#55 January/February 2002
The Washington Free Press Washington's Independent Journal of News, Ideas & Culture
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3,500 Civilians Killed in Afghanistan by US Bombs
Study finds that international news media have reported plenty about innocent civilian deaths, but American news media have been comparatively silent
from press release

Bombing Red Cross in Afghanistan No ‘Mistake’
Opinion by Professor Michael Foley, contributor

Evergreen State College Staff Opposes War

I Was Almost John Walker
By Glenn Sacks, contributor

Attention 1999 WTO Protestors

Public Transport Ridership On Rise

I Walk Across
fiction by Phil Kochik, contributor

World Mobility Study Warns of Gridlock, Pollution, Global Warming

Fight Bugs with Bats

Leaf Litter: Nature’s Jewel

Activists Say Dow Weedkiller Is Harmful

Enviro, Population Movements Merge Goals for Healthier Planet
opinion by Renee Kjartan, Free Press

Has Bush Planned Coup in Venezuela?

Congressional Flag Waving and Corporate Tax Cutting
by Wayne Grytting, contributor

Crusade For 'Decency' In Montana

Bayer: Not Just Aspirin
opinion by Coalition against Bayer-Dangers, Kavaljit Singh, and Philipp Mimkes

Flouridation: Toxic and Ineffective
It’s in much of our state’s drinking water. Health and enviro groups are increasingly opposing it.
opinion by Emily Kalweit, contributor

Water Pollution Leads To Mixed-Sex Fish

Getting Corporations Out of Washington Schools
by Glenn Reed, contributor

Avalanche of School Testing is a Bonanza for Corporate Publishers
By David Bacon, contributor

Health by Numbers

My load is heavy...

Progressives Blast 'Pork Legislation'

There IS Something Wrong with Your Television Set
Resisting the video war
narrative by Glenn Reed

Today They Killed A Tree
poetry by Christine Johnson

Two New Books From Seven Stories Press

Has Bush Planned Coup in Venezuela?

Populist President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela might be a little nervous now, based on past history. Early last month, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon and the US State Department held a two-day meeting on US policy toward Venezuela. Similar meetings took place in 1953, 1963, and 1973, before coups in Iran, Vietnam, and Chile (as well as before coups in other places such as Guatemala, Brazil and Argentina).

In a article entitled “The Scent of Another Coup” (San Francisco Examiner, Dec 2001), writer Conn Hallinan explains that the recent cause of US ire toward Chavez came after Chavez questioned the value of bombing Afghanistan, calling it “fighting terrorism with terrorism.” Chavez also sharply condemned the 9-11 attacks.

But Hallinan speculates there is a second motive for a potential coup. The Chavez government is presently trying to change the 60-year-old agreement with foreign oil companies that charges them as little as one percent in royalties. Venezuela has 77 billion barrels of proven reserves, and is the US’s third biggest source of oil. It is also a major cash cow for the likes of Phillips Petroleum and ExxonMobil.

Hallinan writes that “A larger slice is desperately needed in Venezuela. In spite of the fact that oil generates some $30 billion each year, 80 percent of Venezuelans are, according to government figures, ‘poor,’ and half of those are malnourished. Most rural Venezuelans have no access to land except to work it for someone else, because two percent of the population controls 60 percent of the land.”


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