tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11383383661316374192024-02-08T08:08:22.210-08:00The Red Republicthemouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-42309776171015320482011-11-02T15:30:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.871-08:00The Red Republic Strikes Back!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://sometags.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/darth-vader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://sometags.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/darth-vader.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br />After so much delay The Red Republic is back online, some things have made it difficult to post but rest assured all is well. This will still be a place to promote Marxism-Leninism, International and National News, Labor and Communist History, opinion and some translations of articles from the ICMLPO and will be a supporter of the APL. While I am no longer a member of the American Party of Labor I do support its line, and while not perfect(no party is) it is the only Anti-Revisionist Marxist-Leninist Party in the United States.themouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-89027110346421085982010-06-20T23:46:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.879-08:00This Goes on Everyday in Iraq and Afghanistan!<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZfE2wyRiLK4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="/web/20111105155122oe_/http://www.youtube.com/v/ZfE2wyRiLK4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br />I would say that most people in our company didn't consider the Vietnamese human.<br /><br />—Dennis Bunningthemouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-90126011175363149842010-06-16T18:56:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.884-08:00Danger On the Job<em><a href="http://www.labornotes.org/2010/06/behind-headlines-workplace-kills-14-day-one-one">From Labor Notes</a></em><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progressohio.org/page/-/Images/blankenship_murder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.progressohio.org/page/-/Images/blankenship_murder.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><strong><span id="goog_1741410882"></span><span id="goog_1741410883"></span>Behind the Headlines: The Workplace Kills 14 Per Day—One by One</strong><br /><br />Tom O’Connor <br /><br />| June 14, 2010<br /><br /><br /><br />It’s been a very bad couple of months for worker safety: Seven dead in Anacortes, Washington, following the explosion of the Tesoro refinery. Six dead in Middletown, Connecticut, in the Kleen Energy power plant explosion. Twenty-nine dead in West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine disaster. And 11 dead in the Gulf of Mexico oil rig collapse (a fact almost completely overlooked in media coverage of the spill’s environmental consequences).<br /><br /><br /><br />But behind the headlines on the latest disaster is a far quieter but equally disturbing story of daily carnage. In the same week as the human-created disaster in the Massey mine in West Virginia, local media outlets around the country carried dozens of stories with headlines like “Man Killed in Trench Collapse” or “Fall from Roof Fatal.”<br /><br /><br /><br />The toll of these routine incidents—14 deaths a day from injuries alone—is obscured because most occur one death at a time.<br /><br /><br /><br />Month after month, year after year, workers die in trench collapses and falls from roofs. OSHA cites the employer, slaps it with a modest fine (a median penalty of only $3,675 per death in 2007), and points out that simple methods exist to prevent such tragic loss of life. Yet some employers continue to ignore the hazards and workers continue to lose their lives due to this criminal neglect.<br /><br /><br /><br />Like the high-profile workplace disasters, the vast majority of deaths on the job are entirely preventable. The problem is not a technical one of chemical concentrations, safe machinery, and ventilation, but a political one—simply put, our national system for enforcing health and safety regulations in the workplace is broken.<br /><br /><br /><br />We know how to prevent trenches from collapsing—by using trench boxes to shore them up. We know how to prevent falls from roofs from becoming fatal—by properly using safety harnesses. We know how to prevent coal mine explosions by minimizing the build-up of coal dust and monitoring methane concentrations. But employers routinely refuse to use these established precautions, and OSHA does not force them to.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>WHY NO ENFORCEMENT</strong><br /><br /><br /><br />First, it’s a problem of resources: OSHA’s budget for enforcement is pitifully inadequate, a situation that has worsened since deregulation began in the Reagan era. In the late 1970s, OSHA had one inspector per 30,000 covered workers; today it’s one per 60,000.<br /><br /><br /><br />Second, obstacles to any new workplace safety rules, put in place by deregulation ideologues in Congress, have effectively brought the OSHA regulatory process to a complete standstill. As the Center for Progressive Reform puts it, “In the nearly 40 years since its enactment, the OSHA Act has been exposed as a virtually useless tool for establishing occupational health and safety standards.” In the last 13 years, OSHA has issued exactly one new health standard establishing the maximum safe exposure to a chemical, and that under the duress of a court order.