Ecuador: Mining, debt and indigenous struggles

On November 17, thousands of indigenous and environmental activists rallied across Ecuador in protest against the introduction of a new mining law by the government of President Rafael Correa.

The protests, organised largely by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE — Ecuador's largest indigenous federation), marked the beginning of a week of protests by social, environmental and indigenous movements against the potentially environmentally destructive consequences of a number of proposed new laws — including laws relating to mining, water and the introduction of large-scale shrimp farming.

Ecuador's weak economy is heavily dependent upon mineral extraction — especially oil — and this has had a catastrophic effect on the environment and communities in affected areas.

A large part of the Ecuadorian Amazon is now being described as an "Amazonian chernobyl" after 18 billion gallons of polluted water were released into the water system by oil-giant Chevron Texaco. This has resulted in thousands of deaths, cancer, birth defects and massive environmental collapse.

Affected communities are currently pursuing Chevron in court.

Ecuador: New progressive constitution adopted

On September 28, 65% of Ecuadorian voters approved the country's 20th and newest constitution — strengthening the mandate of left-wing President Rafael Correa. 

Correa was elected in 2006, promising a "citizen's revolution" to build a "socialism of the 21st century" in order to overcome the corruption rife in Ecuador, and to end the poverty that afflicts over half of the small Andean country's 14 million inhabitants.

The drafting of the new constitution, by an elected constituent assembly, involved significant public participation.

More than 3500 organisations presented proposals to the assembly, and thousands of public forums were held in schools, universities and communities across the country in the lead-up to the referendum.

Progressive content

Included in the 444 final articles are the right to free universal health care; free education up to university level; equal rights for same-sex relationships; a universal right to water and prohibition of its privatisation; and women's control over their reproductive rights.

The last article opens a legal avenue for abortion for the first time in the heavily Catholic nation.

The constitution also calls for the eradication of inequality and discrimination towards women, and proposes putting a value on unpaid domestic work.

Ecuador: Chevron battles government, indigenous people

International oil giant Chevron is lobbying the US government to cancel trade deals with Ecuador over a court case where it faces a US$16 billion fine for polluting the Amazonian rainforest.

Chevron is accused of dumping over 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into the Ecuadorian jungle, in what many are calling a "rainforest Chernobyl" and maybe the biggest environmental court case in history.

The pollution has caused thousands of birth defects and deaths, and incalculable environmental damage — poisoning animals, plants and the water table.

The court case, on behalf of over 30,000 affected residents — many of them indigenous — was initiated in 1993 in the US. Chevron spent 10 years arguing it should be heard in Ecuador, renowned for it institutionalised corruption.

Having succeeded, however, they are now stuck in an Ecuador where left-wing President Rafael Correa has pledged to root out all corruption. Correa argued earlier this year that "Ecuador is no longer on sale".

Ecuador votes on new constitution as conflict rises

On September 28, the people of Ecuador will be asked to vote on a new constitution, drafted over the past eight months by an elected constituent assembly.
The new constitution is the centrepiece of the political project of Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa.

Correa, a former finance minister and economist, was elected in late 2006 promising to lead a "citizens' revolution" that would refound the country and overcome poverty through a "socialism of the 21st century".

The draft constitution — Ecuador's 20th since winning independence in 1830 — was passed by the assembly on July 24 by 94 votes to 32.

A number of the 444 articles echo demands raised by the country's powerful social movements over the past decade.

It expressly forbids foreign military bases on Ecuadorian soil, backing up Correa's pledge to close the unpopular US airforce base at Manta, on Ecuador's coast, when its contract expires next year.

Another article recognises unpaid domestic work as productive labour, making those who perform it eligible for social security.

Undocumented immigrants — particularly refugees — will no longer be considered "illegal", granting them more rights to stay and work in the country. Compulsory military service will be abolished, and, with some exceptions, genetically modified seeds will be banned.

Some of the new articles may be contentious in the heavily religious country, such as granting equal legal rights for same-sex relationships and guaranteeing "reproductive rights" to women. Both of these articles have drawn strong criticism from the Catholic Church.

Ecuador: Tension rises in the 'citizens' revolution'

On July 8, the government of Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa took over three television stations and nearly 200 private companies, prompting the resignation of the finance minister.
The companies seized include the TC Television, TC Noticias and Gamavision television stations, as well as another 195 insurance, construction, real estate and other businesses, all owned by the Isaias Group.

The take-overs are linked to embezzlement charges surrounding Filibanko Bank, which collapsed in Ecuador's financial crisis of 1998, and to the Isaias brothers, who are now living as fugitives in the US and are wanted on criminal charges in Ecuador.]

