Now
Available from
CounterPunch for Only $10.50 (S/H Included)
Today's
Stories
October
18 / 19, 2003
Robert
Pollin
Clintonomics:
the Hollow Boom
October
17, 2003
Stan Goff
Piss
On My Leg: Perception Control and the Stage Management of War
Newton
Garver
Bolivia
in Turmoil
Standard
Schaefer
Grocery Unions Under Attack
Ben Terrall
The Ordeal of the Lockheed 52
Ron Jacobs
First Syria, Then Iran
David
Lindorff
Michael
Moore Proclaims Mumia Guilty
October
16, 2003
Marjorie
Cohn
Bush
Gunning for Regime Change in Cuba
Gary Leupp
"Getting Better" in Iraq
Norman
Solomon
The US Press and Israel: Brand Loyalty and the Absence of Remorse
Rush Limbaugh
The 10 Most Overrated Athletes of All Time
Lenni
Brenner
I
Didn't Meet Huey Newton. He Met Me
Website of the Day
Time Tested Books
October
15, 2003
Sunil
Sharma / Josh Frank
The
General and the Governor: Two Measures of American Desperation
Forrest
Hylton
Dispatch
from the Bolivian War: "Like Animals They Kill Us"
Brian
Cloughley
Those
Phony Letters: How Bush Uses GIs to Spread Propaganda About Iraq
Ahmad
Faruqui
Lessons
of the October War
Uri Avnery
Three
Days as a Living Shield
Website
of the Day
Rank and File: the New Unity Partnership Document
JoAnn
Wypijewski
The
New Unity Partnership:
A Manifest Destiny for Labor
October 14, 2003
Eric Ridenour
Qibya
& Sharon: Anniversary of a Massacre
Elaine
Cassel
The
Disgrace That is Guantanamo
Robert
Jensen
What the "Fighting Sioux" Tells Us About White People
David Lindorff
Talking Turkey About Iraq
Patrick
Cockburn
US Troops Bulldoze Crops
VIPS
One Person Can Make a Difference
Toni Solo
The CAFTA Thumbscrews
Peter
Linebaugh
"Remember
Orr!"
Website
of the Day
BRIDGES
October
11 / 13, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
Kay's
Misleading Report; CIA/MI-6 Syrian Plot; Dershowitz Flaps Broken
Wings
Saul Landau
Contradictions: Pumping Empire and Losing Job Muscles
Phillip Cryan
The War on Human Rights in Colombia
Kurt Nimmo
Cuba and the "Necessary Viciousness" of the Bushites
Nelson P. Valdes
Traveling to Cuba: Where There's a Will, There's a Way
Lisa Viscidi
The Guatemalan Elections: Fraud, Intimidation and Indifference
Maria Trigona and Fabian
Pierucci
Allende Lives
Larry
Tuttle
States of Corruption
William A. Cook
Failing America
Brian
Cloughley
US Economic Space and New Zealand
Adrian Zupp
What Would Buddha Do? Why Won't the Dalai Lama Pick a Fight?
Merlin
Chowkwanyun
The Strange and Tragic Case of Sherman Marlin Austin
Ben Tripp
Screw You Right Back: CIA FU!
Lee Ballinger
Grits Ain't Groceries
Mickey Z.
Not All Italians Love Columbus
Bruce
Jackson
On Charles Burnett's "Warming By the Devil's Fire"
William Benzon
The Door is Open: Scorsese's Blues, 2
Adam Engel
The Eyes of Lora Shelley
Walt Brasch
Facing a McBlimp Attack
Poets'
Basement
Mickey Z, Albert, Kearney
October 10, 2003
John Chuckman
Schwarzenegger
and the Lottery Society
Toni Solo
Trashing
Free Software
Chris
Floyd
Body
Blow: Bush Joins the Worldwide War on Women
October
9, 2003
Jennifer
Loewenstein
Bombing
Syria
Ramzi
Kysia
Seeing
the Iraqi People
Fran Shor
Groping the Body Politic
Mark Hand
President Schwarzenegger?
Alexander
Cockburn
Welcome
to Arnold, King for a Day
Website of the Day
The Awful Truth about Wesley Clark
October
8, 2003
David
Lindorff
Schwarzenegger
and the Failure of the Centrist Dems
Ramzy
Baroud
Israel's
WMDs and the West's Double Standard
John Ross
Mexico
Tilts South
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Repub Guru Compares Taxes to the Holocaust
James
Bovard
The
Reagan Roadmap for Antiterrorism Disaster
Michael
Neumann
One
State or Two?
A False Dilemma
October
7, 2003
Uri Avnery
Slow-Motion
Ethnic Cleansing
Stan Goff
Lost in the Translation at Camp Delta
Ron Jacobs
Yom Kippurs, Past and Present
David
Lindorff
Coronado in Iraq
Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
Outing a CIA Operative? Why A Special Prosecutor is Required
Cynthia
McKinney
Who Are "We"?
Elaine Cassel
Shock and Awe in the Moussaoui Case
Walter
Lippman
Thoughts on the Cali Recall
Gary Leupp
Israel's
Attack on Syria: Who's on the Wrong Side of History, Now?
Website
of the Day
Cable News Gets in Touch With It's Inner Bigot
October
6, 2003
Robert
Fisk
US
Gave Israel Green Light for Raid on Syria
Forrest
Hylton
Upheaval
in Bolivia: Crisis and Opportunity
Benjamin Dangl
Divisions Deepen in Third Week of Bolivia's Gas War
Bridget
Gibson
Oh, Pioneers!: Bush's New Deal
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey
Wasserman
The Bush-Rove-Schwarzenegger Nazi Nexus
Nicole
Gamble
Rios Montt's Campaign Threatens Genocide Trials
JoAnn
Wypijewski
The
New Unity Partnership:
A Manifest Destiny for Labor
Website
of the Day
Guerrilla Funk
October
3 / 5, 2003
Tim Wise
The
Other Race Card: Rush and the Politics of White Resentment
Peter
Linebaugh
Rhymsters
and Revolutionaries: Joe Hill and the IWW
Gary Leupp
Occupation
as Rape-Marriage
Bruce
Jackson
Addio
Alle Armi
David Krieger
A Nuclear 9/11?
Ray McGovern
L'Affaire Wilsons: Wives are Now "Fair Game" in Bush's
War on Whistleblowers
Col. Dan Smith
Why Saddam Didn't Come Clean
Mickey
Z.
In Our Own Image: Teaching Iraq How to Deal with Protest
Roger Burbach
Bush Ideologues v. Big Oil in Iraq
John Chuckman
Wesley Clark is Not Cincinnatus
William S. Lind
Versailles on the Potomac
Glen T.
Martin
The Corruptions of Patriotism
Anat Yisraeli
Bereavement as Israeli Ethos
Wayne
Madsen
Can the Republicans Get Much Worse? Sure, They Can
M. Junaid Alam
The Racism Barrier
William
Benzon
Scorsese's Blues
Adam Engel
The Great American Writing Contest
Poets'
Basement
McNeill, Albert, Guthrie
October
2, 2003
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
What's
So Great About Gandhi, Anyway?
Amy Goodman
/ Jeremy Scahill
The
Ashcroft-Rove Connection
Doug Giebel
Kiss and Smear: Novak and the Valerie Plame Affair
Hamid
Dabashi
The Moment of Myth: Edward Said (1935-2003)
Elaine Cassel
Chicago Condemns Patriot Act
Saul Landau
Who
Got Us Into This Mess?
Website of the Day
Last Day to Save Beit Arabiya!
October 1, 2003
Joanne
Mariner
Married
with Children: the Supremes and Gay Families
Robert
Fisk
Oil,
War and Panic
Ron Jacobs
Xenophobia
as State Policy
Elaine
Cassel
The
Lamo Case: Secret Subpoenas and the Patriot Act
Shyam
Oberoi
Shooting
a Tiger
Toni Solo
Plan Condor, the Sequel?
Sean Donahue
Wesley
Clark and the "No Fly" List
Website of the Day
Downloader Legal Defense Fund
September
30, 2003
After
Dark
Arnold's
1977 Photo Shoot
Dave Lindorff
The
Poll of the Shirt: Bush Isn't Wearing Well
Tom Crumpacker
The
Cuba Fixation: Shaking Down American Travelers
Robert
Fisk
A
Lesson in Obfuscation
Charles
Sullivan
A
Message to Conservatives
Suren Pillay
Edward Said: a South African Perspective
Naeem
Mohaiemen
Said at Oberlin: Hysteria in the Face of Truth
Amy Goodman
/ Jeremy Scahill
Does
a Felon Rove the White House?
Website
of the Day
The Edward Said Page
September 29, 2003
Robert
Fisk
The
Myths of Western Intelligence Agencies
Iain A. Boal
Turn It Up: Pardon Mzwakhe Mbuli!
Lee Sustar
Paul
Krugman: the Last Liberal?
Wayne Madsen
General Envy? Think Shinseki, Not Clark
Benjamin
Dangl
Bolivia's Gas War
Uri Avnery
The
Magnificent 27
Pledge
Drive of the Day
Antiwar.com
September
26 / 28, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
Alan
Dershowitz, Plagiarist
David Price
Teaching Suspicions
Saul Landau
Before the Era of Insecurity
Ron Jacobs
The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and
the Patriot Act
Brian
Cloughley
The Strangeloves Win Again
Norman Solomon
Wesley and Me: a Real-Life Docudrama
Robert
Fisk
Bomb Shatters Media Illusions
M. Shahid Alam
A Muslim Sage Visits the USA
John Chuckman
American Psycho: Bush at the UN
Mark Schneider
International Direct Action
The Spanish Revolution to the Palestiniana Intifada
William
S. Lind
How $87 Billion Could Buy Some Real Security
Douglas Valentine
Gold Warriors: the Plundering of Asia
Chris
Floyd
Vanishing Act
Elaine Cassel
Play Cat and Moussaoui
Richard
Manning
A Conservatism that Once Conserved
George Naggiar
The Beautiful Mind of Edward Said
Omar Barghouti
Edward Said: a Corporeal Dream Not Yet Realized
Lenni Brenner
Palestine's Loss is America's Loss
Mickey
Z.
Edward Said: a Well-Reasoned Voice
Tanweer Akram
The Legacy of Edward Said
Adam Engel
War in the Smoking Room
Poets' Basement
Katz, Ford, Albert & Guthrie
Website
of the Weekend
Who the Hell is Stew Albert?
September
25, 2003
Edward
Said
Dignity,
Solidarity and the Penal Colony
Robert
Fisk
Fanning
the Flames of Hatred
Sarah
Ferguson
Wolfowitz at the New School
David
Krieger
The
Second Nuclear Age
Bill Glahn
RIAA Doublespeak
Al Krebs
ADM and the New York Times: Covering Up Corporate Crime
Michael
S. Ladah
The Obvious Solution: Give Iraq Back to the Arabs
Fran Shor
Arnold and Wesley
Mustafa
Barghouthi
Edward Said: a Monument to Justice and Human Rights
Alexander Cockburn
Edward Said: a Mighty and Passionate
Heart
Website
of the Day
Edward Said: a Lecture on the Tragedy of Palestine
The Great Alejandro Escavedo Needs Your Help!
September 24, 2003
Stan Goff
Generational
Casualties: the Toxic Legacy of the Iraq War
William
Blum
Grand Illusions About Wesley Clark
David
Vest
Politics
for Bookies
Jon Brown
Stealing Home: The Real Looting is About to Begin
Robert Fisk
Occupation and Censorship
Latino
Military Families
Bring Our Children Home Now!
Neve Gordon
Sharon's
Preemptive Zeal
Website
of the Day
Bands Against Bush
September
23, 2003
Bernardo
Issel
Dancing
with the Diva: Arianna and Streisand
Gary Leupp
To
Kill a Cat: the Unfortunate Incident at the Baghdad Zoo
Gregory
Wilpert
An
Interview with Hugo Chavez on the CIA in Venezuela
Steven
Higgs
Going to Jail for the Cause--Part 2: Charity Ryerson, Young and
Radical
Stan Cox
The Cheney Tapes: Can You Handle the Truth?
