What Russia proposed in Istanbul in March 2022 (tags)
Sachs writes that Russia has proposed negotiating security arrangements with the US for the fifth time since 2008. NATO, led by the US, has steadily expanded its alliance to the east, which has contributed to the current crisis in Ukraine. Putin's fourth offer of negotiations came in March 2022, which led to Russia and Ukraine almost concluding a peace agreement.
Global Economic Losses Since Dawn of Pandemic Hit $3.3 Trillion (tags)
Since 2020, the global economy lost $3.3 trillion. The loss affected the most vulnerable countries hardest noted International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva.
Global Economic Losses Since Dawn of Pandemic Hit $3.3 Trillion (tags)
Since 2020, the global economy lost $3.3 trillion. The loss affected the most vulnerable countries hardest noted International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva.
Self-fulfilling Prophecy (tags)
The orchestrators of this global coup must be credited with a certain sadistic brilliance. Their sleight of hand succeeded, perhaps even beyond expectations. However, any power aiming at totalization is destined to fail, and this applies also to the high priests of the Covid religion and the institutional puppets they have mobilized to roll out the psyop.
Memorandum 2022 and Memorandum 2023 (tags)
The Bremen study group on Alternative Economic Policy has been publishing analyses since 1975. Sustainable infrastructure Investments, de-carbonization, environmental safeguards, work protections and welfare regulations are primary as well as resisting profit maximization and environmental destruction.
From war to ecocide in Ukraine: these are the global consequences (tags)
Today peasants are fighting and dying in the war. They have lost everything. The processes of free land sale and purchase are increasingly liberalized and advertised. This threatens the rights of Ukrainians to their land, for which they give their lives. This portends that an industrial model of agriculture will prevail in Ukraine, based on large-scale monoculture farming.
Shock therapy without end (tags)
Ukraine must not sell out its resources, minerals, fertile lands, but must be able to rebuild the infrastructure necessary for life and economy on its own. It needs living and housing space, labor laws and incomes that are attractive for the people who want to live there and, moreover, for the numerous refugees who want to return to a livable country of origin.
Is the USa Failed State with Michael Hudson (tags)
It’s a failed state because its economy is paralyzed and we’re in a debt deflation, an economic polarization, that is just transferring all wealth and income away from labor, away from industry, into really the financial sector and what I call the finance, insurance, and real estate sector.
Can state-capitalist China inherit the USA as hegemon? (tags)
China's growth is also running on credit, and the People's Republic is similarly highly indebted as the descending Western centers of the world system.10 The Chinese deficit economy is generating even far greater speculative excesses than was the case in the U.S. or Western Europe,
US corporations in the wings for post-war Ukraine (tags)
The IMF granted large loans to the invaded country and enforces the so-called neoliberal "Washington Consensus"[1]. In a major privatization campaign, the Ukrainian government is selling off state assets. U.S. corporations such as ExxonMobil, Chevron & Halliburton participate.
The inflation debate and The inflation conundrum (tags)
If inflation is the result of a distributional conflict, it can be deliberately stopped by governments. Governments could skim off the higher profits through a tax in order to subsidize energy costs for consumers. Governments could also raise taxes (on the rich).
There is nothing to fear from China (tags)
Non-interference in the affairs of other states & emphasis on what united them for mutual benefit were important elements of Chinese notions of cooperation just as in Chinese philosophy existence presupposes coexistence.
The Octopus of Davos and The club of right-wing apostles (tags)
Decisions affecting all of humanity are being made undemocratically by a wealthy global elite. And yet most of us look the other way, as if the WEF were a charity that wants to make the world a better place - and not an unscrupulous community...
Cacophony of Corporatism, Subsidies & Inheritance Tax (tags)
History is written by the winners. The Orwellian "memory hole" has long been a reality and could soon lead to subsequent generations no longer being able to develop any awareness at all of what it means to lead a free and dignified life.
War in Ukraine. Nato taboos fall (tags)
This military-scientific glorification of a war that has long been hopeless for both sides, which is also supported by some media, leads to the postulation of the prospect of victory against one's better judgment. What is meant, however, is more likely a victorious peace.
In the Trap of NATO and The Collapse of US Hegemony (tags)
Even before the outbreak of the global Covid pandemic, it was widely recognized that U.S. hegemony was in irreversible decline. In August 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul as U.S. forces withdrew. Only about six months later, war broke out between Russia and Ukraine.
Spiral downward and No exit! (tags)
The austerity dictates imposed on the Eurozone are only exacerbating the crisis they are supposed to be fighting. The austerity measures are leading to a collapse in domestic demand.
The Unbroken: Evo Morales (tags)
Recent events give hope for a resurgence of the left on the continent. Morales points to recent electoral victories in Peru, Chile, Colombia, as well as Lula's soon expected return to the Brazilian presidency. "These times are coming again," he says.
Guidance to the system change, Parts 1 and 2 (tags)
World War II led to U.S. domination of the political West, which was able to make its mark on the part of the world it more or less controlled. Led and dominated by the military-industrial complex, any efforts of autonomous state developments that contradicted its interests were suppressed.
Making yourself comfortable in capitalism (tags)
"Whoever has a wife should behave as if he had none, ... whoever buys as if he were not the owner, whoever makes use of the world as if he did not use it" (1 Cor 7:29f). Paul is speaking here to people who were "called" as slaves into the messianic church (1 Cor 7:21).
95 Theses Against the Rule of the Financial Markets (tags)
The financial markets have made themselves independent of the real economy. As the selling of indulgences led to Martin Luther's 95 Theses in 1517, the rule of speculative financial markets has led to revenue shortfalls of US cities and states. Tax havens hide between $22-33 trillion.
A new quality of crisis (tags)
From the systemic urge to self-destruction arises the survival necessity of the emancipatory overcoming of capital. The capitalist regime of constraint must be transformed into history. The struggle for the transformation of the system has to be the central moment of left practice.
Putin is our new tsar, quite simply. I call him an authoritarian modernizer who stands in the balancing act between neoliberalism and monarchist tradition and wants to reorganize the country from this position.
The historic push of East Central Europe into Nato (tags)
What is the end of the war song? It is and was destruction, death, human suffering and traumatized populations. And in our time, in addition, it is the suspension of the necessary global and joint efforts of all nations in the fight against the threat of climate catastrophe.
In the run-up to the founding of NATO, those responsible in the USA knew: The Soviet Union posed no military threat. The weakened power could not sustain an attack on Western Europe even if it wanted to: The Soviet Union's economy is largely destroyed and technologically obsolete.
