Johannes Wilm

President Zelaya has not violated the constitution

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:33:44 +0200

Hey, I am currently in Berlin on a minor holiday away from Central America, and then this stuff happens! I phoned the Honduran embassy here, but they were not quite sure which side they were on yet, and the Nicaraguan embassy asked me if I could try to help them get their statements out to the big media.

I do not particularly care about the legal situation much more than many other aspects of this, but the reporting on this has been equal also in many other European countries, and so I thought I would translate and repost this Norwegian response to the allegations that are made:

President Zelaya has not violated the constitution

(originally a press release in Norwegian by Latin American Groups in Norway written by Alberto Valiente Thoresen, Cecilie Hirsch and Susanne Normann, http://www.latin-amerikagruppene.no/Artikler/10685.html, translated by myself )

Several media reported Monday that the president of Honduras was abducted by the military, after he allegedly should have tried to conduct a referendum to change the Honduran constitution to prolong his presidency. Latin-American groups in Norway (LAG) believe that this is a gross simplification and inaccurate information, which is used to support arguments that coup government uses to justify the coup against the state government of Manuel Zelaya. LAG will here provide a thorough explanation of what happened in Honduras, and hope that the Norwegian media, will henceforth present the situation in a more balanced way.

1) President Zelaya called for a non-binding popular consultation and not a binding popular plebiscite. In accordance with article 5 of the "Act on popular participation" from 2006, all state powers in Honduras can carry out such inquiries to learn and take into account what people think about certain actions and issues.

2) The non-binding popular consultation asked what people would think about adding another ballot box at the election in November 2009. This vote was to conduct a poll whether people wanted to form a basis for a future assembly to write a new constitution. If people had said yes, an election for the members of this assembly would then have been arranged. After the assembly would have been chosen, they would have made a proposal of a new constitution, which eventually would have had to have been voted upon by the people.

3) Article 5 and 374 in the current Constitution from 1982 (with the reforms of 2005) specifies that it is not possible to reform the Articles of the Constitution which deals with the government, presidency, Honduran territory or opportunities for re-election, as described in the Constitution. It is not possible to conduct binding referendums with this purpose. So here there is a distinction between reforming the Articles of the current Constitution, and to undergo a democratic process to create a new constitution with an elected assembly set up to write a new constitution.

4) The Constitution does not prohibit the formation of an elected assembly with a mandate to write a new constitution.

5) The Supreme Court of Honduras did not look upon the "Act of popular participation" as unconstitutional when it was adopted in 2006. Thus, it is not unconstitutional that the government is conducting a consultation of this type.

6) When it comes to a possible extension of the election term, this would have been something the constitutional Assembly would have had to take a position on. In the current constitution the president can only sit for one term. Zelaya can not stand for re-election in November 2009. He could possibly have tried again, once a new constitution was in place, which would have taken one to two years depending on how quickly the constitutional assembly worked. The new constitution proposal would have had be adopted by the people in a popular vote before it could have been put into effect.

7) Constitution Article 205 Paragraph 22 specifies that Congress can prosecute officials who violate the constitution. Article 239 states that a president can only sit for one term, and if the president tries to break this article, he will automatically lose office and with this immunity. If Zelaya had broken the law, there are thus legitimate procedures that can be followed. This is not what Congress and the military used. He will, however, be accused of breaking article 239, which is not the case.

8) it seems clear that those doing the military coup realized that they didn't have a case against President Manuel Zelaya and therefore decided to ignore the Constitution and the democratic institutions that they claim to defend.

A misleading representation of the intentions of Manuel Zelaya is not acting neutral. It helps spread the propaganda the coup makers need to manipulate the international and Honduran media, which may help to recognize and maintain their power position. The same happens if this legitimate discussion is played down. So LAG asks the media to use a more balanced language.

European elections

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 22:01:00 +0200

I was first asked to send them a video of myself speaking, however it seems that they did not manage to put it all together that way.

Anyways, a very un-traditional, but interesting way of trying to convey a political message. If you know German, watch it. If you can vote in Germay, vote for us!

Two small video items

Wed, 4 Mar 2009 23:55:40 +0100

While working hard on my thesis and another project for the Nicaraguan ministry of agriculture, I've also found a little time to go visit some of the productive countryside here in Nicaragua.

As part of that, I've made these two tiny videos together with Jason Glaser from the La Isla Foundation.

Sugarcane burning in Chichigalpa

The smoke from the annual sugar cane burning contains gases that are everything but healthy for those living around.
We interview the local headmaster of a school. And interestingly, he tells us that the burning of the cane is not the worst thing of living around the sugar cane fields.

English

Spanish

See also the discussion here.

9 year old girl working in Estel�

We picked up a group of workers at a tobacco farm in Estel�, Nicaragua and gave them a ride. One of the three was a nine year old girl. And the owners of the farm are, to our knowledge, Cuban-Americans residing in Miami, Florida.

The three explained to us that the father of the family was making 7.50 USD/week, and therefore had no choice but to send his daughters to work. The nine year old is working eight hours a day, six days a week, earning 50 US cents an hour. She does not have time to go to school.

English

See also the discussion here.

Both of these have been taken with a regular handy cam, so the sound quality is marginal. But both have been subtitled. You may have to enable that manually in the lower right hand corner of the video.

A Sandinista pig

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 17:21:09 +0100

I wrote this story some two-three months ago, originally in German, then translated to Danish and then to English. I was trying to find a place to get it published in paper form. But the information is likely a bit to obscure for anything mainstream, and no normal person reads the academic journals (and in addition I would need to throw a whole bunch of aca-gibberish on there before anyone would take it). I was busy with all kinds of other things and just about forgot about it. But I noticed this list of the Top 100 anthropology blogs (worldwide?) with this blog being listed (sorry, but I don't think that list is to be taken serious, really) and that this blog still receives a few hundred hits daily (despite almost no new content for a year). And so I just thought this might be as good a place as anywhere to put it. So please, enjoy. And if you need the German or Danish version for anything, please contact me!

A Sandinista pig

Blanca Nella is a poor woman. She lives on the island Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua in the Central-American country of the same name.

In this country, the socialist Nationalist Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN) came to power through a revolution in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, the country had to fight counterrevolutionary insurgencies financed by the Unites States with the help of Cuba and Eastern Europe. At the national elections in 1990, the Sandinistas lost, and for sixteen years the country was ruled by three neo-liberal governments, until the FSLN won the presidential elections in the fall of 2006. Daniel Ortega, who was elected president once already during 1984–90, now rules the country.

This is the story of a person who witnesses these times.

Nella would like to receive a pig from the government, but unfortunately she doesn't have enough land to grow the food for it. Now that Ortega is president, there is such a program, called ‘zero hunger’.

The program is directed towards women and consists of a cow, a pig, a rooster, five hens, the building of the housing for cow and pig, seeds and food for the first few months as well as training in how to treat the animals. Altogether this is supposed to have a value of 1,500USD and the producer agrees on giving back 300USD of the income to other projects in the area, such as micro-credits.

Blanca Nella and her son are full of hope for Daniel Ortega's programs
0.7 hectare

Nella's land is located on the beach a few hundred meters from the main pier of the island, in the village of Moyogalpa. She and her neighbors each just have an ordinary one family sized lot. To qualify for ‘zero hunger’ though, one needs to have access or own between 0.7 and 2.1 hectares of land. On the other side of the sandy path they live on, there is enough land for the whole neighborhood to qualify for this quantity. And in the 1980s, that land was controlled by the coastal residents. Since however, it was taken over by a cooperative in the general chaos following the Sandinista electoral defeat, and later sold to individual land buyers.