Robert
Fisk
Another Bloody Day in the Death of Iraq
William S. Lind
Learning from Uncle Abe: Sacking the Incompetent
Elaine
Cassel
First They Come for the Lawyers, Then the Ministers
Yigal
Bronner
The
Truth About the Wall
Website
of the Day
The
Baghdad Death Count
September
20 / 22, 2003
Uri Avnery
The
Silliest Show in Town
Alexander
Cockburn
Lighten
Up, America!
Peter Linebaugh
On the Bicentennial of the Execution of Robert Emmet
Anne Brodsky
Return
to Afghanistan
Saul Landau
Guillermo and Me
Phan Nguyen
Mother Jones Smears Rachel Corrie
Gila Svirsky
Sharon, With Eyes Wide Open
Gary Leupp
On Apache Terrorism
Kurt Nimmo
Colin
Powell: Exploiting the Dead of Halabja
Brian
Cloughley
Colin Powell's Shame
Carol Norris
The Moral Development of George W. Bush
Bill Glahn
The Real Story Behind RIAA Propaganda
Adam Engel
An Interview with Danny Scechter, the News Dissector
Dave Lindorff
Good Morning, Vietnam!
Mark Scaramella
Contracts and Politics in Iraq
John Ross
WTO
Collapses in Cancun: Autopsy of a Fiasco Foretold
Justin Podur
Uribe's Desperate Squeals
Toni Solo
The Colombia Three: an Interview with Caitriona Ruane
Steven Sherman
Workers and Globalization
David
Vest
Masked and Anonymous: Dylan's Elegy for a Lost America
Ron Jacobs
Politics of the Hip-Hop Pimps
Poets
Basement
Krieger, Guthrie and Albert
Website of the Weekend
Ted Honderich:
Terrorism for Humanity?
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
October
18 / 19, 2003
Concerned About Prostitution, Mr. President?
Try Reno
Bush,
Electoral Politics and Cuba's "Illicit Sex Trade"
By
NELSON P. VALDES
Fraud and falsehood only dread examination.
Thomas Cooper
On October 10, 2003 President George Bush spoke
to about 100 rightwing Cuban exiles at the Rose Garden. There
he stated his commitment to bringing about "regime change"
in Cuba. At one point during his brief speech he stated that,
"A rapidly growing part of Cuba's tourism industry is the
illicit sex trade, a modern form of slavery which is encouraged
by the Cuban government. This cruel exploitation of innocent
women and children must be exposed and must be ended. "
He used the accusation as the reason to make travel to the island
as difficult as possible.
This article will examine the charge
and respond to it by noting that although Cuba is not a serious
case of prostitution or illicit trafficking of women and children,
the United States is.
First, however, we should be conscious
of the lack of clarity in the presidential declaration. The statement
conflated prostitution and the trafficking of women and children
for sexual purposes, as if they were one and the same thing.
The disingenuous phrase "illicit sex trade" suggests
that sexual prostitution and the "sex trade" are the
same thing, which they are not. Prostitution (or sex work) could
be consensual. The world wide trafficking in women and children,
using force and coercion, is a profoundly different phenomena.
Moreover, the statement accuses the Cuban
government of "encouraging" both. But where is the
evidence of government "encouragement"? None was presented
by the White House, which apparently wants us to assume that
the mere existence of prostitution implies "encouragement."
If that is the case, then we would have to say that the US government,
and all state and city governments in the United States, encourage
prostitution -- and that's not even counting Nevada, where the
"oldest trade" is legal!
It should be noted that in Cuba prostitutes
are not considered criminals, but those who foster, benefit or
help prostitutes are considered participants in a criminal activity.
In August 1997, for example, the Cuban government adopted legislation
to confiscate the property of pimps, madams, and others who rent
space out for prostitution activities - hence targeting the commercial
interest involved. Procurers and drivers were also targeted.
