Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: Hunger strike against U.S. brutality
In October, 22 out of 25 prisoners on a hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay’s U.S. military confines protested the brutal force-feedings they have had to endure. The hunger strike began with 76 detainees on Aug. 8 and reached 131 strikers (out of 500 detainees) in mid-September.
Declassified notes released in mid-October by defense attorneys confirmed that 22 hunger strikers were force-fed with dirty tubes that were violently inserted and withdrawn as a form of punishment. The strikers protested that the intense pain they experienced was a form of torture.
On Nov. 1, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to let UN human rights experts have access to the military prison and interview prisoners. The human rights experts were originally invited by the Pentagon to observe operations at Guantanamo.
—J.C.
Anti-coup march in Haiti demands Aristide’s return
Amid intense political upheaval in Haiti, over 10,000 protesters demonstrated in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on their way to the electoral commission headquarters on Nov. 3. They demanded the release of political prisoners and the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
There was a large turnout of demonstrators from the working class Cite Soleil, Solino and Bel Air, where Aristide was long supported before a U.S.-backed coup forced him into exile in February 2004
—J.C.
Philippine port workers fight anti-union attacks
On Thursday, Nov. 3, over 300 union members and supporters of the Phase II Port Workers Union had a public rally at the Macabalan Port in the city of Cagayan de Oro, in the Mindanao province of the Philippines. The workers were protesting against Oroport Cargohandling Services, which the union accused of hiring child labor and violating a lockout prohibition.
The PPWU represents 298 workers of the 400 workers at Oroport. The Nov. 3 demonstration was in response to Oroport’s hiring 500 scabs at the largely unionized facility. The company then tried to intimidate the union workers by hiring 60 security guards and bringing in a large fire truck with water cannons used for “keeping the peace.”
The union pledged to widen its struggle.
—N.C.
Citibank Korea workers stage one-day strike
Some 2,900 workers at Citibank Korea in Seoul, South Korea staged a one-day strike on Nov. 2. The strike shut over a third of the bank’s 253 branches completely and caused disruptions at another third.
Many of the workers had been employed by KorAm, a Korean bank that merged with U.S.-based Citibank in 2004. They now charge that the new merged bank administration is discriminating against former KorAm workers. They are pressing for pay and benefit increases.
—N.C.
Photo: Roberto Schmidt
Photo: Andrew Winning
Photo: Joel Nito/AFP Photo
Photo: Han Geumsum/Image Review
