BOYCOTT DOWLYMPIC!

Dow Chemicals are sponsoring the London Olympics, gaining millions of pounds of contracts and boosting their reputation. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games is supposed to promote environmental, social and ethical issues, but Dow is responsible for this ongoing humanitarian and environmental disaster. 1984 saw the biggest industrial disaster in human history. A Union Carbide factory in Bhopal leaked toxic gas, killing 7000 to 10,000 people in just a few days. Today the death toll has reached at least 25,000, and an estimated 500,000 have been affected. Survivors suffer extreme health problems, the groundwater is contaminated, and birth defects in Bhopal are many times higher than the average in India. In 2001, Union Carbide (UCC) was bought by Dow Chemical, so the responsibility to adequately compensate the gas victims, clean up the site and compensate those poisoned by the contaminated water falls to Dow. Dow Chemicals are the prime example of an unethical sponsor, their subsidiary is wanted on criminal charges of culpable homicide and the IOC are looking increasingly like a faceless and shameless corporation. 25,000 people have died as a result of the Bhopal Gas Disaster and people are still being poisoned today. There has never been a clean up of Union Carbide’s mess in Bhopal and their toxic waste is still poisoning the people of Bhopal. The toxic waste has leached into the water table and tens of thousands of people have no choice but to drink this diluted poison. Unsettled court cases name Dow Chemical, and subsidiary Union Carbide, as respondents. Dow’s subsidiary Union Carbide faces criminal charges of culpable homicide. By refusing to present its subsidiary in court to face charges of ‘culpable homicide’, Dow is sheltering Union Carbide, the perpetrators of the 1984 Bhopal Disaster from the law, and preventing justice being done. 120,000 people in Bhopal are estimated to live with chronic health problems because of the disaster, and because of the water contamination caused by Union Carbide dumping its toxic waste in the ground, which has leached into the water supply for over 30,000 people. Dow, the official ‘chemistry partner’ of the Olympics, has a grim history. When Nazi war criminal Otto Ambros (also known as Doctor Death), convicted for crimes against humanity at Auschwitz, was released Dow happily employed him. In Vietnam, Dow found plenty of uses for their deadly chemistry as one of the major suppliers of Agent Orange and with their own product, Napalm. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and IOC must stop defending Dow’s toxic legacy, and apologise to the survivors of Bhopal for allowing Dow to be part of London Olympics. India should boycott London Olympic if Dow Chemicals are not dropped from its sponsors list if she considers the 1984 Bhopal Victims as Indians.