“The sale was illegal,” Nella claims. She has organized her neighborhood to recover the lost areas, “because the cooperative just took over, and in addition most members of the cooperative simply left their land. And individual members of cooperatives can not just sell their land.” It is uncertain if they will end up with the law on their side. In the last four municipal elections in Moyogalpa, right-wing political parties won. And one of the battles Nella is involved in, is against the local tourist chamber, which has allied with the mayor to expropriate Nella and her whole neighborhood, in order to replace them with a seaside road.

When I see Nella a few weeks later for the second time, she tells me that after our interview a representative from city hall passed by, and accused her of giving ‘foreign journalists’ a false impression of the legal status of the land.

But such small things are hardly stopping Nella. “Sure I could develop 0.7 hectares right across the path from here,” says Nella, in whose hut of approximately 200 square feet, a second room is separated from the remainder with a plastic bag. She lives there with four of her children.

When I arrive for my second visit, she has just returned from Rivas, the county capital, where she was promoting the campaign to vote for Ometepe as one of new seven natural wonders of the world. She is even willingly wearing the advertising-t-shirt with the end of the sleeves folded, so the logos of the commercial sponsors don't show.

All those on Nella's side of the path, seem to be on a fairly equal economic footing. These are the people Nella organized.

Only two years ago they renewed their brotherhood by putting up a new sign for their community, the ‘Apante,’ and built a church – from grasses.

The community set up a sign and built a church – from grasses.

How many more pigs?

Ometepe has about 34,000 residents. According to internal calculations of the Sandinista government, of those 13,284 individuals, or 2,234 families, live in extreme poverty. The first group of 100 recipients of ‘zero hunger’ on the island received their animals by March 2008. According to the spokesman of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on the island, Mario Jose Ivarda, so far only a little under 3% of these animals have died an early death due to improper handling so far. Similar programs of animal and seed gifts have benefitted another 501 families on the island. The next round of animals from ‘zero hunger’ has been halted temporarily though.

Last year, Ortega created a country wide network of so-called Citizen Power Committees (CPC), against the wishes of all other political parties. They are very active especially in the poorer neighborhoods they are very active, and Nella's neighborhood organization is in the form of a CPC.

“The representative of the mayor, the representative of the ministry, and the representative of the party imply ignored the list of priorities we set as the CPC,” says Nella. She summarizes her reasoning for the fact that a higher level decided to halt the give-out of more live-stock packs. Ivarda sees that somewhat differently and believes that many of the people who originally were on the list simply did not fulfill the conditions of the programme.

Nella says that the selection process was heavily partial, and only those with good connections, often several members of the same family, were chosen. Also she claims that the statistics of dead animals have been manipulated. On the other hand, the CPC are generally accused by the opposition as only helping Sandinistas. Members of other parties rarely show up at their meetings.

The rich neighbors

One the other side of the road, Roy lives almost like in the United States.

‘Right across the path’ is the house of Roy and his US American wife. With the land that their neighbors are missing, they operate an eco-tourism farm. She came to Nicaragua to avoid the rat-race at a major US pharmaceutical company. Roy, on the other hand, was once a Sandinista himself. He tells me how he had had enough of the war after several combat missions against the contrarevolutionaries in the 1980s. And then how he became generally disappointed by the Sandinista project, when he found out one day that higher government employees enjoyed Coca-Cola and whiskey. “That was all for me,” Roy defends himself, “I wanted no more of it.”

He then fled to the north, worked as a waiter in Honduras, Guatemala and the United States, but came back before the 1990 elections. He voted against the FSLN, and has done so apparently ever since. About the present government, he complains that they do nothing for the poor, and that they use words such as “anti-imperialism and so” – just like in the 1980s. When I ask him about the ‘zero hunger’ program, he says that only those affiliated with the party would get to take part in it – and he names Nella as an example. “The woman in front of us helped the party during the election campaign, and now she got a pig for it. We always say that the pig is better off than her, because it has a cement floor, while she has no floor at all.” Roy tries to joke, but he realizes quickly that it is inappropriate and he rows back. “She hardly speaks with me, probably because I have a US American wife.”

Because Roy and Nella hardly speak, he does not know that he could be so wrong. Nella raises up to three pigs on her land, but those are owned by other young people in the neighborhood, and her reward will be paid in chunks of meat once they are slaughtered.

Whose government?

Also, the 2006 election campaign was not the first time Nella was active for the party.

“Are you a member of the party?” I ask her when I first meet her. “I am a militant of the Sandinista National Liberation Front!” she shoots back.

She joined the party at the age of sixteen years. First she was trained in Costa Rica and then came back to join the Southern Front – all underground of course. As part of the proletarian tendency, which held the theory that the most important preparatory measure for a revolution against the US-allied Somoza dictatorship was the organizing of the workers, she worked in the mountains under a cover name as a ‘fighter’ – “until the triumph of the revolution” as those days in August 1979 are generally called. Everything was secret, and even now in the city of San Carlos she is only known under this cover name.

Although still a party member, Nella feels discriminated against as an island inhabitant even now: “For them [the mainland residents], we live beyond the outer frontier of civilization� Here everything always arrives last. And it really should be the opposite: We, with the worst infrastructure, should be the first to get help.” She describes how during Somoza's times the island had no electricity. Although Moyogalpa now does have electricity, Nella and the neighbors even further from the city center still don't.

Even though Maria Nella, at least so far, has not received a pig by the government, she continues to support the FSLN and Ortega as her president. “He is not my idol, but I respect him as my president,” she explains while sitting on the wooden bench in front of their hut.

And politically speaking, she is even active outside her local area. During the last year, she was first elected cultural representative for the CPC of her territory number ten, then for the city Moyogalpa, and then for the county of Rivas. “We need to use this government term to develop the culture,” she says as she explains their decision to get involved. The county extends far beyond the island, and so much of her time is spent sitting on the 1.5-hour ferry trip to the mainland. The criticism of the CPC, that they are almost exclusively controlled by the Sandinistas, is not valid for Nella: “Of course others can participate, collaborate and discuss with us. But we are those who decide. I have not fought for sixteen years to regain power, only to then let the political right be in charge anyway.”

Roy already left the Sandinista movement in 1984.

But why this commitment to a government which left her in such poverty? “I'm not a party member to enrich myself,” Nella protests, “of course I do not always agree with what the party does. But to leave it would mean for me to break with my inner political conviction.”

In the 1990s, as a single mother without any permanent source of income, she had to move around a lot. She worked in other places such as Costa Rica, and also for the Nicaraguan military under neo-liberal presidents. And always the Sandinistas lost the elections. “But I never left the ranks of the party—when we hungered, when we froze, when we lived through the whole misery—I never left the front behind. I was always there for my people.”

Education makes the difference

But did not all Sandinista revolutionaries become rich? These are the comments by critics. Nella received a salary: She does not feel poor. “Poverty is what it is in your head,” she tries to explain, “if you have education, then you do not need more than what I have here.”