Debt

While government representatives have given assurances that the assets would be auctioned off to repay shareholders with outstanding claims from the 1998 financial crisis, finance minister Fausto Ortiz — described as the most "market friendly" member of Correa's government — had already resigned in protest.

Lafontaine: 'We have the wind of history in our sails'

After a year of stellar successes, almost 600 delegates from Germany's new left-wing party, Die Linke, came together for the party's first ever congress, held in the east German city of Cottbus on May 25 and 26.
Former East German communist Lothar Bisky and former Social Democratic Party (SPD) national president Oscar Lafontaine, once dubbed by the media as "Europe's most dangerous man", were re-elected as co-chairs of the party, and a social justice-oriented platform was adopted for the coming period, which includes state elections in Bavaria this September and federal elections next year.

Die Linke was officially formed in 2007 as a fusion between the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS — the successor to the former East German ruling party) and a collection of militants, unionists and socialists from the west organised as the Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social Justice (WASG). Die Linke now has almost 80,000 members.

Ecuador fights US infiltration

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa shook up the establishment in early April after forcing the resignation of defence minister Wellington Sandoval, the military Chiefs of Staff, and the countries police chief amid accusations that the military and intelligence organisations were infiltrated by, and under the control of, the CIA.

Among those accused was the army intelligence chief, Colonel Mario Pazmino, who has been linked with White Legion, a far-right group that has issued death threats against journalists, human rights activists and social movement leaders.

The scandal broke out only 6 weeks after the Colombian military illegally bombed and raided Ecuadorian territory on March 1, attacking a camp of the left-wing guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

In the aftermath of Colombia's attack, news began to surface about US involvement in the attack, and the prior knowledge of some sectors of the Ecuadorian military.

Raul Reyes and Colombia's tragedy

On March 1, Raul Reyes, a central leader of the 18,000-strong left-wing guerrilla army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was killed in an illegal midnight attack by the Colombian army. The attack targeted a FARC encampment three kilometres south of the border in the Putumayo province of Ecuador.

At least 21 FARC members were killed in their sleep during the cluster bomb attack. The Colombian military then invaded Ecuadorian territory to retrieve the body of Reyes, the FARC's chief negotiator and public spokesperson. Reyes bloodied corpse, still wearing pyjamas, was presented to the Colombian media as a trophy.

Reyes — born Luis Edgar Devia Silva on September 30, 1948 — began his revolutionary activities as a member of the youth organisation of the Colombian Communist Party, where he became an organiser.

Reyes became a union militant, working at a Nestle plant, until 1980, when he, along with many other unionists, was kidnapped and tortured by the army.

Seeing few alternatives, he moved to the mountains to join the FARC, which was waging an armed struggle against the Colombian dictatorship. Reyes' transformation — from union activist to guerrilla — reflects the tragic reality of politics in Colombia, which holds the macabre record of the highest rate of killings of trade unionists in the world.

By 1984, Reyes was on the seven-member FARC secretariat and, as their chief international spokesperson, became the best-known face of the FARC.

Raul Reyes and Colombia's tragedy

On March 1, Raul Reyes, a central leader of the 18,000-strong left-wing guerrilla army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was killed in an illegal midnight attack by the Colombian army. The attack targeted a FARC encampment three kilometres south of the border in the Putumayo province of Ecuador.

At least 21 FARC members were killed in their sleep during the cluster bomb attack. The Colombian military then invaded Ecuadorian territory to retrieve the body of Reyes, the FARC's chief negotiator and public spokesperson. Reyes' bloodied corpse, still wearing pyjamas, was presented to the Colombian media as a trophy.

Reyes — born Luis Edgar Devia Silva on September 30, 1948 — began his revolutionary activities as a member of the youth organisation of the Colombian Communist Party, where he became an organiser.

Reyes became a union militant, working at a Nestle plant, until 1980, when he, along with many other unionists, was kidnapped and tortured by the army.

Seeing few alternatives, he moved to the mountains to join the FARC, which was waging an armed struggle against the Colombian dictatorship. Reyes' transformation — from union activist to guerrilla — reflects the tragic reality of politics in Colombia, which holds the macabre record of the highest rate of killings of trade unionists in the world.

By 1984, Reyes was on the seven-member FARC secretariat and, as their chief international spokesperson, became the best-known face of the FARC.

The current armed conflict in Colombia dates back more than five decades, to "La Violencia", the 10-year civil war between the Conservative and Liberal parties of the Colombian oligarchy that caused at least 200,000 deaths from 1948-58.

Many workers and peasants fled the violence, creating independent "peace communities" in the country's south. When the government attacked these communities, residents formed self-defence organisations with the assistance of the communist party. Out of these groups, the FARC was formed in 1964.

