London/Wien 11. Juni 2003 - In Tunesien sind
Menschenrechtsverletzungen nach wie vor weit verbreitet.
Ungeachtet rechtlicher Verbesserungen tut die tunesische
Regierung zu wenig, um die Praxis in Gefängnissen und auf
Polizeistationen in Übereinstimmung mit tunesischem Recht sowie
mit internationalen Menschenrechtsabkommen zu bringen, die
Tunesien unterzeichnet hat. Dies zeigt der neueste Bericht von
amnesty international (ai).

Der im ai-Bericht beschriebene "Unrechts-Zyklus" beginnt mit der
willkürlichen und illegalen Verhaftung angeblicher oder
tatsächlicher Oppositioneller. "Den Gefangenen wird oft
medizinische Betreuung verweigert ", so Heinz Patzelt,
Generalsekretär von ai-Österreich. "Sie haben keinen Kontakt zu
Angehörigen oder Rechtsanwälten. Sie werden vielfach gefoltert.
Unter Folter erzwungene Geständnisse werden vor Gericht als
Beweis verwendet. All dies widerspricht internationalen
Menschenrechtsstandards." Der Unrechts-Zyklus setzt sich fort bei
den Langzeit-Inhaftierten. "In überfüllten Gefängnissen sind sie
Krankheiten und Diskriminierungen ausgesetzt. Teilweise werden
Gefangene über Jahre in Einzelhaft gehalten", sagt Heinz Patzelt.

Tunesien benutzt schon seit rund zehn Jahren die
"Terrorismusbekämpfung" als Vorwand, um politische Gegner zu
verfolgen, zu foltern und nach unfairen Gerichtsverfahren mit
unverhältnismäßig hohen Haftstrafen zu belegen. Der
"Anti-Terror-Kampf" nach den Anschlägen vom 11. September 2001 in
den USA hat dazu geführt, dass westliche Regierungen noch weniger
Neigung zeigen, derartige Menschenrechtsverletzungen klar zu
benennen und in Regierungskontakten anzusprechen. ai versucht
schon seit Jahren, die EU in die Pflicht zu nehmen. Artikel 2
des 1995 geschlossenen Assoziationsabkommens mit Tunesien enthält
eine Menschenrechts-Klausel. Sie erklärt den Schutz der
Menschenrechte zum grundlegenden Prinzip der Kooperation mit den
Mittelmeer-Anrainerstaaten. Die Mitgliedsstaaten der EU, darunter
Österreich, sind also verpflichtet, auf die Einhaltung der
Menschenrechte in Tunesien zu achten und zu drängen.

Für alle weiteren Informationen wenden Sie sich bitte an:
Mag. Michaela Klement - Presse - 01/78008-24 oder 0664/400 10 56

==================================================
15 A Juicy This & That... June 11, 2003
From: "Abraham J. Bonowitz" <abe@cuadp.org>
==================================================
Greetings all,

I sat down to right this at 9pm, and here it is midnight and
finally the phone has stopped ringing and I am getting focused.
Without further ado, here is...

A Juicy This & That!

CONTENTS

Thanks Sarah!
Need help in Oklahoma!
New England Abolitionists - take note!
50th Anniversary of Rosenberg Extermination
More Songs About Murder....
"My husband was on death row...."
CUADP Fundraising update
Students Against the Death Penalty
Do YOU know this person?
The Texas Clemency Memos
Need a friend in Michigan

*****

THANKS SARAH!

Sarah Owocki left us on
Saturday to return to Pennsylvania, where school starts in a few
weeks. Sarah spent about six weeks living and working with
CUADP, and she did some very boring but very necessary work that
has moved CUADP and several of its projects forward...
significantly! She also had some unique experiences (see top four
items at ). It wasn't "goodbye"
when she left, it was "See you soon." Sarah is expected at the
Fast & Vigil.... But she is missed.... Thanks Sarah!

In her boredom, Sarah came up with the following limericks:

Three activist types just went out
To show folks what they were about
Some said "You suck"
But some wished us luck
And others just started to pout.

And... with dr survivor johnny >(not conventionally funny )

He said "I can't wait for the day"
When Society changes its way
To deal with the weak
And lives gone so bleak-
I don't wait, I don't hope, I just pray"

*****

NEED HELP IN OKLAHOMA!

Friends,

It saddens me to need to make this request. Due to the high
number of executions this summer, our funeral fund has been
completely executed, and we have a number of additional requests
for assistance pending. We have just contributed to the expenses
of Robert Knighton and Kenneth Chad Charm. Now we have been
asked to assist with expenses for Lewis Gilbert, Harold McElmurry
and Robert Duckett.

No donation is too small. Please help us assist the families and
friends of these prisoners during these sad times.

Donations should be mailed to :

Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
P. O. Box 713
Oklahoma City, OK 73101
http://www.ocadp.org/
Please note that the donation is for the funeral assistance fund.

