The Dominion - Shannon Hines

Grapes of Wrath: Wine Crisis in France's Vineyards

Thu, 09 Dec 2004 16:20:29 +0000

It's the worst wine crisis in more than a century. On Wednesday, Dec. 8, tens of thousands of angry winemakers protested in Avignon, Macon, Angers, Nantes, Bordeaux, Blois and Tours, demanding the government pay attention to the recently struggling wine industry. It marked the first time makers in all of France's principal winemaking regions – excluding Champagne – protested simultaneously.

Winemakers are seeking aid to combat losses caused by overproduction and diminishing export markets for their wine. They are also critical of the French government's strict advertising laws on alcohol, which the winemakers believe are unfairly applied to wine. The industry is demanding state help ranging from a €10,000 emergency payment for young winemakers, to a fund aimed at encouraging older producers to take early retirement. Growers also want money made available for those who wish to reorganize their businesses or move into other forms of agriculture.

Bernard Layre, head of France's Young Farmers' union, told the Guardian Unlimited: "We need a rescue plan for the wine industry because prices have fallen to unimaginable levels, consumption is dropping at home and abroad and thousands of winemakers are quite literally on the verge of bankruptcy."

France's wine industry, which employs 300,000 people and is worth €5.7 billion, has been hit by a crippling range of setbacks, which include the rise of the Euro and the loss of sales in the US due to anti-French sentiments.

France has also been losing ground to the so-called "New World" of wines: California, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. French wine exports declined by about five per cent last year and are set to fall again this year. Wine consumption in France also fell by 10 per cent last year, continuing a trend that has seen domestic sales slump by 50 per cent in the past 40 years.

France's "Day of Action" was not the first sign of crisis. French winemakers met with Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in February 2004 to demand action from their government.

» Guardian Unlimited: Collective whine by French vineyards

» Wine International: Day of Action across France

» Wine International: French winemakers take their concerns to the top

» Decanter.com: TV documentary highlights French wine crisis

Bush on Trial for War Crimes in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 19:51:52 +0000

George W. Bush was on mock trial for war crimes this week in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The trial, attended by over 300 spectators, was based on a play by Lawyers Against the War (LAW) and was performed by the Halifax Peace Coalition. On Nov. 30, the eve of the US President's visit to the Eastern Canadian capital, protesters gathered in Victoria Park to hear the President's plea. He pled not guilty.

Although the trial was staged, the lawyers actors, and George W. Bush's accent distinctively East coast (not Texan), the verdict was meant to be taken seriously. The cries of "Guilty!" from the crowd, and the sombre testimony from the prosecution's witnesses (representatives of the Iraqi people, soldiers, prisoners, and Gaia, Mother Earth herself) all sought to raise the same question: could – and should – Bush be prosecuted under Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act?

In his Nov. 16th editorial in the Toronto Star, Thomas Walkom admits the question is an interesting one. He writes that the act, passed in 2000 to bring Canada's ineffectual laws in line with the rules of the new International Criminal Court, holds that "Anyone who commits a war crime, even outside Canada, may be prosecuted by our courts."

What constitutes a war crime? As Walkom puts it, "Any conduct defined as such by customary international law or by conventions that Canada has adopted. War crimes also specifically include any breach of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, such as torture, degradation, willfully depriving prisoners of war of their rights 'to a fair and regular trial,' launching attacks 'in the knowledge that such attacks will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians' and deportation of persons from an area under occupation."

In a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin, LAW outlines in detail Bush's responsibility for the estimated 100,000 Iraqi lives taken by the war. "This includes his personal involvement not only in the devising and waging of an aggressive, illegal war, but also of the unlawful refusal to grant prisoner of war status to prisoners of war, contrary to specific provisions of the Geneva Conventions, an act repudiated in the US Courts."

The reality of bringing these accusations to the court is much more complicated. Walkom mentions three great hurdles: 1) When Belgium attempted to formally indict Bush last year, the US reacted with such fury that Belgium not only backed down, but changed their law to avoid future problems. Canada would not be exempt from the same response; 2) Heads of state are immune from prosecution when in Canada on official business, so action would have to wait until Bush is out of office; 3) Such political decisions would have to be made by the Canadian government, and so Canada would have to want to launch the suit against Bush.

Recognizing these hurdles, LAW also mentions in their letter to Martin that his own inaction and invitation to Bush could also be seen as a crime: "You and your colleagues could be personally liable to prosecution under the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act by virtue of section 21 of the Canadian Criminal Code, for crimes so serious that they are punishable in Canada by up to life imprisonment."

Whether or not the US President will undergo trial in the near future remains to be seen, but one could safely bet that it would not take place in Nova Scotia. During his official visit to Canada this week, Bush decided not to address parliament but to make his speech in friendly Halifax, where protesters were plentiful but peaceful.

One particular group of protesters, however, did address parliament with its remix of Canada's national anthem. "Raging Grannies" urged all Canadians "off of their fannies" before it's too late:

"Woah Canada
Don't be surprised
When Star Wars clutter up our Northern Skies
They say it wouldn't happen
Would they lie?"

» LAW: Letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin

» Resist!ca: Toronto Star article "Should Canada indict Bush?" by Thomas Walkom

» Halifax Peace Coalition: Official Website

Canada's "Strippergate" Scandal Turns Heads in Ottawa

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 19:20:01 +0000

In reaction to what is now called the "Strippergate" scandal, the federal government will no longer assess the need for dancers in Canada's exotic dancer industry.

In late November 2004, after hearing news of special visas granted to foreign exotic dancers, opposition officials asked for the resignation of Judy Sgro, Liberal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Sgro was accused of favouritism in the case of 25 year-old Romanian dancer Alina Balaican, to whom Sgro granted a special residency permit while she worked on the minister's re-election campaign this past summer.

In the last year alone, over 600 foreign women have received temporary work permits for exotic dancing - a significant number of them from Romania.

According to Sgro and the ministry spokespersons, "Canadian women do not want to work any more in this profession." They argue that the scarcity of performers such as lap dancers could only be filled by recruiting women abroad and by granting them special visas. According to the Minister, "There are needs in the exotic dance industry," and the government has "the obligation to answer them."

In an announcement made December 1, by Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe, strip club owners will now have to prove that no Canadian talent is available before recruiting foreign dancers. As CBC reports, this is a move that will "remove a loophole that put hundreds of foreign women on an immigration fast-track." The controversial visa program, which dated back to 1998, simply required exotic dancers to provide a letter offering them a job in the industry and prove they were qualified to dance.

"I didn't feel in the slightest bit comfortable with the program, and I didn't think there was any justification for it," Volpe said Wednesday. "The category for exotic dancers is no longer there."

The "Strippergate" scandal indicates even more problems to cure than just the closing of an immigration loophole, including concerns from anti-trafficking groups; allegations of backroom prostitution and threats of deportation for refusal of additional services; and the question of forged documentation and age verification of the strippers coming to Canada.

Before the special visas inquiries, Sgro made headlines in mid-November after vowing to reform Canada's beleaguered refugee process and speaking about the need to attract more immigrants to sustain economic growth in the face of a declining birth rate and aging population.

» CBC: Ottawa shuts loophole for exotic dancers

» LifeSite: Canada Abruptly Ends Special Visas for Exotic Dancers after Inquiries into Underage Strippers

» Sisyphe: Canada Contributes to the Sexual Trafficking of Women for Purposes of Prostitution

» Globe and Mail: Minister targets bogus refuges

America Faces Economic "Armageddon"

Thu, 25 Nov 2004 16:59:34 +0000

Stephen Roach, chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, has made a prediction: America has no better than a 10 per cent chance of avoiding economic "armageddon."

According to comments reported in the Boston Herald on November 23, Roach says that to finance the US current account deficit with the rest of the world, the country has to import $2.6 billion in cash each working day, or 80 per cent of the entire world's net savings every 24 hours.

And the debt keeps getting bigger. The US Congress has just approved an increase of US$800 billion to the country's debt limit, which brings its total debt to US$8.18 trillion. The new borrowing limit, approved on November 18 by a vote of 208-204 in the House of Representatives, will come into effect this Monday when US President George Bush signs the resolution into law.

Roach notes that household debt is also at record levels. He says that 20 years ago, the total debt of US households was equal to half the size of the economy. Today it is at 85 per cent.

Armageddon theories are not new. In July 2003 The Dominion article, "The Conceited Empire," speculated on the eventual fall of the US superpower. The article is centered on predictions by French historian and demographer Emmanuel Todd, who has been credited with predicting the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

Recent events give such theories new credit.

Over the last four years, the Bush administration has increased the allowable debt by US$2.23 trillion. That's more than the total actual debt the US accumulated from its founding to 1986. As the value of the US dollar drops against that of foreign currencies, Roach suggests that a "spectacular wave of bankruptcies" could follow.

In the 2003 Dominion article, Todd noted that as emerging world powers stabilize, they become less dependant on the US; in turn, the US becomes more and more dependant on the rest of the world. However, he argues that America does have that one final superiority: its military.

"This is classic for a crumbling system," he observes. "The final glory is militarism."

» Boston Herald: Economic Armageddon Predicted

» Resist!ca: U.S. Congress adds $800 billion to debt limit

» The Dominion: The Conceited Empire

» News Observer: Nations slash Iraq's debt

Canada to See Internet Levy?

