Havana, November 14 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro met with the
leader of one of the oldest and largest organizations of African-
Americans in the United States -- the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, known as the NAACP.

Kweisi Mfume, the president of the NAACP, told reporters that among
the issues discussed during the four-hour meeting was establishing
relations between Cuba and Black farmers in the United States. He said
that the Cuban president appeared very interested in the prospect,
noting that his delegation has spent several days meeting with high-
ranking government officials in the area of agriculture.

Among the members of the NAACP delegation visiting Cuba is John Boyd,
the president of the National Association of Black Farmers -- with more
than 12,000 members in 38 states. Boyd told journalists that his group
is interested in doing business in Cuba, now that Washington permits
the direct sale of agricultural products to the island on a cash-only
basis. He said that over the years, African-American farmers have
visited on numerous delegations, but this is the closest they have come
to solidifying actual agreements with the Cuban government.

Kweisi Mfume said that the NAACP is also exploring the possibility
of establishing a chapter in Cuba. The president of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People noted that his
organization -- with nearly 500,000 members -- has offices in every US
state, as well as Japan, Germany and South Korea.

Mfume said: "We hope to build a bridge between the NAACP and the people
of Cuba, many of whom are African descendants." 

****

Cairo, November 14 (RHC) - Strongly divided Iraqi opposition groups
have again postponed a conference planned this month in Belgium to
discuss their role in toppling President Saddam Hussein. In a glimpse
of the chaos that would probably follow a post-Saddam Iraq, rivalries
and internal fighting over power-sharing after a change in the Iraqi
regime have delayed the conference, originally scheduled for September.

Three months after the Bush administration encouraged them to unite
and create a common political platform for the future of their country,
Iraq's exile factions are locked in an ethnic, religious and political
power struggle. The arguing has put into doubt a role for Iraqi exiles
in the country's future and presents a grim preview of problems for any
US occupation of Iraq.

The Bush administration officially recognizes six opposition
organizations. One is the Iraqi National Congress, an amalgam of anti-
Hussein groups. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party represent the Kurdish population, based in northern
Iraq. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, an Iranian-based
fundamentalist group, claims to represent the majority Shiite Muslim
population.

The Iraqi National Accord is composed of former army officers and
defectors from Hussein's Baath party. Also thrown into the mix is a
monarchist party that embodies the aspirations of Sharif Ali bin Al
Hussein, an exiled aristocrat, to restore the Hashemite throne to Iraq.
Bush also has authorized expansion of the opposition organizations to
include groups representing other former military officers and Turkish,
Assyrian and Christian minorities.

****

London, November 14 (RHC) - One in 3 British citizens believe that
US President George W. Bush is a bigger threat to world peace than
Saddam Hussein, according to a new poll reported in the British news
daily The Guardian. Of those questioned by the US polling organization
YouGov, for Britain's Channel 4 TV, one third said they have no trust
at all in Bush, and many actually fear him.

In a straight choice between Bush and Saddam as to who poses the
greater threat to world peace, 32% said Bush and 49% said Saddam. At
the same time, almost half see British Prime Minister Tony Blair as
Bush's lapdog, with the figure even higher among the under-30s. And
almost two-thirds said the only reason the US has targeted Saddam is
because he threatens US control of the Middle East, while only a
quarter feel it is because the Iraqi leader is a threat to world peace.

Despite the poll findings, the British government refused to tone down
its bellicose rhetoric. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned President
Saddam Wednesday that he will face confrontation if he fails to
disclose a full list of the country's alleged weapons of mass
destruction. Having accepted last Friday's UN resolution, the next
hurdle for Iraq will be to provide the list by December 8.

****

RHC editorial.

November 14, 2002

The poor of this world need "more globalization, not less", according
to the president of the US Federal Reserve; a person who surely
believes that those who protest against the global trade system might
have good intentions, but are mistaken. US Economic guru Alan
Greenspan, purports that "free trade benefits both the rich and the
developing nations".

However reality contradicts Greenspan and his acolytes. In l971, the
United Nations made a list of the 25 most backward nations. Now, three
decades later, 49 make up that sad list. 20 years ago the average
proportion of income between the poor and the rich countries was 1 to
87 and now it is a shameful 1 to 98. The possibility of escaping from
that unfortunate list before the year 2015 is practically non-existent
and it is predicted that within 50 years, only 8 of those countries
will have managed it.

During the 1990's, when the globalization of neoliberalism began,
official aid for development quickly dropped off by 45 per cent. "The
rich nations pledged to employ 0.7 per cent of their Gross Domestic
Product for development aid. However, currently that is around 0.2 per
cent and most of the industrialized nations are far from complying with
the promise they made", recently commented UN Secretary General, Kofi
Annan. Despite a few well-publicized initiatives to cancel the foreign
debt of the poorest nations, the truth is that the debt has continued
to soar to impossible levels.

Today there are some 826 million malnourished people in the world, most
of them in sub-Sahara Africa. They lack approximately 100 to 400
calories a day, which prevents them from leading a normal, active life.
Nearly 200 million are "new slaves"; the victims of a policy that
treats human beings as expanding "markets" and a new source of easy
money for international Mafia. The earnings are astounding: according
to the United Nations in the area of prostitution alone, yearly
business tops seven billion dollars.

Of course the neoliberal globalization that Greenspan so highly
recommends for the entire world could brag of other undeniable
"successes" like spiraling violence, growing drug trafficking and
consumption, the disintegration of families, unbridled consumerism and
the homogenization of thought. Are these the values we want to instill
in our children? Millions of Latin Americans are starting to see the
light and are hitting streets to make sure their leaders understand
that the "great" experiment has failed, and that far from being "manna"
from heaven, neoliberalism has made life on earth hell for
millions.