Olympic sweatshop update

Burmese human rights activist visits Canada, thanks CUPE for its support

BURNABY— As far as pariah states go, Burma is unlike any other place in the world—a place, as U2’s Bono once sang, “that has to be believed to be seen.” Ruled for the past 47 years by a brutal military dictatorship that tramples on human rights in every conceivable way, the country now known as Myanmar has gone from being the once-prosperous “rice bowl of Asia” to a place where 39 million of its people—most of the population—live below the poverty line.

VANCOUVER—Despite international condemnation of the interim Honduran government since the June 28 coup d’état — even from the World Bank, which has cut off aid—the government of Canada continues to support the coup leaders with an engagement policy that ignores flagrant human rights abuses, says CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev).

A demonstration will be held in the Lower Mainland today to protest against the coup d’état in Honduras.

CUPE BC president Barry O’Neill is asking CUPE members throughout the province to send e-mails to Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez after riot police and soldiers evicted city workers in Cali, Colombia and liquidated their union last week.

The Colombian government has been trying to privatize municipal sanitation and utility services for years.

Send e-mail to Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez