The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.7           February 23, 1998 
 
 
In Brief  
600,000 strike in Sri Lanka
More than 600,000 tea and rubber plantation workers went on an indefinite strike for higher wages February 5. The walkout crippled the Sri Lankan economy, according to the Associated Press. The workers have demanded wages be increased 26 percent - up to $1.70 a day. State- and private-owned companies have offered just 12 percent. Tea and rubber are among Sri Lanka's biggest export industries. Tea exports totaled $600 million last year, and rubber exports were $200 million in 1996.

Okinawans still reject U.S. base
The Japanese government threatened to scuttle economic development plans for Okinawa, after the island's governor, Masahide Ota, reiterated his opposition to a projected U.S. military heliport off the Okinawan coast on February 5. In a December referendum, 54 percent of Okinawans rejected the heliport plans. The floating platform was part of the military reduction agreement that Washington was forced into with Tokyo in 1996. Long-standing opposition to the U.S. military presence there exploded in mass demonstrations two years ago after a 12- year-old girl was raped by U.S. soldiers. The island of Okinawa, which is the poorest region in the country, accounts for only 1 percent of Japan's total land area. Two-thirds of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan are stationed there.

Palestinians protest Zionist expansion in West Bank
On February 5 about 40 Palestinians protested the confiscation of Arab-owned vineyards near the West Bank settlement of Efrat. The excuse Tel Aviv is using for the most recent land grab is the need to construct a new road. "There is already a bypass road," explained Ibrahim Abadeh, a Palestinian who lives in the area. "They just want to take our land for any reason." Meanwhile, Tel Aviv recently approved plans to build a new settlement in Ras al-Amud in east Jerusalem. The government also approved another expansion plan called E-1. If built, it would be the first time Ma'ale Adumin - the largest and most populous Zionist settlement in the West Bank - would be directly linked to the city of Jerusalem.

S. African gov't tells mine bosses to use or lose mineral rights
The African National Congress-led government in South Africa has opened a discussion on a new mining policy that would require an annual minimum of work and investment by private companies that hold mineral rights, if they want to maintain them. This would discourage "the unproductive holding of prospecting and mineral rights," read a government consultation paper. The big companies that dominate mining in South Africa complain that they should be guaranteed "absolute" security of tenure in their rights to gold and other mineral wealth.

According to Penuell Maduna, minister of minerals and energy, the government's long-term aim is for all mineral rights - long dominated by white capitalists under the racist apartheid system that was overturned in 1994 - to be vested in the state. South African officials point out that the governments of the United States and South Africa are unusual in allowing any private ownership of mineral rights.

Polish gov't okays austerity
Claiming fears of reverberations from the Asian economic crisis, the Polish government pushed through an austerity budget January 23 that has the stated aim of holding the deficit to 1.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product. The move is part of Warsaw's preparations for upcoming talks about Polish integration into the European Union in March. But would-be capitalists in Poland still face problems in selling to workers the restructuring and sell-off of the state-owned mining, steel, and defense industries, as well as cutting the pension system.

Panamanians protest nukes
Several environmental groups protested the shipment of nuclear waste through the Panama Canal February 5. The shipment aboard the Pacific Swan included nearly 40 tons of highly radioactive waste. Greenpeace spokesman Carlos Bravo said there was a fire in the engine room of the Pacific Swan in 1990, adding to concerns about a possible accident in the canal. Supposedly answering Bravo, Panama Canal official Alberto Aleman Zubieta said 71 ships carrying radioactive waste passed through the canal last year without problems. Several Caribbean governments also voiced opposition to the transshipment, but British Nuclear Fuels and Cogema of France - the companies shipping the nuclear waste - dismissed the possibility of an accident.

Workers in Mexico demand aid
A group of protesters threw rocks at government officials and cops as they left a Constitution Day ceremony in Queretaro, Mexico, February 5. The demonstrators were protesting the failure of the government to provide aid to poor communities in the central Mexican city. Some 200 riot police were brought in and attacked the protest.

Meanwhile, negotiations in Chiapas sparked calls for the Mexican army to withdraw from the area. For four years Zapatista rebels in that southern region have been fighting government forces. Two government commissions also called for the disarmament of at least 12 paramilitary groups that have killed dozens of people in Chiapas. One such paramilitary group, which was linked to the government, was responsible for the December 22 massacre of 45 peasants in Acteal, Chiapas.

Black joblessness near 10 percent
While the official jobless rate in the United States fell to a "seasonally adjusted" average of 4.7 percent for the last three months of 1997, the unemployment rate for workers who are Black remained near 10 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The unemployment rate for Latinos was also higher than average, 7.4 percent in the October - December period, and the jobless rate for teenagers averaged 15 percent.

Prisoners win settlement
Fourteen prisoners who were beaten by guards in Georgia's Hays State prison reached a tentative Federal District Court settlement of $283,000 February 3. The inmates testified that they were punched, kicked, and stomped on by guards in a 1996 "drug and weapon sweep." They also said that a special tactical squad handcuffed and abused prisoners to intimidate them. One prison guard told the court in a deposition that the Georgia State Corrections Commissioner, Wayne Garner, looked on while beatings took place. Garner denies this.

INS limits ID for immigrants
Under a proposal issued January 30 by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), immigrants would not be able to use 12 currently valid forms of identification for employment. They include U.S. citizen ID cards, school IDs, birth certificates, voter registration cards, and certain military identification and draft cards. Currently, 25 forms of identification are valid for employment. Another INS proposal would raise the application fees for 27 visa and citizenship services. The fee for naturalization would go from $95 to $225; applying for legal permanent residency would rise from $130 to $220; and the replacement price for a green card would go from $74 to $110.

- MEGAN ARNEY  
 
 
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