Wednesday, March 14, 2007

CORP-WATCH: All the bad things big business is doing around the world

Merck's Murky Dealings: HPV Vaccine Lobby Backfires
Terry J. Allen
March 7th, 2007

Merck's lobbying campaign for mandatory vaccination of school girls provided funding for a prominent women's non-profit. The ensuing uproar has created a backlash against the pharmaceutical giant.

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Barrick Gold Mine Transforms Pacific Island David Martinez February 21st, 2007 Papua New Guinea, one of the world's largest islands, has fortunes in gold under its lush green mountains and a diversity of indigenous culture. The arrival of a Canadian mining company has brought violent clashes and transformed the indigenous lands forever. Listen to an interview with the author, David Martinez.

Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

War & Disaster Profiteering

This Alien Life: Privatized Prisons for Immigrants Deepa Fernandes February 5th, 2007 In the wake of the September 11th attacks, the U.S. government invoked national security to sweep up and jail an unprecedented number of immigrants. Companies like Corrections Corporation of America and Wackenhut, have reaped the benefits. Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

War & Disaster Profiteering

High-Tech Healthcare in Iraq, Minus the Healthcare Pratap Chatterjee January 8th, 2007 Almost four years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s healthcare system is still a shambles. While most hospitals lack basic supplies, dozens of incomplete clinics and warehoused high-technology equipment remain as a testament to the failed U.S. experiment to reconstruct of Iraq. First in a series of CorpWatch articles. Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

Food and Agriculture

Guest Workers Seek Global Horizons: U.S. Company Exploits Migrant Labor Kari Lydersen November 3rd, 2006 Global Horizons is one of the biggest companies in the business of importing temporary foreign workers to do jobs in the U.S. ranging from agriculture to nursing. Their workers sometimes endure worse conditions, and enjoy less rights than undocumented workers. Corrections Pending Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

War & Disaster Profiteering

A U.S. Fortress Rises in Baghdad: Asian Workers Trafficked to Build World's Largest Embassy David Phinney October 17th, 2006 Workers accuse the Kuwait contractor building the US embassy in Baghdad of smuggling low-paid South Asians into Iraq and labor trafficking. Still, the US State Department casts a blind eye on the complaints as it rushes to complete its most ambitious project ever. Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

War & Disaster Profiteering

Afghanistan, Inc.: A CorpWatch Investigative Report October 6th, 2006 This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan. Fariba Nawa, an Afghan-American who returned to her native country to examine the progress of reconstruction, uncovers some examples of where the money has (and hasn’t) gone, how the system of international aid works (and doesn’t), and what it is really like in the villages and cities where outsiders are rebuilding the war-torn countryside. Click here to download the complete report. An HTML text version of the report is also available. Listen, watch or read an interview with Fariba Nawa on Democracy Now! about reconstruction, security, and life in Afghanistan five years after the invasion.

Money & Politics

An Insider in Brussels: Lobbyists Reshape the European Union Elke Cronenberg September 18th, 2006 In order to influence the new laws that encompass the 25 countries of the European Union, now the world's largest single economy, some 15,000 lobbyists have flocked to Brussels, its political heart. The public relations firm Burson-Mastellar is one of the most active among them. Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

Environment

Smelter Struggle: Trinidad Fishing Community Fights Aluminum Project Sujatha Fernandes September 6th, 2006 Fishing communities in the Caribbean island of Trinidad are protesting a $US1.5 billion aluminum smelter that will process raw material from Brazil, Jamaica and Surinam. Cedros Peninsula United, a local organization, says that the factory uses technology that has had serious environmental impacts in countries from China to Iceland and the U.S. Cartoon by Khalil Bendib