Collins and Snowe Both Reject Oman Trade Deal

Senator Susan Collins joined Senator Olympia Snowe in standing up for workers' rights today by becoming one of only four Republicans to vote against the Oman "Free" Trade Agreement. Unfortunately, thanks in part to the votes ten Democratic Senators cast in favor of the treaty, it passed the Senate by a wide margin. Three possible Democratic presidential candidates -- Senators Clinton, Obama, and Kerry -- voted for the treaty, and should be pressed to explain their votes if they seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Schumer deserves special recognition for voting against the treaty on the floor of the Senate after having voted for it in committee -- a willingness to admit mistakes is all too rare in politics today.

Oman Trade Agreement: Thank Snowe, ask Collins to follow her lead

Hi folks,

Senator Snowe voted against the Oman trade agreement today in the Senate Finance committee vote. Her office confirmed that she will vote NO on the Oman agreement when it comes before the full Senate, probably tomorrow. The Finance committee unfortunately voted to approve the agreement 14 - 6.

Regarding Sen. Snowe's opposition, this is a clear case where our work as a coalition undoubtedly made the difference in getting Sen. Snowe to vote NO. When I spoke with her trade staffer earlier this week, it sounded pretty sure that she would vote for the Oman agreement. But then all of you - all of MFTC's coalition members and individual supporters - made calls and moved her position. When one of our volunteers spoke with the Senator's trade staffer at the end of the day yesterday, the staffer said that she was 50/50 on how she'd vote; the labor issues in the agreement had become her top issue to consider; and THAT THEY'D BEEN HEARING FROM LOTS OF PEOPLE opposed to Oman. Great work, everyone! Thanks for making all the calls to Sen. Snowe. They made a huge difference.I also wanted to note a special thanks to United Steelworkers (USW) union locals in Maine and MFTC volunteer, Elsie Flemings. Representatives from several USW locals met with Sen. Snowe & Sen. Collins on the Oman agreement in DC last week. Elsie is doing an internship in DC this summer. Yesterday, she met with Snowe's staff on Oman and then personally lobbied Sen. Snowe on Oman this morning, minutes before the Senate Finance hearing started.

*** Now, PLEASE KEEP UP THE PRESSURE & CONTINUE CALLING Senator Collins. She is "undecided" on how to vote and ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO HEAR FROM ALL OF US. Call Sen. Collins office at: 202-224-2523. *** Also, please take a moment to THANK Sen. Snowe for her opposition to the agreement. These thank you calls are extremely important. You can call Snowe's office at: 202-224-5344. When you thank Snowe, you can also encourage her to vote against the Peru trade agreement, which is looming in the wings. The Oman agreement will probably be voted on in the Senate late today or tomorrow. Then the big question is what the House will do with Oman. Our hope is that we can raise enough pressure nationally that they won't want to bring Oman up for a vote in the House in an election year. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for all that you do!

In solidarity,Matt Schlobohm, coordinator, Maine Fair Trade Campaign

A bit of hope on a grey Friday in a dark time . .

From Rabbbi Arthur Waskow's latest e-mail bulletin:

Dear friends,

In dark times it is good to remember that even a brutal fascist dictatorship, even one supported by the government of the world's one superpower, can be shattered by the slow and steady assertion of public commitment, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people can be restored and renewed.

In Washington this month, the President of Chile -- herself a victim of torture -- honored and celebrated that truth.

In 1976, when I was a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, the Chilean secret police murdered two of my colleagues on the streets of Washington, blowing up their car by a radio device that exploded a previously placed bomb, as the car passed the Chilean embassy.

The Chilean junta had on September 11, 1973, with the support of the US government, overthrown the democratically elected government led by Salvador Allende. Their attack on the car was aimed at -- and killed -- Orlando Letelier, the Ambasador to the US of the Allende government, and also killed a young American woman who was on the IPS staff, Ronni Karopen Moffitt.

In my congregations, I have ever since added their names to the list of martyrs recited by Jews on every Yom Kippur.

Please note this news item below.

"The arc of the universe bends slowly, but it bends toward justice."

Shalom, Arthur
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The Shalom Center

____________________________________________________________________

June 8, 2006

Chilean President Pays Respects to Washington, DC victims of Pinochet
Dictatorship

Bachelet Thanks Institute for Policy Studies Leaders at Site of Letelier and
Moffitt Car Bombing

Michelle Bachelet, the newly elected president of Chile, placed a wreath this morning at the Sheridan Circle memorial in Washington, DC, that marks the site of the assassination of former Institute for Policy Studies colleagues Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt.

Orlando, the former ambassador to the United States under Chilean President Salvador Allende and an outspoken critic of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and Ronni, a 25-year-old fundraiser, were driving to work at the Institute on September 21, 1976 when they were killed by a car bomb set by secret police agents of the Pinochet regime.

In her remarks this morning, President Bachelet emphasized that she could not come to Washington without stopping to pay her respects and to remember this act of horror. She also spoke briefly with IPS Co-Founder Marcus Raskin and IPS Director John Cavanagh, expressing her gratitude for the Institute's commitment to keeping the memory of Letelier and Moffitt alive and pursuing the struggle for justice. IPS has held an annual human rights awards program in the names of Letelier and Moffitt for the past 30 years, and has worked with others to hold Pinochet accountable for his crimes. Bachelet's personal history ties her to this tragic event. Nearly 30 years ago, President Bachelet's mother worked as a volunteer at the Institute for Policy Studies with Orlando Letelier's widow, Isabel.

Isabel led a Third World Women's Project at IPS and was also active in the Chile Human Rights Committee. Michelle Bachelet sometimes stopped by the IPS offices to visit when she was a medical student. During Bachelet's campaign for the presidency, Isabel Letelier served as an active volunteer.

In addition to being a friend of the Letelier family, President Bachelet and her family also suffered greatly under the Pinochet dictatorship. Her father, an Air Force General who supported democracy, was tortured to death by the Pinochet regime and President Bachelet and her mother were themselves detained and tortured in the years following the 1973 military coup.

At Sheridan Circle (Massachusetts Ave. NW and 23rd St.), Bachelet emphasized the importance of remembering what happened to Ronni, Orlando, and other victims of the dictatorship as a way to strengthen democracy and to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again. Her appearance at Sheridan Circle was part of a one-day visit to Washington, which will include a meeting with President George W. Bush.

What's Atlantica Really About? Words From the Horse's Mouth

Brian Lee Crowley, President of the right wing Atlantic Institute for Market Studies has been quite vocal lately about his organization's vision for the economic future of New England and the Maritimes. AIMS, which has strong ties to the energy and finance industries as well as to right wing groups in the U.S. like the Heritage Foundation was one of the driving forces behind the recent "Reaching Atlantica: Business Without Boundaries" conference in St. John, New Brunswick which promoted the idea of building a new trade corridor from Halifax to Buffalo by building an east-west highway, deepening Halifax's harbor, and weakening labor and environmental laws on both sides of the border.

The Bangor Daily News and others seem to have bought the idea that these projects would mean more jobs and investment for Maine and new markets for Maine-made goods. But in a recent op-ed in the Moncton Times Transcript, Crowley wrote:

"All along the Canada-US border, the regions that host major trade conduits between our two countries are waking up to the need to manage these corridors, and that means building new local relationships and institutions.

"The other corridors, such as Montreal-New York, or southern Ontario-Michigan, exist primarily to exchange goods and services produced in our two countries. But Atlantica is different because the trade generated within the region is relatively small. The exchanges between Vermont and New Brunswick or Maine and Newfoundland are hardly worth mentioning.

"But we are about to become a major doorway for the trade between Asia and the North American heartland. It is not so much the products of Atlantica that are straining to cross the border, but the industrial might of China, India and the Asian Tigers. West coast ports are choked with these new goods. The giant ships carrying this burgeoning cargo have reached the point where they can no longer pass through the Panama Canal to reach east coast ports and must instead borrow the Suez Canal. That puts Atlantica in a strategic position as a deepwater wharf jutting into the North Atlantic, not merely the closest North American port of call from Europe, Turkey and Asia via the Suez, but also the closest major port of call from Africa and the major ports of Brazil and Argentina."

So much for the idea of expanding markets for Maine farmers and manufacturers. Crowley's words support my belief that the Atlantica vision is about making it cheaper for companies like Wal-Mart to import goods made at sweatshops in China by workers paid pennies an hour to be sold at exhorbitant prices by former factory workers in Detroit and Chicago who are now working minimum wage retail jobs to try to make ends meet. Very little of the money goes to the Chinese factory workers, the U.S. retail workers, or even the local store managers -- most of it gets funnelled away to executives and shareholders in distant places. Trade implies some sort of equal exchange that benefits both parties. This isn't trade, its exploitation.

It gets worse. In Crowley's vision people from New England and the Maritimes won't even be able to get jobs driving the trucks that move the goods from Halifax to Buffalo. Crowley recently told the Halifax Chronicle Herald that there aren't enough truckers in the region right now to move all the goods that would be coming in from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Rather than training unemployed people from this region to fill those jobs, Crowley suggests bringing in temporary workers from Mexico. He is quoted as saying:

"The answer isn’t going into high schools and (talking) about the great opportunities in the trucking industry. Mexico is one of the three NAFTA partners. The answer is to set up a guest worker program."