Ukraine and Afghanistan (tags)
Never before has it been so obvious to share all knowledge, because this allows all communities and societies in the world to develop ever better and more intensively inwards. In this sense: Make Villages, Not War! We will rebuild a peaceful world from the grassroots!
The people of Ukraine are suffering. But who benefits from the "turning of the tide"? The war is a crime, and Putin bears the responsibility. But Western politicians were not sleepwalkers. An appeal brings the conclusion to the point: Lay down your arms! Peace logic instead of war logic!
What will it be like after the pandemic? (tags)
From the March outbreak to the end of May 2020 alone, over forty million people filed initial claims for unemployment benefits. Images of endless lines in front of soup kitchens went around the world. In the meantime, the USA threatened to sink into chaos.
The Endgame of Capitalism (tags)
I develop a positive vision for a system change in part four. Before that, however, the question is raised how the corporations envision the system change: Their way of wanting to preserve their power after the inevitable collapse of the Ponzi-scheme of financial capitalism is a transition from free-market capitalism to feudalism.
Toward a new economic policy paradigm (tags)
Over the years, the institutionally enshrined budget discipline has created a considerable investment backlog. Important investments in infrastructure, education and climate protection have not taken place.
Against all reason and The Afghan Debacle (tags)
Like the chaotic flight of the U.S. Army from Vietnam in 1975, the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 highlights the failure of the geopolitically based "war and nation-building concept" of the U.S. and NATO countries.
The Endgame of Capitalism: Introduction (tags)
This economic system is permanently out of joint. Interest rates have been virtually zero for over a decade, despite the fact that many consider interest a considered a cornerstone of the capitalist system. The central banks are pumping money into the system on an unprecedented scale, but this is not resulting in inflation.
Economic Crisis in the Anthropocene (tags)
They are in a life-and-death struggle for the future of American democracy and from their point of view – and I happen to share this view – that depends on their not losing the congressional majority to the GOP in 2022, which doesn’t necessarily end American democracy, but it takes us in a direction which is really bad.
Because man is a human being (tags)
People don't have to remain victims. Rebellion and resistance against a disease-causing system serve to stabilize psychological existence and social coexistence. The basis for resistance is sensitization: perceiving that society is deprived and disenfranchised by privatization, for example, that people are violated.
Rescue Plan of the Biden Administration (tags)
Thanks to the rescue plan, the US economy is expected to grow faster than at any time since 1984. The rest of the world will also benefit. Families with children will receive tax rebates. 70% of Americans are in favor of the plan.
Intolerance network: How right-wing ultras are built up with the support of big companies (tags)
CitizenGo is intended to build nothing more and nothing less than "the most influential international Christian-inspired mobilization website," according to the published documents. For years, the radical anti-feminist network has been campaigning against women's rights, such as abortion rights.
The "Great Reset" and the Deep State (tags)
Taboo truths, about which the authorities remain shamefully silent, can indeed be kept under the carpet very well for decades. The course of history is massively influenced by these informal, unelected structures that operate in the interests of the old elites.
The Invention of Reality and the Second Phase (tags)
Being human thus becomes an unsolvable task in the technocratic society... An immense pressure to conform can arise in a technocratic society, since the devaluation of the subjective is accompanied by a suppression of needs, which, when an entire population is affected, leads less to rebelliousness than to social conformity.
The Cure is the Sickness, 2001 (tags)
"Good policy" in the sense of the Washington Consensus can be paraphrased with these ten principles. The key to development successes lies only in a correct policy mix. Development backlogs, continuing poverty and so forth are referred back everywhere to "bad policy".
Resistance against Agropoly (tags)
Food sovereignty remains the most important political program of the strongest international movement to date for a transformation of the food system: away from the agropoly of a few corporations. Tina Goethe is a sociologist and responsible for the area of the right to food at the Swiss organization Bread for All.
Today we produce and waste more food - although often produced in an unsustainable way - than is actually necessary to feed all of humanity. The fact that people are starving should therefore no longer exist. Hunger is created by other, full people.
A fair and solid crisis financing (tags)
The contrast between the EU and the US in COVID financing could hardly be greater. McDonald's operators, Marathon Oil (over $400 million), Exxon, Chevron and Sea World received relief and will reduce their future tax payments. Tax gifts characterize the US way of corruption and contradict these recommendations.
The Forgotten History of the Financial Crisis (tags)
In the United States between late 2008 and early 2009, 800,000 people were losing their jobs every month. By 2015, over nine million American families would lose their homes to foreclosure—the largest forced population movement in the United States since the Dust Bowl.
Chaos.Thbe New Age of Revolutions (tags)
The End of the Megamachine brings to light the roots of the destructive forces threatening the future of humankind today. Dismantling Western progress mythologies, Scheidler shows how the logics of endless capital accumulation have devastated both human societies & ecosystems
President Trump Authorizes Somalia Debt Relief (tags)
President Trump signed a year-end spending bill which authorizes the first phase of debt relief for Somalia.
Congress Passes Somalia Debt Relief (tags)
As part of the Federal government's year-end spending package or "minibus," Congress passed the first phase of debt relief for Somalia.
How Misguided Financial Policy Strengthens the Right-Wing (tags)
Capitalism has shown how democratic processes can be easily evaded. The Chicago boys carried out their radical reform program that was known as shock therapy. This included dismantling social state structures, opening the market to foreign investors and shattering unions
Kristalina Georgieva Takes IMF Helm (tags)
The International Monetary Fund announces that World Bank CEO and Bulgarian environmental economist, Kristalina Georgieva, will become the Fund's new Managing Director.
United Nations Calls for Mozambique Disaster Aid as Country Wrestles with Illegal Debt (tags)
Washington, DC - On Thursday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for more relief aid to be sent to disaster-recovering Mozambique. The country is reeling from two devastating cyclones and wrestling with debts that Mozambique's high court calls illegal.
Housing Financialization, 66 pp (tags)
IMF Warns of Global Financial Crisis Risk (tags)
For the second day in a row, the International Monetary Fund raised concerns of pending financial crisis. Ahead of the Spring IMF and World Bank meetings, the IMF released the Global Financial Stability Report, warning of "vulnerabilities" in corporate debt, house values and sovereign (country) debt.
Public Good or Private Wealth (tags)
The deep and growing chasm between the rich and the poor is not an accident. This gulf is the result of political decisions. Many rich countries have lowered or abolished property taxes. Governments reduce spending on education and health care.
The Global Justice Project and Human Survival: We're Badly Off Track (tags)
Something has gone seriously, seriously wrong.
The Global Justice Project and Human Survival: We're Badly Off Track (tags)
Something has gone seriously, seriously wrong.
The Global Justice Project and Human Survival: We're Badly Off Track (tags)
Something has gone seriously, seriously wrong.
