Democracy

Le Pen Gains Ground Over (And Among) Arabs

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Polls suggest that far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen could do even better in the first round of presidential voting this Sunday than in the 2002 election, when he came in second. Le Pen’s views that North African immigrants cause crime and should be deported even resonate with French Muslims, who say he represents “wholesome values” and will deal with extremists, the BBC reports. In Marseille, children of North African immigrants don’t know who to vote for but agree with Le Pen that immigration has caused mass unemployment that could cost them their jobs. Sources:
“In Marseille, North Africans want brakes on immigration”
Agence France-Presse, April 16, 2007
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=20390
“Le Pen urges halt to immigration”
BBC (U.K.), April 17, 2007
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/17/2007&Cat=2&Num=002

Democracy

Labor Groups Tackle Child Exploitation

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Cheap labor from children working in slavelike conditions is booming worldwide. But in India, Africa and Turkey, activists are taking on the problem with education and outreach. An estimated 100,000 boys under 14 work in Delhi’s sari mills, sold to middlemen by impoverished and uninformed parents. A local advocacy group, which says the boys are kept in filthy conditions and live and work in the same rooms, is pressuring clothing designers to commit to child labor-free textiles. Poverty also drives West African parents to send their children to work on Ivory Coast cocoa farms, where they suffer abuse and miss out on school.

Democracy

Conflict of Interest Claims Follow Feinstein

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Senator Dianne Feinstein has resigned as chair of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee, where she served from 2001 to 2005. California’s Metroactive newspaper claims she resigned after it revealed that she awarded billions of dollars in construction projects to two defense contractors owned by her husband, Richard C. Blum. Feinstein has profited directly from large investments in the companies, the newspaper reports, and did not recuse herself from discussions of company contract bids despite being warned by a top legal adviser of possible conflicts of interest. Sources:
“Feinstein Resigns”
Metroactive (CA), March 21-27, 2007
“Senator Feinstein’s Iraq Conflict”
Metroactive (CA), January 24-30, 2007
“Feinstein’s Office Denies Conflict of Interest Charges”
CyberCast News Service, April 4, 2007

Democracy

RWANDA: Legacy of a Genocide

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Rwanda’s genocide ended 13 years ago, but some Hutus still target Tutsi survivors with “arson, stone throwing, uprooting of crops and threats,” according to a mayor who recently presided over a ceremony to bury the remains of 554 victims.
A human rights expert also says the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has failed to fulfill its mandate by neglecting to investigate Rwanda’s Tutsi president, Paul Kagame, for the killing of “hundreds of thousands” by his forces as they battled for control of the country in 1994. Western nations would rather have Kagame in power to maintain stability in the region — or so the theory goes. Andre Ntagerura and Emmanuel Bagambiki, both acquitted of charges in the genocide, remain trapped in Tanzania for fear of retribution elsewhere in Africa, and have been barred by Belgium and Holland from visiting their families there. Sources:
“‘One-sided justice’ at Rwanda genocide court, expert witness says”
Deutsche Presse Agentur, March 18, 2007
“Free Rwanda genocide suspects wait in limbo”
Deutsche Presse Agentur, March 21, 2007
“Rwanda: 554 genocide remains accorded decent burial”
The New Times (Rwanda), March 24, 2007

Democracy

INDIA: Gender Bias Drives Abortion Boom

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Up to a million Indian mothers illegally abort their female fetuses every year in India, and police are discovering the remains in toilets or gutters. Effects on the sex ratio have been dire, with 817 females to every 1,000 males in Punjab. The procedure has become a moneymaker for thousands of private doctors, who allegedly use ultrasounds to determine the sex of the child and encourage women to abort if it is a girl. Officials are trying to educate people about the issue, and gain control of private hospitals and clinics where such procedures are performed. Sources:
“Foeticide issue continues to rock Rajasthan”
Indo Asian News Service, March 23, 2007
“A cry to save the girl child”
Indo Asian News Service, March 20, 2007

