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Author Topic: Oslo hotel faces backlash over Cuba ban
a lonely worker
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posted 05 January 2007 05:01 PM      Profile for a lonely worker     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
US imperialism at its worst:

quote:
An Oslo hotel owned by the U.S.-based Hilton Hotel Corp. faced protests, a boycott and a police complaint this week after refusing to book rooms for a Cuban delegation because of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

The Cuban delegation, set to attend a travel fair in Oslo this month, planned to stay at the Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in the city centre, as they had on five previous visits.

However, the 140-hotel Scandic company was bought by Hilton in March, and the Cubans were informed in December that they would have to find another hotel due to the American boycott.

The Anti-Racist Centre in Oslo filed a police complaint against the hotels, saying Norwegian law ensures that “no one can be denied access based on their citizenship or ethnic origin.”

The Foreign Ministry said companies operating in Norway have to obey Norwegian law, regardless of their home base. It said other agencies would have to determine what laws apply in this case.

In a release, Norway's most powerful labour union, the 830,000 member Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, demanded that “the government take steps so that companies like Scandic, which clearly abide by the United States' illegal boycott and blockade and not Norwegian law, are barred from doing business in Norway.”

The state Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud said it would demand an explanation from Scandic and then decide whether to open a case against the company.


link


From: Anywhere that annoys neo-lib tools | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
M. Spector
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posted 05 January 2007 06:06 PM      Profile for M. Spector   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Cuban delegations will get the same treatment at Scandic hotels in Sweden, a spokeswoman confirmed on Thursday.

"It is of course not nice to turn away guests, but given that this was a question of a Cuban delegation we who are part of an American hotels chain have to follow American laws," said Christina Karlegran, spokeswoman for Hilton in and Scandic in the Nordic region.

Karlegran said that Scandic interpreted the Helms-Burton Act as only forcing them to turn away official Swedish delegations, not private individuals.

"We do not turn away [ordinary] Cubans, although this question has never come up. This was an official trade delegation."

Controversy was generated last year when a Cuban delegation was turned away from a Sheraton hotel in Mexico after pressure from the US government. Politicians and media protested that the United States was forcing its laws on other countries.

The United States previously claimed that the law also applied to non-American companies, something which caused the European Union to take the question to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The most controversial elements of Helms-Burton have never been brought into force.

Sweden and Cuba have full diplomatic and trading relations.


Source

From: One millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
a lonely worker
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posted 05 January 2007 06:54 PM      Profile for a lonely worker     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
This really is a cautionary tale about the perils of letting US interests take over any nation's facilities. I hope the Norweigians take them to the cleaners and force the issue of Norweigian law taking precedence over US imperialism.

In Mexico the Sheraton chain was fined over $100,000 for violating Mexican law when they kicked out the Cubans there.


From: Anywhere that annoys neo-lib tools | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
eau
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posted 05 January 2007 09:48 PM      Profile for eau        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
This just makes the hotel and the US look silly at every level. The Norwegians have laws too.
From: BC | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
Briguy
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posted 08 January 2007 05:27 AM      Profile for Briguy     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Pshah. You speak as though Norweigan laws trump American laws in Norway. Clearly, that can't be right.
From: No one is arguing that we should run the space program based on Physics 101. | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 08 January 2007 05:37 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
They should shut them down. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with that.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Sven
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posted 08 January 2007 06:57 AM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Does Canada prohibit Canadian companies who operate outside of Canada from using child labor in another country to produce products? Assuming Canadian law does prohibit such conduct...

If Country X permits child labor and if a Canadian company turned away children from working at the company's plant in Country X because it would violate Canadian law, should the Canadian company be obligated to follow Country X's laws and employ the child job applicants? Or, should the Canadian company be subject to punishment for violating Canadian law?


From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Cueball
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posted 08 January 2007 06:58 AM      Profile for Cueball   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You would be friggin naked man, if Canada applied such a policy in law.

Sorry I forgot, you are from the States. You would be naked if the US applied such a policy in law.

[ 08 January 2007: Message edited by: Cueball ]


From: Out from under the bridge and out for a stroll | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 08 January 2007 06:59 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Since when is that a law in Canada?

Go to any local Canadian business. They are selling sweatshop items.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Palamedes
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posted 08 January 2007 11:19 AM      Profile for Palamedes        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
This is my worry if the Canadian government starts handing over the names of people flying over US airspace. Do we really want the US having access to the names of everyone going to Cuba? Who knows where their sadistic little war on Cuba is going to end? It stands to reason that they'll start blacklisting any Canadian that has gone to Cuba.

And while you might not care about ebing able to go to the US, not being able to go to Central America or South America is not great.


From: Toronto | Registered: Dec 2006  |  IP: Logged
Ken Burch
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posted 08 January 2007 04:54 PM      Profile for Ken Burch     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Cueball:
You would be friggin naked man, if Canada applied such a policy in law.

Sorry I forgot, you are from the States. You would be naked if the US applied such a policy in law.

[ 08 January 2007: Message edited by: Cueball ]


OR, to slightly paraphrase Randy Newman:

"Beware, Beware, Beware, of the Naked Sven!"


From: A seedy truckstop on the Information Superhighway | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
a lonely worker
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posted 08 January 2007 07:04 PM      Profile for a lonely worker     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
From your previous postings Sven, it's clear that you support the policies of US based imperialism against Cuba. However, your simplistic attempt to justify this sink to a new low level. For starters, child labour is something the international community condemns (whether enforced or not), whereas the US aggression against Cuba is only backed by Israel and the yanqui colonies of the Marshall Islands and Palao. So like Nike and the other child labour exploiters, yanqui imperialism is something that causes revulsion in the rest of the world.

I think the more accurate analogy would be if a Saudi company bought a US company and forced their female workers to wear the veil in compliance with Saudi law (another law system the world at large rejects). Obviously as a pro-imperialist you would have no problem with a company doing whatever it wants, but I think many of your fellow countrymen might start to realise that imperialism isn't all its cracked up to be when you're no longer the master.


From: Anywhere that annoys neo-lib tools | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 08 January 2007 07:15 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Imagine that the USS Memphis was turned away from a Norwegian port when in need of repairs. tsk tsk Who can make cold war with the beast?.
From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged

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