Deprivation of rights under color of law is a well-recognized, if not frequently prosecuted crime. Indeed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has a comprehensive explanation and some interesting statistical data, including a list of the most common categories in which these crimes occur:

• excessive force;

• sexual assaults;

• false arrest and fabrication of evidence;

• deprivation of property; and

• failure to keep from harm.

However, that's not the topic I want to address today. I want to focus on what I call "deprivation of rights under cover of law." But, first it seems important to consider what "deprivation" means.

This is a story of the needle that wasn't found. For some time now, I'm been referring to the Homeland Security war on terror effort as searching for needles in haystacks that haven't yet been built. That's how the whole rigamarole at the airports and screening at the entrances of public buildings, in addition to the electronic home invasions and surveillance, come across when I consider the matter objectively.

But now I'm thinking of the three nations in the "axis of evil" whose possession or yearning for nuclear weapons of mass destruction was the motivation for our search and destroy mission into Iraq; as well as some apparently fruitless negotiations with South Korea and Iran. Because now that we know there were no weapons to find in Iraq, it raises the question of what recourse anyone has when a search and destroy mission not only comes up empty, but was actually undertaken with full knowledge that the search would be fruitless.

It also raises the question of motivation. Why search when you know there's nothing there?

If the human species has one unique characteristic, it may well be the propensity to kill things it doesn't like or that simply displease. Other species destroy to sustain themselves; humans just do it because they can.

Now there's big money in it.

One of the biggest money makers is Monsanto, the organization that brought us Agent Orange, dioxin, RoundUp and, most recently, acquired the company, Delta&Pine Land, that developed, together with the Department of Agriculture, the terminator gene.

Like the other monopolistic clients (Walmart and Tyson Foods) of the Stephens Group of Little Rock, Arkansas, Monsanto is not flamboyant and not keen on random publicity. Which is probably why they declined to be interviewed for the French documentary on their achievements.

Video below the fold.

Korean Garment Owner Flees El Salvador
Leaving 1,884 workers out on the street, owed $1.5 million in back wages!


Sweatshop abuses also continue in Guatemala and Honduras


The Lido garment factory closed on September 26. It's major clients were Sears' "Sag Harbor," Russel Athletics, "Alfred Dunner," Wal-Mart's "George by Mark Eisen," Cintas, J.C. Penney and Macy's "Style & Co." label. There were 1,884 workers at the factory, at least 70 percent of them women.

Lido's owner, Mr. Hak Lae Kim, flees El Salvador:

The week of August 27, Mr. Hak Lae Kim and is entire family left El Salvador, saying that he was sick and travelling temporarily to the U.S. for medical treatment. In fact, he fled to South Korea.

The 1,884 Lido workers were sent out for their annual vacation near the end of September and told to return to work on Wednesday, September 26. When the workers arrived, the factory was locked and armed security guards told them the factory was closed.

According to the workers, there are still 80,000 yards of fabric left in the plant in addition to already-cut fabric and completed garments. About 50 percent of the fabric and garments belong to Sears' "Sag Harbor". Russel Athletics and Alfred Dunner make up most of the remainder.

By Ian Swanson
October 25, 2007
Following through on a promise by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday approved an expansion of a workers’ assistance program 25-14.

The vote paves the way for floor action early next month on a free trade agreement (FTA) negotiated with Peru that has divided the House Democratic Caucus. Moving the expanded trade adjustment assistance (TAA) program in conjunction with the Peru deal is meant to make some Democrats more comfortable with a vote on the trade agreement. Both measures would be expected to move the week of Nov. 5.

Pelosi agreed to hold a floor vote on the TAA bill at a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting in September after several critics of free trade criticized her decision to move forward with the Peru FTA.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) hailed the committee’s bill as one that would help U.S. workers compete with international competition. “The painful truth is that the current TAA program is not working,” he said in an Oct. 23 release.

Activists warned Capitol Hill that a free trade accord with Peru could essentially lock in that nation's privatized social security system.
Posted on Tue, Oct. 23, 2007Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY JANE BUSSEY
jbussey@MiamiHerald.com
A group of U.S. community organizations have entered the fray over free trade, warning that fuzzy language in a trade accord with Peru could penalize that country if it tries to fix its controversial, privatized Social Security system.

A two-page letter from organizations that fought President Bush's plans to privatize the U.S. Social Security system will be sent to Congress Tuesday. It asks legislators to vote against the trade accord, which could lock in a privatized Social Security system in another country when such privatization was rejected by Democrats in the United States.

Backers of the Peru-U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement insist the concerns are much ado over nothing.

After a compromise was reached addressing the enforcement of weak labor and environmental rules in Peru, the House is now set to take up the Peruvian trade agreement, perhaps as early as next week.

Today the NLC is testifying in Senate hearings chaired by Senator Byron Dorgan and releasing three devastating new reports exposing production of MATTEL'S BARBIE, THOMAS & FRIENDS AND WAL-MART toys made under abusive conditions, with workers routinely kept at their factory for over 100 hours a week, cheated of their wages and stripped of their rights.

SPEEDO may be the most popular and best-selling swimwear brand in the world, and an Olympic sponsor, But SPEEDO workers in China are drowning in abuse. No Olympic athlete--no matter how committed--could endure what Speedo workers do day in and day out. It does not have to be this way. "Barbie Pet Doctor" toys made in China enter the U.S. with a total production cost of just $9.00, which Mattel then marks up by $20.92--233 percent--for a retail price of $28.99.

In fact, Mattel spends $3.45 to advertise the toy, which is more than 18 times what they pay the workers in China to make it. And Barbie is protected by enforceable laws, backed up by sanctions--Mattel sues an average of once a month to protect Barbie and its other toy brands. Yet Mattel say that similar laws to protect the basic rights of the workers who make Barbie would be an "impediment to free trade." This is wrong and immoral.

Alcoa Auto Parts Factory in Honduras; Sam Bridge and Fribo Apparel factories in Guatemala

On the eve of the Peru FTA vote in Congress, the NLC is releasing disturbing new reports on CAFTA's continuing failure to protect even the most fundamental of internationally recognized labor rights standards. The Alcoa company has taken what were once high-paying, high-tech auto parts manufacturing jobs and reduced them to the lowest rung of sweatshop production in Honduras - replete with starvation wages, gross human rights abuses and total repression of workers rights. This is a major research report meant to help provide solidarity to hundreds of current and illegally fired Alcoa workers in Honduras who are struggling to win their rights.

In two cases - the Sam Bridge and Fribo garment sweatshops in Guatemala - the Ministry of Labor appears paralyzed and unable to enforce even the country's most basic labor laws.

Wouldn't it make sense to hold off on passage of yet more free trade agreements when the ones we already have continue to fail miserably in protecting even the most fundamental of worker rights standards?

Oct. 8, 2007

Even After U.S. Threats Aimed at Stimulating Public Fear of Reprisal and Big-Dollar Campaign Pushing ‘Sí’ Vote, Result Is Marked by Razor-Thin Margin

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The depth of public opposition to North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)-style pacts was demonstrated Sunday by Costa Rica’s massive “no” vote to CAFTA despite a intensive campaign led by the country’s president, months of deceptive radio and television advertising in favor of the pact, and a threatening statement issued Saturday by the White House, Public Citizen said today.

The strong vote against CAFTA likely will fuel growing opposition to another Bush proposal now before Congress to expand NAFTA to Peru. The Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) contains the same foreign investor privileges, service sector privatization, agriculture and other provisions that fueled Costa Rican public opposition.

“That nearly half the public in Latin America’s richest free-market democracy opposed CAFTA despite the intensive campaign in favor of it should end the repeated claims that pushing more NAFTA-style free trade deals is critical to U.S. foreign policy interests in the region or helps the U.S. image,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch division. “This vote also debunks the claim that these pacts are motivated out of U.S. altruism to help poor people in trade partner countries, given that many of the people in question just announced that they themselves don’t want this kind of trade policy. This policy, supported by the elite, will help foreign investors seize control of their natural resources, undermine access to essential services, displace peasant farmers and jack up medicines prices.”

Take action to save the Amazon! Democratic leadership has promised to bring Big Oil's dream trade deal - the Peru NAFTA expansion - up for a vote by the end of October. We've got to stop them.

When Big Oil companies are going full steam on a stealth lobbying mission for more access to the Amazon, it doesn't take a geological engineering degree to realize that whatever they are pushing is probably bad for the environment.

So, it's more than a little disturbing that Democrats in Congress are scheduling a vote on one of Big Oil's top legislative priorities - an expansion of NAFTA to the South American country of Peru that would give them powerful new rights to ravage the endangered Amazon rainforest.

