The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.40           November 17, 1997 
 
 
In Brief  
Thousands protest in Algeria
Tens of thousands of people marched in the Algerian capital of Algiers October 30. They called for the resignation of the prime minister and cancellation of recent local elections, which consolidated the power of the National Democratic Rally, the ruling party that was created six months ago by the army- backed government. There were other demonstrations and sit-ins around the country. An array of organizations opposing the regime called the October 30 protest, alleging fraud in the local elections. According to the Financial Times of London, young unemployed men made up the largest group of protesters. More than 60,000 Algerians have been killed since the revolt that began when the army canceled an election in 1992.

After a deep-going revolution in 1962, under the leadership of Ahmed Ben Bella, a workers and farmers government came to power in 1963. In June 1965, Houari Boumedienne led a military coup that toppled Ben Bella's revolutionary regime. The army has controlled power since then.

Israeli troops gas protesters
On October 25 Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian youth protesting in the West Bank. The 400 demonstrators, some of whom threw stones in retaliation, demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners. Eleven protesters were hospitalized. Tel Aviv is holding some 3,000 Palestinian political prisoners - one-third have not been tried. About 1,500 people also demonstrated in Nablus in addition to protests in Hebron and East Jerusalem. The Palestinian protests are fueled by continued Israeli government policies of expanding new Zionist settlements.

Meanwhile, about 200 Israeli activists held vigils in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem October 25, and called for the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Calling the prime minister by his nickname, signs read: "Bibi is leading us to war," and "Bibi is dividing the people."

Russians demand back wages
Thousands of people in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, Russia, joined thousands of others across the region on October 30 in demanding immediate payment of back wages. This past summer, miners in the region went on strike for six months demanding their back pay. The Far East region in Russia has been racked by power shortages due to the ending of government subsidies to coal and other energy plants. Last winter power cuts lasted for 15 hours a day.

Puerto Rico cops attack unionists protesting Telefónica sell-off
Protesting plans to sell the state telephone company, hundreds of public employees and others rallied in front of a hotel in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, where governor Pedro Rosselló was staying October 30. The police and the governor's escort hit demonstrators with sticks and pushed them around while Rosselló ran away through a back door. Just minutes before he asserted that he would go ahead with his privatization program.

Alfonso Benítez, president of the Independent Union of Telephone Employees, and coordinator of the Broad Committee of Trade Unions (CAOS), said, "They are trying to prevent us from having access to public places." He added that protesters "will stay here and wherever we have to go to denounce the policy of privatizations of this government."

Benítez pointed out that the police started the attacks, "The government of Rosselló has closed the doors to a dialogue with us and now wants to use the police to intimidate us." On October 1 a coalition of unions organized a demonstration that drew over 100,000 people - one of the largest actions ever in Puerto Rico - against the planned sell-off of Telefónica.

Workers, cops clash in Venezuela
On October 30 public employees and the police clashed for the second consecutive day in the oil-producing city of Maracaibo during a demonstration by workers demanding payment of back wages. Representatives of some 40,000 public employees in that state, a northwest region of the country, pointed out that the debt the authorities owe them adds up to $70 million.

The protesters planted themselves in front of the government palace. They were dispersed by the cops who used tear gas bombs and water hoses against them. Some injuries were reported, along with burned tires, and damaged cars. Jesús Esparza, the governor's spokesperson, said that the employees claim had been fueled by the opposition party Acción Democrática (Democratic Action) and he regretted that students had also joined in the labor action.

Néstor Yancén, however, who spoke in the name of the demonstrators, blamed the police attack on Francisco Arias, the governor of the state, who was a former military officer and a leader of the coup d'état of Feb. 4, 1992.

Brazil: Abortion rights bill gains
On August 20 a committee of the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil approved a bill by a one-vote margin that would require public hospitals to comply with a law that allows abortions in cases of rape or if a woman's life is in danger. The bill may go on to the full Congress later this year.

Abortion is banned in that country, though a growing women's movement has petitioned the government for a referendum on the issue. Brazil is an overwhelmingly Catholic country, but 76 percent of Catholics in the Greater Rio de Janeiro area favor the law under consideration.

At least 22,000 women in the state of Rio de Janeiro are hospitalized each year after undergoing abortions, according to the Rio daily O Globo. The World Health Organization announced that throughout Latin America about 5,000 women die each year from abortion complications. Some 1.4 million women in Brazil annually seek out clandestine clinics to perform abortions.

Court rules fetus is person
In a move that sets a precedent against a woman's right to abortion, South Carolina's highest court upheld the criminal prosecution of pregnant women who use drugs. The supreme court found that a viable fetus is a "person" covered by the state's child-abuse laws. The October 27 ruling runs contrary to every other state court decision on women's rights. The decision reads: "The consequences of abuse or neglect which takes place after birth often pale in comparison to those resulting from abuse suffered by the viable fetus before birth. This policy of prevention supports a reading of the word `person' to include viable fetuses."

Reproductive rights lawyer Lynn Paltrow responded, "If fetus is a person, everything a pregnant woman does is potentially child abuse, abortion [would be] murder, and women lose the right to make medical decisions on their own behalf during pregnancy." Since 1990, prosecutors in at least 30 states have used a variety of criminal laws to bring charges against pregnant women. So far, only South Carolina has upheld such charges. At least five other state supreme courts have stuck them down, ruling that a fetus was not a person.

- MEGAN ARNEY  
 
 
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