No rescue for Chile’s victims

The government of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera skillfully exploited a media event with the rescue of 33 miners this week.

by John Pilger, from The New Statesman

THE RESCUE of 33 miners in Chile was an extraordinary drama, filled with pathos and heroism. It was also a media windfall for the Chilean government, whose every beneficence was recorded by a forest of cameras. One cannot fail to be impressed. However, like all great media events, it is a façade.

The accident that trapped the miners is not unusual in Chile and is the inevitable consequence of a ruthless economic system that has barely changed since the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Spying and lying about the left

A company hired by the state of Pennsylvania has spied on left-wing, antiwar and student groups.

by Brian Lenzo, Socialist Worker

The US peace group “Peace of the Action” has discovered documents showing that it and many other organisations have been under surveillance for many months by a private agency called the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR).

Founded by antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, Peace of the Action has focused on opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by pressuring legislators and organising demonstrations and civil disobedience actions at visible places around Washington DC.

According to the ITRR’s Web site:

The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) is an American and Israeli nonprofit corporation created to help organisations succeed and prosper in a world threatened by terrorism.

ITRR’s Israeli and American experts provide counter-terrorism training, seminars and security specialisation in dealing with threats such as weapons of mass destruction (WMD), suicide bombers and other forms of international terror striking both the public and private sector.