www.rabble.ca by Daron Letts February 24, 2003

Just a month ago, over 100,000 people from around the world gathered at the third annual World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to subvert neo-liberal debates and articulate revolutionary strategies.

Toronto-based documentary photographer, John Donoghue, cast his lens on swirling crowds as they erupted into spontaneous dancing Samba circles and mirthful street theatrics throughout the week. The streets were filled with a generation of Latin American youth, chanting and raising their fists in solidarity.

Donoghue’s previous photographic projects are visual accounts of communities that struggle to rebuild in spite of the social, economic and environmental wounds inflicted by neo-liberalism. His human rights work (and his camera) have taken him to a coffee plantation in Nicaragua, a Guatemalan refugee camp in Chiapas, a speech by Fidel Castro in Cuba, an election in El Salvador and Yunnan province in rural China.

While at the Social Forum, Donoghue managed to get into the press conference of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez to see him pledge solidarity with the WSF and with Brazilian President Lula at Porto Alegre’s City Hall.

Venezuela at the time was still gripped by massive strikes attempting to pressure Chavez to step down. “I think that event was, in many ways, important for the people back in Venezuela, to see that Chavez was confident enough to leave the country at a time like that,” says Donoghue.

The photos Donoghue brought back to Toronto are a continuation of a theme that informs the body of his work: inner strength in the face of oppression.

“I am amazed by the positive energy that keeps people going,” he says, referring to the tightly packed streets of Porto Alegre during the opening WSF march. “There has to be a sense of community to deal with the hardship. I think that to really build a movement, that kind of energy is needed.”

As the U.S.-led re-invasion of Iraq unfolds, Donoghue plans to continue his photographic chronicle in the streets of New York and Washington, D.C.

www.rabble.ca

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.24.03, 3:22 PM ET

NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) - NYMEX crude oil futures ended nearly a dollar higher for the second successive day on Monday, as the United States and Britain prepared to present to the United Nations a new resolution to disarm Iraq, seen as setting the stage for military action against Baghdad. Heating oil steamed to fresh all-time highs amid forecasts of colder weather ahead in the U.S. Northeast, the biggest user of heating oil in the nation. NYMEX crude oil for April delivery settled at $36.48 a barrel, gaining 90 cents or 2.5 percent, after moving between $35.80 and $36.55. The contract is edging closer to Thursday's $37.55 29-month peak, struck amid escalating fears that a war with Iraq could choke oil supplies from the Gulf region. In London, April Brent crude last traded 91 cents higher at $33.18 a barrel, trading $32.40 to $33.20. On Monday, the United States said it expected U.N. action in "short order" on a new U.S.-British resolution on Iraq, although France, Russia and Germany are opposed to it. The new draft resolution declares that Baghdad failed to take advantage of the final opportunity to disarm peacefully, according to the text obtained by Reuters on Monday. The resolution, to be formally introduced by Britain's U.N. ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, is co-sponsored by the United States and Spain. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he hoped the measure would be put to a vote by mid-March, a signal there would be no invasion of Iraq before that time. Getting approval would be difficult in the face of opposition from France, Russia and Germany, who have veto power on the 15-member council. To pass, the resolution needs nine votes and no vetoes. Despite moves to give Iraqi President Saddam Hussein one final chance to disarm, the White House said President George W. Bush "has very little hope that Saddam Huseein will respond to diplomacy" to avert military action. Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix said he does not expect any more talks with Iraq over the destruction of the al-Samoud 2 missiles which were found to exceed the range set by the world body after the end of the Gulf War in 1991. Blix has ordered Saddam to start destroying the missiles by Saturday. NYMEX March heating oil settled 3.4 percent or 3.82 cents higher at $1.1467 a gallon. It surged to a fresh all-time high of $1.1535 a gallon, surpassing the previous record of $1.15 struck on Dec. 3, 1979, a year after NYMEX launched heating oil futures. "Expectations of colder weather have driven heating oil to the stratosphere," said Marshall Steeves, energy market analyst at Refco LLC. Recent large draws in U.S. distillate stocks, including heating oil, have been prompted by a lengthy stretch of severe winter weather in the U.S. Northeast, the biggest regional consumer of heating oil in the world. Supply tightened after an oil strike began Dec. 2 in Venezuela, which before then supplied the U.S. with about 13 percent of its crude and refined product imports. The five-day outlook of private forecaster Meteorlogix calls for temperatures to be as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit below normal in the region, just as the area is still recovering from last week's worst snowstorm in seven years. The six- to 10-day outlook after that calls for regional temperatures to be near to below normal, Meteorlogix said. Exxon Mobil Corp. (nyse: XOM - news - people), owner of the Staten Island, New York, oil terminal where a gasoline barge exploded on Friday, said it limited fuel sales to Northeast customers due to the incident. The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating. OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah said Monday the cartel's producers had another 3 million to 4 million barrels a day of spare capacity to call on should war stop Iraqi exports. The figure is much higher than most independent estimates. News that strike-hit Venezuela had partially lifted a force majeure for exports of some grades of crude oil had little impact on the day's trade. NYMEX March gasoline settled 3.47 cents or 3.4 percent higher at $1.0475 a gallon, moving from $1.022 to $1.049.

