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E-protest In Support of Labor and Indigenous Rights In Mexico

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Once more we ask you to walk with us and shout "Ya Basta! Enough is Enough!"

Once more we ask you to walk with us for globalized human rights.


Once more we ask you to walk with us against the transcendence
of multinational interests.

On May 31st at 9am to 12pm on June 1, 2002, EST.


Join the Electronic Disturbance Theater's Virtual Sit-In:
ecd

Against President Fox's Support of the "Plan Puebla Panama" in Mexico.


And In Support of Labor and Indigenous Right's In Mexico.

This Electronic Disturbance Theater Performance
Is Sponsored By
The Berkman Center For Internet & Society
At Harvard Law School.
Once more we ask you to walk with us against the policies of the Mexican
government that run counter to the interests of indigenous peoples and
workers in Mexico. President Fox is supporting multinationals with
measures that erode civil rights, human rights and labor rights.

*On June 14, 2001, President Vicente Fox stated; "The Plan Puebla Panama
is a thousand times more [important] than Zapatismo, or any indigenous
community in Chiapas." *

*The Plan Puebla Panama encompasses: the construction of hydroelectric
dams (42 within the conflict zone of Chiapas alone), highways, platforms
for petroleum extraction, gold and uranium mines; the creation of African
palm and eucalyptus plantations; and licensing for multinational
corporations to engage in bio-prospecting and tree felling. These projects
will not respect the rights of indigenous peoples to control and protect
their land, to decide the future of their own development, nor to be
consulted about any government program that may affect them (rights
which are guaranteed by International Labor Organizations' (ILO)
Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent
Countries, which Mexico signed).*

More information at:

chiapas indymedia

ezln

The rights of Indigenous communities of Chiapas are now being
overridden by the policies being pushed forward by President Fox's
commitment to social control and promoting Chiapas as "a very
secure market for investors." The United Nations has designated
2002 as "the year of the mountains" and at the request of the
Mexican government--according to a bulletin dated March ,1 2002
from the National Forestry Council of Mexico--the UN has declared,
through its Security Council, that "forests are [now] a matter of
international security." This is a generic policy, meaning it could be
applied to any forest area anywhere in the world. This is an extremely
dangerous policy aimed at expelling people from any forest area in
the globe so exploiters can get at its natural resources.

For further information on Plan Puebla Panama you can go to:

plan puebla

ecd

Maquiladoras in Mexico's Free Trade Zones violate Mexican labor
laws with impunity, often assuming that workers will not have the
resources or the knowledge to fight for their rights. In many cases,
foreign companies make partnerships with "phantom unions",
entities that are designed only to serve the interests of corporations
by blocking the establishment of independent unions inside maquiladoras.
Most recently, Pung Kook of Mexico S.A. of C.V. (that provides services
for such international firms as Adidas, Lands End, Patagonia and Danna),
has refused to heed the orders of the Arbitration and Conciliation Board
in Tijuana to reinstate Raquel Espinoza, a woman maquiladora worker
who was unjustly fired from her job at the plant.

*Raquel Espinoza has been a maquiladora worker since 1974.
Since August 3, 1998, she has been an employee at Pung Kook
of Mexico, S.A. de C.V. working as a computer operator.Her workday
runs from 7:30am to 5:30pm, Monday through Friday and 7:30am
to 1:00pm on Saturdays. She was unjustly fired on June 11, 2001.
At the time of her firing her salary was 50 pesos/day ($5.45 US),
which is two pesos less than the minimum professional wage
at that time.On April 29, 2002, at 8:50am, Raquel was notified
of decision of the Local Arbitration Board dated March first, 2002,
]in which the following resolution which was unanimously
supported by the Board members stated that:

*C. Raquel Espinoza, authentically verified the actions that were
described in her first petition.*

*The Pung Kook of Mexico, S.A. de C.V. company is thus ordered to
reinstate the worker C. Raquel Espinoza to the job that she carried
out with the same terms and conditions, in conformity with this decision.*

*Weeks before the issuance of the resolution by the Arbitration Board, on
the 1st and 2nd of May, the Mexican representative of the maquiladora,
named Jesus Guerrero Alvarez, ordered the directors of the phantom union
formed by the company and certain trusted workers, to generate a climate
of violence and threats against Raquel Espinoza and Tito Piñeda, advisor
to the independent Union of Workers of the Maquiladora Industry of
Baja California Sur.*

It is now the end of May 2002 and we have not seen any sign from this
company that it will comply with the order for the "Peaceful Reinstatement
of Raquel Espinoza".

espinoza

http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/alerts/pungkookreport.htm

Once more we ask you to walk with us and shout "Ya Basta! Enough is Enough!"

Once more we ask you to walk with for globalized human rights.

Once more we ask you to walk with us and against the transcendence
of multinational interests.

On May 31st to June 1, 2002, EST.

Join the Electronic Disturbance Theater's

Virtual Sit-In:

Against President Fox's Support of the "Plan Puebla Panama" in Mexico.

And In Support of Labor and Indigenous Rights In Mexico.

To Join the Virtual Sit-In Click this URL on May 31st, 2002 EST.
ecd

This Electronic Disturbance Theater Performance
Is Sponsored By
The Berkman Center For Internet & Society
At Harvard Law School.

>>

For Further Information Please Contact:

ricardo dominguez

rdom@thing.net