CINA

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2006 FIFA WORLD CUP

 

 

DIE WELT ZU GAST BEI FREUNDEN

 

 

 

NOTE to the racist attack, last Friday(5.19) against the German-Kurdish politician Giyasettin Sayan(a member of the Berlin parliament, Leftparty/Links Partei)..

 

Last Monday a team of the Berlin regional TV station rbb was visiting the area where G. Sayan was attacked three days before. In a short report they wanted to show the daily reality in this area. Partly the TV team was together with Christiane Emmerich, the district mayor of Berlin Lichtenberg.

 

In the beginning everything was fine. A nice reconstructed street in East Berlin... full in spring sunshine. Many shops, the houses beautiful painted, some signs of the latest citizens street party...

 

And the TV team started to ask people on the street - mostly people who are living and working there – what they’re thinking and feeling about the attack against G. Sayan(the case of the attack was reported in all Berlin newspapers, TV and radio stations..). The most of the older people gave no answer..

Three youngsters, two young women and one man, asked about the issue said that they are not interested, not at all.. One women: „It’s not our problem. We’ve nothing to say about it.“ The man: „Hey, he’s a foreigner... What he had to do here. He should stay at least in Kreuzberg(NOTE: Kreuzberg is a district of Berlin with a majority of so-called foreigners, mainly Turkish, Kurdish and Arabic), or better he should go back to his country. If he really was attacked here.. it was his own guilt!“(NOTE: G. Sayan Has a German passport, he is living in this area and a elected representative of this area in the Berlin parliament).

 

During the report the TV team made a interview with Chr. Emmerich, the district mayor of Lichtenberg.. in the same street. Just after the beginning of the interview on man on a bicycle passed by and attacked verbal Chr. Emmerich: „Go home.. We never will tolerate foreigners here! Foreigners out!“

 

Another young man, a young trainee, said that „all this foreigners, who are running around here, are just stealing our, the Gemans, work places.“ And „so it’s no wonder that the Geman youth is defending themselves“. Finally the TV team was invited by some workers into their car.. There they, the reporters, must listen to hard-core racist slogans and were threaten with some kind of physical attacks if they would continue to report about this issue there.

 

Meanwhile in the follwing night in Hellersdorf, another district in East Berlin, "unknown people", so the media, attacked the Babylon House, a inter-cultural youth center, with fire bombs. The attackers painted swastikas(Hakenkreuze) and slogans such as „White Power“ on the walls.
Babylon House is a center especially for young people from Russia and Poland.

 

 

A very strange report by the German magazine Der Spiegel .. but just in German .. you can read here..

"Potsdam war die Hölle".. potsdam was the hell..

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/debatte/0,1518,416919,00.html

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IHT reported yesterday about this surprising development...

 

North Korea calls off cross-border train runs

 

North Korea on Wednesday abruptly canceled highly symbolic test runs of trains across its heavily armed border with South Korea, embarrassing the South Korean authorities who had billed them as a milestone in reconciliation with the North.

North Korea cited an atmosphere of confrontation and war in halting the test runs scheduled for Thursday. The cancellation came amid indications, including increased activities at a launching site for long-range missiles in the North, that the Communist regime was escalating tension in the stalled international talks on its nuclear weapons program. The two test runs on small lengths of rail links between two border towns were laden with symbolism. The last train between the two Koreas ran during the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korea has tried to reconnect the railways as a landmark project in its efforts to ease half a century of hostilities on the divided peninsula, a policy the Seoul government has pursued despite skepticism among U.S. policy makers who favor a harder line on the North. South Korea, a major supplier of aid and trade for the isolated North, was not expected to change its policy on the North because of the cancellation of the test runs. But North Korea's latest move demonstrated the regime's unpredictability. "The government finds it very regrettable that the North unilaterally put off the test runs just a day before the event," said Deputy Unification Minister Shin Eon Sang of South Korea in a statement. "The responsibility for the collapse of scheduled trial runs lies in North Korea." North Korea told the South that it was canceling the test runs and criticized "pro-U.S. ultraright conservative forces" in the South for "pushing the situation in Korea to an extreme phase of confrontation and war." Nam Sung Wook, an analyst at Korea University in the South, said that North Korea was slamming a brake on recent attempts by the South to open up the Communist North. While Washington tightened its economic sanctions on North Korea, Seoul has pursued its reconciliation with the North, hoping that the U.S. pressure will make the North more willing to open up to the South for economic exchanges and political dialogue. "The North wants cooperation with the South as a key policy goal," Nam said. "But it wants to do it in its own pace. The latest move means that the North doesn't like the tempo the South is trying to set." Experts also said that North Korea saw any project of reconciliation with the South as an opportunity to win economic aid. In the latest project of relinking the rail lines, the North thinks it has not won enough economic rewards, they said. At high-level military talks between the Koreas last week, the two sides failed to agree on a military protocol for cross-border travel on reconnected rail and road links. The North Koreans instead insisted on discussing the redrawing of an inter-Korean sea border. But the South said then that it was not a problem and that the test runs would go ahead as planned on Thursday. Every day, abut 500 people travel a newly built cross-border road from the South to Kaesong, where South Korean companies make goods at factories using cheap North Korean labor and land. About 1,000 South Koreans daily visit North Korea's Diamond Mountain resort by using another road link. Work has already been completed on laying track to reconnect the two rail lines running parallel to the roads. South Korea hopes to use the rail link to carry goods in and out of the industrial park in Kaesong. It eventually hopes to connect the railway to China, Russia and Europe.

Former President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea is planning to travel to North Korea next month. He had hoped to go there by the train. But now that plan is in doubt.

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/24/news/korea.php

 

 

The semi official S. Korean newsagency Yonhap wrote this..

 

N. Korea calls off test runs on cross-border railways

 

North Korea, on Wednesday called off scheduled test runs of cross-border railways, citing political and military tension, an official at the Unification Ministry said.

The cancellation came one day before the Koreas were set to test the railways...

 

The full article here..

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060524/610000000020060524164636E2.html

 

Chosun Ilbo, Korea Times... wrote, of course, also about it..

 

JoongAng Ilbo wrote this..

Rail tests off, North informs Seoul abruptly

 

KCNA, DPRK, reported ... NOTHING

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The protest by textile workers in

Bangladesh is escalating

 

The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported yesterday, 5.24, that masses of workers, armed with bamboo sticks burned down at least 14 factory buildings in the industrial town of Ashulia and in the capital Dhaka. Before the police were attacking demonstrators, demanding higher wages, the payment of overtime and at least one day off per week.
According to the trade unions in Bangladesh the workers over month are not getting holidays and many companies are paying the wages not regularely... just when ever the capitalists want.

Now the government anounced to crackdown strongly any "violent protest" - aka state terrorism (I would describe this...).

The textile industry is the backbone of the national economy in Bangladesh. And the most of this goes in the export to the so-called developed countries in Europe, to the US, but also to S. Korea.

 

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2006 FIFA WORLD CUP

 

 

DIE WELT ZU GAST BEI FREUNDEN

 

 

Before yesterday, 6.22, one of the main German bourgeois magazines, Der Spiegel, published the following article about the current situation, regarding the dramatic danger of racistic attacks in Germany..

 

Neo-Nazi Violence on the Rise in Germany

 

With the World Cup just a few weeks away, stories about neo-Nazi violence in Germany are suddenly everywhere. On Monday, new figures suggest that far-right crime in the country is on the rise -- much of it in former East Germany.

 

Right-wing extremism is on the rise in Germany.

It's hardly the issue that Germany wanted to see in the headlines during the last few weeks before the World Cup kicks off in Munich on June 9. But stories on neo-Nazi violence, suddenly, are everywhere. On Monday, new figures showing a rise in right-wing violence in 2005 poured fuel on the fire.

 

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Monday he was very worried about the steep rise in far-right crime and appealed to Germans never to look the other way when they see someone being attacked. "There mustn't be any no-go areas in Germany," he told a news conference at which he presented the 2005 report of the domestic intelligence service, the Bundesverfassungsschutz.

 

Schäuble said he wanted to expand police presence to deter attacks on foreigners and immigrants and said the authorities were determined to stamp out far-right violence. "That is why people can feel safe in our country," he said.

 

Racially motivated crime rose in 2005

 

The intelligence report showed that the number of racially motivated acts of far-right violence rose by 23 percent to 958 last year while the number of far-right extremists deemed willing to engage in violence rose by 400 to 10,400.

 

Of the acts of violence in 2005, 816 involved bodily harm, up from 640 in 2004. The number of attempted killings fell to two from six. Arson attacks, too, fell to 14 from 37.

The total number of politically motivated right-wing crimes, though, rose 27 percent to 15,361, most of which related to far-right propaganda such as displaying the Nazi swastika, which is against the law in Germany.

 

Schäuble said one reason for the rise in violence could be the increase in demonstrations by far-right groups, which in turn provoked counter-demonstrations by left-wing groups.

The report's findings coincide with a debate about remarks last week by a former government spokesman who advised dark-skinned visitors to Germany to avoid eastern parts of the country such as Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin.

 

"There are small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg, as well as elsewhere, which I would advise a visitor of another skin colour to avoid going to," said Uwe-Karsten Heye, who now leads an anti-racism organization called "Show Your Color." "It is possible he wouldn't get out alive."

 

Heye has a point -- according to regional intelligence reports, the risk of falling victim to a far-right attack is almost 10 times higher in Brandenburg than it is in the western state of Hesse, for example. In the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, the risk is 12 times greater than in Hesse.

