Justice Charter To End Poverty in Manitoba

Justice
Charter To End Poverty
in Manitoba

We the people of Manitoba, seeing the growing gap between the
wealthy and people in need, the working poor, and discriminated groups want to act
in a timely manner to reverse the situation, to provide for people with needs and
support the right for everyone to contribute to society to the best of their ability. To this
end we make these demands and will work to make them a reality:

Housing must be a right and
a comfort, not a constant crisis!

􀂊 End subsidies to private landlords
􀂊 Establish stricter rent controls.
􀂊 Enact a Tenant Bill of Rights.
􀂊 Build and maintain public housing to the standard
building code.
􀂊 No utility cut-offs; establish a panel with legal power
to require landlords to pay.
Universal health
care for all, for every need!
􀂊 Expand medicare into a comprehensive health
care system focusing on prevention.
􀂊 Extend medicare to cover all essential services such
as eye, drug, dental, ambulance and prosthetics.
􀂊 Reduce pollution from mining and manufacturing,
especially next to low income neighborhoods.
Jobs are a human right.
Create good-paying jobs for all!
􀂊 Create jobs through a massive investment in public
housing, a public child care program, and
conversion to a “green” economy.
􀂊 Increase the minimum wage to $14 an hour.
􀂊 Quality job creation by ensuring access to
education, ending tuition fees, free student
housing, education in Aboriginal and any other
language where numbers warrant.
􀂊 Access to better jobs - reduce the work week with
no loss in pay, add paid vacation days and
reduce the pension age for women to age 60.
􀂊 End the Foreign Temporary Worker program, give
these workers full labour rights and make them
immigrants to Canada, if they so choose.
Provide for those in need!
􀂊 Introduce a Guaranteed Liveable Income, above
the poverty line and indexed to inflation.
􀂊 Improve special needs benefits and introduce a
fast appeals process with free advocacy services.
􀂊 A public, high quality, free child care program
employing well-paid early childhood
development professionals.
􀂊 Establish a hot breakfast program for children in
schools.
􀂊 For injured workers, establish a fast and free
appeals process independent of the Workers
Compensation Board. Provide free legal services
and always respect the right to appeal.
􀂊 Establish a Manitoba pension credit plan funded
by payroll deductions, a surtax on corporate
income to top up pensions above the poverty
line and an inheritance wealth tax.
􀂊 Establish a federally-chartered, publicly-owned
bank that does not discriminate against people
in poverty, is located in low-income areas, and
provides free or nonprofit cheque cashing services
and international fund transmittals.
􀂊 Establish a province-wide, free and publicly-owned
handi-transit service for people with disabilities.
􀂊 Establish price controls for essential foods throughout
Manitoba.
End racism,
sexism and discrimination of all forms!
􀂊 Support immediate settlement of Aboriginal land claims
and emergency action to end housing, health care
and education inequality.
􀂊 Take steps to recognize Aboriginal nations on a new
basis in Canada, including full national rights and
equal nation to nation relations.
􀂊 Introduce immediately affirmative action hiring with
mandatory quotas for Aboriginal people, people of
colour, women and people with disabilities in both
the public and private sector.
􀂊 Job pay equity for all workplaces.
􀂊 Replace the present legal system of retribution and
punishment with principles of restorative justice -
restitution and reconciliation; include “ability to pay”
as a consideration for sentencing people to jail for nonpayment
of fines.
􀂊 Ban discrimination based on social or mental health
conditions in the Human Rights Code.
􀂊 Introduce a Manitoba Bill of Rights based on the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (1948), adding
protections against all forms of sexism.
Reform the democratic system
􀂊 Establish proportional representation so that people
will vote for what they want and so that every person’s
vote will count.
􀂊 Pay Legislators the average worker’s wage and benefits
in Manitoba.


The Justice Charter is for
discussion by all Manitobans. The
Four Directions Committee is
planning a Conference to discuss
the Charter on November 28,
2010. Contact us to get involved
in planning the conference.
Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀
Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀
Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀
Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀 Four Directions Walk 􀁀

We are inviting groups representing Aboriginal
peoples, women, workers, youth and students,
people of colour, people with disabilities, injured
workers, the working poor, people living in
poverty, people of all faiths and nonbelievers - all
supportive groups - to discuss and amend the
Charter at the Assembly. Contact the Four
Directions Committee if you would like to receive
a copy of the Call to the Conference or
comment on the Charter.
Email: fourdirectionswalk@mts.net or phone (204)
792-3371.
- Produced by volunteer labour

Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

Published March 21 2010    Bemidji Pioneer

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100017081/group/News/

Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

WALKER — Two incumbents and a second-time candidate were endorsed here Saturday morning by Senate District 4 Democrats.

By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer

WALKER — Two incumbents and a second-time candidate were endorsed here Saturday morning by Senate District 4 Democrats.

Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, and Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji, were both overwhelming endorsed for second terms, despite being challenged on American Indian issues.

Meg Bye of rural Pequot Lakes was unopposed for endorsement for a second run against Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, who will be seeking his seventh term for House 4B.

Olson was challenged by Greg Paquin of Bemidji, a Red Lake Band member, who said both Olson and Persell aren’t doing enough to ensure that American Indian tradesmen get jobs. Olson, however, won the endorsement with a 68-3 vote of Senate 4 delegates.

Nicole Beaulieu of Bemidji, a Leech Lake Band member, sought to wrest the House 4A endorsement from Persell, saying it’s time for American Indians to become politically active and take legislative seats to represent native communities. Persell won the endorsement for a second term with a 42-4 vote of 4A delegates.

“I think we saw democracy in action, as we do at the Capitol when people come down with strong views, wanting to make sure their voices are heard,” Olson said after the endorsements.

“That’s something we encourage in the DFL, and we encourage in democracy,” she said. “And I think we heard some concerns raised that are valid concerns, and I think that’s always a good thing for the process.”

Neither Paquin nor Beaulieu said if they would challenge the endorsements in the Aug. 10 DFL primary.

Bye was unopposed for endorsement, and was unanimously endorsed by 25 House 4B delegates at the convention held in the Walker-Akeley-Hackensack High School.

“This is going to be a very, very important election,” said Olson, who will be seeking a two-year term because of pending reapportionment. “This is really going to make a difference and an opportunity for Minnesota to decide whether we affirm our traditional values, whether we affirm three separate branches of government acting as three separate branches of government, whether we affirm the importance that we place on having equal opportunity for all of our citizens, whether they’re native American citizens, whether they’re rural Minnesota citizens, or whomever they may be.”

Olson also includes having equal access to a quality education across the state, not just in property-wealthy areas of the suburban metro area; equality in funding for health care so all Minnesotans have access to quality and affordable health care; and whether to deregulate everything and let consumers fend for themselves.

“All of these issues are going to be on the ballot in Minnesota this year,” Olson said. “Which direction we go on those issues is going to depend on how involved we get in this process.”

Persell, seeking his second term, said the rest of this session will be tough and one where not much is expected to get done with a Republican governor who won’t raise taxes. The office is open on the November ballot, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty isn’t seeking a third term.

“Things are very trying down there,” Persell said of the session in St. Paul. “The anger … is on the surface. If you read the papers, it probably came out of me a couple of times. I try very hard not to show my anger.”

The Bemidji Democrat was referring to remarks he made at a town hall meeting that he had looked into how to impeach Pawlenty, and also for those who think the business climate is better in South Dakota, he’d pay them $10 toward a ticket to that state.

“But these are really tough times,” he said. “God, I wish we had a veto-proof majority. I’m not going to say some of the things that are on the tip of my tongue about that, but I did talk to some of my colleagues the other day and said in all seriousness I was going to get a peach tree and plant it outside the governor’s office.

“I welcome this endorsement, and I trust that you will find it in your hearts to send me back,” he added. “I’m excited to go back again; I hope I’m fortunate to go back in 2011 and sit in the House of Representatives with a Democrat governor, a majority in each of the houses … so we can start to rebuild Minnesota.”

The rest of the session won’t be pretty, Persell said. “Those who really need help out here are hurting, and we know that, but we can’t come up with any new revenue with the governor, the way it is right now. We’re just going to have to commit ourselves … to rebuilding Minnesota, getting education back to the 15 to 20 pupils range (in the classroom) instead of 30-plus.”

Beaulieu said she sees certain needs of American Indians that aren’t being addressed by current politicians or tribal leaders. Coming from a “struggling family” of seven, she said she took a part-time job to help pay the bills.

