Thursday, August 20, 2009

Robert Reich: 'March on Washington', Bribes and backroom deals: Inside the Afghan election

Hi. Yesterday, I forgot to add a great set of Mike Seeger and the New Lost
City Ramblers at the AG has just been put on line, free for listening. Here:
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/the-new-lost-city-ramblers-concert/20053611-9695.html?utm_source=NL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=090818

I also note that the article came from Folkworks, The Source for Folk,
Traditional Music, Dance, Storytelling, et al in the Greater L.A. area.
http://www.folkworks.org/content/view/35366/169/ -Ed

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26224.html

Robert Reich calls for 'march on Washington' in support of public option

FRED BARBASH
Politico: August 18, 2009

Robert Reich, the former Labor secretary, scholar and commentator, called
Tuesday for a "march on Washington" on Sept. 13 -"Grandparents Day" - in
support of a health care bill that offers a public option.

While he said organizing was not his strength, he would be prepared to
assist. "If enough people feel that's the best way for their voices to be
heard, and can't be heard in any other way, then we march," Reich said in a
reader question-and-answer session in POLITICO's Arena.

A group of conservatives have already announced a "tea party" movement march
on Washington for Sept. 12. An opposing march the next day, if one were to
materialize, could make for an interesting weekend.

Reich's suggested march is the latest manifestation of liberal anger about
signs that the Obama administration may be willing to live without a public
option if it means a health care bill can become law. "Very few things
happen in Washington that are in the public's interest when corporations
have huge financial stakes in the game, as they obviously do with health
care - unless the public is actively involved, engaged and organized," Reich
wrote. "We won't get a public option, or anything close to it, unless people
who feel strongly about it make a racket."

The "first step is to be very loud and very vocal: Write, phone, e-mail,
your congressional delegation and the White House. Second step: Get others
to do the same. Third step: Get voters in Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska,
and other states where Blue Dog Dems and wavering Senate Dems live, and have
them make a hell of a fuss. Fourth step: March on Washington."

He suggested the morning of Sept. 13 because "that's a Sunday, and it's also
Grandparents Day. I've just become a grandparent, and I'm worried as hell
about the kind of world my little granddaughter is inheriting. "

***

From: Sid Shniad

Bribes and backroom deals: Inside the Afghan election

By Sonia Verma
Globe and Mail: August 18, 2009

Kabul - A few months ago, a dozen leaders from Kandahar's most influential
Pashtun tribes called a meeting to decide whom to support in this
presidential election.

They did not waver: Fed up with years of violence and corruption under Hamid
Karzai's government, they chose to throw their support behind Abdullah
Abdullah, the former foreign minister of mixed descent, who has emerged as a
serious contender.

In Kandahar, it proved a difficult decision. The Karzai family wields
enormous power in this Pashtun heartland, which is effectively ruled by his
half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who heads its provincial council.

So the tribal leaders travelled to Kabul for a secret meeting with Dr.
Abdullah, who, pleasantly surprised, gave them $15,000 to open a campaign
office in a small rented house in Kandahar city. A few weeks later it was
shut down.

"Wali called them to his compound," a tribal leader with intimate knowledge
of the meeting told The Globe and Mail.

"He gave them $20,000 and said, 'change sides,' so they did."

Such is the state of affairs in Kandahar province, which has emerged as the
key to Thursday's presidential election.

Seeking a second term, Mr. Karzai was counting on his ethnic affiliations in
Kandahar to deliver a victory.

For months Wali, acting as his brother's de facto campaign manager, has been
courting Kandahari tribal leaders' support, paying for cars and security to
shuttle them from remote villages to the city, where, over a traditional
Afghan meal, he seeks a promise of votes.

However, with Taliban threats and support for the opposition eroding his
traditional support base, the Karzais have found themselves struggling to
secure an outright win.

As election day draws near, charges of vote rigging have emerged against
supporters of the Afghan President, in some cases against the Karzai family
itself.

Allegations of fraud have already clouded the credibility of this election
and fuelled threats of mass demonstrations in the north if Mr. Karzai's win
is considered illegitimate.

The discussion among analysts, both Afghan and Western, revolves around
"acceptable levels" of voting irregularities, an indication of just how
persistent the problem is in a country where much of the population lives in
remote areas, difficult to access in the best of times, much less observe on
voting day.

The Karzai camp has denied any fraud, countering with their own charges
against Dr. Abdullah's campaign. Local human-rights groups have documented
irregularities from both sides.

However, Abdul Khaliq, Dr. Abdullah's campaign manager in Kandahar, said
even if both sides were playing dirty, Mr. Karzai's alleged abuse of power
was of particular concern to Afghanistan and the West.

"All of the government belongs to them, and all of the administration of the
government are helping them. The money and the facilities are with them,"
said Mr. Khaliq, who, before joining Dr. Abdullah, had become disillusioned
by "nepotism and narcotics" as a Karzai-appointed district commissioner.

He cited a brazen rally held by Dr. Abdullah last week in Kandahar city, the
spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, which has been the centre of an
insurgency that Canadian Forces in southern Afghanistan have struggled to
suppress.

A group of villagers from remote villages in Boldak, south of Kandahar city,
said a group of the government's frontier police stopped them en route to
the rally, blocking their bus, shouting abuses and sending them back home.

"They said if you go to the meeting we will beat you. They stopped all the
cars and vehicles," said Mahmad Ayoub Khan, an elder from the Achakzai
tribe.

Mr. Khan said come election day, his tribesmen will fear the frontier police
as much as the Taliban. "Maybe even more," he added, with some thought.

Other tribal elders who support Dr. Abdullah say they will not be
intimidated, even though they might be branded disloyal and punished if Mr.
Karzai gets re-elected.

Haji Sharin Khan, a tribal leader of the Alakozai tribe in the Zhari
district, said he would rather vote with his heart, and risk the
consequences: "Yes, we are unhappy that we might be punished. We are
concerned about these problems, but we want Dr. Abdullah. Maybe something
will happen, but this is our right, to vote for who we want," he said.

As Wali Karzai attempts to broker ceasefire deals with local Taliban
commanders, some tribe leaders see his efforts as proof of his connections
to the insurgency, or a self-serving attempt to get out the vote for his
brother.

As it stands, election officials say most of Kandahar's 17 districts will be
secure enough for polling stations to open, listing only two as "outside
government control."

Independent election observers, however, are more pessimistic, predicting
that more than half of provincial districts will succumb to violence.

In Kandahar, the voter registration process has been rife with corruption.
Cards have been handed out to non-existent voters, with women accounting for
a disproportionate number of names on the list of eligible voters, including
one "Britney Jamila Spears."

There are also claims, difficult to verify, that some tribal leaders have
bought voter registration cards with cash and phone cards, provided by Mr.
Karzai's family.

Sath Mohammad, a 42-year-old shopkeeper in Kandahar, rejected offers of cash
and free lunch to attend meetings of the Karzai and Abdullah campaign.

"Last election I saw one tribe leader take hundreds of election papers,
stamp them and put them in the box. Hundreds of papers. I believe that will
happen again this time," said Mr. Mohammad, whose Barakzai tribe is from
Dand district.

He supports Ashraf Ghani, a technocrat and former ally of Mr. Karzai who
holds third place in the polls.

Asked if he would vote on Thursday, Mr. Mohammad replied: "I will try."

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