Regards,
Susan Sharp
Chair, OCADP

*******

NEW ENGLAND ABOLITIONISTS - TAKE NOTE!

The following report may be of interest to YOU!

*
* Massachusetts Death Penalty E-mail Network
*
*-- Send submissions to
*-- with "for MADPEN" in the Subject line.
*

(1)------------------------------------

An excellent conference was held on Saturday. About twenty,
mostly Bay Staters, attended the New England Death Penalty Summit
at the Walker Center in Newton. Thanks to Jamie Bissonnette
(AFSC) and Renny Cushing (MVFR) for taking the lead in this
important discussion. I won't attempt to summarize everything
that went on, but will note a couple of salient items:

* A meeting to plan a strategy for the upcoming federal capital
trial in the Gary Sampson case will be held soon, probably June
17 or 18, downtown Boston. Martina Jackson (MCADP) is making the
arrangements. Stay tuned.

* It was decided to establish an email discussion list among New
England anti-death penalty groups in order to coordinate efforts
and share experiences, especially concerning federal death
penalty prosecution and legislation. I've set up a Topica list
to get this going. To subscribe, send a blank email to:
nedpen-subscribe@topica.com Please let interested colleagues in
New England know about this. If anyone would like to post
relevant information on a web page, I've set up
http://www.nodp.org/nedpen/ for this purpose.

-cw

*************

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROSENBERG EXTERMINATION

For people who were alive then, the entire saga of Julius and
Ethel Rosenberg marks a defining moment in their lives. The 50th
anniversary of that double extermination is next week -- June
19th. There are many lessons to be learned and parallels to be
made between that time, and the present, with regard to our legal
system as well as the politics of fear. Yesterday (Tuesday 6/10)
morning I received the following message from Bill Ferretti in
which he boils it all down to the *human* level -- *what are we
doing to our children?* Sam Reese Sheppard
talks about how the experience of his
father facing the death penalty was literally a torture for him
as a seven-year-old child. Surely, the Rosenberg children were
similarly tortured -- even more so because their parents *were*
killed. But in Bill's message he talks about how this case, in
which he was merely an observer along with the rest of the world,
tortured *him* as a young child....

Below are some comments from others, as well as some links to
more resources on this historic anniversary. This is an
opportunity for action -- Read these materials, and consider
writing a letter to the editor, or calling your local talk radio
program to further express concerns from these or your own
perspective.....

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 22:03:35 -0700
To: abe@cuadp.org
From: wmferretti@mindspring.com (William Ferretti)
Subject: (6/9/03) Rosenbergs

Hi, Abe!

If I'm not too crocked to calculate dates, I believe that Ethel
and Julius Rosenberg were murdered by the u.s. empire nearly 50
years ago, on June 19, 1953. The 50th anniversary of that
atrocity is rapidly approaching, like the telephone poles on the
right hand side of the roadway.

If I'm not mistaken, they are survived by two sons, whose surname
is not "Rosenberg", but who are indeed progressive activists.

Are there any events that you know of planned around the 50th
anniversary of this atrocity?

It is a personal deal for me, as this was my initiation into
non-violence. Their electrocution was the first time that I can
remember having heard about capital punishment. I was just four
years old, but the controversy was big news then. At the same
time, my father was dying of lung cancer. He was in and out of
the Veterans Administration Hospital in downtown Oakland. I
believe that the helpless realization that I'd soon lose my
father made the news about the Rosenbergs strike home.

I had a nightmare that I remember to this day, in which both of
my parents were strapped down into huge chairs in a dark void.
Neither of them could move even slightly. There were clamps
around their heads attached to shafts that extended from behind
the chairs. I knew that upon a certain signal, the shafts would
spin and rip off my parents' heads. That is the last thing that
I remember. I must have awakened, crying, but I don't remember
that part.

In any event, I came to oppose the death penalty before I knew
any facts or statistics or logical arguments against it. I knew
purely that it was absolutely wrong.

Well, if there are any 50th anniversary events, please let me
know. If there aren't, should we initiate some?

--Bill

MAIN EVENT

The Rosenberg Fund for Children, run by their youngest son,
Robbie Meeropol, is organizing a large event in NYC that day.
There is an all-star lineup in a program to commemorate the
Rosenbergs' resistance while honoring today's families who
continue to fight for social justice. Check it out at
(This site was down while I was writing
this, but I am certain the URL is correct- keep trying if it
doesn't yet work.....

ANOTHER EVENT

Dear Friends,

Please come hear us at Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston
St., Sun. June 22 at 11am.

Our Rosenberg-Meeropol-Sacco/Vanzetti Memorial Concert will be
our first Boston appearance in five years, and the first Boston
performance of excerpts from Marc Blitzstein's magnum opus, the
opera SACCO AND VANZETTI (based in part on Upton Sinclair's
novel, BOSTON), completed only in 2001. The program will also
include an excerpt from the Rosenberg Cantata, WE ARE INNOCENT,
and settings of texts by Abel Meeropol, the man who adopted the
Rosenberg sons, composed by Elie Siegmeister, Earl Robinson,
Robert Kurka, Leonard Lehrman, and Meeropol himself (discovered
just last year at the Meeropol Archive at Boston University).