Indigenous leaders from the Peruvian Amazon are in Washington, DC right now urging the U.S. Congress to save their Amazon rainforest home and help stop global warming by defeating the Bush administration's proposed NAFTA expansion.1 But they need our help!

Please urge your representatives in Congress to save the Amazon from Big Oil's Peru NAFTA scheme - and vote NO on HR 3688, the Peru "free trade" agreement (Peru FTA).

Two trends have been particularly destructive to the people of our nation who make things with their hands. One is privatization and the other is outsourcing.

The supposed reason for promoting privatization was the promise of more efficient and lower cost goods and services than government agencies traditionally delivered. That promise hasn't been realized, as we all now know.

But, the reason it hasn't been realized, I would argue, is because it was never intended to. The real impetus for privatization was to evade public scrutiny of government functions that became increasingly intense as a consequence of the passage of civil and consumer rights legislation and government-in-the-sunshine legislation. When people started paying close attention to how their money and resources were being used, government officials were easily convinced that it was time to hide behind the "private corporation."

Published on Friday, September 28, 2007 by The Progressive

by Amitabh Pal

In a little-noticed portion of his speech to the United Nations on September 25, President Bush repeated a favorite hymn of his.”

In the long run, the best way to lift people out of poverty is through trade and investment,” Bush said. “During the 1990s, developing nations that significantly lowered tariffs saw their per capita income grow about three times faster than other developing countries. Open markets ignite growth, encourage investment, increase transparency, strengthen the rule of law, and help countries help themselves.”

As in so many of his other pronouncements, he’s wrong.

In the past few decades, as the gospel of free trade has spread, growth in the developing world has actually slipped. Mark Weisbrot, Dean Baker, and David Resnick of the Center for Economic Policy and Research (an organization that does great work in demolishing conventional shibboleths) have done research that reveals quite the opposite of what Bush contends.

Brussels, 17 September 2007: A new ITUC report on core labour standards in Panama has been released today to coincide with Panama’s trade policy review at the WTO on 17 and 19 September.

According to the report, trade unions’ rights are seriously violated in Panama. Public sector workers cannot fully enjoy their trade union rights and trade unionists from both the public and private sector face reprisals and threats when demanding their rights. Referring to the assassinations in August of two trade unionists, Osvaldo Lorenzo Pérez and Luigi Antonio Argüeles, Guy Ryder, ITUC General Secretary stated that “the government must take all necessary measures to ensure that full investigation into these murders is carried out so that the intellectual and material authors are arrested and brought to court”.

The report further underlines that a general trend towards deregulation and increased flexibility of employment relationships remains a serious barrier to trade union organisation in Panama. Indeed it is argued that several legal arrangements, under which companies can benefit from more flexible labour regulation, are not in conformity with ILO Conventions on the rights to organize and to bargain collectively.

The only enforcement of trade policy is the executive branch, so let us give Bush and business what they want and blow smoke up everybody elses ...... so they think we are doing something good.

New ITUC Worldwide Report Reveals Catalogue of Murder, Violence and Intimidation Against Trade Unionists


An appalling total of 144 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers’ rights in 2006, while more than 800 suffered beatings or torture, according to the Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations, published by the 168-million member International Trade Union Confederation. The 379-page report details nearly 5,000 arrests and more than 8,000 dismissals of workers due to their trade union activities. 484 new cases of trade unionists held in detention by governments are also documented in the report.

“Workers seeking to better their lives through trade union activities are facing rising levels of repression and intimidation in an increasing number of countries. Most shocking of all is the increase of some 25% in the number killed compared to the previous year”, said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. “In many of the countries highlighted in the report, repression continued during 2007”, he added.

By: Rep. Phil Hare
Sep 19, 2007 07:28 PM EST


In baseball, if the pitcher on one team must throw off of a mound 90 feet from home plate while his opponent is allowed to stand 30 feet closer, that is an uneven playing field.

And if the umpire refuses to enforce any of the rules of the game, you have an all-around flawed process.
The same fundamental principle goes for our trade policies — with much more serious consequences for the failure to require fairness.

As such, Congress cannot support unfair trade agreements destined to outsource more American jobs to countries that systematically violate human rights.

And we cannot defer to an administration unwilling to hold any of the key players accountable for their actions.