After spending the first year under the Sandinista controlled post-Somoza government, registering and disbanding weapons stocks, and working as an amateur actress in her spare time, she won a scholarship to study dance and theater, which was awarded to the representatives of the various regions of Nicaragua. “Until we lost the power of 1990,” as she puts it, she was responsible for culture and adult education for the island of Ometepe and was the political secretary of the party.

Roy recently called her ‘Mrs. Doctor,’ even if that was only because he wanted something from her. Nella explains the change in values that took place inside of her like this: “I grew up here, just like everybody else. But I had the opportunity to get to know a different world through my studies – a world of ideas and theories.”

Blanca Nella's pigs are not from the government.

The new government also gave the opportunity to one of Nella’s sons to complete his studies. He is now working for Petronic, the state oil company, and can therefore help her out a bit economically. In any case, until Nella manages to get Roy and his wife expropriated.

“The floor in my house is not a permanent solution,” Nella answers to my question why the pig is better off than her. If all goes well, she may perhaps have a cement floor herself in a few years time.

Change the name of the A.P.M�ller school!

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:08:40 +0100

This is a campaign I started a little over a month ago. And yes, I happened to take the initiative, but the fact that the name wasn't very well chosen was something many people had been thinking about before. Basically, it's this Danish company that's taking over a piece of property that had belonged to the army previously and builds a Danish school on it for 70 million Euros, and everybody gets all excited about how great they are. The problem is just that the company doing it is the shipping giant MAERSK and it's named after their founder Arnold Peter M�ller, who died in the 1960s. Now this guy and this company happen to have a history on earning their money on wars (selling arms to the Nazis and earning high profits on services to the Pentagon in connection with the Iraq war) and using union busting tactics against their workers.

The A.P.M�ller-school of today might be the Gilberto-Soto-school of tomorrow.

Just in terms of numbers If they were to pay the same tax percentages for their oil exploration in Denmark to the Danish government as private companies have to pay to the Norwegian government, that would amount to 6 Billion Euros more in tax income from today until 2045. But the queen, and the Danish minister of education thank them so much for giving 70 million!

When I first wrote this, I wasn't aware of several points that appear in the final version. That is because the first ten people signing it had a say in the contents of it, and several of them added things I didn't have a clue of.

Arnold Peter M�ller -- weapon producer for the Nazis -- is now being honored with a school named after him.

The reaction in the borderland has been like it would be anywhere in Soviet Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall: the newspaper Flensborg Avis refused to print it with the argument that the fond paying for the school had been "giving a lot of money to Southern Schleswig in the last couple of years". Other people employed by the Danish institutions either were told that they could not sign such a thing or they were afraid of signing it due to past reaction from the system. The text was allegedly also spread in the intranet of the teachers down there. One guy went as far as calling me six times on my Nicaraguan cell phone and some 20-30 people sent me hate mails of various kinds. A reporter from Flensborg Avis went on and on in Facebook forums, trying to find some or other problem with the text. Unfortunately for him, he just revealed thereby that his investigative skills weren't all that developed.

Still, despite some (unfortunately very uninformed) criticism I and we received so far, I am sure that in a few decades the call will come to fruition in some form or another. Here you can read it in four languages:Remove A. P. M�ller's name from the Danish school in Schleswig!

The area of Southern Schleswig, situated just south of the German-Danish border in German territory, recently received a second Danish high school in the city of Schleswig, sponsored by A.P. M�ller, who is known for his MAERSK company. The school was named the "A.P. M�ller School".

In the months before the official opening, the phenomenal building was admired not just by people associated with the Danish school and association system, but also of those inhabitants who only a day to take advantage of the German institutions in the region. The opening was visited by the Queen of Denmark, and in Arnold M�rsk McKinney M�ller's speech, we were made aware of the role of the private sector in building up the Danish institutions south of the border.

And he was right with that: The private sector pumped well some money into the failed attempts to get a Danish majority in the area before a vote on the borderline in 1920 and financed the expansion of the Danish institutions southward in the post-war years. Axel Johnsons research in A.P. M�ller's financial support and semimilitaristic push towards the south until 1969 -- against the Danish governments' official policy -- is a frightening proof of what ulterior motives were -- and are? -- behind that kind of "support". During the second world war A.P.M�ller had less problems with Germany. As the biggest stockholder in the company Riffelsyndikatet, the family produced weapons for the Nazis -- and tried to get London to stop any attempts of sabotage.

But where does the money come from today?

MAERSK is a global company with revenue producing activities in many countries. Just between 2003 and 2004 MAERSK's trade with the Pentagon grew in connection with logistical tasks between the U.S. and Iraq from just 239 to 639 Billion U.S. dollars. And while MAERSK in South Schleswig behave as benefactor, its role is slightly different in countries such as El Salvador.

An example from Counterpunch.orgs newsletter from the 3rd December 2004: In 2001, MAERSK fired and black-listed 100 company drivers as part of a union busting strategy.

Three years later, in 2004, trade union activist Jos� Gilberto Soto from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who was visiting the country to try to establish contact with port workers, was shot by two armed men outside his mother's house. Soto had worked in New Jersey to investigate MAERSK's violations of labor rights for several years prior to that. MAERSK spokesperson claimed that they did not know about Soto, and trade union activists have since protested against the so-called "independent investigation" into Sotos death, that MAERSK started in cooperation with the government, because they believe it diverts attention from the true facts.

MAERSK controls 80% of the container market in El Salvador, and it is clear that if the workers there would have paid a higher salary, then MAERSK's profit share would diminish. There would probably still be enough left over to give away an opera and a super expensive school every now and then. But it could be interesting for the students to know what kind of activities the money for building their school originated from.

Regardless of whether MAERSK was directly involved in the murder or not, we believe it is people like Soto who are the true heroes that improve the living confitions of the world's poor -- and not the large corporations who earn good at exploiting the disadvantaged. That is still true, even if such companies give parts of their profits to some charity or another.

Now that the queen is back in the Kingdom of Denmark, the school is built, and one really has been everything one wants from A.P. M�ller, it could perhaps be appropriate to show a sign. For this purpose, we propose to rename the A.P. M�ller School. An appropriate name could be the "Gilberto Soto School".

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Signatures:

Weronika Adamiec, Katerina Arne Aemwargel, Nina Agerskov, Mille Kamilla Albrektsen, Katrine Nymann Amtoft, Nosizwe Lise Baqwa, Ed Basye, Katrin Becker, Kaja Beton, Are Blomfeldt, Tanja Bohm, Ben Brusniak, Eva B�hler, Pedro Caba, Thomas Clausen, Jan Willi Christiansen, Lauritz Nykj�r Dahl, Johan Kristensen Dal, Nikolai Dragnes, Matthias Dreve, Bj�rn Tore Egeberg, Henning Eichberg, Stian R�dven Eide, Bj�nnulv Evenrud, Mike Fallwell, Hans Petter De Fine, Line Flo, Mathias Hunsk�r Furevik, Jason Glaser, Sara Devi Graaf, Kathrin Grundmann, Kathrin Haase, Marit Halse, Bjarne Speth Hansen, Camilla Hansen, Wiebke Hansen, Bob Hatton, Peter Heinen, Solvor Horrig Helland, Hunt Hoffman, Anne H�y Horsberg, Rasmus H�fer, Pia Qu Hyrland, Gunvald Ims, Alexandru Iorga, Helen Jackson, Nika Jamnikar, Bruno Jerup, Helene Mercedes Johansen, Christian Juhl, Nikos Karadilion, Nina Kaschel, Aleksandra Spryt Kawecka, Ronny Kjelsberg, Marieke Klauder, Christoph Klinger, Anna Katharina Kramer, Diana Kress, Morten Godtkj�r Larsen, Angela Lieber, Arne List, Olga Makowska, Malene Meisner, Allan Berg Mortensen, Federico De Musso, Margit Neuhold, Christian Neumann, Thomas Nielsen, Magnhild Nilsen, Erik Nygaard, Diego Olavarr�a, Lasse Olsen, Barbara Paech, Daniel Panduro, Sjur Cappelen Papazian, Eva Paulsen, Anusa Pisanec, Aleksandra Pytko, Friedrich Reimann, Andreas Rohde, Hanns-J�rg Rohwedder, Eduardo Rosales, Kjell R�nningsbakk, Yader S�nchez, Anker Schjerning, Martin Schmidt, Bj�rn Schulz, Jesper Nedergaard Semmelhack, Ingvar T�ll�v Skjerve, Simon Spiekermann, Felix Storch, Linus Strothmann, Teresa Svejnoha, Aleksandra Szwed, Petter Helstad Torp, Leif Trampenau, Monika Tworzydlo, Boris Uran, Douglas Augusto Varela Vilchez, Lindsey Weatherall, Jakob Wilm, Johannes Wilm, Julius Wilm, Miha Zadnikar, Justyna Zietek

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Fjern A. P. M�llers navn fra skolen i Slesvig!

Sydslesvig har f�et et andet og nyt dansk gymnasium.

I m�nedsvis f�r den officielle �bning blev det f�nomenale byg beundret. Ikke bare af folk tilknyttet det danske skole- og foreningssystem, men ogs� af de beboere, som til dagligt kun benytter sig af de tyske institutioner i landsdelen. Under �bningen var endda dronningen p� bes�g, og i Arnold M�rsk McKinney M�llers tale blev vi gjort opm�rksomme p� det private erhvervslivs rolle i at bygge de danske institutioner syd for gr�nsen op.

Ret har han dermed:

Det private pumpede en del penge ind i det mislykkede fors�g p� at f� dansk flertal i Zone II under afstemningen 1920 og s�rgede specielt for en ekspansion mod syd i efterkrigs�rene. Axel Johnsons forskning i A.P. M�llers finansielle st�tte og semimilitaristiske fremst�d mod Ejderen frem til 1969 ? imod de danske regeringers officielle politik ? er et skr�mmende bevis p� hvilke bagtanker der l� (og ligger?) bag den slags "st�tte". Under anden verdenskrig havde A.P. M�ller derimod mindre problemer med Tyskland. Som st�rste delaktionaer i Riffelsyndikatet producerede familien v�ben til nazisterne -- og pr�vede at klage til London da produktionen blev udsat for sabotage.

Men hvor kommer de penge egentlig fra idag?

MAERSK er et globalt firma med indt�gtsgivende aktiviteter i mange lande. Alene mellem 2003 og 2004 voksede M�rsks handel med Pentagon i forbindelse med logistikopgaver mellem USA og Irak fra godt 239 til 639 mia. dollars. Og mens MAERSK i Sydslesvig opf�rer sig som velg�rer, s� er det lidt anderledes i land som f.eks. El Salvador.

Et eksempel som vi kender til fra Counterpunch.orgs nyhedsbrev fra 3. december 2004: I 2001 fyrede og sort-listede selskabet 100 chauff�rerer i et fors�g p� at �del�gge fagforeningens organiseringsaktiviteter.

Tre �r senere, i 2004, blev fagforeningsaktivisten Jos� Gilberto Soto fra International Brotherhood of Teamsters, som var p� bes�g i landet for at pr�ve at oprette kontakten med havnearbejdere i El Salvador, skudt af to v�bnede m�nd udenfor sin mors hus. Soto havde da arbejdet i New Jersey med at opklare MAERSK's overtr�delser af arbejdsrettigheder i flere �r. MAERSKs talsperson h�vdede at de ikke kendte til Soto, og fagforeningsaktivister har siden protesteret mod den den s�kaldte "uafh�ngige unders�gelse" i Sotos d�d som MAERSK startede i samarbejde med regeringen, fordi de mener den afleder opm�rksomheden fra de sande fakta.

MAERSK kontrollerer 80% af containermarkedet i El Salvador, og det er klart, at hvis arbejderne d�r skulle f� betalt en h�jere l�n, s� vil MAERSKs profitandel g� ned. Der ville vel alligevel v�re nok tilovers til at kunne for�re en opera og en skole i mega-klassen i ny og n�, men det kunne jo v�re interessant for skolens elever at vide, hvilken slags aktiviteter pengene til skolebygningen oprindeligt kom fra.

Uafh�ngigt af, om MAERSK selv var direkte involveret i mordet eller ej, mener vi, at det er personer som Soto, som er de sande helte, der forbedrer verdens fattiges livsbetingelser - og ikke de storkoncerner, som tjener godt p� at udnytte de svagt stillede. Ogs� selv om koncernerne s� af og til giver noget af deres overskud til den ene aller anden velg�renhed.

Nu hvor dronningen er tilbage i kongeriget, skolen er bygget og man egentlig har f�et alt det man vil fra A.P. M�ller, kunne det m�ske v�re passende at vise et tegn.

Til det form�l vil vi foresl� at man omd�ber A. P. M�ller Skolen. Et passende navn kunne v�re "Gilberto Soto Skolen".

Trykket i Dagbladet Arbejderen og Nordjyske.

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Entfernt den Namen A.P. M�ller's von der d�nischen Schule in Schleswig!

S�d-Schleswig, das Gebiet s�dlich der deutsch-d�nischen Grenze, erhielt vor kurzem ein zweites d�nisches Gymnasium. Es liegt in der Stadt Schleswig und ist gesponsert von A.P. M�ller, der f�r sein MAERSK Unternehmen bekannt ist. Die Schule tr�gt den Namen "A. P. M�ller-Schule".

In den Monaten vor der offiziellen Er�ffnung wurde das eindrucksvolle Geb�ude nicht nur von Menschen bewundert, die mit dem d�nischen Schulwesen und Vereinsleben verbunden sind, sondern auch von Bewohnern, die nur die deutschen Institutionen in der Region in Anspruch nehmen. Der Er�ffnung wohnte die K�nigin von D�nemark bei, und in der Rede von Arnold M�rsk McKinney M�ller wurde dem Publikum die wichtige Rolle des privaten Sektors beim Aufbau der d�nischen Institutionen s�dlich der Grenze erkl�rt.

Und Recht hatte er damit:

Der private Sektor pumpte Geld in den gescheiterten Versuch, eine d�nische Mehrheit in der Region vor der Abstimmung von 1920 um den Grenzverlauf zu erreichen, und sorgte dann in den Nachkriegsjahren f�r die Expansion nach S�den. Axel Johnsons Forschung �ber A.P. M�llers finanzielle Unterst�tzung und semimilitaristischen Schub in Richtung S�den bis 1969 -- gegen die offizielle Politik der d�nischen Regierungen -- ist ein erschreckender Beweis daf�r, welche Hintergedanken es da gab (und gibt?) bei dieser Art von "Unterst�tzung". W�hrend des zweiten Weltkriegs hatte A.P.M�ller hingegen weniger Probleme mit Deutschland. Als gr��ter Einzelaktion�r der Firma Riffelsyndikatet produzierte die Familie Waffen f�r die Nazis -- und versuchte, sich in London �ber die Sabotageversuche zu beklagen, die die Produktion stoppen sollten.

