Americas Archives - Page 146 of 160

Social Security in Danger

Nancy J. Altman February 15, 2006 Nancy J. Altman

Breaking ranks with every former president, Republican and Democratic alike, President George W. Bush is engaged in a high-profile campaign to undo Social Security. He hopes to accomplish what has eluded his ideological brethren who fought for similar ends over the last 70 years. Like Representative Carl Curtis in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Bush seeks to curtail the benefits of all but the lowest-paid workers, so that all beneficiaries would receive meager, basically flat benefits, largely unrelated to earnings.

The Demise of a President, Constitutional Irrelevency and the Media That Failed to Notice

Sandy Leon Vest February 8, 2006 Sandy Leon Vest

January 20, 2006 should have been heralded in headlines across the nation as a historical turning point in US history. Instead, Conyers et Ors Hearing on Domestic Spying, headed by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), was literally and figuratively held underground in the dark recesses of the nation's capitol building. The hearings, which featured a politically variegated roster of witnesses, took place in room B339 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The 'B' stands for basement. According to the Majority party, it was the only room available. This despite the fact that the briefing was held on a day when no other hearings were being held and the rest of Congress was on vacation.

Indigenous Political Prisoners Struggle for Justice in Honduras

Sandra Cuffe February 1, 2006 Sandra Cuffe

Political Prisoners*

"With the good intentions of transmitting a message of hope to all the compañeros in different communities, to indigenous peoples, to those of us struggling for justice, those of us who are always characterized by our work to defend the rights of the people, especially the right to our lands and all the resources our communities possess"

These words, spoken by political prisoner Marcelino Miranda, reflect the unshakeable hope and courage that three years in jail have not been able to tarnish. Last Monday marked the three-year anniversary of the violent police attack on the remote Lenca descendent community of Montaña Verde, in southwestern Honduras, which led to the unjust imprisonment of Marcelino and his brother Leonardo.

Police Violence in Rio de Janeiro

Tom Phillips in Niteroi January 30, 2006 Tom Phillips in Niteroi

Death is nothing new to the Morro do Estado, a mish-mash of redbrick favela housing that clings to the slopes high above central Niteroi, a city near Rio de Janeiro. But as locals crowded into the Bar do Raimundo for a game of snooker one Sunday night in December they had little idea just how close it was.

Within minutes five residents - among them three boys under the age of 15 - lay dead. The weathered cement walls outside the bar were pockmarked with gunshots and the pavement covered in a thick coat of blood.

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, the Revolutionary

Jeff Nall January 16, 2006 Jeff Nall

On January 16^th the vacuous lip service to Dr. Martin Luther King will begin. Ironically, much of his praise will be expressed by the kind of oppressive, rich, intolerant and prejudiced people that he fought so hard to undermine; people who now find his legacy a firm grave upon which to prop up their selfish agendas. That's why it's time for us to change the way America celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Let's relinquish the tame, PR King that the powers that be force-feed us each year. Let's resurrect the real King; the revolutionary King who committed himself to economic and social equality across all spectrums of prejudice; who unequivocally denounced warfare; repudiated neo-liberalism and an unrestrained, capricious capitalism.

Bolivia’s Trial By Fire

Benjamin Dangl January 12, 2006 Benjamin Dangl

After winning a landslide election victory on December 18th, Bolivian president-elect Evo Morales announced plans to nationalize the country's gas reserves, rewrite the constitution in a popular assembly, redistribute land to poor farmers and change the rules of the U.S.-led war on drugs in Bolivia. If he follows through on such promises, he'll face enormous pressure from the Bush administration, corporations and international lenders. If he chooses a more moderate path, Bolivia's social movements are likely to organize the type of protests and strikes that have ousted two presidents in two years. In the gas-rich Santa Cruz region, business elites are working toward seceding from the country to privatize the gas reserves. Meanwhile, U.S. troops stationed in neighboring Paraguay may be poised to intervene if the Andean country sways too far from Washington's interests. For Bolivian social movements and the government, 2006 will be a trial by fire.