Tidbits, Responses & Announcements

May 21, 2011

* Puerto Rico Reinstates Collective Bargaining for Public
  Employees (James Parks in AFL-CIO Now Blog News)
* Re: Race & 2012 (David Worley)
* Re: Obama Speech - Was Pres. Obama warning listeners?
  (Joe Maizilsh
* Re: Why No Outcry over These Torturing Tyrants? (Chuck
  Hallenbeck)
* Re: Area 51 and Roswell: The Craziest Theory Yet (Jean
  Damu and Germaine Cook)
* Re: Santana Speaks out for Civil Rights, is booed (Isabel
  Thompson)
* Re: War Crimes & the Bombing of Libya (Lincoln Smith)
* Thanks for all you do!!!!! (Janet Fennerty)
* Henry Kissinger -Oldest US War Criminal, is Speaking in
  NYC! - May 31
* A Video Journey Through the Gaza Strip - One Night Only -
  Bay Area - June 1
* Bay Area Photo Exhibit thru May 31 - indigenous migration
to the United States from Mexico.

==========

* Puerto Rico Reinstates Collective Bargaining for Public
Employees

by James Parks

AFL-CIO Now Blog News

May 19, 2011

http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/05/19/puerto-rico-reinstates-collective-bargaining-for-public-employees/

Members of the UAW and Puerto Rico's Servidores Publicos
Unidos (SPU)/AFSCME Council 95 and other public employees
celebrated May 17 when Gov. Luis Fortuno signed into law a
bill reinstating collective bargaining for public employees.

Unlike legislatures in states like Wisconsin and Ohio, which
are trying to take away workers' rights, Puerto Rico's House
and the Senate passed this bill unanimously.

Says SPU President Annette Gonzalez:

    This law is very important for workers since in essence
    it includes two clauses that allow us to attain two
    fundamental goals: Restore the acquired rights through
    the restitution of collective bargaining contracts [and]
    negotiate the economic aspects that will do justice to
    workers and their families.

The law ends a policy imposed in March 2009 when the
administration enacted a fiscal emergency law that mandated
a two-year freeze on the economic clauses of all collective
bargaining agreements. The new law extends the non-economic
clauses of the contracts until 2013 and allows workers to
negotiate for salaries, benefits, bonuses and other economic
aspects.

==========

* Re: Race & 2012

Given the rising cost of acquiring and/or replacing state
photo IDs, doesn't the requirement to show one in order to
vote amount to a revival of the poll tax, which is outlawed?
If states, wish to require residents to show ID to exercise
their rights as citizens, then the states must provide the
ID as a matter of right to all residents, no?

David Worley

==========

* Was Pres. Obama warning listeners?

I don't suppose Pres. Obama was consciously thinking about
Bradley Manning and Julian Assange today when in his Middle
East speech teaching Middle Easterners about freedom he said

We will help governments meet international obligations, and
invest efforts anti-corruption; by working with
parliamentarians who are developing reforms, and activists
who use technology to hold government accountable.

Perhaps it was an unconscious signal to listeners that they
ought to pay more attention to what his administration does
than to what he says.

Joe Maizilsh, Los Angeles

==========

* Re: Why No Outcry over These Torturing Tyrants?

Robert Fisk is one reporter who always needs to be taken
seriously, in my opinion, and in this case I also think he
has put his finger on a very important piece of the problem.
Saudi Arabia is the elephant in the room whom no one will
acknowledge. Our foreign policy seems to revolve exclusively
about the acquisition and maintenance of power, with matters
of principle serving only as propagandistic rationalization,
often primarily for the folks back home, the voters.

Chuck Hallenbeck

==========

* Re: Area 51 and Roswell: The Craziest Theory Yet

    The crash, reasons Jacobsen, was staged
    as part of a Kremlin plot to send Americans into a
    fit of UFO-induced hysteria.The crash, reasons Jacobsen,
    was staged as part of a Kremlin plot to send
    Americans into a fit of UFO-induced hysteria.

By golly, it worked!

Jean Damu

====

Okay...interesting reading to say the least.

Germaine Cook

==========

* Re: Santana Speaks out for Civil Rights, is booed

Way to go Carlos Santana!

Isabel Thompson

==========

* Re: War Crimes & the Bombing of Libya

In regards to Conn Hallinan's piece on Libya, it is clear
that international law is being violated in the air battle
against Qaddafi.

So, my response is, nu?  Since when in post cold war history
, or before that, has NATO worried about the Geneva
Conventions or International Law? From Korea and Vietnam to
Panama to Yugoslavia and Iraq, the U.S. and its NATO allies
have consistently followed a course of ignoring
international law. We could include Afghanistan in the list,
but they never had much of an infrastructure.

In Iraq, millions continue to suffer from the destruction of
that nation's infrastructure in what was at one time the
most highly developed country in the Middle-East.

Back to Libya.  It is no secret that the West hates Qaddafi.
He also had few friends among the West's allies in the
Middle East, like the Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
and the other oil rich dictatorships.  But they are our
buddies. Apparently the deal that was made was for Saudi
Arabia to back the West's attack on Libya in exchange for
approving their intervention into Bahrain to protect their
brother royalty from protesters demanding democracy in that
tiny country.

Qaddafi has stood up to the West and what he considers the
West's lackeys,  ever since coming into power by uniting the
various Tribes and overthrowing the King in 1969.  Ever
since it has been Qaddafi that has held the country
together.

