thestar.com.my Saturday, February 22, 2003

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Cuba has been chosen to host the next summit of the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement, officials said Saturday.

That means that Havana will receive the movement's presidency when it hosts the next summit in 2006, said Milos Alcalay, Venezuela's representative to the United Nations.

Cuba last hosted the summit in 1979.

The presidency is rotated every few years among the group's major regions: Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The decision to appoint Cuba was made by the movement's Caribbean and Latin American bloc during preparations for Non-Aligned Movement leaders summit Monday and Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur.

No other countries challenged Havana's bid, Alcalay said.

The communist island has spoken out against any U.S.-led attack on Iraq, which has been the focus of this year's summit.

South Africa is handing the presidency to Malaysia this year.

The movement was created in 1955 to pave a neutral path between the United States and the Soviet bloc during the Cold War.

It is trying to reinvent itself as a forum for developing countries facing the onslaught of globalization. - AP

books.guardian.co.uk Saturday February 22, 2003 The Guardian

Terry Eagleton argues that fundamentalism is characterised by a dangerous reverence for words

There are two things desirable for fighting fundamentalists. The first is not to be one yourself. The US government's war on the movement is somewhat compromised by the fact that it is run by scripture-spouting fanatics for whom the sanctity of human life ends at the moment of birth. This is rather like using the British National party to run ex-Nazis to earth, or hiring Henry Kissinger to investigate mass murder, as George Bush recently did by nominating him to inquire into the background to September 11. Fundamentalists of the Texan stripe are not best placed to hunt down the Taliban variety.

The second desirable thing is to know what fundamentalism is. The answer to this is less obvious than it might seem. Fundamentalism doesn't just mean people with fundamental beliefs, since that covers everyone. Being a person means being constituted by certain basic convictions, even if they are largely unconscious. What you are, in the end, is what you cannot walk away from. These convictions do not need to be burning or eye-catching or even true; they just have to go all the way down, like believing that Caracas is in Venezuela or that torturing babies is wrong. They are the kind of beliefs that choose us more than we choose them. Sceptics who doubt you can know anything for sure have at least one fundamental conviction. "Fundamental" doesn't necessarily mean "worth dying for". You may be passionately convinced that the quality of life in San Francisco is superior to that in Strabane, but reluctant to go to the gallows for it.

Fundamentalists are not always the type who seize you by the throat with one fist while thumping the table with the other. There are plenty of soft-spoken, self-effacing examples of the species. It isn't a question of style. Nor is the opposite of fundamentalism lukewarmness, or the tiresome liberal prejudice that the truth always lies somewhere in the middle. Tolerance and partisanship are not incompatible. Anti-fundamentalists are not people without passionate beliefs; they are people who number among their passionate beliefs the conviction that you have as much right to your opinion as they have. And for this, some of them are certainly prepared to die. The historian AJP Taylor was once asked at an interview for an Oxford fellowship whether it was true that he held extreme political beliefs, to which he replied that it was, but that he held them moderately. He may have been hinting that he was a secret sceptic, but he probably just meant that he did not agree with forcing his beliefs on others.

The word "fundamentalism" was first used in the early years of the last century by anti-liberal US Christians, who singled out seven supposed fundamentals of their faith. The word, then, is not one of those derogatory terms that only other people use about you, like "fatso". It began life as a proud self-description. The first of the seven fundamentals was a belief in the literal truth of the Bible; and this is probably the best definition of fundamentalism there is. It is basically a textual affair. Fundamentalists are those who believe that our linguistic currency is trustworthy only if it is backed by the gold standard of the Word of Words. They see God as copperfastening human meaning. Fundamentalism means sticking strictly to the script, which in turn means being deeply fearful of the improvised, ambiguous or indeterminate.

Fundamentalists, however, fail to realise that the phrase "sacred text" is self-contradictory. Since writing is meaning that can be handled by anybody, any time, it is always profane and promiscuous. Meaning that has been written down is bound to be unhygienic. Words that could only ever mean one thing would not be words. Fundamentalism is the paranoid condition of those who do not see that roughness is not a defect of human existence, but what makes it work. For them, it is as though we have to measure Everest down to the last millimetre if we are not to be completely stumped about how high it is. It is not surprising that fundamentalism abhors sexuality and the body, since in one sense all flesh is rough, and all sex is rough trade.

