Where’s The Debate On Corporate Greed and Human Need?
Who Will Speak of Justice Denied?
Together Let's Turn the Debate Inside out!
On
October 17, 2000 in St. Louis, Missouri, only two of the major contenders for
the presidency will meet for a debate organized by the corporately funded
Commission on Presidential Debates. They will stand behind podiums sponsored by
a large local corporation. And they will say only what their campaign
contributors have paid them to say. Because the Democratic and Republican
candidates and their debate commission share the same corporate sponsors, they
lack the will to differ on fundamental issues concerning race, economics,
military and the environment. It’s up to citizens to exercise democracy and
place those issues before the public and candidates. Here are some crucial
examples:
Where
is the debate on racism and justice…
The
war on drugs has resulted in the incarceration of millions of people of color.
Over three-quarters of those imprisoned for drug offenses are African Americans,
even though there is no difference in drug use across races. Meanwhile, the
corporate prison-industrial complex profits from the building and operating new
prisons. Who will end this war against poor, young Americans of color, and order
the release of 400,000 nonviolent drug offenders from U.S. prison? Who will stop
building prisons and invest in a massive expansion of drug rehabilitation
programs?
Two-thirds
of death row inmates who are eventually found innocent are African Americans.
People of color are the primary victims of police abuse. Meanwhile
corporately-funded candidates manipulate fears of crime and racial stereotypes
for political gain. Who will call for the complete overhaul of this racist
criminal justice system that has been condemned by human rights group and
democracies around the world? Who will call for the abolition of the death
penalty?
Millions
of African-Americans continue to suffer economic disadvantages as the result of
over 300 years of legalized slavery and segregation in the U.S. Today the
average assets of white U.S. families are $60,000 while the assets of the
average African American family are $8,000. Meanwhile corporations continue to
benefit from the wealth produced by that legacy of slavery and continued
discrimination . Who will support John Conyers’ House Resolution which seeks
official acknowledgment of these long-standing inequities and establishes a
commission to explore remedies?
Where
is the debate on economic injustices…
Forty-five
million are without health care insurance, while corporations privatize and
consolidate their control over health care delivery. Who will call for a
universal single-payer health-care system, guaranteeing equal access to all?
Tens
of millions work in factories and fields for wages that don’t pay the bills,
while global corporations authorized by free trade agreements and World Trade
Organization rules roam the world in search of the lowest possible wages,
working conditions and environmental standards. Who will call for a living wage
at home and challenge sweatshops abroad? Who will allow the workers and
indigenous people to control the impact of globalization on their lives? Who
will link trade to human rights compliance?
Dozens
of poor countries spend more money servicing their debts to banks than they
spend on education and health, while global corporations benefit from conditions
placed on these debtor nations by the IMF or World Bank. Who will call for debt
relief for the world’s poorest countries? Who will insist that any conditions
attached to new loans be designed to break the cycle of poverty, not perpetuate
it?
Where
is the debate on just foreign and military policies…
Over
500,000 children have died of malnutrition and curable diseases as a result of a
decade of economic sanctions on Iraq, while U.S. corporations continue to enjoy
favorable access to Middle Eastern oil. Who will lift economic sanctions on
Iraq?
In
the past five years, over 3,000 civilians, many from indigenous communities,
have been killed by paramilitary forces linked to the Colombian military, while
U.S. corporations drill for oil on indigenous land throughout Colombia. Who will
halt all U.S. aid to the Colombian military and its paramilitary collaborators?
A
proposed U.S. missile defense system increases the likelihood of a new nuclear
arms race. The U.S. continues to be the world’s largest arms merchant, while
corporate military contractors vie for lucrative deals to develop and build new
weapons. Who will halt research and production of missile defense programs and
suspend foreign military sales?
Where
is the debate on environmental threats…
Our
food, air and water is endangered by genetic engineering, environmentally
reckless trade polices, and the building of new highways, while corporations
profit from patents on seeds, the absence of environmental standards in global
trade, and the heavy reliance on automobiles. Who will stand against genetic
engineering of food, crops, and seeds, insist on global clean air and water
standards, and devote more resources to mass transit?
We
won’t find answers to these questions inside the Presidential Debate at
Washington University. Join us outside the debate to explore these and other
excluded issues.
No More Justice Denied
Raise Your voices
Honor People Not Profits!
Last week I had the opportunity of
watching the last round of the so-called presidential “debate”. Once again,
the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) had ignored the public interest to
allow other candidate’s participation in the debates and violated the core
principles of democracy and freedom of speech.
Right after the debate, political analysts and journalists started discussing
who the “winner” was and identifying which one of the candidates appeared
folksier and exhibited a better act (never mind the substance!) While I can’t
tell who the winner was, but I can confidently say who the losers were. The real
losers, my dear friends, were “us”, the people.
