Perspectives on Social Issues
(July 2005)
Important Hunger Legislation Introduced
"The Hunger-Free Communities Act, the bipartisan legislation supported by Bread for the World's 2005 Offering of Letters campaign, was introduced in the Senate on May 25 [2005]. The very next day, May 26, it was introduced in the House. A resolution on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) was also introduced in the House on May 26. The MDG bill comes just in time for the important G-8 summit in July, where global poverty, especially in Africa, will be on the agenda. The Hunger-Free Communities Act would commit the United States to the goals of cutting U.S. food insecurity and hunger in half by 2010 and ending U.S. hunger by 2015, and require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to report annually on progress toward those goals. It includes sense of Congress language protecting the structure and funding for the national nutrition programs. It authorizes $50 million for a grant program that would fund grassroots groups who collaborate to develop innovative strategies to end hunger, provide direct assistance and strengthen public programs. It also authorizes collection of hunger data at the county level."
"Important Hunger Legislation Introduced in House and Senate," Bread, Bread for the World Newsletter, Special Edition, June 2005.
Churchill Once Advocated Use of Chemical Weapons
"Did you know it was not Saddam Hussein, but Sir Winston Churchill who first introduced the use of chemical weapons to Iraq. In 1920, as Arabs and Kurds rose against Britain's brutal post-World War I occupation of Iraq, Churchill, then Secretary for War and Air, first suggested the use of 'asphyxiating bombs' to put down the rebellion. (Simons, Geoff. Iraq: From Sumer to Saddam. London, 1994) Some in the British cabinet demurred, citing the misery and revulsion that such weapons caused in Europe in the first World War. In response to these considerations Churchill insisted 'I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against primitive tribes' and argued that the use of gas was a 'scientific experiment' that should not be prevented 'by the prejudices of those who do not think clearly.'
Winston Churchill's 'clear thinking' prevailed and chemical weapons were used in Iraq 'with excellent moral effect.' 'The Arab and Kurd now know what real bombing means in casualties and damage," reported Wing Commander Sir Arthur Harris of the RAF's (Royal Air Force) 30th Squadron."
"Did You Know..." by Brian Terrell, Via Pacis, Des Moines Catholic Worker Community, April 2005.
Early Spring Linked to Global Warming
"Each spring, the robins are arriving in Wisconsin several days earlier than they did a decade ago. Endangered woodpeckers in North Carolina are laying their eggs about a week earlier than they did 20 years ago. And some of Washington, DC's signature cherry trees bloom about a month earlier than they did a half-century ago. The first signs of spring are appearing earlier in the year, and a new study from Stanford University released Monday says man-made global warming is clearly to blame. Mother Nature has rushed spring forward by nearly 10 days worldwide, on average, in just 30 years, the study shows.
What this means, biologists say, is that the global environment is changing so fast that the slow evolutionary process of species adaptation can't keep up. Early-arriving birds could crowd out birds that migrate only in longer daylight, leaving them insufficient food. Early blossoming flowers -- such as the columbine - could be wiped out by spring snowstorms. The peer-reviewed study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, statistically links global warming from the burning of fossil fuels to signs of early spring at detailed local levels for the first time."
"Spring Coming Earlier: Study Blames Global Warming" La Crosse Tribune, May 17, 2005.
Coca Cola and Pepsi’s Lack of Corporate Responsibility
"Coca Cola and Pepsi corporations have been increasingly marketing their products by negotiating 'exclusionary pouring rights' contracts with universities, colleges, local school districts and municipalities throughout Wisconsin and the country. These contracts give either Coca Cola or Pepsi the exclusive right to have their products sold and marketed in these public institutions. In return the school receives cash payments. Studies show that consumption of soda, with its high sugar content and caffeine, is a factor in increasing incidence of childhood obesity, diabetes, and related health problems.
Adverse health factors are sufficient reasons for stopping this practice, but there are other reasons to fight Coca Cola and Pepsi. Coca Cola has a history of complicity with right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia who violently suppressed union activities in their bottling plants in that country. Another arena was Coke's corporate buy-out of groundwater in India, in spite of drought conditions, that has caused great harm to local residents and farmers. Pepsi also has a history of working with the paramilitary in Burma and suppressing worker rights there, as well as having labor practices protested in Argentina, Barbados, and Burma. (More information at www.polarisinstitute.org).
"Coca Cola and Pepsi: Exclusionary Pouring Rights Contracts" by Hiroshi Kanno, WNPJ Network News, May/June 2005.
Mattel Turns Its Back on Young Workers
"Workers organizing a union at a plant manufacturing costumes under the Barbie label have gotten no help from Mattel, owner of the label. Over 70 workers organized a union earlier this year to protest working conditions and a long list of complaints. All were fired in late April [2005] and are now facing threats by the manufacturer to cut-and-run. The union, representing nearly all the production workers, was formed in March at Rubie’s de Mexico in Tepeji del Rio, Hidalgo. Their list of complaints includes unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, unpaid overtime, no legally-required health care, forced pregnancy tests, and the use of underage workers.
The union received its legal registration and signed a collective bargaining agreement but the day after the agreement was signed, the company made clear it would not honor the agreement. The company then brought in another union known to be a tool of anti-union employers. On April 25 [2005], the union workers walked out to protest the company's moves and were immediately fired. The next day the company brought in state riot police and over 50 security personnel, prompting the union to seek international support."
"Mexico: Mattel Turns Its Back on Young Workers Organizing for Justice," U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, June 2005.
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Gratitude to the Institute for Peace and Justice
for use of their Pope Paul VIth graphic. |
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