The hypocrisy of Albright and Barak:

Chicago, IL - Palestinian activists and their supporters held a silent demonstration on June 13 to protest Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land. David Ivry, Israeli ambassador to the United States, was the keynote speaker at a black-tie dinner and fundraiser for Israel bonds at the Hilton Hotel and Towers downtown. The purchase of these bonds help finance illegal settlement projects in Palestine, where Jewish-only housing is built on stolen Palestinian land.

The campaign to boycott ‘Killer Coke’ is spreading fast. The Coca-Cola boycott was launched July 22 by the Colombian food and beverage workers’ union, SINALTRAINAL, to shine a light on the murders of nine Coca-Cola trade unionists.

By Staff

Nine trade unionists at Coca-Cola in Colombia are dead – murdered by paramilitaries with ties to Coca-Cola management. In response, the Colombia Action Network (CAN) is calling on student, community, religious and anti-war groups, as well as unions, to join protests against the Coca-Cola Company beginning July 22.

Since September 11, Israel has used the pretext of Bush's war against “terrorism” to illegally re-occupy Palestinian villages and cities in the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. In the midst of this new Israeli siege, dozens of Palestinians were killed, and thousands injured and arrested. The U.S. and Israel have begun to pressure Yasser Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority, to crack down on the Intifada (or uprising) and quell the legal resistance to Israel's military occupation.

Editors note: The following article was prepared before Israel's all-out assault on West Bank Palestinians. Since the invasion began, the Palestinian resistance has waged a heroic struggle to beat back the army of occupation. Massive demonstrations have taken place in many Arab countries, in Europe, and the in the U.S. On April 4, nearly 10,000 rallied in New York City.

Minneapolis, MN - 14 demonstrators were arrested here, May 15, after committing civil disobedience in solidarity with the Palestinians of Jenin. The demonstration, called by the Anti-War Committee, slammed U.S. funding of the Israeli military and demanded justice for the Palestinians massacred by the Israeli army in the Jenin refugee camp.

President George Bush has made his long-awaited speech on the situation in Palestine. He said no more than a few sentences about the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and the continued theft of more land to build more Jewish-only settlements. Nothing was said about Israel's war plans or the escalation of Israeli violence that has included a wave of assassinations, 24-hour curfews, checkpoints, massive arrests and the destruction of all equipment and buildings needed in the major cities of the West Bank, such as Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following letter from Liliany (Lily) Obando who is a Colombian trade union organizer with FENSUAGRO, the largest peasant and agricultural workers federation in Colombia. She writes academic papers and makes documentary films about the struggles of Colombian campesinos. On Aug. 8, Lily was arrested and imprisoned by the ‘anti-terrorism unit’ of the Colombian National Police. She has been charged with “rebellion” and “managing resources related to terrorist activities.” Her story is tragically familiar in a country where thousands of trade unionists have been threatened, arrested or killed by the U.S.-backed Colombian government. The following letter will be read from the stage and at the Fight Back! forum on Colombia at the School of the Americas demonstration in Fort Benning, Georgia Nov 21-23 by speakers for the Colombia Action Network.

The Internationals for Justice delegation visited Palestine from Aug. 7 to Aug. 21. Fight Back! conducted the following interview with Meredith Aby, Katie Bonn and Anh Pham, three members of the Minnesota-based Anti-War Committee who participated in the delegation. The delegation traveled throughout historic Palestine, particularly the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as the 48 territories, which are also called Israel.

![Right of Return March in Chicago](https://i.snap.as/HkMUqLd0.jpg “Right of Return March in Chicago Activists take to the streets of Chicago to demand Palestinian right of return.

(Right of Return March Organizers)”)

Chicago, IL - The streets of downtown Chicago were filled with chants of “Free, free Palestine! Democratic Palestine!” on Sunday, Sept. 29. More than 1200 activists took over city streets and rallied at the Federal Plaza to demand the right of return to Palestine for all Palestinian refugees.

Pedro Eusse is the Secretary General of the Food and Beverage Union, and the Secretary General of the United Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CUTV).

In Colombia, the people are winning. The U.S. war machine is losing plane after plane to a growing popular insurgency. On April 7, a U.S. pilot died when his plane crashed while spraying deadly chemicals on fields in rural Colombia. The U.S. State Department refused comment on assumptions that the plane was shot down by rebels.

Chicago, IL – More than one hundred people marched here, May 3, to protest the killing of Colombian trade unionists by Coca-Cola's death squads. Marching through the mostly Mexican neighborhood of Pilsen, many people on the streets chanted with the protesters or stood and applauded in solidarity with Colombian trade unionists.

Barrancabermeja, Colombia – It is 6:00 a.m. and one thousand oil workers surround the leaders of their union, USO (Union Sindical Obrero de la Industria del Petrolero). At the entrance to Ecopetrol, the national oil company, Jose Fernando Ramirez, the human rights director for USO, starts chanting, “Long live the oil workers union!” and then “Down with Plan Colombia!” Workers thunder their response.

Tom Burke of Fight Back! interviewed Luis Adolfo, a leader of Colombian Coca-Cola workers. The heroism of Coca-Cola workers who are standing up to company-hired death squads has inspired support from workers across Colombia, and around the world.

More U.S. Special Forces are arriving in Colombia. Supposedly on a mission to train members of the Colombian military, they will be assisting efforts to guard a major oil pipeline owned by the U.S.-based multinational corporation, Occidental Petroleum. Insurgents who are fighting to free Colombia from foreign control often target the pipeline.

With the election of Alvaro Uribe Velez as president, the U.S. media says that Colombia is entering a new phase in “the war against terrorism.” President-elect Velez's platform calls for an end to negotiations with the armed insurgency and for a military solution to the conflict. The big story that's not being told is that more than 50% of registered voters abstained in the election. Community organizations in Colombia suggest that close to 80% of the electorate in the countryside opted out. With right-wing paramilitaries monitoring voting in many areas in the countryside, and Army tanks rumbling through poor neighborhoods in the cities, the election results are anything but a popular mandate to expand Colombia's civil war.

The Colombia Action Network, coordinating with the Comite por la Nueva Colombia and the International Action Center, called for emergency demonstrations against U.S. war in Colombia in late February. Protest slogans included, “Stop bombing Colombia's Zone for Dialogue!”; “Protest President Pastrana breaking off peace talks!” and “Stop Plan Colombia!” Protesters in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Portland, and on various college campuses rallied at Colombian consulates and at federal buildings to get their anti-war message heard.