Lawsuit against Unocal for slave labor

Fourteen villagers from Burma are suing Unocal in U.S. court for human rights violations and for using slave labor in building a pipeline. The Court of Appeals is due to rule on whether the suit can go forward.

And what, you may ask, explains the Bush administrations almost complete silence on this issue? Burma is a brutal dictatorship run by thugs who are complicit in massive heroin production. You might expect the Bushies to be yelping about how we need to do a ‘regime change’ there, but wait, -  Unocal is an oil company, isn’t it? Golly <slapping forehead>, could that have anything to do with their silence?

“<Unocal> the El Segundo oil company is accused of complicity in human rights abuses allegedly committed by soldiers in Myanmar who were guarding a pipeline partly owned by Unocal. Last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that there was sufficient evidence for Unocal to stand trial. Tuesday, at a hearing before an 11-judge panel of the appeals court, Unocal will argue against last year’s ruling.

If the case does wind up before a jury, it will be a sweet moment not only for the plaintiffs directly involved — 15 Myanmar refugees now living in hiding — but for Peter Weiss as well.”

Weiss is the lawyer who found the 1789 law, signed by George Washington, that opens U.S. courts to foreigners, which is being used as the basis for the lawsuit.

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“Gay is the new black”

From The Guardian. I am struck by their understanding of the issues involved. Wouldn’t it be nice if major newspapers in the U.S. also spoke so clearly?

“The gay rights issue has been a ticking timebomb for the Bush government. And now it looks about to explode.

Republican strategist, Rich Galen, summed up the contradiction thus: “In America in 2003, you can’t say bad things about African-Americans, but you can still say bad things about gays. That’s where we are.”

That is is not quite true. Racism in America’s public discourse is certainly more subtle than homophobia, but no less pervasive. Whenever politicians refer to welfare, crime, inner-city deprivation, teenage pregnancy or affirmative action - which is often - they are talking about race, and rarely in terms supportive of minorities.

And even if Bush could persuade his own side to bury the subject, the courts could resurrect it. A supreme court ruling on a law in Texas which criminalises sexual practices between same-sex couples that are lawful when performed by heterosexuals, is expected by the end of today. The Massachusetts supreme court should rule on the legality of same-sex marriages by mid-July.

The most that conservatives can hope from either judgment is a confirmation of the status quo. More likely, however, is that one or both will extend the rights of lesbians and gay men, sending the Christian right into a frenzy and demanding that Bush make a stand. Under pressure from his own side he would be forced to show us where the conservatism ends and compassion really starts.”

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