We'll have copies for you of our new Abel Meeropol Centennial
Concert CD on Original Cast Recordings OC 6055.

Please let us know if you can make it, as we'd love to see you!
And if any of you has press contacts, at the Globe or elsewhere,
who might be interested, could you please, please put us in touch
with them?

Thanks -
Leonard (& Helene Williams) Lehrman

AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE

Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty
Information Center, writes:

at 03:49 PM 6/10/2003 -0500, you wrote:
Abe, I'm not sure about events, but there is an extensive article
about the 50th anniversary of the Rosenberg executions in the
current issue of Hospitality, the newsletter of the Open Door
Community in Atlanta, by Murphy Davis.

Thanks Dick. It is a very good piece -- find it here. (THERE IS
ALSO A COMMENTARY ON THE PLAY, "THE EXONERATED.") Check it all
out, and more, at
.

AND FINALLY

Dr. Glenn Larkin writes....

Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 12:21:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: (6/19/03) Rosenbergs
From:
To:
Importance: Normal
X-Mailer: SquirrelMail (version 1.2.7)

ABe:

If I remember correctly, there was a flurry of legal and
political action surrounding that momentous week.

(1) A lawyer named Fyke Farmer interjected himself into the case
from Tennessee with a brief claiming that the Rosenburgs should
have been convicted of violating the 1917 Espionage Act, and not
he crime of which they were sentenced to death. Originally set
to be executed on June 18, their 14th wedding anniversary,
Justice Douglas ordered a stay of execution, and the Supreme
Court immediately adjourned. The Chief Justice then did the
unprecedented move of calleing the court back into extraordinary
session to vacate the stay, which it did (I believe 8-1). The
Republican goons in congress tried to impeach Douglas.

(2) On a differnet front, Eisenhower differed to his Attorney
Herbert Brownell, who offered Ethel a commutation if she "named
names". When Manny Booch, Rosenbergs' attorney asked that the
execution, normally set at 11 Pm be postponed because of the
Jewish Sabboth, Brownell order the warden at Sing Sing to carry
them out before sunset, a few hours away. Ethel, who was
probably completely innocent was executed after sunset, minutes
after Julius, in what was decried as an injustice throughout
Europe.

(3) All the players in this case were Jewish- the Rosenbergs, the
prosecutor Saypol, the defense attoneys Bloch, and the Judge
Kauffman, the alleged anti-semitism originally brought to light
was never played.

(4) I believe the Russian files opened up do indicate that Julius
was in some way implicated in passing information to the then
allies Soviets, but his brother-in-law, David Greenglass , who
ACTUALLY OBTAINED THE DRAWINGS, was let off lightly. Morton
SObell, the third conspirator, served out a 30 year sentence --
partly on Alkatraz-- was released, and passed into obscurity. He
always denied his guilt.

(5) I read the trial transcript at the time (I was not yet 18)
and always believed that the conviction was that of a kangaroo
court. That does not mean that Julius was innocent, but that the
case was extreme;y raunchy, and his defense inadequate.

These are some of my memories from that time.

G M Larkin

*******************

MORE SONGS ABOUT MURDER....

"The Executioner's Last Songs" Vols. 1 & 2 will be released on
June 17 -- next week! Proceeds from Vol. 1 generated more than
$40,000 for the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
Proceeds from this next edition benefit both ICADP
and also the National Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty .

Order your copy via the link at
, and CUADP gets a cut
too.

For details on this new release, check out
, where they haven't yet put
this in the "new release"section, but they have the following
blurb:

PINE VALLEY COSMONAUTS "Executioner's Last Songs: Volume 2" is
completed.

The response from artists after Volume One was so overwhelming,
we had to make this a double disc. Contributors include: Tim
Rutili (Calfone), Davie Alvin, Kurt Wagner (Lambchop), Sally
Timms, Kelly Hogan, Rico Bell, Chris Mills, Alejandro Escovedo,
Rebecca Gates (Spinanes), Rhett Miller (Old 97s), Rex Hobart,
Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), Gurf Morlix, The Meat
Purveyors, Jon Rauhouse, and a classic from the Sundowners, and
so much more. Volume One raised over $40,000 and the Governor of
Illinois was so cowed by the record that he cleared Death Row.
Now, we go nationwide. Look for it in June.

Oh - and one other thing - this from the publicity department:

By the way, do you happen to know of any anti-death penalty
organizations abroad that might be interested in the CD? I know
that the UK would be a good place to have some coverage,
particularly because many of the artists are British, but I'm not
sure where to send it. Any advice you might have would be super.