Of course, given AIMS' position that our region's "union density" and relatively high minimum wages are examples of "poor public policy" that "holds Atlantica back," we can assume that these "guest" workers wouldn't be paid the same wages as U.S. and Canadian truckers.

So essentially the only jobs the east-west highway will create in Maine will be service jobs at gas stations, fast food restaurants and convenience stores.

Meanwhile, the region's farms and fishing fleet and its few remaining factories will lose business as cheaper goods poor into our markets from countries where workers don't earn a living wage and even minimal labor, safety, and environmental standards go largely unenforced.

The east-west highway will be yet another route for development to pass New England and the Maritimes by.

Stop the Oman and Peru Trade Agreements

PLEASE Forward & PLEASE CALL SENATORS SNOWE & COLLINS!!

The Bush Administration & big business is once again pushing for more NAFTA style trade agreements. This time they are trying to pass the Oman trade agreement & the Peru trade agreement. These will result in outsourced jobs & more sweatshops; an attack on environmental standards and democracy; and further privatization.

Luckily we can defeat these bad deals. If we raise enough pressure Congress will not bring these agreements up for a vote in an election year. WE NEED YOU TO CALL SENATORS SNOWE & COLLINS TODAY TO URGE THEM TO VOTE NO on the Oman and the Peru free trade agreements.

TAKE ACTION: Please call Senator Snowe & Senator Collins today or anytime this week. Their numbers and a simple message is below.
*Call Senator Snowe: Toll free: 800-432-1599 DC: 202-224-5344
*Call Senator Collins: DC: 202-224-2523 Bangor: 945-0417

BASIC MESSAGE: Please oppose the Oman & Peru trade agreements and work to support a new model of trade policy.

Please take this simple action. As we saw in the CAFTA fight, it makes a real difference when we all work together. If we can stop the Oman & Peru trade agreements we give ourselves a lot of momentum heading into 2007 when Congress will debate the future of our trade policy. Congressman Michaud and Allen both oppose these trade deals.

For more information about the Oman & Peru trade agreements:
http://www.citizenstrade.org/oman.php or http://www.citizenstrade.org/peru.php

*WMD Found in North Dakota: Disarmament Begins

-- For Immediate ReleaseTuesday June 20, 2006

*WMD Found in North Dakota: Disarmament Begins*A Roman Catholic Priest and two Veterans went to a Minuteman III silothis morning and began to disarm the nuclear weapon using hammers.Reverend Carl Kabat, OMI, Gregory Boertje-Obed, and Michael Wallientered the E-9 missile silo on the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation inNorth Dakota about 75 miles southwest of Minot. Using a sledgehammer andhousehold hammers, they disabled the lock on the personnel entry hatchthat provides access to the warhead and they hammered on the silo lidthat covers the 300 kiloton nuclear warhead that is targeted and readyto launch.

The activists painted DISARM on the face of the 110-tonhardened silo cover and the peace activists poured their blood on themissile lid.They were detained and arrested by McLean County Sheriffs and are beingheld in the McLean County jail in Washburn, North Dakota. The three havebeen charged with county Criminal Trespass and Criminal Mischief.

Speaking from jail, Greg Boertje-Obed, from Duluth, Minnesota, explained, Carl Kabat, OMI from St. Louis, Missouri added, "We now prepare for the nuclear bombing of Iran with the reasoning that only weapons of mass destruction can stop weapons of mass destruction. We bombed and strafed in Iraq based on lies that the Iraqis possessed nuclear weapons. Wehave the weapons here.The Minuteman III missile is targeted and on alert for launch. Themissile is armed with a warhead that carries 27 times the heat, blastand radiation of the bomb dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.The activists say that they are following the nonviolent Jesus, thatthey are taught by their faith to love their enemies, and that the moneyused for these weapons of mass destruction is a theft from the poor andshould be used for food, housing, medical care and rebuilding theinfrastructure of our country."

ATTACHED: Statement, Fact Sheet and Biographies. For press updates, moreinformation and images, go to www.jonahhouse.org

STATEMENT

Nuclear Weapon Here Plowshares

Please pardon the fracture of the good order. When we were children wethought as children and spoke as children. But now we are adults andthere comes a time when we must speak out and say that the good order isnot so good, and never really was. We know that throughout history therehave been innumerable war crimes. Two of the most terrible war crimesoccurred on August 6th and 9th, 1945. On August 6th, 1945, the UnitedStates dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killingmore than 100,000 people (including U.S. prisoners of war). Three dayslater the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan,killing more than 50,000 people. Use of these weapons of mass destructionon civilian populations were abominable crimes against humanity. The U.S. has never repented of these atrocities. On the contrary, theU.S. has deepened and expanded its commitment to nuclear weapons. TheU.S. built a large nuclear-industrial complex which has caused the deathsof many workers and has resulted in killing many more people by nucleartesting. Our country built thousands of nuclear weapons and has dispersedweapons-grade uranium to 43 nations. Each Minuteman III missile carries abomb that is 27 times more powerful than those dropped on the Japanesepeople. The building of these weapons signifies that our hearts haveassented to mass murder. Currently the U.S. is seeking to research a newclass of smaller nuclear weapons demonstrating its desire to find newuses for weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. is rushing down the path that leads to more death anddestruction, ultimately bringing this nation and other nations to ruin.Therefore we issue a call for national repentance. We make an urgentappeal to the people of the U.S. to change course to place our securityin God and not in weapons of mass destruction.We have chosen to start the process of transformation and disarmament byhammering on and pouring our blood on components of the Minuteman IIInuclear missile system. We believe that the concrete that goes into makingmissile silos would be better used for building homes. We know that totaldisarmament of our first-strike system of nuclear weapons will requirenational repentance with a change in the hearts and minds of the people ofthe U.S. The pouring of our blood is meant to make visible the bloodshedresulting from the production, testing, and use of nuclear weapons. Webelieve the message in the Bible that after Cain killed his brother Abelthat Abels blood cried out from the ground. We hear our sisters andbrothers blood crying out from the ground. We believe that God hearsthese cries and grieves deeply over every person whose blood is shed.We call ourselves the Weapon of Mass Destruction Here Plowshares tohighlight that our nation has thousands of horrific weapons of massdestruction. U.S. leaders speak about the dangers of other nationsacquiring nuclear weapons, but they fail to act in accordance with theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which commits the U.S. to take steps todisarm its weapons of mass destruction. We act in order to bring attentionto peoples responsibility for disarming weapons of state terrorism. Wecan begin the process of exposing U.S. weapons of mass destruction, namingthem as abominations that cause desolation, and transforming them toobjects that promote life.We dress as clowns to show that humor and laughter are key elements in thestruggle to transform the structures of destruction and death. Saint Paulsaid that we are fools for Gods sake, and we say that we are fools forGod and humanity. Clowns as court jesters were sometimes the only onesable to survive after speaking truth to authorities in power. Is there hope for the world? Yes if people begin to live the truth now.We believe that Jesus reveals who God is, and that God is a God of loveand nonviolence, teaching us to love all people, even our enemies.Furthermore, the prophets Isaiah and Micah prophesy that there will comea time when people will learn the ways of God and They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. By our plowshares/pruning hooks action we have tried to make visibleGods will for disarmament and peacemaking. By living this truth we hopeto shorten this murderous age closing the gap between the future hopefor universal peace and our present reality of endless violence andwar-making. We begin to bring hope into the present moment.Carl Kabat, OMI Greg Boertje Michael Walli

June 20, 2006

WMD Here Plowshares

Greg Boertje-Obed51; from Duluth, Minnesota; member of Loaves and FishesCatholic Worker and Veterans for Peace; former U.S. Army officer;participant in previous plowshares actions which disarmed Trident IInuclear missile tubes in Rhode Island, combat helicopters andnuclear-capable war planes in Pennsylvania, and a Tomahawk nuclear-capablemissile launcher and missile tubes in Virginia; married to MicheleNaar-Obed; father of Rachel Obed,--11 years old.I believe Jesus led us to do this witness based on his teachings ofintervening for the sake of the poor. These weapons are killing us andthe poor today. I believe this plowshares action is a natural extensionof our Catholic Worker mission which is hospitality, providing for theneeds of the poor, and defending the poor.

Carl Kabat, OMI72; from St. Louis, Missouri; 47 years a Roman Catholicpriest; worked as a missionary in the Philippines and Brazil; participatedin the first plowshares/pruning hooks action in 1980 and the first SiloPruning Hooks action in 1984 and other plowshares actions; served about 16years in jails and prisons.We are fools and clowns for God and humanitys sake. Over 2,500 Americansoldiers have died because of nuclear weapons in the past several years inIraq. … I remember Eisenhower who said that every weapon that is made is atheft from the poor…. The only condemnation of Vatican II was that nuclearweapons are a crime against humanity and are to be condemnedunreservedly. Carl Kabat, OMI

Michael R. Walli57; Vietnam veteran; Roman Catholic; currently residingin Duluth, MinnesotaIve been influenced by the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, andthe teachings of the late Pope John Paul II to oppose the culture ofdeath, and this plowshares action seems to me to be a suitable way ofacting on these teachings. Michael Walli

