Mass Protests Planned for APEC
THOUSANDS OF people will attend protests during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Sydney, Australia, on 7-8 September 2007. Amongst them will be trade unionists, students, socialists, community activists and others who oppose the neo-liberal policies of cuts, privatisation and workplace deregulation.
Despite the massive police operation, activists will be there in force to defend their democratic rights and voice their opposition to the APEC leaders such as George Bush and also their policies.
APEC is an economic body consisting of Pacific Rim countries including the US, Japan and Australia. According to the World Bank, these countries represent about 60% of the world economy. From its beginning in 1989, APEC was designed to assist the rich elite in boosting their already massive profits by forcing more 'Third World' countries to open their markets for 'First World' goods and services. Such economic 'liberalisation' not only undermines local industry, but it devastates agriculture on which their struggling populations depend.
APEC leaders from the world's most powerful economies, along with key regional leaders, will, once again, discuss 'trade liberalisation' with no consideration of human rights, labour rights and the environment. APEC has denied any formal engagement with the labour movement, or civil rights groups. Not one organisation from the labour movement has been invited to any of the APEC meetings!
However, APEC leaders are keen to have big business input through the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the Energy Working Group, which welcomes contributions from the private sector. These forums receive substantial inputs from big companies such as, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Chevron Oil Company. The APEC Energy Working Group rejected the Kyoto Protocol Strategy and the proposed alternatives to 'clean' fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
The anti-APEC protests in Sydney, in September, present an opportunity for the Australian labour movement to mobilise against this anti-worker forum, including protesting against Howard's anti-worker Industrial Relations laws - some of the most draconian pieces of anti-union legislation in the industrialised countries.
Thousands of anti-globalisation and anti-capitalist youth will take part in mass protests. To strengthen the anti-APEC demonstrations means the active involvement of the organised working class. The working class has the potential to bring society to a halt and can lead the struggle against the APEC leaders and the bosses' system they represent.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney, Australia and Bush.
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Bush Backs Out of Asean Summit
US ties with Southeast Asia are facing a setback as President George W. Bush cancelled his scheduled first summit with ASEAN leaders and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to the region for annual talks seems uncertain.
US officials have informed Singapore, host of the much-touted US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, that the September 5 date for the talks was now "not convenient," ASEAN diplomats said.
September is critical for Bush as a much-awaited assessment of the situation in insurgency-wracked Iraq would be released that month amid a revolt within his own Republican party over failed war strategy.
"We are actually disappointed," one ASEAN diplomat told AFP.
The landmark summit was aimed at highlighting 30 years of official ties between Washington and ASEAN, which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
On the heels of the failed summit is growing uncertainty about Rice attending an annual ASEAN ministerial meeting, which includes an August 1-2 dialogue between the region and its key trading partners as well as a high-level regional security forum.
The 27-member ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is the only high level official security group in the Asia-Pacific region, and includes Russia, India, China and the European Union.
Foreign diplomats say they have heard that Rice may skip the trip to the ASEAN meeting due to a conflict of schedules.
"We will keep you up to date on her travel schedules," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Wednesday when asked whether Rice would attend the meeting or send her deputy, John Negroponte.
In 2005, Rice became the first American secretary of state to send her deputy to the ARF since it was first held in 1994, drawing criticism from the region which felt its stature had diminished in Washington's eyes.
Walter Lohman, former senior vice president of the US-ASEAN Business Council, said that based on information he had received, "it looks all but certain that Secretary Rice would take a pass on the ASEAN meetings."
With Bush's cancellation of his summit with ASEAN leaders and Rice's possible non-attendance, Lohman said the immediate future seemed grim for ties between the two sides.
"It is a significant setback in US-ASEAN relations after two good years and the question is, if the administration doesn't quickly get back on track, will there really be enough time in the next 18 months to patch it up," said Lohman, director of the Asian studies center at Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
With 18 months left in the White House for Bush, his administration's Asian diplomacy had been largely focused on trying to end North Korea's nuclear weapons drive in the hope of achieving its true foreign policy victory.
After refusing to engage directly with North Korea, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian affairs Christopher Hill decided to make a sudden visit to Pyongyang last month.
In his rush to make the trip, he reneged on an annual meeting with his ASEAN counterparts in Washington.
"Canceling a meeting here or there may not seem like a big deal, but the slights are piling up," Lohman said.
"To anyone watching from Asia, they point past the current position of the United States to a future without it," he said.
ASEAN is the largest US export market after Europe and Japan. The region of more than 500 million people is establishing with China a free trade zone -- which would be the world's biggest.
Technorati Tags: AseanSummit, Bush and Singapore.
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Democrats Urge Bush to End World Bank Crisis
Senior U.S. Democrats urged President George W. Bush to step in to end the "historic crisis" over Paul Wolfowitz's World Bank leadership as pressure mounted for him to resign to avoid a possible divisive vote.
The World Bank's 24-nation board of member countries is set to meet on Friday to decide Wolfowitz's fate over a controversial pay and promotion deal that he approved in 2005 for his companion, bank Middle East expert Shaha Riza.
The board is divided. European countries are pushing for Wolfowitz to step down and the United States is shoring up support for him among a clutch of allies like Canada and a few Asian and African countries.
In a letter to Bush, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Sens. Patty Murray, Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer warned that the crisis was damaging the institution and undermining U.S. interests, especially its traditional role in choosing the bank's president.
"We urge you to take decisive action quickly to bring this crisis to a close," they told Bush, echoing concerns expressed by other prominent Democrats, including presidential candidates Bill Richardson and John Edwards.
The Democratic senators said the bank's board may be compelled to take an unprecedented step and vote on Wolfowitz's fate.
There are no rules for the dismissal of a World Bank chief because it has never happened in the bank's 62-year history and could either be put to a vote or decided by consensus.
"We do not believe the bank's mission or U.S. interests would be advanced by such a vote," the senators wrote.
They questioned the manner in which the crisis had been handled and in part blamed Wolfowitz, who has always been controversial because of his leading role in the Iraq war.
"The current situation is complex and unfortunately may be fueled in part by views toward Mr Wolfowitz unrelated to his tenure at the bank," the senators said.
"At the same time, it is likely that, at least by adding to confusion about the facts, Mr Wolfowitz played a role in aggravating the crisis."
The furore has paralysed the World Bank for more than a month since leaked documents emerged over Wolfowitz's handling of Riza's high-paying promotion. That unleashed widespread anger among bank staff and prompted an inquiry.
The bank's employee association said the institution's credibility depended on how the crisis was resolved.
The White House, which had previously deferred questions over the Wolfowitz matter to the U.S. Treasury, insisted on Wednesday it was not "hanging Paul Wolfowitz out to dry" and that he had the Bush administration's strong support.
"We still support him fully," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters on board Air Force One as he flew with Bush to visit parts of Kansas devastated by tornadoes last week.
The Treasury is officially responsible for U.S. World Bank policy, but Wolfowitz is strongly identified with the White House as an architect of the American-led invasion of Iraq.
Both the White House and the Treasury have urged that Wolfowitz be given time to properly explain his actions.
Wolfowitz had until the close of business Wednesday to respond to findings in a 600-page report by a bank panel that concluded his conduct over the promotion broke rules and represented a conflict of interest.
Meanwhile, Germany, which heads the World Bank board, said it had called for Wolfowitz to step down.
Karin Kortmann, a state secretary for German development ministry, said Minister Heidemarie Wiezorek-Zeul told Wolfowitz during meetings of the World Bank in April she was worried about the bank and urged him to quit.
"She made it clear to (Wolfowitz) that his voluntary resignation was the best solution for the bank and its goals," Kortmann told lawmakers in the German parliament.
Kortmann said Germany was not looking for a confrontation with the United States and that pushing through any solution against Washington's wishes would be difficult.
"The United States should rather be given room to react to the current leadership crisis in the bank," Kortmann added.
Technorati Tags: Democrats, Bush, WorldBank and Wolfowitz.
Labels: Bush, Democrats, Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank
