Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 12, 2005, Winnipeg, Manitoba A11 Winnipeg free press focus tuesday april 12, 2005 Mexico a democracy undermined by Denise Dresser t Oday Mexico is a country divided. Today the mantra of Mexico a political and economic elites has become anybody but Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador the mayor of Mexico City who they perceive As a dangerous polarizing demagogue ? but who is the front runner for the presidency in 2006. The ruling classes fear him and what they believe he will do if he wins nationalize overspend jeopardize Mexico a hard won economic gains. They re determined to Stop him. But in doing so they Are tearing apart a coun try where political stability cannot be taken for granted. They Are undermining the democracy it took so Long to achieve. They Are wreaking havoc in Mexico in their attempt to save it from the left. The proceedings this week against Lopez Obrador Are not about the Rule of Law. They re about kicking a popular left Wing front runner out of the presidential race. As a result of shrewd patronage politics and savvy political positioning Lopez Obrador is the most popular politician in the country. That makes him dangerous to an array of vested interests and explains Why he has so Many powerful enemies obsessed with bringing him Down including president Vicente Fox. As a result of a political crusade disguised As a Legal Issue Lopez Obrador is caught in a Battle for his political life. The attorney general a office has accused him of ignoring a restraining order issued by the courts and moving Forward with construction of a Road to a Hospital on land whose ownership has been contested. Now that the before the chamber of impeachment deputies has stripped him of process his immunity began from prosecution he faces a Poten Lopez Obrador tial prison sen was a tence and could be pragmatic deemed ineligible to run for the leftist now presidency while he a a his Case goes through the sys Radical Martyr tem. Given How it has weighed in on this Issue the Fox government appears increasingly hypocritical and inconsistent. The president claims that Lopez Obrador must obey the Law but refuses to charge prominent members of his own National action party or pan who have broken it. He Speaks about the need to enforce legality where the mayor is concerned but turns a Blind Eye to lawbreakers in the institutional revolutionary party or Pri. Every time the president and his collaborators piously claim to enforce the Rule of Law most mexicans remember that it does to really exist. As a result 78 per cent of the population opposes the current proceeding and questions its True motives. The onslaught against the mayor shows that Fox has become everything he once fought against. The candidate who five years ago promised to change the status quo has now turned into its chief defender. The political outsider who campaigned to kick the Pri out of Power now needs that party a votes to impeach his left Wing adversary. The concerted attack on Lopez Obrador has had paradoxical effects. Before the impeachment process began Lopez Obrador was a pragmatic leftist now he a a Radical Martyr. His enemies always have believed that he would be a mexican version of Venezuela a divisive president Hugo Chavez but now with blows below the Belt they Are creating one. Lopez Obrador is More confrontational than Ever. His rhetoric is More incendiary his position is More recalcitrant. Under siege he insists on behaving As a revolutionary who divides instead of As a reformer who unites. Trapped Lopez Obrador has added fuel to the fire by calling for people to March in the streets instead of working within established institutions. As a result Mexico is trapped in a vicious Cycle the political and economic elites Are producing an angry populace and Lopez Obrador is spawning a United pan Pri front willing to sabotage democracy to Stop him. What a really at stake is the survival and Quality of mexican democracy. Regardless of Lopez Obradors flaws his Fate should be determined by mexi cos citizens and not by its elites. The farcical trumped up Effort to remove him from the race violates the democratic right to support a candidate or decry him and his policies through the ballot Box. Fox and his allies in the Pri should put aside their Short term Polit ical calculations and respect that fundamental right. Denise Dresser is a professor at the autonomous technological Institute of Mexico. suspend use of stun guns by Lee Giles a amnesty International is Well respected As a worldwide movement of people who Campaign for internationally recognized human rights. The organizations letter writing campaigns have resulted in the release of Many political prisoners by shining the Light of Public attention on hidden abuses often in the third world. Now the organization is focus ing attention on a problem in Canada and the United states the use of Taser electric stun guns by police. Amnesty is calling for a moratorium on tasers. Now Why would amnesty International do that if As we be been led to believe Taser guns save lives because they Are a Safe alternative to police shooting civilians with deadly firearms Well As amnesty Points out in its recent 93?page report officers Are not simply using the stun gun As an alternative to drawing a firearm. Often they use it to Shock unarmed people involved in Petty crimes. Amnesty maintains that the Avail ability of the Taser has greatly increased the number of instances when police officers use Force against an individual. The organization notes that tasers Are frequently used in situations where use of firearms or even Batons would never be justified. Tasers fire Metal barbs that Emit a 50,000-Volt charge into suspects Caus ing them to collapse from loss of mus Cular control. The device can also be used in stun gun Mode ensuring direct Contact is made with the target. The duration of the Shock in stun gun Mode is the same As in the Dart projectile Mode. There were 103 Taser stun gun related deaths in the United states and Canada Between june 2001 and March 2005, according to amnesty a report. Seven of nine canadians who died were unarmed. The report challenges tasers claims that stun guns have saved More than 6,000 lives. Taser International wildly exaggerates the number of incidents in which the use of a Taser resulted in a life saved the report states. Amnesty says most of those who died were unarmed men who did not appear to present a Seri Ous threat to the lives or safety of oth ers. Taser International insists that none of the 103 deaths is the weapons fault. Instead it attributes the deaths to medical conditions drug overdoses injuries from violence during the arrest or before police arrived Etc. Taser International officials note that the Taser has not been listed As the primary cause of death in coroners reports. That May be True but it has been cited As a Factor in Many deaths. The company says that tests done