MINUTEMAN III Fact SheetA Minuteman III is a first strike Intercontinental Ballistic Missile(ICBM) nuclear weapon. The current U.S. ICBM force consists of 500Minuteman III's located in three missile fields: F.E. Warren Air ForceBase with 150 missiles covering the corner of Colorado, Nebraska andWyoming; Malmstrom AFB in Montana with 200 ICBMs; and Minot AFB in NorthDakota with 150 missiles. These warheads can be launched from a MinutemanIII missile silo within minutes and reach any destination within 35minutes. A nuclear bomb launched from a Minuteman silo producesuncontrollable radiation, massive heat and a blast capable of vaporizingand leveling everything within a 50-mile radius. Outside the 50 squaremiles -- extending into hundreds of miles -- the blast, wide-spread heat,firestorms and neutron and gamma rays are intended to kill, severely woundand poison every living thing and causing long-term damage to theenvironment. A Minuteman warhead has the potential to destroy the geneticcode of the human race. Current warheads carry 27 times more power thanthe U.S. nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima August 6, 1945.The Minuteman III is currently undergoing upgrades to extend its 2020service limit. Minuteman III is the sole ICBM deployed by the UnitedStates. Each Mark 12 or Mark 12-A warhead in a Minuteman III silo cantravel more than 6,000 miles at 15,000 miles per hour.At one point the U.S. had 1,000 land-based ICBMs at a cost to taxpayers of$7 million each. Minuteman IIIs are in transition from having 3independently targeted warheads to carrying one.The Minuteman missiles are dispersed in hardened silos and connected to anunderground launch control center through a system of hardened cables.Launch crews, consisting of two officers, perform around-the-clock alertin the launch control center. A variety of communication systems providethe National Command Authorities with virtually instantaneous directcontact with each launch crew. Should command capability be lost betweenthe launch control center and remote missile launch facilities, anairborne launch control center dubbed looking glass automaticallyassumes command and control of the missiles.The Minuteman III system is undergoing upgrades to: replace an agingguidance system; increase payloads; remanufacture the solid-fuel rocketmotors; replace standby power system; repair launch facilities; improvecommunication; enhance accuracy; and improve survivability in a nuclearwar.In January 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, issued by the Bush administration,threatens the use of nuclear weapons to deter any attack by chemical orbiological as well as nuclear weapons by any non-nuclear state or entitywithin or sponsored by the axis of evil. We now prepare for nuclearbombing of Iran with the reasoning that only weapons of mass destructioncan stop weapons of mass destruction.By any standard of proof, the threat or use of the Minuteman IIIconstitutes crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanityor genocide.Don't forget to visit our website www.jonahhouse.org

Violence Against Striking Teachers in Mexico

Police have launched a massive assault on striking teachers in the department of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Geoffry Harman reports in the Narco News Bulletin:

"In a scene that is starting to look all too familiar in Mexico, the police attempted to disrupt the Oaxaca teachers strike in downtown Oaxaca City this morning. At roughly 3 a.m. a police helicopter flew low over the tent city where the teachers have been camped for the past 23 days and shot canisters of tear gas. Meanwhile, 3,000 state police armed with riot shields and clubs entered the chaos and tore apart the roughshod shelters where the teachers had been staying. During the course of the six-hour police intervention three people were reported to have been killed (this is unconfirmed), two women and one child."

The assault comes right before Mexico's election, and just a month after a similar police assault on demonstrators in Atenco just outside Mexico City which involved the arrest of 200 people, the rape or sexual assault of 30 women in police custody, and the death of two protesters -- a 14 year old and a 20 year old. Two U.S. political consultants were involved in planning the attack on Atenco.

Journalist John Ross who has covered political movements in Mexico for decades sees the attacks as a sign of the resurgence of tactics used in the "dirty war" against Mexican dissidents in the 1970's and 1980's.

Save South Central Farm

Yesterday riot police launched an assault on the nation's largest urban farm which provided food for hundreds of poor families in South Central Los Angeles.

Please call Los Angeles City Hall to ask that Mayor Villaragosa step up and exhibit political leadership and interfere with the destruction of the farm. PH: 213-978-0600.

Speak Out Against Police/FBI Repression of Environmentalists

When and Where : June 14, 2006, 11am, Augusta State House - Outside between State House and Cross BuildingWhat: National Lawyers Guild Statement on recent police DNA requests of environmental activists in the state, and the bill just passed creating a new class of felony if an act of criminal mischief has political intent or consequence. Present at the conference will be activists approached by police, as well as close to thirty organizations statewide who support the NLG statement.Contacts: Phil Worden 276-3318 Lynne Williams 542-0133, both Guild lawyers, Maine chapter

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD DENOUNCES RECENT CLIMATE OF REPRESSION

Groups Claim Police and Legislators Are Seeking to Silence Public Outrage Over Environmental DestructionAugusta, Maine. In conjunction with the release of a letter to the attorney general and the governor by the Maine National Lawyers Guild, citizens representing over a dozen groups working on social and environmental justice issues around the state will gather on the steps of the State House at 11am on Wednesday, June 14, to condemn the “chilling effect on dissent” the recent wave of legislative and police actions the groups believe are threatening the basic free speech rights of Maine people.

