600,000 strike in Turkey
Nearly 600,000 public workers in Turkey went on strike
August 8 against the government's austerity program. Three
days earlier 100,000 workers marched through the capital
city, Ankara, calling for an increase in the minimum wage,
higher pay, and broader trade union rights.
Bekir Sami Dace, the government's minister of state, said the strike actions were illegal. He proposed a 5.4 percent increase to average wages. "If the government's attitude doesn't change, there will be tougher action," said Faruk Barut, a leader of the electricity and water workers.
Beijing plans war exercises
The Chinese government announced August 10 plans to fire
guided missiles and live ammunition off its southern coast
near Taiwan as part of upcoming military exercises. The
government of Taiwan said it will conduct military
exercises in October involving its own army, navy, and air
force. Tensions between the nations have heightened since
Taiwan's president, Lee Tung-hui, visited the United States
in June.
More war looming in Rwanda
The Rwandan government is bracing for an attack from
exiles of the former Rwanda military who were driven out of
the country last year after slaughtering 500,000 people.
Human Rights Watch /Africa officials say that roughly
50,000 men from the former regime's Hutu-dominated military
have rearmed themselves and assembled on the country's
western border. "They will attack," said an official of the
Rwandan government, which is organizing to repulse an
invasion.
Currently, some 50,000 people charged with participating in the massacres are being held in detention. The government considers the prison situation one of the country's most pressing social problems, as the jails are only meant to hold 10,000.
100,000 march in Costa Rica
Some 100,000 striking teachers, state workers, oil
workers, and others marched in Costa Rica August 7 opposing
government economic policies and proposed changes in labor
laws. The march, one of the largest in 25 years, choked
traffic in San José, the capital city.
Some of the strikers occupied the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after the march and said they will stay there until the government listens to their demands. The teachers' strike, which started July 17, involves some 50,000 workers.
Peasants protest in Guatemala
Nearly 1,500 landless peasants tried to occupy the
National Bank for Housing in Guatamala August 12. Many were
beaten by the cops. The peasants were demanding land
promised to 2,800 families who are without housing and
land.
Lorenzo Pérez, a representative of the Guatemala Council for the Displaced, said 500,000 of the two million inhabitants of Guatemala City are displaced peasants who live in extreme poverty and are homeless.
March backs banana workers
More than 2,000 workers, peasants, and students marched
in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, August 8 to support 461
agriculture workers occupying a banana plantation owned by
Chiquita Brands. The company called on Honduran president
Carlos Roberto Reina to ask for help from Washington to
protect its property.
Last October, peasants took over four of Chiquita's farms on the north coast. Chiquita Brands, which has operated in Honduras since 1913, exports 11 million cases of bananas per year.
Protests, strikes hit Argentina
A general strike in Córdoba, and labor protests in
several other provinces, flared up in response to the
austerity measures of Argentine president Carlos Menem.
State employees, the main organizers of the actions in
Córdoba, are demanding two months of back pay. Around
10,000 workers walked off their jobs and marched through
downtown Córdoba August 10. The city was paralyzed as
workers built barricades and impeded traffic. Last month,
governor Eduardo Angeloz resigned, saying he was unable to
deal with the social and economic instability.
In Salta, state employees held a work stoppage demanding three months of unpaid salaries. In Entre Ríos, 10,000 government workers protested against the emergency economic measures of governor Mario Moine. The protesters burned effigies of the governor and president Menem.
Pollution may cause water crisis
A recent World Bank study warned that industrial
development without pollution controls will hasten a
serious water crisis among the poorest countries in the
world over the next two decades. According the report, raw
sewage is dumped into rivers and other bodies of water from
urban areas in many regions. The resulting pollution could
be killing 10 million or more people each year.
The World Bank will provide only 5 percent of the funding needed over the next 10 years for water projects in the Third World, according to Ismail Serageldin, the bank's vice president for environmentally sustainable development.
U.S. prisons reach record
The U.S. Justice Department issued a report August 10
stating that 5 million people are currently under the
control of the prison system, including a record 1.5
million inmates in federal, state, and local jails. The
report adds that the percentage of prisoners who are Black
rose from 46.5 percent to 50.8 percent between 1980 and
1993. Inmates of Latino origin almost doubled from 7.7
percent to 14.3 percent.
If the present trend continues the number of people behind bars or on probation and parole will soon eclipse in number the 6 million students enrolled full-time in colleges and universities, and within a decade pass the entire population of New York City, currently 7.3 million.
Washington, D.C., prison guards
suspended over striptease
Seven prison guards were suspended for attending a July
26 party where female inmates performed a striptease in a
crowded cellblock of about 60 inmates. Two of the female
guards allegedly arranged the party. The suspensions were
the latest sex-related scandals that hit the D.C. prison
system in the last year, including a $1.4 million award to
six current and former prison employees who charged that
high-ranking officials groped them, pressured them for sex,
and punished them for complaining.
`Jane Roe' changes sides
Norma McCorvey, known as Jane Roe in the landmark 1973
Supreme Court ruling in favor of a woman's right to
abortion, announced on August 10 that she has joined the
staff of the antiabortion group Operation Rescue. She quit
her job as marketing director at the Dallas gynecological
clinic A Choice for Women.
In a radio interview McCorvey said that she was always "pro-life," but just didn't know it. Later she said that she believes in a woman's right to have a safe and legal abortion during the first trimester only. Philip Benham, a leader of Operation Rescue, commented that her total conversion will take "a little time." The antiabortion group had moved its national headquarters in March into an office next to the clinic where McCorvey worked.
- MAURICE WILLIAMS