6,000 workers rally in Zimbabwe
More than 6,000 sugarcane workers demonstrated February
15 on a sugar estate in Masvingo, Zimbabwe, demanding higher
wages. The workers became incensed and torched the
plantations when armed riot police attacked their protest.The
workers demanded an increase in the minimum wage from $36 to
$83 a month.
S. Africans enter all-white school
Fifteen Black students entered the formerly all-white
Potgietersrus elementary school for classes February 22 after
a South African provincial government ordered the school to
end its racist admission policy. In January, some Afrikaner
parents forced away three Black children who tried to attend
the school; these forces are now organizing a school boycott.
Potgietersrus, an elementary school with modern facilities, highlighted the privileges of the country's Afrikaner minority - a mere 3 percent of the population. According to the New York Times, the school is "a far cry from the rundown barracks the country's former apartheid Government provided for blacks." "In my mind these kids should be here. It's about time," a Potgietersrus teacher told the Times.
Miners strike in Poland
Workers at seven mines at the stateowned coal
conglomerate Rybnicka Spolka Weglowa went on strike February
12. They joined workers at eight mines who began a strike
over wages the previous week.
Paris proposes cuts in military
French president Jacques Chirac announced February 22
that France's military personnel of 500,000 would be reduced
to 350,000 men and women by 2002. Chirac also said the armed
forces would become an all-volunteer force by that time,
proposing a "major national debate" on abolishing the draft.
Chirac said the changes make the military more flexible and mobile to enable the Elysée Palace to use military might "wherever French interests are threatened" and without U.S. help. Pierre Lellouche, a member of Parliament, complained that Paris lagged behind its British rivals in responding with military force in the Persian Gulf War. "The truth is that we do not have an all-volunteer intervention force that is up to our diplomatic ambitions," he told Le Figaro, a daily newspaper.
Major oil spill near Wales
The oil tanker Sea Empress crashed off the coast of Wales
February 15, spewing 65,000 tons of crude oil that created a
25-mile slick. Salvage experts at a February 21 news
conference said 19 million gallons were spilled into the
sea - 8 million more than the Exxon Valdez spilled in
Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.
Environmentalists and opposition Labour Party leaders in London condemned the British government's slow response to the accident and said it ignored a 1994 recommendation to provide powerful tugboats near crucial oil ports in case of disasters. "This spillage should never have happened," said Paul Horsman, head of the oil campaign of the environmental group Greenpeace.
Israeli warplanes bomb Lebanon
Two Israeli jets fired 10 rockets on the southern Lebanon
villages of Louiseh, Jabal Safi, and Ain Bouswar February 22.
The assault was Tel Aviv's second air raid in two days and
its third attack in Lebanon this year.
The February 22 morning raid came less than 12 hours after Israeli warplanes launched 10 rockets on the same province. Shiite Muslims in the Hezbollah group have been fighting to force the Israeli military from a self-proclaimed security zone it has been occupying since 1985.
S. Korean generals arrested
Three former generals were arrested in South Korea
February 22 for their role in the 1980 Kwangju massacre,
where at least 240 people were killed and 1,800 wounded.
Fourteen former generals, including two former presidents,
have now been arrested on charges related to the brutal
military crackdown.
The three former officers, also accused of conspiring to stage a coup in 1979, were shipped off to prisons outside Seoul after a court approved their arrest warrants. A special law was enacted by the South Korean National Assembly in December to prosecute those involved in the massacre and coup.
Farrakhan ends world tour
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan wound up a 20-
nation tour February 22 that included meetings in Iran, Iraq,
Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, and South Africa. He spoke at a rally
commemorating the 17th anniversary of the Iranian revolution
that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah of Iran. The U.S.
Treasury Department threatened Farrakhan with an
investigation after Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi allegedly
pledged $1 billion to Farrakhan. The Libyan government said
it made no such offer of money.
The Nation of Islam leader responded to criticism for his support of the Sani Abacha military dictatorship in Nigeria, saying, "I think the Abacha regime should be given a chance to move this country toward democracy." He hinted at playing a role as an emissary for Washington. "I think that America should see me as a great asset, probably the most trusted ambassador, because I can go places where most ambassadors cannot be trusted," Farrakhan said in Tehran.
`Million Man March' in Denver
Jamal X, leader of the Nation of Islam mosque in Denver,
announced plans at a February 1 press conference to organize
a Million Man March event on April 29 to fill the city's Mile
High Stadium with 80,000 people. He said the event will aim
to build a coalition of Blacks, Hispanics, Indians, and other
oppressed groups to deal with issues like "violence."
Alvertis Simmons, executive director of the Million Man March, said that although whites were welcome at the April gathering, "this is about dealing with issues of men of color." Josh Dillabaugh, a member of the American Indian Movement, and Leroy Lemos, speaking in the name of Chicano students, also participated in the press conference at Salaam Restaurant.
Textile workers squeezed hard
The owners of the apparel and fabrics industries
eliminated a total of 141,000 jobs last year - 40 percent of
all manufacturing jobs reductions in the United States. "We
have lost on the order of 500,000 jobs in apparel in the past
23 years and we will probably lose another 40,000 to 50,000
this year," said Carl Priest, an economist with the American
Apparel Manufacturers Association.
The combination of capitalist depression and faster machines has wrought financial turmoil for textile workers, while the industry remains a large and profitable sector of the U.S. economy. Textile barons reaped $1.74 billion profits, or 2.7 percent of sales, in 1994 - half the 5.4 percent profit margin for all manufacturing.
- MAURICE WILLIAMS
Carl-Erik Isacsson from Sweden also contributed to this column.