The New Testament author known as Luke is presumably aware that Jesus was actually born in Galilee. But he needs to have him born in Judea, since the Messiah is to spring from the Judea-based house of David. A Messiah born in bumpkinish Galilee would be like one born in Gary, Indiana. So Luke coolly invents a Roman census, for which there is no independent evidence, which requires everyone to return to their place of birth to be registered. Since Jesus's father Joseph comes from Bethlehem in Judea, he and his wife Mary obediently trudge off to the town, where Jesus is conveniently born.

It would be hard to think up a more ludicrous way of registering the population of the entire Roman empire than having them all return to their birthplaces. Why not just register them on the spot? The result of such a madcap scheme would have been total chaos. The traffic jams would have made Ken Livingstone's job look positively cushy. And we would almost certainly have heard about this international gridlocking from rather more disinterested witnesses than Luke. Yet fundamentalists must take Luke at his word.

Fundamentalists are really necrophiliacs, in love with a dead letter. The letter of the sacred text must be rigidly embalmed if it is to imbue life with the certitude and finality of death. Matthew's gospel, in a moment of carelessness, presents Jesus as riding into Jerusalem on both a colt and an ass - in which case, for the fundamentalist, the Son of God must indeed have had one leg thrown over each.

The fundamentalist is a more diseased version of the argument-from-the-floodgates type of conservative. Once you allow one motorist to throw up out of the car window without imposing a lengthy prison sentence, then before you know where you are, every motorist will be throwing up out of the window all the time, and the roads will become impassable. It is this kind of pathological anxiety, pressed to an extreme, which drove the religious police in Mecca early last year to send fleeing schoolgirls back into their burning school because they were not wearing their robes and head dresses, and which inspires family-loving US pro-lifers eager to incinerate Iraq to gun down doctors who terminate pregnancies. To read the world literally is a kind of insanity.

web.amnesty.org AI Index: AMR 53/005/2003 (Public) News Service No: 041 21 February 2003

Amnesty International today expressed grave concern that this week's events in Venezuela -- including the detention of a prominent opposition figure and the killing of army dissidents -- could lead to a further deterioration of the human rights situation in the country," Amnesty International said.

At midnight on Wednesday 19 February, Carlos Fernandez, the President of the business association Fedecamaras, and a prominent leader of the general strike called by the opposition, was arrested by armed police agents in a restaurant in Caracas on charges including "rebellion, treason, instigation to commit criminal acts, conspiracy and sabotage". He was reportedly given access to legal counsel and his wife verified, after visiting him, that he had not been ill-treated.

Further warrants have reportedly been issued against other prominent members of the opposition who were involved in the 63-day national strike, including Carlos Ortega, head of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation (Confederación de Trabajadores Venezolanos,CTV), who has reportedly gone into hiding and claims that he fears for his safety if detained.

Although the government has denied any politically-motivated interference by the Executive in these arrests, days before President Hugo Chávez had urged judges and public prosecutors to take action against strike organisers. Furthermore, he has publicly expressed satisfaction at the arrests of what he called "coup plotters".

"The Judiciary has a key role in preventing these events from triggering an escalation of the human rights crisis," Amnesty International cautioned. The organization stated that any judicial action against the former leaders of the strike must be independent of any political interference and strictly adhere to international standards of due process, reflected in the constitution.

The arrest came only days after the deaths of three dissident soldiers and one woman last weekend. The victims, whose bound and gagged bodies were found at the beginning of this week in Caracas, had been shot dead. There were reported signs of torture on the bodies. The victims had been part of the anti-Chávez demonstration that had occupied Plaza Altamira in Caracas. The government has attributed the killings to internal feuds, while opposition figures stated publicly that the deaths were politically motivated.

"Given the Judiciary's crucial role in diffusing tensions around this case, there must be an immediate, impartial and exhaustive investigation into the killings," Amnesty International added.

"Immediate steps must be taken to protect witnesses who may be subject to intimidation given the politicised nature of the case".

An Accord Against Violence and for Peace and Democracy was signed between the government and the opposition on 18 February. The accord, brokered by César Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS), calls for the generation of "a climate of peace and calm in the country" and for the legislature to establish a "peace commission" that would be charged with investigating the deaths that took place during the failed coup against President Hugo Chávez in April 2002.

Amnesty International reiterated its call on the government, opposition and international community to ensure that respect for human rights principles is central to the agenda for resolving the crisis.

Background

Throughout this year, political polarization in Venezuela has been threatening to lead to large-scale violence. Tension was especially intense during the 63-day national strike that ended earlier this month, which had been convened by the opposition to overthrow President Chávez. Three people were killed during an opposition demonstration held on 6 December in Francia Square in Caracas. The strike paralysed many sectors of the economy and analysts forecast that the Venezuela economy may shrink by up to 25% this year.

On 11 April 2002, a similar national strike led to acts of violence which left 20 dead. This violence in turn led to a failed coup and the temporary detention of President Chávez. On 13 April, the President returned to power after major national and international protests at the breaking of the constitutional order. Since then, there have been attempts to negotiate a solution. César Gaviria, President of the Organization of American States is currently acting as a mediator in talks between the government and the opposition.

For more background information, see Venezuela: A Human Rights Agenda for the Current Crisis (AMR 53/001/2003), published by Amnesty International in January 2003: web.amnesty.org

Public Document

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: www.amnesty.org

For latest human rights news view news.amnesty.org

www.alertnet.org 21 Feb 2003 18:27

By Phil Stewart

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 21 (Reuters) - It's hard to recall the humbled Hugo Chavez of April, who spoke of God, peace and reconciliation with his foes after surviving a 48-hour coup.

These days, Venezuela's paratrooper-turned-president spits out words like "attack" and "battle" and says he is going on the offensive against the "terrorists" and "fascists" who have defied him.

"I sheathed my sword (after the coup) and I was wrong," Chavez told a cheering crowd of thousands at a pro-government rally this week. "I have been forced to draw it again, and I will never ever sheath it."

His offensive is off to a roaring start. He's fired more than 13,000 dissident oil workers, crushed an opposition oil walkout and outlasted a two-month nationwide strike meekly abandoned this month. He has also tightened his grip on private sector enemies with newly imposed price and currency controls.

In his most triumphant stroke so far, Chavez won the arrest of a dissident industrialist for committing treason on Thursday and threatens to do the same to a group of media moguls he's dubbed the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

"The Chavistas are now on a roll ... I think now he's going to begin moving to tighten his controls on civil society and see what the reaction is," said Riordan Roett at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Most troubling for his opponents -- and there are millions -- is that the populist president's crackdown has been carried out within the bounds of Venezuela's loosely written laws, observers say. That has left little room for protest by wary foreign diplomats, especially in the United States, where the Bush administration was stung for its hesitant condemnation of last year's putsch.

"His main game is playing the constitutional president. He plays it up to the brink, but all of the measures he takes always have some sort of legal base," said Caracas-based political analyst Janet Kelly.

CHAMPION OF THE POOR?

Hailed by supporters as a champion of the poor and reviled by critics as an ignorant dictator, the maverick president has become as well known as those two other world-famous Venezuelan products -- abundant oil and beauty queens.

The second of six sons of school teachers, Chavez has come a long way from his humble rural roots.

Voted into office in 1998, six years after trying to seize power at the point of a gun, Chavez launched his self-proclaimed "Bolivarian Revolution".

This combined left-wing socialist tenets of equality and wealth distribution with fervent nationalism inspired by Venezuela's 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar.

But his honeymoon in power is long gone, as are his once soaring popularity ratings of 80 percent or more. Venezuela's economy contracted nearly 9 percent last year and unemployment and crime are rising.

His new currency controls are starving businesses of vital U.S. dollars and price controls on everything from tomatoes to funeral services threaten to bankrupt shopowners.

For the man who wants to united South America, as Bolivar tried to do, Chavez faces a deeply divided Venezuela.

His new offensive seems to be widening the rift between allies and enemies of his government, riding roughshod over negotiations on early elections and raising fears that the country's tense standoff will explode into class warfare.

"We've tried flags, we've tried whistles. The world has seen our frustration and nothing has changed," said middle class Luis Alberto, at an opposition rally this week. "The next step is forming self-defense groups and taking up arms."

The mostly poor pro-government "Chavistas," drawn from the country's sprawling urban slums, cheer the president's aggressive rhetoric against the Venezuelan elite and heed his calls to defend his revolution from coup-mongers.

As many Venezuelans arm themselves, there have been worrying outbreaks of violence -- far worse than the street clashes that left seven dead and scores injured since December. In a murky quadruple homicide police are still investigating, a dozen gunmen last week kidnapped, tortured and executed three military dissidents and female protester after a rally.

For analysts watching Venezuela unravel, the question isn't whether Chavez will again strike at his enemies -- but whether he might cross the line looking for revenge.

www.theage.com.au February 22 2003 By Owain Johnson Caracas

Venezuela's opposition has accused President Hugo Chavez of beginning a witch-hunt against his critics, after a leading opposition figure was arrested in a dramatic raid and another was forced into hiding.

Henry Ramos Allup, president of the opposition party Democratic Action, said he had reliable information that the Government planned to arrest a further 25 key opponents. He said the list included politicians, businesspeople, union leaders, representatives of striking oil workers and media bosses.

The claim came after the arrest of Carlos Fernandez, the leader of business association Fedecamaras, in a swoop on a Caracas restaurant by masked, armed police just after midnight on Wednesday. Mr Fernandez was a leader of a crippling two-month general strike that forced Venezuela to suspend crucial oil exports and severely damaged its fragile economy.

According to witnesses, the heavily armed men did not show identification or an arrest warrant. Mr Fernandez tried to escape in his car but was quickly caught and taken to police headquarters. Diners who tried to stop the arrest were driven off by the police, who fired into the air.

Mr Chavez spoke about Mr Fernandez's arrest at a trade forum on Thursday: "I went to bed with a smile. One of the coup plotters was arrested last night. It was about time, and see how the others are running to hide."    advertisement       advertisement

A second leader of the general strike, Carlos Ortega, president of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers, was in hiding yesterday with a warrant out for his arrest.

He said he did not trust Venezuelan justice and warned that the Government wanted "to kidnap me and eliminate me".

A pro-Government deputy, Luis Velasquez, later confirmed that 100 people could expect to be questioned about their role in promoting the strike. "This shouldn't be a source of alarm," Mr Velasquez said. "They simply have to answer to the courts."

The Government had asked the public prosecutor's office to charge Mr Fernandez and Mr Ortega with rebellion, treason, instigation to commit criminal acts, conspiracy and sabotage.

Mr Fernandez's arrest took place just days after the discovery of the bodies of three dissident soldiers and a young woman, who had disappeared over the weekend. The four victims, who had been shot dead, were found bound and gagged. Their bodies showed injuries consistent with torture.

The three men were part of a group of rebel officers who have declared themselves in rebellion against Mr Chavez, and their families immediately condemned their murders as politically inspired.

The opposition was due to hold crisis talks late Thursday to discuss its response to these latest developments in Venezuela's long-running political crisis. Last April, dissident military officers launched a short-lived coup.

Mr Chavez's opponents accuse him of authoritarianism and of seeking to install Cuban-style socialism in Venezuela. The President rejects these allegations and accuses his critics of seeking to prevent him carrying out much needed social reforms.

A senior opposition figure, Andres Velasquez, leader of the Radical Cause party, has urged his colleagues to call a further one-day strike to protest against the arrest of Mr Fernandez.

Mr Velasquez said the arrest had "torn into pieces" the accord reached on Tuesday by the Government and opposition to ease tension in the oil-rich country. The accord was the first tangible sign of progress in three months of negotiations between the two sides under the auspices of the Organisation of American States.

Mr Velasquez said the opposition leader's arrest was "an insult" to OAS secretary-general Cesar Gaviria, who chaired the negotiations and had left Caracas only hours earlier.

• Guardian