Right-wing Populism: Can More Madness Cure the Madness? (tags)
Neoliberal policy was always mad. But an even greater madness now appears with rightwing populism. Politics is mad because it writes off large parts of the population. Economic Darwinism has nested and established itself as market ideology in the brains of people.
Dark Clouds Gather on Horizon for Financial System, Warns International Monetary Fund (tags)
Bali, Indonesia -The International Monetary Fund releases its "Global Financial Stability Report" ahead of its Annual Meetings held this year in Southeast Asia.
After Lehman Brothers, Experts Say Global Financial Crisis Can Happen Again (tags)
September 15th marks the ten-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers investment firm collapse, symbolizing the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Is the Financial Crash 2.0 Coming? (tags)
Market ideology has been on the advance since the 1980s. Only a few voices warned of the risks and instability of the liberalized financial markets. After they profited from the generous bailout packages, the banks began to speculate against the most indebted countries.
Finance Ministers Applaud Greece Debt Deal that Provides Aid and Continues Austerity (tags)
European Finance Ministers endorse a new Greece debt agreement that provides financing in exchange for maintaining austerity policies and economic reforms.
More Public Investment is Sensible and Necessary (tags)
Low-interest rates should create possibilities for expansive budgetary policy. Public investments in the infrastructure and education could benefit future generations by helping raise long-term prosperity and well-being. The one-sided narrowing of budgetary possibilities is excessive
Austerity Policy as Momentous Mistake (tags)
The IMF's austerity policy of the last years was misguided. That austerity policy led to intensified growth declines and increasing unemployment and did not reach its goal of permanently calming the financial markets. Public investments could raise economic growth.
Trade War and Zero Deficit Myth (tags)
State debts are often necessary and are not automatically bad economically. Investments are prerequisites of future prosperity. When private parties spend too little, the state must step into the breach.
China's 6.9% Growth: The Superiority of the Plan (tags)
China has brought hundreds of millions out of poverty in only three decades thanks to the opening of the economy. In 1978, 90% of the population lived below the absolute poverty line of $1.90 a day. Today, there are `only' 43 million, three percent of the population of 1.4 billion.
Caribbean Religious Leaders Call for Debt Relief in Face of Disasters (tags)
From Grenada to Saint Lucia, religious leaders are calling for processes to provide debt relief in the face of natural disasters.
Government Shutdown Solutions Could Leave Out Disaster Aid for Puerto Rico (tags)
As the Senate and White House struggle to avert a government shutdown, US disaster victims from Puerto Rico to Texas worry a deal on relief and recovery aid will continue to be delayed.
IMF and World Bank Meetings Begin With Growth Forecasts and Crisis Risk Warnings (tags)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank begin their annual meetings which run between October 13th and 15th.
The Fairy-tale of the End of the Financial Crisis (tags)
Between 2008 and 2010, the EU Commission approved state aid of 4.3 trillion euros. The potential crisis of the global economy has grown and not declined. A system crash was prevented by the actions of central banks and states.
Development Group Says Debt Relief Can Provide Quick-Recovery Aid to Caribbean (tags)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joins other religious and development groups in their call for debt relief for hurricane-battered Caribbean islands.
Hurricane Maria Slams Dominica and Heads Towards Puerto Rico (tags)
Caribbean islands recovering from Hurricane Irma, now confront Hurricane Maria.
Caribbean Bishops and Development Groups Urge Debt Relief for Irma-Struck Islands (tags)
On behalf of Caribbean Catholic Bishops, Bishop Gabriel Malzaire called for islands dealing with Hurricane Irma to receive debt relief.
Jubilee USA: Antigua and Barbuda and Islands Dealing with Irma Should Stop Debt Payments (tags)
As Hurricane Irma heads to the US coast, a religious development group is calling for debt payments to be suspended until Antigua and Barbuda and other severely impacted Caribbean nations recover from the storm.
Memorandum 2017: Alternatives for a Solidarity Europe: Instead of "Germany First" (tags)
The European Union is at a crossroads. The reason lies in the neoliberal redistribution policy favoring capital incomes over many years. "Mass unemployment intensified and was not ended in Europe. Millions of those with work are in precarious working conditions."
Neoliberal Austerity Leads to Deeper Crisis (tags)
A high state share in the economy, developed social states and readiness to intervene actively and anti-cyclically prevent falling into a depression. Trump's demonizing regulation, Medicaid, public schools, Head Start, Meals on Wheels, taxation and democracy must be resisted
IMF Warns of "Protectionism" and Risky Investing (tags)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its bi-annual report on the state of the global economy, predicting that global growth will continue steadily but slowly.
Mozambique President Meets IMF and World Bank As Debt and Corruption Concerns Loom (tags)
Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi is in Washington for a series of meetings with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Secretary John Kerry and US AID's Gayle Smith.
Philippines' Bernie Sanders: A Conversation with Walden Bello (tags)
Without a doubt, Sanders has captured the imagination of people, especially the millennials, around the world.
Walden Bello: Sanders as US President good for US, Philippines, and Asia (tags)
MANILA - “Bernie Sanders would be good not only for the United States but for the Philippines and Asia,” Walden Bello told the US media after he chatted briefly with the candidate for Democratic Party presidential nomination in Waterloo, Iowa on Sunday, 13 December 2015.
Former South African President Visits US to Stop "Illicit Financial Flows" (tags)
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki visits the United States February 16-19 to raise awareness on how the developing world loses money to corruption.
US Judge Explores Lifting Argentina Sanctions After Country Offers $6.5 Billion (tags)
US District Judge Thomas Griesa ordered "hold-out" investors on Thursday to explain why various sanctions on Argentina should not be lifted.
Pope Francis' Jubilee Year Begins (tags)
Pope Francis began the Catholic Church's "Jubilee Year of Mercy" at St. Peter's Square with a public mass and ceremony attended by 50,000 people. Pope Francis opened a "Holy Door" at St. Peter's Basilica to officially launch the year-long celebration with its themes of mercy and solidarity for the poor.
Economic Crises as Sicknesses and Catastrophes (tags)
The 2008 financial crisis is often wrongly described as a "state debt crisis" where cause and effect are inverted and economists and the market are released from responsibility. Sickness and catastrophe metaphors dominate discussion
G20 Focuses on Paris Attacks and Economic Stability (tags)
G20 Calls on Congress to Pass IMF Voting Reform
Walden Bello runs for senator of the Philippines, pushes reforms in governance (tags)
Rep. Walden Bello resigned from Congress on March 19, 2015, because he could no longer support a hypocritical good governance policy under which President Aquino went after his political enemies but protected his corrupt cronies. His resignation was also an act of protest at the president’s refusal to accept command responsibility for the Mamasapano tragedy. He felt that his voluntary stepping down was the ethical thing to do since his party Akbayan, of which he was the principal representative in the House of Representatives, maintained its support for Aquino.