Thanks,

Thais Fletcher
Bloodshot Records
3039 W. Irving Park
Chicago, IL 60618
773-604-5300

******

"MY HUSBAND WAS ON DEATH ROW..."

It's a small world.

The phone rang this evening just as I was about to take Governor
and Senator for a romp on the beach. I'm glad I made them wait,
as the person calling was Dusti Ridge, who had found CUADP's
phone number off the back of a t-shirt worn this morning by her
supervisor at work. It seems Dusti's ex-husband was at one time
on death row in Florida, and he is now serving a life sentence.
"I used to support the death penalty until I saw how he got
railroaded," she said. Dusti lives in Washington, DC, and now
that she knows about us, she plans to join us for the FAST &
VIGIL!

Once again, AbolitionWear brings home an abolitionist.... see
.

For details on the Fast & Vigil, see

[Be the first to send an e-mail to and
win a free Fast & Vigil t-shirt!]

***************

CUADP FUND RAISING UPDATE

As mentioned in the last message, CUADP has a regular postal fund
raising mailing out there. So far, 51 individuals have responded
with a total of $2,289. Not too bad! And the good thing is that
most of these 51 individuals are past donors who have not given
yet in 2003. So it works to put an envelope in someone's
hand.....

BUT, that's only 51 donors from more than 1,000 people that we
mailed to. The largest gift so far was $500, and the smallest
was $1. The most common gift is $36.

The question is - Have YOU ever supported CUADP? If not, please
consider doing so at this time. The need is real. CUADP
currently has about $5,000 in bills due and payable, mostly to
friends and friendly vendors who don't complain when we use
scarce income to keep the phone on and to take *action* instead
of paying them their due.... But I have to say that this is
probably the most depressing thing about this work - the constant
scraping and stress and the pain of failing friends who invest
their trust, not to mention their resources. It would be a real
blessing to be able to discharge those debts, *and* maintain
monthly expenses, *and* also raise enough to ensure the Fast &
Vigil is all paid for. To do all that by the time the Fast &
Vigil starts on June 28th, CUADP would need to raise about
$10,000.

For the month so far, we have $2,289. Add to that the monthly
sustainer gifts, and we have about $3,500. Can we raise another
$6,500 in the next 16 days?

I think we can. If each person on this list gave just $1.60,
we'd have it. BUT, I suspect most people are not even reading
this. So we cannot expect 4,000 people to help. But if just 200
people each gave an average of $36, we would exceed the goal.

PLEASE join those who have kept CUADP going with whatever you can
offer on a one-time OR monthly basis by using CUADP's secure
server to make a contribution now. Please click here:
.

Thank you.

****************************

DO YOU KNOW THIS PERSON?

If you are or know one of the following people for whom we no
longer have a current address, please send a correct regular
postal address to so that we can update our
records:

Stephanie Alm
MJ Berry
Monica Bienera
Jennifer Blakeman
Joy Blythe
Denis Boris
Ann Brown
Rowland Brucken
Nancy Chase
Elizabeth Clark
Doug Connor
Martha Elliot Cornell
Mary Davidson
Kathleen Dillon
Nathan Dubfield
Jackie Evans
Brian Gilbert
Doris Rushton Gilfoy
James and Deborah Harkin
Maurice D. Harris
Johanna Hatch
Rachel Hickerson
Eric J. Hoagland
Edward Iwanski
Ellen Kalenberg
Ted Kaufmann
Henry Keller
Sandra Klimczak
Suzanne MacDonald
Christopher T. Mayers
Amy Miller
Nancy Monzo
Reuel Myers
Shirley Poore
Sandra Portuundo
Douglas Scott Revelle
Veronica Scheatzle
Margaret Shields
Susannah Slotnick
Jerusha McKee Tanner
Kyle Timken
Kristen P. Vinicor
Jamie Watson
Heather Wisniewski
Donald Wertheimer

****************

STUDENTS AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY says....

Check out our brand new web site:
www.studentsagainstthedeathpenalty.org. Let us know what you
think by sending an e-mail to:

***************

THE TEXAS CLEMENCY MEMOS

The July/August 2003 issue of The Atlantic Monthly has an
interesting article by Alan Berlow called "The Texas Clemency
Memos." The article is about Alberto Gonzalez's memoranda to Bush
concerning clemency in death cases when he was governor and
exposes how little significant information was in the memoranda.
Gonzalez is now White House counsel and is frequently mentioned
as a Supreme Court nominee. The issue is not yet on the
magazine's web site, but it should be soon -- check out
.

*****************

NEED A FRIEND IN MICHIGAN

If you live in Michigan and would be willing to serve as CUADP's
resident agent (be a physical address *in* the state of
Michigan), please contact or 800-973-6548 asap.

*****************

Many thanks!

