1,200 missing in Pakistan floods
At least 100 people in southwestern Pakistan perished and more than 1,200 are missing since heavy rains began March 1. Schools, hospitals, and hundreds of homes were damaged or leveled. Approximately 25,000 residents were rendered homeless, according to local officials. The effects of the torrential downpour were particularly deadly because of the low living standards capitalism imposes on people in that country. Most of the structures washed away were mud and straw huts. Poor roads also hampered government relief.

Kenyan students: `Moi must go!'
On March 2 some 8,000 students at Kenyatta University in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi protested the government of Daniel arap Moi. At least 17 students were suspended from school. Then on March 5 students blocked a highway with burning tires and lumber to protest the suspensions. Kenyan cops came in to squash the protest, beating activists with batons, and launching tear gas at them. Students fought back with stones and sticks. Hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Nairobi earlier that day chanting "Moi must go!" Adding to the ferment on the campus, which lies some 10 miles north of the capital, 2,000 students were banned from school because they were unable to pay tuition, which has increased eightfold since 1994.

Rail strikes are planned in Italy
When the state-owned railway in Italy announced plans to fire five rail workers on charges of corruption, the government backed the dismissals. This sets the stage for a confrontation with the rail unions, which have called two protest strikes for March. The dispute is shaping up as a test of forces between the union and the bosses, in preparation for government moves to "reform" the Italian rail industry. A year ago, strike threats forced the government of Romano Prodi to back off plans to break the rail network into pieces to try to increase productivity. Now, as Rome moves to join a single European currency, Prodi's government has been warned by European Union finance ministers that the rail industry is one of Rome's "major challenges" that must be reformed. More than 75 percent of the staff on the railroad are unionized - the highest percentage in Italy. An article in London's Financial Times commented, "Taking on the rail unions will not be easy."

Inmates in Mexico fight back
Inmates at San Marķa Ixotel prison in Oaxaca, Mexico, rebelled against harsh treatment and poor living conditions March 3. They forced the authorities to agree to fire the prison director and meet other demands. The battle began when 740 out of 1,200 prisoners refused to stand for head counts a second day in a row. Prison officials called in armed state cops to "assist," sparking an immediate response by inmates, who fought back with rocks and metal poles. They disarmed 66 state cops and took them prisoner.

Later, the cops launched a second wave of attacks, opening fire on the inmates. This provoked prisoners' relatives outside, who stoned the cops. That same day, with two cops dead and six wounded, the state officials agreed to the prisoners' main demands and the cops were released. The conditions the inmates were protesting include pimping and drug dealing by prison guards and police-run extortion rings that often charge inmates for food.

Chilean Pehuenches defend land
The Chilean company Ralco is trying to buy up the land around the Bio-Bio River in order to build a $480 million dam. The dam would flood the lands and homes of the 385 Pehuenche families who have resided there for 500 years. The government rationalizes the move saying it will provide 18 percent of the energy needed in central Chile. The dam will only provide energy for 50 years, while the Pehuenchen people will be torn away from their land for good, according to Domingo Namuncura, director of the National Corporation for Indigenous Development. Although some Pehuenchen families are selling their land under the pressure of economic hardships, there has been ongoing resistance to the dams. Nicolasa Quintreman said when the energy firm came to her doorstep to try to cut a deal, "I said I'd get my machete and smash his car.. The only way I leave this land is dead."

Clinton `certifies' Colombia
In its now annual imperial ritual of declaring which governments in Latin America are sufficiently cooperative in the so-called war on drugs, the Clinton administration granted "certification" to Colombia February 26 under a national interest waiver. The previous two years, the U.S. government had threatened economic sanctions against the regime in Bogota, asserting that Colombian president Ernesto Samper had received campaign money from drug merchants. Colombian president Ernesto Samper lauded the waiver as "justice." But U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright explained that the move was made to send a signal to the next regime there, following the May 31 presidential elections to replace Samper. "The current government [in Colombia] has not demonstrated full political support for counternarcotics efforts," Albright said. She called for "increased future cooperation" and "to support those in Colombia who are striving to strengthen the rule of law." Congressional officials clarified that "cooperation" means the smoother flow of weapons and ammunition into the hands of security forces to use against "narco-guerrillas" and others.

U.S. gov't probes school prayer
The House Judiciary Committee voted March 4 to approve a constitutional amendment proposed by Rep. Ernest Istook that allows prayer in public schools, religious symbols on government property, and state funding for private schools. The measure now goes before the full House of Representatives, which will take up the issue for the first time since 1971. A two-thirds majority vote by the House and Senate is required, followed by state legislatures adoption, for an amendment to the constitution.

INS increases deportations
Between October 1997 and January 1998 the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) deported more than 34,000 undocumented immigrants - 70 percent higher than the year before. Some 12,755 deportees were labeled "criminals" and 15,239 more were removed through so-called voluntary departures. The INS is trying to kick out 127,300 immigrants by October 1998. In order to carry out its campaign, INS commissioner Doris Meissner boasted that they are adding "additional space to detain approximately 2,500 more" immigrants per day, as well as adding another 165 detention and deportation cops.

- BRIAN TAYLOR  
 
 
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