reuters.com Mon February 24, 2003 03:18 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his government of using inflammatory rhetoric, possibly contributing to violence between opponents and supporters of the populist leader.

"Inflammatory statements such as those attributed to President Chavez are not helpful in advancing the dialogue between the government of Venezuela and the opposition," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

"We are concerned that heightened political rhetoric has contributed unnecessarily to some of the recent violence in Caracas," the spokesman added.

On Sunday Chavez warned the world to stop meddling in the affairs of his troubled South American nation and Venezuelan police locked up a strike leader on "civil rebellion" charges.

He accused the United States and Spain of siding with his enemies, warned Colombia he might break off diplomatic relations, and reprimanded the chief mediator in tortuous peace talks for stepping "out of line."

Last week he said he was going on the offensive against the "terrorists" and "fascists" who have defied him.

Reeker said: "What we ... remain concerned about is the government's rhetoric and some of the actions that have been undermining the dialogue process."

He said the United States continued to favor the dialogue mediated by Cesar Gaviria, the secretary-general of the of American States, who spent weeks in Venezuela trying to arrange an end to a strike by Chavez's opponents.

Opponents of the president, who they accuse of disregarding democracy and ruining the economy, are waging a campaign to pressure him into accepting elections.

The opposition strike, which fizzled out during the first week of February, severely disrupted the nation's oil exports in the world's No. 5 exporter. Oil exports account for half of state revenues and Venezuela's economy, already deep in recession, contracted by nearly 9 percent by the end of last year.

The Venezuelan government has fired more than 12,000 oil company employees who joined the strike. It is now using replacement workers to help restart the industry, undermining the opposition's campaign which Chavez charges is trying to drive him from office.

The United States complained on Thursday about the arrest of business leader Carlos Fernandez, the head of the Fedecamaras business chamber and one of the strike leaders.

Reeker added: "We would note that according to Venezuela's constitution, the judiciary, not the president, decides what charges to bring in criminal cases."

reuters.com

Mon February 24, 2003 03:11 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices sizzled near two-year highs on Monday and looked set to stay there well into March as a new U.S.-British draft resolution set the stage for war against Iraq.

Forecasts of more cold weather at a time when U.S. fuel supplies are running low sent heating oil futures prices to all time highs and natural gas prices to their 2-year peaks.

U.S. light crude rose 90 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $36.48 a barrel, within sight of 29-month highs above $37 struck last week, and nearing an all-time high of $41.15 hit in the build-up to the 1990-91 Gulf War. Brent crude in London jumped 91 cents to $33.18.

Prices rose as the United States and Britain prepared to introduce a draft resolution to the U.N Security Council declaring that Baghdad has failed to take advantage of the final opportunity to disarm peacefully.

The United States has said it will disarm Iraq by force if necessary, despite widespread international opposition to war and concern that rising energy costs could smother a weak world economy.

Oil markets fear an attack in Iraq, the world's eighth biggest exporter, may hit supplies from the Middle East, which supplies about 40 percent of globally traded crude.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the U.S. and Britain want a U.N. decision on Iraq within about two weeks of submitting the new resolution to the Security Council.

On March 7 chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix will report to the United Nations. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday said he expected the Security Council to make a judgment soon after the report.

Blix has set a March 1 deadline for Iraq to begin destroying banned al-Samoud missiles and show it is cooperating with demands to rid itself of any biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

SCRAPING THE BARREL

An 11-week oil strike in Venezuela has already run down U.S. stocks of crude oil to their lowest level since 1975, strengthening concern over the impact of any supply disruption in the Middle East.

"We're running on empty," said Gary Ross of New York consultancy PIRA Energy.

