KWRU participates in anti-FTAA protests in Miami.The KWRU (Kensington Welfare Rights Union) will be sending a delegation of poor, homeless and unemployed families from Philadelphia to participate in next week's international mobilizations against the FTAA during the FTAA ministerial meetings in Miami.
In national bus tours, marches, and in human rights petitions to the courts of world opinion, the KWRU and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign have been documenting and exposing economic human rights violations in the United States caused by NAFTA and committed by the Bush administration.
Along with the labor movement, other poor people's organizations, students, the religious community and movements of the poor from different parts of the hemisphere, the KWRU will be ensuring that the massive destruction caused by this administration's policies and by free trade programs be shown before the world next week in Miami. We will be standing side by side with organized labor and with the poor of the hemisphere and the world to demand basic economic human rights, such as the right to a job at a living wage, the right to organize, the right to health care and the right to food, housing and education, for all people in this country and across the Americas.
Those of us who are suffering the daily violence of hunger, homelessness, unemployment, denial of health care - the robbing of basic human rights - will not allow this administration to continue terrorizing people and communities here at home and abroad. Our lives depend on our speaking out.
No to the FTAA, Yes to Economic Human Rights! The Poor Cannot Survive Another Bush Administration!
Look soon for more detailed information on KWRU's presence next week, both in Miami and Fort Benning, Georgia. ( http://www.soaw.org )===========================================================
Stories from the Civil Rights Movement.
Extraordinary stories, ordinary people.
Share your memories today!
http://click.topica.com/caabBO6bUrBiIbWmSm6f/ AARP ===========================================================---CONTACT INFO:
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO
PO Box 50678
Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720
Phone: 215/203-1945
Fax: 215/203-1950
email: kwru@kwru.org
web: http://www.kwru.org
---
Please also see:
War on terror methods for Miami anti-globalization protests; http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/miam-n14.shtml
Economics and Propaganda, by Morgan Reynolds; http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1367
Venezuela demands Bush 2 administration to reduce FTAA risk to poor countries; http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=13849
Free Trade Area of the Americas; http://www.ftaa-alca.org/
Meanwhile, the Thirteenth Ibero-American Summit is taking place in Bolivia.
Annan tells Latin American countries to direct more spending towards poor: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8895&Cr=bolivia&Cr1=
In Bolivia, Annan says Andean region needs greater assistance: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8887&Cr=bolivia&Cr1=
The Summit’s importance is closely bound up with these political times: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2003/noviembre03/vier14/46cumbre.html
Summits of the Americas Information Network:
http://www.summit-americas.org/default.htm
And
WTO Appellate Body issues report on steel dispute
The Appellate Body, on 10 November 2003, issued its report on the complaints brought to the WTO by Brazil, China, the European Communities, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland against United States — Definitive Safeguard Measures on Imports of Certain Steel Products. It upheld most of the Panel's conclusions that the US measures were inconsistent with the WTO Safeguards Agreement and the GATT 1994 but reversed some findings regarding tin mill products and stainless steel wire which did not affect the overall result.
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news_e.htm#248_259_abr
Please visit FOOD FIRST's website at: http://www.foodfirst.org/ftaa/
UPDATES
KWRU Protests FTAA at 'Speak Out Against the Corporate Media' Event Tomorrow
(filed Thursday, 20 November)
The Kensington Welfare Rights Union joined tens of thousands of people from the labor movement from across the United States and movements from across the hemisphere today at the massive March and Rally for Global Justice in Miami. Police helicopters hovered above and riot police surrounded the peaceful protest, detaining, threatening and preventing the entrance of thousands of participants. Despite this repression, poor, homeless and unemployed families from the KWRU and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign stood with unions of steelworkers, miners, family farmers, retirees, textile and farmworkers, and with landless and peasant movements from across the Americas to say NO to the FTAA.