--abe

Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director, CUADP

********************************************************
YES FRIENDS!
There is an Alternative to the Death Penalty

Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(CUADP) works to end the death penalty in the United
States through aggressive campaigns of public education
and the promotion of tactical grassroots activism.

Visit or call 800-973-6548
********************************************************

==================================================
16 France: Renewed Strikes over Pensions
From: "E.Ernstbrunner" <hx65@dial.pipex.com>
==================================================
Quelle: NEWSWIRE

>>FRANCE: RENEWED STRIKES OVER PENSIONS AS PARLIAMENT DEBATES
LEGISLATION Workers Power Global, Paris

Today has been a key moment in the facedown between workers and
government over plans to "reform" pensions by increasing the
number of years public sector workers have to work, from 37.5 to
40 years.

There has been a 24-hour general strike in which around 1.5
million workers protested in strikes and demonstrations round the
country. Over 200,000 marched in Paris and in Marseille. Minor
confrontations with the police after the Paris demonstration led
to tear gas and water cannon being used in front of the
parliament.

The government opened the parliamentary debate on its "reform" of
the pensions system. The Communist Party deputies - who have
tabled nearly 9000 amendments - sang the Internationale at the
opening of the session. The government is refusing to budge an
inch, saying the time for negotiations is over.

• Unions in the key education sector, which has been on strike
over attempts to "decentralise" control and funding of schools,
in a form of creeping privatisation, met government ministers to
try and find a compromise. Following minor reforms, the leaders
have called on teachers not to strike during the famous
baccalauréat ("bac"), the final school exam, which begins on
Thursday and involves 600,000 pupils. It remains to be seen
whether rank and file teachers will follow their call.

Faced with government intransigence and the pressure of the rank
and file, Force ouvriere, one of the key unions in the public
sector, but clearly the third most important federation on a
national scale, has called for a general strike - on condition
that the call is supported by other federations and involves both
private and public sectors. In other words, it is a cynical piece
of rhetoric that is designed to be inoperative because it demands
the highest level of unity before it is implemented.

As we write, the situation is very uncertain. On one level, the
movement is stronger and more determined than it has been.

Workers from throughout the public sector - rail, education, air
traffic, health, post etc - and many workers from the private
sector, including the chemical industry, took part in today's
strike.

Last week there was a wave of increasingly radical actions around
the country involving blockading stations, motorways and even
whole towns. Most importantly, there were growing signs of
participation of private sector workers in the movement.

For example, in the Nantes region, over half the 850 workers in
the Systeme U supermarket chain were on strike last week, as were
workers in the massive BN biscuit factory.

Rail workers have been on rolling strike since last week's 24
hour strike, and are continuing their strike for at least another
day. Over the long holiday weekend, they took unprecedented
strike action, delaying returning holidaymakers.

Some teachers have been on strike for over two months, with no
strike pay, some with pupils about to take their Bac.

The degree of anger, determination and mobilisation is
unprecedented since May 1968. In terms of its intensity and
duration, the current movement far surpasses what we saw in
November-December 1995. And yet there is a real danger that the
union leaders will fragment and weaken the movement. With the
partial exception of FO, they are refusing to call for an all-out
general strike, despite the fact that this is the only way to be
certain of beating back the government's plans once and for all.
It is also a slogan that is massively popular on the
demonstrations and is chanted from Nice to Nantes, from Limoges
to Lille.

Current tactics will at best lead to short-term postponement of
the attacks, and will most likely encourage the government to
remain intransigent because of the lack of leadership and
determination on the part of the union high-ups.

The key will probably be the response of the teachers to the
government's latest proposals. Luc Ferry, the beleaguered
Education Minister, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the Minister of the
Interior, have said that they will exclude some key sectors of
school staff - psychologists, advisors - from their
decentralisation project.

For these sectors - some of whom have been on strike for two
months - this is clearly a victory. However, 90,000 working-class
maintenance staff will be included in the government's bill,
which will be published in September.

Furthermore, although Ferry has promised 80 million euros to
renew contracts for temporary staff, this is not new money, and
will come from elsewhere in the Education Budget.

In other words, education workers have won very little.

At the moment it seems probable that the Bac will not go quite so
smoothly as the government and union leaders hope. Many young
teachers have been at the forefront of recent radical actions and
may not accept the calls for "moderation" on the part of union
leaders whose essential role is to dampen down struggle, not
build it.

And even if teachers were to accept the pathetic package from
government over decentralisation, that would still leave the key
issue: pensions.

The key question is therefore whether the union leaders are going
to be able to continue to weaken the movement by the current
series of "days of action", or whether workers are going to be
able to impose the solution that they increasingly recognise as
being the only viable one - an indefinite general strike.

To one degree or another, all the workers' political parties are
failing this decisive test.

The Socialist Party, which a year ago was proposing pretty much
the same attack as today's government, is claiming to be opposed
to the proposals of Chirac and Prime Minister Raffarin, but for
obvious reasons, is having a hard time convincing people.

