IFBWW pays tribute to workers who died on Greek construction sites

Migrant workers racing against the clock to build Greece's Olympic dream in Athens have been dying in shockingly large numbers. Indifference to safety standards has cost the lives of at least 14 workers while scores more have been seriously injured.

GENEVA / SWITZERLAND, 12 August 2004: As the world's largest international construction trade union body, the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW) has expressed several times serious alarm over the death of many construction workers at Athens sites.

The General Secretary of the Greek construction workers' union, George Theodorou has collected names and details of 14 workers who died on Olympic facilities. But he believes that many more workers have been killed including on the supporting infrastructure, like the city's new roads and metro. Workers have been facing very difficult working conditions.

Besides long working hours - up to 14 hours a day -, they have been working in very hot temperatures and facing constant pressure to complete construction work in time for the Olympic games. With widespread evidence of poor safety standards, no protective clothing, and no proper organisation, such sites would be closed elsewhere. But when workers have protested against their situation, they were immediately sacked.

"All of these accidents were avoidable. What's happened is criminal in the truest sense of the word and it's been done in the name of profit," said Giorgos Philiousis, president of the construction workers' union at the Athens 2004 Olympic Village. According to Mr Philiousis, the reasons for the death toll are three-fold. Contractors are pocketing the health and safety budgets; cheap, unskilled immigrant labourers are being given high-risk heavy machinery to operate; and workers are being forced into excessive overtime to earn early delivery bonuses for their bosses. For the multinational workforce, including Pakistanis, Albanians and Syrians, working and living conditions are grim.

The list of dead workers - compiled by union investigators and Greek opposition parties - has met with a "conspiracy of silence" in the Greek media. During the same period in the run-up to the last Olympics in Sydney only one death was recorded. The excessive number of reported casualties in Greece led Australian union officials to lodge an official complaint with the Greek government last year.

Against, this background the IFBWW pays tribute to all victims of the Olympic games and would appreciate that its affiliates' publish this message to their members as a way of IFBWW's permanent organising campaign highlighting the preventable nature of the two million deaths every year that are caused by bad and illegal working conditions.

IFBWW sectors are among the most dangerous and least protected in the world. The IFBWW organizes 280 trade unions with over 10.5 million members in 125 countries. The IFBWW is also a member of Global Unions: E-mail: info@ifbww.org Internet web site: IFBWW For more information, please contact the IFBWW Information Officer on +41 22 827 37 86.

By IFBWW posted 20 August 04

Related:

Anti-Olympics Rally Honors Dead Workers
Anti-Olympics protesters gathered in central Athens Tuesday to hold an open-air memorial service for 13 workers killed during round-the-clock construction of venues for the games.

"Sew-in" in Athens to highlight problems faced by sportswear workers Athens, August 10, 2004: The Play Fair at the Olympics campaign staged an action in Athens on the eve of the opening of the Olympic games in solidarity with sportswear workers worldwide.

Anti-Olympics Rally Honors Dead Workers

Anti-Olympics protesters gathered in central Athens Tuesday to hold an open-air memorial service for 13 workers killed during round-the-clock construction of venues for the games.

About 500 demonstrators stood in silence as the names of the workers were read out and olive wreaths placed on 13 crosses erected outside Greece's parliament three days before the games' start.

"We have paid for the Olympic games in blood," said Andreas Zazopoulos, head of the Communist-backed Greek Construction Workers Union. "All the money spent on the games means our children and grandchildren will have fewer benefits and will be worse off."

Deaths at construction sites have spurred a small but vocal anti-Olympics movement in Athens, adding to anger over massive security measures and commercialism surrounding the world's biggest sporting event.

"People won't forget their problems, no matter how big the party is and how many fireworks are used during the opening ceremony," protest organizer Giorgos Mavrikos said.

Construction crews raced round the clock this year to finish off seriously delayed Olympic venues and infrastructure projects, pushing up the Olympic budget to more than US$7 billion and compromising worker safety, according to protest and human rights groups.

Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog, said the Olympic death toll could be as high as 40.


The late surge of Olympic construction has also raised questions about the future of more than 10,000 immigrant workers - mostly from neighboring Albania - whose contracts are now up.

By The Gladiators posted 12 August 04

Editorial: Latham passed budget test

Mr Speaker!

MARK Latham the Labor leader promised to fund a national program to vaccinate newborn children against a range of diseases. It was classic Latham, addressing a real social problem that rightly worries young families. And it signalled Mr Latham's return to his home turf, the ground where he knows he can win the election.

Mr Latham previously had gained ground in the hearts and minds of all Australians who care about [war criminal], John Howard's illegal role in a war on Iraq with his promise to bring our. [militants], home by Christmas. Australians who now live with fear would appreciate not being committed to the war.

Yesterday he was talking about services and the ladder of opportunity he says all Australians should be able to climb the ladder that has rungs. Like health, [social services], and education as well as job prospects for our youth.

Mr Latham has spoken to the people all over the country and says many Australians prefer improved public services over tax cuts and clearly he believes them.

He spoke about humanities and our community and the resources the community needs to be able to function effectively. He spoke about the alternative government, because of Howard's stagnation and we all know, that the 'fish rots at head' and it couldn't get any more rotten with Howard running the country.

Mr Latham promised a $700 million Youth Guarantee to ensure all young people were in education, employment or training.

"Our youth will either be earning or learning" Brilliant!

He reaffirmed that there would be no increased HECS fees for university students. And he committed Labor to Medicare bulk-billing 80 per cent of all doctors' consultations.

When it came to explaining how Labor would pay for its program, on top of the Government's tax and [social services], spending, Mr Latham talk about rooting out government waste.

He might start with the Australian Defence, [War], Force with all the billions of dollars wasted on war machines for, [war criminal], George Bush illusionary War on Terror, [the Coalition of the Killing's illegal and degrading resource war's in the Middle East], which in effect is a War on Liberty. If they weren't throwing stones at other countries he could also cut back on un-intelligence gathering, [lies, bullshit and propaganda etc], that led to the War on Iraq. Howard simply uses ASIO, [an Australian terrorist organisation], to promote propaganda.

This explains how he would deliver on his promises. The Opposition Leader's speech promoted both the humanities and planning and was not politically cunning like the Treasurer displayed on Tuesday. It did address the tax-[social services], trap that still bedevils low-income Australians trying to end their reliance on, [social services], by working more, even after the Government's bribe for young families.

Mr Latham promised tax cuts for the millions of low-income Australians without dependent children who missed out in Tuesday's budget. Mr Latham delivered a rousing speech that went to the very grass roots heart of the Australian electorate. The election race commenced last night with Howard, [that should be sunk and dead in the water.]

JUDGEMENT: HOWARD'S WAR CRIMES

Howard Vs Regina in Canberra the Capital Territory of Australia- Friday January 30 2004. Would the defendant please stand while I read out the judgement of this court.

By Wake Up Call 14 May 04

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Skippy's: Last word on who we are?

HAVE WE BEEN BRAINWASHED SKIP?

AMID all the tumult and shouting characteristic of a federal election year, one remark by the [War criminal], Prime Minister has gone relatively unnoticed: his declaration of victory in the debate about Australia's identity and its place in the world.

Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo, uses his brains to alert his best friend, the human Sonny, whenever anyone hits trouble in the outback area of Warratah National Park. The show was incredibly popular with kids and in an early example of merchandising spawned books, moneyboxes and the like, "Skippy" even made personal appearances. There was a film version made in 1968 utilising the TV crew and called The Intruders.

In February 2004, John Howard claimed to have "brought to a respectable conclusion this perpetual seminar on our national identity that went on" during the Hawke-Keating era. The message was the same to party faithful in Adelaide in June 2003, only days after he pledged to stay on as Liberal leader, and to Australia's Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, during an interview in November, he was even more emphatic: "As a nation," Howard said, "we're over all that sort of identity stuff."

According to Howard, the world and the region are no longer in any doubt that "we've suddenly realised what we've been all along, we're just 100 per cent Australian".

The episode turnaround on the show was Two Weeks Ed Devereaux however was unhappy with his role and was quoted in TV Week as saying "There's no challenge in it for me, if I can't play a villain then I want a role that has social comment".

This is the core of Howard's nationalism that Australians have never been in any doubt as to their national self-image and that debates in the 1990s about the republic, reconciliation and engagement with Asia were not only a dangerous self-indulgence, they betrayed Australia's true self and undermined the cultural and emotional pillars of the "old Australia": respect for the British inheritance, [? imperialits], attachment to mateship and reverence for the Anzac, [war], legend.

Skippy was the first production made by Fauna Studios (the creation of actor John McCallum). In 1969 the show won both a Logie and a Penguin and was also given an award by the Cobb and Co Company for helping to promote the Australian Entertainment Industry.

Indeed it would not be an exaggeration to say that the level of personal satisfaction Howard feels on this issue is broadly comparable to that associated with any of the significant policies now so closely associated with the Howard era, be it [illegal and degrading wars, crimes against humanity, genocide in Afghanistan and Iraq, complicity in false flag operations in Bali], growth economy, low interest rates, tax reform, the gun buyback scheme or support for the US-led war on, [resources.]

Poachers
Skippy sounds the alarm when three men, believed to be working for Dr. Stark, try to steal koalas from Waratah National Park under the cover of night.

For Howard, getting to this point of personal (and national) vindication has been a long and at times painful process. During his time as Opposition leader in the '80s, although he supported the Hawke-Keating economic reform agenda, he remained distinctly uncomfortable with the direction of the debate over the nation's cultural identity.

Sports Car Rally
An invasion of sports cars threatens the life of protected fauna in Waratah National Park. Matt Hammond leads the rescue squad to save the life of a driver pinned under his car in a serious accident.

Paul Keating's brutal assault on the Liberal hegemony of the Menzies era most unnerved him, and Howard was one of only a few Liberals who took up the historical cudgels against the Labor prime minister.

The Golden Reef
Skin-diving geologists discover alluvial gold on a reef at Seal Rocks, in the mouth of the Flinders River, Thieves move in armed with deadly spear guns, and once again Matt, Sonny and Skippy are there to stop them.

Writing in Quadrant in August 1994 as the shadow minister for industrial relations, he warned that Keating was using history as a "political weapon" to "marginalise the Liberal-conservative side of Australian politics and entrench the Labor Party as the only true product of Australia's political soil". Yet he noted signs of "increased Liberal willingness to join battle with the Labor Party over both history and ideas". A trend, he added, "which must be enthusiastically encouraged".

Long Way Home
Dr. Alexander Stark is determined to have Skippy for his private zoo when Matt Hammond refuses to sell at any price. Stark has two of his henchman steal the kangaroo and she begins a tense series of adventures to find her way home.

But it was above all he who led the Liberal cavalry into battle. His cry to the Australian Liberal Students Federation at the University of Sydney in July 1996 was that they were "political warriors" who needed to understand that the "winning back of ideas, that winning back of history is tremendously important". He defended the Menzies tradition, took on the so-called black-armband version of history, slammed those whom he called elites and declared that Australians were free to be proud of their history and heritage.

Cage of Koalas
A research scientist who is to study marsupial wildlife at Waratah National Park turns out to be an attractive young woman. Her methods anger Chief Ranger Matt Hammond and she has to be rescued from serious trouble on a koalas trapping foray into the lonely bush.

And despite a brief attempt at prime ministerial gravitas, he told an Australia Day audience in 1997 that it was "not the role of the prime minister" nor "any self-appointed group of national identity dieticians to tell us what our national identity is", the temptation to reshape the national image has proved irresistible. As it has been for all Australian prime ministers since Menzies.

The Lyre Bird
Sonny makes a new friend, Lisa a young ballerina. Together they find an aged Botanist who has been missing in Waratah National Park and, with Skippy's help bring about his rescue.

Herein lies the deeper significance of Howard's statement about identity. After all, since the demise of Britishness as the defining notion of Australian political culture in the '60s, political leaders have had to search for a new language to represent what holds the nation together in a post-British, multicultural society. Gough Whitlam's "new nationalism", Malcolm Fraser's "new patriotism", Bob Hawke's "consensus" and Keating's "radical nationalism" were all attempts to respond to the gaping void left by the collapse of the British race idea. And Howard, like Keating, is absolutely certain that he knows the one true Australia.

Dead or Alive
A mysterious disease threatens to wipe out all the animals in Waratah National Park, and the evidence points to Skippy as the carrier of the virus.

The key idea or myth that Howard has offered to the people as a focus for loyalty and cohesion is mateship: an idea that for him had its apotheosis not in the 1890s amid the bush nationalism of The Bulletin or the growth of the trade union movement, but in the trenches of World War I.

The Marine Biologist
A marine biologist collects specimens from a reef.

His mateship looks to a version of the radical national myth, which holds that the experience of war marked the emergence of a more exclusively defined Australian nationalism.

No Time For Clancy
Matt offers to watch a ranger's daughter.

But in 1999 Howard appeared to forget his earlier comments about the role of the prime minister in identity-making and included mateship in his version of a preamble to the Constitution. The public backlash that questioned its acceptance as a unifying idea for the nation forced him to omit mateship from the final version. Australians also rejected the idea of casting a folk myth in constitutional stone.

Time and Tide
Clancy encounters trouble while helping a biologist.

Labor leader Mark Latham, in addressing the question of Labor's policy on a republic in his recent speech on the "new politics", referred directly to Howard's role in drafting the 1999 preamble. Believing that the extent of social change in recent decades meant that "many people are interested in the issue of national identity", he claimed "the last thing the nation needed was for its prime minister to pre-empt such a debate by writing his own preamble".

Can You Keep A Secret?
An escaped convict holds Clancy and Sonny hostage. Skippy brings help and jumps on the convict, allowing Sonny to get out of his clutches and Matt to overpower the criminal.

In Latham's view, the Government should have "sponsored a national dialogue about the modern meaning of Australian identity". It is a clear signal that he intends to reignite the identity debate.

The Swagman
A job seeker gives Sonny an expensive gift.

So the question is: to which myth or tradition will Latham appeal if elected prime minister? To date he has invoked elements of Whitlam's "new nationalism," read liberal internationalism, and Keating's "radical nationalism": an intense Australia-first position. It is a heady mix.

The Honeymooners
A woman wants Skippy for his fur.

An alternative way to interpret the, [war criminal], Prime Minister's remarks is to consider that on the cusp of asking the people to elect him for a fourth term, he has nothing more or new to say about Australia. This is the inherent danger in announcing an end to national navel-gazing.

Many Happy Returns
Sandy searches for a missing seal.

Skippy is a bush Kangaroo: There was a revival of the show in the early 90's in the form of The New Adventures of Skippy. Executive Producers: John McCallum, Bud Austin / Music: Eric Jupp / Producers: Lee Robinson, Dennis Hill. Cast GARRY PANKHURST as Sonny Hammond / ED DEVEREAUX as Matt Hammond / LIZA GODDARD as Clarissa 'Clancy' Merrick / KEN JAMES as Mark Hammond / FRANK THRING as Dr Alexander Stark / TONY BONNER as Ranger.

By Gum Leaf 5 April 04

MERRY GO ROUND: Carrie Mason, a girl who wants nothing in the World but to be free, finds she has much in common with Skippy the bush kangaroo when they both decide to run away from home and join the Greens.

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Howard Vs Regina in Canberra the Capital Territory of Australia- Friday January 30 2004. Would the defendant please stand while I read out the judgement of this court.

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The Australian Federal Opposition and Labor Party Leader, Simon Crean, has again warned the U.S. ambassador to stop meddling in Australian politics.

War: Part one The human cost
On the road to Basra, ITV was filming wild dogs as they tore at the corpses of the Iraqi dead. Every few seconds a ravenous beast would rip off a decaying arm and make off with it over the desert in front of us, dead fingers trailing through the sand, the remains of the burned military sleeve flapping in the wind. "Just for the record,'' the cameraman said to me. Of course. Because ITV would never show such footage.

Mandela speaks out against Bush, Blair
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has lashed out at US President George W Bush's stance on Iraq, saying the US leader has no foresight, and cannot think properly.

All the way with (LPK) Love Peace and Kindness: Dalai Lama
Communication is a two way street. Threats and punishment solve nothing and serve none. In fact it is against the law in most countries to threaten or punish a person.

Hill defends decision to attack Iraq: Step by step?
FEDERAL Defence [War] Minister [Sinister] Robert Hill has defended the government's decision to send troops [ send militia] to the Persian Gulf [ to attack Iraq] in readiness for any [pre-emptive strike that would cause a] conflict with Iraq.

Pleas for peace ring the globe
Anti-war demonstrators turned out in their hundreds of thousands around the world on Saturday to protest against United States military preparations for an invasion of Iraq.

Not too late for Iraq peace, Blix says
But we all know that's rubbish now. The Coalition of the Killing were not seeking WMD in Iraq, they were there for their resource wars. So who gave the 'UN' and Blix the wrong information back then? War criminals!

George Bush's other poodle
John Howard, Australia's PM, is the mouse that roars for America, whipping his country into war fever and paranoia about terrorism within.

US prepares for trade talks with Australia but it's not worth it!
The office of the United States Trade Representative has started formally preparing its negotiating position for the first round of talks on a free trade agreement between Australia and the US.

First strike and you're out!
The ideology of a super loser? John Howard shocks the nation again. A nation who cannot believe Howard's stupidity following his [complicity in the CIA's false flag operation, the Bali bombing.]

UN charter doesn't reflect new self-defence needs: Hill?
The Defence [War] Minister, Robert Hill, says the United Nations' charter needs to be changed to help countries defend themselves against potential threats. [?] [Pre-emptive strikes on soveriegn nation states like Iraq and Afghanistan?]

About Protesting &: Corporate media, Ben English and Rachel Morris who spell their names in capitals? Yes too right! Ordinary people some protesting against the occupation, murder and genocide of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. And you call yourselves reporters? You should hang your head in shame and go get jobs defending those poor innocent people. Shame on you!!!