Can Keynes Rescue Europe from the Euro Crisis? (tags)
Keynes' theories and concepts were pushed back with the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s. A complete change of course occurred when state spending cuts, lower wages and devaluations failed. The state spent money to create demand for products and services.
Greek Rape and Pillage Bailout Deal: Germany Wants More (tags)
Greece
Greece and Troika Agree on Bailout Deal in Principle (tags)
Greece
United Nations Votes for Global Bankruptcy Principles (tags)
Irresponsibly Calling Argentina's President Kirchner Anti-Semitic (tags)
Argentina
Statement of Solidarity With the People and Government of Greece (tags)
The following statement is issued by various progressive individuals and organizations from many parts of the world, but mostly in Asia-Pacific. A copy of the statement has already been sent to Syriza's international department.
Greek Voters Reject Financing Plan (tags)
Article on recent election in Greece, concerning its debt.
Greece Declares Bank Holiday, Capital Controls Imposed (tags)
Greece
Nepal Post Earthquake Aid Falls Short of Goals: No Debt Relief Pledged at Nepal Recovery C (tags)
This week's Nepal donor conference pledged $4.4 billion in aid to Nepal, short of the $6.6 billion Nepal requested for earthquake recovery. About half of the total financing is loans and half is grants. Nepal did not receive any pledges of debt relief while world leaders gathered in Kathmandu. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday Nepal will not qualify for its new emergency debt relief trust fund. "The initial aid pledges are helpful and we can close the $2 billion gap quickly with debt relief," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network. "One of the quickest ways that the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and governments can deliver rebuilding grants is by canceling debt." Nepal spends $600,000 a day paying its debt, or more than $35 million since the first April earthquake. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank pledged a combined $1.1 billion in new concessional loans and grants. Nepal already owes the World Bank and Asian Development Bank approximately $3 billion. Although the World Bank has not announced plans for a debt relief fund, the IMF created the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust in the wake of the Ebola crisis and cancelled $100 million of West Africa's debt. IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice said Thursday Nepal met the first requirement for relief but that the earthquake did not cause enough total economic damage. Rice did not reference whether or not damage to Nepal's "productive capacity" pulled another trigger for the fund to release about $23 million in debt relief.
Nepal Conference Hopes to Raise $6.6 Billion in Post Earthquake Aid Debt Relief Could Be (tags)
Nepal Conference Hopes to Raise $6.6 Billion in Post Earthquake Aid Debt Relief Could Be Part of Nepal Recovery Plan
At G7 Summit Trade and Debt Policies Take Center Stage; Bishops Call on G7 to Enact Global (tags)
G7, Jubilee USA Network, Debt
G7 Finance Ministers Focus on Growth in Face of High Debt (tags)
Washington DC - G7 finance ministers gather in Dresden, Germany, to discuss promoting "sustainable growth" in the face of growing global debt. US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is among the ministers gathering. The meeting takes place amid debt crises in the Eurozone and the developing world. The ministers meet after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported slow economic growth and increased debt burdens during the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings. "It's impossible to experience sustainable growth, when wealthy and poor countries are struggling with unsustainable debts," stated Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, who is in Dresden for the meetings. The finance ministers gathered in Dresden include Joe Oliver of Canada, Michel Sapin of France, Wolfgang Schäuble of Germany, Pier Carlo Padoan of Italy, Taro Aso of Japan, George Osborne of the United Kingdom and Jacob Lew of the United States. Jubilee USA joined Jubilee Germany in Dresden for several G7 outreach events organized on the growing debt crisis.
Devastated Nepal Daily Pays $600,000 on Debt (tags)
Nepal underwent another earthquake on May 12 amid recovery from the April 25 quake. It owes billions of dollars of debt to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and foreign lenders. Anti-poverty organization Jubilee USA Network states that debt relief would aid Nepal's recovery efforts.
Free Trade and Economic Growth instead of Democracy and Ecology (tags)
The TTIP agreement between the EU and the US creates a parallel private arbitration system where corporations can sue states for lost profits and decisions are irrevocable. Labor and environmental regulations can be invalidated as “takings” or “indirect expropriation.”
Governments Negotiate UN Agreement on Global Development (tags)
The United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and finance ministries are meeting in New York to finalize an agreement for the Financing for Development Conference (FfD) to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July
Philippine President Aquino no longer deserves any support from workers and trade unions (tags)
THE workers and the trade unions throughout the world mark today the International Labor Day – 125th anniversary globally and 112th celebration here in the Philippines. This historic and revered day has been an enduring and stirring symbol for the working class despite serious setbacks caused by multipronged and systematic neoliberal attacks against the workers, the masses and their organizations, which have seriously threatened to dilute if not totally wipe out the hard-fought sociopolitical gains achieved by the labor movement in the past hundred years or so.
Aftershocks Pummel Highly Indebted Nepal: Poor Country Spends 217 Million Annually on Debt (tags)
As Nepal experiences aftershocks from Saturday's earthquake, it may find relief in the IMF's Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, a fund that cancels the debt of poor countries in crisis.
Grenada Reaches Debt Deal as Caribbean Mired in Debt Problems (tags)
Grenada Could Influence Global Debt Negotiations
Greece Proposes Plans to Tackle Tax Evasion and Corruption (tags)
Greece submitted a list of economic reforms to the European Union (EU) in an effort to secure emergency financing.
Rebirth of the One-Thousandth Society (tags)
The richest thousandth (0.1%) could increase their share in the total wealth very intensely since the 1980s. Their share is as much as the bottom 90%..While the millionaires increased their wealth enormously, the mass of the population is exposed to the continuing economic crisis.
United Nations Votes for Process to Create Global Bankruptcy Framework (tags)
UN Process Could Limit Default and Stop Predatory Funds
Austerity Policy as Momentous Mistake (tags)
The IMF's austerity policy of the last years was misguided. That austerity policy led to intensified growth declines and increasing unemployment... Public investments could raise economic growth both in the short- and long-term.
Inequality and Liberal Democracy: A Disturbing Association (tags)
How do we bring fundamental reforms about at a time when organized minorities and disorganized, quiescent majorities appear to be the norm in both the North and the South?
African Mayors Call for Debt Cancellation for Ebola-Stricken West Africa (tags)
G20 Moves Forward on Ebola Debt Relief Plan.