("Cuba to crack down on abettors of prostitution,"
Reuters, 20 July 1997). Prostitutes themselves are not charged
with criminal activity. Cuba's policy was in line with the 1949
the United Nations which proposed the decriminalization of the
activities of prostitutes. In other words, the United Nations
position was not to target the victims - the prostitutes themselves.
From 1959 to 1961, the Cuban revolutionary government carried
on a concerted and systematic effort to do away with the institutions
involved in prostitution while removing its social causes as
well. After that, prostitution -- which was a primary source
of income for unmarried women prior to 1959 --largely disappeared,
and was not a significant or growing phenomena in Cuba again
until 1991. After the disappearance of the Soviet bloc, prostitution
became a survival strategy for a small segment of the Cuban population,
particularly in some urban areas.
However, the trafficking of women and
children for sexual purposes did not re-emerge as a social problem
in the island. Moreover, at no time did the Cuban government
promote or recognize the development of institutions that would
be involved in prostitution. The fact that government did not
criminalize the behavior of the prostitutes themselves did not
mean that it approves of prostitution, much less encourages it.
Many governmental, women's and grass-roots institutions seek
to combat and eliminate this phenomenon, but through education
and consciousness-raising, not repressive measures.
It is true that some women (and some
men) opted for a prostitution strategy to earn income at a time
of economic crisis. However, Cuban prostitution is certainly
minor in comparison with the other islands in the Caribbean,
not to mention the rest of Latin America, or even some cities
like New York . In his speech on October 10th George Bush II
spoke as if the United States did not have the social problem
of prostitution or as if the US government did not promote it.
However, if the existence of prostitutes is evidence of government
consent, as he seems to be charging in the case of Cuba, then
let us look at the evidence here in the United States.
The U.S. National Task Force on Prostitution
(an organization representing prostitutes) has reported that
more than one million U.S. citizens have been prostitutes. [The
report did not estimate what the number was for non-citizens.
The sexual abuse of young women brought into the US to serve
as maids, nannies and sweatshop workers seldom comes to light
because the exploited women are afraid to protest. See today's
San Jose Mercury News for a prime example: a young Guatemalan
woman working as a maid in a California family's home was regularly
"permitted" -- one might assume, forced -- to have
sex with the family's teenage son, who got her pregnant and then
beat her badly. The 26 year old woman has been charged with unlawful
sexual contact with a minor!]
Just in the state of Nevada alone, the
Nevada Brothel Association has disclosed that two years ago there
were 365,000 "legal paid sex acts". The gross income
generated by brothels, which paid taxes, was $50 million dollars
annually in the 1990s. Yet, the United States president has not
addressed this matter, despite the fact that the present governor
of the state of Nevada is Kenny Guinn, a Republican. The state
of Nevada has decriminalized as well as legalized the institutional
business of prostitution. In the 2000 Presidential elections
George Bush campaigned in that state and not once mentioned his
opposition to the business of prostitution. Needless to say,
he carried the state. Of the 17 counties in Nevada he carried
16. Mr. Bush and his "family values" supporters did
not discuss how many of those counties had brothels connected
to tourism and "the pleasure" industry.
Interestingly enough, prostitution seems
to be an unusual concern of the current State Department. The
conservative publication National Review on May 21, 2003 had
an article written by Prof. Donna M. Hughes ("Cat Calls:
U.S. State Department showcases legal prostitution for international
visitors"). The article disclosed that, "Last week,
the State Department took a Southeast Asian delegation for a
tour of a brothel in Nevada. As a part of the International Visitor's
Program, nine people from the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam,
Indonesia, and Malaysia visited the Moonlite Bunny Ranch and
heard lectures on legal prostitution. In case there is any doubt
what "services" the Moonlite Bunny Ranch provides,
pornographic photos of the women available for prostitution can
be viewed on the website of the Nevada Brothels Network."
This, apparently, is a bipartisan practice among different administrations.
