Dr. Maryse Narcisse of Haiti Visits Southern California (tags)
“Despite their overwhelming responsibilities, the women are always there. [Applause.] We are a very patriarchal society, but very matrifocal. [Laughter.] They call the women of Haiti 'the central pillar.' The women don't let themselves get discouraged by crisis situations, and despite the very difficult two years of electoral struggle they never got discouraged.They always maintained the torch of struggle for liberation. [Applause.] They are examples by their actions. . . . It is clear that the Haitian people are bent on the struggle. More than ever they are fighting for dignity, democracy, freedom, and the respect of their rights.” – Dr. Maryse Narcisse, April 24, 2017
"Manufacturing Dissent": the Anti-globalization Movement is Funded by the Corporate Elites (tags)
"How is the process of manufacturing dissent achieved? Essentially by "funding dissent", namely by channelling financial resources from those who are the object of the protest movement to those who are involved in organizing the protest movement. Co-optation is not limited to buying the favors of politicians. The economic elites --which control major foundations-- also oversee the funding of numerous NGOs and civil society organizations, which historically have been involved in the protest movement against the established economic and social order. The programs of many NGOs and people's movements rely heavily on both public as well as private funding agencies including the Ford, Rockefeller, McCarthy foundations, among others. The anti-globalization movement is opposed to Wall Street and the Texas oil giants controlled by Rockefeller, et al. Yet the foundations and charities of Rockefeller et al will generously fund progressive anti-capitalist networks as well as environmentalists (opposed to Big Oil) with a view to ultimately overseeing and shaping their various activities."
Haiti Earthquake: Capitalism, Occupation and Revolution (tags)
The earthquake that wrecked the capital of Haiti and surrounding areas on January 12 produced human tragedy of almost unfathomable proportions. It has been termed “the most destructive natural disaster in modern times.” Five months later, Haiti is no longer in the headlines or on the nightly TV news, but for the hard-hit Haitian population the scene has hardly changed. Now a new disaster is in the making as the hurricane season begins. This was a calamity made by capitalism: the earthquake was predictable and was predicted; the inferior construction methods are the result of Haiti’s poverty, and the swollen slums were the result of U.S. policies that have destroyed Haitian agriculture, forcing peasants off the land. On top of everything, Haiti is under imperialist occupation: Washington makes sure it has ultimate control of the strategically placed island, as it has throughout the Cold War and since. Haiti's devastation is not the result of “natural” causes or even “neo-liberal” policies – it is the product of the oppression of this semi-colonial country by the imperial masters ever since black slaves rose up to abolish slavery and throw out the colonialists two centuries ago. No new “economic model” can resolve this: what’s required is a new Haitian Revolution, a workers revolution overthrowing capitalism throughout the Caribbean and extending into the heart of imperialism.
Haiti Is Open for Business (tags)
Haiti is set up for plunder and slow motion genocide
Rediscovering the Arusha Declaration and Abandoning the NGO Model: (tags)
Selma James and Andaiye chart a path from the 60s to Tomorrow
Two prominent international women's movement leaders visited Los Angeles in December as a part of a special North American tour. Selma James of London and Andaiye of Guyana spoke to a packed room at the Southern California Library on what we can learn from the past and present of autonomous socialist organizing in the Global South. Both women organize with the Global Women's Strike, which calls for recognition of and payment for all unwaged work, and an end to the twin terrors of poverty and war. The Strike's signature event is an annual work stoppage on International Women's Day, March 8.
Photo by Sidney Ross-Risden: right to left — Selma James, host Margaret Prescod, and Andaiye
LA Welcomes Haitian Women Activists (tags)
Haitian activists Ginette Apollon and Rea Dol, in LA as part of their first visit to California, discuss the situation on the ground following the election of René Preval as President of Haiti and what are the demands of the grassroots.
Joaquin Cienfuegos: Report from the Struggles in Mexico 06/16/06-06/29/06 (tags)
The following is a correspondence from joaquin Cienfuegos, traveling throughout Mexico reporting on the struggles on the streets, the anarchist movement, the Other Campaign, the Zapatista’s, and the over all radical climate that is building. More updates to come. All messages are free for broad distribution and will be sent across the net. Please forward, and let this be an inspiration to a growing movement in North America towards internationalism.
"Capital Travels Freely - Why Not People!" (tags)
For May 1, 2006, "A Day Without An Immigrant", Women Say "Capital Travels Freely - Why Not People!" A massive movement of grassroots women and men, workers and students, on the streets in the US is demanding that their work be counted and that this be reflected in what they are entitled to.
No First Strike with Nuclear Weapons! (tags)
Those states tghat now possess nuclear weapons are obligated to destroy them. Those states without nuclear weapons may not strive to amass them.
GMO event at the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong (tags)
The second day of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference just ended in Hong Kong, with 4 more days to go. Five thousand eight hundred delegates from 149 countries are negotiating a trade agreement with world wide implications from local governments to multi-national corporations. Th european union has banned most genetically modified foods for many year. At the behest of biotech companies like Monsanto, the United States government sued the EU within the WTO's dispute settlement process. Supachai, the former director general of the WTO, suggested that the EU had already lost the case, but the decision has not ben formally annouced by the WTO. Several Non-Governmental Organizations had a scheduled meeting with the curent director general . . .
The New Haitian Revolution: Resistance to U.S. & U.N. Occupation (tags)
". . . Why Haiti has been persecuted for the last 200 years? Because it is an affront to the colonial powers to have slaves rise up and defeat them. It is a bad example. [Applause.] There are a lot of lessons to be learned, and they don't want it ever to happen again. [Applause continues.]" -- Margaret Prescod, Pacifica Radio