US Brings Jubilee Ebola Debt Relief Request to G20 (tags)
Treasury Secretary Lew Brings Jubilee USA Request for Debt Relief for Ebola-Stricken Countries to G20. US Seeks to Move IMF to Cancel $100 Million in Debt for Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Debt Payments Dwarf Reconstruction Aid on Philippine's Typhoon Haiyan Anniversary (tags)
Religious, Development and Environmental Groups Petition World Bank for Debt Relief
Hedge Fund Seeks Sanctions Against Argentina (tags)
Judge Gives Court-Appointed Mediator More Power to Resolve Dispute
No Redistribution Without the Social State (tags)
In Austria 30 percent of the gross domestic product is spent on social services (not including education spending)...Since the 1990s social security has been increasingly discussed as a financial burden and less as a social achievement
Argentina's Christina Fernandez de Kirshner's UN Address (tags)
predatory capitalism
The BRICS: Challengers to the Global Status Quo (tags)
Can the BRICS wrest control of the global economy from the United States and Europe, or will their internal contradictions tear them apart?
UN Vote Tuesday Could Create Global Bankruptcy Process, Deter Predatory Funds (tags)
The UN General Assembly votes Tuesday at 3pm (EDT) on a resolution that could create a global bankruptcy mechanism. Such a process could protect poor countries from predatory funds and limit future defaults. Jubilee USA's leadership, a group of religious leaders and financial experts sent a letter to United States UN Ambassador Samantha Power urging her to support the resolution.
UN Treaty Could Enact Global Bankruptcy Process and Stop Predatory Funds (tags)
The UN General Assembly votes Tuesday on a convention that could enact a global bankruptcy process and stop predatory hedge funds. Bolivia proposed the resolution that if voted upon is expected to pass by a majority. The executive board officers of Jubilee USA sent United States UN Ambassador Samantha Power a letter urging her to support the resolution. Jubilee's 400 US faith communities are holding the Ambassador in prayer as she prepares to vote.
Anti-Democratic Straitjackets (tags)
The TTIP Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (also called TAFTA) is an undemocratic corporate investment agreement that allows corporations to sue sovereign states for lost profits. This agreement negotiated in secret since 2013 does not allow states to sue.
Investment Protection at a Crossroads (tags)
TTIP gives foreign investors the right to sue sovereign governments before ad hoc arbitration courts when lost profits occur as a result of political decisions. These decisions cannot be appealed and undermine social, environmental and labor regulations.
Argentina Battles in Two World Cups (tags)
While National Team Prepares to Face Bosnia, Government Fights Hedge Funds at US Supreme Court
IMF Reviews International Financial Crises Solutions (tags)
As the IMF reviews solutions to international financial crises, religious and development groups urge reforms to protect the poor.
Supreme Court Justices Consider Hearing Argentina Hedge Fund Debt Case (tags)
US Supreme Court justices will decide next steps in the Argentina vs NML Capital debt case today. The case dates back to 2001 when Argentina defaulted on its debts and a group of predatory hedge funds purchased some debt for pennies on the dollar. The hedge fund NML Capital leads a group of hold-out creditors in suing the country for more than $1 billion. The case will set a precedent that will impact the functioning of the global financial system. Supreme Court justices will decide to formally hear the case or ask the US Justice Department to issue an opinion.
Mercenary Extremists in Eastern Ukraine (tags)
Ukraine
Argentina Files Final Response Urging SCOTUS to Accept Predatory Hedge Fund Debt Case (tags)
Argentina filed its final Supreme Court response to hedge fund NML Capital urging the high court to take the case that the Financial Times calls "the debt trial of the century." Jubilee USA filed an Amicus Curiae brief in March noting that the precedent in the case will impact debt restructurings, poor country access to credit and debt relief programs designed to help people living in extreme poverty. The US government and the International Monetary Fund support Argentina. On June 12th, the Supreme Court is scheduled to discuss whether or not it will hear the case.
Punishing Palestinians Ruthlessly (tags)
Israel
Media Scoundrels On Sham Ukrainian Elections (tags)
Ukraine
Global Jubilee Movement Meets Pope Francis (tags)
Pope Francis welcomed members of the global Jubilee movement to the Vatican on Wednesday as they were received for high level meetings with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The Catholic Church, various Christian Churches, Jewish groups and trade unions founded the global Jubilee campaign that successfully cancelled more than 130 billion dollars in sovereign debt and has won tax policies to benefit people living in the poorest countries of the world.
Blackwater Killers in Ukraine (tags)
Ukraine
The new indebtedness is a consequence of the crisis caused by the financial industry-and in no way owed to an excessive social state, demographic change and so forth.. There are many critics of this policy of mastering crisis by flooding the financial markets with fresh money.
Caribbean Religious Leaders Demand Debt Forgiveness (tags)
Caribbean religious leaders gathered in Grenada last week to demand an end to austerity and debt policies harming poor communities in the region.
Supreme Court Hears Argentina Predatory Hedge Fund Discovery Case (tags)
High Court Decision to Hear Broader Landmark Debt Case Pending
IMF Annual Meetings Focus on High Debt Burdens and Global Inequality (tags)
The annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings are focusing on the role of high debt burdens in both global economic recovery and increasing inequality. At the onset of the meetings, the G24 released an IMF statement noting that the IMF's failure to implement quota reform and the outcome of the US Supreme Court Argentina/NML Capital case impacts global inequality.
There are voices beyond the monotone, nuances from the side of writers, scholars and economic experts.. Every war and conflict needs a narrative that defines good and evil, that classifies, simplifies and serves interests.
79 Religious and Development Institutions Join SCOTUS Filing in Argentina/NML Capital Case (tags)
Jubilee USA Network, a religious anti-poverty coalition, along with 78 other religious and development groups filed with the US Supreme Court in the case between Argentina and NML Capital
TTIP Attacks on Wages, the Social and the Environment (tags)
The belief that growth and prosperity for all people are promoted by free trade is as old as capitalism. This is often wonderfully represented in the model worlds of economists. But reality looks different. Specific particular interests are sold as the general interest.
Jubilee USA Files to Supreme Court in Landmark Debt Case (tags)
75 Religious and Development Institutions Join SCOTUS Brief to Ensure Global Poor are Heard
Global turn-around: to persuade Western Powers to adopt 'bottom-up' ethical human rights. (tags)
Major Western Powers invited to New Zealand gives opportunity to adovate a global 'turn-around' by adopting the 'bottom-up' emphasis of global ethical human rights (developed in NZ) to replace 'near absolute', 'top-down' control of 'neoliberal absolutism'.
