human rights

Human rights and labor activists protested outside the Washington DC offices of Public Strategies, Inc., claiming that the public relations firm helps the Bridgestone / Firestone Tire Company "deflect attention away from the company's long history of exploiting workers and the environment on its rubber plantation in Liberia." The protest comes shortly after the publication of a report from a Liberian-based organization that alleges that Firestone works with "former President [Charles] Taylor's Anti-Terrorist Unit and other militia forces ... to curb illicit tapping. Some members of this group are allegedly harassing and torturing community members in the name of curbing illicit tapping" of rubber trees. The report also faults Firestone for paying low wages and placing unreasonable quotas on its Liberian workers, among other problems. The head of the Firestone Agricultural Workers' Union of Liberia said there are "ongoing union-management contract negotiations" to address "issues relating to work quota, and also issues relating to occupational health and safety, issues relating to education as well as issues relating to salaries and wages."

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to hand out free movie tickets, free passes to the Zoo, Denver's Museum of Nature and Science and other cultural attractions to homeless people during the Democratic National Convention August 25-28. They will even provide free bus tickets for the homeless to visit attractions that are beyond walking distance. Day shelters will stay open extended hours during the Convention, and some shelters will set up big-screen TVs so patrons can watch the event. Supporters of the plan say it's going to help the homeless avoid protests and large crowds that will likely fill their usual places, and say it is a "more sanitary and humane" way to take care of the homeless during the Convention. But not everyone is buying that explanation. Some citizens think the plan is an effort to hide the city's homeless during the convention. Some homeless people have shown little enthusiasm for the plan. Denver panhandler Ronnie Wand says he'll believe the free tickets when he sees them, and expects to do time in jail for vagrancy during the convention.

Reacting to a report that revealed American cigarette exports to Iran have risen tenfold during George W. Bush's time in office, Republican presidential candidate John McCain commented, "Maybe that's a way of killing 'em." He followed this by saying, "I meant that as a joke, as a person who hasn't had a cigarette in 28 years, 29 years." McCain's public joke about killing Iranians was the second of his campaign. Last year at a South Carolina campaign stop, when he was asked if there was a plan to attack Iran, McCain responded by saying "You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran?" He then sang "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" before discussing what he believed to be the serious threat Iran poses to Israel's national security.

To understand how the Bush administration "could fool tens of millions of Americans, intimidate Democrats, and transform the vaunted Washington press corps from watchdogs to lapdogs," look to the 1980s, suggests Robert Parry. On Consortiumnews.com, Parry publishes the "lost chapter" (pdf) of the Congressional report on the Iran-Contra scandal, which was excised in order to win "the votes of three moderate GOP senators." The chapter details how a "public / private network set out to accomplish what a covert CIA operation in a foreign country might attempt -- to sway the media, the Congress, and American public opinion in the direction of the Reagan administration's policies." The chapter describes a 1983 meeting between CIA director William Casey and PR professionals, including Philip Morris' Bill Greener. The topic was how "to sell a 'new product' -- Central America -- by generating interest across-the-spectrum." Edelman is also mentioned as being paid $92,000 to organize "press conferences and speaking tours by persons supporting the Contras." Another PR firm, International Business Communications, was "awarded a secret contract for $276,186," from the State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Horrified directors of global marketing giant Young & Rubicam have begun a sell-off of their holdings in Zimbabwe, after learning the company's head was behind Robert Mugabe's election campaign image makeover," reports Rowan Philp. The head of the Zimbabwe firm, Imago Y&R, used "pop culture figures such as rapper Tupac Shakur and reggae icon Bob Marley to 'sex up' a campaign that Mugabe's own advisers called dismal." The firm also designed ads that labeled opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as being in "the losers club," claimed that Tsvangirai's party "has a reputation for violence," and mocked British and U.S. leaders. The UK Sunday Times reported that Imago's "benign images" of Mugabe "are a world apart from the cruel reality of Zimbabwe. Assaults with iron bars, clubs and guns were growing more frequent," and "more gruesome murders were recorded as a vicious crackdown against Mugabe's opponents intensified." The violence led the United Nations Security Council to declare it "impossible" for Zimbabwe to hold a fair election on June 27. Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change party have been receiving PR assistance from Fleishman-Hillard since at least May, reports O'Dwyer's.

Most American cigarette makers, including Philip Morris (PM), have used ammonia in their manufacturing processes for decades, to "puff up" tobacco to increase its volume, highlight certain flavors, help hold together reconstituted tobacco sheet and reduce the amount of nicotine. Lesser known is that tobacco companies use ammonia to "freebase" the nicotine in smoke, essentially turning it into "crack nicotine." Freebase nicotine is absorbed by the body more quickly and easily, resulting in a faster, harder "kick" after lighting up. Using ammonia has allowed tobacco companies to lower the tar and nicotine levels in cigarettes while still keeping smokers addicted, a strategy developed to deal with the health fears surrounding cigarettes. PM was the first to use "ammonia technology," applying it to Marlboros in the 1960s. After the change, Marlboro zoomed from a minor brand to a runaway market success, causing other cigarette makers to scramble to discover PM's "secret." After PM was accused of intentionally manipulating the nicotine deliveries of its cigarettes, the company pointed to all the other uses for ammonia to defend itself against the charge.

"The U.S. military has long sought an agreement with Baghdad that gives American forces virtually unfettered freedom of action, casting into doubt the Bush administration's current claims that their demands are more limited," concludes the National Security Archive's analysis of recently declassified documents. In a 2003 cable, then-Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer wrote that any agreement with the future government of Iraq must give U.S. forces authority "to detain, intern, and interrogate"; "to retain custody of current POWs / detainees / internees"; and "unlimited authority to conduct military operations." Bremer added that U.S. personnel, including military contractors, "must be accorded ... full criminal immunity and immunity from civil process for official acts." In related news, the Wikileaks website has published what it says is "a sensitive U.S. military counterinsurgency manual." The document points to U.S. involvement in El Salvador and elsewhere in describing how to control foreign populations. Suggested tactics include martial law, censorship, psychological operations, supporting "civilian self-defense forces" and persuading "individuals among the general populace to become informants," by using as motives "civic-mindedness, patriotism, fear, punishment avoidance, gratitude, revenge or jealousy, financial rewards."

Dick CheneyThe Bush administration has long held that overly-aggressive interrogation methods used on detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay were the work of a few "bad apples." Now, an investigation being conducted by the Senate Armed Services Committee has revealed that William Haynes II, General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense, sought the advice of military psychologists within a Pentagon agency to design the interrogation techniques. The Committee's findings add to mounting evidence that the detainees' torture resulted from decisions made at the highest levels of government, particularly within the office of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at using comic books to counter protests, Morocco's promotion of questionable refugees, and product placement across the pond. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we look at Jack Abramoff. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

Western Sahara -- a North African territory and one of the last remaining official colonies, or non-self governing territories -- is controlled by Morocco. The Polisario Front, a political group of indigenous Sahrawis, wants independence. Tens of thousands of Sahrawis live in Polisario-run refugee camps in Algeria. Recently, "a delegation of six Sahrawi refugees ... visited New York and Washington to talk about their suffering under the Polisario Front." But human rights groups disputed their accounts, and the refugees' trip "was sponsored by a lobbying group for Morocco," the Moroccan American Center for Policy. Eric Goldstein of Human Rights Watch said, "The reason Morocco is funding their trip is to try to discredit the Polisario at a moment when they hope that its own proposal for autonomy will prevail." Morocco and the Polisario Front have been unable to agree on the details of a United Nations proposal to hold a referendum on the future of Western Sahara. As an alternative, Morocco proposed limited autonomy for Western Sahara, "under the purview of Morocco," which is a deal breaker for the Polisario.