I certainly support free trade. But trade must also be fair. Unfortunately, the pending trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Korea and Colombia follow the same flawed NAFTA model that resulted in the hemorrhaging of good paying jobs in America and a race to the bottom in Mexico.

Sept. 11, 2007

Not One Union, Consumer, Latino Civil Rights, Environmental, Family Farm or Faith Group Supports ‘Modified’ Peru Free Trade Agreement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A growing number of constituency groups key to the Democratic base are calling on Congress to oppose a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) that would extend the NAFTA-CAFTA model to Peru, Public Citizen said today, as the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the pact.

“The majority of Americans oppose more NAFTA-style trade deals based on their experience, so it’s not surprising that unions and consumer, environmental, faith and Latino groups oppose a Peru NAFTA expansion,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch division. “What’s surprising is that a Democratic-majority Congress would consider more Bush NAFTA-style pacts, especially since the Democrats’ majority was delivered by candidates who explicitly ran against incumbents’ votes on past NAFTA-style deals.”

"New Standards for Trade Agreements May Not Change Much," Salt Lake Tribune

by Robyn Blumner
May 26, 2007

Factory by factory, the report by the National Labor Committee documents a hellhole of abusive labor practices in the Mideast country of Jordan.

At Al Shahaed Apparel & Textile, which made clothes for Wal-Mart and Kmart, workers were routinely forced to work 38-, 48- and even 72-hour shifts. They were paid the equivalent of 2 cents per hour. At the Western Factory, which made clothes for Wal-Mart, Kohl's and the Gap, work was seven days a week with mandatory shifts lasting 16 to 20 hours. Workers who fell asleep from exhaustion were hit with rulers until awake. (The Gap and Kmart deny any connection to these factories. But Charles Kernaghan of the NLC says illegal subcontracting occurs without the knowledge of retailers.)

The facts contained in the NLC's 2006 report (www.nlcnet.org) are a brutal indictment of American companies' complicity - whether knowing or not - in a system of abuse and exploitation of workers abroad. The mostly Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian and Sri Lankan workforce was brought to Jordan to churn out duty-free goods for America's biggest retailers. The workers - some only 14 or 15 years old - were barely fed, stuffed into overcrowded dorms without running water and regularly cheated of their already paltry wages.

Anastasia Moloney
Financial Times

August 7, 2007

When the hitmen came to murder union leader Rodolfo Vecino, he was nowhere to be found. Instead, Mr Vecino's wife, bodyguard and friend were in the bullet-proof car as it sped along a motorway in northern Colombia last year. Two gunmen on motorbikes opened fire nine times on the car's blacked-out windows, but the passengers escaped unharmed. Three days later, Mr Vecino – a board member of USO, Colombia's oil workers' union – received a death threat by e-mail, saying he and other USO unionists had 20 days to leave their homes to "avoid problems".
"I've received many death threats by phone, fax and e-mail from paramilitary groups over the years," says Mr Vecino. "Once they even tried to abduct my children as they left school." The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance
for the inconvenience caused. The attempt to kill Mr Vecino is an all too familiar story in Colombia.
The plight of the country's unionists has not gone unnoticed among Democrats in the US, who say the Bogotá government must do more to tackle such murders. The issue has become a key stumbling block in securing a bilateral trade deal with Washington that has been derailed by domestic scandals and human rights iolations.

Mass Resistance in Peru Reinforces Announcement of Opposition to Peru, Panama FTAs by U.S. Latino Civil, Immigrant Rights Groups; CAFTA’s First Anniversary Also Protested in Dominican Republic


WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Bush administration attempts to pressure Congress into quick consideration of a U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Peru, a nationwide strike in Peru against the controversial NAFTA expansion reveals the depth of opposition to the pact, which also has failed to garner support from a single U.S. union or environmental, consumer, health, anti-poverty, faith or family farm group, said Public Citizen.

Today’s strike is being led by teachers unions, peasant farm groups, indigenous organizations and unions representing mining and manufacturing workers. Conveagro, an organization composed of nine million farmers and rural workers of the coast, highlands and tropical forests of Peru, last Thursday launched a series of events to lead up to today’s national strike. Daily demonstrations in Lima and other cities across the country have culminated in the two-day strike in which numerous organizations are participating. Civil society leaders in Peru demanded that the Peruvian government cease the Peru FTA consideration and implementation process.