ICC Prosecutor Begins Kenya Probe

Kenyan riot police walk in formation to break-up popular demonstrations on Wednesday, January 16, 2008. (BBC Photograph).
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Saturday, May 08, 2010
20:27 Mecca time, 17:27 GMT

ICC prosecutor begins Kenya probe

Moreno-Ocampo has previously held talks on the post-election unrest with Kibaki, centre, and Odinga

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague has arrived in the Kenyan capital to lead investigations into the country's 2007-08 post-election violence.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo landed in Nairobi on Saturday for a five-day visit, during which he is expected to meet victims of the unrest as well as various segments of Kenyan society.

"As promised, I will meet the victims, listen to them, understand their views and concerns," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement on the ICC's website.

"We will investigate the crimes, protecting the victims and respecting the rights of the suspects. We will follow the evidence, and we will prosecute those most responsible."

Shortly after arriving in the country, Moreno-Campo told a news conference that he hoped his investigations would send a signal to 15 African countries that are to hold elections in the next 18 months to discourage them from violence.

Security concerns

Moreno-Ocampo was also due to meet activists of non-governmental organisations, the business community, religious leaders, the media and government officials.

He was expected to use a town hall event to explain to Kenyans the work of the ICC and the process of the investigations he will carry out.

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Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Nairobi, said there were reasonable grounds to start the investigations.

"There has been a commission here [in Kenya] which a lot of people gave evidence to," he said.

"There was a list of names. There has also been a human rights report which named various people ... He [Moreno-Ocampo] is saying he has no specific names as suspects yet [but] he intends to go ahead ..."

But our correspondent said the problem is that "no one is sure of the Kenyan security system", adding that a "lot of people who think they may be witnesses or are perceived to be witnesses are living in fear".

'There is a lot of doubt about [the security system], so witness protection is key," Simmons said.

Weeks of violence that followed Kenya's 2007 general election left more than 1,133 people dead, forced 400,000 to flee their homes, and brought Kenya to the brink of civil war.

The political and humanitarian crisis erupted after Mwai Kibaki, the president, declared victory after the poll amid accusations by opposition supporters that the election had been rigged.

Kenya has shown little willingness to prosecute those responsible for the violence, but has agreed to provide the ICC with confidential information about the unrest.

Politicians blamed

Mark Ellis, executive director at the International Bar Association, earlier told Al Jazeera that "the ICC provided an opportunity for Kenya to undertake their own investigation and prosecution, but they were not able to do that.

"It is morally and legally right for the International Criminal Court now to undertake this first step and that is the investigation into the crimes that were committed in Kenya."

Moreno-Ocampo has said that Kenyan political leaders organised and financed the attacks against civilians.

"President Kibaki's and Prime Minister [Raila] Odinga's commitment to justice and to co-operation with the ICC is crucial," he said earlier this month.

"The whole international community is with the Kenyans, all Kenyans must come together and use the law and justice as a basis for their common future. The common goal is to ensure there is no repeat of violence in the 2012 elections."

The ICC says that a majority of its judges have responded positively to Moreno-Ocampo's request to undertake the investigation, saying "the information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed on Kenyan territory".

Source: Al Jazeera & agencies

Origin of Wall Street's Plunge Continues to Elude Officials

US Treasury Secretary and Wall Street advocate Tim Geithner testified April 20, 2009 before Congress. Members of a women's group Code Pink protested his rhetoric in favor of bank bailouts with no relief for the millions of poor and working people.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

May 7, 2010

Origin of Wall Street’s Plunge Continues to Elude Officials

By GRAHAM BOWLEY
New York Times

A day after a harrowing plunge in the stock market, federal regulators were still unable on Friday to answer the one question on every investor’s mind: What caused that near panic on Wall Street?

Through the day and into the evening, officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies hunted for clues amid a tangle of electronic trading records from the nation’s increasingly high-tech exchanges.

But, maddeningly, the cause or causes of the market’s wild swing remained elusive, leaving what amounts to a $1 trillion question mark hanging over the world’s largest, and most celebrated, stock market.

The initial focus of the investigations appeared to center on the way a growing number of high-speed trading networks interact with one another and with venerable exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange. Most investors are unaware that these competing systems have fractured the traditional marketplace and have displaced exchanges like the Big Board as the dominant force in stock trading.

The silence from Washington cast a pall over Wall Street, where shaken traders returned to their desks Friday morning hoping for quick answers. The markets remained on edge, as the uncertainty over what caused Thursday’s wild swings added to the worries over the running debt crisis in Greece.

In a joint statement issued after the close of trading, the S.E.C. and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said they were continuing their review. And the two agencies indicated they were looking particularly closely at how different trading rules on different exchanges, which temporarily halted trading on some markets while activity in the same stocks continued on other markets, might have contributed to the problem.

“We are scrutinizing the extent to which disparate trading conventions and rules across various markets may have contributed to the spike in volatility,” the statement said.

A government official who was involved in the investigation said regulators had moved away from a theory that it was a trading mistake — a so-called fat finger episode — and were examining the links between the futures and cash markets for stocks.

In particular, this official said, it appeared that as stock trading was slowed on the New York Exchange when big price moves started, orders moved automatically to other, electronic exchanges that did not have pricing restrictions.

The pressure in the less-liquid markets was amplified by the computer-driven trades, which led still other traders to pull back. Only when traders began to manually respond to the sharp drop did the market seem to turn around, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was not complete.

On Friday evening, another government official directly involved in the investigation said that regulators had not yet been able to completely rule out any of the widely discussed possible causes of the market’s gyrations.

This official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that regulators had collected statistical and trading data from stock and futures exchanges, and had begun cross-analyzing that with trading reports from brokerage firms and large market participants. Regulators have also gathered anecdotal accounts of what happened from hedge funds and other trading firms.

The two major regulatory agencies — the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — have generated multiple memos detailing what they have found and offering possible causes for the market events. Among the issues discussed in the memos, the official said, were the disparate rules that different stock exchanges have for dealing with large price movements on the same securities and how prices on futures markets and stock exchanges appeared to lead or follow each other’s movements down and back up.

The lack of a firm answer, more than 24 hours after the market’s plunge Thursday, left some on Wall Street frustrated.

“The problem is you don’t come in and find out what the clear answer is,” said Art Hogan, the New York-based chief market analyst at Jefferies & Company. “We don’t have the clear explanation for how it happened.”

Others, however, said it would take time to pinpoint what happened given the increasingly complex nature of modern stock trading.

Over the last five years, the stock market has split into a plethora of new competing hubs and trading outlets, a legacy of deregulation earlier this decade and fast-paced technological change. On Friday, the rivalry between the two main exchanges erupted into view as each publicly pointed the finger at the other for being a main cause of the collapse on Thursday, which sent shockwaves around the globe.

“This is the sort of situation that has been a worry for a long time, but the markets have changed in a way that has made things more difficult,” said Robert L. D. Colby, former deputy director of trading and markets at the S.E.C. “They’ve become more fragmented, so it’s harder for any one exchange to see the full picture and take action.”

On Friday, President Obama sought to provide reassurance that regulators were working to find the root of the problem.

“The regulatory authorities are evaluating this closely with a concern for protecting investors and preventing this from happening again,” the president said.

The absence of a unified system to halt trading in individual stocks led to bitter accusations between exchanges on Friday. Robert Greifeld, chief executive of Nasdaq OMX, appeared on CNBC to criticize the New York Stock Exchange for halting trading for up to 90 seconds in half a dozen stocks on Thursday.

“Stopping for 90 seconds in time of crisis is exactly equivalent to not picking up the phone,” Mr. Greifeld said.

A few minutes later, Duncan L. Niederauer, chief executive of NYSE Euronext, responded in an interview on CNBC, blaming Nasdaq’s computers for continuing trading while the market was in free fall.

“These computers go out and just find the next bid they can find,” he said.

Mr. Niederauer acknowledged the need to introduce circuit-breakers along the lines of those already in place on the Big Board, and his views were echoed by some chief executives of the new exchanges.

Greek Debt Woes Ripple Outward, From Asia to U.S.

Greek workers clash with police during protests involving the capitalist economic crisis. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have proposed a package to bailout the country.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

May 8, 2010

Greek Debt Woes Ripple Outward, From Asia to U.S.

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and ERIC DASH
New York Times

The fear that began in Athens, raced through Europe and finally shook the stock market in the United States is now affecting the broader global economy, from the ability of Asian corporations to raise money to the outlook for money-market funds where American savers park their cash.

What was once a local worry about the debt burden of one of Europe’s smallest economies has quickly gone global. Already, jittery investors have forced Brazil to scale back bond sales as interest rates soared and caused currencies in Asia like the Korean won to weaken. Ten companies around the world that had planned to issue stock delayed their offerings, the most in a single week since October 2008.

The increased global anxiety threatens to slow the recovery in the United States, where job growth has finally picked up after the deepest recession since the Great Depression. It could also inhibit consumer spending as stock portfolios shrink and loans are harder to come by.

“It’s not just a European problem, it’s the U.S., Japan and the U.K. right now,” said Ian Kelson, a bond fund manager in London with T. Rowe Price. “It’s across the board.”

The crisis is so perilous for Europe that the leaders of the 16 countries that use the euro worked into the early morning Saturday on a proposal to create a so-called stabilization mechanism intended to reassure the markets. On Sunday, finance ministers from all 27 European Union states are expected to gather in Brussels to discuss and possibly approve the proposal.

The mechanism would probably be a way for the states to guarantee loans taken out by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, to support ailing economies. European leaders including the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said Saturday morning that the union should be ready to activate the mechanism by Monday morning if needed.

In Spain Saturday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. underscored the importance of the issue after meeting with Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. “We agreed on the importance of a resolute European action to strengthen the European economy and to build confidence in the markets,” Mr. Biden said. “And I conveyed the support of the United States of America toward those efforts.”

Beyond Europe, the crisis has sent waves of fear through global stock exchanges.

A decade ago, it took more than a year for the chain reaction that began with the devaluation of the Thai currency to spread beyond Asia to Russia, which defaulted on its debt, and eventually caused the near-collapse of a giant American hedge fund, Long-Term Capital Management.

This crisis, by contrast, seemed to ricochet from country to country in seconds, as traders simultaneously abandoned everything from Portuguese bonds to American blue chips. On Wall Street on Thursday afternoon, televised images of rioting in Athens to protest austerity measures only amplified the anxiety as the stock market briefly plunged nearly 1,000 points.

“Up until last week there was this confidence that nothing could upset the apple cart as long as the economy and jobs growth was positive,” said William H. Gross, managing director of Pimco, the bond manager. “Now, fear is back in play.”

While the immediate causes for worry are Greece’s ballooning budget deficit and the risk that other fragile countries like Spain and Portugal might default, the turmoil also exposed deeper fears that government borrowing in bigger nations like Britain, Germany and even the United States is unsustainable.

“Greece may just be an early warning signal,” said Byron Wien, a prominent Wall Street strategist who is vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Partners. “The U.S. is a long way from being where Greece is, but the developed world has been living beyond its means and is now being called to account.”

If the anxiety spreads, American banks could return to the posture they adopted after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2008, when they cut back sharply on mortgages, auto financing, credit card lending and small business loans. That could stymie job growth and halt the recovery now gaining traction.

Some American companies are facing higher costs to finance their debt, while big exporters are seeing their edge over European rivals shrink as the dollar strengthens. Riskier assets, like stocks, are suddenly out of favor, while cash has streamed into the safest of all investments, gold.

Just as Greece is being forced to pay more to borrow, more risky American companies are being forced to pay up, too. Some issuers of new junk bonds in the consumer sector are likely to have to pay roughly 9 percent on new bonds, up from about 8.5 percent before this week’s volatility, said Kevin Cassidy, senior credit officer with Moody’s.

To be sure, not all of the consequences are negative. Though the situation is perilous for Europe, the United States economy does still enjoy some favorable tailwinds. Interest rates have dropped, benefiting homebuyers seeking mortgages and other borrowers. New data released Friday showed the economy added 290,000 jobs in April, the best monthly showing in four years.

Further, crude oil prices fell last week on fears of a slowdown, which should bring lower prices at the pump within weeks. Meanwhile, the dollar gained ground against the euro, reaching its highest level in 14 months.

While that makes European vacations more affordable for American tourists and could improve the fortunes of European companies, it could hurt profits at their American rivals. A stronger dollar makes American goods less affordable for buyers overseas, a one-two punch for American exporters if Europe falls back into recession. Excluding oil, the 16 countries that make up the euro zone buy about 14 percent of American exports.

For the largest American companies, which have benefited from the weak dollar in recent years, the pain could be more acute. More than a quarter of the profits of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index come from abroad, with Europe forming the largest component, according to Tobias Levkovich, Citigroup’s chief United States equity strategist. All this could mean the difference between an economy that grows fast enough to bring down unemployment, and one that is more stagnant.

The direct exposure of American banks to Greece is small, but below the surface, there are signs of other fissures. Even the strongest banks in Germany and France have heavy exposure to more troubled economies on the periphery of the Continent, and these big banks in turn are closely intertwined with their American counterparts.

Over all, United States banks have $3.6 trillion in exposure to European banks, according to the Bank for International Settlements. That includes more than a trillion dollars in loans to France and Germany, and nearly $200 billion to Spain.

What is more, American money-market investors are already feeling nervous about hundreds of billions of dollars in short-term loans to big European banks and other financial institutions. “Apparently systemic risk is still alive and well,” wrote Alex Roever, a J.P. Morgan credit analyst in a research note published Friday. With so much uncertainty about Europe and the euro, managers of these ultra-safe investment vehicles are demanding that European borrowers pay higher rates.

These funds provide the lifeblood of the international banking system. If worries about the safety of European banks intensify, they could push up their borrowing costs and push down the value of more than $500 billion in short-term debt held by American money-market funds.

Uncertainty about the stability of assets in money market funds signaled a tipping point that accelerated the downward spiral of the credit crisis in 2008, and ultimately prompted banks to briefly halt lending to one other.

Now, as Europe teeters, the dangers to the American economy — and the broader financial system — are becoming increasingly evident. “It seems like only yesterday that European policy makers were gleefully watching the U.S. get its economic comeuppance, not appreciating the massive tidal wave coming at them across the Atlantic,” said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor of international finance who also served as the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. “We should not make the same mistake.”

James Kanter contributed from Brussels.

Stony Ridge Seven Released After SWAT Team Stormed the Home of Keith Sadler

Homeowner Keith Sadler under arrest after a SWAT Team stormed his house during the early morning hours in Stony Ridge, Ohio on May 7, 2010. Sadler and six supporters were charged with trespassing and obstructing justice. They were later released.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Update on the Plight of the Stony Ridge 7

Keith Saddler and six supporters are out of jail after their arrest during a home invasion and forced eviction by the Wood County SWAT team early Friday morning. While the paramilitary police stormed Saddler's home, about 30 supporters rallied outside in the pouring rain chanting "Keith's house'.

Supporters, led by the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League, followed those arrested to the Woods County jail and continued to demonstrate. They demanded the immediate release of the "Stony Ridge Seven", and that all seven be fed their vegan diet. The Seven were released on their own recognizance after being charged with trespass and obstruction of justice.

A potluck and meeting Bowling Green took place Friday evening. It had originally been planned as a potluck and speakout rally at Saddler's home. Plans to continue the struggle, discussed at the meeting, will be announced soon.

The "Stony Ridge Seven" had barricaded themselves in Sadler's home since Sunday, in protest of the bank's foreclosure of his home of 20 years. It's been home for me, my daughter and nephews for periods of time, my nine cats and this was my grandson's first home after he was born," Sadler told Moratorium NOW! members who had visited earlier in the week.

A longtime UAW member in various manufacturing plants, Sadler was unable to work after a repetitive strain injury became acute in July 2008. After being out of work for some time due to his injury and two surgeries on his right hand, Sadler's income decreased and thus it became a severe challenge for him to meet his mortgage payments. The bank foreclosed on his home in 2009 and refused any loan modification. Despite delaying court proceedings through various means and attempting to procure legal aid assistance, Sadler's home was sold to the bank at a Sheriff's sale in January 2010. Sadler was thereafter served with a notice of eviction for midnight, May 2.

"I basically did everything within the system to save my house and it all came to nothing. We are taking a stand. We are drawing a line in the sand and saying 'enough is enough.' We're standing up and we hope others will too. We want an indefinite moratorium on all foreclosures. Having people's homes stolen right out from under them by the banks is not acceptable. We must fight back."

Sadler and other members of the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League believe that if the big banks can get a bailout, than so can the people.

Saddler's spokesperson, Lance Crandall, asks that people continue to call the bank and the sheriff to demand that all charges be dropped.

Local bank branch: 419-874-2090
Bank HQ: 419-783-8950

Wood County Sheriff's office: 419-354-9001
Sheriff's direct line: 419-354-9008
Sheriff's personal email: wasyl@wcnet.org

Call and email often!
Stayed tuned for more developments.

Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions, and Utility Shutoffs.

Nepal Maoists End General Strike

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has ended the general strike after nearly a week. Clashes erupted between strike supporters and pro-business elements on May 6, 2010.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Friday, May 07, 2010
21:52 Mecca time, 18:52 GMT

Nepal Maoists end unpopular strike

About 35,000 people massed in the capital to demand an end to the Maoist-enforced shutdown

Nepal's former Maoist rebels have ended their general strike six days after it paralysed businesses and daily life in the Himalayan nation.