<br /><br /><br /><br />Third, OSHA’s promise that all workers have the right to speak up about unsafe or unhealthy conditions without retaliation has proven to be a cruel joke to those who have risked their jobs by calling OSHA. The agency’s whistleblower protection program is so ineffective that worker advocates cannot in good conscience advise a non-union worker to file an OSHA complaint if he or she wants to keep the job.<br /><br /><br /><br />The Massey mine explosion demonstrated clearly that the combination of de-unionization, lack of enforcement of safety regulations, minimal penalties for violations, and lack of whistleblower protections is lethal. As several current and former Massey workers noted, the mine was a time bomb waiting to explode, but in a non-union mine, it was keep your mouth shut or lose your job.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>HOW TO FIX IT</strong><br /><br /><br /><br />The solutions to this sorry state of affairs are not complex:<br /><br /><br /><br />1) Congress should amend the OSH Act and the Mine Safety and Health (MSH) Act to protect whistleblowers and to require serious monetary and criminal penalties for egregious violators whose willful neglect of safety results in workers’ deaths.<br /><br /><br /><br />Under current law, even the most egregious case of employer neglect can result in no more than a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum six months in jail. Civil penalties also lag far behind those for violations of other federal law.<br /><br /><br /><br />New OSHA chief David Michaels noted in a recent Congressional hearing that when a Delaware refinery worker was killed in a sulfuric acid explosion, OSHA assessed a fine of $175,000, while the same incident resulted in EPA fines of $10 million for violations of the Clean Water Act.<br /><br /><br /><br />2) Congress should dramatically increase the budget for OSHA enforcement.<br /><br /><br /><br />3) OSHA should fundamentally rework its system for regulating hazards. It should issue a broad “Health and Safety Program Standard” and cite employers under the “General Duty Clause” for unsafe conditions.<br /><br /><br /><br />These measures would require employers to develop worksite-specific health and safety programs and allow OSHA to enforce the employer’s duty to provide a safe workplace—without having to navigate the endless bureaucratic obstacles to issuing safety or health standards on a one-by-one basis.<br /><br /><br /><br />4) Congress should close the loophole in the MSH Act that allows companies like Massey to avoid paying fines by contesting most MSHA citations, effectively shutting down the penalty system. Massey contested 3,601 citations in 2009, creating a logjam that prevents MSHA from collecting on assessed penalties.<br /><br /><br /><br />5) Congress should enact labor law reform so that workers who want to join a union and speak up about unsafe conditions are able to do so.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>FIST-POUNDING</strong> <br /><br /><br /><br />But these changes won’t come about because Congress simply decides to do so. Despite much fist-pounding by senators at recent hearings on the mine disaster, they will likely soon forget about worker safety and move on to the next crisis.<br /><br /><br /><br />A bill introduced in 2009 would go a long way toward strengthening OSHA’s ability to protect workers. The Protecting America’s Workers Act would increase maximum civil and criminal penalties, expand protections for whistleblowers, and extend OSHA protections to public employees, many of whom are now excluded.<br /><br /><br /><br />Unfortunately, a timid Democratic-controlled Senate Labor Committee appears unwilling to move the bill without Republican support. (Can someone explain to me why it’s not a good idea to force Republicans to cast a vote against worker safety after the recent disasters?)<br /><br /><br /><br />So perhaps we can expect little from Congress—unless the labor movement and its allies turn up the heat on our representatives. Now—in the wake of a slew of highly publicized and preventable disasters—is the time to demand action, before more workers die.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Tom O’Connor is executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the umbrella organization of 20 state and local COSH groups.<br /><br /> </em><br /><br /><em><br /><br /> </em>themouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-51598464179348403302010-06-15T19:01:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.890-08:00The Tea Party Movement, the Obama Regime and the Growing Fascist Danger
in the USA<i><a href="http://mltranslations.org/US/ROL/ROL59.htm">From the Revolutionary Organization of Labor </a></i><br><br /><br><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dailyhurricane.com/racistteabagger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dailyhurricane.com/racistteabagger.jpg" width="213"></a></div><b>T</b><b>he Tea Party Movement, the Obama Regime and the Growing Fascist Danger in the USA</b><br><br /><br><br /><blockquote>“What is the source of the influence of fascism over the masses? Fascism is able to attract the masses because it demagogically appeals to their most urgent needs and demands. Fascism not only inflames prejudices that are deeply ingrained in the masses, but also plays on the better sentiments of the masses, on their sense of justice, and sometimes even on their revolutionary traditions.” </blockquote>–Georgi Dimitroff (Political Report of General Secretary to the <br><br />Seventh Congress of the Communist International, August 1935)<br><br /><br><br /><b>Introduction: The USA in Crisis</b><br><br /><b><br><br /></b><br><br />For the past eighteen months, the world capitalist economy has been in crisis. Within the USA, this crisis has had several distinctive features.<br><br /><br><br />The most striking fact of life in the USA in this period has been the naked give-away by the federal government of at least a few trillion dollars to the criminal Wall Street gang of finance capitalists, the dominant section of the U.S. ruling class, whose frenzied greed was most responsible for the current crisis. Most of this rescue money was provided to Wall Street in two multi-billion dollar bailouts. Both bailouts had the blessings of both the Republican and the Democratic Party. The first was provided under the Bush Regime and the second under the Obama Regime.<br><br /><br><br />At the same time, the U.S. working class as a whole has experienced massive layoffs – eight million new unemployed and more millions chronically underemployed. As in the past, the monopoly capitalists today use the vast “army of the unemployed” as a club with which to beat down the workers still lucky enough to have jobs, to lower their wages, speed up their work, etc. <br><br /><br><br />The oppressed nationality workers are the hardest hit. The Afro-American workers are still the last hired and first fired, and the epidemic of Black youth unemployment is a major source of the devastation being visited upon the Afro-American communities throughout the USA. As the situation of the rest of the working class is becoming increasingly desperate, the ability of the U.S. monopoly capitalist ruling class to mobilize significant numbers to support open attacks on Latino and other immigrant workers is also increasing. And this can only result in the weakening of the position of the working class vis-à-vis capital in each part and as a whole.<br><br /><br><br />On top of all this, many working class families, as well as middle class families, are losing their homes in the epidemic of home foreclosures. And with the drastic reduction in home values and the stock market shocks, manipulation and decline that have accompanied this crisis, many more working class and middle class people have seen their main sources of old age security disappear. This is forcing more elderly workers to remain in jobs and further aggravating youth unemployment and the already parasitic youth culture. Finally, there is an epidemic of small business failures, aggravated by the unwillingness of the big banks that received the Bush and Obama billion dollar bailouts to grant loans to the hard pressed middle class business people. For the U.S. middle class, spoiled by decades of U.S. imperialist hegemony in the capitalist world economy, this calamitous state of affairs has traumatized them. <br><br /><br><br /><b>The Rise of the Tea Party Movement</b><br><br /><br><br />In this setting, over the past year, a reactionary, right wing, mainly white middle class movement has emerged on the U.S. political scene. The Tea Party Movement has arisen in fits and starts, in one guise or another, under the leadership of one Republican Party politician or right wing media talk show personality and then another. Sometimes<br>themouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-9607484262861727212010-06-14T22:08:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.895-08:00Al Jazeera English on the NPA<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vOnm0tTz_m8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="/web/20111105155122oe_/http://www.youtube.com/v/vOnm0tTz_m8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CEuLcFKY1IM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="/web/20111105155122oe_/http://www.youtube.com/v/CEuLcFKY1IM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>themouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-62138671888345586352010-06-13T15:42:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.901-08:00Mexican Capitalist Police Attack Miners on Strike<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A0dQgIU5U94&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="/web/20111105155122oe_/http://www.youtube.com/v/A0dQgIU5U94&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>themouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-83382271663769370502010-06-13T13:17:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.907-08:00Israel's Security Cannot Come at Any Price<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LiCGD793na8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="/web/20111105155122oe_/http://www.youtube.com/v/LiCGD793na8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nlginternational.org/images/Banner.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="http://www.nlginternational.org/images/Banner.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><i>From the <a href="http://www.nlginternational.org/news/article.php?nid=313">National Lawyer's Guild International</a></i><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Legal Analysis of Flotilla Attack by Dr. Ben Saul </b><br /><br /><br /><br />Israel's response to the Gaza flotilla is another unfortunate example of Israel clothing its conduct in the language of international law while flouting it in practice. If you believe Israeli government spokesmen, Israel is metabolically incapable of violating international law, placing it alongside Saddam Hussein's Information Minister in self-awareness.