Rio+20: A conference to propagate Imperilist's agenda on climate

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20, hosted from 13 to 22 June 2012 by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro failed completely to address the looming climate crisis that the planet is facing. The climate conference was dubbed Rio+20 because it was a 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) also held in the same city in which broad goals were negotiated to control greenhouse gas emissions, protect ecosystems and biodiversity, and prevent desertification. Two decades on, the planet’s ecosystems are still degrading fast. Any green gains have been wiped out by soaring consumption. Humanity’s annual requirement for natural resources is about double what it was then. The rate of species extinctions is undiminished. Carbon dioxide emissions are up 40 percent, and the concentration of the heat-trapping gas this year for the first time hit 400 parts per million (ppm) in the Arctic air — up about 40 ppm from 1992. Rio+20 summit achieved nothing more than a weak affirmation of the 1992 document. The 58-page document it published, titled “The Future We Want,” is nothing but a demonstration of the massive political power of the world’s financial and military superpowers. As US President Barack Obama declined to attend the summit, Hillary Clinton only showed in Rio for a few hours there. That clearly underscores the low priority the US Government has given to addressing climate change. Mrs. Clinton suggested that any effort to address pollution and climate change is subservient to the interests of the corporate elite, particularly that of the United States. She advised the delegates to think about “harnessing the power of the market,” and claimed that “private sector investments, using targeted resources and smart policies, have catalyzed more balanced, inclusive, sustainable growth.” Her comments again exposed the imperialist climate policy of the Obama administration which is nothing but a corporate conspiracy under the guise of supporting the “green economy.” She went on to support the big corporate houses by suggesting the people of the to “use the private sector, particularly the consumer goods companies, as they have agreed to do, to make sure they have sustainable supply chains, the right kind of packaging and marketing.” It seemed she was addressing an investment forum rather than a climate summit! She concluded her speech by calling for a new type of cooperation between “the nonprofits, the civil society organizations, faith groups and individuals, all of us.” Her call to shift responsibility for dealing with the global ecological crisis to regional organizations and individuals represents a rejection of any responsibility on the part of the US ruling classes. The reality is that the American government has not merely failed to advance and strengthen solutions to climate change, but has actively undermined any serious attempt to address the pending ecological crisis if it cuts across corporate interests. Their climate policy and all other considerations are subordinated to the interests of America’s corporate and financial aristocracy.
Environment organizations like Oxfam and Greenpeace denounced the summit as a “hoax” and “an epic failure”. But these organizations are also paralyzed by the pro-capitalist politics of the upper class “green” movement that can offer no solution to the real crisis. In the context of a capitalist world economy dominated by the big corporate and financial houses, no progressive solution to the climate crisis is possible. Faced with national governments reluctant to engage in its grand plans, the UN is increasingly turning to corporations to make a difference. This too is seen as part of the brave new world of green economics. Tim Wirth, the former U.S. senator who now heads the UN Foundation, which fosters UN links with business, told journalists that “magic” public-private partnerships were more important than any conference declaration. As long as the big multinational corporate houses have control over all the political and economic decisions, no fundamental issue, from unemployment to climate change, can be addressed by any government. Making them party in any process of development, as deserved by Mrs. Hilary Clinton only exacerbate the crisis. If the political monopoly of the wealthy class, which is the main characteristic of capitalist economy, is broken by a unified and politically conscious movement of the common people of the world then the problems of pollution and climate change will only be dealt with seriously. The director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner has rightly said “If we do not go into the heart of economic policy, we will meet here at Rio+40 even more culpable. Markets are social constructs. They are not a force like gravity. They can be governed.”

HASH FACTS

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, held its summit this year in Chicago on May 20-21. NATO presents itself, and is portrayed in the major media of this country and countries it is allied with, as a force for “humanitarian interests.” On its website, NATO claims to be a “leading contributor to peace and security on the international stage.” This benign self image is a vicious lie and masquerade that influences the thinking of far too many people in the U.S. and around the world. In reality, NATO is the world’s largest military alliance. Its 28 countries account for 65% of the world’s military spending, and far and away the largest of these is the United States. NATO exists to use the most advanced weaponry in the world in service of the interests of the big capitalist-imperialist powers of North America and Europe, above all the U.S. Most of this weaponry, especially in recent years, has been used not against similarly equipped opponents, but against defenceless civilian populations who they characterize as “terrorists.”
In the 60 years of its existence, the year 2011 was NATO’s “busiest year ever for military operations.” NATO maintained an occupation force of over 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, and what it calls a “stabilization force” in Bosnia, in the Balkan region of Eastern Europe. It launched a seven-month air war to topple Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. In Libya, estimates of the civilian death toll from all fighting during the NATO campaign range from 13,000 to 17,000, with 50,000 wounded; civilians killed in the fighting in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2011 total almost 13,000. Countless people have been displaced, wounded, and dispossessed of everything they owned.
NATO claims that the purpose of its mission in Afghanistan is “to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a haven for terrorists, to help provide security, and to contribute to a better future for the Afghan people.” But in fact, the nine years of the U.S.-NATO war in Afghanistan has inflicted horrific suffering on the people of that country. After just five days NATO held a “heads of state” summit in Chicago on May 20 and 21, a NATO air strike wiped out an entire Afghan family—father, mother and six children—according to Afghan officials in Paktia province, near the country’s eastern border with Pakistan. The air strike took place in the village of Sar Khilo in Gerda Serai district of Paktia about 8 p.m. local time Saturday night, according to Rohullah Samon, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The strike killed four teenage boys, two teenage girls, and two women, and wounded two others. Those killed were not Taliban or in any opposition group against the government. They were innocent villagers.
NATO bombing attacks have obliterated wedding parties, farming villages, people walking to visit neighbors or relatives. NATO night raids have left children dead, families torn apart, homes and farms in ruins. The incidents have gone on for almost a decade and have a grim repetitiveness. One of the most infamous was in November 2008, in the village of Wech Baghtu—a wedding party was bombed by U.S.-led NATO planes and at least 37 civilians were murdered. On August 6, 2011, NATO forces, in a firefight with forces they claim were Taliban members, called in a NATO air strike—the bombing destroyed a house and killed all eight family members inside.
Radio Free Europe described one of those murderous assaults, and the NATO response: “The U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan says it regrets that eight young Afghan males were killed in a NATO air strike in the northeastern province of Kapisa on February 8. British Air Commodore Mike Wigston, a NATO spokesman, told a news conference on February 15 that the eight appeared to be carrying arms, according to Afghan and French troops who were operating in the area. NATO investigators are examining photographs of the bodies to estimate their ages, and the NATO spokesman said they appeared to be close to 15 years old, with one older. Local officials have said they believe the boys were 6 to 14 years old.”
Another example, from February this year: According to Reuters, “‘Eight young Afghans lost their lives as the result of an air strike by coalition forces,’ General Lewis Boone, communications director of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition, told reporters. The victims appeared to be carrying weapons and were walking in a menacing manner, prompting ISAF forces in the area to request air support, he said. ‘The aircraft dropped two bombs on the group that we believed to be an imminent threat to our people ... in the end, eight young Afghans lost their lives in this very sad event.’”
On May 7, the Washington Post reported that “NATO airstrikes killed Afghan civilians in two provinces … and the U.S.-led coalition said it plans an apology in one of the incidents. An airstrike Friday killed six members of a family in the Sangin area of southern Helmand province, according to the provincial spokesman.”
Some people argue that it’s a good thing when the U.S. builds “coalitions” to carry out aggression, rather than “going it alone.” Barack Obama has promoted this view, and claims it is one of the things that makes him different from his predecessor, George W. Bush. When Obama ran for president, he promised a “new dawn of American leadership” that would “combine military power with strengthened diplomacy … and build and forge stronger alliances around the world so that we’re not carrying the burdens and challenges by ourselves.”
Anyone who swallows and accepts this view—who thinks that somehow war crimes on such a vast scale are less vicious and hateful if they are carried out by U.S.-led “coalition forces” and not the U.S. alone—needs to ask themselves: is it somehow less horrible for the people of Afghanistan to be torn to shreds by bombing raids under the banner of NATO—by a coalition dominated and led by the United States—than just under the American flag? Is it somehow not as deadly and criminal if “coalition forces” kick in the doors of people’s homes at three in the morning and destroy everyone inside?
These are war crimes of enormous magnitude. The “humanitarian missions” of NATO are monstrous deceit used to cover crimes that are among the worst atrocities afflicted on humanity by the system of capitalism-imperialism.
And anyone who thinks that the U.S. and its NATO allies are withdrawing from Afghanistan needs to discard such illusions and look at the facts. President Obama recently made a highly publicized midnight run to Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, and claimed U.S. combat forces would “withdraw” from Afghanistan by 2014. In fact, the “Strategic Partnership Agreement” signed by Obama and Afghan President Karzai guarantees that a U.S. force of 20,000 to 30,000 will remain in Afghanistan until 2024. It also contained a “Memorandum of Understanding” that will, in the words of journalist Gareth Porter, “allow powerful U.S. Special Operations Forces to continue to carry out the unilateral [one-sided] night raids on private homes that are universally hated in the Pashtun zones of Afghanistan.”
NATO’s “peacekeeping” is aimed at maintaining a world of Western imperialist—especially U.S. imperialist—domination over the people of the world, and sustaining overwhelming firepower advantage over any current or potential opponent. The fundamental purpose of NATO’s so-called “humanitarianism” is to devote massive weaponry to protect, defend, and extend a system that inflicts great suffering on the vast majority of humanity and enriches a handful—this is the “world order” of capitalism-imperialism.