The letter written by the Maine Chapter of the National Lawyer Guild, and already signed by 16 groups, calls the Attorney General and the Governor to task on a recent pattern of legislative and police oppression directed toward those opposing the environmental policies of the Baldacci Administration and major out-of-state corporations. This pattern includes:

1) The late-night, end of the session enactment of LD1789 “An Act to Amend the Crime of Aggravated Criminal Mischief,” which creates a new felony-level category of crime targeting politically motivated acts. While the final wording of the bill, created in a late-night legislative compromise, softened earlier language that would have created the crime of “Environmental Terrorism.” The intent and effect of the bill, says the NLG, remain the same.” LD 1789, signed into law by Governor Baldacci on May 30th, 2006, assigns penalties of up to five years in prison as well as a maximum $5,000 fine.

2) The motivation and constitutionality of an ongoing state police investigation into alleged vandalism incurred by Seattle-based Plum Creek Corporation last Halloween. State Police investigators have attempted to interview at least a dozen critics of Plum Creek’s plan around the state. In each case, the critics were visited at their home or place or work and asked about their political affiliations, views on the project, and asked for a DNA sample. Plum Creek is seeking state approval for a massive development in the Moosehead Lake Region.

3) Unprecedented police and judicial response to acts of civil disobedience. This includes the State’s unprecedented decision to seek jail time in the case of Hillary Lister of Athens and a recent police invasion of Sears Island where activists allegedly were setting up a camp to call for the Island’s permanent preservation. Lister was arrested in the House of Representatives in early April for an act of non-violent civil disobedience protesting LD141, a bill that enables significant burning of out-of-state construction and demolition debris in Maine.

Concern about these recent events and other challenges to free speech has drawn cooperation and support from a broad range of groups ranging from the Clean Maine Coalition to the Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice, who are united in their concerns about political witch hunts akin to the “Red Scare” of the McCarthy era, where citizens were targeted based on their political affiliations.
According to Sean Donahue of the Bangor area group PICA (Peace through Interamerican Community Action), who was assembled along side others at the state house today, said, “Repressive policies tested out in Latin America are coming home. Since 2001, governments in countries like Colombia and El Salvador have been using the fear of terrorism to justify treating dissidents as criminals, arresting and harassing labor, human rights, and environmental activists. Now I am seeing the FBI and the State Police treat my friends in Maine as terrorists and criminals because they love the land enough to speak out against the corporations that are destroying it."

According to Phil Worden, an attorney representing some of the targeted activists, “The fact that the Maine state police have not sought a search warrant in their attempts to get DNA samples strongly suggests that they do not have probable cause, and are merely on a ‘fishing expedition’. It’s important for Maine residents to understand that they do not need to speak nor cooperate with the police unless they have a warrant. If police have a legitimate suspicion, then they should get a warrant. Otherwise, this is harassment based on political affiliation – something we cannot tolerate in this state.

”###

Responding to Chavez's Critics

Despite massive U.S. funding for opposition parties in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and his allies have decisively won ten elections in the past eight years. Yet somehow the White House and much of the U.S. press continue to get away with painting him as anti-democratic. While criticizing some of the Bush administration’s most absurd claims, the Bangor Daily News unfortunately reinforced many of the myths about Venezuela and Chavez in its May 26 editorial, “Responding to Chavez.”

The Bangor Daily News writes that:

“President Chavez's taunts of President Bush – ‘the world's biggest terrorist,’ ‘Satan,’among others - would seem merely silly if they weren't backed up with anti-Democratic reforms in Venezuela and significant arms purchases by Mr. Chavez in Russia and Spain. (The Bush administration has likened Mr. Chavez to Hitler and called him ‘the most dangerous man in the region.’) ”The arms may only reflect Mr. Chavez's often-stated fear that the United States soon will attack his nation. There's no evidence for this, but it does provide a cover for his purchase, according to news reports, of attack and transport helicopters, patrol boats, military transport airplanes and 100,000 assault rifles.”

While I don’t think that any nation should be buying high-tech weaponry with money that could be better spent on schools and hospitals, its important to note that Chavez does have substantial reason to fear an attack from the U.S. or from the U.S.-backed Colombian military. In 2002 the U.S. funded and helped to orchestrate a briefly successful coup against Chavez. In subsequent years the ironically named National Endowment for Democracy has spent millions of dollars trying to undermine the Venezuelan government. Right wing terrorists from Colombia have made numerous incursions into Venezuela. U.S. Special Forces are stationed just across the border, providing training to a unit of the Colombian Army that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have linked to those terrorists. Recent reports have also suggested that Colombia’s intelligence agency, the DAS, has been involved in assassination attempts against high-ranking Venezuelan officials.

All of this suggests that Venezuela has plenty of reasons to worry about its national security. But the government of Hugo Chavez hasn’t resorted to wiretapping its citizens’ phones, detaining people without trial, or racially profiling gringos boarding airplanes (even though they know the U.S. is sheltering the at least one of the men suspected of bombing Cubana Air Flight 455 in Caracas in 1976.) Instead, Venzuela has focused on building political and economic alliances with other countries and popular movements in the region in an effort to make it possible for Latin America to chart its own course without undue influence from the United States.

Venezuela’s arms purchases are small in compassion to the massive amounts of military aid flowing from the U.S. to the brutal and corrupt Colombian military.

Chavez has not created resentment against the United States in the region – our own government has achieved that through decades of economic policies that have widened the gap between rich and poor. Rather, he has made common cause with people demanding self determination: Bolivians tired of a hypocritical drug war that demonizes poor coca farmers while leaving the people who process and export cocaine untouched, Haitians trying to reclaim democracy in the wake of a coup, Argentinians whose economy has been devastated by decades of disastrous IMF and World Bank policies, indigenous people trying to reclaim control of their land and its resources.

Yes, Latin America needs all the real development aid it needs, and an increase in U.S. funding for real anti-poverty and sustainable agriculture programs would help to redress some of our country’s wrongs. But the message of Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution is that any permanent solutions to Latin America’s problems need to come from Latin Americans themselves, making their own political and economic choices.

Venezuela taught the world an important lesson in democracy in 2002 when tens of thousands of its poorest people poured into the streets in a massive campaign of nonviolent resistance that reversed the U.S.-backed coup and put Hugo Chavez back in power. Following their example, other poor people in Bolivia and Ecuador rose up and drove out corrupt Presidents who were selling off their countries’ oil and gas reserves.

Hugo Chavez is the face we in the U.S. connect with the populist movements sweeping Latin America. But these movements aren’t about Hugo Chavez, they are about people taking control of their own destiny. That’s real democracy.

We Won't Be Fooled Again -- Saying No to Atlantica

This week in St. John there will be a summit to discuss creating "Atlantica," a new free trade zone encompassing the Maritimes and Northern New England -- and a counter-summit to organize opposition to the vision of large scale energy projects, an east-west highway, and weakened labor and environmental laws.

PICA Director Sean Donahue makes the case against Atlantica in a commentary in last weekend's edition of Counterpunch.

Communities of Chalatenango Destroy Mining Company Exploration Work

On June 2, 2006, roughly 100 people from the communities of the Association of Communities for the Development of Chalatenango (CCR) traveled three and a half hours and more to the top of one of the highest peaks in northeastern Chalatenango yesterday to locate and destroy a drill sample marker recently left by Au Martinique Silver Inc. mining company.In a spontaneous activity, people from the numerous communities that surround Iramón Mountain, and rely on it for their fresh water supply, led the initiative in a show of their opposition to the presence of Au Martinique Silver Inc. in Chalatenango.

You can read a full account of the protest by Sebastián Darío ( with a couple of nice photos) here.

Colorado Protest Against Mining in El Salvador

Activists near Denver working with U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities are planning a demonstration outside the June 9 Annual Meeting of Au Martinique Silver to protest potentially devastating plans for gold mining in El Salvador.

The Denver Post ran a short article today on the upcoming demonstration.

The group's press release follows:


U.S - El Salvador Sister Cities Supports Community Resistance to Cyanide Gold Mining by Au Martinique Silver, Inc.

Contact: Dennis Chinoy, (207 ) 945-5827PICA (Peace through Interamerican Community Action)Emily Carpenter, (514) 843-9880U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities

"We declare our total and energetic rejection to the introduction of mining projects in our region, declaring that these lands are the fruit that has been left us after twelve years of war suffered in El Salvador...If the company continues insisting, ignoring our decision, we reserve the right to take the necessary measures to defend our lands and natural resources, our right to life and the right to life of our future generations. "

-- Public Statement from the Affected Communities about the Danger of Mineral Exploitation in the North of the Department of Chalatenango, El Salvador, March 2006.

Au Martinique Silver, Inc. is a Canadian exploration company that has generated widespread public opposition to its proposed cyanide gold mine in the Department of Chalatenango in El Salvador. The company has its headquarters in Denver and has its annual shareholders meeting in nearby Morrison, Colorado on June 9. Organizers with the U.S. - El Salvador Sister Cities, which has had ongoing relationships with several communities in Chalatenango since the 1980s, will be peacefully protesting outside the meeting. " Since the company has not informed its shareholders about the local opposition, we have decided to bring the Chalatenango anti-mining campaign directly to the directors and shareholders of this company" says Dennis Chinoy, a member of U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities. "Investors need to be aware that this is a very risky project and that we will continue our campaign until the company has respected the wishes of the local communities and withdrawn its investment."

The partnerships organized by U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities began as a citizen-based response to U.S. intervention in El Salvador's civil war in the mid 1980s. There are now twenty-five sister cities across the United States which are paired with Salvadoran communities in 6 of El Salvador's 14 provinces. The U.S. Sister Cities provides political and moral solidarity to their Salvadoran counterparts by raising awareness in the United States about issues like unwanted cyanide gold mining.

Organizers of the protest believe that financing may be the Achilles heel of this project. Au Martinique is not a mining company; it's a mine promotion company. They speculate on new mining properties, do feasibility studies, and then sell the property to a large mining company. The CEO and Chairman of the Board is Mr. Jeffrey Klenda who began his career as a stockbroker specializing in venture capital offerings. Currently, Mr. Klenda is President of Security First Financial, a company which provides consultation to corporations seeking investment management and early stage funding.

Au Martinique likes to assure potential investors that "the Republic of El Salvador has one of the lowest risk profiles for investment in all of Latin America." While the company has acquired licenses from the Salvadoran government to explore for gold in the Department of Chalatenango they never consulted local property owners before entering the community, as required by law. Nevertheless, the company has promoted itself as "committed to become a global leader among exploration juniors on community initiatives." They even started a "Good Neighbor Program" to advance their activities "hand-in-hand with the local communities to assure a partnership in economic development and good environmental stewardship."

The only problem with this rosy picture is that the company has no community support. The subsistence farmers in Chalatenango are well aware of the track record of the gold mining industry. Local farmers fear that the large quantities of waste left over from mining will pollute local water supplies with arsenic and cyanide, and devastate local agriculture and fisheries.

In October, 2005, 300 residents from Guarjila, San Jose Las Flores and Nueva Trinidad joined together and formed a human chain to block representatives from Au Martinique from entering their communities. After the expulsion, community members systematically collected survey markers the company had placed on the hillsides, used to identify potential mineral veins. The opposition soon spread to fifteen mayors and virtually all the parish priests in Chalatenango.

Chalatenango was a stronghold of the FMLN, the guerrilla movement active during the civil war from 1980-1992. The government regarded most residents in northeast Chalatenango as guerrilla sympathizers and targeted them with scorched-earth military campaigns and wholesale massacres. Many residents have only recently returned to these communities after twelve years of civil war. The decision to re-populate these villages was a collective decision made despite the threat of the very same military reprisals that had impelled them to leave. The level of community cohesion is extremely high. They do not want to be uprooted again. And they do not want to see their communities militarized, as has happened in parallel situations in neighboring Guatemala and Honduras, where security forces were called in to repress mining opposition.

According to Santiago Serrano, a representative of the Association of Communities for the Development of Chalatenango (CCR), "And so we're warning them that we've put the whole province on alert. If they try to come again, then the whole province is going to move against them, at least everywhere we work. That's 22 municipalities, 100 different communities..."

In November 2005, the mobilization against mining projects in El Salvador reached the national level. On November 16, thousands of Salvadorans took over principal highways, intersections and bridges at strategic locations across the country to protest the imposition of infrastructure projects (hydroelectric dams) in their communities without their consent. Of particular concern is the proposed diversion of the Sumpul river which provides water to northeastern Chalatenango, to generate electricity for factories in Honduras and Nicaragua as part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Social movement organizations are also working with attorneys and legislators to introduce legislation to put a moratorium on exploration until co mmunities have had an opportunity to express community sentiment through local referenda on mining.

Now the campaign has been brought from the El Salvadoran countryside to the headquarters of Au Martinique in Denver. The time when Canadian exploration companies could proceed with mining projects despite widespread local opposition has long passed. The organized communities in the Department of Chalatenango have defined these proposed gold mining projects as the most serious threat to their survival. These communities are not going to back down. One of the most prominent critics of the company is Esperanza Ortega, an organizer from the town of Arcatao and a nominee for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize: "I think it is important to talk to the investors, talk to the people funding this project and tell them if they come into this zone they are goi ng to have a lot of problems, because remember we are dealing with people from these communities who survived the war, and there are some of us, when we lose control, we don't even know what we can do."