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Raid Illegal Under San Remo Manual</b><br /><br /><br /><br />Israel claims that paragraph 67(a) of the San Remo Manual on Armed Conflicts at Sea justified the Israeli operation against the flotilla. (The San Remo Manual is an authoritative statement of international law applicable to armed conflicts at sea.)<br /><br /><br /><br />Paragraph 67(a) only permits attacks on the merchant vessels of neutral countries where they "are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture".<br /><br /><br /><br />Israel argues that it gave due warnings, which were not heeded.<br /><br /><br /><br />What Israel conveniently omits to mention is that the San Remo Manual also contains rules governing the lawfulness of the blockade itself, and there can be no authority under international law to enforce a blockade which is unlawful. Paragraph 102 of the Manual prohibits a blockade if "the damage to the civilian population is, or may be expected to be, excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the blockade".<br /><br /><br /><br />The background to that "proportionality" rule is the experience of past world wars where naval blockades had devastating effects on civilian populations.<br /><br /><br /><br />There is little question that Israel's blockade of Gaza is disproportionate in legal terms. The proportionality rule requires an assessment of the military advantage against the harmful effects on civilians. Israel claims that the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from mounting indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.<br /><br /><br /><br />Such attacks were well documented by the UN's Goldstone Report and are a serious security threat to Israel. Israel has every right to protect its civilians from indiscriminate terrorist attacks by Hamas.<br /><br /><br /><br />The proportionality principle requires, however, that Israel's security cannot come at any price. A balancing of interests is necessary to ensure that civilians should not pay too dearly for the security needs of others.<br /><br /><br /><br />Safeguarding the precious lives of innocents and respecting their dignity as fellow humans is the necessary burden that international law imposes on war. That is why Israel reveals its contempt for international law when, for example in the past, its leaders have pledged to "destroy 100 homes for every rocket fired".<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Gaza Blockade Itself Illegal</b><br /><br /><br /><br />The harmful effects of the blockade on Gazan civilians have included the denial of the basics of life, such as food, fuel, and medicine, as well widespread economic collapse.<br /><br /><br /><br />The UN agency on the ground, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has described a "severe humanitarian crisis" in Gaza in relation to human development, health, education, "the psychological stress" on the population, high unemployment (at 45 per cent) and poverty (with 300,000 people living beneath the poverty line), and the collapse of commerce, industry and agriculture.<br /><br /><br /><br />Such effects are manifestly excessive in relation to Israel's security objectives and cannot possibly satisfy the conditions of a lawful blockade. Disrupting wildly inaccurate rockets from being fired at relatively underpopulated areas of southern Israel cannot possibly justify the acute disruption of the daily lives and livelihoods of more than one million Gazans. Nor is it lawful to seek to pressure Hamas by instrumentally impoverishing its civilian supporters.<br /><br /><br /><br />It seems that Israel is the only entity incapable of recognizing the effects of its blockade. The United States, European Union and numerous independent sources have deeply criticized the disproportionate harm to Gazan civilians.<br /><br /><br /><br />The UN Secretary General has condemned the "unacceptable suffering" caused by the blockade. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has criticized it for violating the law of armed conflict. The UN Human Rights Council, UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator, Oxfam, and Amnesty International have all strongly condemned it.<br /><br /><br /><br />The UN's Goldstone Report found that blockade may even amount to international crimes: "Israeli acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country… could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, has been committed."<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Israel's Offers on Cargo Not Credible</b><br /><br /><br /><br />Israel has further argued that it offered the Gaza flotilla an opportunity to deliver aid through the proper Israeli channels.<br /><br /><br /><br />It is very difficult to regard that offer as sincere given Israel's track record. Israel's practices concerning the transit of goods through Israeli entry points has been arbitrary at best and deliberately obstructive at worst.<br /><br /><br /><br />The UN notes that everything from crayons to soccer balls to musical instruments has been denied entry into Gaza - hardly rocket components. Goods sit idle for months or are never delivered at all. In such circumstances, no-one could have any confidence that the goods would ever reach Gaza.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Clear Violations of International Law</b><br /><br /><br /><br />As yet, it is still unknown exactly what happened on board the flotilla vessels boarded by Israeli forces. Even at this early stage, however, some international law matters are fairly clear.<br /><br /><br /><br />First, absent any intention by the flotilla to attack Israel, or any suspicion of piracy, it was unlawful for Israel to forcibly board foreign merchant vessels in international waters.<br /><br /><br /><br />Secondly, such action amounted to an unlawful interference in the enforcement jurisdiction of the "flag-States" (countries of registration) of those vessels, such as Turkey.<br /><br /><br /><br />Thirdly, it violated the fundamental principle of freedom of navigation on the high seas, codified in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982.<br /><br /><br /><br />Fourthly, under international human rights law, the apprehension and detention of those on board the vessels likely amounts to arbitrary, unlawful detention, contrary to article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, since there is lawful basis for detention.<br /><br /><br /><br />Fifthly, if Israeli forces killed people, they may not only have infringed the human right to life, but they may also have committed serious international crimes. Under article 3 of the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988, it is an international crime for any person to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, and also a crime to injure or kill any person in the process.<br /><br /><br /><br />Ironically, that treaty was adopted after Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, in 1985, in which a Jewish American was killed.<br /><br /><br /><br />In such cases, any claim of self-defense by Israeli forces is irrelevant. The treaty necessarily adopts a strict approach. One cannot attack a ship and then claim self-defense if the people on board resist the unlawful use of violence.<br /><br /><br /><br />Legally speaking, government military forces rappelling onto a ship to illegally capture it are treated no differently than other criminals. The right of self-defense in such situations rests with the passengers on board: a person is legally entitled to resist one's own unlawful capture, abduction and detention.<br /><br /><br /><br />Whether doing so is wise, in the face of heavily armed commandos, is a different question. Whether running the gauntlet of an Israeli military blockade is sensible or foolhardy is another.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Israel Has Become Its Own Worst Enemy</b><br /><br /><br /><br />This latest sad and shocking episode is a reminder of Israel's recklessness towards the lives of others, its utter disregard for international opinion, and its incivility as an outlaw of the international community.<br /><br /><br /><br />Israel has become its own worst enemy. It prioritizes its own interests with a callous lack of empathy for others. It is simply unable to imagine the suffering it inflicts upon others, and treats harm to Israelis as the only game in town. Its absolutism of mind and politics has crushing consequences for Palestinians.<br /><br /><br /><br />Far from ensuring its own security, Israel is unraveling it: no-one should be surprised if Israel has just succeeded in recruiting the next generation of martyrs keen to attack it.<br /><br /><br /><br />Absolutism, violence, and the evaporation of peace in the region will continue as long as the international community continues to handle Israel with kid gloves.<br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. Ben Saul's op-ed was originally published June 2, 2010, on "Unleashed," the blog of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's news site.<br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. Ben Saul is Director of the Sydney Centre for International Law at Sydney Law School and a barrister (including in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). His book, Defining Terrorism in International Law (Oxford), is the leading work on the subject and his research has been cited in international criminal tribunals, United Nations bodies and the Australian High Court.themouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1138338366131637419.post-44627181546792351962010-06-12T16:07:00.000-07:002013-02-01T01:41:07.913-08:00There Are No Child Fighters in the New People's Army!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mindanao.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/26cppforty06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.mindanao.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/26cppforty06.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />PRESS RELEASE<br /><br />Information Bureau<br /><br />Communist Party of the Philippines<br /><br /><br /><br />CPP: No child recruitment in NPA; AFP biggest violator of children's rights<br /><br />June 7, 2010<br /><br /><br /><br />The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said claims of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that the New People's Army (NPA) recruits children are "completely unfounded and are only desperate attempts to tarnish the image of the NPA before the public and the human rights community here and abroad."<br /><br /><br /><br />"The CPP declares with full conviction that the NPA does not recruit children. The NPA upholds and defends the interests of children in line with the CPP's Program for a People's Democratic Revolution, the Basic Rules of the New People's Army, the Guide for Establishing the People's Democratic Government, the Geneva Conventions and Protocols on International Humanitarian Law and Rules on Warfare, the United Nations' Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law," the CPP reiterated in a statement today.<br /><br /><br /><br />The statement of the CPP rebuts the claims made yesterday by AFP-Civil Relations Service that the NPA has recruited at least 340 children since 1999, including 209 who have "surrendered," 119 "captured" and 12 "killed in combat."<br /><br /><br /><br />"Those figures are nothing but concoctions manufactured by the AFP's psywar mills. Most of the children cited in the AFP's reports as supposed "child combatants" were, in fact, victims of the AFP's abusive military operations that blatantly disregard the rights and welfare of civilians, including children, in rural communities suspected by the reactionary government of supporting the revolutionary movement," said the CPP.<br /><br /><br /><br />The CPP cited the case of nine-year old Grecil Buya, a schoolgirl who was killed by soldiers of the 101st Bde while conducting a military operation in a rural barangay in New Bataan, Compostela Valley in March 31, 2007. In its reports, the AFP labeled Grecil as a "child combatant" of the NPA and even took photos of her dead body with an M-16 rifle placed beside her. Subsequent investigations by the Commission on Human Rights and other independent groups belied the AFP's reports.<br /><br /><br /><br />The CPP also cited the case of 17-year old Michelle Adelantar whom the AFP took into custody last February 3 in San Jose de Buan, Western Samar on the accusation of her being an NPA combatant. "The military's accusation against Michelle was made on the utterly stupid logic that her parents and siblings are members of the CPP and NPA," the CPP stated. Michelle continues to be detained by the Department of Social Work and Development, despite demands of relatives to have Michelle released to their care.<br /><br /><br /><br />In June 2009, the AFP has also accused Joel "Dayucdoc" Silvestre of being an NPA "child warrior." Joel is a mentally-handicapped 13-year old and resident of Barangay Montalban, Matuguinao in Western Samar. The CPP said that "The AFP committed a series of grave violations of the boy's rights. The personnel of the AFP's 8th ID took advantage of Joel's mental handicap by tricking him and taking him into custody. He was brought along the AFP's military operations, made to carry a gun and forced to identify alleged members of the NPA in their community. He was then exhibited to the media who were even encouraged to take photographs and videos of him."<br /><br /><br /><br />The CPP reiterated that it maintains a policy prohibiting the recruitment of children below 18 years old as fighters of the NPA. "This policy prohibiting child combatants is being strictly observed by all units of the New People's Army."<br /><br /><br /><br />"For several years now, we have invited representatives of the United Nations and other independent bodies to visit units of the NPA and areas of operations of these units to see for themselves how the revolutionary movement upholds its policy of prohibiting the recruitment of children, and furthermore, how the rights and welfare of children are respected and promoted in the revolutionary areas."<br /><br /><br /><br />"The Philippine government and the AFP have, however, persistently prevented international observers from engaging with the revolutionary movement on the question of children's rights. It has churned out baseless figures accusing the NPA of violating childrens rights while preventing independent observers from verifying these claims."<br /><br /><br /><br />"In truth, it is the AFP that is biggest violator of childrens rights in the Philippines. Hundred of thousands of children have been victimized by the AFP's military operations that have invariably targetted civilian communities in the fascist military's desperation to put an end to the people's revolutionary armed resistance," said the CPP.<br /><br /><br /><br />The CPP cited the report made in 2007 by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) where it revealed that 215,233 children were victimized in AFP operations including more than 215,060 victimized by forcible evaucations. At least 58 children were killed and another 58 survived attempts on their lives. It further revealed that ten children have disappeared, 40 maimed, 17 subjected to torture, 8 subjected to rape and sexual harassment, 51 victims of illegal search and seizure, 63 victims of coercion, 69 victims of illegal arrest and detention, 40 victims of physical assault and injury and 196 victims of threats and intimidation.<br /><br /><br /><br />The Unicef report also cited that 106 children were orphaned and witnessed the government military's killing of their parents or other relatives.<br /><br /><br /><br />In a recent report to the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General cited cases where the AFP has been making abusive use of children to carry supplies and serve intelligence purposes. Many of these cases were in Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) areas where children have been illegally detained by the AFP for alleged association with MILF forces. The report cited a case where three children were blindfolded and mistreated by elements of the Philippine Army's 7th and 40th IB in an attempt to force out of them confessions admitting to membership in the MILF.<br /><br />Reference:<br /><br />Marco Valbuena<br /><br />Media Officer<br /><br />Cellphone Numbers: 09156596802 :: 09282242061<br /><br />E-mail:cppmedia@gmail.comthemouthonwheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12230454829752017258noreply@blogger.com