Since John F. Kennedy's administration, the US government has funded and supported the Colombian government in its brutal counter-insurgency war and state repression against the Colombian people — more than half of whom live in abject poverty.

After a truce was negotiated in 1984, the FARC helped form the Patriotic Union (UP), which participated in elections and won a number of senators and hundreds of local councillors. A wave of terror was unleashed in the year following the elections that resulted in 4000 UP activists being murdered.

Faced with this mass slaughter, the FARC withdrew back to the jungle, where they now control around a third of Colombian territory.

In the late 1990s, the FARC took part in peace negotiations with President Andres Pastrana's government. They were again betrayed. Under the cover of a truce, the Colombian government prepared for an escalation of its war.

The US and Colombian governments devised Plan Colombia, whereby the US provides Colombia with around US$600 million in military aid each year.

Ostensibly part of the "war on drugs", Plan Colombia is actually focused on the part of the country controlled by the guerrillas, while ignoring areas controlled by the right-wing terrorist paramilitaries of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Despite claims from the US and Colombian governments, the FARC denies it is involved in drug trafficking, insisting its involvement extends only as far as refusing to forcibly eradicate the coca plants that are the only source of income for impoverished peasants in territories that it control. The FARC calls for alternative crops to be provided for peasants to grow, and sustainable markets to build effective local economies.

A 2002 Colombian government report admitted that the FARC garners only 2.5% of the profits of the cocaine industry, through taxes imposed on the areas it controls. By contrast, the AUC (linked to the Colombian state) receives 40% of drug profits, and is connected to the large cocaine cartels.

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe is himself linked to both the paramilitaries and the illicit drug trade. Uribe's father was a drug trafficker killed by the FARC in 1983 and Uribe himself was close friends with notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar of the Medellín Cartel, who was killed in a shoot-out in 1993. In  fact, in 1991, the US Defense Intelligence Agency listed Uribe as one of Colombia's top 100 drug lord in his own right.

As governor of Antioquia province, Uribe was also an architect of the Convivirs, the immediate predecessors of the AUC. When the Convivirs were outlawed in 1997, they were simply transformed into the then-legal AUC. The AUC are responsible for the murder of over 800 people every year, including trade unionists, peasant leaders and peace activists, and claim to control 35% of the Colombia's Congress.

It was in the struggle against this system — of state-sponsored terror controlled by drug lords and corrupt politicians, and of terrible poverty and oppression — that Raul Reyes gave his life. At the time of his assassination, the FARC were again negotiating for prisoner exchanges with the Colombian government.

Reyes was centrally involved in these negotiations — which were torpedoed by Uribe in November. In particular, Reyes was the key negotiator with the French government over negotiations for the release of French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, who is being held by the FARC.

To the last, Reyes insisted that the FARC "is struggling for a new Colombia, hand in hand with the Colombian people. The FARC is part of the people. It is struggling for political power so that there are no exploiters or exploited, so that we can have a just society."

Uribe's brutal murder of Reyes and other FARC fighters was aimed at destroying this goal.

Cuba's revolution continues

Following the announcement by Fidel Castro on February 19 that he would not stand in the election by Cuba's National Assembly (AN) for the position of president, the Western media coverage has ranged from grudging acknowledgement of Cuba's social gains in the face of 50 years of US aggression, to outrageous claims of "dictatorship" and US government plans for a "transition" in Cuba.

The coverage has also been full of speculation that a new president could open the path to restoration of capitalism in Cuba, usually presented as "bringing democracy", via a series of "reforms".

On February 24, the newly elected 614-member AN voted to promote Raul Castro to the position of Cuban president. Fidel, whose image as the quintessential bearded guerrilla came to symbolise Cuba's revolution, led the revolution since the overthrow of the brutal US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Fidel had been president of the Caribbean island since 1976. He remains an elected member of the AN, and first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP). Despite Cuba's long-standing policy of promoting youthful leadership at different level of government, the Western media have responded to the transition from Fidel as president, begun in 2006, like vultures circling.

Germany: Another electoral victory for the left

On February 24, the left-wing party Die Linke extended its recent run of breakthroughs in German regional elections, winning eight seats in the Hamburg state parliament. 

Die Linke's win, with 6.4% of the vote, cements it as the third party in German politics, after the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

It now has seats in 10 out of 16 state parliaments - including four in the former West Germany. It also has a national approval rating of 13%, and is stronger than the SP in the former East Germany.

In Hamburg, the CDU appears likely to retain power, despite dropping 5 percentage points to 42.6%. This is a result of the SPD, which scored 31.4% (its worst result since World War II), have refused to negotiate with Die Linke. Along with the Greens, Die Linke and the SPD have won a majority.

Cuba: Fidel declines to stand for president

On the morning of February 19, without fanfare, Cuban media released a statement from President Fidel Castro stating that he would decline to stand for re-election to the presidency.

On February 24, Cuba's newly elected 614-member National Assembly will convene and elect from among its deputies the Council of State, including the president and vice-president. All of these positions are recallable by popular plebiscite.

In declining nomination, the 81-year-old Fidel explained, "it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer".

Fidel had temporarily handed over power to the first vice-president, his brother Raul Castro, in July 2006 in order to undergo intestinal surgery. Fidel had been president of the small island since 1976, having led the revolution that overthrew US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, subsequently carrying out a socialist revolution that overturned capitalism.

The island had been dominated by US corporations and was the playground of the US rich.

To many in the West, the news marks the end of an era — the exit of the last "Cold Warrior". This obscures another reality — that Cuba remains a symbol of hope for much of the world's poor.

Thousands protest NT intervention on 'sovereignty day'

On February 12, almost 2000 people gathered in the rain at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, before marching, in the sunshine, to Parliament House to demand an end to the federal government's racist "intervention" in the Northern Territory.

The protest, organised by the Sydney-based Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC) and Aboriginal communities from all over Australia, was the focus of a week of actions and meetings in Canberra, as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous activists gathered to send a message to the new Labor federal government that saying sorry was just the first step.

On February 10, the new National Aboriginal Alliance (NAA) held its second meeting. The alliance was formed last year in response to the Howard government's NT "intervention".

Sol Bellear was chosen as president and Pat Eatock secretary. The alliance intends to meet four times a year, and aims to build a new national organisation for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.

On February 11, more than 200 people attended workshops on the implications of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and heard first-hand reports from communities in the NT affected by the ongoing intervention.

However, the main focus of the convergence on Canberra was the protest in opposition to the intervention on February 12. 

Germany: Left Party scores major breakthrough

On January 27, Germany's newest and third-largest party, Die Linke (The Left), scored historic victories in two important state elections, as anger grows at the failure of the economic boom to close the gap between rich and poor.

In Hesse, Germany's finance hub, Die Linke scored 5.1% — enough to send 6 members to the state parliament. In Lower Saxony, a generally more conservative state, Die Linke achieved an impressive 7.1%, winning 11 members in the legislature.

The election campaign in Hesse was marked by the racism of incumbent Premier Roland Koch of the right-wing Christian Democratic Union (CDU), whose attacks on "young, foreign criminals" backfired, and the CDU vote plummeted by 12%. 

The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), on the hand, shifted its rhetoric left-ward in an attempt to undermine the growing support for Die Linke. The lead SPD candidate, Andrea Ypsilanti, combined swipes at the a number of Die Linke's progressive policies while trying to dissociate her party from previous unpopular policies it has introduced.

Despite a fierce anti-communist campaign, Die Linke managed a massive victory, running on a platform of increasing the minimum wage, nationalisations, caps on managerial pay and demilitarisation.

Cuban permaculturalist to tour Australia

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc in the early 1990s, Cuba lost access to the oil, fertilizers and virtually all trading partners that the small island nation depended upon to survive. Cuba faced economic collapse virtually overnight.

Cuba, however, refused to give up on building a socialist society — maintaining, for example, its universal free healthcare and education — while it entered into the period of economic hardship known as the "Special Period", and the United States tightened its decades-long blockade of the country.

During this time, however, it faced an even more challenging crisis: securing food to sustain the population. Over half the country's food had come from the USSR, and most of its petroleum, fertilisers and pesticides were imports.

Early in the "Special Period", a number of Australians travelled to Cuba to introduce permaculture, a form of sustainable, low-input agriculture. The ideas were eagerly taken up by the Cuban government as part of its policy of "linking people with the land". The government immediately set about creating urban agricultural cooperatives and investing in biotechnology and agricultural science.

Cuban agriculture is now over 95% organic, and the city of Havana itself now produces over 60% of its fruit and vegetables within the city's urban and peri-urban spaces, in community gardens and cooperatives.

Ecuador: Massive rally marks Correa's first anniversary

On January 19, 100,000 people marched in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, to celebrate the one year anniversary of Rafael Correa's presidency and his "citizen's revolution".

Correa, a self-declared socialist and close ally of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, was inaugurated on January 15 last year, promising to revolutionise his society by eliminating poverty and initiating a constituent assembly to rewrite the country's constitution and allow more direct popular participation.

Since then, Correa has increased the average wage, doubled social benefits and begun renegotiating contracts with the multinational oil companies that dominate the country's main industry.