Speaking as a representative of the organized poor of the United States and of COMPA and ART, Cheri Honkala, the Director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and National Spokesperson of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign made it clear that no amount of intimidation or efforts to instill fear would stop the poor and workers of the United States and of the hemisphere in our determination to fight against the FTAA - because our lives depend on the unity of the employed and the unemployed of all races, sectors and countries. As a poor mother who has been homeless several times, Cheri insisted that the worst fear is that of a homeless mother who doesn't know if her child will survive one more night of sleeping in the frigid streets. We are here - poor, homeless and unemployed families from across the United States who have
traveled several days to come to Miami - because the FTAA is a human rights violation, and we cannot allow it to go through, because we love our children and we love our country. We the poor cannot survive another Bush administration.
Tonight, the KWRU delegation here in Miami is preparing to participate in the
"Faces of the Global Economy" teach-in, in both the morning plenary and in an afternoon workshop on economic human rights violations committed by the Bush administration through policies such as the FTAA. In both, we will be discussing strategies in the struggle to defeat both the FTAA and the administration during this critical upcoming year, including plans by the KWRU to hold a massive nonviolent march on Opening Day of the Republican National Convention during the summer of 2004.
In addition, we are making preparations to lead a peaceful "Speak Out Against the Corporate Media" tomorrow here in Miami (12 pm at Margaret Pace Park) despite indirect threats we have received from the Miami Police and the Miami Herald. After internal discussions we have decided that the voice of the poor must be heard and not silenced - and that is more important than the threats from 40 police departments here or the press.
Why is it such a concern for poor people to demonstrate against the corporate media in the United States?
-------------------------------------------
El KWRU hoy se unio con decenas de miles de personas del movimiento sindical y de movimientos de alrededor del hemisferio en la Marcha y Manifestacion por la Justicia Global en Miami. Helicopteros de la policia volaban por arriba y policia anti-motin rodeaban la protesta non-violenta, deteniendo, amenazando y preveniendo la entrada de miles de manifestantes. A pesar de esta repression, familias pobres, sin techo y desempleadas de la KWRU nos juntamos con metalurgicos, mineros de carbon, familias granjeras, ancianos, trabajadores de tela y de campo de todas partes de los Estados Unidos, y con movimientos de campesinos, de gente sin tierra y de pobladores de todas las Americas para decirle NO al ALCA.
Hablando en la manifestacion como representante de los pobres organizados de los EEUU, de COMPA y de ART (representante en los EEUU de la ASC), Cheri Honkala, Directora de la KWRU y Vocera Nacional de la Campana de los Pobres por los Derechos Humanos Economicos, lo dejo claro que ni la intimidacion ni la repression detendra a los pobres y a los trabajadores de los EUA y del hemisferio en nuestro determinacion de unirnos en contra del ALCA - porque nuestras vidas depende de esta unidad. Como madre pobre que ha estado varias veces sin techo con sus hijos, insistio en que el miedo peor es lo de una madre sin hogar que no sabe si su hijo sobrevivira una noche mas durmiendo en las calles frias. Estamos aqui - familias pobres, sin techo, sin tierra y sin trabajo de todas partes de los Estados Unidos que hemos viajado varios dias para llegar a Miami - porque el ALCA es una violacion de nuestros derechos humanos, y no podemos permitir que se lo aprueben, porque amamos nuestros hijos y amamos nuestro pais. Los pobres no podemos sobrevivir otra administracion Bush, anadio.
Esta noche, la delegacion KWRU esta preparando para participar en el panel central "Las Caras de la Economia Global" y para facilitar un taller sobre las violaciones a los derechos humanos cometidos por la administracion Bush a traves de politicas como el ALCA. En ambos eventos, estaremos discutiendo estrategias para el ano critico que viene, estrategias para organizar y unir los trabajadores empleados y desempleados de los EEUU y de todo el mundo para derrotar el ALCA y la Administracion Bush. Inclusive discutiremos los planes por parte del KWRU para una marcha el dia de apertura de la Convencion Nacional del Partido Republicano en el verano de 2004.
Tambien esta noche estamos preparando para llevar a cabo una protesta non-violenta aqui en Miami en contra de los medios de comunicacion controlados por las corporaciones. A pesar de amenazas indirectas que hemos recibido de la policia de Miami y del periodico "Miami Herald," hemos decidido en discusiones internas que hay que seguir con nuestros planes. La voz de los pobres tiene que ser oida y no debe ser callada - esto importa mas que las amenazas por los cuarenta departamentos de policia aqui reunidos y por la prensa.
Porque es una preocupacion tan grande que los pobres manifiesten en contra de los medios de comunicacion controlados por las corporaciones?
---
CONTACT INFO:
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO
PO Box 50678
Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720
Phone: 215/203-1945
Fax: 215/203-1950
email: kwru@kwru.org
web: http://www.kwru.org
UPDATES
Protesters, Police Clash At Miami FTAA Talks:
http://www.tampanewsnetwork.com/
FTAA UPDATES from Joe Bryant
Free Trade talks get under way in Miami USA
Authorities establish Miami as a war zone. Establishment media embedded with police (not the protesters). The one sided reporting has begun while the media waits for the shots that prove the protestors are trouble makers.
Armored Vehicles Patrol Quiet, Empty Streets
Police Command Center Coordinates 40 Agencies;
http://www.click10.com/news/2645002/detail.html
FTAA Turns Miami Into Ghost Town
Streets Are Empty, Businesses Suffering:
http://www.click10.com/news/2643844/detail.html
Media embedded with police to cover expected protests:
http://www.click10.com/news/2645267/detail.html
Activists Claim Police Harassment
Groups Threaten Legal Action Against Police:
http://www.click10.com/news/2644255/detail.html
So-called Free Trade talks will again prove to be against the will of the people. So much for democracy. We should be asking, where are the legions supporting the idea of so-called free trade and their Miami welcome to the participants of the talks ????
Once again the people are to be treated as rabble, not considered by the authorities or the popular media as having genuine concerns about so-called Free Trade and the absence of the democratic process in the negotiations.
Note correct address for Aussie GATS site is: http://www.gats.com.au
Joe Bryant
In national bus tours, marches, and in human rights petitions to the courts of world opinion, the KWRU and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign have been documenting and exposing economic human rights violations in the United States caused by NAFTA and committed by the Bush administration.
Along with the labor movement, other poor people's organizations, students, the religious community and movements of the poor from different parts of the hemisphere, the KWRU will be ensuring that the massive destruction caused by this administration's policies and by free trade programs be shown before the world next week in Miami. We will be standing side by side with organized labor and with the poor of the hemisphere and the world to demand basic economic human rights, such as the right to a job at a living wage, the right to organize, the right to health care and the right to food, housing and education, for all people in this country and across the Americas.
Those of us who are suffering the daily violence of hunger, homelessness, unemployment, denial of health care - the robbing of basic human rights - will not allow this administration to continue terrorizing people and communities here at home and abroad. Our lives depend on our speaking out.
No to the FTAA, Yes to Economic Human Rights! The Poor Cannot Survive Another Bush Administration!
Look soon for more detailed information on KWRU's presence next week, both in Miami and Fort Benning, Georgia. ( http://www.soaw.org )===========================================================
Stories from the Civil Rights Movement.
Extraordinary stories, ordinary people.
Share your memories today!
http://click.topica.com/caabBO6bUrBiIbWmSm6f/ AARP ===========================================================---CONTACT INFO:
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO
PO Box 50678
Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720
Phone: 215/203-1945
Fax: 215/203-1950
email: kwru@kwru.org
web: http://www.kwru.org
---
Please also see:
War on terror methods for Miami anti-globalization protests; http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/miam-n14.shtml
Economics and Propaganda, by Morgan Reynolds; http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1367
Venezuela demands Bush 2 administration to reduce FTAA risk to poor countries; http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=13849
Free Trade Area of the Americas; http://www.ftaa-alca.org/
Meanwhile, the Thirteenth Ibero-American Summit is taking place in Bolivia.
Annan tells Latin American countries to direct more spending towards poor: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8895&Cr=bolivia&Cr1=
In Bolivia, Annan says Andean region needs greater assistance: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8887&Cr=bolivia&Cr1=
The Summit’s importance is closely bound up with these political times: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2003/noviembre03/vier14/46cumbre.html
Summits of the Americas Information Network:
http://www.summit-americas.org/default.htm
And
WTO Appellate Body issues report on steel dispute
The Appellate Body, on 10 November 2003, issued its report on the complaints brought to the WTO by Brazil, China, the European Communities, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland against United States — Definitive Safeguard Measures on Imports of Certain Steel Products. It upheld most of the Panel's conclusions that the US measures were inconsistent with the WTO Safeguards Agreement and the GATT 1994 but reversed some findings regarding tin mill products and stainless steel wire which did not affect the overall result.
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news_e.htm#248_259_abr
Please visit FOOD FIRST's website at: http://www.foodfirst.org/ftaa/
UPDATES
KWRU Protests FTAA at 'Speak Out Against the Corporate Media' Event Tomorrow
(filed Thursday, 20 November)
The Kensington Welfare Rights Union joined tens of thousands of people from the labor movement from across the United States and movements from across the hemisphere today at the massive March and Rally for Global Justice in Miami. Police helicopters hovered above and riot police surrounded the peaceful protest, detaining, threatening and preventing the entrance of thousands of participants. Despite this repression, poor, homeless and unemployed families from the KWRU and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign stood with unions of steelworkers, miners, family farmers, retirees, textile and farmworkers, and with landless and peasant movements from across the Americas to say NO to the FTAA.
Speaking as a representative of the organized poor of the United States and of COMPA and ART, Cheri Honkala, the Director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and National Spokesperson of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign made it clear that no amount of intimidation or efforts to instill fear would stop the poor and workers of the United States and of the hemisphere in our determination to fight against the FTAA - because our lives depend on the unity of the employed and the unemployed of all races, sectors and countries. As a poor mother who has been homeless several times, Cheri insisted that the worst fear is that of a homeless mother who doesn't know if her child will survive one more night of sleeping in the frigid streets. We are here - poor, homeless and unemployed families from across the United States who have
traveled several days to come to Miami - because the FTAA is a human rights violation, and we cannot allow it to go through, because we love our children and we love our country. We the poor cannot survive another Bush administration.
Tonight, the KWRU delegation here in Miami is preparing to participate in the
"Faces of the Global Economy" teach-in, in both the morning plenary and in an afternoon workshop on economic human rights violations committed by the Bush administration through policies such as the FTAA. In both, we will be discussing strategies in the struggle to defeat both the FTAA and the administration during this critical upcoming year, including plans by the KWRU to hold a massive nonviolent march on Opening Day of the Republican National Convention during the summer of 2004.
In addition, we are making preparations to lead a peaceful "Speak Out Against the Corporate Media" tomorrow here in Miami (12 pm at Margaret Pace Park) despite indirect threats we have received from the Miami Police and the Miami Herald. After internal discussions we have decided that the voice of the poor must be heard and not silenced - and that is more important than the threats from 40 police departments here or the press.
Why is it such a concern for poor people to demonstrate against the corporate media in the United States?
-------------------------------------------
El KWRU hoy se unio con decenas de miles de personas del movimiento sindical y de movimientos de alrededor del hemisferio en la Marcha y Manifestacion por la Justicia Global en Miami. Helicopteros de la policia volaban por arriba y policia anti-motin rodeaban la protesta non-violenta, deteniendo, amenazando y preveniendo la entrada de miles de manifestantes. A pesar de esta repression, familias pobres, sin techo y desempleadas de la KWRU nos juntamos con metalurgicos, mineros de carbon, familias granjeras, ancianos, trabajadores de tela y de campo de todas partes de los Estados Unidos, y con movimientos de campesinos, de gente sin tierra y de pobladores de todas las Americas para decirle NO al ALCA.
Hablando en la manifestacion como representante de los pobres organizados de los EEUU, de COMPA y de ART (representante en los EEUU de la ASC), Cheri Honkala, Directora de la KWRU y Vocera Nacional de la Campana de los Pobres por los Derechos Humanos Economicos, lo dejo claro que ni la intimidacion ni la repression detendra a los pobres y a los trabajadores de los EUA y del hemisferio en nuestro determinacion de unirnos en contra del ALCA - porque nuestras vidas depende de esta unidad. Como madre pobre que ha estado varias veces sin techo con sus hijos, insistio en que el miedo peor es lo de una madre sin hogar que no sabe si su hijo sobrevivira una noche mas durmiendo en las calles frias. Estamos aqui - familias pobres, sin techo, sin tierra y sin trabajo de todas partes de los Estados Unidos que hemos viajado varios dias para llegar a Miami - porque el ALCA es una violacion de nuestros derechos humanos, y no podemos permitir que se lo aprueben, porque amamos nuestros hijos y amamos nuestro pais. Los pobres no podemos sobrevivir otra administracion Bush, anadio.
Esta noche, la delegacion KWRU esta preparando para participar en el panel central "Las Caras de la Economia Global" y para facilitar un taller sobre las violaciones a los derechos humanos cometidos por la administracion Bush a traves de politicas como el ALCA. En ambos eventos, estaremos discutiendo estrategias para el ano critico que viene, estrategias para organizar y unir los trabajadores empleados y desempleados de los EEUU y de todo el mundo para derrotar el ALCA y la Administracion Bush. Inclusive discutiremos los planes por parte del KWRU para una marcha el dia de apertura de la Convencion Nacional del Partido Republicano en el verano de 2004.
Tambien esta noche estamos preparando para llevar a cabo una protesta non-violenta aqui en Miami en contra de los medios de comunicacion controlados por las corporaciones. A pesar de amenazas indirectas que hemos recibido de la policia de Miami y del periodico "Miami Herald," hemos decidido en discusiones internas que hay que seguir con nuestros planes. La voz de los pobres tiene que ser oida y no debe ser callada - esto importa mas que las amenazas por los cuarenta departamentos de policia aqui reunidos y por la prensa.
Porque es una preocupacion tan grande que los pobres manifiesten en contra de los medios de comunicacion controlados por las corporaciones?
---
CONTACT INFO:
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO
PO Box 50678
Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720
Phone: 215/203-1945
Fax: 215/203-1950
email: kwru@kwru.org
web: http://www.kwru.org
UPDATES
Protesters, Police Clash At Miami FTAA Talks:
http://www.tampanewsnetwork.com/
FTAA UPDATES from Joe Bryant
Free Trade talks get under way in Miami USA
Authorities establish Miami as a war zone. Establishment media embedded with police (not the protesters). The one sided reporting has begun while the media waits for the shots that prove the protestors are trouble makers.
Armored Vehicles Patrol Quiet, Empty Streets
Police Command Center Coordinates 40 Agencies;
http://www.click10.com/news/2645002/detail.html
FTAA Turns Miami Into Ghost Town
Streets Are Empty, Businesses Suffering:
http://www.click10.com/news/2643844/detail.html
Media embedded with police to cover expected protests:
http://www.click10.com/news/2645267/detail.html
Activists Claim Police Harassment
Groups Threaten Legal Action Against Police:
http://www.click10.com/news/2644255/detail.html
So-called Free Trade talks will again prove to be against the will of the people. So much for democracy. We should be asking, where are the legions supporting the idea of so-called free trade and their Miami welcome to the participants of the talks ????
Once again the people are to be treated as rabble, not considered by the authorities or the popular media as having genuine concerns about so-called Free Trade and the absence of the democratic process in the negotiations.
Note correct address for Aussie GATS site is: http://www.gats.com.au
Joe Bryant