“There are many needs that need to be met, and that is one reason I want to be your representative,” she said. “I want to commend John Persell for his dedication … I see some of the things he does for my people, although being a native American myself and growing up with these struggles and things that are not met in this community.”

A main reason to campaign, Beaulieu said, is to break the influence of gangs in Cass Lake and Bemidji. “The gang culture in our communities is so strong, and is one of the many struggles we deal with on the reservation.”

Beaulieu says she wants change for her people. “I think it’s about time that a native American gets involved in this political process — it’s long overdue.”

Olson and Persell have done wonderful things for the native people, Beaulieu said, “but they are not native. I don’t know what it’s like to be a non-native, but I’m sure it’s much easier than being a native American.”

Beaulieu said it was not her goal to just represent American Indians but to represent Democrats.

The political process is open to everybody, said Paquin, who sought the Senate 4 endorsement. But not much has changed for American Indian communities, he added.

Last year, he formed a native American labor union to try to increase job opportunities, but said he found a brick wall with the Bemidji Regional Event Center and U.S. Pipeline working the Enbridge pipeline as contractors wouldn’t hire his referrals. In another case, there was a refusal to recognize Paquin’s union.

“Our people are … left out of it,” he said, adding that there is no interest in enforcing affirmative action laws. “We have tribal leaders today, but I never see them get out there and say, ‘Hey, Minnesota. Hey, Mr. Persell, Ms. Olson — we want jobs for our people, and not just behind the fence. When a legislator gets a vote from an Indian behind the fence, he thinks it’s a sovereign nation and it’s the tribal government’s responsibility to provide economic development.

“No,” he continued. “When they take a vote from an Indian on a reservation, they owe us all to be treated equally and that’s what this is about – equality.”

He said that despite a billion-dollar American Indian casino industry in Minnesota, taxpayers still have to pay huge sums for welfare programs to American Indians. “Something’s wrong,” Paquin said.

One of Olson’s seconders was Eugene “Ribs” Whitebird, a Leech Lake Tribal Council member, who laid out numerous bills that Olson carried for Indian people, and that she is a member of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

Harold “Skip” Finn, a former state senator and a Leech Lake Band member, seconded Persell’s nomination. Finn said Persell “has demonstrated an unwavered commitment to those less powerful, to those who have no other voice in the process — the children, the elderly and the poor.”

Working his career with American Indian tribes in environmental consulting, Persell has “also demonstrated an unwavering allegiance to the goal of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Finn said.

Bye, unopposed for endorsement for 4B, said more people than ever have no access to health care. More and more of Minnesota’s lakes and streams have been listed as impaired. And the state’s budget continues to spiral.

“Anger and disappointment is widespread among us,” said the former Duluth City Council member who retired to rural Pequot Lakes. ‘It has brought out the worst in many of us., as we throw verbal fire bombs at one another.”

It’s time for Minnesotans to get back into the game and do better, she said. “We still care; you still care. We still care about the state of our state and our nation. We still care about the future of our children and their children.”

Minnesotans still care to provide an education system with access to all and health care system with affordable access to all, she said.

“Democrats do not believe that transferring more wealth to the already wealthy is the way toward a healthy economy,” Bye said. “The experiences of the last two years has proven us right.”

The threat from the rightwing

A couple points missed by the Campaign for America's Future...

By Alan Maki
January 30, 2010 - 1:07pm GMT

First, you have ignored a very important development. John Birchers Ron and Rand Paul are involved in a movement that is really scary which brings together some Green Party people and even some misguided leftists who don't look beneath the surface to see what is going on and the connections these people have with outfits like the viciously racist and anti-Semitic John Birch Society whose influence is growing again across the country. This "movement," while still small, seems to be growing quite rapidly--- often working in league with the Tea Party movement.

Second, you people with the Campaign for America's Future are afraid to look for an alternative to the Democratic Party that works. The socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party of Governors Floyd B. Olson, Elmer Benson and U.S. Congressman John Bernard was the most powerful and effective challenge, to date, to this two-party trap... and it worked in the interests of the common people--- workers, farmers, professionals and small business people.

The only way to fight the right-wing when they start attacking everything as socialist is to provide a truthful and honest explanation of what socialism is and what a socialist agenda and program really are.

We should begin by putting socialized healthcare on the table which would create tens of thousands of jobs while creating as many public healthcare centers as there are public libraries which would create for the American people a world-class healthcare system second to none along the lines of VA, the Indian Health Service and the National Public Health Service...

• No-fees/no premiums.
• Comprehensive.
• All-inclusive.
• Pre-natal to grave. 
• Universal. 
• A fully public healthcare system.
• Publicly financed.
• Publicly administered.
• Publicly delivered.

All financed by transfering funding from militarism and wars toward serving the public good.

This would require ending Obama's wars.

We need public healthcare centers spread out across our country instead of over 800 U.S. military bases on foreign soil dotting the globe protecting Wall Street's profits and interests.

We cannot talk in vague and simplistic terms about a "progressive populism;" we need to get specific. This is the only way to counter the growing rightwing movement that gets scarier and scarier as it moves to the "center" of the political spectrum... it is a progressive, anti-capitalist, pro-socialist progressive politics that needs to become the "center" of American politics if we are going to move forward--- away from war and militarism and towards an economy based on improving the livelihoods of everyone.

What we need is a "declaration of independence" from the Democratic and Republican parties which are both Wall Street parties; parties of war, racism and corruption.

For our country to go "green" it has to go "red" which requires the building of some kind of "people's front" on a much larger scale than what existed in the 1930's.

Alan L. Maki

Minnesota


Suggestion: A very good book to read, "The People's Front" by Earl Browder... available through your local public library.

The global economic crisis: An historic opportunity for transformation

The global economic crisis: An historic opportunity for transformation

An initial response from individuals, social movements and non-governmental Organisations in support of a transitional programme for radical economic transformation

Collective

15 October 2008

More informations on this website : To sign the statement

Beijing, 15 October 2008

Preamble

Taking advantage of the opportunity of so many people from movements gathering in Beijing during the Asia-Europe People’s Forum, the Transnational Institute and Focus on the Global South convened informal nightly meetings between 13 and 15 October 2008. We took stock of the meaning of the unfolding global economic crisis and the opportunity it presents for us to put into the public domain some of the inspiring and feasible alternatives many of us have been working on for decades. This statement represents the collective outcome of our Beijing nights. We, the initial signatories, mean this to be a contribution towards efforts to formulate proposals around which our movements can organise as the basis for a radically different kind of political and economic order. Please sign on to this statement at http://www.casinocrash.org.

The Crisis

The global financial system is unravelling at great speed. This is happening in the midst of a multiplicity of crises in relation to food, climate and energy. It severely weakens the power of the US and the EU, and the global institutions they dominate, particularly the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation. Not only is the legitimacy of the neo-liberal paradigm in question, but the very future of capitalism itself.

Such is the chaos in the global financial system that Northern governments have resorted to measures progressive movements have advocated for years, such as nationalisation of banks. These moves are intended, however, as short-term stabilisation measures and once the storm clears, they are likely to return the banks to the private sector. We have a short window of opportunity to mobilise so that they are not.
The challenge and the opportunity

We are entering uncharted terrain with this conjuncture of profound crises – the fall out from the financial crisis will be severe. People are being thrown into a deep sense of insecurity; misery and hardship will increase for many poorer people everywhere. We should not cede this moment to fascist, right wing populist, xenophobic groups, who will surely try to take advantage of people’s fear and anger for reactionary ends.

Powerful movements against neo-liberalism have been built over many decades. This will grow as critical coverage of the crisis enlightens more people, who are already angry at public funds being diverted to pay for problems they are not responsible for creating, and already concerned about the ecological crisis and rising prices – especially of food and energy. The movements will grow further as recession starts to bite and economies start sinking into depression.

There is a new openness to alternatives. To capture people’s attention and support, they must be practical and immediately feasible. We have convincing alternatives that are already underway, and we have many other good ideas attempted in the past, but defeated. Our alternatives put the well-being of people and the planet at their centre. For this, democratic control over financial and economic institutions are required. This is the “red thread” connecting up the proposals presented below.

