Charleston Five Victory
Five Charleston, South Carolina union dockworkers who were attacked by
police during a protest to protect their jobs and subsequently charged
with inciting a riot were allowed to plead no contest to misdemeanor charges
and pay a token fine of $100 each just before going to trial in November.
The misdemeanor charges mean the five admit no guilt.
The conflict began in late 1999, when the Danish shipping line Nordana
announced it would not renew its contract with the local International
Longshoremens Association (ILA) in Charleston, the fourth largest
port in the United States.
The dockworkers were arrested during a January 2000 legal informational
picket where they were protesting the use of a non-union crew to unload
Nordanas container ship, the Skodsborg.
For almost two years, the five workers have remained under house arrest
unable to leave their homes between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. unless
they were working or at a union meeting.
Although travel restrictions prohibited the workers from leaving the
state, defense committees involving union activists, civil rights organizations,
community and faith-based groups were formed across the United States.
According to Ken Riley, president of ILA Local 1422, the case was becoming
a major point of confrontation between rank-and-file activists and the
Bush administration, especially since Charles Condon, the attorney general
of South Carolina, and the principal prosecutor in the case, is a close
political ally of President Bush. Condon served as Bushs campaign
manger in South Carolina.
Working people have to stand up for their rights, says Peter
Washington, an ILA member and one of the Charleston Five. If a similar
situation to Nordana arises in the future, I would again protest to protect
my union job.
Patently Offensive
While Bush administration officials claim they saved taxpayers millions
of dollars in October when purchasing a stockpile of Cipro to protect
U.S. citizens from Anthrax, members of the drug industry were quietly
lobbying Congress to pass legislation that would give a lucrative six-month
monopoly patent extension for Cipro and over 100 other drugs.
The patent extension legislation, which passed the Senate in October,
gives drug companies a six-month patent extension for testing their products
for safety in children. The bill is still under consideration in the House
of Representatives.
The costs of the tests sought by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) are estimated at $727 million. In return, patent-holding drug companies
expect to collect $29.6 billion more or 40 times their projected
investment if the patent extension is enacted.
Bayer, the maker of Cipro, would rake in an extra $358 million in sales
due to the antibiotics patent extension, according to Public Citizen.
Bayer has spent $3.7 million on campaign contributions and lobbying since
1999. Public Citizen estimates that the patent extension for Cipro would
pay for all of those expenses in just two days.
Bayer did not respond to requests for comment.
The drug industry has put on a cynical PR front about its patriotic
efforts to fight bioterrorism, says Frank Clemente, director of
Public Citizen'sCongress Watch.
Its outrageous that Congress feels the need to bribe drug
companies to do what they should be required to do test the safety
and efficacy of drugs for our children.
Trouble With Harry?
Consumer and health activists have launched a campaign to stop Coca-Cola
from using childrens literary hero Harry Potter to market its line
of soft drinks. Coke reportedly paid Warner Brothers (a unit of AOL Time
Warner) $150 million for the exclusive global marketing rights to the
Harry Potter movies the first of which is due out in November.
Its outrageous that Coca-Cola is using the magic of Harry
Potter to lure kids to drink more soda pop. Consumption of soft drinks
has soared over the past two decades, contributing to the doubling in
the percentage of obese teenagers, says Dr. Patience White, professor
of medicine and pediatrics at George Washington University Medical Center.
That obesity epidemic is fueling a diabetes epidemic.
Diabetes, tooth decay and other illnesses are linked to an excess intake
of sugar. Each 12-ounce can of Coke contains 10 teaspoons of sugar.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) surveys, 20 years
ago teenagers drank almost twice as much milk as soda pop. Today they
drink twice as much soda pop as milk. Observers attribute the change to
aggressive marketing by Coke and other soft drink makers.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest launched the campaigns
web site, www.SaveHarry.com, to
urge J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, to end the deal with
Coca-Cola.
Coke officials say the movie will not include product placements and
that its marketing program includes a literacy campaign.
But CSPIs Michael Jacobson says the bottom line is that the
Harry Potter craze is being turned by Muggle moguls into a sales vehicle
for liquid candy.
Charlie Cray
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