Para el próximo domingo 15 de Agosto, está previsto en Venezuela la realización de un referendo nacional para decidir sobre la continuación o no del gobierno liderado por el presidente Hugo Chávez — democráticamente electo en 1998 y re-electo en 2000. Sin embargo, lo que ocurre en Venezuela, lejos de ser un mero proceso electoral que determinaría el destino de un líder, es una confrontación directa entre los movimientos populares de Venezuela y el Imperio Capitalista. Esta confrontación, sin embargo, no se decidirá en las urnas electorales, sino en la calle...

[ Coverage from: Indymedia.org I Puerto Rico Indymedia I UK Indymedia ]

On Sunday, August 15th, a national referendum is scheduled to take place in Venezuela to decide whether democratically-elected president Hugo Chávez should remain in office. The outcome of this referendum, while significant, is only a fragment of a much larger and longer tale of class struggle in Venezuela, where 80% of the population lives in poverty and the richest 20% control the majority of country's natural and human-produced resources.

Chavez was first voted to office by an overwhelming majority after leading a coup attempt against the corrupt leader Carlos Andres Cardenas, who among other atrocities, brought the nation under the rule of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 'austerity measures.' The popular movements of Venezuela view Chavez as a symbol of self-determination and hope, and the opposition's attempt to oust him as an attempt by the capitalist classes to reassert fascist rule over the country. This confrontation will not be decided solely by ballots, but by popular struggle in the streets and the countryside.

[ Venezuela Analysis [en] I Apporea.org [es] I UK-IMC [en] ]

On March 6, 2004 residents of Mendocino county passed a measure banning the cultivation of Genetically Engineered (GE) crops -- also known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) -- within their county. Mendocino county’s Measure H is being used as a model for at least seven other counties in California where local residents are well on their way to passing similar measures. Californians feel that local measures seeking to ban the cultivation of GE crops are critical steps to take in the promotion of economically and ecologically sustainable agriculture.

California farms produce more than 350 varieties of crops and export more than any state in the US. Although California is recognized as a world leader in organic food production and sustainable agriculture, the world’s largest biotechnology companies are attempting to coerce GE crops onto California’s farms. Genetic engineering poses a significant risk to the environment, our food supply and the economic health of farmers.

Alameda, Butte, Humboldt, Marin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Sonoma counties of California are currently campaigning to ban cultivation of GE crops. The people behind these campaigns include farmers, gardeners, health professionals, chefs, business owners, teachers, local government officials, and environmentalists.

For more information, please see the following GE Free Campaign websites:

[ California I Alameda I Butte I Humboldt I Marin I Mendocino I San Luis Obispo I Santa Barbara I Sonoma ]

Update 7/28/04: The Mendocinco Model

Despite City Measure C passing in 1994, despite State Prop 215 passing in 1996, Despite a local medical marijuana ordinance passed in 2000, and besides a 9th circuit court decision that found that the drug laws are not meant to apply to medical uses for cannabis, no distribution center has been open in the City of Santa Cruz since 2000. Critics say the law is fatally flawed and must be reformed before any distribution centers can open. This article explains why.

It is 2004, eight years after the passage of Proposition 215, the Medical Marijuana Compassionate use Act. An elderly woman walks with a cane down near the levee. She carries cash with her. Her hip joint aches with every movement, her knees also pain her and both her ankles are swollen. She meets her connection and they both look furtively around before they exchange cash for a small plastic baggy of the only medication she has found that helps her to endure her pain without knocking her into a stuporous non-productive state.

Why can’t this woman go into a clinic or health care center and pick up her medication? Why must she sneak around furtively in some back alley getting questionable quality cannabis when the citizens of Santa Cruz voted overwhelmingly (73% in favor) of legalizing the use of medical marijuana?

How to Defend a Medical Marijuana Patient in California

[ Area 420 I Tax and Regulate I California NORML I Marijuana Policy Project ]

The UCSC chapter of The Feminist Majority hosted the Santa Cruz March for Women's Lives on April 16 to support the national March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C on April 25, marking the largest collective pro-choice event in the past decade. Different organizations from all across the nation are participating in the March, including N.O.W. and The Feminist Majority.

The pro-choice march is meant to combat conservative legislation that has been milling through congress in the past few years and publicize important causes that are in dire need of attention. Such legislation includes the partial-birth-abortion law, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA), and The Cupid Project.

The Santa Cruz March for Women's Lives began with a rally at 2:00 p.m. at Porter Meadows where students gathered before marching through the theater arts center, by McHenry library, and on to the Quarry Amphitheater for speakers and musicians at the main event.

Photos and Audio: Your Body is a Battle and Trouble in Paradise

[ Women's Reproductive Rights Continue to Crumble I Indybay's Womyn page ]

Bruce McPherson, Republican State Senator based in Santa Cruz, and Secretary of State since the recall, is apparently trying to help reestablish the very controversial and untrusted Diebold electronic voting machines previously rejected by California.

A call to action to Americans from an American. Please distribute as much as possible by any means.

Bob Woodward now claims he knows as much as Judith Miller did about the Plame/Rove affair, but kept it under his hat for 2 years. It was a wise move, worthy of a seasoned pro. The Plame affair is merely a byproduct of the Niger uranium forgeries. How did the Niger Documents become such an item? All I can tell you is whose lips are sealed, and why.

On Defects in our System of Elections

The latest critical confirmation of key indicators that the election of 2004 was stolen comes in an extremely powerful, penetrating report from the Government Accountability Office that has gotten virtually no mainstream media coverage. The GAO findings are particularly damning when set in the context of an election run in Ohio by a Secretary of State simultaneously working as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign. Far from what election theft skeptics have long asserted, the GAO findings confirm that the electronic network on which 800,000 Ohio votes were cast was vulnerable enough to allow a a tiny handful of operatives -- or less -- to turn the whole vote count using personal computers operating on relatively simple software.