Und woher kommt das Geld heute?

MAERSK ist ein globales Unternehmen mit Einnahmequellen in vielen L�ndern. Allein zwischen 2003 und 2004 wuchs MAERSKs Handel mit dem Pentagon im Zusammenhang mit logistischen Aufgaben zwischen den USA und dem Irak von 239 auf 639 Milliarden US-Dollar. Und w�hrend MAERSK sich in S�d-Schleswig als Wohlt�ter verh�lt, ist die Rolle des Konzerns eine andere in L�ndern wie El Salvador.

Ein Beispiel, das im Counterpunch.orgs Newsletter vom 3. Dezember 2004 genannt ist: 2001 feuerte MAERSK 100 Fahrer als Teil einer Anti-Gewerkschaftsstragie.

Drei Jahre sp�ter, im Jahre 2004, wurde der Gewerkschaftsaktivist Jos� Gilberto Soto von der International Brotherhood of Teamsters bei einem gewerkschaftsorientertem Besuch des Landes, bei dem er Kontakt mit den Hafenarbeitnehmer aufnehmen wollte, von zwei bewaffneten M�nnern vor dem Haus seiner Mutter erschossen. Soto hatte zuvor in New Jersey mehrere Jahre lang daran gearbeitet, MAERSKs Verletzungen des Arbeitsrechts anzuprangern und aufzukl�ren. MAERSKs Sprecher kommentierte nach dem Tode, sie kennten Soto nicht. Seitdem haben gewerkschaftliche Aktivisten gegen die so genannte "unabh�ngige Untersuchung" von Sotos Tod, die MAERSK in Zusammenarbeit mit der Regierung startete, protestiert, denn sie glauben, dass diese nur von den wahren Geschehnissen ablenkt.

MAERSK kontrolliert 80% des Container-Marktes in El Salvador, und es ist klar dass MAERSKs Gewinn�berschuss verringert w�rde, wenn die Firma ihren Arbeitnehmern dort mehr Lohn zahlen w�rden. Trotzdem w�re wahrscheinlich immer noch genug daf�r �brig, die eine oder andere Oper und Schule in der Megaklasse zu verschenken. Aber es k�nnte f�r die Sch�ler der Schule in Schleswig interessant sein zu wissen, von welcher Art von Aktivit�ten das Geld f�r den Aufbau ihrer Schule urspr�nglich kam.

Egal ob MAERSK direkt am Mord beteiligt war oder nicht, meinen wir dass es Menschen wie Soto sind, die die wahren Helden sind, die die Lebensbedingungen der Armen der Welt verbessern ? und nicht die gro�en Konzerne, die an der Ausnutzung der Unterdr�ckten verdienen. Das gilt auch, wenn diese Unternehmen einen Teil ihres �berschusses f�r wohlt�tige Zwecke weggeben.

Jetzt, da die K�nigin ins K�nigreich D�nemark zur�ckgekehrt ist, die Schule gebaut ist, und man alles hat, was man von A.P. M�ller wollte, w�re es angebracht ein Zeichen zu setzen. Zu diesem Zweck schlagen wir vor, die A.P. M�ller-Schule umzubenennen. Ein passender Name k�nnte der Name "Gilberto Soto-Schule" sein.

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�Quiten el nombre de AP M�ller de la escuela danesa en Schleswig!

En la regi�n alemana Schleswig del Sur, situada en la frontera con Dinamarca, fue construida hace poco la segunda escuela de secundaria danesa en la ciudad de Schleswig, patrocinada por el fondo de AP M�ller, quien es conocido por su empresa MAERSK. La escuela fue nombrada "Escuela de A. P. M�ller".

En los meses anteriores a la apertura oficial, el enorme edificio fue admirado no s�lo por personas vinculadas con escuelas y el sistema de asociaciones danesas, sino tambi�n por aquellos habitantes que normalmente s�lo usan las instituciones alemanas en la regi�n. La apertura fue visitada por la Reina de Dinamarca y en la charla dada por Arnold M�rsk McKinney M�ller, destac� el papel del sector privado en la creaci�n de las instituciones danesas en el sur de la frontera.

Y ten�a raz�n: el sector privado financi� muchos de los fallidos intentos de obtener una mayor�a danesa en la zona durante una votaci�n sobre la l�nea de la frontera en 1920 y tambi�n financi� gran parte de la expansi�n del sistema dan�s hacia el sur en los a�os de la posguerra. Las investigaciones de Axel Johnsons sobre el apoyo financiero de A.P.M�ller y su empuje semimilitar�stico hacia el sur hasta el 1969 - contra las l�neas pol�ticas oficiales de los gobiernos daneses - es una aterradora prueba de lo que fueron las segundas intenciones (�y posiblemente todav�a son?) con ese tipo de "apoyo". En los a�os de la segunda guerra mundial, a A.P.M�ller le gustaba Alemania mas. Como due�o de 31.6% de los acciones de la empresa Riffelsyndikatet, la familia produjo armas para los Nazis -- y trat� de contactar a Londres para poner fin al sabotaje de la producci�n.

Pero, �de d�nde viene este dinero realmenten ahora?

MAERSK es una compa��a global con actividades que producen ingresos en muchos pa�ses. S�lo entre 2003 y 2004 el comercio entre MAERSK y el Pent�gono creci�, gracias a operaciones de log�stica entre los EE.UU. e Iraq, de 239 a 639 mil millones de d�lares. Mientras que MAERSK en Schleswig del Sur se comporta como benefactor, su funci�n es ligeramente diferente en pa�ses como El Salvador.

Un ejemplo del bolet�n de Counterpunch.orgs del 3 de diciembre de 2004: En 2001, Maersk dispidi� y puso en una lista negra a 100 conductores de la empresa como parte de una estrategia contra el sindicalismo.

Tres a�os m�s tarde, en 2004, el activista sindical Jos� Gilberto Soto de la International Brotherhood of Teamsters, que se encontraba de visita en el pa�s para tratar de establecer contacto con los trabajadores portuarios, fue baleado por dos hombres armados fuera de la vivienda de su madre. Soto hab�a trabajado en Nueva Jersey para investigar las violaciones de los derechos laborales de MAERSK durante unos a�os antes de la tragedia. El portavoz de MAERSK declar� que no conoc�a a Soto, y los activistas sindicales protestaron contra la "investigaci�n independiente" de la muerte de Soto, que Maersk hizo en cooperaci�n con el gobierno, porqu� creen que desv�a la atenci�n de los verdaderos hechos.

MAERSK controla el 80% del mercado de contenedores en El Salvador, y es evidente que si hubieran pagado un salario m�s alto a los trabajadores, el porcentaje de ganancia de MAERSK hubiera disminuido. Es probable que todav�a tuvieran suficientes fondos para continuar financiando �peras y escuelas super caras. Tiene que ser interesante para los estudiantes saber de qu� tipos de actividades provienen los fondos que han financiado la construcci�n de su escuela.

Independiente de si MAERSK est� directamente involucrada en el asesinato o no, creemos que es la gente como Soto, que son los verdaderos h�roes, los que mejoran las condicionse de la vida de los pobres del mundo - y no las grandes empresas, aqu�llas que ganan dinero en la explotaci�n de los desfavorecidos. Eso sigue siendo cierto, incluso si estas empresas dan parte de sus beneficios a la caridad de alg�n tipo.

Ahora que la Reina ya regres� a su Reino de Dinamarca, la escuela ya fue construida, y el pueblo ya ha obtenido lo que quer�a de AP M�ller, es el momento para denunciar el hecho con una se�al. Por eso proponemos que cambien el nombre de la Escuela A.P. M�ller. Un nombre apropiado podr�a ser la "Escuela de Gilberto Soto".

- - - -

http://www.teamsters.org/press-release.aspx?id=15486

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3406547/Teamsters-Reject-Maersk-Offer-to.html

http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/soto/report.shtml

http://dbacon.igc.org/Work/2005maersk.html

http://www.counterpunch.org/allen12032004.html

http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=27

http://www.counterpunch.org/allen11112005.html

http://www.laborradio.org/node/608

http://www.teamsters.org/press-release.aspx?id=15694

"Krigens K�bm�nd" ved Christian Jensen, Tomas Kristiansen og Karl Erik Nielsen, udgivet af Gyldendal, ISBN 87-00-46974-2

Nicaraguan elections end in chaos -- work of the Sandinistas or the CIA?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:25:31 +0100

Update: In the final count, the FSLN ended up with winning a grand total of 105 city governments. The liberals continue to claim it was fraudulent, but in the Supreme Election Commision (CSE) there were three Sandinistas and three representatives of the liberals. The liberals also ended up voting for accepting the results in Managua and Le�n. One of them came out against Montealegre publicly, saying the former candidate for mayor had ulterior motives. The liberal party has expelled its three members of the CSE, claiming they had sold themsevles to the FSLN. Ortega mentioned in the victory speech, that the Carter Center and the OAS had told him after the elections in 1996, that they couldn't permit new elections in Nicaragua, although the elections were fraudulent. If that is true, it means that the Sandinistas were kept out of power for an additional ten years after winning the elections. That likely explains why Ortega decided not to let them monitor this time around.

Nicaragua once again is on the verge of chaos. Municipal elections were held on the 9th of October, and these were largely won by the Sandinistas (FSLN). In 91-94 out of 146 cases, the FSLN managed to win the majority. That is slightly more than last time, with a difference of around 4 counties. However, the elections were something somewhat extraordinary.

This video I took in Le�n a week after the elections:

First of all, the MRS lost its license to run as an independent party, due to not fulfilling the requirements set by the voting laws (see two stories back) that have been in place since the 1990s, when the liberals were in power. The MRS though claimed that it was only because the main liberal party, the PLC, and the FSLN had been cooperating and created an unholy alliance, a so-called "pact", to squeeze ut all other parties and share power between them.

At the elections finally, 5 parties participated: the FSLN, the PLC, another liberal party that had surged as a reaction to the corruption in the PLC (ALN), the party of the contras (PRN) and a party that noone met had heard about before (PC). The PLC and ALN are ideologically the same, with the only difference being the ALN not being part of this "pact" with the FLSN, according to the MRS. And which party does the MRS choose to support? The PLC!

This does not make a lot of sense technically, but some have explained to me that the talk about dicatorship and the "pact" was to be understood as the usual pre-election talk. A central member of the MRS Le�n pointed out to me that they would get five jobs in the mayors office, if the PLC were to win.

Before the elections, president Ortgea announced that some of the usual international election observers wouldn't be allowed this time around. The reason being that Nicaragua had enough experience with holding it's own elections an that these were controlled by outside powers. However, another factor was probably the political leanings of these: the Carter Center, the Organization of American States and the EU.

Time Magazine sums this up as meaning: "the government refused to allow monitoring by any credible outside electoral observers" which almost sounds like the U.S. State Department (in the same article) which said that the Supreme Electoral Council's decision to "not accredit credible domestic and international election observers has made it difficult to properly assess the conduct of the elections."

Also the Economist goes at it. It headlines "How to steal an election" and then goes on explaining: "For the first time since 1990, independent observers, foreign and local, were refused accreditation to monitor the election."

There is just one problem with that version. And that is, that they leave out a significant part of the truth. First of all, oversight of the elections was given through the system of fiscales. That is that at every voting place, a representative of each party is present to watch that everything goes on orderly. The US through USAID and the embassy have given out money openly to opposition groups that stood "for democracy" as they phrase it. Indirectly they thereby financed the PLC and its ability to send fiscals to every voting place.

Secondly, there were actually election observers present! The election observing groups protocols of Tical and Quito and the Consejos de Expertos Electorales de Latinoam�rica were present and deny that there was any kind of fraud. Sure enough, they could have been tricked, but strange isn't it, that the Economist and Time Magazine did not find it necessary to write about them at all?

After the elections, the political right has announced some marches, and is trying to pass a law, that would nullify the vote and call for new elections. Their candidate for mayor of Managua, Eduardo Montealegre, apparently lost. If that turns out to be the final outcome, that would according to the FSLN mean that he would automatically become city council member for Managua and thereby loose his seat in parliament. That again would mean that he'd loose his parliamentary immunity and would then be charged with a corruption scandal. Ultimately, for Montealegre this might be a game of either becoming mayor with the help of the US embassy or ending in prison.

As to the question of whether there was an election fraud: I cannot say anything for sure. Obviously, I cannot, I am just one single person in this country. Likely at many voting booths, both Sandinistas and liberals tried to cheat as much as they could get away with. But because the other ones were always present as well, there is a limit as to how much they can have been doing.

But one thing I can say for sure: the country currently seems to be destabilizing. Several journalists have been attacked on either side, a few people been killed, ad the day before yesterday, it was reported that three liberal radio stations in Le�n were burned down to the ground by mobs (although this turned out to be an exaggeration). The right-wing press tried to link that with the Sandinistas, and the FSLN told me about the last attack that they thought it either were liberals staging it, or more likely Sandinista groups that the FSLN had no direct control over.

My landlady is liberal and the day before the elections she told me "tomorrow we're gonna win!" Le�n has always been Sandinista, so I thought it to be highly improbable. I responded: "Ok fine, lets say that. If you win, you win. But if you don't, please don't start talking about election fraud." "But of course," she answered, "it is said that they've imported pens from Venezuela with special ink that disappears after a few hours." That's when I knew that no matter what, there would be charges of election fraud.

Searching for DDR-Nicaragua connection

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 01:29:33 +0200

When former minister of education of East Germany, Margot Honecker, received a medal for her help here in Nicaragua in the literacy campaign in the 1980s as part of the celebrations of the revolution on July 19th, I tried everything I could to get an interview with her. I also got through to all the officials and the spokespeople of president and ministry. Unfortunately though, in the end she declined.

Nevertheless, my search for possible questions cause enough stir around my friends in Germany that I was contacted in connection with this group trying to find their old class mates from a cadre school in East Germany. The Nicaraguans who had participated had for security reasons not used their real names and had never talked about where they where from.

Poster currently hanging around most of Le�n

Now I'm running around this country, trying to find them. everyone is really helpful and I've put up these posters around all the offices of anything that has to do with Sandinismo, and the hospital and so forth. At the agency for rents I found one guy who had been there the two years before, and I'll interview him again on Tuesday. I will also try to go to all the Managua based TV stations, and put up posters n the capital and Granada.
But if any websurfer happens to have any clues, you are welcome to email me. :) See the poster for my email!

