[NYTr] Ten Good Things About 2007

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by ed Pearl - Jan 2, 2007


Commondreams.org - Dec 31, 2007

Let's Toast to Ten Good Things About 2007

by Medea Benjamin

As we close this year on the low of Congress giving Bush more billions for
war, and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, let's remember
some of the year's gains that can revive our spirits for the New Year. Here
are just ten.

1. With the exception of the White House, this has been a banner year for
environmental consciousness and action. Al Gore and the scientists of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize. Green
building and renewable energy have exploded. Congress passed the Green Jobs
Act of 2007, authorizing $125 million for green job training. Over 700 U.S.
mayors, representing 25 percent of the U.S. population, have signed a pledge
to reduce greenhouse gases by 2012. Illinois became the 26th state to
require that some of the state's electricity come from renewable sources and
Kansas became the first state to refuse a permit for a new coal-fired power
plant for health and environmental reasons. That's progress!

2. On the global environmental scene, the Bush dinosaurs were tackled head
on. When the US delegation at the UN climate change conference in Bali tried
to sabotage the negotiations, the delegate from tiny Papua New Guinea threw
diplomatic niceties to the wind and said that if the U.S. couldn't lead, it
should get out of the way. Embarrassed by international and domestic
outrage, the U.S. delegation buckled, and the way was cleared for adopting
the "Bali road map." Although it is a weak mandate, it lays the groundwork
for a stronger climate agreement post-2012 when the first phase of the Kyoto
Protocols ends.

3. Imagine living in a waste-free urban society? Well, it's no longer a
utopian dream but a well-thought-out plan for India's state of Kerala. The
plan to be "waste-free" within five years includes waste prevention,
intensive re-use and recycling, composting, replacing unsustainable
materials with sustainable ones, training people to produce these materials,
and providing funds for setting up sustainably run businesses. The
ground-breaking plan, spearheaded by a local grassroots movement,
demonstrates how citizen groups can advance pioneering policies to heal the
planet.

4. While the war in Iraq rages on, a new war was stopped. The specter of war
with Iran loomed large throughout the year, with Washington accusing Iran of
killing U.S . soldiers in Iraq and being a nuclear threat. Then in December
came the National Intelligence Estimate showing that the Bush administration
knew all along that Iran had shelved its nuclear weapons program in 2003. It
exposed the Administration claims of an Iranian threat as unjustifiably
inflated, and the winds of war were suddenly subdued. Nothing is guaranteed,
but a U.S. military attack on Iran is less likely now than it was earlier in
the year.

5. This year also brought a decrease in tensions with North Korea.
Hostilities flared after North Korea successfully conducted a nuclear test
in 2006. But the Bush administration, bogged down in Iraq and pushed by
international pressure, agreed to negotiate. Following a series of six-party
talks involving North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, and the U.S,
on March 17, 2007, an historic agreement was reached. North Korea agreed to
shut down its main nuclear facility and submit a list of its nuclear
programs in exchange for fuel and normalization talks with the U.S. and
Japan. During this age of raw aggression, it is a welcome example of putting
diplomacy first.

6. The Iraqi people have little to celebrate, but there was one important
victory for the people this year. Remember how the Bush administration and
Congress were insisting that the Iraqi Parliament pass a new oil law? Touted
as a way to "share oil revenue among all Iraqis", the oil law was really
designed to transform the country's currently nationalized oil system to one
open to foreign corporate control. But opposition was fierce inside Iraq,
especially from the nation's oil worker unions. In a rare sign of
independence from Washington and concern for domestic opinion, the Iraqi
Parliament withstood intense U.S. pressure and refused to pass the oil law.

7. In early 2007, few Americans had heard of the private security company
Blackwater. By year's end, Blackwater had become infamous for the killing of
civilians in Iraq. The radical privatization of our military to corporations
like Blackwater that are accountable to no one was exposed for all to see.
This frightening process is still well under way, with more private
contractors in Iraq than soldiers, but at least the issue has now entered
the public dialogue. And Blackwater has received such a black eye that it's
unlikely to get a new Iraq contract when the present one expires in May.

8. One victory on both the war and environmental fronts came in Australia,
where Labor Party's Kevin Rudd beat conservative John Howard to become Prime
Minister. Howard was an enthusiastic backer of George Bush's disastrous war
on terror, from defending the Guantánamo prison and extraordinary rendition
to sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Howard also joined Bush in
refusing to ratify the Kyoto Agreement, arguing it would cost Australians
jobs. After assuming office on December 3, Kevin Rudd immediately signed the
Kyoto agreement and he has promised to remove Australia's combat troops from
Iraq by mid-2008.

9. Sometimes a loss is a win. Hugo Chavez had initiated a constitutional
referendum that would have, among other changes, scrapped term limits. His
immediate acceptance of a razor-thin margin of defeat before all the votes
were even counted showed his democratic colors and made it a lot harder for
Bush and the corporate media to label him a dictator. Despite the loss,
Chavez remains extremely popular, especially among the poor and working
class in Venezuela. And throughout Latin America, the historic
transformation led by progressive leaders like Chavez continues to blossom.

10. Last but not least, this year saw the resignation of some of Bush's
closest allies in government - Donald Rumsfeld resigned as Secretary of
Defense, Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General, and Karl Rove as Deputy Chief
of Staff. Best of all, we can give thanks that we only have ONE YEAR left of
the criminal, war-mongering, constitution-shredding, rights-violating,
torture-sanctioning Bush Administration! It's just GOT to get better than
this!

So here's a toast to a green future, diplomacy, and surviving the last
throes of the Bush regime. Que viva 2008!

[Medea Benjamin (medea at globalexchange.org) is cofounder of Global
Exchange (www.globalexchange.org) and CODEPINK: Women for Peace
(www.codepinkalert.org).]