Argentina Files Final Supreme Court Appeal in Global Hedge Fund Debt Case (tags)
Religious Community Joins IMF, Legitimate Investors and Governments in Opposing Exploitative Hedge Fund Behavior
Jubilee USA Urges Business and Political Leaders at World Economic Forum to End Corporate (tags)
Washington, DC - Heads of state, financial ministers, celebrities and representatives from many of the worlds most powerful corporations are meeting in Davos, Switzerland for the 2014 World Economic Forum.
Obama Nominates Three Fed Governors (tags)
Fed
Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea (tags)
Book review of Mark Blyth's "Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea," 304 pp, March 2013: "Slaves of Defunct Economists: Why politicians pursue austerity policies that never work" by Henry Farrel, Washington Monthly, Mar/Apr 2013
The World War against the Poor (tags)
More and more money capital concentrates in the hands of the rich which they let `work for itself.' Every day $1.5 trillion circulates around the globe and changes hands. Only two to three percent of that is needed to handle the business with goods and services. The rest is speculative excess.
International Monetary Fund Reviews International Bankruptcy Process for Sovereign Countri (tags)
International Monetary Fund Reviews International Bankruptcy Process for Sovereign Countries
IMF Secures Windfall Gold Sales Profits for Concessional Lending to Low-Income Nations (tags)
On October 10, 2013, the International Monetary Fund announced that member countries have approved their commitment to fund the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) for concessional lending. Financing comes from windfall profits made from the IMF selling part of their gold reserves that currently totals $3.4 billion. Currently, the IMF provides zero-interest financing to low-income nations through this fund.
The Egyptian Revolution’s Next Barrier (tags)
When the Egyptian army first began its offensive against the Muslim Brotherhood, many speculated that such an assault would likely be extended to the same revolutionaries who demanded — in massive demonstrations — that President Morsi be evicted from office.
Declaring Syria Regime Illegitimate Sends Strong Human Rights Message and Exposes Lenders (tags)
Over the last year, a religious antipoverty organization has met with U.S. Treasury and White House officials to encourage them to declare the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad an illegitimate government. This action would impose restrictions on lending to Syria that supports its military or the needs of the Assad regime. When governments or financial institutions make this declaration it lets lenders know that if they lend to Syria they may not receive a return on their investment. Types of lending and financing that could be affected are arms contracts with Russia and oil investment from Iran.
The Ideological Mantra "Competitiveness" (tags)
The policy that Merkel and Co. forced on the crisis countries has led to social catastrophes...The competition ideology has managed to establish the notion that generalized competition is the real human condition.
For Immediate End of Austerity Policy in Europe (tags)
The growth model forced in the past with redistribution from bottom to top and increasing export surpluses has failed. For years, the demands of the Alternative Economic Policy study group emphasized combating unemployment and poverty and, taming the financial markets.
The exodus from the casino capitalism producing ever faster and ever deeper crises cannot succeed without a broad and powerful democratic base. Parliamentary democracy is urged to finally take up the struggle around the primacy of politics
Santa Ana Police Department: taking payoffs to jail the innocent (tags)
In Santa Ana, real criminals never need fear arrest as police get $ to arrest law-abiding fathers, brothers, sisters, and children who have committed no crime except for failing to have their proof of citizenship. Do you have yours?
The BRIC - States: World Economy on a Silk Thread (tags)
In 2013 for the first time since the beginning of European industrialization, the production volumes of the threshold- and developing countries will surpass the volumes of the triad. Sinking real investments is true for all `developed' countries.
On the death of president Chavez/No hero/No dictator (tags)
The late Venezuelan president Chavez deserves appreciation for his social ''Bolivarian'' programs and his anti imperialist engagement. However, reprehensible sides of his reign are the repression in Venezuela and the oppression of the freedom of expression. His friendly relationships with dictators like Assad, Lushenko and Kaddafi are disgustable. Therefore he doesn't deserve the unconditional praise he gets from his leftist admirors.
The ideology of the invisible hand of the market transforms all barbarism that is committed into human service.. The modern age is a doubled humanism..State terrorism presents itself as humanist realism, as the only true way of protecting life.
End the WTO and the Stop the new wave of Free Trade Agreements (tags)
Call to action of the Indonesian People's Movement Against Neocolonialism-Imperialism toward Bali WTO Ministerial meeting on 3-6 of December 2013
I’ll miss Hugo. When I first was introduced to him in Porto Alegre in 2003, he greeted me, “Mi padre,” and said he learned a lot from me. I was dubious about this and thought he was simply buttering me up, like any two-bit politician. Then he started telling me what he learned from Development Debacle, Deglobalization, and Dark Victory. I was stupefied; the guy actually read my stuff!
The Liberal-Regressive Modern Age (tags)
The financial crisis of the states-dramatically intensified by the costs of bailing out the banks-shifts the costs to the broad population without touching the wealth of the economic elites. Political governing is increasingly uncoupled from the approval and influence of citizens.
Cancellation of Illegitmate Debts Instead of Bailout Umbrellas for Financiers (tags)
The inflation of public indebtedness was an essential element for the enhanced power of financial capital. That inflation was a result of a conscious under-financing of the state and is a lever to enforce an austerity policy. Financialization intensified the pressure to precariousness.
A Western Rebellion could ensure global ethical human rights 'bottom-line' for all. (tags)
Rebellion justified.The adoption of a human rights instrument by the UN General Assembly in Dec 2008 led to the Global Financial Crisis in 2009.Involving international h.rights law it strongly favored Devel Asia, incl China, over the West.
Egypt’s Revolution Stumbles (tags)
The call for a new constitution was a key political demand of the Egyptian people when they overthrew the thirty-year dictatorship of Mubarak. Motivating this was the desire to begin dismantling the repressive bureaucratic state machinery they had suffered under and replace it with a democratic government that would be guided by their needs and hopes. Such aspirations served to unite the divergent forces that made Egypt’s political revolution and encourage their grassroots organizing efforts.
Navigating Egypt’s Revolutionary Crisis (tags)
As chaos again envelopes Egypt, the revolution is evolving in new directions, along contradictory and confusing channels. It’s tempting to immediately support the “opposition” to the Muslim Brotherhood’s apparent “power grab,” but the situation in Egypt is more complex. The recent events in Egypt are not simply signs of a healthy revolution, they include immediate dangers.
Philippine Statements on the International Human Rights Day (tags)
1) Akbayan on the Observance of the International Human Rights Day 2) Workers hold Jericho March at San Miguel in celebration of human rights day 3) Pahayag sa Pandaigdigang Araw ng Karapatang Pantao 4) Another World is Possible! Reject the Policies of Neoliberalism! Protect the Working Class!
Austerity — the 1%’s Global Battle Cry (tags)
Whether we are left with the Fiscal Cliff or a Grand Bargain, workers in the U.S. face massive cuts to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment insurance, Food Stamp assistance and other needed social safety nets. This is an example of “austerity” which has largely been pursued in the U.S. until now, on a statewide and local level.
In show of power, financiers impose will on Argentina’s Navy (tags)
Billionaire speculator buys bonds of indebted countries at pennies on the dollar and then uses every means possible to get them to pay him for the full value, regardless of the cost to those countries’ people.
Why is Obama Silent Over the New Congo War (tags)
The last Congo war that ended in 2003 killed 5.4 million people, the worst humanitarian disaster since World War II. The killing was directly enabled by international silence over the issue; the war was ignored and the causes obscured because governments were backing groups involved in the fighting. Now a new Congo war has begun and the silence is, again, deafening.
To Krugman, the increasing ideological blindness of German politicians can only be explained by their belief that "hard times must be the necessary punishment for earlier excesses." Krugman overlooks that the hard times and excesses do not concern the same people.
World Bank’s call for slowing global warming ignores own role (tags)
The World Bank is a key organization in the concatenation of processes that has brought the world to the brink of catastrophic climate change. To issue a report on the likely future destruction to be wrought by global warming without acknowledging its own role is beyond chutzpah.
“IMF is dead, a walking dead” - FDC Philippines (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – As the first female chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited the country for the first time and met with Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III Friday morning, debt watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition staged a protest near the Malacañan Palace, in solidarity with the peoples of the Eurozone.
Economists Argue over Distribution Question (tags)
More and more economists take distribution questions seriously. When inequality becomes too great in a national economy, the economy becomes unstable. Private indebtedness and income inequality massively increased in the US Financial markets uncoupled from real economy
Greece: Profile of a Failed State (tags)
Greece
There are no national solutions for Greece, or any other country (tags)
In what can be interpreted as a dry run for other countries, financiers intend to reduce Greece to a vassal state that has no control over its finances, with its tax revenues used to pay banks instead of for government functions.
The Marcos’ Legacy of Fraudulent and Illegitimate Debts (tags)
AS THE NATION remembers today the declaration of Martial Law and the imposition of the Marcos fascist dictatorship 40 years ago — we recall not only the crimes and abuses, but the valiant struggles of our people to end the tyrannical regime.
Out of the Slump: The Only Road (tags)
A real analysis of the United State’s economic history is rarely discussed by politicians or media alike, since the conclusions that would be inevitably drawn would be out of step with what politicians are currently advocating.
US retail sales figures slip again, showing decrease for third straight month (tags)
The road to recovery, as they might be saying on the campaign trail, is a hard one and expecting a sudden change in fortunes is fool hardy. Ever since the global financial crash in 2008, governments, political leaders and all sorts of economic and financial wunderkinds have been struggling to recover, the bite being still as wicked as before.
Philippine government a "show-off" (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine government’s decision to extend a US$1-billion loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to supplement the Fund’s Financial Transaction Plan (FTP) of $456 billion to contain the economic crisis in Europe is an “arrogant pretension of a country very much in debt,” according to the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC).
Rio+20: Asian Movements’ Statement on the Green Economy (tags)
We are movements and organizations from Asia, waging struggles on various fronts and arenas to defend our rights, resist policies and projects that cause harm and destruction, and to fight for immediate priorities and demands, as well as profound transformation of our societies. Fight for Our Future! No Price on Nature!
"A seeming consensus among economists can virtually force the shaping of political opinions.. For 30 years, neoliberalism marginalized all other schools, above all Keynesianism - and all of us hit a brick wall.."
"After all the brinkmanship and game playing over the debt limit last year, and after being ridiculed by pretty much everyone, the Republicans are back at it. In an election year and with last year’s plunge in the polls as evidence that voters just don’t agree with their tactics."
BTL:Greeks Resist Harsh Austerity Measures Imposed by Eurozone as Condition for New $172 B (tags)
Interview with Costas Panayotakis, author and associate professor of sociology at New York City College of Technology, conducted by Scott Harris
How Goldman Sachs Rules the World (tags)
Hank Paulsen had famous examples: Robert Rubin, Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, also changed from Goldman Sachs into politics. Europe and the US are firmly in the grip of Goldman Sachs.
Wall Street Excess and Main Street Distress: the Apple Connection (tags)
Apple’s march to market supremacy has been accomplished at tremendous cost to both American and Chinese workers
On Protest and the "Occupy"-Movement (tags)
National economies are now subject to the pressures of this supra-national financial "market" and to the institutions helpful to this market like the IMF and the European Central Bank. "Bailout umbrellas" at the expense of the common taxpayer are opened up.
Shock Strategy for Europe (tags)
The cocktail of social cuts, deregulation and privatization struck societies like a blow. The economy hit the wall; social securities were taken away. The debt problems were used as "timely opportunities" to gain new ground for the free market.
Book Review: "The Great Crash or the Century Crisis" by Elmar Altvater (tags)
Capitalism is at an end and the whole world is drawn into the mess. Preventing this is an ethical imperative and a political duty. The multiple crisis has dragged on for years. The political class allows this to happen. Political answers to the debacle can only be found with clarity on causes.
Critical thinking and cultural shock have the power to turn the world upside down (like Jesus' parables and zen koans). Trivializing structural/systemic economic problems as motivational, psychological, bumps in the road or industrial accidents is a perversion.
Debts and a New Beginning (tags)
Problems don't disappear when they are ignored. Through deregulation, the law of profit maximization and government failure, the financial sector was expanded and made independent of the real economy. 14 million jobs could be created through the Internet.
Akbayan and the Struggle for a New Philippines (tags)
(Speech at the Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo Awards Event, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington State, July 2, 2011.)
On the Failure of the Mainstream Economy (tags)
The neoliberal mainstream economy and its political backers experienced their Waterloo with the most serious financial and economic crisis in eight decades. States bailed out banks and banks made money by lending back to states. A policy of reduced working hours is necessary.
Meaner Tougher IMF with Lagarde (tags)
financial terrorism
Democracy, Haitian Style (tags)
imperialism
The U.S. is More Greek than Greece (tags)
Deficit economies were organized mainly by finance capital. The expansion of this credit-financed mass demand went along with the expansion of the financial sector. Trillions of dollars and Euros were pumped in the stabilization of financial markets.
The financial crisis became an economic crisis and mutated into a state budget crisis when trillions were given to "system relevant" banks and private losses became public burdens. What is Plan B?How can the financial sector be shriveled? Can state banks (like NDakota) be a model?