This Article came in El Nuevo Diario on September 3rd:

Buscan a nicas que estudiaron en la �Wilhelm Pieck�

Sylvia Hern�ndez
Johannes Wilm, originario de Alemania, vino al pa�s a buscar a varios j�venes nicarag�enses que estudiaron en 1986 y 1987 en la Escuela de Cadres e Bogensee/Wandlitz �Wilhelm Pieck�, junto con otros j�venes de Alemania, Cuba y otros pa�ses. Este joven quiere elaborar un documental titulado ��D�nde est�s compa�ero?�.

Wilm dijo que para esa �poca y por razones de seguridad nunca intercambiaron sus verdaderos nombres y direcciones. Estos j�venes hab�an llegado a ese pa�s a estudiar liderazgo pol�tico.

�Hemos tratado de buscar referencias, pero en ese entonces la Rep�blica Democr�tica de Alemania destruy� todo tipo de documentaci�n que existi� de cada una de las personas que se encontraban estudiando, y se nos ha hecho dif�cil poder contactarlos�, dijo Wilm.

Este joven permanecer� en Nicaragua hasta el mes abril del pr�ximo a�o, y en su estad�a se ha dedicado a realizar investigaciones sobre las tendencias sandinistas que se han formado desde el triunfo de la Revoluci�n Sandinista.

Para mayor informaci�n dej� a disposici�n el n�mero telef�nico 917-3717, o bien, su correo electr�nico (mail@johanneswilm.org).

I also gave interviews to Canal 2 and 10, the two biggest TV stations of the country and the other daily newspaper, La Prensa.

El choque entre MRS y CUUN

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:40:28 +0200

This is really just to try it out, but a lot more should be coming henceforth. I'm running around Nicaragua with this really nifty camera/microphone combination, and although I have some 13h of footage, the editing situation has been pretty crummy and I have had to put the various bits and pieces of software together myself to get a working toolchain.

However, this ended up being used in Nicaraguan national TV by two stations. It's some footage I took the other day, when a political party, the Movimiento Renovador Sandinista and the students at the UNAN university clashed together here in Leon the other day. For the MRS, the militant Dora Mar�a Tell�z had planned to speak at the university that day, and simultaneously the students decided to take over the university for the day in protest against the late payment of scholarships. The MRS recently lost its license to run in the upcoming local elections, and have therefore been calling the country a dictatorship. When students blocked the entrance on June 29th, they again expected for the president and his FSLN-party to be behind it all.

Confrontation between MRS and CUUN Sandinismo in Nicaragua is a wide term. That doesn't mean it's contentless, certainly there are some boundaries as to what can still be counted as Sandinism and what is outside of it. But it certainly is so wast that it's not enough for one political party.

Currenlty, the other Sandinista party, the Moviemento Sandinista Renovador (MRS), is about to loose its "juridical person" which generally means their license to participate in the upcoming elections this fall. For the next ones, in 2011, they will likely be able to get it back again. Although the decision to do so is made by the Corte Supremo Electoral ad not by the president, the FSLN, the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci�n Nacional is generally quite positive towards taking away their chance to run.

But who are the MRS? Already in the 1970s did the FSLN split up into various fractions. The members of the Guerra Prolungada group believed that a revolution had to be won by organizing the peasantry and to organize the peasantry befor everythign else. Those adhering to the view of the Proletariana fraction stayed in the cities, trying to organize the working class. The last group, the terceristas, tried out a combination of making fronts against the Somoza dictatorship together with dissatisfied sections of the bourgoisie and flexible insurrections/actions whereever most convenient ad with the greatest effect.

Daniel Ortega was a tercerista. And so, it is said where most of those who later on became memebrs of the MRS. But back in the 1970s, they all held together, in spite of their differences. Maybe it was exactly because of their different strategies that they won. Until 1990, the country was largely ruled by the FSLN-leadership, in which each of the three fractions had three reprsentatives.

The background of the FSLN was always universitarian, like so many social movements. But not everybody was so focused on the universities. After their election defeat, the differences celarly showed and a major opposition force left the party and founded the MRS in 1994. The difference in opinion/criticism was based on several factors. Generally, the long term of "presidentialism" without a propper constitution up until 1987 was critisized. Secondly, the redistribution of land had meant that people had been given land who "didn't know how to exploit it." And thirdly, a war had been started and elections been lost. Also, in the very end of the presidential term after the elections were lost, a lot of property had changed hands very rapidly. Also this was criticized.

However, it is fair to ask what exactly the problem with presidentialism is, if their is a high level of citizen participation in everyday politics and generally democratic and democratizing structures. After all, the 1984 elections were the most democratic the country had seen hitherto. And the redistribution of land to those without would by definition mean that land would be handed over to people without initial knowledge of how to cultivate it.

Governing from below

However, the min complaint the MRS-founders had with the other Sandinistas was the way they behaved after election defeat. Because instead of just giving up all power and waiting for the next elections, Ortega & co. continued what they called to "govern from below." That emant that they gave up all state institutions to the new government, but didn't give up organizing the people. A lot of the state structure had simply become so closely linked to Sandinismo, that it wouldn't operate under a right-wing government. This was everything from organized citizenship groups, labor/trade unions to youth movements.

The FSLN had with this taken a dual approach of a Marxist-Leninst party model of well-educated and schooled cadres with an inclusive approach towards the general citizenship by providing a whole range of organization that were directly incorporated into the state apparatus and who had formal rights of active participation in the decisionmaking process. In terms of reaching lots of people this worked quite succesfully -- for example the Comitees de Defensa Sandinista (CDS) organized some 500,000 Nicaraguans at one point (total Nicaraguan population: somewhere in the 5,000,000 range)

The later founders of the MRS now called to change all this and instead to use a social-democratic party model in which anyone who wants can just join the main party and one recruits to the main party only, and to have a clear distinction between state and party.

Parting ways

So in 1994, the MRS parted ways with the FSLN. The majority of the MPs switched to the new party, but at the next general eletions they received only some 1.33% of the vote and got 1 of 91 MPs. Rather ironically, this group that caled for the establishment of a mass party can hardly ever have been called a mass party nor has ever had any succes in challenging the FSLN on this issue. 2001-2006, they again joined the MRS in the form of a alliance, but when their candidate for president lost internally, they left and allied themselves instead with a number of smaller progressive parties. When the question of whether abortions in case that the life of the woman involved was threatened came up fall 2006, it was the MRS who was the only clear outspoken group going against illegalization.

The MRS now

The way I got to know the MRS first was through my contacts to students. The one area in which the MRS has proven to be capable of gaining support is the student body. However not exactly this time around.

At local demonstrations they hold here in Le�n, hardly more than their own 20-30 members show up. And generally they have been more comfortable with speaking to the right-wing opposition than to the FSLN. The other guy in the video who speaks besides Tellez, is Alejandro Bola�os Davis -- ex deputy for the conservative party who lost his seat because he held US citizenship besides the Nicaraguan one and people with dual citizenship are not allowed to run in Nicaraguan elections. So no matter what, this guy should not be able to run. Yet, these images are meant for the international media, and such factor are just too complicated to explain there, so they let him just protest with them there.

