Justin Podur's blog

The Zapatistas in the Altos region of Chiapas report problems with the local municipality that have gotten violent, with 35 people being wounded -- 18 by firearms and 17 with rocks, sticks, and machetes. The conflict is between the Zapatista autonomous municipality of Los Altos and the nearby municipality of Zinacantan, which is controlled by Mexico's 'left' political party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD. 109 families have been displaced by this violence against the Zapatistas, directed, according to them, by the municipal president and the municipal police.

The Zapatista response has been first this communique following the investigation (included below in its entirety), but they promise to investigate further. It is a risky situation and it might be part of a strategy by the establishment to try to escalate the conflict with the Zapatistas, as they have done repeatedly over the years.

A friend recently asked in the ZNet forum system for some answers about why Israel killed Abd-el-Aziz al-Rantisi, and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. I didn't have anything profound to say, unfortunately. I suspect the most useful answer is that they killed him because they could. When the US-Israel gets a chance to kill, it will. That's a fairly safe assumption to go on.

Israel and the US are competing for the most shocking atrocity, and are managing to keep up with one another quite well. Israel killed Hamas's leader, Rantisi, today. Remember that when they killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, they promised that they would kill everyone, and named specific people including Rantisi, Nasirallah in Lebanon, Arafat...

Okay, so what is the textbook, classic example everyone thinks of first when they think of a US-sponsored coup in Latin America to install a murderous dictatorial regime?

Hint: Castro told Chavez not to become the assassinated President of this country on the phone during the April 2002 coup in Venezuela.

Hint #2: Kissinger said, about this country: "I don't see why we have to sit back and let a country go communist just because of the irresponsibility of its own people."

Answer? The same country that is sending more troops to help the US with its post-coup occupation of Haiti, of course!

That ought to come as a shocker. It seems that Bush has endorsed Sharon's plans for the unilateral destruction -- oops, I meant starvation -- oops, I meant withdrawal -- of Gaza. He has also said that Palestinian refugees ought to forget about the right of return, and he has said nothing about the settlements on the West Bank. Or the bombings. Or the starvation. Or the closures. But then, how could he, when he's applying these very techniques in Iraq?

Check out this press release from Latortue, Haiti's new democratically-paramilitary-coup-installed leader who is presiding over a major massacre and occupation right now. It comes from his meeting with Powell and is published (where else?) on the State Department's website.

Talk about a 'feeler'. So various outlets are saying that the US is vowing to capture or kill Moqtada as-Sadr. Someone even used the famous 'dead or alive' phrase, last used for Osama bin Laden. I'm a little surprised. I would have thought they would have wanted to build him up into another famous Arab villain and make the 'fiery cleric's' face known all over the country, stoking the racism that has played such a useful role in US war plans all over the world for a little longer.

It's another page out of the Israeli handbook. I'm sure you've all read Fisk's latest:

Some stuff that came through a little while ago. There is a trial in process of a fellow called Montesinos. He's your friendly neighbourhood arms dealer, with a long resume of CIA work, as well as work for the notorious Peruvian democrat Alberto Fujimori. Obviously his work with the CIA involved providing weapons to illegal armed groups with the purpose of destroying social movements in Latin America.

The odd thing is, however, that he's on trial in Peru right now for an arms deal -- selling 10,000 AK-47 rifles to FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Why would someone with a CIA resume sell weapons to FARC? That's actually the basis of his plea for innocence: "I never sell to the left," he's said. As for the CIA, they say the matter is before the courts. One thing is for sure: this is not the whole story.

In other shady dealings:

In a previous post, I lamented the concept of the 'Anti-Aristide, Anti-Occupation' left. My principal argument was that Aristide was really besides the point. He was not the target of the coup: it was the Haitian people, the democratic process, and the population itself that was. But I've recently thought of something else.

States rarely commit atrocities without putting out 'feelers' to see how they are going to go over. Israel, for example, has been putting out 'feelers' about assassinating Yasser Arafat for quite some time. The US has been putting out 'feelers' about attacking Syria and Iran since the invasion of Iraq. Likewise, plenty of 'feelers' are going out about getting Colombia to attack Venezuela. These things are tests: if the reaction suggests they can get away with it, they go for it.

So it is with Fallujah (See Andrea Schmidt's latest report here). There is a note that came over the networks by various international organizations yesterday, with new estimates of the magnitude of the atrocity: "470 killed. 1200 injured, of which 243 are women and 200 are children. This is the first, underestimated body count from Falluja." (The entire note is reproduced below).

This should actually be the sort of thing that our movement is good at: halting a dramatic massacre in progress against a civilian population, done directly by us, unfolding as we speak. And there have been emergency demonstrations and pickets all over North America. It is a major slaughter that will take place if the public response is inadequate. Here is the call for solidarity in its entirety: