JOINT MORCHA OF TRIBAL ORGANISATIONS AND SAMAJ KI PRABHUSATTA ANDOLAN CALL MASSIVE DEMONSTRATION IN DELHI AGAINST ILLEGAL GRAB OF NATURAL RESOURCES BY GOVERNMENT, PRIVATE COMPANIES On April 30th, Delhi will witness one of the largest rallies of adivasis and other resource dependent communities in recent times, in which it is expected that more than 30,000 […]
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Hundreds Die in Bangladesh Factory Collapse As Retailers Reject Better Safety Standards
Western retailers refuse to fund independent safety inspections after 300 die in Bangladesh factory collapse and 5 months after 112 die in factory fire
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Major May Day march to demand ‘Legalization for all’ planned in LA
Los Angeles, CA – A major immigrant rights march is scheduled for here on May 1. Organized by the Southern California Immigration Coalition, marchers will demand, “Legalization for all.” The march begins at 4:00 p.m. at the corner of Broadway and Olympia.
The Los Angeles protest is one of the many that will take place across the country. Congress is currently debating a major overhaul of immigration policy.
Carlos Montes, of the Centro CSO (Community Service Organization) and the Southern California Immigration Coalition, urges people to attend, stating, “We need to be in the streets on May 1 to demand legalization for all. We need to build the struggle for immigration reform that is just.”
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Students for a Democratic Society: End U.S. war threats against north Korea!
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Students for a Democratic Society
In the last several months, the U.S. has yet again ramped up tensions on the Korean peninsula, staging unnecessary and provocative war games; all while threatening north Korea with destruction. This comes after decades of similar threats and years of sanctions that have impoverished millions. The U.S. is clearly using lies, military threats including nuclear devastation, and economic bullying to get what it wants from both the north, the south, and indeed the world.
Students for a Democratic Society condemn the imperial actions of the United States toward north Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). We demand an end to the threats and lies that have helped divide the Korean people for more than fifty years, including war games.
We demand that the U.S. close military bases on the peninsula and withdraw troops from south Korea.
We demand an end to sanctions against the north that impoverish the Korean people.
We hold that peace is impossible so long as the United States continues to interfere with the affairs of sovereign states. The Korean people have a right to self-determination. The fate of reunification is for the Korean people to decide.
We say, “Hands off north Korea! Get off the peninsula!”
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More struggle needed for a just immigration reform
On April 17, a bipartisan group of eight senators released their proposal for “Comprehensive Immigration Reform.” While there are parts of the proposal that would improve the lives of millions of undocumented, it falls far short of a real legalization plan and it includes many bad parts that cannot be supported. What needs to be done, first and foremost, is to rebuild a mass and militant movement for legalization and against more militarization of the border and against workplace repression. We need to go all out to mobilize for May 1 and keep the pressure on politicians to come up with a better immigration reform bill.
The proposal would establish a temporary “Registered Provisional Immigrant” (RPI) visa for the undocumented that would have to be renewed after six years. This RPI visa would help millions of undocumented to come out of the shadows and to work without fear of ICE raids. The RPI visa would let the former undocumented get drivers licenses and be able to drive without fear of having their cars impounded. Many of the undocumented who have not been able to visit their relatives outside the U.S. for many years would be able to travel with the RPI visa. Their families here in the U.S, which include many legal permanent residents and native-born and naturalized U.S. citizens, would not have to continue to live in fear of being broken up by deportations.
While the RPI visa would improve the lives of the undocumented, it falls far short of the “legalization for all” that the community needs. Unlike legal permanent residency, those with an RPI visa cannot sponsor their family members to come to the U.S., nor can they apply for citizenship. There is an arbitrary cut-off date of Dec. 31, 2011 to qualify for the RPI visa, excluding all those who came in 2012.
The proposal also sets up four major barriers to legalization. First of all, there is at least a ten year wait in order to become a legal permanent resident. Second, there is a requirement that the U.S.-Mexico border be declared “secure” and that 90% of the undocumented who try to cross are being turned away before any of those with RPI visas can legalize. Third, there is the requirement that anyone with an RPI visa show that they had no more than 60 days of unemployment at any one spell in order to legalize. Finally, those on an RPI visa must apply for a new visa under a new system that emphasizes education and English speaking ability, which could exclude many from Mexico and Central America.
A major exception to this long wait and many barriers is made for undocumented youth who have a college degree or who have served in the military, and for agricultural workers, who only have to wait five years to become legal permanent residents. In addition the “DREAM” youth can apply for citizenship immediately after becoming legal permanent residents. On the other hand, the requirements to qualify are stricter than from the DACA (Deferred Action for Child Arrivals), since the DACA only requires a high-school degree, while the DREAM part of this proposal requires a college degree or two years progress towards a bachelor’s degree or military service.
There are other positive parts of the proposal, such as the expansion of immigration by immediate family of legal residents (spouses and minor children), as well as a number of smaller fixes to problems in the current immigration law.
On the other hand, the proposal would eliminate visas for siblings of U.S. citizens and married children of citizens who are over 31 years old. There is no recognition of same sex partners in the proposal. And the proposal puts into law an effort to shift immigration away from family reunification to a point system that favors those who speak English and are highly educated. Instead of the ideal, written on the Statue of Liberty, of “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free…” there is a philosophy of give us your leisured, your rich, your highly educated that serve the needs of U.S. corporations.
The proposal vastly increases temporary worker programs to the benefit of U.S. businesses. It increases the number of skilled temporary workers (H-1b) from 65,000 per year to as much as 180,000 per year. The bill also establishes a new temporary worker program for unskilled workers that ramps up to 75,000 per year. These visas are not guest workers as they could switch employers and could apply for permanent residency.
But worst of all, the proposal begins, and is very clearly focused on, increasing the militarization of the border, including the deployment of the National Guard. The current policy is killing hundreds of people trying to get into the U.S.; the current bill would increase this. In addition, the proposal wants to expand a federal program to arrest, charge, convict and jail undocumented migrants on criminal charges for crossing the border. This is another step towards criminalization of the undocumented.
The proposal also wants to step up enforcement in the U.S. It would ramp up the E-verify workplace system, making it mandatory over the next five years. This would facilitate the development of a national ID card system. The proposal also calls for a whole new system to track visitors to the U.S. to make sure that they leave the country. It also maintains the Secure Communities program, so that local police can be an arm of ICE.
There is also scarcely veiled racism in the bill. The Immigration Act of 1990 established a “Diversity Visa” to allow more immigrants from countries that don’t send many people to the U.S. It was widely seen as an effort to allow more Irish to immigrate and to allow for the legalization of undocumented Irish immigrants in the U.S. But over the years the Diversity Visa has become a major path for immigration from Africa. The proposal would eliminate the Diversity Visa, which would cut immigration from Africa in half and at the same time the proposal would add a new visa for immigrants from Ireland!
So what is to be done? Most importantly, we need to reflect on one of the best parts of the bill, the relatively faster legalization, with fewer barriers, of the undocumented youth. Why did they get a better deal? Because the undocumented youth carried out mass protests and militant actions, under the slogan, “Undocumented and unafraid.” What is needed more than ever is to rebuild a mass and militant movement for legalization that widens the legalization for youth by dropping the college and military service requirements, and opens up faster legalization for all the undocumented, not just youth and agricultural workers. This struggle for legalization for all needs to go hand in hand with the fight against more militarization of the border and the moves to expand E-verify.
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Apr 28 : Four held as death toll rises to 352 in Dhaka building collapse
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0427/386863-two-held-over-deadly-bangladesh-building-collapse/#article Four held as Bangladesh death toll rises to 352 Two factory bosses and two engineers were detained in Bangladesh today, three days after the collapse of a building where low-cost garments were made for Western brands killed at least 352 people. More were still being pulled alive from the rubble at the building, where […]
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Building Collapses 256 Dead Where’s The Media?
Token, symbolic arrests over Bangladesh building collapse
UPDATE : Bangladeshi police say they have made three arrests after a garment factory outside Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 300 people.The building’s owners and an engineer who was responsible for maintenance were arrested on Saturday after the death toll rose to 324.
“We’ve arrested Bazlus Samad, the chairman of New Wave
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Apr 28 : Labour unrest in Noida – one shot at by security guard
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/labour-unrest-in-noida-one-shot-at-by-security-guard-113042700183_1.html Labour unrest in Noida: One shot at by security guard Lucknow, April 27 (IANS) A security guard at a builder’s office in Noida, abutting the national capital, Saturday opened fire at agitating labourers, who erupted in anger and pelted stones and set two vehicles on fire, police said. One labourer was injured in the […]
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Anti-war activists, stockholders to protest Boeing’s killer drone
Chicago, IL – The Anti-War Committee of Chicago opposes Boeing CEO James McNerny’s plan to make the next combat drone for the U.S. military. Members of the Anti-War Committee, including several who have purchased Boeing stock, will protest at the annual stockholders meeting at the Field Museum on Monday, 9:30 am, April 29.
Newland Smith, stockholder and anti-war activist, cited Senator Lindsey Graham of the Armed Services Committee, on the number of casualties from killer drones. Graham recently stated, “We’ve killed 4700.” According to Smith, “This is the estimated number of casualties in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, but including drone strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq would result in a much higher number.”
Smith and Sarah Simmons, also a stockholder, said that the Anti-War Committee will be at the Boeing meeting to expose the loss of life resulting from drones. “What the Obama administration says isn’t true; most of the drone strikes aren’t against proven, high level Al Qaeda leaders,” explained Simmons. “In Pakistan as many as 881 were civilians, including 176 children. Almost all the rest are ‘alleged combatants.’”
Boeing is competing with the other top arms manufacturers for the growing budget for unmanned aircraft for the military. This year, the Navy is asking for designs for a new combat drone. Boeing is expected to propose its “Phantom Ray.”
AWC has taken a number of measures to oppose the drone wars, including submitting a statement to an April 23 hearing held by Senator Richard Durbin on the topic.
In addition to the deaths caused by their products, Boeing received over $60 million in tax breaks to move to Chicago. Simmons, the mother of Chicago Public School children, spoke from her experience. “Our schools are crumbling, and we’re giving tax breaks to a company with $25 billion in defense contracts.” Smith added, “With their record profits last year, McNerny was given a 20% raise, to $27.5 million. Clearly war is profitable for Boeing.”
Smith put it plainly. “It’s time to end the drone wars, not prepare to build another generation of more deadly weapons.”
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Apr 26 : Bangladesh building collapse – clashes erupt amid anger over rescue operation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/26/bangladesh-building-collapse-clashes-rescue Bangladesh building collapse: clashes erupt amid anger over rescue operation Syed Zain Al-Mahmood in Dhaka and Jason Burke Rescue work at the site of the clothes factory in Bangladesh that collapsed this week was suspended for two hours on Friday morning after relatives of hundreds of workers who are still missing clashed with police. […]