We heard Bush saying he
“believes” in people, we listened to Gore claming he would “fight” for
the people. But what is really behind all this rhetoric? The truth is that, both
candidates were standing behinds podiums sponsored by large local corporations.
They only say what their campaign contributors have paid them to say. Because
Democratic and Republican candidates, TV networks, and the debate commission
share the same corporate allegiance, they just can’t be different on
fundamental issues concerning race, economy, military, and environment. That is
why there was no real “debate”. No wander as early as July, New York Times
wrote “Gore and Bush Agree on Basics, But Differ Sharply on Details” (NY
Times, July 4, front page article).
So far, $3.3 billion has been spent
on the election. More than 90% of the contributions to the major candidates have
come from big corporations. As long as they are funding these campaigns how can
the candidates speak out against the existing unfair labor laws, or propose
better environmental protection laws? How can they protect employees against
unjust labor practices and growing control of big corporations even though
“72% of Americans say business has too much power over too many aspects of
American life” (Business Week, Sep, 11)?
It is hard to believe Bush has a
grain of “compassion” to improve either the education or the living
condition of the disadvantage families. Under his administration Texas has had
one of the highest number of high school drop- outs and the lowest spending for
teachers salaries. When it comes to affordable health insurance for women and
children Texas is almost dead last among other states. It was under our
“compassionate” Gov. Bush that on the contrary to his own “fuzzy” math,
according to census data, the proportion of uninsured children has remained at
almost double the national average (USA Today, Oct. 16).
Thanks to the leadership of Gov.
Bush more prisons have been privatized in Texas than any other states. The
result has been the creation of a system, which is continuously looking for more
able bodies to work in prison factories and generate more profits for private
companies. Guess who will be in the front line to be trapped in this system: the
young people from under-privileged and low-income families! The reality is that
Bush, as Nader dismisses him as “a corporation in a suit”, will never
attempt to invest in massive expansion of rehabilitation programs instead he
will hand over more prisons to private corporations.
When it comes to defending African-Americans against the racism in the
judicial system, G. W. Bush has no vigorous interest. The real question that he
must answer is this: “what have you done to eliminate social problems such as
racism?” or “why is it that study shows the primary victims of police abuse
are African-Americans and what is the solution?”
In spite of all the anti-labor,
anti-child welfare, and pro-corporate records of Bush administration, Gore is
simply unable to turn the table around and criticize his policies (never mind
the fact that he has probably written more books than Bush has read in his
lifetime). Gore’s record on the national level is not any better than Bush as
the Governor of Texas.
Nationwide millions of
African-Americans continue to suffer economic hardships. The lowest fifth of
black income earners saw their income fall 9.5 percent within the last 20 years.
The trend continued in the Clilnton’s administration (U.S. Census, “Mean
income received by each fifth and top 5 percent of black families”- March of
1998). Yet, according to Business Week (April 19 issue, page 72) the average pay
of a CEO in 1998 was $10.6 millions. This is 419 times more than the average
factory worker! Gore claims to be against racism and for affirmative action. But
we should ask him why he does not support John Conyer’s House Resolution,
which seeks official acknowledgment that there is a large-standing inequality
between black and white families and establishes a commission to explore. Today
the average assets of white U.S. families worth $60,000 while the assets of the
average African American family worth $8,000.
Tens of millions of Americans work
in factories and fields for wages that don’t pay the bills. At the same time,
thanks to Clinton and Gore administration, global corporations authorized by
free trade and World Trade Organization comfortably roam the world in search of
the lowest possible wages, working conditions and environmental standards (while
paying $2.50 a day to its factory workers in Indonesia, Nike is the prime
example of such corporate enjoyment).
Al Gore agrees that U.S. has an
international duty to protect the world. But whose world? The corporate world.
How? By dropping more bombs on innocent people in other countries while big
corporations enjoy favorable access to Middle East oil. Shouldn’t our
responsibility as a strong nation be developing and implementing a strategy to
avoid global recession, protecting the environment, ensuring full employment for
all, and reversing the polarization between the wealthy and everyone else,
instead?
The more I learn about the agendas
of the two major candidates the more I find myself in agreement with Ralf Nader
(the Green Party’s presidential candidate) that “the two parties have
morphed into one party with two heads, wearing different make ups”. As long as
both parties are sponsored by giant oil industry, we can’t have a coherent
energy policy. As long as insurance industry remains to be one of the main
contributors to the two parties no national health care coverage can be
achieved. As long as the defense industry is among the biggest contributors of
the Republican and Democratic parties defense spending can’t go down and there
would be no money to spare for education, prevention, and rehabilitation.