Howard defends terror alert
Prime Minister John Howard says the Federal Government would not have issued a terror alert if it had not come from a credible source. (America?) Speaking for the first time since the Government revealed the warning, Mr Howard says he wants people to be more careful, but not to stop living. [As long as they don't go dancing in Bali? And sure we'll all be depressed for as long as John Howard and Bob Carr say so.]

When Johnny comes marching home again: 'hoorah hoorah'
Posted on the Resistance web page Bronwyn Powell, an organiser of the youth-led mobilisation told Green Left weekly that "in the face of attacks on civil liberties, it is unfortunate that some union officials have felt they need to submit. It could set a negative precedent for upholding the hard-won right to demonstrate in the street."

Give peace a chance
PIERS AKERMAN DT 28 Nov 02: JUSTICE John Dowd should be removed from the bench. His crime? Stupidity. In a breath-taking display of hand-wringing sanctimonious morality, Dowd has condemned the State and Federal Governments' anti-terrorism measures, claiming they erode rights and give encouragement to oppressive regimes.

Amnesty steps up campaign to abolish death penalty

Amnesty International director Irene Khan

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is urging people around the world to pressure countries to abolish the death penalty.

Amnesty director Irene Khan has released a statement, which raps governments for carrying out "executions".

"It is outrageous that states still carry out executions," she said.

"Death is not justice. The death penalty violates the very foundation of human value and dignity.

"No research has shown that it deters criminality more effectively than other punishments, instead it fuels a culture of violence, is often applied in a discriminatory manner and has no place in modern society."

Amnesty is calling on people to sign an on-line petition urging governments to cease executions immediately.

"Seventy-six countries have now abolished the death penalty for all crimes, and 16 for all but exceptional crimes. A further 20 countries are abolitionist in practice - they no longer carry out executions," Amnesty said.

The last country to join the list was Armenia, which in September ratified a protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, an international treaty that abolished the death penalty in peace time.

"Despite the clear trend towards abolition, sadly some countries continue to execute prisoners," the international human rights watchdog said.

"People are still being legally executed by the state, by lethal injection, hanging, firing squad and even by stoning."

According to the organisation, 1,526 people were executed in 31 countries in 2002. China accounts for 1,060 of those executions.

Since the beginning of 2003, 57 prisoners have been executed in the United States, at least 83 in Iran and 40 in Saudi Arabia.

In total, 83 countries still use the death penalty, including China, Iran, Japan, Nigeria and the US.

By Just Us Posted 13 October 03

Related:

Port Lincoln Mayor has lost the plot!
Controversial Port Lincoln Mayor Peter Davis has called for drug addicts to be given a lethal injection to cut rising illicit drug use on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

'LAND OF THE FREE' SET TO EXECUTE TWO PRISONERS BY FIRING SQUAD:
Wanted: Willing executioners for two convicted murderers. Must be psychologically sound and familiar with .30-calibre rifles. No victims' relatives need apply.

There has been some debate whether: 'Capital punishment should be re-instated in Australia, since the terrible events that took place in Bali' In all democratic nations, every human being is considered innocent of any alleged crime, until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt by a court of law. For this reason, certain safeguards must be used for capital punishment cases.

TEXAS EXECUTES 300th PRISONER
Keith Clay was executed tonight, becoming the 300th prisoner in Texas to die by lethal injection since the rogue state resumed the death penalty 20 years ago.

AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
" ... Our nation was built on a promise of life and liberty for all citizens. Guided by a deep respect for human dignity, our Founding Fathers worked to secure these rights for future generations, and today we continue to seek to fulfil their promise in our laws and our society.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Please note the following article carefully.....it shows clearly the hateful, uncaring and anti-human rights attitude as reflected by the Governor of Texas (and most other elected Texas officials).

Supreme Court Justice Blocks Execution
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens blocked Indiana from putting to death its oldest death row inmate Tuesday to give the 71-year-old prisoner, who is partially deaf and blind, extra time to file federal appeals.

Stephen Romei: Death knell sounds for US capital law
GEORGE RYAN, outgoing governor of the US state of Illinois a republican who leaves office today, has put US capital punishment on the road to oblivion by commuting the sentences of all 167 of the state's death row inmates. Three were re-sentenced to 40 years' jail and the remaining 164 got life without parole.

Amnesty urges Bush to shut death row
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged US President George W. Bush to take a "moral stand" and abolish the death penalty after the Illinois Governor dramatically emptied that state's death row.

Lucky Door Prize

Close your eyes.
What can you see?
Nothing?
So without you there is no beauty.
Then Repeat After Me!
You're nearly as good-looking as I am!
Go on tell your friends..You're nearly as good looking as I am.
Because I am special to me and everyone else is equal to me.

LUCKY!

By Gregory Kable posted 24 January 02