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23 August, 1999Nothing happens when Europe is on vacation. It's summertime!
In our part of the globe, normally summer is considered a period of drought in terms of activities and news, as well as the weather.
Parliaments and politicians are on vacation, plants shut down, people are on beaches or on top of mountains enjoying some days of rest and relaxation.
Newspapers are looking for all kinds of news - bad or good (sometimes invented by the imagination of the journalist).
The war in Kosovo is over (at least temporarily); Milosevic is still around.
Europe is closed down!
What about the rest of the world?
In Brazil, a bitter fight is going on in defence of the workers at Ford.
In Malta, workers have been arrested after violent police attacks at the airport in Valletta.
Thousands of refugees from Kosovo, Albania and other places in the Balkans are, at the very high risk for their own lives and those of their children, crossing the Adriatic Sea to look for some peaceful place to make their living and to join their families in the EU.
Some of them never arrived. They found their grave at the bottom of the sea.
The all-mighty Mafia is making millions of dollars by shipping these poor souls under miserable and inhuman conditions to the "Promised Land".
The war between Pakistan and India seems to continue endlessly, and atomic weapons might be used at a certain point. But all this is so far away from Europe and vacations that it seems not so important.
In Ecuador, the police have killed two people during a day of demonstrations in manifestation against the government's decision to increase the price of petrol and let the poorest people in the country pay for the economic crisis.
In Costa Rica, the trade union has been fighting against the government's economic policy.
In Pakistan, people at the Suzuki plant are struggling for better working conditions.
The strong South African trade union confederation, COSATU, is preparing for massive demonstrations against the government for the policy it adopted on the economy and finance.
In Colombia, again, a few trade union leaders have been killed by....... who knows?
But, finally, some good news!
Both the former president and the current president of the Korean Metal Workers' Federation, as well as some others, have been released from jail.
However, as you know, nothing happens when Europe is on vacation.
Parliaments and politicians are on vacation, plants shut down, people are on beaches or on top of mountains enjoying some days of rest and relaxation.
Newspapers are looking for all kinds of news - bad or good (sometimes invented by the imagination of the journalist).
The war in Kosovo is over (at least temporarily); Milosevic is still around.
Europe is closed down!
What about the rest of the world?
In Brazil, a bitter fight is going on in defence of the workers at Ford.
In Malta, workers have been arrested after violent police attacks at the airport in Valletta.
Thousands of refugees from Kosovo, Albania and other places in the Balkans are, at the very high risk for their own lives and those of their children, crossing the Adriatic Sea to look for some peaceful place to make their living and to join their families in the EU.
Some of them never arrived. They found their grave at the bottom of the sea.
The all-mighty Mafia is making millions of dollars by shipping these poor souls under miserable and inhuman conditions to the "Promised Land".
The war between Pakistan and India seems to continue endlessly, and atomic weapons might be used at a certain point. But all this is so far away from Europe and vacations that it seems not so important.
In Ecuador, the police have killed two people during a day of demonstrations in manifestation against the government's decision to increase the price of petrol and let the poorest people in the country pay for the economic crisis.
In Costa Rica, the trade union has been fighting against the government's economic policy.
In Pakistan, people at the Suzuki plant are struggling for better working conditions.
The strong South African trade union confederation, COSATU, is preparing for massive demonstrations against the government for the policy it adopted on the economy and finance.
In Colombia, again, a few trade union leaders have been killed by....... who knows?
But, finally, some good news!
Both the former president and the current president of the Korean Metal Workers' Federation, as well as some others, have been released from jail.
However, as you know, nothing happens when Europe is on vacation.