President Hugo Chávez, backed by South American Presidents, Condemns the Attack on Libya (tags)
"Oppressed people around the world have only recently begun to unite in opposition to empire as awareness of the horror grows. In North Africa and the Middle East it began as a revolt against US backed dictators in Tunisia, then Egypt and spread to Bahrain, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. In South America the rebellion grew out of the Bolivarian Revolution, spreading over the last decade from Venezuela to other Latin American states. Tonight, behind President Chavez' condemnation of the monster on VTV, Venezuela National Radio and TeleSur, Venezuelans have gathered en masse in Caracas and at the US and French embassies to declare their rebellion against the imperial war on the sovereign state of Libya."
Bolivia: Drastic action needed (tags)
In Bolivia, poverty and inequality are on the increase because the government has not been able to implement its National Development Plan. A report drawn up by the Planning Ministry in Bolivia and an arm of the United Nations, the UNFPA, came to the following conclusion: "There is social and economic inequality in the country due to a lack of government policies to bridge the gaps and these inequalities will increase as time passes." The figures say it all. Poverty affects 6 out of 10 Bolivians, while 4 out of 10 live in extreme poverty. The situation is getting worse each year because the annual growth rate of the population is 200,000, but 174,000 of these will live in poverty. While the bourgeoisie plays with hunger strikes to gain so-called Autonomy, some 15,000 children die each year from hunger or hunger related diseases. On the same day that the UN report appeared, it was announced that annual economic growth had fallen from 4.5% in 2006 to 3.8% in 2007. At the same time inflation has risen to 12% mainly due to the rising cost of foodstuffs. Here are two examples. In 6 months a kilo of rice in Santa Cruz had doubled in price from 4 Bolivianos to 8. Gas bottles used for cooking had risen from 25Bs to 50Bs, but it was still hard to find any because most are being exported to Peru where they will sell for up to 125Bs. So business does not worry if Bolivians have no gas to cook with as long as they make a profit.
Film Night at Flor y Canto: March 2003-September 2005 (Part 2 of 2) (tags)
To mark the five-year anniversary of the Eagle Rock Peace Vigil, here is a list of films shown at Flor y Canto over a two-and-a-half year period. These almost-weekly screenings were an outgrowth of the Eagle Rock Vigil. (Links to the rest of this list can be found below in "comments.")
BTL:Evo Morales' Election as Bolivia's President Stengthens... (tags)
...Progressive Political Movements Sweeping South America ~ Interview with Jeff Vogt, senior associate for rights and development, with the Washington Office on Latin America, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris