Todays Top Storiesddd
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Mitsubishi Workplace Discrimination in Japan
Hi,
SUBMITTED TO US
I am a native of India, a graduate of Indian Institute of technology (IIT) who was brought to Japan by trick and made to work in Mitsubishi’s computer works in Japan. Intentional workplace racial discrimination and harassment followed soon that resulted in a human rights lawsuit filed by my lawyers from Tokyo Bar Association.
Details on my http://www.kamalsinha.com/mitsubishi/ that includes media account (including Japanese scanned images) on http://www.kamalsinha.com/mitsubishi/media.html .
By the way, I have another site http://www.mitsubishisucks.com that deals with the worst industrial group in the world.
If you like these sites, please link to them and tell your friends about tthem.
Thanks.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
-Citizens succeed in stopping Iwate prefecture’s GM rice!”
Press Information - NO! GMO Campaign Japan
December 1, 2003
Declaration of Victory
“Citizens succeed in stopping Iwate prefecture’s GM rice!”
On November 28, more than 450 people from all over Japan gathered in Morioka
city, Iwate, to participate in a gathering “No to GMO National Assembly in
Iwate”.
At the Assembly more than 407,000 signatures were collated of people from
all over Japan who had expressed support for a petition demanding a stop to
the GM rice(*) research taking place in Iwate.
All the participants then set off down the street in the cold to take the
petition to the Iwate prefectural government. It was taken into the
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department.
After receiving the 407,212 signatures from 20 representatives from the
Assembly, Mr. Masakatsu Sasaki, the Director of the Agriculture Department,
publicly stated that Iwate has decided to abandon its GM rice research.
Iwate conducted an outdoor GM rice experiment this year, which had been due
to continue for a further year.
The Director also stated that Iwate will not conduct any further outdoor
experiments involving GM rice or any other GM crops.
This is yet another victory for the citizens of Japan and follows on from
last year’s success in halting Monsanto’s GM rice in Aichi prefecture.
As a result of that successful citizens’ campaign to stop the Monsanto-Aichi
GM rice, Japanese private sector corporations completely abandoned GM rice
R&D. However the research facility of the former Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) - now an independent administrative
corporation - together with the Iwate Biotechnology Research Centre,
maintained their strong commitment to develop GM rice. Despite which, people
power has now succeeded in halting this GM rice research programme in Iwate.
MAFF is currently discussing how to tighten the regulation of outdoor
experimental releases of GM crops at research centres, in order to accord
with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which will enter into force in
Japan from 19 February 2004. Iwate’s decision is bound to have a strong
influence on MAFF’s review.
It is now no longer at all easy to work on GM rice R&D in Japan. The same
applies to other GM foods as well.
“We do not want GM food! We do not eat GM food! We will not let GM food be
produced!”. These are the words that are being repeated again and again by
the Citizens of Japan and their efforts look set to bring some big results
very soon.
In terms of a global perspective on GM farming, the US company Monsanto’s
attempt to rest control over global food production has not diminished, and
the GM farming area is enlarging. In addition, commercialisation for GM
wheat is being sought in the US and Canada.
NO! GMO Campaign’s next step is to increase its cooperation with other
citizens from all over the world in order to bring a halt to GM food.
NO! GMO Campaign
Keisuke Amagasa
For more information please contact:
Keisuke Amagasa (Mr)
Masako Koga (Ms)
NO! GMO Campaign
75-2F, Wasedamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0042 Japan
TEL: +81-3-5155-4756 FAX: +81-3-5155-4767
(*) The Iwate Biotechnology Research Center was established in April 1992
with 100% funding from Iwate Prefecture. On 3 April 2003, the MAFF approved
outdoor trials for a low-temperature resistant rice variety “Sub29”
developed by the Iwate Biotechnology Research Center. This GM rice variety
(Sasanishiki) contains the glutathione-S-transferase gene, which imparts
multiple functions such as herbicide resistance and cold resistance. The
problem with this rice variety is that it produces enzymes with multiple
functions, and thus contains many uncertain factors. Simply anything could
happen, and it is possible that previously unknown problems will arise with
this variety in the future. (Source: Citizens’ Biotechnology Information
Center -CBIC)
Further reading:
NO! GMO Campaign: http://www.no-gmo.org/
Citizens’ Biotechnology Information Center:
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~cbic/english/index.html
GM Rice Watch Center Japan:
http://www.gmrwatch.org/e/index.html
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Japan acceded on 21 November 2003)
http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/signinglist.aspx?sts=rtf&ord=dt
-Do you know about the recent BY NOTHING DAY?
Here is Gaby’s report from Kyoto
Media:
Word spread like wildfire through internet and NGO networks, especially IMC
Japan
http://www.kinyobi.co.jp/Recent > will carry a story on BND. But at least in Kyoto, we had brought our own media- photo cameras (Markuz, Taro), video cam (the Nishidas), and independent media savy! In past year’s, newspapers refused to carry our story because they thought it was not a message they want to put out there when the economic situation is not good. (Kyoto Shinbun).
So this year we put into our press release that BND is good for the economy: “the fair trade economy! the organic and local economy!”, and quoted a business owner, “BND is good for all of us!” But I guess they only care about the GDP after all (and whatever happens in Tokyo). So more than ever I think- BND and the Big Question Campaign
http://adbusters.org/campaigns/question/ ("economists must learn to subtract") need to go together! Again and again: When people go isnt it bad for the economy? We have to ask back: Is the economy good for us?
Actually, the biggest BND media event was the un-commercial
http://adbusters.cool.ne.jp/schedule.htm broadcast on the Discovery Japan channel in Tokyo and Yokohama! Three cheers to Taizo (also the brains and muscles behind the adbusters japan website) who pulled it off again!
Network:
Helps to have a well-maintained website with our own fancy domain!http://www.bndjapan.org
NGO networking is tops: the emerging Slow Life movement, the popular antiwar movement as well as the brand-new Indymedia Japan are our natural allies- and we’re starting to get hooked up ! Vocal support from and for fair trade and organic food both business and NGOs (endorsements from Tengu Natural Foods
http://www.alishan-organic-center.com/
and Global Village http://www.globalvillage.or.jp/ ).
Mailing List: Lots of new mailing list sign ups (Japanese and English lists)- now we’re up to combined 260 people from all over Japan, up 60 from Mid-October! Website was crammed with posters, flyers and stickers for downloads, some of which even got used hahaha!
Photos from Kyoto, Messages to Zenta Claus, voices from the streets,
participant reports from Okinawa and Osaka- all up on
http://www.bndjapan.org
(easier than wading through these long messages of mine...)
Still expecting more reports and photos from you guys out there!
Gabi
PS: dutch BND also picked up some of our pix. http://www.koopniets.nl/
-U.S. Military Families in Iraq Surprised by REAL situation
Relatives of U.S. military personnel stationed in Iraq are currently in
Baghdad. They are meeting with members of the Governing Council and
ordinary Iraqis, as well as with U.S. soldiers including their loved ones
stationed in Iraq.
Today they expressed surprise at the dire conditions of schools and
hospitals that they have visited. They also report that many Iraqis they
encounter want direct elections.
In the United States, media can contact: Andrea Buffa
[andrea@globalexchange.org] and Victoria Cunningham
[victoria@codepinkalert.org]. They are in touch with members of the
delegation and can arrange interviews upon their return to the U.S. after
December 8.
Family members of U.S. military personnel currently in Iraq include:
* MICHAEL McPHEARSON, http://www.occupationwatch.org
McPhearson, who has a son in the military, said: “Both George Bush and
Hillary Clinton have a hidden agenda. They are both using their trips to
Iraq to better position their political parties in the upcoming elections.
The only agenda of our delegation is to uncover the truth.”
* FERNANDO SUAREZ DEL SOLAR,
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1202-09.htm
Fernando Suarez del Solar, whose son Jesus was a Marine who died in combat
in Iraq, said: “Our mission is not photo ops. Our mission is talking to
ordinary Iraqis and U.S. troops, figuring out why things have gone so
terribly wrong and what we can do to stop the violence and bring the troops
home.” He is also bringing thousands of letters of peace from children in
the United States to children in Iraq, as well as medical supplies for
hospitals.
* ANABELLE VALENCIA, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1129-06.htm
Valencia, a military mother and school teacher traveling with the
delegation, said: “I want to see my son and daughter and talk to the other
troops. I want to talk to the Iraqi people, especially the women. And I
want to talk to the U.S. authorities and ask them when they are going to
send our troops home and allow the Iraqis to run their own country.”
* MIKE LOPERCIO,
http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=719D8775-D0FC-4DAB-BF4B-F93D1773A601
A businessman from Tempe, Arizona, whose son is stationed in Iraq, Lopercio
said: “I want to ask Iraqis how they feel about our presence and if they
understand and agree with our objectives. I want to find out if the current
attacks on our troops are acts of a small minority or supported by most of
the population.”
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
-N.Y. Times Columnist Friedman wrongly attacks Bush protesters for ignoring same-day bombing
ACTION ALERT:
Is Thomas Friedman Even Listening?
Columnist wrongly attacks Bush protesters for ignoring same-day bombing
December 2, 2003
In Thomas Friedman’s November 30 New York Times column, he chides anti-war
activists participating in a protest against George W. Bush’s visit to
London for not acknowledging the bombing of British targets in Istanbul
that had occurred on the same day (11/20/03) just hours before.
“Sorry, but there is something morally obtuse about holding an antiwar
rally on a day when your own people have been murdered-- and not even
mentioning it or those who perpetrated it,” Friedman wrote. The lack of
acknowledgment of the Turkish bombings made Friedman “wonder whether
George Bush had made the liberal left crazy.”
Friedman appeared to base his analysis of the protest’s message on a
survey of signs carried by activists in the march; he complained that none
that he saw made any reference to the killings in Istanbul. It is
difficult, of course, to respond to a breaking news event on a handheld
sheet of cardboard-- particularly since they are often painted the day
before a march. If Friedman had actually listened to what the speakers at
the rally had to say, however, he would have heard plenty of discussion of
the day’s violence.
For example, a report in the London Independent (11/21/03) quoted Damon
Albarn, lead singer of the rock group Blur, as addressing the bombings in
his speech to the gathering: “That’s going to happen increasingly because
of the policies of the Western world. The attacks in Turkey and Bush’s
visit to Britain were no mere coincidence. People are playing for very
high stakes.” The paper described Alburn as being “among those who
pointed to yesterday’s bombings in Istanbul as evidence of the need to
demonstrate.”
Another such speaker, according to the Glasgow Herald (11/21/03), was the
British Green Party’s Caroline Lucas, who told the crowd that the violence
in Istanbul “shows us our world is anything but more secure today.”
In defense of Friedman, very few news accounts of the rally gave any
indication whatsoever of what the speakers had to say. But the columnist
would only have to read his own paper’s account of the rally to know that
the violence in Turkey was very much on the minds of marchers: “News of
Thursday’s bombings in Istanbul-- which killed more than two dozen people,
including Britain’s consul general, and wounded hundreds of others--
appeared to galvanize the protesters’ opposition to the continuing
operation in Iraq,” the New York Times reported (11/21/03). “If anything,
many protesters said repeatedly, the war on Iraq created more instability
in an already volatile region.”
In any case, before one declares that a political movement is “morally
obtuse” or even “crazy” for ignoring a significant event, one might be
expected to check to see whether it has in fact been ignored. This
mischaracterization of the event’s treatment of the Istanbul bombings is a
significant error and it deserves to be corrected. It also raises the
broader question of whether Friedman is pontificating about the left
without listening to what the left has to say.
ACTION: Please write to the New York Times to ask that Thomas Friedman
correct his inaccurate assertion that those who held an anti-war rally in
London did not even mention the bombings that occurred the same day.
CONTACT:
New York Times
mailto:nytnews@nytimes.com
Toll free comment line: 1-888-NYT-NEWS
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if
you maintain a polite tone. Please cc with your
correspondence.
----------
Your donation to FAIR makes a difference:
http://www.fair.org/donate.html
-Networks Hide the Important Story of why politicians support medical care plan
http://www.fair.org/activism/medicare-networks.html
ACTION ALERT:
Networks Don’t Follow the Money in Medicare Story
December 2, 2003
The nightly network newscasts devoted significant broadcast time to the
debate over the restructuring of Medicare. But while some reports
described the corporate interests that stood to gain under the plan to
offer a prescription drug benefit, few addressed the question of why
Congress would pass a law so beneficial to the pharmaceutical and health
insurance industries. In short, network news failed to heed the old
advice: follow the money.