with anaesthetized pigs prove the stun gun can to trigger erratic heart beats. But that a not Good enough for Ameri can cardiologist or. Zian Tseng. Unconscious pigs Don to have the same adrenaline response of a suspect clashing with police and they Are Apt to react to being shocked very differently he observes. I be seen the Taser folks say of the Guy had cocaine in his system that a the Rea son for his death ? he explains. Well someone with cocaine in their system is also much More prone to a Taser induced cardiac arrest. Com Pany officials cannot say that the Taser is Safe in my of course its not Only the weapon that needs to be studied further. So too does the Way its used. That a because there Are Way too Many reports of the Taser being misused both in Canada and the . A Veteran South Tucson ariz., police sergeant was investigated for firing his stun gun to subdue a hand cuffed nine year old girl. According to police the girl had run away from a school for special needs children. In Jacksonville fla., a 13-year-old girl was tapered at least twice after police arrested her for fighting with her Mother. She too was shocked while handcuffed. An Edmonton police officer was charged in 2004 for tapering a hand cuffed woman in 2002. Elsewhere pregnant women and the disabled have been tapered when they did to pose a threat amnesty says. The organization Points out that tasers have become much More pow Erful than they were when first devel oped in the 1970s. Furthermore amnesty notes there has been no Rig Orous Independent and impartial study into the use and medical effects of the new generation tasers. Its time for governments in Canada and the United states to suspend the use of tasers until they can be proven Safe. And police departments should act immediately to ban the tapering of handcuffed people and children and discourage multiple stockings. Unfortunately until a lot More people die it appears tasers will continue to be used and misused throughout North America. The Only Bright spot in this sad Story is that amnesty has pointed out in convincing detail Why the use of this weapon should be suspended. Lee Giles is an editor with the red Deer advocate. letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the authors name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697-7412. Email life outside perimeter re the april 10 article City docs rip Fri for Rural Hospital it upset me that City doctors Are having this reaction to a new Fri being put into a Rural Hospital. Will this not open up the Fri at Hsc because some of the Rural patients who travel to Hsc to have an Fri can now have this done at Boundary trails there is life outside of the perimeter Highway and it is time that our government realizes this. As a nurse in a Rural Community i am Happy to see that the government is finally adding these options to our Rural hospitals i would just like to see them offered in hospitals a Little fur ther outside the perimeter. Also it s about time our government decided to take a look at saving some Money on transportation costs and this can be done with having these tests available in Rural communities. Pamela How the Pas Don to tax fringe i was startled and disheartened by the very notion that Winnipeg City Council is even considering an amusement tax for the fringe festival. This is not an Opportunity for the City to make More tax dollars ? traditional cultural institutions require to be supported not hampered by government. Mass culture institutions ? those that set out to make Money ? Are different. Though it is not conducive to our local Economy either you May feel free to tax them to King Dom come. This Issue is different. It Points to a very threatening paradigm of think ing in our society and one that does not belong in government mass Cul Ture and culture Are two different things. The fringe festival is not a commercial event like the Junos. We do not reach Broad mass audiences capable of generating huge amounts of Money. We rely upon Small inti mate audiences for Money ? audiences which will be discouraged by a new tax. Indeed the irreparable damage to artists and to the City that enforcing this tax would cause far outweighs any slim dollars it might raise. It is a testament to the cultural potential of our City and our country that through its artists a True cultural event such As the fringe has become so Success Ful. Don t kill it. Many artists who come Here during the summer months to make a living depend upon the Money they make to survive. With the institution of this tax you will be depriving these peo ple of their Means of survival for it is not the goal of an artist to make Money. An artist sets out to contribute to the building and maintenance of a culture. Through my education and career i personally have set out to build a Canadian culture based upon traditional not commercial paradigms. This potential action Points to the reason Why Canada and culture still seem to exist outside of each other. This is an Opportunity to Correct that. What belongs to commercial Cul Ture entertainers who make Money by appealing to a Broad mass Audi ence through radio and television. This is not Canadian idol this is not doonesbury the Junos this is not your Day time or prime time television extravaganza. Theatre artists put simply do not qualify for this tax. James Johnston Winnipeg like a flock of vultures i am writing about the threats and attacks on the Liberal party for suspected improprieties. The opposition parties Are acting like a flock of starving vultures Hov ering Over a wounded animal but too impatient to wait for evidence of death or in this Case proof of intentional fraud. I am not a member of the Liberal party but this seems like opportunist behaviour rather than representing the interests of canadians. They should continue to put pres sure on the Liberal to open their books but not extend threats of pulling Down an innocent until proven guilty government. Can anyone say Power grab roman Marshall Winnipeg a rite of Spring every year at this time in Winnipeg letters Are addressed to the editor complaining about the exorbitant Cost of school taxes. This is a rite of Spring in this City and i am participating in this rite. Our nip government and those Manitoba governments before them have consistently and stubbornly refused to consider the entire Issue of equity in school taxes in this province and have consistently dumped this Issue Back to the taxpayer by stating you elected your school trustees you Are ultimately responsible for their decisions and for the taxes they impose. If you Don to like their approach dump them and elect oth ers. Elect others to do what to main Tain the status quo with yearly and Ever increasing school taxes and a Basic Lack of financial accountability to continue to produce Grade 12 graduates with the language science and mathematical skills that we would have expected of Grade 9 graduates 30 years ago Greg Taylor Winnipeg by Garry Trudeau ;