[Imc-newsroom] Headlines

[kevin b heinrich]

I may not be able to stop by today with the headlines, so I'm sending them
ahead of time just in case.
-Kevin


Israeli Military Raids Union Office

The following headline was taken from the Urbana Champaign IMC website. On
July 25, the Israeli military raided the regional office of the
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, a Palestinian version of
the AFL-CIO. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has sent
a strongly-worded letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in protest
of the raid in which office equipment including computers and furniture
was damaged, and important files, documents, and computer disks were taken
by the Israeli military forces. The PGFTU has advocated for the rights of
Palestinians who are trying to maintain incomes and protect their families
during the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine. Many Palestinians
need to work in Israel illegally, but Israeli businesses don't argue
because they can pay the illegal Palestinians 50% less than average. The
ICFTU believes that the Israeli attack on the union office undermine the
confidence building measures needed for a lasting peace in the Middle
East. The ICFTU also urges an Israeli government investigation into the
matter, and demands that the union's property be returned.



Anti-Sweatshop Activists, Unions, Chastise Retailer for Dictator-Made
Goods

The Urbana Champaign IMC provided the following headline. A retailer in
the southern United States should stop selling products made under a
brutal dictatorship and return ill-gained profits, say American and
Burmese labor organizations. United Students Against Sweatshops, US
textile union UNITE, and the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma demand
that Fred's Inc., a Tennessee-based retailer, immediately stop selling
goods made in Burma and make amends for profits gained from Burmese
products. These demands come two days after President Bush signed
legislation that severs financial ties to Burma and ends all imports from
Burma in 30 days. Tiffany Williams, an anti-sweatshop activist from
Florida State University said, quote "Fred's should not profit from goods
tainted with the blood of a violently repressed workforce." Burmese
activists say purchases from Burma prolong the military dictatorship and
ignore the genuine will of the Burmese people. Fred's Inc. imported more
than $5.3 million dollars worth of goods from Burma between December 26,
2002 and May 16, 2003. Despite public denunciation, Fred's continues to
sell these products.



Big Oil Gets Free Pass From Bush Regime Executive Order

This headline was taken from the international IMC website. While it's no
surprise that Big Oil runs the Whitehouse, a recent news story reveals
that Bush regime related operations like Halliburton will be given carte
blanche to do whatever they please in Iraq. Unreported in the mainstream
media, Executive Order 13303, issued last May, gives an oil company
complicit in human rights violations or guilty of environmental
destruction in Iraq, immunity from lawsuits. According to Earth Rights
International, "the document is apparently intended as a sweeping grant of
immunity to individuals, corporations, agencies and others involved in
Iraqi oil sales, marketing, or other oil-related activities."  Last week,
The Institute for Policy Studies and the Government Accountability Project
urged Congress to investigate and repeal the sweeping order. Like the
recently reported U.S. corporate mobile phone monopoly being instituted in
Iraq, Executive Order 13303 is yet another example of corporate
colonization and a U.S. regime gone out of control.



News Gazette

An Urbana Champaign resident (Cope Cumpston) provided the following
headline. The free press in Champaign Urbana is suffering during the Sweet
Corn Festival in Urbana in August. The News-Gazette, a sponsor of the
festival, has specified in its contract with the city that no other
print media can buy table space at the festival. The Paper sent in the fee
for a table so they could put up a banner and pass out free issues, and
the money was returned and space refused because of the News-Gazette's
policy.




Apartheid in Israel

The following headline come from the Associated Press newswire. Israel's
parliament has passed a law that would force Palestinians and Israelis who
marry each other to live separate lives or leave Israel. The government
says the law is necessary to prevent terror attacks, but critics say it's
racist. The law would last one year. Palestinians from the West Bank and
Gaza Strip who marry Israeli Arabs won't be able to get residency permits
.Backers of the law say Palestinians have used the freedom of movement
that comes with residency permits to carry out terror attacks. But
opponents say attacks by Palestinians who obtained residency through
marriage are too rare to justify the measure. Israeli Arabs say the law
amounts to a policy to force Israeli Arabs and Palestinians to leave
Israel. They say the law would damage relations between Israel and its
Arab minority.