Friday's decision followed a rally attended by around 35,000 people in Kathmandu, the capital, who demanded an end to the shutdown.

The protest, organised by the business community and other civil society groups, was the biggest anti-Maoist demonstration since the former rebels launched the strike, which closed down factories, shops, banks and schools and halted all ground transport.

"We have decided to end the strike keeping in mind the difficulties the general people have had to face in these past days," Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Maoist leader, said on Friday.

The Maoists would, however, proceed with other forms of anti-government protests until their demands for the government to step down were met, Dahal added.

"We will continue with our mass movement until May 28 - the deadline of the drafting of the constitution," he told reporters.

'Crippling strikes'

The Maoists, who hold about 40 per cent of seats in the 601-seat parliament, are pushing for the formation of a new national unity government under their own administration.

Experts said the group enforced the strike as a pressure tactic to return to power, which threatens Nepal's fragile peace process.

The United States had called on the Maoists to end the strike, voicing fear that the standoff could spiral into violence.

Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, encouraged all sides to try to resolve differences peacefully.

The Maoists gave up fighting government forces in 2006, ending a decade-long communist uprising that killed at least 14,000 people, before a peace deal was signed in 2006.

The left-wing group then won elections in 2008 before falling from power last year.

Consensus urged

Al Jazeera's Subina Shrestha, reporting from Kathmandu, said that Friday's protests had turned "violent when Maoists tried to stop people from attending the rally".

"The police were charging batons, shooting in the air and using tear gas shells in an effort to stop them [Maoists]."

At least five people were also wounded in the western town of Lekhnath, about 200km west of Kathmandu, when violence erupted over the strike.

The Maoists launched their challenge to the government - a loose coalition of 20 parties - ahead of May 28 when a new national constitution is expected to be drafted.

But legislators are likely to miss the deadline, leading to a possible political crisis.

"The prime minister needs to step down, and all parties must reach an agreement on how to move forward," Lok Raj Baral, chairman of the Nepal Centre of Contemporary Studies, a pro-democracy think tank, said.

"They must not forget that the constitution still needs to be written and the peace process brought back on track."

But the government has said it will not bow to the Maoists' demands.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Wood County Ohio Foreclosed Home Invaded by Cops; 7 Arrested and Released

Demonstration against the foreclosure of Keith Sadler in Stony Ridge, Ohio on May 2, 2010. A disabled worker, Sadler is facing eviction by the Sheriff. Members of Moratorium NOW!, Take Back the Land and others stand in support.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Wood County Home Invaded by Cops

Keith Stadler's home was invaded this morning by cops from the Wood
County SWAT Team. There were actually 7 people in the home and they've all been arrested but not charged yet.

Supporters are now at the Wood
County Sheriff's office demanding the immediate release of all 7. The
other immediate demand is that all 7 be fed their vegan diet. Lance, the
media spokesperson for the 7, told us via phone just now that he will be
putting out a media release and we'll get this out asap when we get it.

UPDATED--Sadler taken from foreclosed home to Wood County Jail /
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=12444238

Some Cleveland supporters who were already going to Keith's home to
visit and support them today are now instead enroute to the Wood County
Sheriff's jail where we'll assist in mounting a protest to demand the
immediate release of those arrested and also to demand: arrest the
bankers not the workers, moratorium NOW! etc.

The Wood County Sheriff's location is: 1960 East Gypsy Lane Road,
Bowling Green, OH. Call the Sheriff at (419) 354-7744 and demand the
immediate release of the Stony Ridge 7.

We are awaiting word as to what is going to happen with the pot-luck
cookout and rally speak-out that was scheduled for this evening.

We'll send more information as we get it.

Zimbabwe News Update: Parties to Preserve Liberation Legacy

Former South African President Nelson Mandela during a 1997 three-day state visit to Zimbabwe, along with President Robert Mugabe.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Parties to preserve liberation legacy

By Hebert Zharare recently in DAR ES SALAAM, Tanza

Southern African liberation movements have resolved to work together to preserve the heritage and legacy of the struggle for independence for the region’s development.

Speaking to journalists at the Harare International Airport, soon after arriving from Tanzania yesterday afternoon, President Mugabe said the legacy of the struggle was integral to Africa’s future.

The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces was in Dar es Salaam to attend a summit of regional liberation movements.

He said he also addressed the 20th World Economic Forum on Africa that ran concurrently with the summit of the liberation movements.

"A full statement will be issued on the issues discussed by the summit. The parties agreed to preserve the heritage and legacy of the struggle. We agreed we should work together to ensure that what we fought for is sustained. Our people should understand that," he said.

Turning to the WEF on Africa, the President said all the principals to the Global Political Agreement addressed the forum.

"Well, the issue was impromptu that there be a session for the three principals to the Global Political Agreement to feature and make some statements. That is the session we attended and all the three principals made some statements.

"It is the forum that we continue to address in order to attract investment and give a picture of the stability we have. I addressed the meeting and touched on land, sanctions and indigenisation," he said.

The WEF on Africa brings together the political leadership, businesspersons, investors and development agencies.

Southern African liberation parties met to deliberate on how best they could work together amid mounting challenges caused by external forces among other issues.

The meeting of the heads of the liberation movements was preceded by a session bringing together their parties secretaries-general. The summit was held at the Presidential Palace.

Present were President Mugabe, host President Jakaya Kikwete, President Jacob Zuma (South Africa), President Armando Guebuza (Mozambique) and President Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia).

The meeting of the secretaries-general was attended by Cde Didymus Mutasa (Zanu-PF), Cde Gwede Mantashe (ANC), Cde Pendukeni Livuka Iithana (Swapo), Cde Philipe Paude (Frelimo) and Cde Yussuf Makamba (CCM).

Speaking to The Herald in Tanzania after the Wednesday summit, Cde Mutasa said: "Following our two-day meeting as secretaries-general of the liberation parties, we then met the presidents of the parties during the summit on Wednesday.

"We discussed how we can consolidate our heritage as liberation parties. We also discussed how we can preserve our legacy as liberation parties.

"It was resolved that there was a need for the liberation parties to move around where they operated and make sure that the heritage was identified and preserved."

Cde Mutasa said some of the issues raised were still under consideration and needed further discussion.

The idea of a summit of the liberation parties was mooted in South Africa in October 2000 when it become clear that the majority of the liberation parties in Southern Africa were under attack from the West that wanted to replace them with captive reactionary movements.


Malema victimised, says Zanu-PF Youth League

Herald Reporter

THE Zanu-PF Youth League has expressed concern at the decision by the African National Congress to take disciplinary action against its Youth League president Cde Julius Malema for going against a court ruling barring him from singing the revolutionary song "Dubulu ibhunu (Shoot the Boer)".

The charges, the Zanu-PF Youth League said, could be linked to his open support for Zimbabwe.

In a statement, Zanu-PF Youth League deputy secretary for information and publicity Cde Cecilia Chivhunga said Cde Malema was being "victimised".

"As Zanu-PF Youth League we are dismayed by the ANC statement that they want to discipline Cde Malema for supporting and showing solidarity with Zanu-PF and the people of Zimbabwe. At party level, we have a lot in common with our counterparts from the ANC and that is the reason their national chairperson and secretary-general came to Zimbabwe to celebrate achievements made by our leadership in Zanu-PF," she said.

ANC national chairperson Cde Baleka Mbete and secretary-general Cde Gwede Mantashe visited Zimbabwe with the former attending Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo’s celebrations for assuming the chairmanship post in Lupane last weekend.

Cde Chivhunga said: "We appreciate what the South African government has done in the formation of the inclusive Government and the role they are still playing which, role should be separated from the ANC."

Describing Cde Malema as a "rare crop of new revolutionaries emerging in Southern Africa," Cde Chivhunga said the ANC youth leader would always receive the highest respect from principled youths.

The ANC has instituted disciplinary measures against Cde Malema for, among other things, openly supporting Zanu-PF and President Mugabe and castigating the MDC-T.


Women urged to join army

Herald Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN women have been urged to join the army and support national causes as they did during the liberation struggle.

Addressing troops at a passout parade at One Commando in Harare yesterday, the director of army social services Colonel Zvanyadza Machinjili urged women not to limit themselves professionally.

‘’Nothing can stop us as women to join the army. Women played a very pivotal role in the liberation struggle when conditions and the environment were very tough. What more with this peace which is prevailing in the country?

"Though the ranks of women in the army have increased, we still need more women in the army so that the ranks will continue to increase," she said.

Among the 180 members who graduated yesterday, 20 were females.

"The inclusion of women in such a demanding course signifies the importance that the Zimbabwe National Army places on gender equality," she said.

The two-month course saw troops being trained in disciplines like foot and arm drills, military-civic education and physical fitness.

Sergeant Didymus Gate from the Directorate of Procurement scooped the best trainee award.

Rebecca Moyo from the Commando Regiment was adjudged the second runner-up while Corporal Jonathan Mazwi from the Paratroopers Regiment came in third.

United States Amends Sanctions Law Against Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe masses gather to greet Iranian President Ahmadinejad who visited the country on April 22, 2010. Iran and Zimbabwe have a close fraternal relationship as anti-imperialist states.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

US ‘amends’ sanctions law

Herald Reporter

UNITED STATES lawmakers have, for the first time, admitted that the discredited sanctions law, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, has brought untold suffering to ordinary Zimbabweans.

On Tuesday, Democrat Senators Russ Feingold and John Kerry and their Republican counterpart Johnny Isakson proposed amending the sanctions to come up with a less virulent Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.

Feingold sponsored the enactment of ZDERA which then US assistant secretary of state for African affairs Chester Crocker said was aimed at ‘‘making the economy scream’’ in order to separate Zimbabweans from Zanu-PF.

The then US president George W. Bush signed ZDERA into law on December 21, 2001.

However, the proposed amendments to ZDERA still amount to gross interference in Zimbabwe’s internal political processes, observers said.

Gerald LeMelle, the executive director of Africa Action — an American advocacy group lobbying for the changes — said the sanctions had “inflicted hardships on the country”.

Online media quoted him as saying: “That’s the kind of attitude that helps contribute to the poverty and the failed states . . .

“We at Africa Action have spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to educate people as to what is really going on.

“The key is whether the power of the forces who have a deep-seated hatred for (President) Mugabe are going to win,” LeMelle said.

He said the Bill is needed to counter what he said were the excesses of President Mugabe’s lifelong, hardened critics.

“There are very powerful interests who have never liked (President) Robert Mugabe, and this is an obsession to the point where they want to defeat or ignore anything that may benefit Zimbabwe if it means that Zimbabwe will be seen in a successful light,” he said.

If adopted, the proposed new sanctions law seeks to pave way for the US government to directly fund certain Cabinet portfolios in Zimbabwe, ostensibly those in MDC formation hands.

The proposal seeks to “authorise technical assistance to reformist Government ministries and to the Parliament in its efforts to amend or repeal repressive legislation”.

In a statement posted on the Internet, the US Congress said the Act “is designed to help those parts of the transitional Government and Parliament that demonstrate a firm commitment to democratic reform, while renewing and ramping up pressure on hardliners and the activities that sustain their abuses”.

Apart from this attempt to divide the operations of the inclusive Government, the proposals also compel US President Barack Obama to push for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

Observers said the new law is a perpetuation of the same sanctions that the senators admit have hurt ordinary Zimbabweans.

A Government official said: “The statement from the US Congress clearly shows that they want to find an excuse to give money to MDC-T.

“It is a form of helping them campaign ahead of elections and it is against our laws.

“Ironically, these same people are considering a law in their own country that will make it illegal for foreigners to interfere in American political processes.”

The law in question, the America for Ameri-cans Act, is modelled along Zimbabwe’s Political Parties (Finance) Act and bars foreigners from funding political parties.

“There are really no major changes that the people of Zimbabwe should expect. It is a continuation of the scenario in the past decade,” the Government official said.

He said this was a way for the US to continue supporting the anti-President Mugabe agenda.

Zimbabwe Revolutionary Volunteers Front chair and political analyst Mr Godwine Mureriwa said the new law could be a response to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s call for a partial lifting of the sanctions.

“It’s double standards on their part to admit that ZDERA is hurting the people and at the same time partially amending it.

“We don’t need a reformation of ZDERA. We need its total removal and it’s up to Tsvangirai to tell them that we don’t need any legisla- tion that has a negative bearing on the lives of the people of Zimbabwe and its sovereignty.”

That Day When Nkrumah Was Overthrown

President Kwame Nkrumah in February 1966 leaving Ghana at Accra International Airport. His government was overthrown the following day while Nkrumah was enroute to China and Vietnam on a peace mission.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

That day when Nkrumah was overthrown

By Kofi Amenyo

It was a Thursday, a normal school day like any other. We woke up and prepared for school. I cannot remember if we had our Akasanoma radio then or if my parents bought one later. Maybe it was at school that morning that I first heard of it. The teachers had huddled around in groups discussing it. Some of the pupils too were saying something to that effect – that Nkrumah had been overthrown. As little kids not even in our teens, we didn’t understand it. They talked about a coup d’état, a word we had never heard before. They said Nkrumah was no longer the president of Ghana. But that was unthinkable. It just couldn’t be! There was no place in our childish minds for a Ghana without Nkrumah. And so, when the teachers assured us that it was not true, and that he had only travelled and he would come back and continue as President and things would be as they always were, we believed them.

But things had changed and Ghana would never again be as we had known it. Never! The day at school wore on and it was becoming clearer and clearer that Nkrumah was no longer the president in Ghana. Our childish hearts sunk in confusion. How could a man whom many of us had never seen before but had known so well no longer be what we had always known him to be? For us, Nkrumah was everything. He was in the newspapers every day. His name was mentioned on the news every day.

My own parents were not very political so the reaction at home was muted. My school teacher’s father, who hated politics like the very plague, never said anything to us kids. We had to struggle ourselves to make sense of things. But out there in town, people started jubilating. It was true that something monumental had happened in our country. The CPP stalwarts, including the DC, had disappeared. They were rounding up people.

As children, we didn’t know what this really meant. We didn’t have the capacity to consider the implications of the man’s policies for us children. It was only several years later, as an adult, that I would look at things differently. Today, I remember when our parents had to buy text books for us. The Ministry of Education gave out a list of books to be bought by parents. You went to the Methodist or E. P. Book Depot or Reliance Bookshop to buy those books. Then they said it was now free education. I will never forget that day in Primary school when the first government issued books arrived. The whole class jumped up, shouted and beat on our desks in sheer ecstasy. We were supplied with fresh textbooks and school materials. The bottles of ink (Lion Ink) were removed straight from their cartons with the sawdust still on them. Every pupil received one each. We still wrote with fountain pens then. Ball point pens were scarce and were, anyway, forbidden because they would spoil our handwriting. We were supplied with pencils, penholders, erasers and even blotting paper. The vehicles went around all villages and towns in Ghana supplying all these materials to all students free. There was also free health care. A new health centre opened in town. You didn’t spend a pesewa to have your wound dressed or get some tablets for your malaria. The country could afford all these things. We were then only six million Ghanaians and there was obviously a place for everybody. (I can’t imagine we are now 23 million!). Many of the names you heard at the health centre were Togolese or Nigerian names but nobody asked where they came from. Everybody got a treatment.

The headteacher of my Primary School, a CPP functionary and one of the organizers of the local Young Pioneers (YP), was increasingly infusing YP practices into our daily assembly sessions. There were “flag bearers” who stood at attention in front of the school with little Ghanaian flags planted on the ground in front of them. We sang the national anthem – the one that asked us to lift high the flag of Ghana (as kids whose English wasn’t very good, we sang something more like: “Liifa de fla or Ghaaana”). Some people said the headteacher was trying to let us recite the YP pledge – the one with the socialism, Nkrumaism and all the other –isms that we didn’t understand. With our tiny hands on our young hearts, we would pledge every day to be ready to surrender the sovereignty of Ghana for the total unification of Africa. Never mind the fact that we didn’t understand what the word “sovereignty” meant. We mumbled it all the same. Then the school band would strike and we would march in lines to our various classrooms singing “Ghana – Guinea – Mali solidaaarity; And the union made them strong”. Variants of this ritual were enacted at morning assemblies in all schools in Ghana. Oh, we also paid a shilling each for the red YP scarves. The day they arrived, we were very happy. They were manufactured in China.

The YP idea was meant to “…instil into the youth of Ghana a high sense of patriotism, respect and love for Ghana as their fatherland”. But everything was built around the personality of Nkrumah. It was “Nkrumah is our messiah”, “Nkrumah never dies”, Nkrumah this, Nkrumah that, Nkrumah everything. It was very political and many parents, including mine, refused to let their children take part even though the pioneers received everything free.

It was also the time they were changing the text books. It would no longer be the Oxford English Reader, the one with Sam Danso, the lorry driver. There were new readers that were more in tune with the new Ghana. But in Middle School, we still read the Red Book and the Blue Book and, in Form one, an additional one with a green cover with the story of Guy Fawkes. Also in Form One, a supplementary version of the autobiography of The Great Leader was required reading. Even today, I can still recollect some of the stories in the book beautifully illustrated with coloured drawings – his mother carrying him and crossing a stream, Nkrumah teaching as a pupil teacher was so tiny he had to stand on a box to write on the black board, and Nkrumah in Pennsylvania as a poor student who had to collect coal falling off the truck to survive. All these stories made such a mark on our impressionable minds.

The original version of his autobiography was titled “Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah”. Even the very title reveals his relationship with the nation. The words of the young Louis XIV could very well have been said by Nkrumah too - L'état? c'est Moi! The state was Nkrumah, and he was the state. His portrait (the one of him in the kente cloth) looked down on you in every government office and in every classroom. His effigy was on all the coins and notes. The one I remember most is the red one-pesewa coin at a time when pesewas were worth something. Daily Graphic cost two pesewas which some Ghanaians still called “tuppence”. The coins had the citation: Civitatis ghanensis conditor: Kwame Nkrumah. You were always reminded that this was the founder of the nation. His picture was on the commonest postage stamps. Many things were named after him. Not in the remotest village in Ghana could you miss this man, who was our president.

Out there in the country, the people would give him numerous high-sounding appellations and sing his praises every day. Kpandu Borborbor (at the time the best borborbor group in the whole world, no two ways about that) would sing: Ayeee, dor mawuwo, ne wodze Kwame yome, dor mawu wo oo – giving a cynical materialist twist to the messiah’s admonishment of seeking first the political kingdom, upon which all other things shall then be added. And we all danced to the music. The youth would sing and call on all Pan African socialist students to rise up in staunch party loyalty and by the words of Kwame Nkrumah raise the battle cry and march on to the new Ghana land. And Nkrumah ruled. And he reigned.

And now they are telling us that this man is no longer President of the republic that he founded. How?

Then the NLC propaganda machine set to work with exquisite efficacy. At its height, it was vicious. It was aided in no small measure by the release of the pent up feelings of the againstfuo who had been seething with anger (and envy?) all these years. Now, they had a field day. Some of them had just been released from the prisons.

In the provincial town where I grew up, the grown-ups made a coffin for the man and carried it in a rowdy procession from one end of the town to the other. We the children also followed them, singing the anti-Nkrumah songs that were now in vogue. We called him names – something we dared not do before. Then the procession came back to the Post Office square where a huge bonfire was burning. They threw the coffin into it amidst wild jubilation. They fed the fires with his books, pictures, CPP paraphernalia and everything that had to do with him. This macabre ceremony was performed all over the country. A man, who was not yet dead, was cremated several times by his own countrymen who were determined to obliterate his memory.

But the man lived on in Conakry where he was broadcasting to Ghanaians urging them to rise up against their new oppressors. I never heard any of those broadcasts. I don’t think many Ghanaians heard them but I would later read about them in his book “Dark Days in Ghana”. Then they told us that he was raising an army to invade Ghana but we never saw any army. They made up stories about him. They said he was pining away in Conakry crying for his lost Ghana: Oh my Akosombo, oh my motorway, oh my Tema Harbour, oh my Job 600. And we children believed that too.

The cartoonists also set to work giving us vivid depictions of the horrors of the man’s regime. They drew him as a vampire bat feeding on the blood of Ghanaians. There was Nkrumah kneeling at the shrine of Kankan Nyame. A very popular one was that in which he asked us to tighten our belts from 1957 to 1966 and ghanaman had done that until he became emaciated. These drawings were made into black and white photos and sold all over the country. Grown-up people bought these photos and were looking at them and feeling satisfied. They showed them to us children too and we also looked at them. And everybody was laughing at Kwame Nkrumah.

Little children that we were, we followed wherever the wind was blowing. Now they told us that the once glorified leader was actually a villain. We believed that too. So when one year later Kotoka was killed, some of us children nearly wept. How could they do that to the hero who liberated us from the clutches of an evil man?

It must be admitted that it was not difficult to find bad things to say about Nkrumah’s regime but in our enthusiasm to paint him black, we may have overdone it at the same time as we completely forgot all his achievements. This realization would dawn on us only much later when the euphoria created by his overthrow would die down.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the war clouds were gathering. The history books tell us Gen. Ankrah was taking an avuncular interest in the affairs of our big neighbours and invited the would-be combatants to talk peace at Nkrumah’s Peduase Lodge. How Nkrumah would have loved to have been the one in that mediatory role! He loved such things. Wasn’t he the great world statesman? Was he not on his way to talk peace in Hanoi when he was overthrown? Perhaps if he had stayed at home, he would have kept his job and our country’s history would have been very different. The Nigerian coup happened on 15th January. They said Nkrumah had then said something against coups but added that if it became absolutely necessary for the army to take over, it should quickly hand over to civilians. Barely a month later he, too, was overthrown.

By the time of the handover to a civilian regime, Ghanaians had almost forgotten him. He was no longer an issue and a Busia government wasn’t going to do anything to keep him on our minds. Then in April 1972, we heard that he had died in Romania. The man died far away without ever seeing his “beloved country” again. Busia had already been overthrown and would also spend the rest of his life in a second exile.

They said Acheampong was playing politics by bringing his body back to placate Ghanaians after overthrowing Busia. Acheampong had said something in his coup day speech about the army under the Busia regime losing “even the few amenities” it had enjoyed in the Nkrumah regime. But it was said that Nkrumah had always expressed the desire to be buried in his beloved Ghana and the decision to bring him back was a tremendous hit with Ghanaians.

And they came in their numbers to see him. I, too, now a brash teenager, was there in the queue. The lines were miles long but people waited patiently. All day long Ghanaians kept coming. There were buses from distant corners of the country. Some shed tears. Many came out of curiosity. But they all came to catch a glimpse of the mortal remains of this great son of the land they had loved so much and also despised so vehemently. But this time, out in the yard, there were no Young Pioneers marching smartly by or performing calisthenics. There were no members of the Workers Brigade in their khaki uniforms. There were no CPP stalwarts singing the party’s battle song: “There is victory for us”, and there were no market women shaking their big bottoms as they danced to the Nkrumah songs (Obeye amame oo obeye amame, ‘sagyefo bebaa…). It was a more solemn occasion. The coffin and the panoply were decked in the national colours. Ceremonially attired policemen stood in solemn attention around the stand. You went by and saw him only for a few seconds. It didn’t look at all like him but even in death, this man’s stranglehold on Ghanaians was strong.

This write-up is not meant to be an appraisal of Nkrumah. That has been done by better minds than mine and the debate over his ambivalent legacy may, perhaps, never end. Nkrumah was overthrown 44 years ago. He died 38 years ago. Many living Ghanaians were not born when he ruled. Today, it is clear that the good that he did was not interred with his bones and many (especially the young) idolize him. Even if some will continue reminding us of his dictatorial proclivities, it has remained true, after all, that NKRUMAH NEVER DIES!

Credit: Kofi Amenyo
kofi.amenyo@yahoo.com

Story from Myjoyonline.Com News:
http://news.myjoyonline.com/features/201004/45090.asp
Published: 4/22/2010

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua Has Died at 58

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua had won a victory in the high court which said that he did not have to relinquish power as a result of an illness that kept him away from the country for nearly two months. He died on May 5, 2010.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Umaru Yar'Adua is dead

By Terfa Tilley-Gyado and Elizabeth Archibong
Nigeria Next
May 6, 2010 02:59AM

Nigeria's president, Umaru Yar'Adua died yesterday evening after a prolonged battle with a debilitating heart disease. Mr Yar'Adua, 58, died around 9pm surrounded by his wife, Turai, his mother and several members of his family.

The presidential spokesperson, Segun Adeniyi, confirmed that Mr Yar'Adua's body is in the presidential villa in Abuja and will be buried at 2pm today in his home town of Katsina according to Islamic rites. The Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, who had been expected to travel to Rivers State today, will be sworn in as substantive president at 8am today as mandated by the constitution.

Mr Jonathan has also declared Thursday a public holiday and said Nigerians should embark on a week of mourning for the departed president. He expressed great sadness after being informed of the news by Aliyu Gusau, the national security adviser.

He said: "Nigeria has lost the jewel on its crown, and even the heavens mourn with our nation tonight" Mr. Jonathan described the death of the president as sad, unfortunate and regrettable. "As individuals and as a nation we prayed for the recovery of Mr. President. But we take solace in the fact that the Almighty is the giver and taker of all life," he said.

Attempts by NEXT to gain entry into the premises of the Aso Rock villa were met by hostile opposition. Security forces surrounded the pilot gate which leads directly into the villa and barred anyone from entering or approaching. Beyond the gate, there did not seem to be a great deal of activity although Mr. Yar'Adua's mother and aide-de-camp had been seen earlier leaving the compound.

Nearby, at the Acting President's residence, Theophilus Danjuma,

Mr Gusau and Tony Anenih were all seen wearing grave expressions on their faces. All the men declined to comment.

Problem with health

Mr. Yar'Adua had experienced constant health issues since he assumed office in 2007. This culminated in a medical visit to Saudi Arabia in November last year which resulted in him being away from the country for over three months. At the time, the president's personal physician diagnosed his ailment as acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the linings surrounding the heart. However, investigations by NEXT revealed that Mr. Yar'Adua was also suffering from Churg-Strauss syndrome and that his primary organs were severely weakened as a result.