A CBS Evening News report-- aired on November 25, after the bill had
passed-- mentioned that the “biggest corporate winner by far is the drug
industry itself, mostly because under the new law Medicare is barred from
negotiating drug discounts.” Such admissions were not uncommon. But left
unmentioned was the fact that pharmaceutical companies, as well as health
insurers and HMOs, are big contributors to the same politicians who cast
the votes on this legislation.
The pharmaceutical industry gave $21.7 million to Republicans and $7.6
million to Democrats in the last election cycle alone, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics. The insurance sector gave $11.7 million
to Democrats and $25.9 million to Republicans during the same time frame.
In fact, those contributions, the CRP has found, were a fairly reliable
indicator of how a given member of Congress voted on the bill: House
Republicans who supported the bill got more than three times as much
pharmaceutical money as the minority of Republican opponents; the handful
of Democratic supporters in the House received more than twice the health
insurance contributions taken in by Democrats who voted no (Capital Eye,
11/24/03).
The simple fact that the “winners” in the Medicare debate were also big
political contributors was mentioned in only one report in the weeks
before the bill passed, according to a search of the Nexis database. This
was a November 23 segment on ABC’s World News Tonight. Correspondent Jake
Tapper noted that “buried in the energy and Medicare bills are goodies for
many corporations,” and he referred to a report by the group Common Cause
describing “Bush policies that directly benefit contributors’ companies.
The Medicare bill should boost earnings for Pfizer, the Federation of
American Hospitals and Johnson & Johnson.” Tapper also raised another
important point: “Campaign contributors not only sometimes benefit from
laws their favored politicians support, they also often help write them as
they did with these two bills.”
In another ABC World News Tonight report (10/19/03), on the health
insurance industry, ABC medical correspondent Tim Johnson noted, “With
tremendous clout in Washington-- the industry spent more than $37 million
on political donations last year-- reform has been slow in coming.”
Unfortunately, reporting that tied the Medicare bill’s benefits for the
healthcare industries with those industries’ generosity to politicians was
extremely rare. Back in July, CBS Evening News aired a report on the
Medicare issue by Joie Chen (7/25/03) that made the connection:
***
Chen: Lawmakers were blunt about the influence drug companies have on the
debate.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D.-Ill.): There’s a pharmaceutical lobbyist and a half
for every member of Congress. They have spent over $100 million in
contributions, entertainment and lobbying expenses all focused on us.
Chen: And expect that influence to increase this fall as the House and
Senate try to work out their differences over how to fix Medicare and make
prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.
***
But whether that influence increased or not, CBS never again mentioned
pharmaceutical or other healthcare industry contributions in its coverage
of the Medicare debate.
NBC Nightly News, meanwhile, seems to have never mentioned the Medicare
bill and healthcare industry campaign contributions in the same story all
year. When NBC analyzed the politics of the Medicare debate (11/24/03),
reporter David Gregory claimed that “the president knew keeping a campaign
promise on prescription drugs could be a key to his re-election,”
explaining that “it’s older Americans who will make up crucial voting
block next year, an estimated one out of every four votes.” Bush,
according to Gregory, pushed the Medicare bill because he calculated that
“this campaign promise could result in political gold.” The actual
political gold that Bush and the legislators who voted for the bill will
receive-- in the form of millions of dollars worth of campaign
contributions-- was apparently not worth reporting.
ACTION: Encourage ABC World News Tonight and CBS Evening News to do more
reporting on the role of campaign contributions in congressional debates.
Tell NBC Nightly News that covering such debates without even mentioning
political donations is not responsible journalism.
CONTACT:
ABC World News Tonight
Phone: 212-456-4040
mailto:PeterJennings@abcnews.com
CBS Evening News
Phone: 212-975-3691
mailto:evening@cbsnews.com
NBC Nightly News
Phone: 212-664-4971
mailto:nightly@nbc.com
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if
you maintain a polite tone. Please cc with your
correspondence.