Sustained cold weather in the United States has also run down fuel stocks and heating oil futures surged four percent on Monday to hit $1.15 a gallon -- the highest level since NYMEX launched futures trading in 1978.

Temperatures in the U.S. northeast, the world's largest heating oil market are forecast to be below seasonal norms this week. High prices for rival fuel natural gas has further fired up demand for oil.

Traders said tankers were lining up to load vital barrels from Russia, the world's second oil exporter and an emerging supplier to the U.S at Baltic Sea ports.

"The Russians are coming but it won't be here until the end of March," said PIRA's Ross.

U.S. gasoline prices have surged 20 cents in a month to an average of $1.66 a gallon, within a nickel of all-time highs, as prices in some major cities breach the $2 mark.

Pump prices are expected to rise further as supplies tighten ahead of the summer vacation driving season.

www.time.com By TIM PADGETT WITH OWAIN JOHNSON | CARACAS

Carlos Fernandez and Carlos Ortega were history. For two months, Fernández, head of Venezuela's national business chamber, and Ortega, boss of the nation's largest labor union, led a loud but inept general strike meant to oust leftist President Hugo Chávez. When the strike ended earlier this month, they had succeeded only in crippling an already depressed economy, paralyzing Venezuela's all-important oil industry and exposing themselves as part of the corrupt oligarchy Chávez overthrew in the 1998 presidential election.

After outlasting and outsmarting this duo, Chávez could have focused on Venezuela's recovery. Instead, shortly after midnight on Feb. 20, Chávez's secret police arrested Fernández outside a restaurant in Caracas' posh Las Mercedes district on tenuous charges of treason and criminal conspiracy. They had the same warrant for the arrest of Ortega, who went into hiding. The two are "tumors we have to remove," Chávez declared, "coup mongers, saboteurs, fascists, assassins." But as Fernández was led away — and as diners leapt to rescue him, until the agents fired their guns in the air — Chávez had improbably turned the two into opposition heroes again.

Worse, Chávez has reinforced the fear that prompted the strike in the first place: that his erratic "revolution" is hell-bent on creating a dictatorship in the mold of his comrade, Cuba's Fidel Castro. The police action came only days after three dissident soldiers and an opposition activist were found tortured and murdered, their bodies dumped on the outskirts of Caracas. Police are still investigating those killings; but the victims' families insist that pro-Chávez thugs are responsible. In all, the events have derailed talks between Chávez and the opposition, which seemed headed toward a binding constitutional referendum on his presidency this coming August. (Chávez has rejected calls for an early election.)

And this time, diplomats involved in the process — as well as international human-rights organizations — aren't hiding their displeasure with Chávez. "His modus operandi is to always be at war with everyone and everything," says one diplomat. "We're losing a rare chance to help this country heal for a change." That's crucial not only for Venezuela. As a war in Iraq looms, global oil prices are volatile and rising, making an end to the crisis in Venezuela — which has the hemisphere's largest oil reserves but has seen the strike slash its crude output by more than half — an international imperative.

But healing is not a part of Chávez's political repertoire. His belligerent and authoritarian style has violently polarized the nation and wrecked the economy. Polls show that he would roundly lose a plebiscite — and observers worry that he may now be trying to squash the referendum. "Chávez has announced that 2003 will be the year of his total revolutionary offensive," frets independent political analyst Alberto Garrido. "Now we are seeing a much clearer Cuban model." Along with political arrests — and Chávez has hinted that many more are in the offing — analysts also point to his new, draconian currency-exchange controls, which are meant in large part to put the squeeze on his chief enemy, Venezuela's business sector. Says Chávez: "There will not be a single dollar for coup mongers."

Such displays have others worried that Chávez is not only dictatorial but delusional. Opposition legislators last year tried to evoke a constitutional article that defines "mental incapacity" as grounds for removing a President. In recent weeks, Chávez has accused his opponents of hiring warlocks to subvert his government, and charged Venezuela's commercial TV networks with planting subliminal messages of rebellion even in children's movies. A Chávez spokesman insists the opposition "simply wants to interpret his confrontational style as imbalance."

Thanks to the decades of larcenous governments that preceded him — and which are responsible for Venezuela's inexcusable 80% poverty rate — Chávez retains enough support among the nation's poor to stay afloat. But since, like Castro, Chávez seems to obsessively crave enemies to fight, it may not be long before he runs out of what few friends he has left.