The Communist Party (PCF) is trying to prove that it can be the
effective opposition in parliament, by putting down an incredible
number of wrecking amendments. The government has responded by
saying that they will not guillotine the debate, thereby
guaranteeing that the movement will stretch out over weeks and
weeks.

The PCF's parliamentary capers, although apparently principled,
will play into the hands of the government unless they are
accompanied by a decisive and massive general strike. Which, of
course, the PCF is not willing to fight for.

As to be expected, the two key Trotskyist organisations, Lutte
Ouvriere and the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, are far more
correct. However, they are both pulling their punches at the
decisive moment.

The LCR has been agitating effectively for a general strike
through its paper, posters and its members in the unions.
However, it is not simply a general strike that French workers
need, they need above all to be able to counter, and ultimately
replace, the power of the current union leaderships.

That means actively linking the call for the creation of rank and
file democratic bodies in order to mobilise the strike and to
defend it against both any police attacks and, in the current
climate more importantly, against the wrecking tactics of the
union leaderships.

This is not an optional extra, it has to be part and parcel of
the movement for the general strike to be successful.

The LCR is in favour of such structures, and its members have
played an important role in, for example, the Rouen
Intersyndicale structure. But rank and file control of the strike
- workers democracy and workers power - is not at the heart of
their intervention, or indeed, anywhere to be mentioned as such
in their paper. Neither are any criticisms of the union
leaderships or proposals for how to deal with them.

The LCR is shying back from the necessary steps. They are
avoiding the key question which would mean a break with the
various left alliances they are aiming to construct, in
particular with the elements of the PCF and the union
bureaucracy. Declaring political war on such forces would
obviously cause certain diplomatic problems, even though it is
precisely what is necessary.

Even more striking is the classic timidity of Lutte Ouvriere. LO
has the best implantation of the far-left into the working class,
and probably has as many teachers as does the LCR. However, they
steadfastly refuse to call either for a general strike, or for
rank and file control.

The audience at their annual fete, which took place last weekend,
may have been chanting "General strike, general strike", but
neither LO's papers nor its much-vaunted hundreds of workplace
bulletins have done any such thing. Instead we are given a
pathetically vague call fro the generalisation of the movement.
The lack of political clarity is stunning, deliberate and
typical. LO's politics is ultimately extremely spontaneist and
economist, expecting that the class struggle will bring forward
the key demands, with the role of revolutionaries being merely to
participate in it, and to be the vehicle for the classic ideas of
socialism.

In the coming days, French workers will need to find another,
more decisive and clear political voice than either the
reformists of the PS and the PCF, or the timid centrism of LO and
the LCR. Workers' democracy, workers' control and workers' action
- these are the keys to the general strike, and to beating back
Raffarin and Chirac's offensive.

FOR MORE ON RECENT STRIKES IN FRANCE SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/france-5june03.html

==================================================
17 Deutsche Spionage für Saddam Husseins Ba´th-Regime?
From: "Wadi e.V. Wien" <wadi_wien@hotmail.com>
==================================================
Britische Medienberichte über Spionagetdtigkeiten des deutschen
Geheimdienstes BND für das Regime Saddam Husseins veranlassten
die Gesellschaft für bedrohte Vvlker zu einem offenen Brief an
den deutschen Aussenminister Fischer:

Sunday Telegraph

German spies offered help to Saddam in run-up to war

By David Harrison in Baghdad

Germany's intelligence services attempted to build closer links
to Saddam's secret service during the build-up to war last year,
documents from the bombed Iraqi intelligence HQ in Baghdad
obtained by The Telegraph reveal.

Documents recovered from Iraqi intelligence HQ in Baghdad

They show that an agent named as Johannes William Hoffner,
described as a "new German representative in Iraq" who had
entered the country under diplomatic cover, attended a meeting
with Lt Gen Taher Jalil Haboosh, the director of Iraq's
intelligence service.

During the meeting, on January 29, 2002, Lt Gen Haboosh says that
the Iraqis are keen to have a relationship with Germany's
intelligence agency "under diplomatic cover", adding that he
hopes to develop that relationship through Mr Hoffner.

The German replies: "My organisation wants to develop its
relationship with your organisation."

In return, the Iraqis offered to give lucrative contracts to
German companies if the Berlin government helped prevent an
American invasion of the country.

The revelations come a week after The Telegraph reported that
Russia had spied for the Iraqis, passing them intelligence about
a meeting between Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian
prime minister. Both the British and Italian governments have
launched investigations.

The meeting between the Iraqi and German agents took place some
six months before Chancellor Schrvder's Social Democrat-led
government began its policy of direct opposition to the idea of
an American/British-led war against Iraq. The policy was adopted
in the heat of last year's German general election campaign, at a
time when the Social Democrats were widely predicted to lose the
contest. Mr Schrvder was re-elected as Chancellor last September,
largely because of the popularity of his government's outspoken
opposition to the war against Iraq. The apparently verbatim
account of the meeting between Lt Gen Haboosh and Mr Hoffner was
among documents recovered by The Telegraph in the rubble of the
Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, which was heavily
bombed.

