E-News 20 august 2003

WLOE E-Newsletter: 20 August 2003:

KOREA; USA -- DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK; WOMEN AND GLOBALIZATION; BLACK-OUTS, HEAT, FIRE – AND A SANEENERGY POLICY?

South Korea
South Korean NGOs say: Stop War Planning and Start Peace Talks. Gyung-Lan Jung from Women Making Peace sent us this statement from elevenSouth Korean women's, peace, environmental and worker's groups. http://www.notwar.org/
South Korean has a vibrant, active civil society. Visit the English-languagewebsites of some of the Korean organizations who signed this statement:Women Making Peace http://www.peacewomen.or.kr/english/introduction.htm
Korean Women's Associations United http://www.kwwnet.org/index.php?language=eng
Green Korea United http://www.greenkorea.org/english/english_index.phtml
Korean Federation of Environmental Movement http://www.kfem.or.kr/engkfem/
Korean Federation of Trade Unions http://www.kctu.org/
Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy http://www.pspd.org/pspd/main.html
"The Korean War is the only example of an outstanding unresolved war.The war is technically not over."Towards Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula and Creating a PeacePark in the DMZ. Cora Weiss' talk at the DMZ Forum July 23, 2003 Asia Society, NY http://www.awakenedwoman.com/cora_weiss.htm
For a good background article on the situation on the Korean peninsula,see"No war against North Korea!" by Karen Talbot, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/TAL308A.html

USA: "DEMOCRACY IS UNDER ATTACK - LET'S TAKE IT BACK"
Cynthia McKinney, Harlem, NYC - July 31, 2003: "I can't be calm when I drive through sections of Atlanta that look more like Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo than America.I cannot be calm.Dialogue must be followed by swift and deliberate action to root out racismat its very core. http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/080503_take_it_back.html

WOMEN AND GLOBALIZATION: on the Sacramento Mobilization Against Biotech and the WTO
The Arrest of the Seed Balls --or What Universe Are We Living In?A Tale from the Sacramento Mobilization Against Biotech and the WTOJune 20-25, 2003, By Starhawk"Early in the morning of June 21st, a phone call awakened those of usstaying in the organizers' house for the Sacramento protests against theconference organized by Anne Veneman and the USDA to promote biotech andindustrial agriculture to ministers from WTO countries, in the run-up to theCancun ministerial scheduled for September."They're raiding the Welcome Center!" a frantic voice told us. "There's adozen cops, and a paddy wagon...come down!"Read the full text at: http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/seedball_arrest.html

WOMEN AND GLOBALIZATION: Women trafficking, spread of AIDS closely linked
Spontaneous enthusiasm and South Asian sisterhood marked the opening of the three-day 18th South Asia Court of Women on Human Trafficking and HIV/AIDS…"Trafficking in person and the threat of HIV/AIDS are closely linked. About two million people are trafficked world wide annually including 3,50,000 from South Asia and 2,25,000 from South East Asia," the Women AffairsMinister said."According to unofficial estimates, about 10 to 20 thousand women and children are trafficked annually from Bangladesh to India and other neighbouring countries for prostitution, bonded labour or sex slavery.
http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/aug/12/12082003mt.htm#A6 see also:
http://membres.lycos.fr/ubinig/nari/ubinig.html
Winnie Mandela was a member of the jury at the South Asia Court:"Slavery has never really gone away. Here in South Asia it is modernisedslavery and what we have heard are lyrics of despair. My own struggleagainst apartheid was nothing compared to the pain of the victims oftrafficking who have an unbelievable capacity to bear pain and humiliationwhile bravely standing and acknowledging their humility, dishonour and HIVstatus", said Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela Mandela, President, Women's League,African National Congress, South Africa… "from "The face of violence unmasked", by Mariana Baabar http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2003-daily/19-08-2003/oped/o2.htm

BLACK-OUTS, HEAT, FIRE – or a sane energy policy?
This summer forest fires burned huge sections of over-heated Portugal; inFrance an estimated 5,000 people, mostly elderly, died in the recent heatwave. The environment and population of Karachi, Pakistan are the latest victims of an oil spill... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3160833.stm
(the oil spill) Aug. 15, 2003: Profits v. Security & Reliability: Which Electric SystemDo We Want? Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Director, Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energyand Environment Program "One thing is certain about the power outage that affected 50 million peoplein seven states yesterday: It shows how much the nation’s security, economy and basic services rely on electricity. This raises a question: Why we would risk turning over our electric system to those who seek only short-term profits? http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1525
"Power Outage Traced To Dim Bulb In White House"Published on Friday, August 15, 2003 by Greg Palast, The Tale of The Brits Who Swiped 800 Jobs From New York, Carted Off $90Million, Then Tonight, Turned Off Our Lights http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0815-07.htm
Check out energy subsidies and tax breaks for NON-renewable energysources in a report to download from Friends of the Earth: "Power Politics:Linking Congress, Campaign Contributions and Energy Policy" (15 July 2003) http://www.foe.org/powerpolitics/7.15.pdf
Work in an energy-glutton office? Check out this new publication:"Tips on how to gain organizational support for a climate commitment,information needed to calculate office CO2 emissions and set a reductiontarget, and suggestions on how to reach that target." http://climate.wri.org/pubs_pdf.cfm?PubID=3756

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