contributions

by Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Four Arab Israelis shot dead by a soldier opposed to the closure of the Gaza Strip settlements are not victims of "terror" because their killer was Jewish, Israel’s defence ministry has ruled, and so their families are not entitled to the usual compensation for life.
The ministry concluded that the law only recognises terrorism as committed by "organisations hostile to Israel" even though the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, described the killings by Private (…)

by Jorge Martin
Venezuela was the first country to offer help to the United States in dealing with the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Chavez has offered money and personnel to help in the relief operations. The answer of an unnamed "senior State official" was that “unsolicited offers can be counterproductive." They would rather some of their own people died than have the people of the USA see Venezuela for what it is, a country where its people are challenging the very capitalist system (…)

by Mary MacElveen
Several atmospheric conditions came together which was described by the National Weather Service as the “perfect storm.” This monster of a storm sunk the Andrea Gail along with her captain, Captain Billy Tyne ... Hollywood even made a movie starring George Clooney.
The reason why I ask if Katrina is our ’perfect storm’ is because the oil industry took one on the nose when many refineries were hit by this monster storm.
* This past June the FX channel aired a (…)

by Paolo Spadoni
Last February, Fidel Castro proudly stated that Cuba is recovering from the ashes of its post-Soviet economic recession and "rising again like the phoenix." Conversely, U.S. Interests Section Chief James Cason recently said that the island is facing severe economic problems and that Castro’s government "is on its last legs."
What is the truth about the current status of Cuba’s economy?
The economic situation in Cuba is not as bad as U.S. officials would have us (…)

Send a message to the soldiers and convince them they are on the wrong side in USA - as well as in Cuba where oppositional workers and intellectuals are sent to rotten in jails for 20-30 years.
by Nemo Etomer
In the aftermath of the hurricane Katrina has the political authorities in New Orleans called in military units with the right to shoot and kill desperate people who are trying to find fresh water and food to survive. The authorieties justify the shoot-to- kill order to stop (…)

by Rupert Cornwell
Why has it taken George Bush five days to get to New Orleans?
President Bush was on holiday in Texas when Katrina struck. He then spent Monday on a pre-arranged political fundraising tour of California and Arizona, which he did not cancel or curtail. On Tuesday he surveyed the hurricane damage - but only from the flight deck of Air Force One, prompting criticism that he was too detached from the suffering on the ground. He didn’t give a speech until Tuesday afternoon - (…)

by Michael Moore
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It’s Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping (…)

By LEE SUSTAR
Decades of official neglect, racism and the impact of global warming magnified the destructive impact of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and other parts of the South.
The mainstream media focused most on the big-money property losses—for example, the heavily damaged casinos on the Mississippi coast that took a direct hit from Katrina, and the tourist hotels in the French Quarter in New Orleans. But beyond the media spotlight are countless others who don’t have sufficient (…)

Trade unionists in the United States are this weekend celebrating Labor Day in the wake of the greatest natural disaster ever to befall the country. According to reports in the mass media, thousands of lives have been lost in New Orleans and other areas.
Unions have already begun to do their bit — see for example this page on the website of the AFL-CIO, advising trade union members on how to help:
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/ns08312005.cfm
As the people of the areas affected by (…)

Statement from the International Action Center
With every hour that passes, we see and hear new stories of the horror and devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. What makes these images more shocking is the realization that much of the death and destruction could have been prevented.
Almost all of the death and destruction arising from the hurricane is the direct result of criminal neglect by the Bush Administration. This crisis was predicted in numerous reports and news (…)