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Mexico: Witnesses at Risk (5/98)

ROBIN KELSEY May 27, 2005 ROBIN KELSEY

It’s hot already, as the early morning sun beats down on the crooked tin roof of the new church in Acteal. Just behind the makeshift bench where I’m sitting in the open air is a mass grave. It holds the bodies of 45 victims of a massacre that claimed the lives of mostly women and children here last December.

On either side of me are two young women, survivors of that massacre who lost most of their families. In front sits Maria Santiz Lopez, a leader of the Abeja, a religious group committed to nonviolence. Maria is talking about her traditional dress, and her fears that when it’s worn out, there won’t be another to take its place – that she’ll lose her identity in hand-me-down, non-traditional dresses from well-wishers who don’t understand what her clothes mean to her. read more

Tiomin Resources: a controversial mining in Kenya (06/01)

ROBERT OTANI May 27, 2005 ROBERT OTANI

At least a quarter of the half million people who live in Kenya’s Kwale district, near the Indian Ocean coast, eventually may be evicted to make way for a controversial mining project by the Canadian firm Tiomin Resources Inc. The rest, and others living along the coast, could face significant health risks due to the toxic emissions associated with titanium mining.

As controversy rages, Kenya’s government is caught between pleasing the company and remaining accountable to its citizens. The standoff also pits the government and Tiomin Kenya Limited, the Kenyan subsidiary of the Canadian firm, against local and international environmental groups. The critics include farmers, the Coast Mining Forum, Action Aid (Kenya), Muslims for Human Rights, Coastwatch, Environment Trust of Kenya, and coastal leaders. read more

South Africa’s Mad Science (6/99)

S. PREDRAG May 27, 2005 S. PREDRAG

Even James Bond would have been shocked to walk into the secret laboratories of the former South African White minority regime not so long ago. He would have seen some of the country’s best and most experienced scientists developing an arsenal of chemical and biological weapons to be used against the Black opponents of apartheid.

One of these "mad" scientists, Dr. Wouter Basson, faces 64 charges, including 16 counts of murder and 24 counts of fraud. His trial is scheduled to start October 4 in Pretoria’s High Court and could last two years. The South African National Defence Force will foot his legal bills. read more

Dellinger: Remembering a Nonviolent Warrior (6/04)

GREG GUMA May 27, 2005 GREG GUMA

Dave Dellinger’s father was a well-connected Massachusetts lawyer and friend of Republican Governor Calvin Coolidge. One of his grandmothers was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and his father’s ancestors went back to North Carolina — before the Revolution. In fact, Benjamin Franklin was a direct ancestor, by way of a grandnephew and a full-blooded Cherokee Indian.

With such a pedigree, it was hard to see why Dave would become an all-American radical, an internationally respected nonviolent activist and a leader of peace and justice movements for more than 60 years. But the young man from the Boston suburb of Wakefield took a less traveled path from the start, living with the poor, attending seminary, and refusing to register for the draft at the brink of World War II. Then and later, he went to jail for his beliefs. By the 1960s, he was a legendary figure, able to forge an alliance between anti-war activists and civil rights leaders. He was America’s Gandhi, advancing the theory of pacifist resistance through his words and deeds. read more

God’s Warrior Twins (9/03)

KIMBERLY BLAKER May 27, 2005 KIMBERLY BLAKER

In February 1998, Osama bin Laden issued an edict. "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it, in order to liberate the Al Aqsa mosque [Jerusalem] and the Holy Mosque [Mecca]," he explained. "This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God… We call on every Muslim who believes in God and wished to be rewarded to comply with God’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it." read more

Secrets R Us (3/02)

GREG GUMA May 27, 2005 GREG GUMA

It was classic spin. When NATO’s US and British troops in Macedonia began evacuating Albanian rebels in June, officials claimed they were merely attempting to help Europe avert a devastating civil war. Most media dutifully repeated that as fact. But the explanation only made sense if you ignored a troublesome contradiction, namely US support for both the Macedonian Armed Forces and the Albanians fighting them. Beyond that, there’s a decade of confused and manipulative Western policies, climaxing with NATO bombing and the failure to impose “peace” through aggression in Kosovo. Together, these moves have effectively destabilized the region. read more