 

But several politicians have warned that Heye's comments could backfire because he has effectively acknowledged that neo-Nazis are succeeding with their strategy to create "foreigner-free zones".

 

Is the far-right winning?

 

Wolfgang Wiegand, a member of the opposition Greens party, said right-wing extremists may interpret Heye's remarks as meaning "they have won." Wolfgang Thierse, an eastern German member of parliament, said "stigmatizing" a whole region of Germany would discourage local citizens from tackling the far right.

 

Heye's remarks were prompted by recent racist attacks that have hurt Germany's bid to project a cosmopolitan image for the World Cup. In the latest incident on Friday night, a German politician of Turkish origin -- who is a member of the Berlin local assembly -- was hit over the head with a bottle by two unknown assailants in Berlin's eastern Lichtenberg district.

 

Giyasettin Sayan, 56, immigration spokesman for the Left Party, is being treated in hospital for a concussion. He told local television that one of the attackers said "You Turkish shit, we'll get you."

 

Meanwhile, neo-Nazis have been using the Internet to call for a demonstration on June 21 in Leipzig ahead of the World Cup match being played there between Iran and Angola. Their aim is to support Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has described the Holocaust as a "lie" and wants Israel to be wiped off the map.

 

The Union of Police Officers has appealed to courts to forbid all demonstrations near World Cup stadiums during the tournament. "During the World Cup the police won't have the manpower to secure such events," said the union's chairman, Konrad Freiberg.

Labor Minister Franz Müntefering called for anti-Nazi demonstrations, saying: "We will make unmistakably clear that no one in Germany needs to be afraid because he has a different skin color or a different name or a different origin."

 

And the Guardian, GB, reported this, also before yesterday..

Fears for safety of black fans increase after attack

There were fresh fears yesterday over the safety of black and Asian fans who travel to next month's World Cup finals, after a Turkish-born politician became the latest victim in Germany of a race attack. The Berlin MP Giyasettin Sayan was yesterday recovering in hospital after two youths attacked him with a bottle, shouting: "Shit foreigner."..

 

Please read the entire article here..

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/story/0,,1780368,00.html

 

IHT wrote this 6.22..

Racial attack on politician angers Germans

 

...but not all Germans are angry about such developments. Later this week more about it...

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2006 FIFA WORLD CUP

 

DIE WELT ZU GAST BEI FREUNDEN

..the English motto, according to FIFA

.. A TIME TO MAKE FRIENDS..

 

Yesterday TAZ, a German newspaper headlined, after several fascist attacks against mainly foreigners or non.white germans in the last weeks..

 

DIE WELT ZU GAST BEI NAZIS.. THE WORLD TO GUEST WITH NAZIS..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More about the issue... in the next days. I promise that!!

 

A short introduction about the issue of neo fascism you can read, see here..

 

Racist pogrom in .. Germany

http://base21.jinbo.net/christian/020913.html 

 

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The HK based magazine Asia Times is writing today about the latest developments in Nepal..

 

Nepal wakes up with a headache

Fears over a powerful monarchy backed by an army appear to have been allayed, but the people of Nepal are unlikely to find their homeland a safe and peaceful country until they can persuade the Maoists insurgents to lay down their weapons for good.

May 18 was a red-letter day for Nepalis. The country's parliament, the 205-member House of Representatives, took the drastic step of turning the monarchy, which until April 24 was alive in its absolute form, into a virtually redundant institution.

A nine-point declaration, adopted without a single dissenting voice, effectively raised the status of Nepalis from that of king's subjects to proud citizens of the country to which they belong. The tag "His Majesty's government" has been removed in favor of
a simple expression - the government of Nepal. What has traditionally been known as the "Royal Nepal Army" was directed to drop the word "royal" so that a sense of belonging could be promoted among servicemen and women.

The army leadership has also been formally told that the Nepali Army will be placed under a civilian government elected through parliament. The house also assumed the responsibility of making laws relating to succession to the throne, a privilege previously assigned to the reigning monarch.

Ironically, the lawmaking body, revived by King Gyanendra himself in the wake of a popular April movement, stripped most of his powers, positions and privileges. The only solace to him and his heir apparent, Paras, is that parliament has stopped short of abolishing the institution of the monarchy itself, for the time being at least.

But, if the present level of anti-king sentiment persists, the monarchy could be a part of history within years. A new constitution, to be drawn by an elected constituent assembly, might not leave any role for a traditional institution which looks anachronistic at the start of 21st century. Besides, brutal repression and atrocities the royal regime has unleashed on the people since October 2002 are too recent to be forgotten.

The Maoist leadership believes - and claims - that the pro-democracy protests, formally launched by an alliance of seven political parties, picked up momentum from the active support of their unarmed workers in the field. Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, issued a statement saying that while his party welcomed most of the initiatives taken by the parliament, they were inadequate.

In his opinion, there was no need to retain the monarchy, even in its ceremonial form. Since the country was already on the threshold of a republican setup, the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) should have had the courage to declare Nepal a republic.

"Yes, it has been an inadequate step," said Madan Regmi, a political analyst, supporting the argument of the top Maoist leader.

In fact, the Maoists are unhappy with SPA leaders because they think the Maoists are not getting the credit they deserve. "Now they want to marginalize us, they want to bypass us, and they want to minimize the role of the Maoist movement," the New York Times quoted Prachanda as saying. The paper on Sunday said the top Maoist leader was interviewed on Friday night in an Indian city that he insisted remain unidentified.

Two young Maoist leaders who recently defected from the group publicly asserted that Prachanda and another of his senior comrades had spent eight of the 10 years of insurgency in India. Posters have appeared in Kathmandu indicating that top Maoist leaders would appear in a public meeting scheduled for June 2. Ostensibly, the rebel leaders are getting ready to make their first public appearance in the capital.

The alliance of seven parties is being constantly reminded of the 12-point understanding it reached with the Maoists in November. The Maoists want that understanding, which was subsequently renewed, to be honored and implemented speedily. The rebel leaders announced a ceasefire and formed a three-member team to conduct preliminary talks in preparation for a higher-level parley at a later stage.

For its part, the government consisting of SPA representatives also declared a ceasefire, lifted the "terrorist" tag from the Maoist leaders and began withdrawing criminal cases against them from the courts, and made public announcements that a three-member negotiation team would be headed by Home Minister Krishna Sitaula.

A matter of trust
But the level of trust needed to carry forward the agenda is not there on either side. The main objective is to reach an agreement on elections for a constituent assembly, which would write a new constitution, replacing the existing one promulgated in 1990.

For that, the Maoists want an early dissolution of the present parliament, together with the formation of an interim government with representation from the Maoist camp. One Maoist leader, Matirka Yadav, has gone to the extent of demanding that a Maoist leader should be given the chance to head the interim government, which would oversee elections for the constituent assembly.

From the Maoist standpoint, the present parliament as well as the government derive legitimacy from an old constitution and old format which is not acceptable to the people committed to form a new Nepal. They are also rejecting suggestions that they abandon their weapons in the runup to the polls for the constituent assembly.

The Maoist leadership also remains ambivalent about demands from human-rights groups that those involved in cases pertaining to human-rights violations should be punished.

While the Nepalese military has been accused of human-rights violations, the Maoists have also used brutal methods, such as killing teachers in front of their students and cutting off the hands and legs of villagers who expressed the inability to give them food or shelter.

There have been numerous incidents of abductions, recruitment of underage children for the Maoist militia and extortion of money as donations to finance the armed rebellion. More than 13,000 lives have been lost in the 10 years since the rebellion began.

However, leaders belonging to the SPA are clearly against the idea of dissolving parliament, an assembly which increased its power through Thursday's declaration. The oft-repeated contention is that the present parliament (elected in 1999 for five years but dissolved prematurely by the king in 2002, and revived on April 24 this year) should be kept alive until the plan to elect a constituent assembly materializes.

They think conservative and regressive elements could raise their heads if there were an absence of an institution representing the people's collective will. The rebel camp does not appear to buy such arguments. The Maoist demand is that the commitment to the constituent assembly should be unconditional, but the SPA and other pro-democracy groups insist that the Maoists must make a pre-poll pledge to engage in competitive politics, and not revive their plan to set up one-party authoritarian communist rule.

Suspicion over the Maoists has persisted because of the breakdown of peace talks twice since 2001. The SPA is also concerned by the fact that Maoist guerrillas have not stopped extortions, reports on which are coming from across the country.

Kathmandu-based Western diplomats, who in the past supported the Maoist decision to join the political mainstream, have begun to express their worries. "Is this an indication of the leadership losing grip among its cadre?" wondered a diplomat, reflecting a view of the European Union.

One US official, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher, repeated his country's perception of Nepali Maoists when he spoke to a Senate committee in Washington on May 18, "We and many in Nepal and in the international community remain wary of Maoist intentions."

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who heads the Nepali Congress, and the six other party leaders are often accused of entering into an understanding with an extremist - and unpredictable - group. Accommodating the Maoists was a monumental mistake, intellectuals in the non-leftist camp observe.

But others disagree, and say that efforts to bring a militant group into the mainstream must not be seen as a mistake. If it is a mistake, they argue, it was made because of the king's arrogance, direct rule and his concomitant actions to sideline the legitimate political forces for several months.

It was also a failure on the part of Western powers, particularly the US, which could not persuade King Gyanendra to fulfill the SPA demand for the restoration of the democratic process before they were forced to join hands with the Maoists through the 12-point understanding. The US had wanted the king and political parties to work together, but what happened eventually was that the political parties and the Maoists decided to act together against the monarchy.

Some political analysts also say that it was remiss of the US not to exert timely pressure on India, which is being described as a strategic partner, to stop Nepali Maoists from using Indian territory to carry out and expand their activities.

The US could have drawn New Delhi's attention to the fact that if not checked, armed insurgencies could spread and destabilize other parts of South Asia, including India itself. The Maoists initially used to criticize both India and the US, the former for being expansionist and the latter for acting as an imperialist force. Now they have ceased to rebuke India; their hatred is focused only on the Americans.

On May 16, the European Parliament moved a resolution on Nepal, calling the international community to establish a contact group, to be made up of Nepal's key partners and international organizations, such as the EU, the US, India and the United Nations. The resolution also proposed the appointment of a special rapporteur to monitor the situation.

The Maoists, too, have a commitment to leave their armed fighters under UN supervision pending elections. However, the Americans view the situation differently. As was evident in Boucher's statement in the senate committee on May 18, the US continues to think that among Nepal's partners "India has a key role to play". While there is an element of truth in that because of geographical proximity (with an unregulated border) and cultural similarities, it is unrealistic to conclude that India alone could resolve the issues at hand.

Indeed, Maoist leaders have said time and again that they are prepared to work with the UN or any other neutral organization with international standing with regard to laying down arms in the period leading up to the elections for a constituent assembly.

While both China and India, Nepal's neighbors to the north and south, respectively, might find it wise to keep the US away from their doorstep, the two are unlikely to jointly work to help Nepal get out of the present mess.

So if New Delhi and Beijing cannot work in tandem on Nepal, they cannot oppose the involvement of an organization like the UN.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HE23Df02.html

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...BY JEWS..

 

 

Yesterday.s Yedioth Achronoth reported this stupid bullshit...

 

35 Jews volunteered for suicide attacks

 

An Iranian terror leader who said on Sunday that he planned to send suicide bombers to Israel via Britain claims 35 Jews also volunteered for attack

Thirty five Jews volunteered to carry out suicide attacks against Israel in the service of an Islamic terrorist organization, claimed the head of an Iranian terrorist organization, "The Committee for the Commemoration of the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign."

 

Members of the organization said that they planned to send the terrorists to Israel via Britain.

 

The Mahar news agency reported that the terror chief, Faruz Rajai-Far, told a Teheran conference that the organization's website registered 55,000 volunteers from all over the world to carry out suicide bombings. The volunteers, he claimed, included 35 Jews who don't live in Iran, as well as a number of Christians and other citizens. At the same time, the organization's website has been taken down, and cannot be viewed.

 

'New unit of bombers'

 

The conference heard about the establishment of a new unit of suicide bombers named after "the martyr Nader Mahdui," who committed suicide on a U.S. navy ship in the Persian Gulf. Reports on fundraising to support Palestinians were also heard.

 

An Iranian news website said during the weekend that the organization began enlisting new members in the Bushar region in Iran, where Iranians are building a nuclear core with the aid of Russian experts. The aim of the recruitment drive was, according to Rajai-Far, to set up a brigade of suicide bombers who will be named "the Brigade of Suicide Bombers Brigade for the Defense of the Atomic Core of Bushar."

 

The organization, set up two years ago, has 52,000 members – three percent of whom are women. The members undergo military training, urban warfare training, and the use of weapons. In recent days hundreds of volunteers signed forms to join the organization.

 

They were asked if they would prefer to carry out attacks against "the occupiers of Jerusalem, (Israel) the dissident author Salman Rushdie, or against occupiers of Muslim countries (the U.S. and Britain).

 

The organization claims it works independently, but it in fact receives support from the Iranian regime. Searches for new recruits are carried out mainly in Britain, due to the belief that it is relatively easy to enter Israel with a British passport.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3253812,00.html 

 

 

Once again... do not believe nobody!!! Especially not the media of the ruling class!!

 

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CPN-UML: Democratic republic, our main objective

eKantipur wrote yesterday, 5.21..

Senior CPN-UML leaders said Sunday that their party's main objective is to establish a democratic republic through constituent assembly elections.

 

Also yesterday IHT, NYT published following stuff..

 

Maoist force in Nepal refusing to disarm 
 
The voluble chief of Maoist guerrillas in Nepal has rejected the notion that his troops will disarm before elections, as many insurgent armies have done across the world. He demanded instead that his troops be sequestered and kept under international supervision, but only if the Royal Nepalese Army agreed to the same treatment.

"We are not exactly an armed group like in other places in the current world," the leader, known as Prachanda, or the fierce one, said in an interview Friday.

"How can you think we are only a small rebel group and the RNA is legal and legitimate?" he said referring to the army.

His comments, made in a wide-ranging interview in an Indian city that he insisted remain unidentified, signaled one of the central challenges facing the peace process in Nepal: how to carry out credible elections to redraft the country's Constitution, as the new government has promised, without compelling the rebels to put down their guns.

But Prachanda's comments also hinted at a deeper, less tangible concern: Less than a month after helping to dislodge King Gyanendra's royal government, the Maoists, it seems, are worried about being slighted or sidelined in the new political landscape.

That landscape is nothing that this country has seen before. In late April, faced with three weeks of debilitating street protests started by the principal Nepalese political parties and backed by Prachanda's organization, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Gyanendra ceded control of the state to an interim government.

That government in turn ordered the arrests of five of the king's most prominent former cabinet ministers and recently approved a far-reaching measure to diminish his power. The government declared Nepal a secular nation, stripped the king of his authority over the military and excised references to "His Majesty's Government" from government institutions.

On the face of it, these are important victories for the Maoists, who for the last 10 years have been fighting for the creation of a secular, republican Nepal and an army answerable to an elected government. And yet the Maoist leaders are complaining of being left out of the process, and - cranky as it may sound from the underground leader of a feared revolutionary army - of not getting the credit they deserve. Clearly, a deep distrust still lingers.

"Now they want to marginalize us, to bypass us, and they want to minimize the role of the Maoist movement," Prachanda said of the politicians. "That's why we are seriously concerned."

The Maoists can hardly argue with the substance of what the politicians have done; indeed, the measures seem to have been lifted straight out of the Maoist playbook.

Their problem is with the process. The interim government, Prachanda said, should have immediately begun negotiations with the Maoists, dissolved the old Parliament, and assembled a new national body that would in turn organize elections for the drafting of a new constitution. Whether the apparently procedural dispute will bog down efforts at real reconciliation between the government and the rebels remains uncertain.

Prachanda said the negotiating team he planned to lead is ready to start immediately.

According to a Reuters report from Katmandu, the capital, the government Saturday named the leader of its negotiating team, the home minister in the new government, Krishna Prasad Sitauli. No dates for talks have been announced yet. They would be the first such negotiations in three years. Prachanda said he wanted the United Nations or a team of independent third- country officials to broker the talks.

Prachanda, 52, a former agricultural sciences teacher whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, called the measures to restrict the king's powers "a partial victory," expressed skepticism about the intentions of the interim government, and wondered aloud whether the new leaders were reacting to foreign pressure to distance themselves from the Maoists.

He also delineated what he said were his bottom-line demands for a new Nepal: a federal structure that offers greater rights to ethnic minorities, a new constitution that scraps the monarchy, and "revolutionary land reform" along the lines of Mao's principle of "land to the tiller." The last of those demands is sure to invite significant resistance from the Nepalese political and economic elite.

Prachanda's revolution began in 1996, two years after his breakaway Communist faction was denied a chance to run candidates for elective office. Ten years and 13,000 deaths later, the Maoists say they no longer seek to establish a one- party state. In a radical turn, they have linked arms with the politicians in Parliament they once hunted down without mercy.

They say they have accepted the principle of a multiparty democracy. They say they will accept the verdict of Nepalese voters on whether the nation should remain a constitutional monarchy.

Whether they will keep their promises remains a dangerous gamble for Nepal.

It is on the question of disarmament that Prachanda has thrown down the gauntlet. So long as the army is not disarmed before elections, his People's Liberation Army would remain as it is.

Ultimately, he said, a new national army would have to be cobbled together. The current army, he said, cannot be trusted not to interfere in the voting for a new constitution.

Elsewhere around the world, there have been instances of insurgent groups refusing to disarm before elections. They have left a mixed record. In East Timor, ethnic rebels, who were not nearly as militarily powerful as the Nepalese Maoists, retained their weapons through the referendum of 1999. In Angola, Unita rebels refused to be disarmed before elections in 1992. When they lost at the polls, one of the bloodiest chapters of the Angolan war began.

"We want to show a new example from Nepal," Prachanda insisted. "What is the reason for not trusting us?

"We are not the problem for the country and for democracy," he added.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/21/news/nepal.php 

 

 

Btw.. please remember that IHT, NYT... are, of course, also parts of the ruling class..

Aeh... eKantipur.. is the same..

 

DO NOT BELIEVE NO ONE OF THE RULERS!!

..but let.s see what will bring the future!

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S. Korean Semi official news agency Yonhap reported 5.21..

 

Non-regular workers bill sparks concern over strike

 

The passage of a non-regular workers bill by a South Korean parliamentary committee is drawing fire from local labor and management and fueling concerns over a nationwide strike feared to hurt economic growth, labor sources said Tuesday.

The proposal approved on Monday by the parliamentary committee on environment and labor is aimed at allowing companies to hire workers more freely, while setting guidelines to prevent discrimination between regular and non-regular workers in terms of pay, social security and medical insurance benefits.

If the bill becomes law next month, companies will also be obliged to treat non-regular workers they have hired for more than two years as regular workers.

It is expected to go into effect in stages starting in 2007 at companies and plants that have more 300 workers, and be applicable to all businesses from 2009 with the exception of those with less than four people.

Local umbrella labor organizations claimed the railroading of the motion conflicted with the bill's original aim of reducing the number of non-regular workers.

The 800,000-strong Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) are set to launch a nationwide strike on Tuesday, saying that lawmakers ignored the wishes of workers.

"Lawmakers of the Uri and Grand National parties should have tried to iron out two or three remaining issues of contention instead of pushing for the controversial bill," said Dan Byung-ho, a lawmaker from the minor opposition Labor Democratic Party. He said the party supported the call by the KCTU for a walkout.

The former labor activist argued that instead of reducing non-regular workers, the new law could actually cause their proliferation.

Dan also said because of loopholes, big companies like Hyundai Motor Co., which has a large number of non-regular workers, may opt to pay the fine for violating any new law rather than adhering to the rules.

This view was echoed by Lee Soo-bong, a spokesperson for the KCTU. He said the bill compromised the rights of laborers and that the union could never recognize its validity.

"We will call on all workers to oppose the new changes until lawmakers reconsider the proposal from scratch," the representative said. He said lawmakers should have limited the areas in which non-regular workers can be hired.

According to Labor Ministry statistics, the number of non-regular workers, which stood at 3.60 million in 2001, soared to 5.48 million this year. This is equivalent of about 37 percent of the country's 14.96 million workers. Labor unions claimed that the number of non-regular workers actually stood at 8.50 million.

Management, however, said lawmakers were caving in to the demands of labor and not considering the position of entrepreneurs.

"The bill gives the impression of siding with labor, and if it becomes law, companies will be compelled not to use non-regular workers," said Jeong Dae Sun, a labor expert at the Federation of Korean Industries. The executive said the extra expenses that must be paid will eventually cause companies to hold back on hiring.

Under the rules, the disparity in wages between regular and non-regular workers will be cut. At present, an average non-regular worker earns 1.16 million won a month, about 62 percent of the 1.85 million won for average regular workers. The disparity can be cut to a difference of about 20 percent.

Echoing Jeong's view, an owner of a car parts maker, pointed out that the increase in non-regular workers is the result of hard times faced by most companies that had to trim excesses following the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The entrepreneur, who declined to be identified, said small companies will not be able to cope with increased wage demands if they follow the new law. He predicted that many firms will do less hiring and workers who are hired will not be retained for more than two years.

"This is bad because it will require entrepreneurs to retrain new workers on a regular basis, which can hurt efficiency and quality," the businessman said.

Meanwhile, the business community and government called for the cancellation of the strike by labor unions. They claimed that the domestic economy is making a comeback from the sluggishness of the past few years and that a strike will be bad for all concerned.

In particular, government officials said that since the walkout staged by the KCTU is timed to coincide with a strike by workers of the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL), the economic damage will be magnified.

"It is impossible to estimate the effects of the KCTU and KORAIL strikes on the economy, but they could be severe," said a official at the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

He said if changes are adopted by all parties, it can help curb the number of non-regular workers and make it possible to create at least 500,000 new jobs every year instead of the 300,000-400,000 created in the past.

The official added that if companies give equal pay and benefits to non-regular workers after a set period of time, it can contribute to economic growth because more money will circulate in the economy and generate higher gross domestic product.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060228/640000000020060228151105E9.html

 

 

 

Wow..

Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) are set to launch a nationwide strike on Tuesday

..this will change a lot... one day strike by perhaps max. 100.000 participants all across S. Korea.. usually reduced to some rallies for about 2 hours..

 

There are at least 8.000.000 irregular workers in S.K.!!!!

본문

The German magazine Der Spiegel published following story 6.18..

 

An African Dream
 
"I'll Make it to Europe, or Die Trying"

 

Africans looking to leave the continent for Europe face a long journey across the Atlantic in rickety boats. Many don't make it. But that doesn't deter the thousands looking for a better life.

Henry Mafarna was still a child when he lost his home -- barely 14 years old. Militias swept through Liberia in 1990 and the West African country was torn apart by civil war. In the ensuing chaos, Mafarna, who is now 29, lost track of his parents. Today, he has no idea whether they are still alive.

Ever since then, Mafarna has been a refugee -- sometimes staying in refugee camps, sometimes finding shelter with relatives in neighboring countries. But he hasn't stayed anywhere for long. Confused and restless, he has moved frequently. But one goal has remained constant -- he has repeatedly tried to find a way to leave Africa.

For the last six months, Mafarna has been in Nouadhibou, at the northern tip of Mauritania for what he hopes will be the last leg of his trip. Last month, he was planning on squeezing into the hull of a small boat under cover of darkness. The boat, he was hoping, would take him to the Canary Islands -- some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) into the Atlantic Ocean -- where he planned to start a new life. "I've got just two options," he said. "I'll either make it to Europe or die trying."

No future in Africa

He's got no future in Africa, he says. "There's no education system, no work -- just violence." Yet all his efforts to leave the continent have so far failed. He tried applying for an Australian visa; later he tried his luck with the Canadian visa program. But he was rejected every time. "There are just too many people who want to get out of here," he says with resignation. "I don't know anyone who wants to stay."

Henry is just one of thousands of African refugees waiting to travel from Mauritania on the west coast of Africa to Europe. His story is like that of many others living in the refugee slums of Nouadhibou -- a life of war and poverty, without any future to look forward to. In the end all that remains is despair -- a despair that makes people willing to risk everything. Even the last thing they own: their lives.

Africa's west coast has become the new gateway to Europe.
Henry has worked hard to earn his ticket to the future. Every day he joins other men from Senegal, Mali and Guinea in front of the entrance to the harbor. They stand around waiting for the next small job: It could be a job on a construction site or one helping a fisherman unload his boat. No one earns more than $3 a day -- usually less. Henry generally most of a day's wages just to pay for his shabby room. The rest he saves for his risky trip to Europe. The $600 he's managed to ferret away so far, he reckons, should be enough.

Men like Henry are willing to run any risk at all. A man from Senegal lives not far from his little wooden shed. He's already tried to reach the Canary Islands once, but the Moroccan harbor patrol stopped him a short distance from the island of Lanzarote. A few hours later, the haggard man was back in Nouadhibou. He's working again, saving money for his next attempt.

"It was hell out there"

Many others die chasing their European dream across the rough waters of the Atlantic. Those who don't, experience a nightmarish journey they're unlikely ever to forget. "People started to vomit shortly before we left the coast," the Senegalese man remembers. Many of the travellers have never been on a boat before; the waves terrify them. "Less than an hour had gone by when the first people started screaming." People often needed to be punched before they quieted down, he said.

No one is allowed to stand up or lie down during the trip. Some 80 people are forced to sit closely side-by-side for three or four days, their knees and legs are soon covered in bruises. Their joints begin to ache. Salty seawater mixes with urine and feces, causing a painful burning sensation in open wounds. A terrible stench develops. "It was hell out there. All I did was pray it would be over soon," says the Senegalese man.

Even worse, the refugees never know exactly where they're going. Hours of darkness and cold are followed by days of hot, baking sunlight.

When the Moroccan police finally discovered the boat the Senegalese man was travelling on, most of his companions had been reduced to a state of mindless torpor. A number of them had to be taken to hospital, where they're still suffering from dehydration and panic attacks. The Senegalese man says he was glad the trip was over; he didn't care that he didn't make it to Europe.

Many refugees die of dehydration during the trip. Others drown in shipwrecks or are thrown overboard by other refugees. The Spanish and the Moroccan police find their corpses almost every day. Mohammed Wal, the chief of the nautical police, collects their photographs in his records. They're a chronicle of horror: deformed and bloated corpses, partly eaten by fish. The pictures are sorted by date. He adds new ones every day.

Good news by text messaging

The chief of police likes to present his pictures to foreign journalists. He would prefer showing them to the refugees living in Nouadhibou's slum neighborhoods. "Many people still aren't aware of the risk involved in crossing the ocean," he says. "They think of it as a day trip." He says he's powerless to prevent further boats leaving the port, meaning his gruesome documentation is sure to continue growing.

Henry Mafarna knows the horrible stories and he's seen the pictures on the Internet. But he's still able to exude forced optimism. "I have no choice but to try," he says. "I promised my son I would."

Macpena, Mafarna's son, is 14 months old and lives in Guinea with his mother. Mafarna has decided he's going to take a picture of the curly-haired boy with him on the trip -- nothing else. If he doesn't survive the trip to Europe, Macpena's mother will never mention Henry. That's the deal he made when he left.

But Henry doesn't want to think about death. "Many people make it," he says. Some boats do indeed arrive. As soon as they reach the other shore, they send SMS text messages to those still waiting to make the trip. The news travels like wildfire in the slum where Henry lives.

"Even if I have to live on the streets in Europe, even if people there look down on me, it can't be any worse than here," Henry says. When night begins to fall, he proposes a bet. He asks me to give him my e-mail address. "I'll write to you from Spain," he says grinning, "and then you have to come and visit."

So far, he hasn't written.