During the meeting, Lt Gen Haboosh tells the German agent that
Iraq has "big problems" with Britain and the United States. "We
have problems with Britain because it occupied Iraq for 60 years
and with America because of its aggression for 11 years," he
says.

He adds, however, that Iraq has no problems with Germany and
suggests that Germany will be rewarded with lucrative contracts
if it offers international support to Iraq. "When the American
conspiracy is finished, we will make a calculation for each state
that helps Iraq in its crisis."

He also urges Mr Hoffner to lobby the German government to raise
its diplomatic mission in Baghdad to full ambassadorial level. Mr
Hoffner says that it would be a decision for the German foreign
ministry, but Germany's diplomatic presence in the Iraqi capital
made it easier for him to enter Iraq because he was able to use
diplomatic cover.

Last night, a spokesman for the German government said it was
"well known" that it had been offered lucrative contracts by
Baghdad providing it maintained an anti-Iraq war stance. "Iraq
made these kinds of promises before the war and praised Germany
for its position," he said.

Iraqi police handed Saddam Hussein's finance minister to American
forces after capturing him in Baghdad, raising hopes of tracing
billions of dollars the ousted dictator may have spirited away.
Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi, who was also a deputy prime minister,
is number 45 on America's list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis.

Kollaborierte der BND mit dem irakischen Geheimdienst?

GESELLSCHAFT FÜR BEDROHTE VÖLKER

Offener Brief an Bundesaußenminister Joschka Fischer

Göttingen, den 22. April 2003

Kollaborierte der BND mit dem irakischen Geheimdienst?

Sehr geehrter Herr Minister,

im britischen Sunday Telegraph hat David Harrison am
Ostersonntag, dem 20. April 2003, aus Bagdad berichtet, ein
Repräsentant des deutschen Geheimdienstes namens Johannes William
Hoffner habe unter diplomatischem Schutz Gespräche mit
Generalleutnant Taher Jalil Haboosh, dem Direktor von Iraks
Geheimdienst (Intelligence Service), geführt. Bei dem Treffen am
29. Januar 2002 sei es um die Vertiefung der beiderseitigen
Beziehungen gegangen.

Außerdem habe die irakische Seite lukrative Kontrakte für die
Zukunft angeboten. Der Sunday Telegraph behauptet, er hätte
entsprechende Dokumente im bombardierten Hauptquartier des
irakischen Geheimdienstes sichergestellt.

Die Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker (GfbV) bittet Sie herzlich,
uns Auskunft darüber zu geben, ob tatsächlich derartige Gespräche
mit einem Regime stattgefunden haben, das Genozide an Kurden und
Schiiten verübt hat. Bei den Massenvernichtungen der Kurden
wurden bekanntlich auch chemische Waffen eingesetzt, an deren
Produktion deutsche Firmen führend beteiligt waren.

Wir halten eine Kollaboration des Bundesnachrichtendienstes BND
mit dem irakischen Geheimdienst schon deshalb nicht für
unwahrscheinlich, weil es während Ihrer Amtszeit schon andere
ungeheuerliche Aufträge an den BND gegeben hat: Bereits Ende März
2000 hatte eine BND-Delegation in der Trümmerwüste von Grosny
nach der totalen Zerstörung der tschetschenischen Hauptstadt mit
den russischen Geheimdienstkollegen verhandelt.

Damals lagen noch hunderte, vielleicht tausende Leichen
ermordeter Tschetschenen in Ruinen und Kellern Grosnys. Thema war
nicht etwa der an den Tschetschenen verübte Genozid. Vielmehr
wurden Informationen über "tschetschenischen Terrorismus"
ausgetauscht.

Die GfbV hatte seinerzeit Anzeige gegen BND-Chef August Hanning
erstattet, der die dreiköpfige Delegation des Deutsches Dienstes
in Grosny angeführt hatte.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Gez. Tilman Zülch, Generalsekretdr

------------------------------------------------
Wadi e.V. - Aussenstelle Wien

Spendenkonto in Österreich:
Kontonummer 56001 069 352
Bank Austria Creditanstalt BLZ 12000

Spendenkonto in Deutschland
Kontonummer 612305-602
bei der Postbank Frankfurt/M. BLZ: 500 100 60

Website mit weiteren Informationen zu Projekten von Wadi e. V.
und politischen Hintergrundinfos: www.wadinet.de

==================================================
18 Die kleine Amira und und das "Ehrendelikt"
From: "Claudia Volgger" <claudia.volgger@chello.at>
==================================================
Magdi Allam, italienischer Journalist ägyptischer Abstammung und
moslemischen Glaubens, ursprünglich Soziologe, ist als "Islam-
und Nahostexperte" durch zahlreiche Bücher und Auftritte in
politischen Sendungen in Italien mittlerweile zum
Star-Journalisten avanciert und fällt durch couragiert
ausgewogener Berichterstattung und Kommentierung auf, die auch
Tabu-Themen nicht scheut.

