
Issue No 61		07 July 2000

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Environment

Mexican Wave Goes Green

By Lee Rhiannon - Greens MLC, NSW

American politics has taken on a Green hue with the left leaning National Action Party and the Greens in Mexico picking up nearly 40% of the vote in the recent elections.

Meanwhile north of the border Greens Presidential hopeful, Ralph Nader, is averaging 7% across the USA.

The new Mexican President, Vicente Fox, from the National Action Party heads up the Alliance for Change which includes 23 Greens members of parliament. The electoral defeat of the rightwing Institutionalised Revolutionary Party, which has ruled Mexico continuously for 71 years, should mean an end to the systematic violence against the Zapatista in the southern state of Chiapas.

Mexican Greens are strongly committed to holding President Fox to the Alliance's promise to withdraw 40,000 troops from Chiapas, an area rich in oil and uranium.

The Zapatista struggle has received ongoing global attention since their uprising in 1994, largely due to the movement's use of online technologies. Speeches of Marcos, a Zapatista leader, are transmitted by internet while he remains in hiding in the mountains of Chiapas.

The struggle in Mexico for an economy responsive to human rights and environmental concerns has struck a worldwide chord of sympathy. The challenge for the fledgling Mexican government is that it adheres to these principles.

In the US Ralph Nader, running hard with a Greens Presidential nomination, has campaigned in all 50 states and is developing close links with organised labor. Teamsters' leader, James Hoffa, has publicly congratulated Nader and warned Democrat nominee, Al Gore, that Teamster members should not be taken for granted.

Time magazine reports that in a behind the scenes meeting before their joint press conference Nader impressed the Teamster leaders "with his knowledge of the National Labor Relations Board policies governing union elections".

To date Greens have been elected to a handful of local offices. With Nader on the Presidential election trail the Greens are key players in the Gore-Bush battle for the White House, with pressure mounting on the Democrats to shift to the left.

Australians will have the opportunity to hear first hand accounts of these Greens campaigns. Representatives from both Mexico and the US Greens are expected to join thousands of Greens at the Global Greens conference to be held in Canberra in April 2001. This international gathering is open to anyone who shares the Green vision for a more economically just, peaceful and humane world.

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  Issue 61 contents

Technology: Union Rep for Global Net Body
The godfather of unions and the Internet, Eric Lee, is seeking your support to give labour a voice on the net's governing body, ICANN.

Interview: Downloaded and Done Over
In the wake of the TV Networks' digital TV victory, Internet industry chief Peter Coroneus rues a missed opportunity for Australia.

Legal: The Global Millennium Project
The International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR) has developed a draft proposal for a comprehensive revision and modernisation of international labour standards for the new millenium.

Unions: Sandgropers Get Serious on Stress
The Australian Services Union in Western Australia in conjunction with the University of Western Australia, is surveying workers across the state's call centre industry.

Politics: New Work for a New Millennium
View in full the ALP's Draft Industrial Relations Policy to be taken to the National Conference at the end of the month.

Solidarity: Korean Hotel Workers Seek Global Help
Striking Korean hotel workers at the Swiss Grand Hotel and the Seoul Hilton are worried they could be the next targets of escalating riot police violence.

History: Vince's Parable of the Sundial
How a working man survived WWII and ASIO blacklists to save a sundial.

International: Room for Optimism from African Poll
The performance of pro-Deomcracy groups in the Zimbabwean elections has given supporters hope for better days.

Environment: Mexican Wave Goes Green
American politics has taken on a Green hue with the left leaning National Action Party and the Greens in Mexico picking up nearly 40% of the vote in the recent elections.

Satire: Aussies Celebrate Centenary by Leaving Country
Prime Minister John Howard has defended his government's decision not to involve Australia in the centenary federation celebrations.

Review: A Building Sings of Lives Lived in Music
Mysterious shadows flicker in the windows of the Parramatta Town Hall. Strains of trumpet and sarod float outside. It's all part of the urban Theatre Project's latest work, 'The Palais'.

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