I must admit, after having hung around with the MRS for the past month or so -- of course I do not agree with them losing their license to run, but the level of corruption, of un-professionalism and just generally their political outlook (which pretty much is reducible to more liberal trade) are not something I could ever personally support.

Survived the hurricane

Sat, 31 May 2008 16:07:33 +0200

I'm still in Leon, and we have 25000 evacuated people here. roofs blown off, etc.
I was actually here in my room, preparing the conference of a political party in Norway. The storm was pretty bad, but suddenly the lights went out, and about 10 mins later some of the other living here knocked on the door, advising me to get out an into the kitchen, as a giant Mango-tree looked like it might fall and smash my room.
So I stood in the kitchen for a while (a few hours). The kitchen is halfway outdoors, and so I secured the door leading out with a refrigerator. When the wind started dying down, I walked out and around town. That surely wasn't very safe, but I needed food. Most trees on the way had fallen, and so had a lot of the electrical installation. In addition, the streets were flooded, and people were running everywhere quite frantically.
The Supermarket La Union was still operating, using generators to provide light. I bought two breads and a bunch of bananas. I ended up down at Big Foot an they had their doors still open and acted as if everything was normal. The owner wasn't actually there and the British girl running it while he isn't there, Jaime aged 22, seemed a bit overwhelmed. But now the wind had disappeared completely.
However, the information I had received earlier was that the worst point was to be 6pm, an it was only 15:30 or so. Jaime was prepared to close everything down later. I decided to eat there one last time, and then thought about what other food to stock up. I asked a Nicaraguan guy at the bar. He said: "All you need is Rum� and condoms." Hmm, romantic I guess, unless your roof blows off.
I walked on to the Albergue. There the guy at the door Jose, whom I have been giving English lessons, just arrived on his bike. For them, absolutely everything was normal. It was surreal, part of the town was being evacuated, animals and and some people were dying in the streets, but the owner there, Frank, thought it was all over now. I don't know where that takes his confidence from oftentimes, but Jose was eager to start his English lesson. I hadn't brought his book and so excused myself to go get it.
When I reached home, it just started to rain again a bit. A Nicaraguan family was visiting. They had abandoned their house when they first heard about it, and had hung around La Union supermarket. Also they thought it was over. I aid that well, there were two theories about that. Before I had managed to get into my room and get the book, it had started again full-blown. This time it really looked as if the house would blow away entirely. The Norwegian couple I live with and I made plans for the night. Another high peak had been announced for 12pm and we would therefore drag out mattresses out of our room, which all were in danger of being smashed by the tree, and instead put them up in the only room that seemed safe, as it had a double roof, so if the roof were to blow off, we would still be OK. The couple has two kids, and they were getting growingly impatient by the situation and so I played around with them for a while to take some of the burden of them of having to handle them for hours on end.
Then around 7:00pm the wind died down another time. This time I got the husband to come with me to a closer-by supermarket to get everything we needed in case we would be stuck here for weeks. As you can imagine, it was complete chaos there. The lights had gone, cards were no longer accepted, but they were still operating. We got a battery driven radio, flashlights, batteries, alcohol, and a lot of food.
When we got home, it had gotten dark. The kids were afraid and so had been put to sleep. The wind was coming back, and so I sat there with the parents and a Nicaraguan medicine student, drinking and listening to the radio.
The stations from Le�n all sounded like the end of the world was coming. We heard about the whole coast being destroyed for the first time. They called for people an school to take refugees in.
it was again quite odd, for for us everything was ok, except that tree that might fall into one of our rooms. The owner of the place came by, and made us put out everything that could hold water in the rain, in case we would be out of water for days on end. His house on the beach had been completely destroyed. The roof was just gone.
Finally I also thought about the fact that the next day, the party conference in Oslo was to start, and that I was the only one who could do their computer system. The Norwegian embassy had called a few times earlier that day, but I hadn't thought about it then. Instead, we decided that the woman in that couple would call her father. Once he saw her calling, he would immediately call back. Then she would ask him to call the husband of her husband's sister, who happened to be a party member.
Apparently that's how the information came to Oslo, and the next morning they had to announce that their computer guy was missing in action in a hurricane.
Another few hours later, ti became clear that there wouldn't be another hit, and so we just went to bed. The next day the internet would be back because we live right next to the hospital here, but city was pretty much destroyed.

Who is really progressive in Northern Ireland? (3/3)

Sat, 24 May 2008 06:43:30 +0200

I recently went to Northern Ireland, to the city of Belfast. The Left has generally supported those pro-catholics, who are working for a united Ireland as a part of a national liberation struggle from London rule. I decided to interview representatives of progressive parties on either side on the issues that socialists should really care about -- social issues -- to see how different they really are in their day-to-day politics in these current times of peace. This is the last of three parts, in which I conclude after having interviewed Hugh Smyth from the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and Paul Maskey from the socialist Irish-republican Sinn Feinn party.

So there we go. I interviewed a representative of a progressive party on either side of the divide, and their answers were remarkably similar.

Local demands against profit rather than alliance with one EU-country or another can be seen in Belfast as well.

Let us review their answers once more:

PM: Paul Maskey (Sinn Fein)
HS: Hugh Smyth (HS)

housing:

HS: not opposed to rich apartments, but percentage needs to be affordable
PM: not against private houses, but more social housing

parks and roads:

HS: no issue currently, under direct rule not enough funding
PM: various departments need to think more together, under British direct rule it wasn't thought through

unemployment:

HS: lowest unemployment for over 50 years/ever, more apprenticeships (two year government program)
PM: built more hotels, tourism, insure employment opportunities for young people

healthcare:

HS: way behind, but current budget a lot better than under direct rule
PM: some very good, a lot very poor, way better now with local minister

11+ exam:

HS: don't scrape it before satisfactory alternative, party is split
PM: for area based education system, might work some places and not in others

drugs/anti-social behavior:

HS: more money for councilors/youth workers (no budget cuts)
PM: has a lot to do with war, more money for councilors/youth services also from other government departments, all-Ireland approach

joy riding:

HS: more police presence needed
PM: part of youth worker program

police:

HS: not sufficient men, need more funding
PM: party is going onto police boards to make them concerned about their issues

working class representation:

HS: better now than ever, but not good enough
PM: yes, his representing working class

What one might have expected is that Smyth is faith in the positive role the British police plays, whereas Maskey is more interested in an all-Ireland approach to fighting anti-social behavior. But besides such minor points, the two seem to have virtually the same program: apprenticeships/work opportunities for young people, more cheap housing without prohibiting rich people form building altogether, emphasis on investment in health care overall positive expectations from local rather than direct rule. In fact, under most other circumstances one would expect them to form a party together in order not to confuse the voter with too many similar choices. The reason that that wouldn't work in this case is obviously that the militia groups connected with the two parties have too long a history of killing one-another.

For any progressive group from the outside though, it seems silly to be supporting one but not the other of these two. If anything, one should demand from the two to be cooperating on a parliamentary level and to work together to form majorities for their common points.

At the same time, while sounding thoroughly social democratic in their view points, different from the Schr�ders and Blair's of this world, none of their immediate action program points to any revolutionary ambitions. Now one may say that's good, especially in this case where undoubtably revolutions would be connected with endless bloodshed, and it is true that a coalition of these two would certainly be an improvement to today's situation. But in the sense of revolutionary as setting forth a program that would transport one beyond capitalism, the parliamentary work of parties such as these will likely not suffice.