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:53:44 +0000

In early November 2004, the standing committee on Canadian Heritage resubmitted its recommendations for updating the Copyright Act of 1998 and ratifying the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty. Among the recommendations is the institution of an Internet "levy." The levy, paid by all Internet users, would go to a collecting society similar to CanCopy. The idea, says the committee, is that everything on the Internet is created — and thus copyrighted — by someone. The collecting society would gather money for copyright owners in exchange for the use of their material.

In comments that appeared in the Globe and Mail on November 11, 2004, copyright lawyers stated that if these changes are made into law, "You will not even be able to own your own wedding pictures or save a Web page without paying for it." Copyright laws currently regulate technologies used to make and distribute copies.

Some say that while an Internet levy is well-intentioned, it ignores the basic fact that the Internet functions as a medium for the inexpensive transfer of large amounts of information.

A technology news commentator for BoingBoing.net wrote, "The approach that WIPO took in regulating the net was to create a set of rules that tried to make the Internet act more like radio, or TV, or photocopiers — like all the things that it had already made rules for. The WIPO approach treated the ease of copying on the net as a bug and set out to fix it."

Chris Brand, a Vancouver software developer, launched a petition for users' rights in April 2004, calling for Parliament to respect public rights in the Copyright Act.

» Globe and Mail: Ottawa's copyright plans wrongheaded, experts say

» Boing Boing: Canada wants an internet lvy – fight back!

» Petition for Users' Rights

New Italian Foreign Minister, Former Neo-Fascist

Mon, 22 Nov 2004 21:51:34 +0000

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi named former neo-fascist Gianfranco Fini as Italy's new foreign minister on Nov. 18, 2004. Fini, 52, is the leader of the National Alliance, a party that was not invited to participate in the writing of Italy's post-war constitution. The National Alliance was created in the early 1990s to replace the Italian Social Movement, which was formed post-war in an effort to continue the ideals of Benito Mussolini.

Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943, attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with Hitler's Germany, but the defeat of Italian arms in World War II brought an end to his imperial dream and led to his downfall.

Fini has softened his position on many issues in past years. He has since condemned Mussolini for the racial laws that led to the deportation and death of about 6,000 Italian Jews in Nazi camps, condemned fascism as an "absolute evil," and has visited Auschwitz. Fini has also made efforts to moderate National Alliance policies. Still, he remains highly conservative and, as the Guardian reports, is expected to become quick friends with George Bush's new administration.

However, many of the questions surrounding his appointment in Italy do not concern his neo-fascist past, but what many see as an overly pro-Israeli stance. In recent years Fini has been a leading sympathizer of Ariel Sharon's Israel. Last year, in a visit to Israel, Sharon described Fini as a "good and friendly leader."

One of the few politicians to raise the issue of Fini's record was Edouard Ballaman, MP for the populist Northern League, who said it was worrying Italy would be represented overseas by Fini and other members of his party.

"It will be extremely difficult to hold talks with a significant part of the world where, wittingly or unwittingly, [people] will see them as the heirs of fascism," he said.

It is unclear what effect Fini's appointment will have on his often-mutinous followers.

» The Guardian: Former neo-fascist to be Italian foreign minister

» International Herald Tribune: Italian official denounces country's Fascist past

» BBC: Gianfranco Fini Profile

» BBC: Silvio Berlusconi Profile

Protests Planned for Bush Visit

Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:58:51 +0000

When U.S. President George W. Bush makes his official state visit to Canada on Nov. 30, 2004, he will be met by protests, in what organizers call a "fierce resistance to the empire."

Justin Podur, who is co-ordinating the mobilization from Toronto, uses his Z-Net article on Nov. 18 to call on all people who "don't want Canada participating in massacres and imperial adventures." Podur says that while Canada's political elite may be "divided and unsure," it is up to Canadians to speak up against Bush's policies. On an online protesters' resource, Bush Not Welcome!, organizers say they have two objectives for the demonstration:
1) Indict Bush for war crimes, and, should that prove difficult
2) Force the Canadian government to stop its complicity with U.S. foreign policy.

On Nov. 17, CBC reported that Prime Minister Paul Martin will press the U.S. on trade irritants, such as the crises involving Canadian beef and softwood lumber. It also reports that President Bush – who will address the House of Commons – will discuss continental security, more support in Afghanistan, and more training assistance in Iraq.

Martin, who has said one of his goals as leader is to improve relations between the two countries, let his actions speak for him when he dismissed MP Carolyn Parrish from the Liberal caucus for speaking out against Bush's policies.

Bush was in Canada twice during his first term - for a meeting of the G8 in Alberta and for the Quebec City Summit of the Americas - but this will be his first official visit since he took office four years ago. Although there was a planned visit to Canada in May 2003, the American president cancelled citing the need to stay in Washington because of the Iraq war.

Shannon Hines

» CBC: Bush to Visit Canada Nov 30

» CBC: History of Official Visits, "Mr. President Goes to Ottawa"

» Justin Podur: Bush in Canada

» Protestors' Resource: Bush Not Welcome!