Prof. Hughes writes that, "In August 1999, I gave a presentation
on trafficking of women and children for prostitution to a group
of U.S. Information Agency visitors from East Asia. They told
me they too had visited a brothel in Nevada as part of their
tour. " Although the U.S. government claims that the "show
and tell" tours have the intent of combating the trafficking
of women and children who then end in brothels, Prof. Hughes
has written that, "One might conclude from the program of
a visiting brothel and a pro-prostitution organization that the
State Department is telling international visitors that legalization
of prostitution is a solution to trafficking."
The trafficking of women and children
with the intent of placing them within prostitution networks
is a widespread global phenomena. But the "supply side"
aspect, which the present Republican administration is targeting,
forgets a significant component: the recipient countries (i.e.
the "demand" side).
The main recipient of such illegal trafficking
happens to be the United States. It has been estimated by the
United Nations that somewhere between 45,000 to 50,000 women
and children are trafficked yearly to the United States alone,
to work in sweatshops or in brothels. In Miami, in just one month,
in 1997, 15 Chinese children were smuggled to be sold to a pedophilia
ring. (Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution's Pernicious Reach
Grows in the US" Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996;
"Chinese women 'forced into prostitution' in US," BBC,
3 March 1998)
Last year the US Department of Justice
revealed that, "Inside the United States, children are moved
from state to state or city to city for sexual exploitation,
the making of pornography, and prostitution. U.S. pimps use the
same manipulative and coercive techniques to recruit and control
children as they do in transnational trafficking." [See:
Protecting Our Children: Working Together To End Child Prostitution,
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, 13-14 December 2002, Washington, D.C.] Rather that
continue to accuse the Cuban government of allegedly promoting,
encouraging or benefitting from prostitution or the trafficking
of women and children, the <U.S.president> should take
a closer look at his own backyard. He might find that within
the State Department, in Republican controlled states, in the
cities were he enjoys the support of rightwing Cuban exiles (such
as Miami and Union City), there is prostitution. In cities all
across the United States prostitution has been institutionalized,
sometimes it is called "tanning spas" or "massage
parlors".
The Mayor of Washington, DC., Anthony
A. Williams, just last July declared, ""Yes, there
is a prostitution problem in this city." To this should
be added the underground sweatshops, the illegal commerce and
sexual exploitation of foreign women and children. Perhaps we
ought to be addressing our own problems before we go about accusing
others, inventing or exaggerating problems where there might
be none that equal the magnitude of our own.
Nelson Valdes
is a professor of sociology specializing in Latin America at
the University of New Mexico. He can be reached at: nvaldes@unm.edu
Weekend
Edition Features for Sept. 26 / 28, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
Kay's
Misleading Report; CIA/MI-6 Syrian Plot; Dershowitz Flaps Broken
Wings
Saul Landau
Contradictions: Pumping Empire and Losing Job Muscles
Phillip Cryan
The War on Human Rights in Colombia
Kurt Nimmo
Cuba and the "Necessary Viciousness" of the Bushites
Nelson P. Valdes
Traveling to Cuba: Where There's a Will, There's a Way
Lisa Viscidi
The Guatemalan Elections: Fraud, Intimidation and Indifference
Maria Trigona and Fabian
Pierucci
Allende Lives
Larry
Tuttle
States of Corruption
William A. Cook
Failing America
Brian
Cloughley
US Economic Space and New Zealand
Adrian Zupp
What Would Buddha Do? Why Won't the Dalai Lama Pick a Fight?
Merlin
Chowkwanyun
The Strange and Tragic Case of Sherman Marlin Austin
Ben Tripp
Screw You Right Back: CIA FU!
Lee Ballinger
Grits Ain't Groceries
Mickey Z.
Not All Italians Love Columbus
Bruce
Jackson
On Charles Burnett's "Warming By the Devil's Fire"
William Benzon
The Door is Open: Scorsese's Blues, 2
Adam Engel
The Eyes of Lora Shelley
Walt Brasch
Facing a McBlimp Attack
Poets'
Basement
Mickey Z, Albert, Kearney
Keep CounterPunch
Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home / subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|