Democracy

‘Democracy’: Easy to Say, Difficult to Do

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Riots flared up and victims traded sides in Nepal, as young Maoists were first set upon by minority separatists, then teamed up with ruling party members to attack supporters of the former kingdom’s monarchy. In Egypt, parliament approved new constitutional amendments that would ban religious parties, boost government security powers, and eliminate judicial oversight of ballot boxes. The vote provoked a walkout by Islamist lawmakers, who said it would encourage dictatorship. Pakistan’s President Musharraf continues to feel the heat for his suspension of the country’s chief justice, which one analyst says results from a disdain for inclusive politics that dates back to the British Raj. Writing in Gulfnews.com, Boston University academic Husain Haqqani says that without real democratic reform, Pakistan will “continue to hurtle forward from crisis to crisis,” ultimately at Musharraf’s — and America’s — expense.

Democracy

Muslim Discrimination, From Massachusetts to Mindanao

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Four Muslim truck drivers for FedEx in Massachusetts are suing over claims that upper management ignored racist verbal abuse and unfair work assignments. A judge has ruled that the suit can proceed because the men are employees and not independent contractors — a finding that also undermines the company’s case against a unionization bid by its 15,000 truckers. On the overwhelmingly Christian island of Mindanao in the Philippines, Muslims say they have been barred from working at malls over fears that they might be suicide bombers. Critics say this increases tensions in a province with a decades-old Islamic independence movement, where Muslims tend to be poorer, and have shorter life expectancies than average. Sources:
“Arab Americans charge harassment by FedEx”
Reuters, March 10, 2007
“Philippines: Muslims ‘banned’ from working in malls in Mindanao”
ADNKRONOS International, March 9, 2007

Democracy

Putin: A Good Time to be President, but Not a Critic

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings top 70 percent, and most citizens say that they’ll vote for whomever he chooses as a successor after his last constitutional term in office. This, along with Putin’s intolerance of dissent and the ongoing, unsolved and usually fatal attacks on his critics, have cemented fears of resurgent authoritarianism. The Telegraph reports on two recent incidents: the shooting of a “vocal” critic of Putin in Maryland in an apparent robbery, and the death of a journalist in Russia after he fell from the fourth floor of his apartment building. The mayor of the Arkhangelsk, the sole contender so far in next year’s presidential elections, said that since declaring his candidacy he has come under police investigation, and expects to be jailed despite testimony in his favor. Bloomberg reports that pro-Kremlim parties are expected to sweep regional elections later this month, since the reformist Yablinko Party and the pro-business Union of Rightist Forces have both been barred.

Democracy

On Poverty’s Coattails, Slavery Thrives

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Impoverished girls from Eastern Europe and Africa are prime targets for pimps and smugglers. As many as 5,000 youth have been sold into prostitution and literal domestic slavery in the United Kingdom, according to a new study. In India, participants in the Global March Against Child Labor decried what they say is a $32 billion worldwide industry that mostly preys upon women and children. And Reuters reports that Myanmar, a police state that formerly branded emigrant laborers “traitors,” has established new rules protecting them after 66 Myanmar citizens were rescued from a Thai factory where some were imprisoned for seven years. Sources:
“‘Human trafficking is a $32 bn worldwide business'”
Indo-Asian News Service, February 24, 2007
“Sex traffic: Danielle was 15 when she was sold into slavery in the U.K.”

Democracy

Uganda: A Rebellion on the Run, Crossing Borders

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Decades of conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army have taken thousands of lives in Uganda. More than two million people have been pushed from their homes, and peace talks have stalled on rebel fears that mediators are biased. Now, after being flushed out of bases in southern Sudan, the remaining LRA militants have broken the terms of a cease-fire, and are crossing the border to join forces with the Central African Republic’s local rebel militia, the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy. Sources:
“As peace talks stall, displaced Ugandans yearn for home”
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 23, 2007
“‘Ugandan rebels flee to CAR'”
South African Press Association, February 20, 2007
“Uganda: ‘A war against children”
Newsdesk.org news analysis, April 1, 2005