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Voice4Change

Changing Hearts and Minds

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July 17, 2002



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ISRAEL/PALESTINE: STOP THE VIOLENCE!

A Statement by the US Fellowship of Reconciliation

April 7, 2002

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it ... Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=020717~for.asp



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Resist the IMF/WB policies and military apparatus and help create a space for dissent. Washington D.C., Sept./Oct., 2002

Come demonstrate, dance, make music, and resist with tens of thousands of people in the streets of Washington D.C. to denounce the exploitative and unsustainable policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. This will be a major mobilization where success will be determined by the breadth of our presence and the depth of our coalition. Please forward this call to individuals and organizations concerned with the injustice of concentrated wealth, exploitation of labor, militarism and criminal neglect for the earth and living creatures.

http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=020717~gx.asp



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Fast Track Off Track?

As the global movement against neoliberalism continues to grow, the United States government, along with corporate and financial elites, is increasingly relying on undemocratic measures to impose its exploitative world vision. Witness the case of “fast track,” also known as Trade Promotion Authority or TPA. After Clinton used Fast Track to implement the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, people fought hard to deny this executive power that effectively eliminates democratic checks and balances in the process of approving free-trade deals. The House, then voted to deny fast track authority the next time Clinton requested it. The message coming from popular sectors in Mexico, Canada, and the United States is clear: trade liberalization wipes out labor rights and impoverishes the majority while increasing the wealth of an elite few. For that reason, there is an urgent need to strengthen and protect the democratic mechanisms that could help overcome corporate globalization.

http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=020717~cispes.asp



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Atkins v. Virginia - Boosts Death Penalty Moratorium

By Stephen F. Rohde



Released 10 July 2002

The Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia Lends Momentum to Moratorium Movement

When Justice Antonin Scalia ridiculed the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court for holding that the Eighth Amendment prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishments" barred the execution of mentally retarded offenders, he sarcastically called the landmark decision "miraculous."

Unlikely to agree on anything else in his acerbic dissent, most opponents of capital punishment would agree that the historic decision in Atkins v. Virginia was a miracle. Barely 13 years go in Penry v. Lynaugh, the Supreme Court held that there was no national consensus against executing retarded persons. But in Atkins, with a healthy 6-3 margin, the Court ruled that with 16 more states having joined the two which had prohibited such execution in 1989, a national consensus now existed, requiring such executions to be banned.

http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=020717~icujp.asp



Warm Regards,

Voice4Change.org

http://www.voice4change.org