What is happening in Libya has nothing to do with a
"popular" uprising like Tunisia or Egypt.  If the West was
so interested in Democracy in the Middle East it wouldn't be
propping up the dictatorships of the Royal Arab families.
It does have to do with bringing down Qaddafi and replacing
him with a "friendly" government that will be beholden  to
the West.  And we mustn't dismiss the oil, always a major
factor in the West's (US and GB) interest in the Middle
East. One thing is certain; if the West hadn't jumped into
the fight it would have been over long ago.  Whether there
would be retaliations in Benghazi is only speculation ( the
price of mutiny and rebellion is always high for the losers.
- but now the slaughter on both sides will continue into an
unknown future.

So, while I appreciate my old friend and comrade Conn
Hallinan's piece, I have to ask:  So, nu?

Lincoln Smith,
Past editor of the East Bay Labor Journal
The Journeyman Newspaper

==========

* Thanks for all you do!!!!!

Janet Fennerty

==========

* Henry Kissinger -Oldest US War Criminal, is Speaking in
NYC! - May 31

                  92nd Street Y
               (92nd & Lexington Ave)
                 May 31st at 8:00 pm

Kissinger developed the plans for millions of war deaths,
millions of refugees, millions maimed.  He was responsible
for the crimes against humanity in VietNam, Cambodia,
Bangladesh, Chile and also Iraq.

He will talk about, sell and sign his new book on China.
From 6:00-7:15 there will be a lecture about Kissinger given
by former NYT reporter, David Andelman. Kissinger tickets
are $29; $15 for Andelman.

Call The 92nd Street Y and ask the Executive Director to
cancel Kissinger - 212-415-5470  - or send a written request
- 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, NY NY 10128.

If Kissinger's celebration is not canceled, join us to
protest at 7:00!

Initial sponsors include:  World Can't Wait, War Criminals
Watch, CodePink and Veterans For Peace-NYC Chapter 34

==========

* A Video Journey Through the Gaza Strip - One Night Only -
Bay Area - June 1

Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) Bay Area invites you to a

SPECIAL PREVIEW SCREENING, ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Inshallah

    A Video Journey Through the Gaza Strip

Wednesday, June 1, 2011,  7:30pm (Doors open at 7:00pm) La
Peña Cultural Center: 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA
Sliding Scale $5 to $20

After 12 months of production in the Gaza Strip and
screenings in the UK and Ireland, the documentary Inshallah
is coming to the U.S.!   This is a rare opportunity to hear
directly from the Gazan population.

Inshallah chronicles life in Gaza, and features interwoven
profiles of men and women living under siege.  According to
Maurice Jacobsen, the project's producer/director, "The goal
of the documentary is to show Gaza as a society that is
diverse, intelligent, hard working and creative.  At the
same time, a community that is deeply troubled, living under
a complete political, economic and military blockade. I
think Gaza is completely misunderstood and a documentary
such as Inshallah can hopefully help people in America to
better understand conditions on the ground."

Because of its controversial subject matter this preview
tour has been created to involve the public in the formation
of the documentary.  Audience response is highly encouraged
and will be facilitated with a question and answer period
with the director following the screening.  Comment and
feedback from these sessions will be incorporated into the
final edit.

Inshallah is produced by the Inshallah Media Project, and is
being produced independent of any political or advocacy
organization.  It seeks to reach diverse audiences from all
religious denominations and political backgrounds.   Maurice
Jacobsen is an independent maker of media. He has produced
for PBS and Discovery Channel Europe and has been working in
the Middle East for the past four years. The production team
in Gaza is Lana Hijazi and Atif Eisa.

http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/campaigns

==========

* Bay Area Photo Exhibit thru May 31 - indigenous migration
to the United States from Mexico.

BEYOND BORDERS Photographs by David Bacon

Addison Street Windows Gallery 2018 Addison Street (between
Shattuck Av./ Milvia St.) Berkeley, CA April 22 thru May 31,
2011

Addison Street Windows Gallery presents documentary
photographs by David Bacon about indigenous migration to the
United States from Mexico.  Photographer and journalist
David Bacon documents an important aspect of the reality of
the migrant experience -- the creation of "transnational
communities".

This candid and forthright documentation functions as a
reality check, showing the human face of people and
communities often stereotyped by hysteria and political
controversy over immigration.  Indigenous communities are
often simply invisible, especially to city dwellers,
although today anyone eating a lemon or strawberry is likely
consuming the product of the labor of indigenous farm
workers.

These photographs take us inside these communities and
illuminate the ties that bind people together, the influence
of their working conditions on migrants and their families,
their health and their collective and personal struggles for
better lives. Images in the project also show the social
movements in Mexico that challenge the poverty and community
displacement that make migration a question of basic human
survival.

Beyond Borders is part of a larger project, Living Under the
Trees, in which Bacon, over the last decade, has documented
communities of indigenous migrants from Mexico, now living
in rural California towns and working in the fields.  The
project contains thousands of images, many of which have
been exhibited nationally.  Beyond Borders contains 29 large
digital color prints from this collection.

This exhibit is in the Addison Street Windows Gallery,
located on Addison Street between Milvia Street and Shattuck
Avenue in Berkeley's downtown Arts District. It can be
viewed 24 hours a day from the sidewalk.  The exhibit is
free and wheelchair accessible.

For more information, contact: David Bacon/ photographer
[log in to unmask] Mary Ann Merker/ Civic Arts Coordinator
[log in to unmask] Greg Morozumi/ curator
[log in to unmask]

Sponsored by the Civic Arts Program of the City of Berkeley
in cooperation with the Civic Arts Commission. Living Under
the Trees is a cooperative project with California Rural
Legal Assistance and the Frente Indigena de Organizaciones
Binacionales.

For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org

See also Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates
Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants  (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2002

See also the photodocumentary on indigenous migration to the
US Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR
Press, 2006)
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=
4575

See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the
U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9989.html.

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate