BOLIVIA: Landless farmers protest
On August 16, thousands of landless peasants began marching from several points of Bolivia to the capital, joining thousands of peasants already protesting in the country's south. The march is demanding Landless Farmers Movement leader Gabriel Pinto be released from prison. He has been accused of participating in the lynching of Ayo Ayo mayor Benjamin Altamirano. On August 18, Reuters reported that hundreds of farmers had occupied three British Petroleum oil and gas fields demanding better land distribution.
BRITAIN: 1 in 3 shopkeepers racially harassed
On August 17, the BBC released a survey that found that more than a third of take-away workers of a minority ethnic background in Britain's south-east regularly suffered racial abuse. Reporters had spoken to staff at 232 different take-away outlets. At 48 outlets, staff reported regular verbal abuse, and at 33, physical abuse was reported. Thirty-eight of the stores had been damaged in racially motivated attacks. Less than half of the stores had reported the abuse to the police, of the 37 reports that had been made, just six had resulted in a conviction. For anti-racist British news, visit .
HAITI: Paramilitaries acquitted
On August 19, Louis Jodel Chamblain and Jackson Joanis were acquitted by Haitian courts of involvement in the 1993 assassination of Antoine Izmery, a close associate of Jean Bertrand Aristide. Chamblain was second in command of the paramilitary group FRAPH, the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti. In 1991, FRAPH was central to the coup that overthrew Aristide, and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Aristide supporters. After years in exile, Chamblain returned to Haiti earlier this year to play a key role in the February coup against the democratically elected Aristide. Although the two had been convicted in 1995, in absentia, of Izmery's murder, the case was reopened at two days' notice, and the conviction overturned during a night sitting.
POLAND: 67% want Polish troops withdrawn now
A poll released on August 5 showed that the number of Poles opposed to the occupation of Iraq jumped to 73% from 65% the month before. Sixty-seven per cent of those surveyed by the Public Opinion Research Centre wanted their country's troops withdrawn immediately. Poland has 2400 army personnel in Iraq, and is suffering an increasing rate of casualties. The government dismissed the poll, saying the troops will stay as long as necessary.
UNITED STATES: Right to protest?
On the eve of the Republican National Convention in New York, activists were still trying to overturn the city council's ban on political protests in Central Park. Although initially agreeing to a police-proposed modified march route, main protest organiser United For Peace and Justice decided on August 18 to reject it, and attempt to mobilise in Central Park on August 29. In a surprising attempt to divide protesters, the council is developing a "peaceful protester" discount scheme, offering cheap Broadway tickets and food to protesters who obey council injunctions. At the same time, the FBI has stepped up surveillance of anti-war groups organising for the protest, which is expected to involve hundreds of thousands of people.
NICARAGUA: 20,000 health workers strike
On August 19, health workers in Managua began a 24-hour stop work to demand better wages for workers and better health services for the population. Gustavo Porras, the general secretary of the health workers' federation, told Cuba's Prensa Latina news service that emergencies and hospitalised patients would still be treated. Porras, a deputy with the Sandinista National Liberation Front, said the strike was in part designed to pressure the finance ministry to allocate more funds to health.
UNITED STATES: Abortion rights attacked 1
A new bill before US Congress will force doctors to read a statement to women who are seeking a late-term abortion saying that "Congress has found" that fetuses beyond 20 weeks gestation experience pain during abortion, and recommending that they have their fetus anaesthetized during the procedure. Such a procedure increases is often impossible, and always increases risk to the woman. The medical community is divided over whether fetuses can experience pain at all, and very few claim that it is possible before 26 weeks. "[This bill] is really inflammatory anti-abortion propaganda" Janet Creppsfrom the Center for Reproductive Rights told Women's E-news.
UNITED STATES: Abortion rights attacked 2
When they go to the polls in the federal presidential election, Florida's voters will also be asked to overturn, in part, the state's privacy act in order to ensure that the parents of women under 18 will be told if their daughters try to get an abortion. Parental-notification laws have been repeatedly struck down as violating the act in the state. Opponents of these laws point out that young women are more likely to have backyard abortions if this law is passed, pointing to the recent case of a young women murdered by her father after asking his permission to have an abortion.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, August 25, 2004.
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