We go through the final days of this
election with many challenges. Today, the outrage toward corporate-run
government comes from all parts of U.S. society. Our biggest challenge as
students is to unite and become active in our communities and schools. Together
we can dismiss ignorance and promote social awareness.
slcutd@onebox.com -
email
(972) 993-2029 x1792 - voicemail/fax
In
the Second quarter of 1996 Nike earned record profit of $177 million.
Nike
CEO Phil Knight earns over $1 million a year and holds at least $5.2 billion
in Nike stock.
A
pair of Nike selling for $90 has a labor cost of $1.2.
Nike
pays as little as 30 cents an hour to its skilled workers in Haiti.
In
Indonesia
Nike pays the legal minimum-$2.5 a day, and %80 of workers are forced to
work seven days a week.
On October 17, 1996 the CBS "48 Hours" program exposed Nike labor abuses in Vietnam, including: beating, sexual harassment and forcing workers to kneel for extended periods with their arms held in the air.
Michael Jordan makes $20 million a year promoting Nike products.
Wal-Mart
is the largest private sector employer in the U.S., with 720,000 employees.
It had sales revenue of $110 billion in 1997— more than the GDP of entire
countries, including Western European nations like Norway and Denmark.
At
$7.50 per hour, a Wal-Mart worker makes $11,700 a year — nearly $2,000
below the poverty line for a single mother with two children.
According
to a study, for every 100 jobs at Wal-Mart 150 existing jobs in the
community have been destroyed.
Wal-Mart
employees pay close to 50% of Wal-Mart’s total health plan expense through
premium co-pays--The national average is 28%.
Our
Message for September 26 Action:
We
are protesting abusers of workers’ rights in our communities in solidarity
with our brothers and sisters in Prague and throughout the world who are
fighting the same abuses as they are imposed by the World Bank and the IMF.
Policies
and practices of the IMF/World Bank have enriched corporations while causing
widespread poverty and suffering among the world’s peoples and damage to
the world’s environment.
We
are defending the right to organize as a basic human right, and opposing the
attempts by powerful US corporations and the World Bank/IMF to erode
workers’ power by union-busting, lowering the minimum wage, and weakening
labor laws.
We
are defending access to health care as a basic human right.
In the US, rich and powerful HMOs greedily seek profits and oppose
extending health care coverage, while 44 million go uninsured. In developing
countries, millions suffer without medical treatment each year thanks to the
“user-fees” imposed by the World Bank/IMF on their health care system
The IMF and World Bank demand developing countries make unsustainable payments on foreign debts while poor countries make interest payments on loans that went to dictators, boondoggle projects and military waste. The countries are drained of resources that could otherwise be used for healthcare, education and other critical needs.
World Bank megaprojects – dams, oil pipelines, coal plants – displace hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and do incalculable environmental damage
How
IMF/World Bank programs have increased poverty around the world
Privatization
-- Structural adjustment policies call for the sell off of government-owned
enterprises to private owners, often foreign investors. Privatization is
typically associated with layoffs and pay cuts for workers in the privatized
enterprises.
Cuts
in government spending
-- Reductions in government spending frequently reduce the services
available to the poor, including health and education services.
Imposition
of user fees
-- Many IMF and World Bank loans call for the imposition of "user
fees" -- charges for the use of government-provided services like
schools, health clinics and clean drinking water. For very poor people, even
modest charges may result in the denial of access to services.
Higher
interest rates
-- Higher interest rates exert a recessionary effect on national economies,
leading to higher rates of joblessness. Small businesses, often operated by
women, find it more difficult to gain access to affordable credit, and often
are unable to survive.
WE COULD SAVE THE PLANET TODAY !
(to the tune of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”)
Oh you better not shop.
You better not buy.
You better not spend.
I’m telling you why.
We could save the planet today!
Earth’s making a list.
She’s checking it twice.
She’s gonna find out who’s melting the ice.
We could save the planet today!
Earth knows when we’ve been wasting.
She knows when we pollute.
She knows when we all use too much.
So reduce for all our sakes
Oh you better not shop.
You better not buy.
You better not spend.
I’m telling you why.
We could save the planet today!
----------------------
I want a clean earth for Christmas
All I want for Christmas is a clean Earth!
| "Long Live the Students!" | ||
| by Chilean poet/singer Violeta Parra | ||
| Que vivan los estudiantes, jardín de las alegrías! Son aves que no se asustan de animal ni policía, y no le asustan las balas ni el ladrar de la jauría. Caramba y zamba la cosa, ¡que viva la astronomía! ¡Que vivan los estudiantes Me gustan los estudiantes Me gustan los estudiantes Me gustan los estudiantes |
Long live the students, garden of joy. They are birds who are not frightened by animals or by police. Nor do bullets scare them, nor the howling of the tribunal. Caramba and screw everything, Long live Astronomy. Long live the students who roar like the winds I like students because they are the yeast I like students because they lift their chests I like students because they march over the ruins
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