verbena-19

How much of Earth's atmosphere must we contaminate? How much of our lands and waters must we pollute? How much of our resources must we plunder, deplete? How many species must we ravage, despoil, extinguish? How many people must we degrade, deprive, destroy with toxic wastes and wars, before we learn to respect one another, to live in harmony on this planet, our Home? "All living beings are brothers and sisters, nourished from the same source of life.." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

: Name: Annamarie; Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada

I was born in Eastern Europe during the height of the Stalinist regime's reign of terror. Thus, I know what it is like to live under a repressive, dictatorial regime. The fear and terror -- as dissident friends and family members were tortured, imprisoned and some were executed -- is indelibly etched in my memory. That is the reason I have always been an ardent advocate of freedom, social justice, civil liberties, human rights and a voice of peace. The way I see it, war is morally wrong, regardless of who wages it, for whatever reason. No piece of land or commodity is worth the sacrifice of one human life. We are all members of the same race - the "human race" - and must learn to coexist peacefully. Our planet cannot sustain us much longer if we do not stop our wars, nukes, polluting, deforestation, and the wasteful, gluttonous consumption and depletion of our natural resources.

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Friday, May 19, 2006

Canada: Solidarity with striking diamond workers

Workers of Canada's first diamond mine, BHP Ekati, are on strike. BHP Billiton, a multinational corporation with a less than stellar reputation for achieving labour relations peace owns and operates the mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Many of the 375 employees are from surrounding Aboriginal communities. These workers were unable to negotiate a fair and reasonable first collective agreement. BHP Billiton had international profits of some $7.5 billion last year, but expected these workers to accept a 1% pay increase, no increase in vacation entitlements, no seniority rights and no job security.

I have just signed up to this urgent action campaign on the LabourStart website in support of my solidarity with the striking diamond workers. To see details of the campaign, and how you can sign up to show your support, please go here:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=94

LabourStart is the global trade union news and campaigning website, located
at http://www.labourstart.org

Thanks very much!