Proposals for debate, elaboration and action

Finance
 
• Introduce full-scale socialisation of banks, not just nationalisation of bad assets.
• Create people-based banking institutions and strengthen existing popular forms of lending based on mutuality and solidarity.
• Institutionalise full transparency within the financial system through the opening of the books to the public, to be facilitated by citizen and worker organisations.
• Introduce parliamentary and citizens’ oversight of the existing banking system.
• Apply social ( including conditions of labour) and environmental criteria to all lending, including for business purposes.
• Prioritise lending, at minimum rates of interest, to meet social and environmental needs and to expand the already growing social economy.
• Overhaul central banks in line with democratically determined social, environmental and expansionary (to counter the recession) objectives, and make them publicly accountable institutions.
• Safeguard migrant remittances to their families and introduce legislation to restrict charges and taxes on transfers

Taxation
 
• Close all tax havens.
• End tax breaks for fossil fuel and nuclear energy companies.
• Apply stringent progressive tax systems.
• Introduce a global taxation system to prevent transfer pricing and tax evasion.
• Introduce a levy on nationalised bank profits with which to establish citizen investment funds (see below).
• Impose stringent progressive carbon taxes on those with the biggest carbon footprints.
• Adopt controls, such as Tobin taxes, on the movements of speculative capital.
• Re-introduce tariffs and duties on imports of luxury goods and other goods already produced locally as a means of increasing the state’s fiscal base, as well as a means to support local production and thereby reduce carbon emissions globally.

Public Spending and Investment
 
• Radically reduce military spending.
• Redirect government spending from bailing out bankers to guaranteeing basic incomes and social security, and providing universally accessible basic social services such as housing, water, electricity, health, education, child care, and access to the internet and other public communications facilities.
• Use citizen funds (see above) to support very poor communities.
• Ensure that people at risk of losing their homes due to defaults on mortgages caused by the crisis are offered renegotiated terms of payment.
• Stop privatisations of public services.
• Establish public enterprises under the control of parliaments, local communities and/or workers to increase employment.
• Improve the performance of public enterprises through democratizing management - encourage public service managers, staff, unions and consumer organisations to collaborate to this end.
• Introduce participatory budgeting over public finances at all feasible levels.
• Invest massively in improved energy efficiency, low carbon emitting public transport, renewable energy and environmental repair.
• Control or subsidise the prices of basic commodities.

International Trade and Finance
 
• Introduce a permanent global ban on short-selling of stock and shares.
• Ban on trade in derivatives.
• Ban all speculation on staple food commodities.
• Cancel the debt of all developing countries – debt is mounting as the crisis causes the value of Southern currencies to fall.
• Support the United Nations call to be involved in discussions about how the to resolve the crisis, which is going to have a much bigger impact on Southern economies than is currently being acknowledged.
• Phase out the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organisation.
• Phase out the US dollar as the international reserve currency.
• Establish a people’s inquiry into the mechanisms necessary for a just international monetary system.
• Ensure aid transfers do not fall as a result of the crisis.
• Abolish tied aid.
• Abolish neo-liberal aid conditionalities.
• Phase out the paradigm of export-led development, and refocus sustainable development on production for the local and regional market.
• Introduce incentives for products produced for sale closest to the local market.
• Cancel all negotiations for bilateral free trade and economic partnership agreements.
• Promote regional economic co-operation arrangements, such as UNASUR, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the Trade Treaty of the Peoples and others, that encourage genuine development and an end to poverty.

Environment
 
• Introduce a global system of compensation for countries which do not exploit fossil fuel reserves in the global interests of limiting effects on the climate, such as Ecuador has proposed.
• Pay reparations to Southern countries for the ecological destruction wrought by the North to assist peoples of the South to deal with climate change and other environmental crises.
• Strictly implement the “precautionary principle” of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development as a condition for all developmental and environmental projects.
• End lending for projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s “Clean Development Mechanism” that are environmentally destructive, such as monoculture plantations of eucalyptus, soya and palm oil.
• Stop the development of carbon trading and other environmentally counter-productive techno-fixes, such as carbon capture and sequestration, agrofuels, nuclear power and ‘clean coal’ technology.
• Adopt strategies to radically reduce consumption in the rich countries, while promoting sustainable development in poorer countries.
• Introduce democratic management of all international funding mechanisms for climate change mitigation, with strong participation from Southern countries and civil society.
Agriculture and Industry
• Phase out the pernicious paradigm of industry-led development, where the rural sector is squeezed to provide the resources necessary to support industrialisation and urbanisation.
• Promote agricultural strategies aimed at achieving food security, food sovereignty and sustainable farming.
• Promote land reforms and other measures which support small holder agriculture and sustain peasant and indigenous communities.
• Stop the spread of socially and environmentally destructive mono-cultural enterprises.
• Stop labour law reforms aimed at extending hours of work and making it easier for employers to fire or retrench workers.
• Secure jobs through outlawing precarious low paid work.
• Guarantee equal pay for equal work for women – as a basic principle and to help counter the coming recession by increasing workers’ capacity to consume.
• Protect the rights of migrant workers in the event of job losses, ensuring their safe return to and reintegration into their home countries. For those who cannot return, there should be no forced return, their security should be guaranteed, and they should be provided with employment or a basic minimum income.

Conclusion

These are all practical, common sense proposals. Some are initiatives already underway and demonstrably feasible. Their successes need to be publicised and popularised so as to inspire reproduction. Others are unlikely to be implemented on their objective merits alone. Political will is required. By implication, therefore, every proposal is a call to action.

We have written what we see as a living document to be developed and enriched by us all. Please sign on to this statement at http://www.casinocrash.org.

A future occasion to come together to work on the actions needed to make these ideas and others a reality will be the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil at the end of January 2009.

We have the experience and the ideas - let’s meet the challenge of the present ruling disorder and keep the momentum towards an alternative rolling!!

Initial Signatories
Organisations
Transnational Institute, Netherlands
Focus on the Global South
Red Pepper magazine, United Kingdom
Institute for Global Research and Social Movements, Russia
Ecologistas en Acción, Spain
JS - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JS APMDD), Asia
RESPECT Network Europe, Europe
Commission for Filipino Migrant Workers (CFMW), Netherlands
The Movement for a Just World, Malaysia
Nord-Sud XXI, Switzerland
Europe solidaire sans frontières (ESSF), France
Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), Inadi
Movimiento Madre Tierra, Honduras
Asian Bridge, South Korea/ Philippines
Center for Encounter and Active Non-Violence, Austria
The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)
Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Pakistan
Pambansang Katipunan ng Makabayang Magbubukid-PKMM (National Federation of Patriotic Peasant), Phillipines
Proresibong Alyansa ng mga Mangingisda-PANGISDA (Progresive Alliance of Fisher), Philippines
WomanHealth, Philippines
Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD), Philippines
Fisherfolk Movement Philippines
Democratic Socialist Perspective, Australia
Resistance & Alternative, Mauritius
Observatori del Deute en la Globalització, Spain
African Journalists on Trade and Development
Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), India
EQUATIONS, India
ESK-Basque Land, Basque Country
Common Frontiers, Canada
Alab-Katipunan, Philippines
Finnish Asiatic Society, Finland
Red Constantino, Philippines
Intercultural Resources, India
Women’s March Against Poverty and Globalization (WELGA)
FDC Women’s Committee
Bharatiya Krishak Samaj (Indian farmers organization)
Peace for All International Development Organization, Canada/Uganda
Foundation for Media Alternatives, Philippines
The Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement , Philippines
The Freedom from Debt Coalition-Iloilo, Philippines
Jubilee Eastern Cape, South Africa
SdL intercategoriale, Italy
Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos, Argentina
APRODEH (Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos), Peru
Attac Spain, Spain
HealthWrights, Workgroup for People’s Health and Rights, US
Ander Europa, Netherlands
Enlightening Indonesia, Indonesia
SolidaritéS, Switzerland
ATTAC Hungary
AITEC (Association Internationale de Techniciens, Experts et Chercheurs), France
Red Venezolana Contra la Deuda/CADTM Venezuela Movimiento Unido Socialista Haitiano por el ALBA (MOUSHA), Venezuela
IPIAT (Instituto para la Investigación de la Agricultura Tropical), Venezuela
ECOPEACE Party South Africa
Jubilee Kansai Network, Japan
Ecuador Decide, Ecuador
ATTAC Japan
Transnationals Information Exchange (TIE) – Netherlands
Popular Education for Peoples’ Empowerment, Philipines
International Gender and Trade Network, Brazil
Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM), Begium
ATTAC Morocco
ATTAC-Denmark
Friends of the Earth Finland
European Left Party Network, UK
Center for the Study of Democratic Societies, USA
European Social Forum Activists News Agency.
Cymru Europa Press (Social Forum Cymru/Wales), UK
Initiative Colibri/Germany
Sudptt (SOLIDAIRES), France
Attac 44 France
International Debt Observatory, Belgium
Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR), France
Attac France
Anti Debt Coalition (KAU), Indonesia
Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network
The Corner House, UK
Climate and Capitalism (Canada)
BanglaPraxis, Bangladesh
Centro Studi Monetari, Italy
The Network Institute for Global Democratisation (NIGD) , Finland
Project SafeCom
Justice and Peace Commision, Mexico
Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB), US
Grasroots Policy Project, US
Habitat Net, Germany
Metta Center for Nonviolent Education, US
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC/Friends of the Earth), Philippines
PODER, A.C.
ATTAC-Québec
Foundation for Gaia, UK
Alianza Social Continental, Americas
Red Colombiana de Acción Frente al Libre Comercio-RECALCA, Colombia
World Development Movement, UK
Confederación Latinoamericana de Cooperativas y Mutuales de Trabajadores - COLACOT
Fundacion Solon, Bolivia
War on Want, UK
Habitat International Coalition
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council
NEUE, Another Society is Possible
Berne Declaration, Switzerland
Individuals
Fiona Dove, South Africa
Walden Bello, Philippines/Thailand
Hilary Wainwright, United Kingdom
Boris Kagarlitsky, Russia
Achin Vanaik, India
Dot Keet, South Africa
Brid Brennan, Ireland
Pietje Vervest, Netherlands
Cecilia Olivet, Uruguay
Ramon Fernandez Duran, Spain
Tom Kucharz, Spain
Pierre Rousset, France
Rodney Bickerstaffe, United Kingdom
Von Francis C Mesina, Philippines
Al D. Senturias, Jr., Philippines
Sammy Gamboa, Philippines
Fe Jusay, Philippines
Nonoi Hacbang, Philippines
Lidy Nacpil, Philippines
Seema Mustafa, India
Kenneth Haar, Denmark
Wolfram Schaffar, Germany
Christa Wichterich, Germany
Isabelle Duquesne, France
Adhemar Mineiro, Brasil
Benny Kuruvilla, India
Aehwa Kim, South Korea
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Collective

Congolese Women and Girls Suffering the Insufferable

Guest Blog:

by Emily Spence and Brian McAfee / January 12th, 2010

While in the eastern Congo last summer, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated, “With respect to companies that are responsible for what are now being called conflict minerals, I think the international community must start looking at steps we can take to try to prevent the mineral wealth from the DRC ending up in the hands of those who fund the violence here.”

In relation, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s UN supported armed assault against rebels in the eastern Congo has promoted widespread death, rape and other forms of brutality. Indeed, the decade long war has claimed at least 5.4 million lives — the most in any conflict since WWII. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of women and girls, including babies, have suffered rapes and sexual mutilation, often with weapons and tools used in the process. Further, it is thought that, in eastern portions of the Congo, up to seventy percent of Congolese women, along with children of all ages, have been sexually attacked, according to the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, a research center at Harvard University.

Moreover, some relief workers have estimated that up to twenty percent of new rapes have been instigated by police and civilians in urban rather than rural areas in that a culture of violence has set into much of the nation due to the long, drawn out conflict. At the same time, the attacks are so extremely violent that they have been described as sexual terrorism by medical workers at the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu at which thousands of survivors have been treated each year.

Overall, it has emerged that all major groups involved in the warfare have committed these and other serious war crimes, including looting peasants, purposefully destroying homes and forcing the mass dislocations of more than a million terrorized people from their neighborhoods. On account, countless families and whole communities have been forced to live with constant fear, repeated migrations and insurmountable social turmoil.

In a country with an annual income of $110 per capita and a life expectancy rate of 54.4 years, life is difficult enough as it is. However, individuals on the run can’t even have the assurance of this modest sum to support existence. As a result, massive food, medical and displacement aid is needed in the country at the very time that it is most dangerous to be there as an aid worker. Simultaneously, a shortage of donations negatively impact the quality of care delivered by various assistance organizations, including U.N. sponsored relief programs.

Meanwhile, a callous society ostracizes the victims, regardless of their ages, while showing leniency towards the rapists. Indeed, wounded sufferers are generally shunned by their spouses, other family members and former friends, particularly so if they have any children that resulted from periods of long term bondage accompanied by repeated rapes.

Simultaneously, assailants rarely receive proper trials. Therefore, the lack of punishment has increasingly emboldened Congolese men to find pleasure through physically violating women and children on a routine basis. Consequently, the number of assaults on women and children are increasing and spreading into new regions so as to include ever new groups, such as the Pigmies.

Even as the International Criminal Tribunal recognizes rape as a crime of genocide under international law, there is little by way of meaningful deterrence to the escalating aggression. In relation, this “pandemic of sexual violence,” indicates Stephen Lewis, the former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, is “obscene,” “insanely savage,” and is nothing short of “femicide.”¹

Despite that social stigma is prevalent, the abandoned women and girls, of whom some are pictured at Congo/Women,² do sometimes receive substantial help. For example, it comes from groups like SOS AIDS, an organization that works with other relief agencies to get in touch with rural survivors so as to take them to treatment centers for psychological counseling and medical support.

The assistance often includes the successful repair of fistulas, debilitating ruptures of the urinary-genital tract that leave females incontinent and prone to infections for life. The helpers, also, try to provide housing, including for those in need of anti-retroviral and other drug treatments due to the attackers having infected their victims with assorted serious diseases. (The HIV prevalence includes approximately 4.2 percent of the population.) Meanwhile, the high number of injured women and girls makes it impossible to treat them all, aside from the fact that the majority of the assaults, apparently, go unreported.

Thankfully, there are a number of dedicated groups like SOS AIDS taking a stand for justice and human welfare even when it is dangerous for their staff to do so. Tragically, others try to increase the very same kinds of turmoil SOS AIDS is striving to remedy. They are doing so in order to gain control of four main minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold that garner an estimated $180 million in revenues each year.

The main reason that these minerals are in such high demand is because they are critical in the fabrication of digital cameras, laptops, cell phones, portable musical devices and video games. Yet, some of these battlefield minerals are not widely found over much of the world. Therefore, there is great competition for them in the Congo and some individuals will stop at nothing to get them.

All considered, people interested in supporting the necessary reforms in this war torn land can phone or write letters to Congressional representatives to urge them to ratify the Congo Conflict Minerals Act (S. 891) and the Conflict Minerals Trade Act (H.R. 4128), which are currently undergoing legislative review.³ They can, also, sign petitions directed to members of Congress.⁴ Additionally, they can contact their respective mobile phone manufacturers to indicate that they want the companies to ensure that cell phones are only made from certified conflict-free materials.

The women and girls of the Congo are our sisters and daughters in the larger sense of our all being part of one human family. Therefore, our love and concern for them, as it would be for any other cherished human being, must be present. In relation, I sort of decided to adopt the rest of the world as my family due to my having been orphaned at an early age. Besides, Congolese people deserve unreserved justice and compassion as much as any other people do, as our common welfare is inexorably linked. In fact, only a huge outpouring of care from around the world will help to bring about the kind of changes so desperately needed in this tragically destroyed nation.

Due to a shortage of funds and critical care supplies, the crisis in the Congo is inadequately addressed. Yet many charitable groups are striving their best to provide relief.

Thankfully, several of these agencies have excellent track records. A few of them that come highly recommended are the Women and Girls of the World, Stephen Lewis Foundation, SOS Medical Centres and Women for Women International in the event that any support of their projects might like to be undertaken.⁵ As Margaret Mead suggested, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

1. Ensler E, Lewis S (2008) The never ending war. Huffington Post. The Stephen Lewis Foundation (2007 September 13) Stephen Lewis calls for a new UN initiative to end sexual violence in the eastern region of the DRC. [↩]
2. Congo/Women, an exhibition featuring photographs by Lynsey Addario, Marcus Bleasdale, Ron Haviv and James Nachtwey. [↩]
3. GovTrack.us, 111th Congress, 2009-2010, S. 891: Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009. GovTrack.us, 111th Congress, 2009-2010,HR 4128: Conflict Minerals Trade Act. [↩]
4. Urge Your Senators to Cosponsor the Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009 (Raise Hope for Congo). Urge Your Representative to Cosponsor the Conflict Minerals Trade Act (Raise Hope for Congo). [↩]
5. Humanitarian relief organizations: Women and Girls of the World, Stephen Lewis Foundation, Medical Centres in Congo — SOS Medical Centres, and Women for Women International’s Congo initiative at Congo Women Need Your Help | Women For Women International. [↩]

Emily Spence and Brian McAfee are authors living respectively in Massachusetts and Michigan. They have spent many years involved in human rights, environmental and social services efforts.

They can be contacted at brimac6@hotmail.com. Read other articles by Emily Spence.