After mounting pressure, both domestically and internationally, Mr.
Yar'Adua finally returned to Nigeria on February 24. However his return was shrouded in secrecy and he was never again seen in public until his death, by which time, the late president had not been seen in public for almost 6 months.

Bayelsa State governor, Timpreye Sylva described the death of Mr Yar'Adua as a ‘national tragedy.' Mr Sylva, according to his press secretary, Doifie Ola, said Mr Yar'Adua was a great Nigerian leader who had the best intentions for the country at heart. "Yar'Adua was a straight and honest politician. There are not many of his kind. It is unfortunate that due to his sickness, he could not implement his well thought out programmes and policies," Mr Sylva said.

Mr. Yar'Adua is survived by two wives and 9 children. The council of ministers, security chiefs and the leadership of the National Assembly met with Mr Jonathan early this morning to discuss modalities for his swearing in.

Fela, Others Top Tony Award Nominations

Fela and his band. The Nigerian artist has been portrayed on Broadway with a musical which began in 2009.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Nigeria: Fela, Others Top Tony Award Nominations

Roland Ogbonnaya With Agency Report
5 May 2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lagos — More than 12 years after he died, honour and recognition have continued to come the way of Nigerian Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.Fela, a new dance musical that tells the story of the Afrobeat legend, and another musical topped the nominees for the 64th annual Tony Awards, which was announced yesterday.

Another top nominee with Fela is "La Cage aux Folles," a show about a long-time gay couple dealing with love and family. It won the Tony Award for best musical in 1984 and the Tony for best musical revival (its first) in 2005.

In a shift from recent years, this year's Tony Award nominations do not favour shows that are still running, or are runaway hits at the box office, or are likely to tour nationally.

The new musical Fela and the musical revival "La Cage aux Folles" each received the most nominations, 11, and neither has hot ticket sales right now or plans to tour in the United States (though Fela will go to London later this year). Next up is "Fences" with 10 nominations, which is making plenty of money but is set to end its limited engagement in July.

But after that are "Memphis" with eight nominations and middling grosses; "Ragtime" with seven - and it closed in January with a total loss to investors of its $8 million capitalisation; and, among others, "A View From the Bridge" (six), "The Royal Family" (five), "Finian's Rainbow" (three), and "In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)" (three) - which have all closed.

Fela tells the extravagant, decadent, and rebellious world of the Afrobeat legend who died in August 1997. Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk, and African rhythm and harmonies), Fela explores Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician.

Featuring many of Fela's most captivating songs, Fela is a provocative hybrid of concert, dance, and musical theatre. Shawn Jay-Z Carter and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth and Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem and Slava Smolokowski produce the project.

Others are Chip Merles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glaser, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/Mort Swinsky and Knitting Factory Entertainme.With yesterday's nomination, this is the second time "La Cage" was being nominated for best musical revival.

"La Cage" has come a long way from 1984, when some critics and members of the theater elite held the show in modest regard, viewing it as a campy spectacle about drag queens and gay self-hatred.

Audiences however took to the musical enthusiastically, and it became one of the most accessible gay love stories on stage, running for 1,761 performances and becoming more commercially popular than other major gay-themed Broadway productions like "Torch Song Trilogy" or "Angels in America."

It also beat out Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George" in 1984 for best musical, to the shock of some musical theater purists. In 1984, "La Cage" received nine Tony nominations; in 2005, the show received four.

This year, the new revival, which was first produced at London's Menier Chocolate Factory, has 11, tying Fela for the most nominations of the 2009-10 season.

The nominees are now before the voters, a relatively small group of 700 who would seem to have conflicts of interest galore (their shows being among the nominees, or friends working on some nominated shows, or rivals working on others).

There are also the out-of-town voters who will be casting ballots:

Other nominations are: 10 Memphis - 8 Ragtime - 7 Red -7A View From the Bridge - 6 The Royal Family - 5 Enron - 4 A Little Night Music - 4 Promises, Promises - 4 American Idiot - 3 Finian's Rainbow - 3 Lend Me a Tenor - 3 Million Dollar Quartet - 3. The nominations also include: The Addams Family - 2 Come Fly Away - 2 Everyday Rapture - 2 Hamlet - 2 Next Fall - 2 Time Stands Still - 2 and A Behanding in Spokane - 1 Collected Stories - 1 Looped - 1 Present Laughter - 1 Race - 1 Superior Donuts - 1.

Three Killed in Greece Protests Against Capitalist Economic Crisis

Greek workers and youth staged a general strike in opposition to the so-called bailout scheme engineered by the leading capitalist countries in Europe, the United States and world financial institutions.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Greek Bank Workers To Strike Thursday In Memory Of Three Dead

ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece's bank workers union, OTOE, said it will stage a 24-hour strike Thursday in memory of three bank employees who were killed during a violent protest over recent government austerity measures.

"The tragic events that ended the lives of three colleagues is a sad consequence of the anti-popular measures which led to an uprising of popular rage and the protest of hundreds of thousands of workers," OTOE said in a statement late Wednesday.

The statement blamed both the government for underestimating the popular opposition to the measures, and the management of Greece's banks who frown on their employees taking part in strikes.

On Sunday, the Greek government announced some EUR30 billion in austerity measures in exchange for an EUR110 billion loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Union website: http://www.otoe.gr

-By Alkman Granitsas, Dow Jones Newswires; +30 210 331 2881; alkman.granitsas@dowjones.com


Three killed in Greece protests

At least three people have been killed in the Greek capital as protesters set fire to a bank during a general strike over planned austerity measures.

The bodies were found inside the Marfin Bank in Athens. The Greek prime minister said it was a "murderous act".

The protest became violent, with petrol bombs thrown at police who responded with pepper spray and tear gas.

Protesters are angered by spending cuts and tax rises planned in return for a 110bn euro (£95bn) bail-out for Greece.

A police spokesman said the three victims - two women and a man - were among 20 people working in the Marfin bank branch on Stadiou Avenue in central Athens when the petrol bomb was thrown.

Most of the employees managed to escape the fumes as the flames took hold, but the three found their way blocked as they tried to escape to the roof and they suffocated.

"We took 15 minutes to get to the site because it was very difficult to get there," fire brigade spokesman Panayiotis Falaras.

He said another five people were rescued from the building's balcony.

This demonstration however, looks better organised too, with clear "military" objectives.

But the deaths are going to make the protesters pause. And there is going to be a backlash against the anarchists who are going to be the main suspects in this.

It is very difficult to predict which way the situation is going. This is a very volatile country. But the protesters have managed to send a message to the international community that social unrest is a serious problem and that is going to undermine trust in the Greek government.

Parliament is to vote on the measures by the end of the week. They include wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises. They aim to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30bn euros over three years, with the goal of cutting Greece's public deficit to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%.

As the demonstration gained momentum, a group of protesters rushed up a flight of steps at the parliament building in Syntagma Square, taunting MPs to come out and calling them "thieves".

Riot police forced them back, but right next to parliament, other groups set buildings on fire - including a department of the finance ministry in charge of the the austerity programme as well as an office of the Athens prefecture.

Prime Minister George Papandreou told MPs in parliament: "Nobody has the right to violence and particularly violence that leads to murder. Violence breeds violence."

But one of the protesters told the BBC it had been the fault of the police, whose "brutality" had led to the escalation.

"It's something tragic but I think that the responsibility in the last instance lies with the government because the government unleashed a tremendous amount of police violence against a huge demonstration," Panayotis Sotiris said.

The Greek protesters' ire is aimed against symbols of capitalism, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.

Our correspondent says it is not clear whether shock over the deaths will have the effect of diminishing the protests - but the fear is that the campaign to defeat the government will escalate.

World concern

The general strike is the third to hit Greece in as many months.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GREEK AUSTERITY MEASURES

Public sector pay frozen till 2014
Public sector salary bonuses - equivalent to two months' extra pay - scrapped for higher earners and capped for others
Public sector allowances cut by 20%
State pensions frozen or cut; contribution period up from 37 to 40 years
Average retirement age up from 61 to 63; early retirement restricted
VAT increased from 19% to 23%
Taxes on fuel, alcohol and tobacco up 10%
One-off tax on profits, plus new gambling, property and green taxes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flights in and out of Greece stopped at midnight, and trains and ferries were not running. Schools, hospitals, and many offices are shut.

The government has appealed to demoralised staff in the military, police, schools and hospitals not to retire, fearing the surge in demand for benefits could further drain treasury resources.

Meanwhile, the German parliament has begun considering the bail-out plan for Greece.Chancellor Angela Merkel urged MPs to back the emergency loan package agreed by European finance ministers at the weekend.

It requires Germany to pay the largest proportion of the loans.

"Quite simply, Europe's future is at stake," she said.

The EU has agreed to provide 80bn euros (£69bn) in funding - of which around 22bn euros would come from Germany - while the rest will come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

European Council President Herman van Rompuy said the European Union was watching events in Greece.

"We are all concerned by the Greek economic and budgetary situation but at this moment our thoughts are with the human victims in Athens," Mr van Rompuy said

"A major programme has just been finalised. This programme is ambitious and credible in efforts that it represents towards the budgetary plan and competitiveness."

The bail-out deal is designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt.

However, it must first be approved by some parliaments in the 15 other eurozone countries.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8661385.stm
Published: 2010/05/05 16:18:06 GMT


Wednesday, May 05, 2010
22:35 Mecca time, 19:35 GMT

Greek demonstrations turn deadly

Police fired tear gas at protesters hurling petrol bombs, rocks and sticks at officers

Three people have been killed in a petrol bomb attack on a bank in central Athens, as protests in the capital over the government's spending cuts turned violent.

Athens police were put on a "general state of alert" as firemen evacuated around 20 people from the wreckage of a Marfin Bank branch, where two men and a pregnant woman died of asphyxiation.

The building was set on fire after protesters smashed its windows and hurled petrol bombs inside.

George Papandreaou, the Greek prime minister, branded the deaths as "murders", but defended the austerity measures people were protesting.

"We are deeply shocked by the unjust death of these three people, our fellow citizens, who were victims of a murderous act," he said.

But he added: "We took these decisions [spending cuts] to save the country. The alternative would be bankruptcy."

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against the government's so-called austerity measures, which are aimed at curbing the nation's crippling debt crisis.

But demonstrations turned ugly, Barnaby Phillips, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Athens said, with a small minority "causing a lot of trouble and hijacking the agenda".

"It looked like a pitched battle for quite a while. An awful lot of tear gas used by the police, they would say no doubt to protect the parliament building and perhaps the people in it.

"An awful lot of rocks and debris thrown by the crowd, bins have been set on fire," he said.

'Heated' atmosphere

Groups of protesters pelted police with rocks, chunks of marble and bottles, while officers responded with tear gas and water cannon, clouding the city streets.

Estimates of the number of demonstrators varied from 27,000 to 100,000, making it the biggest protest since Greece was first hit by economic disaster late last year.

Workers, led by members of a communist trade union, beat drums and chanted "don't mess with us" as they marched through the city on Wednesday.

Others chanted "thieves, thieves" as they attempted to storm parliament.

Phillips said the atmosphere was "heated".

"Over the last few days, I've felt that anger is growing in many sectors of Greek society," he said.

Protest leaders have said that although the austerity measures were needed to secure $143bn in loans from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), poorer Greeks will suffer disproportionately.

"There are other things the [government] can do, before taking money from a retiree who earns 500 euros [$660] a month," Spyros Papaspyros, leader of the ADEDY civil servants' union, said.

The action came amid a 24-hour nationwide strike, that brought transport and public services, including schools, hospitals and tax offices to a standstill.

Aircraft have been grounded, ferries have remained in docks and public transport has been halted.

Economy fears

The general strike is the third to paralyse the country in as many months.

It comes a day before the Greek government plans to push through it austerity measures, imposed as a condition of bail out by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Barnaby Phillips said the government was likely to continue with its programme, despite Wednesday's violence.

"It's highly unusual within the Greek political context where violence is often quite ritualistic. Clearly things crossed the line at some stage today, and deaths like these are highly unusual.

"But I don't think the Socialist government feels that it has any choice ... it feels that Greece's debt crisis is such that it cannot back down," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday the European Commission said that Greece's economy is set to contract by three per cent in 2010, in a far gloomier estimate than they delivered in November.

The commission also forecast the country's deficit would be 9.3 per cent of GDP in 2010 and 9.9 per cent in 2011.

Greek stocks dropped over three per cent in early trades on Wednesday amid concerns over whether the government will be able to push through the unpopular austerity drive.

The cuts, some of which have already been implemented, will significantly affect civil servants' and pensioners' incomes.

Among the major measures announced on Sunday were a cut in bonus pay for civil servants and retirees; three years more for pension contributions; and the raising of the retirement age for women to 65, the same level as men.

Fears that the crisis could spread caused a fall in Asian markets on Wednesday, as well as European and US markets on Tuesday.

The euro also fell to a one-year low against the dollar during Asian trading.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Millions of Cubans Take to Plazas and Avenues for May Day

May Day demonstration in Cuba where millions of workers and youth attended. The demonstrations called for the release of the Cuban Five and the lifting of the embargo against the Caribbean nation by the United States.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Millions of Cubans take to plazas and avenues for May Day

FROM an early hour, millions of Cuban men and women invaded the principal plazas and avenues of the island’s municipal and provincial cities, where parades for International Workers Day took place Saturday.

Television footage and radio reports reveal the mass nature, enthusiasm, color and combativeness of these mobilizations, the first of which begins in Santiago de Cuba, whose General Antonio Maceo Plaza overflowed with tens of thousands of happy and patriotic people.

One of the central reasons and motivations moving the sons and daughters of the homeland of José Martí and Fidel Castro to turn out for the May Day celebrations is the imperative of sending a signal to the world of the unity of the people around their Revolution and leaders, at a time when imperialism and its lackeys are attempting to discredit it.

Workers, students, campesinos, housewives and combatants are all affirming that neither anti-Cuba media campaigns nor internal provocations by the counterrevolution can deter the advance of this social project.

They were accompanied in dozens of the island’s plazas and avenues by representatives of trade union organizations and solidarity groups who had come there from various parts of the world to confirm that Cuba is not alone, that its example is multiplying, and that its achievements and principles are defended worldwide.

Before the parades or events had even begun, the collective sentiment palpable everywhere here is, without any doubt whatsoever, that May Day would be a resounding demonstration of unity and response to this new escalation of international counter-propaganda on the part of the enemies of the Revolution.

Translated by Granma International


Raúl presides over central May Day parade

PRESIDENT Raúl Castro headed the central parade in Havana for International Workers Day, in which Cubans repudiated the media campaigns of the United States and the European Parliament against the island.

Students, elementary schoolchildren, housewives, combatants, artists and workers paraded in José Martí Plaza de la Revolución and other plazas, streets and avenues throughout Cuba in tight unified blocks forming a mass expression of the strength of a people who support their social project and their leaders, Fidel and Raúl.

President Raúl Castro was accompanied by leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba, of government, of the Union of Young Communists, of mass organizations, of the Central Organization of Trade Unions and invited labor delegations and social movements.

Television footage reaffirm that this was a distinct May Day because, throughout the island, its youth led and closed the parades, and a historic one on account of its mass nature, discipline, organization, color and for the ideals that are being defended, while demonstrations of solidarity for dozens of countries were also apparent.

The José Martí Plaza de la Revolución dawned beautifully adorned with multicolored flags, billboards, placards and giant allegorical graphics repudiating the new escalation of anti-Cuba propaganda, and demanded the liberation of the five Cuban anti-terrorists unjustly incarcerated in the United States and an end to the blockade of the island.

Those battles are at the center of the parades for International Workers Day, on a day when many labor collectives arrived with their production and services targets met and in a country with indisputable results in the People's Power elections, in which 95.86% of electors voted. (AIN)

Translated by Granma International


Text of the speech by Salvador Valdés Mesa, general secretary of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers, and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba

General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, president of the Councils of State and Ministers:

Compañeros of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba:

Compañeros members of the Council of State:

Invited compañeros:

Compatriots:

Exactly 10 years ago, from this same scenario, Fidel called on us to raise the concept of our most beautiful achievement – the Revolution – to infinite planes.

It is a sense of the historic moment, he said then and, in a few minutes, this historical plaza and all the plazas of the country’s most important cities will vibrate to the booming force of millions of workers and their families, who will reaffirm their firm decision to defend and build socialism as the most energetic and resolute response to those who, from centers of power in the United States and the European Union, seconded by internal mercenary mini-groups, are attempting to discredit us with fallacious calumnies, fruit of their ancestral hatred.

Just a few days ago, more than 8.2 million Cubans, with our mass turnout at the polls and a conscientious vote, elected our People's Power delegates and were the protagonists of an exemplary lesson in genuine participative democracy and a resounding prelude to this massive celebration and the infinite capacities of the workers and the people united in an indestructible bond around the Party, Fidel and Raúl.

Sister and brother workers:

We are living in a complex era of dangers and risks that are threatening the planet and humanity. Steadily more frequent and devastating climatic disasters, together with the global and integral crisis of capitalism, characterize the international scenario. These are phenomena from whose impact we are not exempt, compounded by the effects of the genocidal blockade imposed on us by the United States, the consequences of the Special Period and our own shortcomings.

This panorama obliges us to confront highly complex realities, as compañero Raúl noted in the UJC Congress. And while, 10 years ago, the Comandante en Jefe aligned us with the concept that Revolution is changing everything that has to be changed and emancipating ourselves by ourselves and with our own efforts, we also have the duty to align ourselves with what was stated by our president, and I quote:

"We are convinced that dogmas have to be broken and that we have to assume, with firmness and confidence, the actualization – already in progress – of our economic model, with the proposition of founding the bases for the irreversibility and development of Cuban socialism, which we know constitutes the guarantee of national independence and sovereignty."

As workers, we know that the economic battle is, as never before, a vital task for preserving our social system, and to wage it successfully implies that every one of us is disposed to fulfill the part that corresponds to us, and is aware that the institutional and labor reordering already in progress involves all of us.

If we want to advance and raise the living standards of the population and maintain and even rationally improve what has been achieved in areas such as public health, education, social security and assistance, we will have to share the lack of resources and our efforts in order to overcome them.

We need to analyze in depth Raúl’s speech at the Youth Congress, not to insist on the problems that we have, but in order to understand those realities, identify what is holding us back and to propose solutions within and for every labor collective.

From this historic tribunal we call on the workers and people to support the actualization of our economic model, which will require extraordinary effort and sacrifice, aware that only by dignifying work as a creative source of material and spiritual wealth and a molder of conscience can we guarantee the country’s economic and social growth.

Cuban women and men:

Let us take advantage of the occasion to send our congratulations and recognition to all the compatriots who, in the most distinct confines of the world, are fulfilling beautiful internationalist missions that are multiplying the prestige of the Revolution.

We call on the labor and social organizations, and on all upstanding people in the world to promote the international movement to demand an end to the unjust and inhuman economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on the people of Cuba for close to 50 years and, at the same time, to demand the liberation of our five heroes arbitrarily imprisoned in U.S. jails.

We ratify our solidarity with workers of the world and our gratitude for the gestures of support for us, in particular those of the more than 1,000 labor and social leaders who decided to accompany our people in this proletarian fiesta.

VIVA MAY DAY!

¡VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN!

¡VIVAN FIDEL Y RAÚL!

¡VIVA CUBA LIBRE!

Let the fighting and combative parade of the people begin!

Why Does the United States Protect Billionaires, and Not Teachers?

Detroit Public Schools union members and supporters rallied March 23, 2010 outside the Fisher Building in the New Center near headquarters and the Emergency Financial Manager's office. (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe)
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

"Hey Dad, Why Does This Country Protect Billionaires, and Not Teachers?"

By Les Leopold, AlterNet
May 5, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/146738/

Last week, thousands of New Jersey public school students walked out of class to protest draconian school budget cuts. “Save my teacher,” their signs read. In a state that is home to a bevy of high finance billionaires, with the highest per capita income in the nation, teachers are being sacked left and right. In our town half the student body protested outside the high school. Perhaps the protesters should turn their eyes towards the twenty-five top hedge fund honchos who took in $25 billion in 2009. Their “earnings” alone could fund 658,000 entry level teachers.

It’s ironic that the battlefield in this war over resources is public education. Because the public remains entirely uneducated about the connection between those billionaires and school budget cuts. We are clueless about what the Wall Street billionaires do to earn their riches and whether it’s of any value. We might be able to understand “weapons of mass destruction,” but financial weapons of mass destruction are way beyond us.

The new earning reports are good, we read. The giant financial institutions are back to making billions through “trading.” So are these bankers grown-up versions of kids trading baseball cards–or are they robber barons? Are they enriching our society or siphoning off its wealth? Maybe the marching students of New Jersey could ask Governor Christie to explain.

Here’s what we do know for sure. Our modern financial honchos are very different from the robber barons of old. Everybody knew that Rockefeller meant oil, Ford meant cars and Carnegie meant steel.

Yes, today, we know that Gates and Jobs mean computers. But who the hell is David Tepper, and what does he produce with his Appaloosa hedge fund? He must have done something pretty impressive to earn $4 billion (not million) in 2009, the worst financial year since the Great Depression, with 29 million Americans unemployed or forced into part-time work. Then again, how much would he have “earned” had we not provided more than $8 trillion in bailout funds, loans and guarantees to the collapsed financial sector?

Mr. Tepper lives in New Jersey where the governor has gone to war with the teachers, hoping to break the union and balance the budget on the backs of our students. But Governor Christie’s enthusiasm for a balanced budget only goes so far: He’s resolutely opposed to reinstituting the “millionaires’ tax” -even though the state’s fiscal crisis is a direct consequence of what millionaires and billionaires did on Wall Street.

Mr. Tepper’s personal income for 2009 would have covered the salaries of 62 percent of public school teachers–who reach 855,600 students. (Mean salary $57,645 )

But let’s not lay it all on Tepper’s shoulders. Andrew J. Hall once worked for the financial basket case called Citigroup. When it became clear that his $100 million bonus was embarrassment for the bailed out bank, his own financial group was sold to Occidental Petroleum. He’s an oil trader.

Can some well-educated New Jersey public school student please explain: What’s an oil trader? We say it’s all about gambling – me included. But does that mean that when he wins someone else loses? Can he make bets where no one loses? Or does the house lose? Are we the house and lose by paying more for gas? Or, is Mr. Hall really a shining green knight who is helping to reduce global warming by driving up the price of oil? We don’t know enough to even ask.

And unfortunately we also don’t know enough to ask the most important question of all: Do these financial barons create economic value or are they just siphoning off wealth from other parts of the economy? Is their work productive or are they just blowing air into the next financial bubble that will explode in our faces?

Because we don’t know, we also can’t discuss how our system assigns economic value to what each of us does. Something is really screwed up when we award billions to Wall Street elites for doing things we don’t comprehend, even as we lay off teachers by the thousands.

It’s the invisible hand of the free market, we’re told. Invisible is right. We can’t see, feel, touch or even fathom the outlines of our current financial system. If we were able to shine a bright light on the financial machinations happening right now on Wall Street, we might find that our financial free markets are not all that free. We might find that a few large financial institutions have a stranglehold over many financial markets and are sucking all the money out of them. We might find a massive array of government subsidies in the form of asset guarantees and cheap borrowing facilities. We might discover that like the robber barons of old with their all-powerful “trusts,” the largest financial institutions have invented new forms of monopoly power and political influence.

How much does President Obama himself know about what our modern-day barons really do? You’ve got to wonder when he calls Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein “savvy businessmen” and says he doesn’t “begrudge” them their “success and wealth.” As the Goldman Sachs scandal unfolds from civil to criminal charges, the President may be finding out more than he wanted to know about just what the JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs execs have been up to.

The President is not alone in accepting the equation that wealth = success = deserving of our admiration. Without much reflection many of us assume that because the rich are successful, their work must have great value. But since we don’t really know what they do, their financial haul may not in fact reflect any real contribution to our society. Ask Tony Soprano.

As we stumble around in a fog of confusion about the financial industry, more and more of our economy is being eaten up by it. Financial profits and bonuses are soaring again. The share of all corporate profits that come from finance jumped from about 7 percent in 1948 to nearly 35 percent just before the recent crash. And they are rising back up to those levels right now. (You want to see some scary pictures? Check out the financial graphs at Tradersnarrative.com.)

We were once told by gurus like Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan that this brave new financial world was the key to a bright future. The great new service sector was supposed to replace our old, polluting industrial jobs with clean, high-paying jobs in finance. American investors would be the bankers of the world. We did it better and smarter than everyone else.

But is ripping off consumers with hidden credit card fees a worthwhile activity? How about placing layers of fantasy finance bets on subprime mortgages? Is buying and selling millions of credit default swaps on Greek bonds that you don’t own a constructive activity? Would the world really suffer if we did some heavy financial industry trust-busting? We need to know more, much more.

So how do we find out? Our journalists and commentators have to dig deeper. We can’t be cowed by the enormous wealth these “successful” financiers have amassed, even if some of them are progressive philanthropists.

It’s good for America to see its bankers parade before congressional committees and offer spirited defenses of the indefensible. The more the American people can hear banking tycoons trying to justify their existence, the angrier they’ll become. But the investigations have to go deeper. Yes, Goldman Sachs seems to have pulled off a slimy scam by building securities they knew would tank and helping a hedge fund billionaire bet against them. But it’s what they do every day that really matters. We need to ask: How are your activities helping to build a better America? How are you helping to put our people to work? Do you know? Do you care?

And then we have to decide: Should we reinstitute Eisenhower-era taxes on the super-rich? Should we tax the hell out of financial gambling? Should we cut financial institutions down to size? Should we value teachers more than we value hedge fund billionaires?

Maybe the marching students already know the answers.

Les Leopold is the executive director of the Labor Institute and Public Health Institute in New York, and author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It (Chelsea Green, 2009).