The Pentagon also projects sending the first batch of reserve fighter units since the 1991 assault on Iraq to enforce no-fly zones imposed on Baghdad. The beef up will include pilots, aircraft maintainers, and other personnel who are scheduled to be deployed in mid-May. According to the April 28 New York Times, "there was never a chance that Iraq would be freed from sanctions in this review." Shen Guofeng, China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, called for ending the sanctions. He charged the chief UN snoop Butler with running the UN Special Commission operation in Iraq like "an army of occupation."

The Clinton administration and their imperialist colleagues in London insist on administering maximum punishment on the Iraqi people. Iraqi government officials assert that U.S. and British representatives on the Sanctions Committee deliberately delay humanitarian supplies, including ambulances and pencils for schools, which they claim could be used for military purposes.

Protests swell across Indonesia
Students and others rallied in major cities across Indonesia May 2 in response to a proclamation made by the Suharto regime that no measures would be taken to relieve the harsh economic crisis facing workers and students there. As tens of thousands of students rallied at four campuses that day in the capital city of Jakarta, they were attacked by riot cops armed with tear gas and rattan sticks. Students have won the support of labor unions, women's organizations, faculty members, and others. As protesters gain more confidence and numbers build, activists have begun to "disappear." The Indonesian Army has denied any role in the disappearances, though, according to news article in the New York Times, some of the missing activists turn up "in police custody or have been released many weeks later in their hometowns hundreds of miles away."

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is discussing whether or not to pay the latest $1 billion installment on the $43 billion loan being issued to the Indonesian government. Jakarta has vowed to carry out whatever "reforms" are demanded in order to receive the IMF loan payment. Millions of working people in Indonesia will face higher prices for fuel, electricity, and other basic goods, which threaten deeper unrest. Washington and other imperialist powers are pushing for deeper austerity measures in Indonesia and using the crackdowns that the Suharto regime carries out to threaten withholding further loan payments.

S. Korea: no layoffs!
Blocking traffic and taking over roads in Seoul, south Korea, May 1, more than 22,000 industrial workers and others demanded "No to layoffs!" Some 13,000 police assembled at the gathering point of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions-organized march. Workers and students dispersed when cops fired tear gas, but they quickly regrouped and retaliated with metal pipes and heavy debris. The south Korean rulers are pushing for labor "reforms" - that is, to force workers to accept layoffs and unemployment in the name of meeting the stiff terms set by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF issued Seoul a $58 billion loan package in December. These so-called reforms are sparking resistance among working people there. Two weeks earlier 13,000 workers at Kia Motors struck after threats of a company selloff to capitalist investors.

Ukraine miners strike 34 pits
Coal miners in Ukraine struck 34 mines May 4. They were protesting the government's action a month earlier to cut up to a third of the coal industry subsidies. The Ukrainian government made the budget reduction in the name of meeting conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for a three-year $2.5 million loan. Going into the strike, the government already owed workers an average of 10 months in back wages - about $1 billion.

French truckers warn gov't
The International Transport Workers' Federation, to which many truck drivers in France belong, issued a warning to Paris that if wage demands were not met, truckers would strike during the World Cup soccer tournament taking place there in June. Truckers are demanding a raise for qualified drivers from about $7.25 to $9.40 an hour. The drivers are "perfectly aware of the enormous inconvenience we can cause," a letter from the union stated. Striking truck drivers have paralyzed roads throughout France at least twice in the last two years.

Waste spill devastates Spain
A ruptured dike in a reservoir at Boliden, a mining company in Spain owned by Canadian capitalists, sent nearly 176 million cubic feet of toxic waste streaming down the several rivers in southern Spain April 25. The spill killed everything in its path, according to Greenpeace activists in Spain. Initial estimates put crop loses at $13 million. "I've lost my whole crop, my whole livelihood," one tomato farmer said. Boliden president Anders Bulow said the toxic release was probably caused by a "seismic shift" below the dam, which he claims passed a company inspection two weeks prior to the rupture.

Cops raid Chiapas town
A squadron of 500 cops raided a village in the Mexican state of Chiapas at dawn May 1, arresting 47 people. A Chiapas state official defended the action, claiming the village was full of supporters of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. A Reuters news report added that it was "run by Indians." The peasant-run area "was dismantled" a state government spokesperson said, but she cited no grounds for the arrests.

Argentina floods kill 18
Weeks of incessant rains have caused what is reportedly the worst flooding in Argentina in decades. Sixteen people in the northeastern region had drowned or been electrocuted as of April 27, while two others died in the southern province of Chubut. More than 100,000 people there were evacuated from their homes and put in makeshift shelters. The Argentine government estimates $2.5 billion worth of damages in the northeastern region alone were incurred.

`Equality for Black farmers'
"When is there going to be justice?" "Equality for Black farmers," read some of the signs carried by more than 100 Black farmers and supporters gathered outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) April 23. They were protesting the government's April 8 ruling that restricts compensation for racist USDA practices to cases where a complaint was filed within two years. Alexander Pyres, the Black farmers' lawyer, said the ruling could eliminate 75 percent of the farmers who have joined a lawsuit against the USDA. The farmers are demanding the statute be waived, pointing to the fact that the USDA admittedly ignored discrimination complaints from 1983 to 1997. The farmers, who later marched into the building, heard USDA secretary Daniel Glickman lament that it's hard to institute changes to help the farmers. "Let me have your job, I'll make the changes," said Malachi Bowden, a former Virginia farmer.

- BRIAN TAYLOR

Ken Morgan from Baltimore, Maryland, and staff writer Maurice Williams contributed to this column.  
 
 
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