In der römischen Tageszeitung "La repubblica" online schreibt er
täglich eine Kolumne und beantwortet die Fragen der Leser unter
dem Titel "La vita degli altri", das private Leben der Anderen.
Am 11. Juni 2003 ist folgender von Karl Pfeifer übersetzter
Artikel erschienen:

Die kleine Amira und und das "Ehrendelikt"

Von Magdi Allam

Amira war kaum 16 Jahre alt. Ihr Name bedeutet Prinzessin. Ein
wahrer Hohn wenn man an ihr Lebensende denkt.

Alles geschah binnen weniger Tage im Höllenkreis von Gaza. Es
begann in der Früh, als sie sich über Bauch- und
Unterleibschmerzen beschwerte. Es folgte die Visite im nahen
Spital. Die Diagnose ließ keinen Zweifel: Amira war im achten
Monat schwanger.

Die Mutter glaubte es nicht und war verzweifelt. Wegen der
Schande. Wegen der Entehrung der ganzen Familie. Die Polizei
verhörte Amira im Spital. Es ist ein Skandal. Fast ein Vorzeichen
der bevorstehenden Katastrophe. Die wirkliche Tragödie entwickelt
sich nachdem ihr Geständnis bekannt wird. Geschwängert haben sie
ihre zwei 19 und 21 jährigen Brüder. Eineinhalb Jahre zwangen sie
ihre Schwester zum Geschlechtsverkehr. Scheinbar ohne Kenntnis
der Mutter und auch des Vaters. Als dieser in Kenntnis gesetzt
wurde, schwörte er die Schande mit Blut abzuwaschen. Mit dem Blut
von Amira. So beschlossen die Behörden das Mädchen und ihren
Embryo, den sie trug zu beschützen. Sie wurde in einem
Sozial-Zentrum beherbergt und von der Polizei bewacht. Der
Neugeborene kam physisch und geistig deformiert zur Welt. Ein
Unglück im Unglück, das das Leben von Amira fürchterlich
kompliziert.

Ihre Familie verpflichtet sich schriftlich das Leben von Amira
und des Neugeborenen zu schützen.

Die Mutter umarmt sie und bringt sie nachhause. Kaum angekommen,
erwürgt sie ihre Tochter mit ihren Händen. Dann ergreift sie den
Neugeborenen und schlägt ihn einige Mal. Dieser stirbt an
Blutverlust.

Die Soziologin Maha Abu Diah erklärte in der Wochenzeitung Al
Majalla: "Die Mutter blieb Geisel eines starken
gesellschaftlichen Drucks, der sie dazu brachte, ihre Tochter zu
töten. Sie ist zweifach gescheitert. Sie verhinderte nicht die
Schändung ihrer Tochter durch ihre eigenen Söhne und merkte nicht
die Schwangerschaft ihrer Tochter bis zum achten Monat. Für die
gesamte Gesellschaft ist sie die wirklich verantwortliche." Eine
Verantwortung, die noch durch diesen Doppelmord verschärft wird.
Man nennt ihn "jerimat al-sharaf", Ehrendelikt.

Die Soziologin stellt fest: "Die männerchauvinistische und
autoritäre Mentalität der palästinensischen Gesellschaft führt
dazu, die Frau auch dann, wenn sie Opfer ist schuldig zu
sprechen. Zuerst tötet dich die Gesellschaft, die dich diffamiert
und diskriminiert. Dann zeigt sich die physische Liquidierung als
die endgültige, schnellste und einfachste Lösung."

Im letzten Jahr gab es wenigstens 31 Fälle von Frauen, die dem
"Ehrendelikt" zum Opfer gefallen sind. Mädchen, die von ihrem
eigenen Vater getötet wurden, wie Suraya. Oder von einem
enttäuschten Cousin, der das Mädchen nicht heiraten konnte, wie
im Fall Radwan.

Im Kontext der Misere und der Hoffnungslosigkeit sind die Frauen,
die Opfer einer Schändung wurden, die am wenigsten verteidigten,
die schwächsten. Sie sind die unglücklichsten in einer
Gesellschaft, die zu lange den Kult des Hasses und der Gewalt
kultiviert hat.

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
LINKS / VERWEISE / HINWEISE
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

==================================================
19 Kulturrisse 02|03: Wiederaneignung der Stadt
From: IG Kultur Österreich <office@igkultur.at>
==================================================
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||| MITTEILUNG
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||| IG Kultur Österreich
||| http://www.igkultur.at/
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||| Für ein Offenhalten der Schandflecken und Schotterwüsten -
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||| Kulturrisse 02|03 zum Thema: Wiederaneignung der Stadt
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