Boston Academic Taking CIA to Court Over “Paltry” Information Releases

BOSTON – Prof. George Katsiaficas of Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston has launched a federal lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency over documents he seeks relating to the assassination of a former Korean premier.

The complaint comes after Katsiaficas made two requests of the agency under the federal Freedom of Information Act in March 2010 for documents surrounding the rise and fall of Park Chung-hee.

The agency has released some documents to Katsiaficas since his requests over three years ago, but he is not satisfied, calling them “paltry,” and alleges that the CIA has more information to which he is legally entitled.

“What the CIA released was really indicative that they’re hiding something, because they released such paltry reports,” said Katsiaficas, “they were more or less public reports of the CIA, they didn’t release any [internal] documents; they acted as though they had nothing about all this, and of course they must have documents about it.”

Open Media Boston contacted the CIA public affairs office to confirm whether or not they have released all available information to Katsiaficas – and to provide an explanation if not – but they declined to comment on an ongoing court case.

The case filing at the US District Court of Massachusetts provides the details of Katsiaficas’ FOIA requests:

• The first of two requests in March 2010 asked for all documents related to the assassination of South Korean President Park Chung-hee on October 26, 1979 by Korean CIA (KCIA) chairman Kim Jae-Kyu.

• The second request asked for access to, and copies of, records concerning the coup d’etat of May 16, 1961 in South Korea, which saw General Park Chung-hee rise to power.

While the federal open access law requires a government body, such as the CIA, to release requested information within 20 days, over a year passed before Katsiaficas received a response to his requests.

In March 2011, the agency responded with 29 pages of what the court filing calls “bulletins, summaries, and weekly reviews from 1961,” which, “contained no CIA documents at all.”

Katsiaficas then used his right to appeal under FOI legislation, and continued to demand information from the CIA.

In July 2012, in response to the appeal, the agency responded with a further ten pages of documents – a two-page, heavily redacted report – and three daily reports, all of which “could be found in newspapers at that time,” the court filing says.

Katsiaficas, a peace advocate whose blog says he was targeted by the FBI’s counter intelligence program for antiwar activism during the Vietnam conflict, explained that he launched the FOIA requests at the suggestion of other activists.

Reluctant at first, he said that due to his activist background, “I wasn’t sure that they (the CIA) would take my request as seriously as they would from … a less activist [person] … I thought someone more appropriate could be found.”

Katsiaficas decided to press on with his requests nonetheless, and says that, “someone needed to do this; no-one had done it; they (the activists) had asked me to do it; so I did it,” he said.

With rebellions, uprisings, a military coup, an assassination, a secret tribunal, a mutiny, and allegations of cold war espionage, the court filing reads more like a spy novel than South Korean history.

The details provided in the court record are extensive, but here are some of the key points:

• In 1960, a popular movement in South Korea overthrew the rule of US-backed Syngman Rhee, and a democratic government was established,

• That government lasted only until May 16, 1961, when General Park Chung-hee led a coup d’etat, and established himself as dictator,

• By the late 70s, however, Park Chung-hee’s dictatorship began facing criticism from the US, particularly over his nuclear ambitions,

• Park Chung-hee remained in power until October 26, 1979 when he was assassinated by KCIA director Kim Jae-kyu,

• On December 12, 1979 General Chun Doo-hwan led a military coup, and Jae-kyu was himself executed on May 24, 1980 following his conviction by secret tribunal,

• There were widespread allegations that the US was involved in Park Chung-hee’s assassination,

• Park Chung-hee’s daughter, Park Geun-hye, is now the current President of South Korea.

According to the court filing there is no legal basis for the CIA’s refusal to disclose the records sought by Katsiaficas, and the suit asks the court to order the agency to release all requested files within 90 days.

Representing Katsiaficas in the case, Neil Berman Esq. of Common Sense Legal Counseling in Somerville told Open Media Boston that responses to FOIA requests “are often less than forthcoming.”

And when it comes to litigation in FOIA cases, the difficulty is often the cost of “what are fairly expensive cases,” where plaintiffs are up against government agencies that have the benefit of “in-house attorneys.”

