United States historically has been a leader in the international human rights movement, and even spurred the drafting of important international human rights documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic and Social Human Rights. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt enunciated the "Four Freedoms," the United States has been at the forefront in promoting the concepts of human rights. But despite our leadership in engaging other countries to recognize and fulfill their human rights obligations, we have ignored ours. We not only have refused to ratify numerous human rights treaties, but also have refused our people the realization of their fundamental human rights. The aftermath of September 11 is precisely the time for the United States to demonstrate a real commitment to human rights. Only then can we truly distinguish ourselves from the terrorists that we call our enemy. ### For more information, to order Food First Books,or to join our member-supported organization, go to: http://www.foodfirst.org. Or send your tax-deductible check to: Food First, 398 60th St. Oakland, CA 94618 ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: asia-apec@jca.ax.apc.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://igc.topica.com/u/?aVxil2.aVxCnz Or send an email to: fianusa-news-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ From aaronj at interchange.ubc.ca Sun Dec 16 04:49:24 2001 From: aaronj at interchange.ubc.ca (aaronj@interchange.ubc.ca) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 11:49:24 -0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1836] McDonalds in China blown up Message-ID: <536844.1008445764748.JavaMail.portal@portal1.itservices.ubc.ca> If anyone is interested in receiving a weekly bulletin containing summaries of news about workers rights, human rights, women's rights and environmental degradation in the Asia Pacific, please email me, and I will put you on the list. best, Aaron James Blast at McDonald's in China kills one - witnesses Saturday December 15, 10:43 AM EST BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) - An explosion at a crowded McDonald's restaurant in the centre of China's western city of Xi'an killed one person and injured more than 20 on Saturday, witnesses said. Police blocked off two major streets in the centre of the city after the explosion, which took place during the busy dinner hour, they said. City officials reached by Reuters declined to comment. Officials told local journalists they suspected the blast was set deliberately by the person killed in the explosion. Xi'an is home to a sizeable ethnic Uighur Muslim population. Uighur separatists have been responsible for a series of bombings in western China, but it was not immediately known if they played any role in this explosion. The ancient city of Xi'an, a former imperial capital, is near the site of the famed terracotta warriors, a major tourist attraction. The incident follows two series of explosions in the southern province of Guangdong on Friday. ©2001 Reuters Limited. From amittal at foodfirst.org Tue Dec 18 10:18:51 2001 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 01:18:51 +0000 Subject: [asia-apec 1837] Trade Rules Threaten African Farmers' Rights! Message-ID: <0.700000824.114800289-951758591-1008638338@topica.com> ADVOCACY NETWORK ON AFRICA (ADNA) AFRICA TRADE POLICY WORKING GROUP URGE YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE TO COSPONSOR The Agriculture and Farm Resources for the Indigenous Communities of Africa Resolution (The AFRICA Resolution - H. CON. RES. 260) Trade rules threaten African farmers’ rights! Backed by WTO laws over Patents and Intellectual Property Rights, drafted with strong input from U.S. trade negotiators, multinational corporations are increasingly laying claim to food crops and medicinal plants in developing countries that have been used by farmers and local communities for countless generations. Patents on African agricultural resources threaten the ability of local farmers to freely safeguard,access, use, save, exchange and sell their seeds and crops. Patents put local food security and farm income at risk by taking control of traditional resources away from local farmers. Small scale farmers in Africa fear that commercial monopolization of agricultural resources by outside interests together with the promotion of herbicides, pesticides and other industrialized agricultural inputs by those same parties may cause long-term harm to bio-diversity. They also fear that these practices will encourage an industrial type of agriculture ill suited to their own farming practices and patterns of land ownership. The AFRICA Resolution On Nov 2nd, 2001, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA35) introduced the "AFRICA resolution:" Agriculture and Farm Resources for the Indigenous Communities of Africa (H. Con. Res. 260) to uphold the rights of African farmers over their seeds and food crops. Based on an initiative by the organization of African unity, the AFRICA resolution expresses the sense of congress, that African farmers’ rights to safeguard, access, use, exchange and share their agricultural and biological resources should be upheld under international trade law. The resolution is consistent with the position of the Africa Group of delegates to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that seeds, plants, crops and other agricultural genetic resources should not be patented. Help protect African farmers’ rights! Please contact your Congressional Representative immediately. Urge her/him to cosponsor H. Con. Res. 260 - the AFRICA resolution. * Contact your representative by phone at 202/224-3121 * Or write to your representative at: U.S. House of Representatives . Washington, DC 20515 You can view the full text of the AFRICA Resolution on the Africa Faith & Justice Network web site at http://afjn.cua.edu Please feel free to use the sample letter on the reverse side of this page. ---------------------------------- Sample Letter to Congress Representative _____________________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Representative _________________, Please cosponsor the Agriculture and Farm Resources for the Indigenous Communities of Africa Resolution (H. Con. Res. 260). This resolution upholds the rights of African farmers to freely safeguard, access, use, save, exchange and sell their seeds and crops. International trade rules permit corporations and individuals to patent agricultural and natural resources. This practice threatens the ability of African farmers to ensure their food security, livelihoods and culture, and to safeguard Africa’s bio-diversity. Their right to control and use their own seeds, crops and plants according to the customs of generations must be upheld under international law. Agricultural resources are part of the common heritage of humankind. Please protect African farmers’ rights by cosponsoring H. Con. Res. 260. Respectfully, ---------------------------------- The AFRICA Resolution has been referred in the House to both the International Relations Committee and the Ways and Means Committee. -- Kathleen McNeely Program Associate - Africa Issues Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns P.O. Box 29132 Washington DC 20017 Tel: 202-832-1780 / Fax: 202-832-5195 For more information, to order Food First Books,or to join our member-supported organization, go to: http://www.foodfirst.org. Or send your tax-deductible check to: Food First, 398 60th St. Oakland, CA 94618 ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: asia-apec@jca.ax.apc.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://igc.topica.com/u/?aVxil2.aVxCnz Or send an email to: fianusa-news-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ From fbp at igc.org Sat Dec 22 06:30:07 2001 From: fbp at igc.org (John M. Miller) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 16:30:07 -0500 Subject: [asia-apec 1838] Congress Bolsters Ban on Training for Indonesia With One Bill, Opens Loophole w/ Another Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20011221162853.0414b480@pop.igc.org> East Timor Action Network/U.S. Indonesia Human Rights Network Media Release For Immediate Release Contact: John M. Miller, 718-5967668; mobile: 917-690-4391; john@etan.org Kurt Biddle (IHRN); (202) 393-4554; mobile (202) 422-3214; kurt@indonesianetwork.org Congress Bolsters Ban on Training for Indonesia With One Bill, While Opening a Loophole with Another December 21,2001 -- This week Congress strengthened conditions on resumption of military training in one bill, even as it opened a loophole to allow training under another. While the Indonesia Human Rights Network (IHRN) and the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) applauded one Congressional action, they vowed to strenuously oppose the inclusion of the Indonesia military under a new program. The Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2002 (HR 2506), passed by both houses of Congress this week, maintains the ban on International Military Education and Training (IMET) and Foreign Military Financing programs for Indonesia. Indonesia must meet newly strengthened conditions on human rights, access to conflict areas, and release of political detainees before this assistance can be resumed. However, a last minute change in the Defense Department Appropriations Act (HR 3338) allows U.S. training of Indonesian military officers. Restrictions in the foreign operations bill will not apply to this training. Congress finished work on both bill on Thursday. "Justice, peace and democracy will never flourish in Indonesia as long as its military remains unaccountable," said Kurt Biddle, Washington Coordinator of IHRN. "The foreign operations bill supports the Indonesian people who continue to be subject to intimidation, torture and murder by a military that is supposed to protect them from outside enemies. Unfortunately, the defense bill could undermine that support." Congress first voted to restrict IMET for Indonesia, which brings foreign military officers to the U.S. for training, in response to the November 12, 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor. All military ties were severed in September 1999 as the Indonesian military and its militia proxies razed East Timor following its pro-independence vote. The original conditions codified into law in late 1999 include the safe return of East Timorese refugees, prosecution of those responsible for atrocities in East Timor and Indonesia, and security for East Timor from military and militia activity. None of these conditions have been met. "The 2002 Act rightfully recognizes the impunity enjoyed by Indonesian security forces for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999 and the continued control of tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees by militia leaders living freely in Indonesian West Timor," said Karen Orenstein, Washington Coordinator of ETAN. "The Pentagon's latest move to gut the ban on Indonesian military training amounts to deliberate backsliding on human rights protections for the people of Indonesia and East Timor," she added. New conditions in the foreign operations bill include the release of all political detainees, open access to conflict regions, and reporting to civilian authorities audits of the military's receipts and expenditures. The International Crisis Group estimates that as little as 30% of the Indonesian military's operating budget is provided by Jakarta. The majority of the military's budget is raised through their own businesses, both legal and illegal. The defense bill establishes a Regional Defense Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) added the program to the bill at the behest of Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command. What will be taught remains undefined. The East Timor Action Network/U.S. (ETAN) advocates for democracy, sustainable development, justice and human rights, including women's rights, for the people of East Timor. ETAN calls for an international tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity that took place in East Timor since 1975. See http://www.etan.org. The Indonesia Human Rights Network (IHRN) is a U.S.-based grassroots organization working to influence U.S. foreign policy and international economic interests to support democracy, demilitarization, and justice through accountability and rule of law in Indonesia. IHRN seeks to end armed forces repression in Indonesia by exposing it to international scrutiny. IHRN works with and advocates on behalf of people throughout the Indonesian archipelago to strengthen civil society. See www.IndonesiaNetwork.org. -30- etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan John M. Miller Internet: john@etan.org Media & Outreach Coordinator, East Timor Action Network 48 Duffield St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA Phone: (718)596-7668 Fax: (718)222-4097 Mobile phone: (917)690-4391 Web site: http://www.etan.org Send a blank e-mail message to info@etan.org to find out how to learn more about East Timor on the Internet etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan