Auckland Philippines Solidarity - message to friends and family of James Balao

Yesterday in the Cordillera region of the northern Philippines friends and family of James Balao gathered to mark his 49th birthday and the 580th day since his enforced disapperance. Philippine government security forces are widely believed to be responsible for his abduction. The organisers explain the programme:

"A message from the family, messages of solidarity, poems and prayers for James will be delivered and read during the short program. The program will culminate with the putting up of 49 prayer flags with messages for James within the Healing Gardens of the Sta. Scholastica Convent. The prayer flags are adapted from the concept of the Tibetan prayer flags which the people put up to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom. There is a belief, too, that messages written on the flags will be brought by the wind to its recipient."

Auckland Phillippine Solidarity sent the following message to be read at the gathering in Baguio City. Its a little odd to write something about yourself in the third person, but I thought it would be easier to be read aloud that way.
--
Greetings from Auckland Philippines Solidarity in New Zealand. In October 2008 one of our members, Joe Hendren took part in the International Solidarity Mission to Surface James Balao. Since his return Joe has written articles about the case and spoke at a public meeting about the disappearance of James.

APS calls on the Philippine state to Surface James Balao and all victims of enforced disappearances. APS calls for the abandonment of the campaign of political repression known as Opan Bantay Laya, and believes the Filipino people will only be safe once those responsible
for human rights abuses are brought to justice. The responsible authorities should also be held to account for their lack of real effort to find James, and their constant denial and cover-up of the
military's hand in the abduction of James and over 200 victims of enforced disappearances under the Arroyo watch.

We would like to send our aroha (love/compassion) to the family and friends of James, and the long efforts to locate him. There are now people all over the world who know the name of James Balao, and we are all hoping for his safe return to his community.

Kia Kaha (stand strong),

Auckland Philippine Solidarity, New Zealand (Aotearoa)

My Surface James Balao article is now online

While I was in the Philippines last year I took part in an international human rights mission to highlight the case of activist James Balao who was a victim of an 'enforced disappearance' on September 17 2008. James has now been missing for over a year, and Philippine government security forces are widely believed to be responsible for his abduction.

I wrote an article on the Balao case for Kapatiran - the magazine of the Philippine Solidarity Network of Aotearoa, which has just been published online here. I also wrote a short legal update on the case. As part of the international mission our search for information on James' whereabouts took us to the regional police station of the Philippine National Police, a camp of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, as well as meeting with Bagiuo city councilors and members of James' family.

James Balao is a key member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) from its foundation in 1984. The CPA has been very active on campaigns opposing Government policies, particularly around mining and logging, opposing militarisation and organising community protests.

Fillipno Human Rights group Karapatan estimate 202 people were victims of enforced or 'involuntary' disappearance between March 2001 and March 2009. Over 1000 people were victims of extrajudicial killings or arbitary executions over the same period. Karapatan lays the blame at the state security forces of the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and their so called 'anti-terrorism' policy Oplan Bantay Laya.

In May 2009 Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings criticised the Arroyo regime for failing to put in place substantive reforms as he had recommended two years ago, and said any actions the government had taken so far were largely symbolic.

"While current levels are significantly lower than before, they still remain a cause for great alarm, and reflect the failure to make the recommended structural reforms," Alston said. "Moreover, forced disappearances and illegal detentions remain all too common, as does the bringing of trumped-up charges against Filipino activists and human rights abuse victims," he said.

Mullings on pay equity

During the Inagural Suffrage Eve Debate I will be particularly interested in the debate over approaches to employment law.

In 2004 Dr Judy McGregor from the Human Rights Commission wrote an interesting submission on the proposed Employment Relations Law Reform Bill
"While there is not a consensus, most commentators, including the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, believe that New Zealand has not complied with its international obligations in relation to pay equity since 1990 when the short-lived Employment Equity Act (1990) was repealed. This omission is one element in the comprehensive legislative and policy framework needed to give effect to pay and employment equity. "

The Employment Equity Act, championed by Helen Clark, only had a short life. The removal of awards under the Employment Contracts Act effectively invalidated any positive impact the legislation may have had. Jobs that were traditionally dominated by female workers continue to be paid less than comparable jobs traditionally dominated by men.

I had a thought that horrified me a little today. Without going and ferreting out the figures, I would not be surprised if the significant increases in the minimum wage since 1999 have had a small positive impact on pay equity, as the lower wage bands flattened out to the new minimum. So to measure progress towards pay equity issue by itself, and to see the wonderous 'market' [cough][cough] at work it would make sense to exclude all minimum wages from the comparison. Not that I am immediately sure how to achieve this of course :)

In 2007 female full-time workers earned 14% less than men. The gender pay gap was 13% in the 2006 survey, and 16% in 2005.

This entails that if progress towards pay equity is to be achieved, we need to see greater progress further up the income scale. Given that the gender pay gap has now been with us for as long as women have been working, I doubt its going to be sorted by employers and employees negotiating among themselves. Pay equity will only be achieved as part of a more structured approach to employment relations, involving specific pay equity enabling legislation, ongoing research and a culture more conducive to collective bargaining.

Go Go Go Child Povery Action Group, Boo Labour

There was some good news on the box tonight. The Human Rights Review Tribunal has begun to hear the case bought against the Government by the Child Poverty Action Group that the Working for Families programme discriminates against the children of beneficiaries.

The case centres around the the In-Work tax credit, worth around $60 a week. The Labour-led Government excluded beneficiaries from being eligible for this payment. CPAG say this is illegal discrimination because it is Government assistance given only to a select group. 220,000 children from beneficiary families currently miss out.

The Working for Families policy assumes that parents use the money to help with the costs of raising families. How can it be fair that children of beneficiaries are denied $60 a week on the basis of the source of their parents income? Are the Labour party seeking to encourage a new pester power, as in Mummy why don't you get a job? How can it be fair that families lose the $60 a week when a parent has the misfortune to be made redundant?

Prime Minister Helen Clark attempts to defend Labour's policy by claiming Working for Families has lifted 130 thousand families out of poverty. Even though Working for Families has improved the lives of many families, New Zealand's child poverty figures would suggest Clark's claim is somewhat of an exaggeration. Particularly when the Working for Families policy deliberately excluded the very poorest - beneficiary families. Clark also claims "[s]ince the in-work payment came in for the first time we've got the numbers on domestic purposes benefit going down, thats a great thing because it means we have more children seeing their parents going to work everyday to earn a living." Now Helen, can you please tell me how this is the fault of the children?

This and other comments made at the time by of the introduction of Working for Families make it clear that a key policy objective of Working for Families was to increase the difference between the incomes of those on a benefit and those in (low) paid work. The same policy principle underlay Ruth Richardson's 'Mother of All Budgets' in 1991, where Ruth Richardson slashed benefits. Despite making many complaints about these cuts in opposition, Labour have never made any real effort to restore benefit levels in 9 years of Government. Labour ensured beneficiaries did not get any benefit from the tax cuts announced in the Budget, which will only make the situation worse.

The Government's own Ministry of Social Development now say beneficiaries are now worse off now than they were under National in the 1990s. With such a record Labour do not deserve the support of beneficiaries, but neither do National as they have said they are happy with benefit levels as they are now. In contrast, the Greens have given consistent support to beneficiaries in Parliament, despite a great many beneficiaries continuing to support Labour out of habit.

In her recent speech on the 2008 Budget Green MP Sue Bradford said
"..,Dr Cullen certainly has a different understanding of labour history in this country than I do. I had thought that the first Labour Government under Michael Joseph Savage swept to power in 1935 as a result of the mass unemployment and poverty suffered through six years of the Great Depression. It was unemployed workers together with their comrades still in work who helped create and drive the great things Labour did in those early days, including taking the first steps towards getting a decent welfare system into place, and I see this generation of Labour’s approach to beneficiaries as a real betrayal of that proud history."

By excluding beneficiaries, Working for Families becomes an effective subsidy to underpaying employers. While many on the right such as Labour and National promote the virtues of a free market economy, they want to ensure the right of employers to offer underpaid jobs as a forced sale. If workers want higher wages, they should support CPAG's case against the Government, as giving low paid workers the choice to tell underpaying employers to go to hell is one way to ensure wages in New Zealand are lifted for all.

PS: It is an irony that my very first post on this blog, now four years and a few days ago, I criticised Labour for making cynical use of the Bill of Rights Act to justify a cut in student allowances, at the same time they were defending the continued discrimination of parental income tests on the basis of age on the grounds it would cost them too much money to do otherwise.

Concerns about the Server in the Sky

The Herald reports that New Zealand is to be part of an FBI-led consortium that plans a global database of personal biometric information to "catch criminals and terrorists".

Biometric details and measurements, such as iris scans, palm and fingerprints would be swapped between countries, namely the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. As Iain Thompson points out, these five countries already co-operate in running Echelon, the global eavesdropping service that listens and records global telephone, radio and email communications. So while the public face may be in terms of police co-operation, its a fair bet the intelligence agencies will also be able to access this data. Perhaps the GCSB and the SIS see our participation as a way to gain greater access to US intelligence data in return.

While 'officials' in this country claim New Zealand is still considering whether to join the consortium, Police National Forensic Services Adviser Inspector John Walker said it was likely we would do so.

The FBI told the Guardian: "Server in the Sky is an FBI initiative designed to foster the advanced search and exchange of biometric information on a global scale. While it is currently in the concept and design stages, once complete it will provide a technical forum for member nations to submit biometric search requests to other nations. It will maintain a core holding of the world's 'worst of the worst' individuals. Any identifications of these people will be sent as a priority message to the requesting nation."
...
The FBI is proposing to establish three categories of suspects in the shared system: "internationally recognised terrorists and felons", those who are "major felons and suspected terrorists", and finally those who the subjects of terrorist investigations or criminals with international links. Tom Bush, assistant director at the FBI's criminal justice information service, has said he hopes to see a pilot project for the programme up and running by the middle of the year.

The proposal to share information about subjects of terrorist suspects is the most concerning. Suspects are not criminals, and should not be treated like criminals unless you wish to throw out the entire principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'. It is yet another example of governments using the excuse of 'anti-terrorism' to undermine core principles of the legal system for their own convenience.

Some elements of the police and security services in New Zealand have wished for a national biometric database of all citizens, whether they have committed a crime or not. This proposal has faced some resistance. But 'Server in the Sky' has the potential to implement this policy by default. The US now subjects all passengers, even those in transit to compulsory digital finger scans and photographs (which are also stored for an unknown period). Could the proposed consortium allow our police to import the finger scans of New Zealanders they are unable to legally obtain at home?

Even for those with criminal records the system could lead to some unjust outcomes. As a purely hypothetical example, supposing someone picked up a minor conviction in their teens. Years later they are wrongly implicated in a so called anti-terror operation. Due to their old record, their biometric information and criminal history could be spread about the world with little chance for correction.

I don't have so much of a problem with coppers sharing information about internationally active criminals convicted of serious crimes - but I suspect there are procedures in place for this already without the need for massive data sponge.

Interestingly, the US defence contractor linked with the proposed database, Northrop Grumman Corp, is the same company who created the IDENT1 database, an enhanced fingerprint identification system currently used by British police.

It is pleasing to see that the Server in the Sky proposal greeted with an element of scepticism in the UK media. This follows the embarrassing leak of detailed personal information on 40% of the British population late last year, and the case where an arrest for a terror offence by US investigators was based on a misidentified fingerprint match.

In the Guardian Nick Clegg is calling for the proposal to be treated with caution, as nothing, including biometrics, is fail safe. He highlights the importance of safeguards to ensure data collected under UK law remains subject to high data protection standards.
And once data is in the hands of the US authorities, there is no getting it back. We already send them massive amounts of information about air passengers, through a deal brokered by the European Commission, without any guarantee it will be properly safeguarded once it reaches the US. It would be foolhardy to start sharing further information without a simple guarantee: that data collected under UK law should continue to be protected even after it leaves Britain. We should share information when other countries can guarantee data protection standards that match, or exceed our own. Otherwise, who knows which one of us will be on the no-fly list next.

If the Government sign us up for Server in the Sky, at the very least they should be demanding this too. There also needs to be clear procedures to remove all traces of incorrect information. As the Zaoui case and the recent so called 'anti-terror raids' showed, both the SIS and our police are prone to bouts of Groupthink, where erroneous bullshit can only feed presumptions of guilt before innocence.

I hope we stay well clear of Server in the Sky. It can only fall down sometime.

Video: Dennis Maga protests against state lunch for Philippine President

On Monday I posted about the protest held outside Parliament as President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got a state lunch on the tab of Prime Minister Helen Clark. Filipino trade unionist and spokesperson for the Ka Bel campaign, with some friends, used the occasion to highlight the human rights abuses Arroyo has encouraged in her own country.

Update on Dennis Maga tour

As the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received a state lunch from Prime Minister Helen Clark, Filipino unionist Dennis Maga and friends held a protest outside to highlight the human rights abuses Arroyo has encouraged in her own country.

Maga stood inside a cage to highlight the continuing imprisonment of Congressman Crispin Beltran - locked up for daring to oppose Arroyo. Photos here.

Apparently 858 extrajudicial killings are not enough to put Arroyo or Clark off their lunch. The US and Chinese Ambassadors also joined in the lunch - but then these two countries don't have a stellar human rights record either. The Philippines are a key ally of the US in the 'war on terrorism'.

Congrats to the leadership of New Zealand's trade unions who walked out on the lunch.

Interviewed in New Zealand today, Arroyo claimed due process is being followed in the case of Mr Beltran. Bullshit. Arroyo is lying. The Inter-Parliamentary Union has called for Beltran's immediate release. Also, under the Philippine Constitution it is illegal for a member of Congress to be detained in the way Arroyo has locked up Ka Bel.

Arroyo admitted today that her country had a problem with political killings, but she failed to be completely upfront about this - a significant part of the problem starts with A and ends with O.

Dennis Maga says Mrs Arroyo's regime is the worst in his country's history, with the political death toll - about 130 a year - even worse than the 100 a year killed under dictator Ferdinand Marcos' in the 1970s and 1980s.

Helen Clark refused to condemn Mrs Arroyo's record, but said the Government was committed to providing help. Oh, and something about selling a lot of butter.

New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a 'police co-operation' agreement. I hope the New Zealand authorities are not looking for new ways to deal with happy valley protesters :) While Clark was looking for trade opportunities, and she has talked in the past of 'internationalising' SOEs, she should not let Solid Energy open up a mine in the Philippines. As we have seen this week, there appears to be no end to the methods they would use to protect 'their business'.

But protecting the business was exactly what Clark was doing today. The small matter of 858 deaths came up for little if any discussion.

Public Meetings: Resistance to State Repression in the Philippines

Come and hear Dennis Maga, trade unionist and spokesperson for the Free Ka Bel Movement. See my earlier post here.

AUCKLAND
Monday 21 May 7:30 pm
Trades Hall
147 Great Nth Road, Grey Lynn

WELLINGTON
Wednesday 23 May 7:00 pm
2nd Floor ANZAC House
181 Willis Street

CHRISTCHURCH
Thursday 24 May 7:30 pm
Trade Union Centre
199 Armagh Street

WHANGAREI
Sunday 27 May 7:00 pm
St John’s Church Centre
149 Kamo Road

PAIHIA
Monday 28 May 7:30 pm
Bounty Inn
Cnr Bayview & Selwyn Road

Philippines president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is to attend an interfaith dialogue in New Zealand on Tuesday 29th of May. "Since she came to power six years ago, 858 people have died in extrajudicial killings – including left-wing politicians, rights activists, unionists, journalists and religious leaders. Among those detained is Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran".

Last week Dennis Maga met with the NZ ambassador in Manila and requested the following from the New Zealand Government.

1. Sponsor a cross-parliamentary delegation to investigate the human rights situation in the Philippines
2. Send a representative of the New Zealand Embassy to the court hearings on Rep. Beltran’s case.
3. Redirect the NZ ODA funding from the Philippine government to the people’s organizations actively promoting and defending human rights.
4. Offer the NZ embassy as a safe haven for victims of repression and assure them of refugee status in NZ.
5. Campaign against the nomination of the Philippines as member of the United Nation Human Rights Security Council for the unabating occurrence of extra-judicial killings, involuntary disappearances militarization, political harassments and persecution.

Two visitors from the Philippines

Next week New Zealand will host two visitors from the Philippines. One is responsible for the extrajudicial killings of 837 Filipino people. She has jailed members of parliament for the crime of opposing her.

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will co-host an “interfaith dialogue” with Prime Minister Helen Clark and the Indonesian Government at Waitangi. Clark will host a state lunch in Arroyo’s honour in Wellington.

Dennis N. Maga is the spokesperson for the Free Ka Bel Movement. He is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of several NZ trade unions to bring attention to the systematic human rights violations carried out by arms of the Phillippine state. Dennis is calling for the release of Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran an ailing 74 year old congressman and trade unionist arrested in February 2006. Too sick to be sent to jail, Ka Bel has been held in hospital detention for 16 months, awaiting trial on trumped up charges.

Dennis Maga says “The case of Ka Bel is an outstanding case of political repression under the Arroyo watch. We denounce the agents of the Arroyo government who now threaten to arrest Ka Satur Ocampo on fabricated murder charges just as they arrested Ka Bel on rebellion charges using fabricated evidence.”. Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur reported to the UN that “virtual impunity” prevails in the Philippines with regard to the extrajudicial killings which are “convincingly attributed” to the military.

Who is Ka Bel?
Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran is an ailing 74 year old Congressman arrested in February 2006 on charges dating back to the era of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos. This very same case against Ka Bel was quashed in 1988. Recently Ka Bel has also faced trumped up charges of sedition.

Ka Bel was elected to the Philippine Congress in 2004 as Anakawis Partylist Representative. As the chair of the trade union federation Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), he is recognised in at least 83 countries, as well as the International Labour Organisation and various trade secretariats of the United Nations.

On 24 February 2006 Ka Bel joined others to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the people’s uprising against the Marcos dictatorship. Earlier that day, President Arroyo declared a state of emergency and banned all demonstrations, on the pretext that a coup was imminent. Ka Bel was arrested the following day.

Another Congressman faced charges for murders in Leyte he could not have been responsible for, as Marcos had him in jail at the time. A total of six Congressmen face charges.

Helen Clark raised her concerns about the human rights situation in the Philippines with Arroyo, including Ka Bel’s detention, during the last East Asian Summit in Cebu. Arroyo assured her that “all proper legal and judicial processes were being followed”. Since then, the situation has only got worse.

Why is Helen Clark welcoming to New Zealand a political leader who jails her Parliamentary opponents and is complicit in hundreds of killings?

What is Sedition?
Sedition is broadly defined as speaking, writing or behaviour intended to encourage rebellion or resistance against the government. During the First World War Peter Fraser, later to become New Zealand Prime Minister, faced similar charges for speaking out against the war.

In May 2007 Helen Clark acknowledged the need to abolish the crime of sedition in New Zealand, as such a ‘crime’ is widely regarded as inconsistent with a free and democratic society. The Greens, The Maori Party, United Future and Act all support removing ‘sedition’ from New Zealand law.

What can I do?
Come to a public meeting to hear Dennis Maga. Write to Helen Clark, your local MP and your local paper. Call talkback. Talk to your friends!

Nepali king restores the 2002 Parliament

Great to hear the Nepalese King Gyanendra give in to people power and reinstate the parliament that was dissolved by the monarch in 2002. This was a key demand of the seven Nepali political parties.

Based on the number of seats secured in the 1999 Nepali Election, as reported by Kantipur, the Nepali Congress party has a clear majority of 113 of the 205 parliamentary seats. The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) is the next largest party with 68 seats.

The right-wing pro-monarchy National Democratic Party (Rashtriya Prajatantra) has 12 seats. The related Rashtriya Janashakti Party has five seats.

This is good news, but the Nepali people still need to hear from you!

The seven political parties pushing for constitution reform are meeting to discuss their next step following the reinstatement of the 2002 parliament. While a return to a constitutional monarchy is a possibility, the parties may want to consider stripping the king of his position of head of the armed forces - to ensure he is not able to withdraw democracy again.

King Gyanedra tightened his grip on power in February 2005, suspending any remaining hint of democracy, clamping down on civil liberties, shutting down phone and internet connections and declaring a state of emergency. This was defended on the grounds of fighting Maoist "terrorists and insurgents". It looks highly likely the language of Bush's phoney 'war on terror' has been used as an excuse by the Nepali king for violent repression of his own population, as well as a means to clamp down on the "ememies" who existed had long before 2001 (like the Philippines and Russia/Chechnya in this respect)

Take action: Pro-democracy movement in Nepal needs your support now!

Earlier this week I received an email from Lee Yu Kyung, a Korean journalist currently reporting from Nepal. Lee highlighted how the Nepali army and the police are attempting to supress the efforts of independent journalists currently working in Nepal - by beating them up.

In the email Lee also stressed the need for the international community to show its support for the Nepali people through solidarity movements, solidarity messages and whatever else people could do.

So I sent a message of solidarity to Lee, and wished both Lee and the Nepali pro-democracy movement "kai kaha" for the days and months ahead. I also asked where people would be best to send messages of solidarity, and for any suggestions of good Nepali media to 'keep up with the news', saying I would be happy to publicise both on my blog if it would help.

I received the following reply from Lee Yu Kyung (penseur21@hotmail.com) last night.

"Hi, Joe Hendren
thank you so much for this reply. i don't mind anything! you can put down my email or whatever from my appealing message. and the message, i think, should be delivered to the both, people as well as the government. but people are now thirsty for solidarity message from international community."

Lee suggested sending solidarity messages to the two main political parties, who are part of the seven party coalition calling for the resumption of democracy.

These are
Communist Party of Nepal (UML): uml@ntc.net.np
(have been part of government before)
Nepali Congress: ncparty@wink.com.np
(looks like equivalent of the Labour party, including a liking for privatisation during the 1980s!)

"For media, 'Kantipur publication' is most popular daily with best coverage. it publishes also 'kathmandu post' which is english paper. here some journalist contacts. they can use the international solidarity message. i strongly believe. more soon...the cafe is gonna close for day curfew..sorry! best Lee.

kanti@kpost.mos.com.np, bimal_fnj@hotmail.com, bimalgautam2042@yahoo.com, bishnu@yahoo.com, kanti@kpost.mos.com, karkig@gmail.com, khanalgopal@hotmail.com, nirmalaji@mos.com.np, pahadib@hotmail.com, rb.khatry@gmail.com "

After a bit of hunting I found the Kantipur website in English. I also found this fantastic recent editorial from the Kathmandu Post. Well worth a read!

"Currently, Nepal stands at a crossroads. On the right side of it is a new Nepal where people are fully sovereign; insurgency is resolved and the Maoists join the political mainstream; the state is restructured to accommodate the disfranchised populace; and the society makes a peaceful transition towards prosperity. On the wrong side of it is the status quo, where the fundamental issue of sovereignty remains unresolved; the Maoist insurgency continues; state, under the direct control of the king, remains unitary and unwilling to address the issue of widespread exclusion. As Nepal has entered the final stage of the labor pain, the international community, unfortunately, seems to be supportive of the status quo. The international community's euphoric reaction to Friday's royal address is ludicrous, to say the least. It also shows how shallow is their reading of Nepali history and how far removed they are from the present ground reality.
...
If the [countries of the world] do not review their stance immediately, and continue to dishonor one of the most peaceful and colossal uprisings in modern history, they will soon find themselves on the wrong side of Nepali history."

Through my own searching around I also found another couple of useful sites, including Nepal News and United We Blog for a Democratic Nepal. The blog includes some photos of recent pro-democracy demonstrations.

Dear blog readers, please consider sending a message of solidarity to the political parties or email one of the journalists listed by Lee. Also feel free to pass on/link these contacts - it would be great if we could get a small solidarity movement going - the people of Nepal and the independent journalists in the country need our support.

Violent suppression of independent media in Nepal

Interesting first hand account of recent events in Nepal by a Korean journalist, detailing how the Nepali army and police (no doubt under orders from the King) are attempting to suppress negative media coverage, by beating up journalists and refusing to issue a 'curfew pass' to media not thought to be sympathetic to the King.

Dear, All

It’s Lee (I am leaving out last names until I hear from him/her), a Korean journalist, your friend or comrade, currently covering the ongoing people’s movement in Nepali soil. As you all probably informed, things have been terrible here in Nepal over the last more than 2 weeks, though some calm period has passed for a few days. The armed force, whoever the police or the army (but more police till now in terms of the number) have suppressed the peaceful demonstrators by beating terribly, fire hundreds of tear gas and shot at them with rubber bullet as well as live one. It’s routinely seen that a demonstrators who desperately appeals with extreme fear was beaten more than 4-5 police surrounding him (or her). Journalists (both Nepali and Foreign media), aid workers, human rights activists are not exception from the brutal action. Especially for local journalist, they got daily arrest and much harassment.

No press freedom respected. Whenever journalists take photo of brutal actions by police, he or she could be beaten or get threatening being beaten at least. Since the police start to beat the people, they care almost no one. Yes it’s their job! The other day, one American doctor who did volunteer for the injured was also beaten by the police and arrested on 12th and the next day deported to Bangladesh, where he lives. It’s done indiscriminately. But I must clarify that those who’s been worst dealt are demonstrators in general.

On April 20, when another biggest rally was held all over the country as the seven political parties’ alliance(SPA) decide, the authority declare a day curfew again and doesn’t issue ‘curfew pass’ for anyone, such as medias (there’s a rumor that only some Indian media that reportedly is favorable King, got it. but let me confirm it later soon), aid workers, human rights activists, who all got it last week curfew. Less journalists, therefore, could manage to get the venues with some questionings or harassment to cover it. I, myself faced that situation, in which my camera was “almost” taken by the police and told I must be taken to their place, ie..police staion. But I managed to avoid it. Human rights activists who used to watch the human rights violation in protest (but, honestly, it looks powerless before the armed force), and even the UN staffs couldn’t be issued a ‘curfew pass’. Logically, the suppression was highest ever on that day with less witness. In Kalanki, the west-south of Kathmandu, 3 were declared to be killed. But rumor says it’s 6 people as of this writting. In Gongabu, the northern part of the capital and once called a ‘war-zone', the police harassed journalists more than ever. I got threatened (reads “positioning to beat in a very threaten manner” by the cop) to be beaten 3 times when I tried to take photo of one poor guy beaten terribly with bloody by 5-6 police. A Japanese journalist told me the similar experience in the same area.

Now, I’d like to urgently & kindly request you to try to organize some solidarity movement, message or whatsoever which is badly needed at this moment for the Nepali people struggling against the autocratic King, Gyanendra and his royalist government. Please, keep watching the news from Nepal. This is “priority”. Thanks.

This morning I emailed Lee to pass on a message of solidarity and kai kaha from New Zealand. I have also asked him/her where people would be best to send messages of support for the pro-democracy movement and independent media currently reporting from Nepal. If he/she gets back to me I will post his/her suggestions.

New blog Mirage Media on attitudes to mental illness

New media watch blog Mirage Media includes a great post about the census worker who was forced to resign from his job after it was discovered that he had previously escaped a murder charge on the grounds of insanity (he killed three members of his family). Mirage Media points out insanity is not an easy defence - less than 1% of those who claim insanity in murder cases escape conviction on these grounds.

Strictly speaking, the census worker had no criminal convictions to disclose, and therefore no grounds for losing his job. The Mental Health Commission regards the case as a breach of the human rights act and is taking up the issue with the Human Rights Commissioner.

"Praising_idleness" of Mirage Media takes Radio Live breakfast host Martin Devlin to task for dismissing the possibility that a "murderer" should be allowed to get a job after 13 years of rehabilitation.

"Devlin often makes the assumption that mental patients are intrinsically morally corrupt. In his eyes, mental health patients are 'bad eggs', and should be stripped of basic human rights. He willingly ignores evidence which illustrates mental patients too, are victims of their illness. That they can be rehabilitated. And they are no more likely than anyone else to commit an act of violence in the first place. Instead, he maintains a bigotry which perpetuates a sceptical untrustworthy view of individuals with mental illness."

Actually there is considerable evidence to show that those who experience serious mental illness are, on average, more likely to be victims of violence than its initiators. A 2005 study found that one forth of individuals with severe mental illness were victims of violent crime in the previous year, eleven times the rate of the general population.

In response to an email from Praising_Idleness Martin Devlin said "Hmmm Somewhere in the middle lies the answer? I actually think we almost agree.. Thanks for your mail son...". In other words Devlin completely failed to engage with the issue. "Somewhere in the middle lies the answer" reminds me of the sort of meaningless nonsense that might come from the keyboard of Peter Dunne. Why is it those who attempt to position themselves in the so called "centre" of politics so often end up sounding intellectually and morally vacuous?

Welcome to the blogsphere Praising_Idleness :)

Categories: Media, Mental Health, Human Rights, Discrimination

TV3 cites Wikipedia

TV3 News tonight had a story looking at legal recognition of "civil unions" in New Zealand and other parts of the world.

When listing some of the other places that have legalised either civil unions or same-sex marriage the reporter made a very interesting citation - "according to internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia".

Is this the first time TV news in NZ have cited Wikipedia as a source? Does anyone know of any other similar televised citations? I have no doubt reporters have used for stories in the past, so its quite nice for this to be acknowledged. Was this "slipped in" during the quiet summer break?

For my own writing I find Wikipedia a valuable source of "research leads" - that is I look at Wikipedia for the overview and then try to confirm the information from another source (I am generally looking for more detail anyway). Come to think of it, this is not too different to how most people would use a paper based encyclopaedia.

Corporate Human Rights Violators

International human rights organisation, Global Exchange have named the multinational corporatations most noted for human rights violations in 2005.

"Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern times, but it is increasingly difficult to hold them to account. Economic globalization and the rise of transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principally by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders."

It is a sorry list of 14 big corporates, including
- Caterpillar
- Chevron
- Coca-Cola
- Dow Chemical
- Dyancorp/CSC (private security contractor)
- Ford Motor Company
- Kellog Brown and Root (subsidiary of Halliburton)
- Lockeed Martin
- Monsanto
- Nestle USA
- Phillip Morris USA/Altria Group Inc.
- Pfizer (drug company)
- Suez-Lyonnaise Des Eaux (SLDE) (French water mulitnational)
- Wal-Mart

The Global Exchange report includes a writeup detailing the human right abuses committed by each money hungry corporate, together with some helpful links to other watchdog organisations with a special interest in each company (eg. Coke Watch).

Several of these corporates are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that allows citizens of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for violations of international rights or treaties.

"When corporations act like criminals, we have the right and the power to stop them, holding leaders and multinational corporations alike to the accords they have signed. Around the world, in Venezuela, Argentina, India, and right here in the United States —citizens are stepping up to create democracy and hold corporations accountable to international law."

With the Bush Administration demonstrating nothing but absoulte contempt for international law with its invasion of Iraq in 2003, it ought to be no surprise there are so many US based corporations on the Global Exchange List.

DynCorp, Kellog Brown and Root and Lockeed Martin are all eager Iraq war profiteers, keen to help Bush suck the oil money out of Iraq by exporting the profits back to the States. These three corporates rogues deserve a post of their own.

Some other lowlights,
Caterpillar has refused to end their corporate participation in house demolition by cutting off sales of specially modified D9 and D10 bulldozers to the Israeli military, supplying equipment that kills Palestinian civilians and peace activists.

Chevron: In Nigeria, this large petrochemical company "has collaborated with the Nigerian police and military, who have opened fire on peaceful protestors who oppose oil extraction in the Niger Delta". Watching BBC World last night I caught an advertisement from Chevron aiming to cast doubt at the potential of wind power - the message appeared to have a remarkable similarity to the line promoted by our very own Contact Energy in their the so-called 'Positive Energy' campaign last year!

Coca-Cola Company: "...leads in the abuse of workers' rights, assassinations, water privatization, and worker discrimination. Between 1989 and 2002, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia were killed after protesting the company's labor practices. Hundreds of other Coca-Cola workers who have joined or considered joining the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL have been kidnapped, tortured, and detained by paramilitaries who intimidate workers to prevent them from unionizing. In Turkey, 14 Coca-Cola truck drivers and their families were beaten severely by Turkish police hired by the company, while protesting a layoff of 1,000 workers from a local bottling plant in 2005."

Dow Chemical is involved in human rights abuses worldwide: "environmental destruction, water and ground contamination, health violations, chemical poisoning, and chemical warfare.". In their hometown of Midland, Michigan, Dow has been "producing chlorinated chemicals and burning and burying its waste including chemicals that make up Agent Orange. In New Plymouth, New Zealand, 500,000 gallons of Agent Orange were produced and thousands of tons of dioxin-laced waste was dumped in agricultural fields."

Ford Motor Company. "Every year since 1999, the US Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Ford cars, trucks and SUVs as having the worst overall fuel economy of any American automaker. Ford's current car and truck fleet has a lower average fuel efficiency than the original Ford Model-T...Amazingly, despite the company's recent greenwashing PR campaign, its record has actually worsened. According to Ford's own sustainability report, between 2003 and 2004, the company's US fleet-wide fuel economy decreased and its CO2 emissions went up".

Monsanto, more widely known as the largest producer of genetically modified seeds on the planet, are not as well known for their use of child labour. They should be. "In India, an estimated 12,375 children work in cottonseed production for farmers paid by Indian and multinational seed companies, including Monsanto. A number of children have died or became seriously ill due to exposure to pesticides."

Nestle: Earlier this year "the International Labor Rights Fund and a Birmingham law firm filed a class-action lawsuit against Nestlé and several of its suppliers on behalf of former child slaves...In 2001, Save the Children Canada reported that 15,000 children between 9 and 12 years old, many from impoverished Mali, had been tricked or sold into slavery on West African cocoa farms, many for just $30 each."

Pfizer: One of the largest and most profitable pharmaceutical companies in the world (Revenues of $52.5 billion in 2004). Produces Viagra, Zoloft and many HIV/AIDS related drugs (Rescriptor, Viracept and Diflucan/fluconazole). "Like other drug companies, they sell these drugs at prices poor people cannot afford and aggressively fight efforts to make it easier for generic drugs to enter the market....Pfizer and other drug companies have refused to grant generic licenses for HIV/AIDS drugs to countries like Brazil, South Africa, and the Dominican Republic, where patients are forced to pay $20 per weekly pill for drugs like fluconazole, though the average national wage is only $120 per month....To ensure its profits, Pfizer invests heavily in US campaign contributions. Though it can't seem to afford to offer life-saving drugs at affordable prices, it was able to scrounge up $544,900 for mostly Republican candidates in election cycle 2006 (still in progress) and $1,630,556 in the 2004 election cycle."

Yay for Child Poverty Action Group Boo Labour

Great to see the Child Poverty Action Group win the right to mount a legal challenge to Labour's policy to exclude beneficiaries from the Working for Families package.

Such an exclusion is designed to widen the gap between beneficiaries and the working poor - the very same principle, among others, guided Ruth Richardson's infamous 'Mother of all Budgets' in 1991. It makes the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the In Work Payment (IWP) nothing more than an indirect subsidy for employers, and lets them off the hook for consistently failing to pay their employees family friendly wages. The benefit cuts of 1991 are still with us, as benefit levels have never been increased in order to restore a similar comparative level with wages that existed prior to 1991.

To make matters worse, 'beneficiaries' is defined to include those receiving a student allowance, NZ superannuation or those on ACC for more than 3 months. So a single mum attending university will not benefit from the CTC or the IWP, and neither will grandparents acting as caregivers after the death of a parent.

Sue Bradford is calling on the Government not to appeal the Human Rights Review Tribunal decision. Sadly this is not an unreasonable fear given the petty litigious attitude of the Government on similar issues in the past (such as on defining a relationship like marriage).

If Working for Families was meant to be about reducing child poverty, it really needs to be asked why children of beneficiaries ought to be worse off, purely based on the source of their caregivers income. Its not something the kids can control after all.

The case is the first under 2001 amendments to the Human Rights Act that allowed Government policies to be challenged in the Human Rights Review Tribunal. It also sets another important precedent by establishing the right of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to challenge discrimination in public policy, regardless of whether they themselves are directly affected. As an example, this decision could be of great assistance to NGOs working in mental health advocacy, as many people with past psychiatric/psychological issues regularly face systematic and unwarranted discrimination.

Thank you Rosa Parks

One December evening in 1955 one black woman in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus (Hat tip NRT). This simple action led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the start of the civil rights movement in the United States.

Rosa Parks died on Monday night (US time) aged 92.

Thanks to the work of Rosa and her legal team, Alabama's segregation laws were overturned by the Supreme Court. The bus boycott created a stage for a local preacher, Martin Luther King, who would later assemble the 'March on Washington' and demonstrate public support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a legal guarantee of equal rights to Americans of all races.

Despite the inspiration she provided to others, Rosa suffered personal hardship in the immediate aftermath of her arrest. She was found guilty of violating the segregation laws and fined $14. She lost her job, and her husband quit his job after his boss ordered that no mention be made of "Rosa" or the legal case. Concerned for the safety of supporters as well as themselves, following a number of death threats, the Parks moved to Detroit in 1957, where Rosa worked as an aide in a Democratic congressman's office.

"Rosa was a true giant of the civil rights movement," said U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), in whose office Parks worked for more than 20 years. "There are very few people who can say their actions and conduct changed the face of the nation, and Rosa Parks is one of those individuals."

Thank you Rosa for demonstrating the power of non-violent direct action. Thank you for standing up against injustice and making the world a better place for us all.

More at No Right Turn.

Update: Bayprairie at OurWord has complied some interesting background to the bus boycott. While Rosa was 'the spark that lit the fire', Bayprairie points out that the movement to desegregate the buses in Montgomery began earlier, largely instigated by Jo Ann Robinson, a black college professor.

PS: You may have to log in to see the Washington Post report. (its free)

Categories: US, Politics, Activism, Civil Rights, Rosa Parks

Do corporates get away with murder?

In the UK unionists and victims of the Hatfield rail disaster are dismayed the culpability of engineering firm Balfour Beatty (BB) has been limited to a £10m pound fine. On October 17 2000 a King's Cross to Leeds train came off the tracks at 115mph after a rail disintegrated, killing four people and injuring 102.

While Trade Union Council general secretary Brendan Barber welcomed the severity of the fine, he joined others in calling for tougher corporate manslaughter laws.

"The families of those killed will still feel cheated that no senior executives are to face punishment as a result of their safety crimes. The government urgently needs to address [the fact] that all the courts can do is to fine a company. What is necessary is both a new offence of corporate killing, with a wider range of penalties available, and new legal duties that make directors directly responsible for the health and safety of their staff and customers."

The Old Bailey judge put Balfour Beatty's failure at the "top of the scale", saying he regarded "Balfour Beatty as one of the worse examples of industrial negligence in a high-risk industry I have seen". While Justice MacKay was highly critical of the company, he cast out corporate manslaughter charges bought against Balfour Beatty, most likely due to the difficulty in securing convictions under present legislation.

Perhaps it says a lot about the company that BB did not admit breaching health and safety rules until the corporate manslaughter charges were dropped.

I would be interested to look into whether New Zealand has a 'corporate manslaughter' charge on its statute books and if so, what kind of burden of proof is required. New Zealand could come up with its own shady looking lineup of irresponsible corporates. As a couple of examples, the former Tranzrail and forestry company Juken Nissho have long records of heath and safety convictions - including incidents leading to deaths on the job.

Back to the BB case, the judge also voiced his own criticisms of the way the UK railways were privatised.
"The elimination of one of the indefensible features of the 1996 privatisation is now gone - the separation of the track from its maintenance - is now gone. Perhaps that is one good thing resulting from this disastrous affair."

In 2002 Tranzrail contracted out track maintenance to Transfield, who by most accounts maintained a better relationship with unions and did a better job than the privately owned Tranzrail ever did (that would not be hard). Following the renationalisation of the rail track in September 2004, the Government set up a new Crown agency to oversee the ownership and maintenance of the rail infrastructure on its behalf - OnTrack.

Given the clear warning the Balfour Beatty case represents, it is probably a good thing OnTrack decided to bring the maintenance work back in house, following a tendering process it is obliged to carry out under the agreement it made with Toll Holdings. Best of all, OnTrack purchased part of the present contractor, allowing staff who maintain the rails to transfer to OnTrack while maintaining their present terms and conditions of employment.

The Guardian - Hatfield victims and unions call for new corporate killing law
The Independent - Balfour Beatty fined £10m for Hatfield disaster

Categories: UK, New Zealand, Corporations, Law, Politics, Rail, Union, Safety

Tim Howard on Human Rights Abuses in the Philippines: Radio link

This morning National radio interviewed Tim Howard, one of the New Zealanders who took part in an international solidarity mission to the Philippines in August this year. The team found considerable evidence of human rights violations, 'professional' assassinations and forced disappearances, carried out by the military and intelligence arms of the Philippine government against their own people.

The interview is available via a stream on the xtra website, but have to put up with 5 minutes of Linda Clark's blathering before she talks to Tim.

Also see my earlier post The forgotten second front of the War on Terror: The Philippines.

Tim will be hosting a session about the Philippines at the National Peace Workshops on Sunday 23rd of October. Another Kiwi member of the International Solidarity Mission to the Philippines, Mary Ellen O'Connor, will be intervied by "Earthwise" on Saturday 08 October at 9am on Christchurch Community Radio, PlainsFM 96.9.

Categories: War on Terror, Human Rights, Politics, New Zealand, Philippines

The forgotten second front of the War on Terror: The Philippines

Last night heard a report back from a couple of kiwis who took part in a 82 strong international solidarity mission to the Philippines in August this year. They spent a week visiting the front lines of the five worst areas for human rights violations and convened an International People's Tribunal in Manilla to report on their findings and call on their home governments, and the international community at large, to condemn the Philippine government for waging a War on Terror on its own people.

Following 9/11 President Bush, with the eager cooperation of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared the Philippines to be America's "second front" in the "War on Terror". Occasionally there has been some coverage of this in the NZ media, usually involving the long running war between the Philippine Military and Muslim separatists in the far south of the country. Muslims in the Philippines are called the Moro, a name dating back to the Spanish occupation of the country - Moro derives from 'moor'.

Four New Zealanders took part in the international mission - Tim Howard (Whangarei), Rod Prosser (Wellington), Mary Ellen O’Connor (Nelson) and Josephine O’Connor (Wellington). Tim and Mary Ellen addressed the Christchurch meeting, hosted by the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa

While the Philippines has never had a good human rights record - the situation under President Macapagal-Arroyo has become steadily worse and worse.

Recently many Moro people have been forced of their land in the south and forced to live at the other end of the country as refugees. They have also faced sustained harassment from the police. It is suspected NZ Aid money may have been used to translocation people (this is being looked into further by NZ activists). In Samar whole villages have been forced to evacuate. Some of these evacuations are purely political, others are to allow the Government to step up the mining and forestry in the area - the local people are denied any benefits of these developments. Samar is now a highly militarised area - with the mines come the military. Land reform never occurred in the Philippines, so villagers can be tossed about on a whim.

In order to maintain its hold on power the Government is using the military and the police to kill the opposition - including 58 members and supporters of the leftist Bayan Muna political party in the Samar region. The military accuse their opponents of being communists and members of the New People's Army, claims that are not particularly convincing. The military have confirmed the existence of a hit list. Bayan Muna, community groups and others are routinely targeted by military intelligence - one man found out through a relative in the military that his name was on a list of 36 people the powers that be wanted dead.

A key perpetrator of these politically motivated killings is Brig General Jovito Palparan, dubbed the Butcher of Mindoro by human rights groups, following the murder and harassment of political activists under his command on that island. He is reported to have threatened that 'if one of his soldiers dies, 10 civilians will be killed'. President Arroyo has recently promoted Palparan twice, so the President is also responsible for the appalling record of killings and human rights abuses in the Philippines.

Arroyo also attempted to use the rhetoric of the war on terror to threaten trade unions: "Those who terrorise factories that provide jobs"

Following the talks by Tim and Mary-Ellen we watched a short video - this included footage of a huge (I mean huge) rally of Filipinos marching with members of the international mission calling on President Arroyo to resign. The video also followed the story of a 15 year old boy, witness to the murder of his father by Palparan's armed thugs, and now clearly traumatised by the experience (it looked like a form of post-traumatic stress). The whole village participated in a re-enactment of the crime - more witnesses came forward as a result.

Despite the shocking realisation of the terrible oppression of the Filipino people by the Government, the really uplifting factor is that the Filipino activists remain so staunch. One activist told the military 'Go on kill me - we have the right to organise!'

In a country where ordinary people can not seek justice through official channels, re-enactments and "People's Courts" are the only way these issues get heard. They also provide some acknowledgement for victims - but true justice will only be served once Arroyo and her cronies are forced to step down.

Categories: War on Terror, Human Rights, Politics, New Zealand, Philippines