Katsiaficas thinks he may receive the information he requested, but he is also critical of the Obama administration for restricting FOI access, saying that more requests have been “denied than under any other president in US history.

“It’s not just the CIA, the Obama administration has reduced the amount of information that American citizens are able to glean about their government, and it’s a very sad development,” he said.

Katsiaficas has written extensively on social movements in Asia and elsewhere, and says his focus is “turning more toward how the United States Government and corporations have dominated Korea so successfully, and … the roots of that both in US policy and actions, as well as in the culture of South Korea.”

His FOIA requests have also been expanded to include the Defense Intelligence Agency, because he says, “it’s possible the DIA will release documents that the CIA doesn’t have, or doesn’t want to release.”

Berman confirmed that the next step on his behalf is to serve the CIA and the Government before an appearance at the US District Court in Massachusetts will be scheduled. Published on Open Media Boston.

Freedom of Information Battle, May 14, 2013, a set on Flickr.

New Wage Theft Law Would Target Somerville Employers

Somerville, Mass. – Somerville officials are considering adopting a new ordinance that would see employers guilty of wage theft lose or fail to gain licenses and permits issued by the city.

The ordinance drafted by the city’s Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone came after Somerville residents and activists signed a petition in April seeking a public hearing by the Board of Aldermen on the issue of wage theft in the city.

The board heard testimony at the hearing at Somerville City Hall Tuesday night from members of a labor rights group Centro Presente, as well as local residents.

“The draft ordinance looks pretty good … we’re looking for something that uses any and all city powers against any companies that have been found to have committed wage theft,” said Patrick McDermott, workers’ rights organizer for Centro Presente .

McDermott explained that wage theft happens when employees are not paid in full for hours worked, and that his group often sees these issues raised by immigrants who work in restaurants, construction, landscaping, cleaning, and painting jobs.

“We’ve had quite a few cases around Somerville … in those industries that I’ve mentioned, and around Boston,” he said, “we get a few new cases every week at this office alone, and I know that the other workers’ centers around Boston [are] getting a lot.”

Aldermen asked some clarifying questions about the wage theft issue, but there was general support for a new ordinance, which could already impact at least one business operating in the city.

The subject of an ongoing case filed last October in the US District Court in Massachusetts by workers at Diva Indian Bistro near Davis Square, Somerville, against their employer, Amrik Singh Pabla, who they allege committed wage theft.

The restaurant is owned by the One World Cuisine restaurant group with an address on Newbury St., which also owns other businesses in Cambridge and Boston including Bukhara, Kashmir, Mantra, Mela, Dosa Factory, Mumbai Chopstix, Doma Liquors, and Pabla Sweet House.

The court case is being taken by a number of workers suing for back wages of $183,500 against different businesses all under the same ownership, but the Diva restaurant is the only establishment based in Somerville.

One World Cuisine declined to provide Open Media Boston with a statement regarding the public hearing when asked for comment by phone and e-mail.

Jaswinder Singh, Director of a company called Monsoon – which shares an address with One World Cuisine, and has Mr. Pabla as a director – also declined to provide a comment or speak publicly, but delivered a letter to the board from Attorney John N. Lewis, Watertown, Mass.

The letter accuses Centro Presente of making “defamatory statements” in an effort to “in their own words, ‘pressure’ our clients to pay un-adjudicated claims which are being litigated in [court].”

The letter also states that the Fair Labor Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office and US Department of Labor have not found any violation of wage or hour laws at Diva.

Alderman Maryann M. Heuston (Ward Two), said that a wage theft ordinance would send a “powerful message” to employers, and that “it will help people who work in this city to know that there’s a partner in this struggle, and that partner is the city.”

She commended Centro Presente for doing the job of collecting complaints, and local activists for bringing the alleged wage theft issue at the Diva restaurant to the board’s attention, but said “that’s not as … structured as we would like it … there needs to be an arm of, an administrative arm, in this city that takes responsibility, and takes these complaints as well.”

Alderman Dennis M. Sullivan (At Large) echoed Heuston’s remarks saying “I’m appalled that this is going on in our city, it’s imperative as a board that we pass an ordinance with some teeth.”

Centro’s McDermott says his organization has had quite a few cases involving wage theft across Somerville, but that there are many more that go unreported due to fears over immigration status or because of lack of information regarding labor rights.

He said that workers often aren’t aware that their rights have been violated, because they don’t know the rules regarding the minimum wage and overtime.

“A lot of times people will come in to me, you know, when they haven’t gotten paid at all – and obviously they know that something’s wrong there – but when they show me the calculation they made of the hours that they’re owed, they’re not taking overtime into account, so yes, sometimes there’s violations that go unreported, or underreported,” said McDermott.

Interpreted by McDermott, a former employee of a unnamed construction company, Raquel DeLeon testified at the hearing that “there were seven of us women (at the company), and they didn’t pay us; we worked for them for some time [and] they ended up owing us approximately $3,700, between the seven of us; personally they didn’t pay me for 64 hours of work; that adds up to $584.”

Open Media Boston reported in December on protests outside Diva Indian Bistro following the firing of an employee there.

The report also states that One World Cuisine was sued for wage violations in 2010 by two Honduran workers who worked at Mumbai Chopstix and Mantra; that case was settled out of court.

Similar wage theft legislation has been passed in Seattle in 2011, and more recently in Chicago in January this year, but there is currently no such ordinance in any city in the Bay State.

The matter has now been referred to the Somerville city government’s legislative matters committee for discussion. Published on Open Media Boston.

Wage Theft Hearing Somerville May 8 2013, a set on Flickr.

Gap Called on to Sign Safety Agreement, Harvard Square Outlet Picketed

Cambridge, Mass. – In the less than two weeks since a devastating collapse at a Bangladeshi garment factory on April 24, over 650 workers have been confirmed dead with many more still missing and the death toll is expected to rise.

Following the loss of life that allegedly resulted from a management decision to ignore structural faults in the building, picketers targeted the Gap outlet at 15 Brattle St. in Harvard Square on Saturday to call on the company – a major purchaser of garments from Bangladesh – to sign a safety agreement in the country.

They were also calling on consumers to question retailers like the Gap about how their clothes are made, saying that they can impact the way their clothes are produced by placing pressure on major apparel chains.

Paul Drake, director and lead organizer of Interfaith Worker Justice, Massachusetts said the picket “was about ensuring that the humanity of the workers that have been killed by the hundreds over the past several years, that that humanity gets recognized, because it’s been buried in the rubble of these buildings.

“These deaths and these incidents are entirely preventable, the companies that make the profit from the clothes that these workers make, they have the resources, and they also have the responsibility to commit the resources, to making these spaces safe, and we’re here to ask for exactly that,” he continued.

The political group Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, and other labor organizations, had scheduled a talk at Boston University by survivors of a deadly blaze at a different garment factory in Bangladesh that claimed the lives of 112 people last November.

The talk was due to take place on April 19, but was cancelled during the manhunt for the suspected Boston marathon bombers that had started the night before; less than one week later in Bangladesh the collapse of the garment factory building would kill nearly six times the number of those killed in the fire.

Coming to the US from Bangladesh over 20 years ago, member of the ASDSA, Nurul Kabir spoke of his anger towards the employers in the Bangladeshi garment industry and “the contempt they have for working people.”

He said, “The garment industry is very important to Bangladesh, because 80 per cent of export earnings are coming from the garment industry, right, but you’d think for that reason people would be treated better.

It bothers me that there’s so much inhumanity…and plain not seeing people as human beings, I don’t think they (politicians and employers)…see workers as truly human beings just like themselves, and that’s my personal feeling, and I detest that,” said Kabir.

Open Media Boston found multiple items of clothing at the Gap outlet with labels stating they were made in Bangladesh, along with several other underdeveloped countries including: Sri Lanka, Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, India, and China.

The picket on Brattle St. was preceded by a vigil and speeches outside Harvard T station before the crowd of over 80 demonstrators marched to the store; Cambridge police officers arrived during the picket, but the event passed without incident.

Calling on the Gap to sign a fire and building safety agreement in Bangladesh, demonstrators also delivered a letter to a store employee to pass on to the corporate office.

Drake explained that the agreement they seek “is something that would be a contract…similar to the contracts we all have in society, as opposed to just a promise to do right.”

The agreement calls for independent inspections by trained fire safety experts independent of corporate ties, public reporting of inspection results, mandatory repairs to safety hazards, the creation of new ways to identify hazards, and a voice for workers through their unions on workplace safety issues.

“There has to be sufficient financing, and this has to be legally binding,” Drake said, “it can’t just be vague promises; those are the features in the agreement that are so important, and we’re just baffled why these companies don’t want to agree to that.”

Open Media Boston contacted the Gap press office for comment, but the company did not respond before the filing of this report.

Many picketers chanted, “close, close, close the Gap, your factories are a death trap,” but Kabir doesn’t agree.

“I don’t think they should stop buying anything because it’s made in El Salvador, or wherever such crimes are happening, they shouldn’t, because people there are desperate, and the job is important to them; I think it doesn’t help anybody.

“It’s not so much that the wage difference is bad, but workers’ rights should be enforced, you know, the cost of living is lower, so is the wage difference…” he said.

This latest tragedy in Bangladesh is being compared in the media to the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City in 1911, but it already far outstrips the 146 fatalities in that infamous workplace disaster.

Asked about how consumers can feel like they’re doing something to improve workplace conditions and not feel resigned to how their garments are produced in countries like Bangladesh, Mr. Drake said, “I think part of that is because the economy fragments us from one another and it fragments our humanity…”

On a practical level, he said “one concrete thing that individuals…can do is wherever they shop for their garments, say ‘if you source in Bangladesh, have you signed on to the fire safety agreement?’ that’s pretty basic, so people should speak up in that capacity.”

He also called on consumers to call corporate offices, write letters to the editor, and join future pickets of the Gap. Published on Open Media Boston.

Gap Picket, Harvard, May 2, 2013, a set on Flickr.

Boston’s Immigrant Community Celebrates May Day, Rally Highlights Important Issues

BOSTON/East Boston – Deportations, ongoing labor disputes, raising the minimum wage, health care, student loans, workplace safety, social security, housing foreclosures, bank debt, drivers’ licenses, and community investment were just some of the issues raised on May Day in East Boston.
The traditional workers’ holiday was part protest and part community celebration with many families with young children gathered at Liberty Plaza listening to music and watching an acrobatic performance, but also bearing placards saying “Immigration Reform Now” and “Stop the Attacks on Working Families.”
Gladys Vega, Executive Director of Chelsea Collaborative, explained it is “one of those great days where we’re celebrating the contribution of workers in America, and making sure that workers’ rights [are] protected…we highlight the contributions of all, not only immigrants, but working class families, and we want people to know that we want to invest in our communities and not in corporations.”
Taking shot at the banks, she said, “in terms of investing in families, we always think about student loans, making sure the [foreclosure] crisis stops, and that the banks, rather than continue to exploit their clients, that they invest in helping them…”
A crowd of nearly one thousand people from various community, labor, faith, immigrant rights, and political groups converged on the Plaza following marches that began in several surrounding areas, the largest coming from Chelsea City Hall.
It began with a moment of silence in memory of victims of the Boston marathon bombings as well as those who have died while trying to enter the US.
Many people at the rally were waving flags of South American countries alongside the Stars and Stripes, and from the stage came chants of “Obama, Obama, don’t deport my Mama,” and “Mr. President Get it Right, Immigration is a Human Right.”
One of several workers to address the crowd, Yahya Bajinka, who came to the US in 2010 with his brothers from West Africa, “in search of a better life and a decent job,” told the crowd how he, “needed two jobs to just get by.”
As a security officer, Mr. Bajinka earns $14.75 an hour, and has paid sick days and other benefits, but he also works for G2 Secure Staff as an aviation services worker at Logan Airport, which he describes as like a “different world” to his other job.
He says that, “workers are forced into sweatshop conditions,” and “we are paid poverty wages (the minimum wage of $8 an hour), receive no benefits, are given only part-time hours, and only work in unsafe conditions.”
“Contractors at Logan Airport, like G2 where I work, take advantage of the fact that many immigrants are in desperate need of work and they use this to exploit us,” he continued.
A group of workers at G2, including Mr. Bajinka, has called on their employer to meet with them to discuss conditions on-the-job, but they have been unsuccessful in their attempts so far.
Ms. Vega criticized the minimum wage in Massachusetts, just $8 an hour, saying “that’s not good enough,” because “the cost of living is so high.”
She was also critical of healthcare in the Bay State, and is calling for vigilance over workplace rights, and on social security benefits, particularly for the elderly, which she says are always in question.
Rosa de la Rosa, a housekeeper living in the US for past 14 years and originally from the Dominican Republic, spoke of a labor dispute she’s involved in at Le Meridian Hotel in Cambridge.
She said she has “seen the abuses that the bosses do to the workers, and that’s what I’m fighting for in my workplace, so the workers can make their rights be respected,” and called on those gathered to join weekly pickets outside the hotel.
In April, Open Media Boston reported on a nationwide week of action against the hotel’s owners, HEI Hospitality, which saw workers demanding a fair process to decide on forming a union; Cambridge City Council has previously unanimously supported a boycott of the Le Meridian hotel the report says.
As the future of a federal immigration bill, which attempts to create a path to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, is still undecided, Ms. Vega spoke of the need to stop deportations of people from her community, one of the key issues for those gathered there.
Commenting on the length of time it takes authorities to process immigration papers, she said, “we have a lot of immigrants in our community that are waiting for their papers to be processed and unless immigration reform happens this year they’re going to be in limbo because the US [Citizenship and Immigration Services] hasn’t processed their documents, and they’re here in…stay tuned status, and they don’t have anything that says, hey, I have legal residency, or I’m waiting for legal residence, so we’re extremely afraid of deportations.”
There are currently three bills filed at the State House, which would see incremental raises in the Massachusetts’ minimum wage. There is also a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights that has been referred to the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development at the State House. Open Media Boston reported last week that according to a new report by MassCOSH over 32 workers died on-the-job in 2012, with more than 300 dying of occupational diseases, over 90 of those asbestos-related.
Steve Tolman, President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, addressed the crowd saying he was there, “to fight for a decent, responsible, and accountable immigration reform.
“Too often, too many workers are stuck in the shadows of the workplace, without any justice because of a broken immigration system in America,” he said.
Echoing remarks made recently by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass. 4th District), Boston City Councilor At-Large and candidate for Boston City Mayor Felix Arroyo told the crowd gathered that we are a nation of immigrants, and that the vast majority of people in this country can trace their roots to somewhere else. Published on Open Media Boston.

May Day East Boston 2013, a set on Flickr.

Asbestos Major Workplace Hazard, Report Highlights on Workers’ Memorial Day

BOSTON/State House – There were 32 fatal on-the-job accidents in Massachusetts last year and an estimated more than 300 deaths due to occupational diseases – over 90 due to asbestos-related illness – according to a report released this week.
Launched on the steps of the State House Thursday, Dying for Work in Massachusetts: Loss of Life and Limb in Massachusetts Workplaces is an annual joint effort by Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
In a month that saw on-duty MIT police officer Sean Collier shot to death, the event also marked the 25th annual Workers’ Memorial Day for those who have lost their lives at workplaces across the Bay State.
Executive Director of MassCOSH, and co-author of the report Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, said the event was held to, “shine a spotlight on the toll of unsafe working conditions.”
“Too often there are basic safety measures that employers are simply ignoring…putting profit over human beings’ lives, and we know that we deserve better,” she added.
Ms. Gelb commented on what she sees as the “meteoric growth” in temp workers, day laborers, and other working conditions where employers are “trying to separate themselves from being responsible to the safety and well-being of their workers.”
Geoffrey Almeida, a boat building and repair worker on the North Shore died in 2011 following a battle with cancer related to asbestos.
His widow, Catherine Devitt, told the crowd gathered at the State House in a quiet voice, “I’m not a public speaker, I would not choose to do this, but Geoffrey would have had me come, and he would have loved that his name was being spoken at this place, on this podium.”
She said Geoffrey’s nickname was “Mr. Be Careful,” because he saw danger everywhere, and always took every precaution available to him and his workers.
“His death was terrible. He did not die suddenly like so many…we lost him over a year and a half. He went from a vibrant 59 year old to a 60 year old man who could not live; he weighed very little, he looked like he was 90,” said Devitt through tears.
Though it’s regulated by a number of federal and state agencies asbestos is still legal in Massachusetts, and there are no laws or regulations requiring its removal from buildings according to the MassDEP website.
Ms. Goldstein-Gelb criticized the effectiveness of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the body responsible for overseeing safety in private sector workplaces.
She says that Dying for Work shows, “it would take OSHA 140 years to inspect every Massachusetts workplace within their jurisdiction, and what that says is that they’re completely under-resourced; there is not enough inspectors, there is not enough funding.”
She also criticized the lack of substantial penalties for employers in violation of OSHA regulations with the report stating that the average fine against employers in Massachusetts was $9,590.
Some of the key findings in the report for 2012 in the report state:
• There were an estimated 1,800 workers in Massachusetts with newly diagnosed cancers caused by workplace exposures, and an estimated 50,000 more were seriously injured.
• While the number of fatalities in 2012 was lower than in previous years, similar declines in fatalities have occurred before only to be followed by increases in subsequent years.
• The average age of death was 50 years old in an age range from 19-73 years old.
• 53% of those who were 50 or older, with 28% between the ages of 40-49, and 25% over 60.
• James Ivanov, a 19 year old student, was the youngest person to lose his life in 2012. It was reported in news media that he fell from the roof of a house in West Springfield while working construction.
• The construction industry was one of the most dangerous industries for workers with six fatalities in 2012; four of those working at sea lost their lives; and seven firefighters died from work-related cancer and heart disease.
• Seven workplace deaths are included in the report up until March 12 this year, the same figure recorded on the same date last year, but Sean Collier’s death on April 18 brings the total deaths in 2013 to eight.
In a bill sponsored by State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), MassCOSH is now pushing for occupational safety and health standards to be applied to state employees, like their private sector counterparts.
Another bill sponsored by State Senator Brian Joyce (D-Milton) would see the compensation for burial allowance of those who lose their lives in work-related instances doubled from $4,000 to $8,000. Published on Open Media Boston.

Workers’ Memorial Day, April 25, 2013, a set on Flickr.

Ahead of Senate Vote Demonstrators Demand Fair Transit System

BOSTON/Beacon Street – Demanding a more equitable transit system Wednesday, demonstrators targeted the State House where the Senate is expected to vote on a transportation bill next week. The bill proposed by the Senate gives more funding to infrastructure than the $500m called for by the House bill, but still falls short of Governor Deval Patrick’s requested $1.9bn for transportation and education. An MBTA board meeting at the Transportation Building was also picketed by demonstrators as officials met to pass a budget expecting state funding to close a $118m deficit. Following the picket, approximately 150 members of a number of community, labor, and environmental groups marched to the State House. One of the main organizers of the protest, Diana Bell of Community Labor United, said: “Our communities can’t afford another year of fare hikes and service cuts.” Published on Open Media Boston.

Ahead of Senate Vote Demonstrators Demand Fair Transit System, a set on Flickr.

Rally Demands Citizenship for Immigrants; Senator Warren, Congressman Kennedy Show Support

BOSTON/Faneuil Hall – As part of a coordinated effort to push Congress in the direction of progressive immigration reform, the Service Employees International held a rally and march in Boston on Saturday. The event is one of many to be held across the country in support of reform beneficial to an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass. 4th District) addressed approximately 500 supporters at a packed Faneuil Hall. Several immigrants also gave personal testimonies of the hardships endured by those living without papers in the U.S., including domestic violence and fear of the authorities. The rally left Faneuil Hall for a march ending at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building on New Sudbury St. The location of an immigration court, marchers laid individual flowers at the entrance in tribute to family and friends deported or living without papers in the US. Published on Open Media Boston.

SEIU Immigration Rally, April 6, 2013, a set on Flickr.