PHILIPPINES: Our Failed Labor-Export Policy (tags)
The impacts of disasters occurring in other parts of the world, from Libya to Japan, have perhaps been communicated more drastically to the Philippines than to other countries. Whether it is the tragic trilogy of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear fallout in Japan or the civil war in Libya, external crises are swiftly transformed into internal crises for our country, as thousands of families are pushed into poverty and economic hardship when their breadwinners are dislocated and repatriated back to the Philippines, where jobs offering decent wages are scarce.
The World Social Forum (Feb 6-11, 2011) (tags)
"Another world is possible," Susan George declared at Porto Alegre. 80,000 activists came to Dakar. The world has changed, not only through the financial crisis that showed the market often causes more problems than it solves. The WSF has become a source of hope for a just world.
The Arab Revolutions and the Democratic Imagination (tags)
The Arab democratic uprisings have brought a rush of nostalgia to many people who staged their own democratic revolutions years earlier. As they watched events unfold in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Al Jazeera and CNN, that feeling of “all that is solid melting into thin air,” as Marx would have put it, returned to many of those who went to the barricades during the original People Power Revolution in the Philippines in 1986.
Filipino Workers criticize shortcomings of EDSA 1 (tags)
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the anti-contractualization coalition KONTRA slammed the shortcomings of EDSA 1 in a symbolic mass action this afternoon. Scores of workers from PM and KONTRA assembled at the Ninoy Aquino monument at the corner of Timog and Quezon Avenues at around 5:30 pm.
Mubarak Toppled by CIA Because He Opposed US Plans for War with Iran? (tags)
"In terms of imperialist mentality, not all that much has changed since the days of 1956, when British Prime Minister Anthony Eden would become apoplectic at the mere sight of Colonel Amal abd-el Nasser, the gallant Egyptian leader who successfully nationalized the Suez Canal in defiance of the British and the French. When the imperialists look across the northern edge of Africa, the valuable assets they see are the oil of Algeria and Libya, and above all the Suez Canal, one of the classical naval choke points of the world, through which 8% of world maritime trade currently passes. The Anglo Americans are acutely aware of the endless possibilities for mischief against countries like Iran, China, and Russia that could be derived from a reassertion of the old imperialist control of Suez. If some pretext could be found for banning Chinese ships from the Suez Canal, China’s entire trade with Europe would be severely disrupted. However, in order to make a grab for Suez politically feasible, Egypt would have to descend into chaos. This may in fact be one of the prime motivations of what is currently going on. If the national states collapse, then the empire is free to step in and seize what it wants."
'The Egyptian Revolution enters a new stage' and more (tags)
"The struggle that is now unfolding in Egypt will be of a protracted character. The responsibility of revolutionary Marxists is to develop among workers, as they pass through colossal political experiences, an understanding of the necessity for an independent struggle for power. The revolutionary Marxists must counsel workers against all illusions that their democratic aspirations can be achieved under the aegis of bourgeois parties. They must expose ruthlessly the false promises of the political representatives of the capitalist class. They must encourage the creation of independent organs of workers’ power which can become, as the political struggle intensifies, the basis for the transfer of power to the working class. They must explain that the realization of the workers’ essential democratic demands is inseparable from the implementation of socialist policies. Above all, revolutionary Marxists must raise the political horizons of Egyptian workers beyond the borders of their own country. They must explain that the struggles that are now unfolding in Egypt are inextricably linked to an emerging global process of world socialist revolution, and that the victory of the revolution in Egypt requires not a national, but an international strategy. After all, the fight against the Mubarak-Suleiman regime and the Egyptian ruling class is, in the final analysis, a struggle against the entire Arab bourgeoisie, the Zionist regime in Israel and American and European imperialism."
Economists Rediscover the Distrribution Question (tags)
Higher taxes for the rich-traditionally a horror to liberal economists-appear in a new light as state transfers to poorer sectors. Those richer than 95% pocket around 20% of the total income. It was less than half as much at the end of the 70s.
Post-Quake Haiti: One Year Later (tags)
Haiti worse off than ever
Breaking the Vicious Circle of Poverty (tags)
In 2008 in Namibia the Lutheran bishop Zephania Kameeta provided a whole village with an unconditional basic income. BIG (Basic Income Grant) is like a magic word, the code for a bold idea that poverty is not a hopeless fate but an enemy that can be forced to its knees.
What’s Going On In Europe? (tags)
"The attack on education is an international phenomenon. In the UK on Wednesday, tens of thousands of students walked out of classes over tripled tuition fees. Thousands participated in a demonstration in London, where more than 1,000 were penned in and contained by police for hours. Police used batons to beat back students attempting to reach parliament. The demonstrations in Britain came two weeks after more than 55,000 took to the streets throughout the UK. A crackdown by the government has included the arrest of dozens of students. In the US, there have been mass protests and, in some cases, occupations in the state of California against tuition fee increases of more than 30 per cent. The education cuts in Italy and the UK are part of a wave of austerity measures throughout Europe aimed at forcing workers and young people to pay for an ongoing economic crisis."
The Financial Crisis and the Failure of the Modern Economy (tags)
The US government debt shot up from 2.9% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2008 and 11.9% in 2009. At the summits of Washington, London and Pittsburg, the goat was made the gardener. Ineffective rules were resolved that hardly helped regulate the financial markets.
World Geopolitics and The Battle for the Mediterranean (tags)
"If one were to live in a city where the only form of employment was a coal mine and there was no means to leave the city then one would have no choice but to work at the coal mine. Control of labour movement is a cornerstone to the socio-economic objectives of the U.S., the E.U., the World Bank, and a league of associated international financial institutions (IFIs). By rendering work forces immobile in any given geographic locality the rights of employment choice and occupational alternatives are removed and a new form of monopoly is established — a forced acceptance of work on whole pools of individuals. Rising fuel prices are also adding to the erosion of mobility rights.??The security agenda behind controlling movements is heavily tied to economic objectives, as are the international disease scares like avian influenza (bird flu) and the swine flue that lock up human movement. Control of mobility in the oceans and international waters of the world is also part of this objective. The internationally illegal Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) was initiated by the U.S. government, with the support of the E.U., in 2003 as part of the “Global War on Terror.” The Proliferation Security Initiative is presented as a means to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), however it can be applied to bring about a hold over global maritime mobility. The strategy is a threat to international movement on the high seas and maritime trade. There is good reason why it is illegal under international law and the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.??Industrial De-location in the European Union and the Global Economic Crisis??This process of industrial de-location has already been underway in the E.U. for years, under which industries have been relocated to Eastern Europe and other global regions. Under this neo-liberal paradigm jobs and industries can gradually be removed from wealthier E.U. states to Southern Mediterranean nations, where cheap and immobile labour forces will be awaiting."
The IMF Dictates More Than Ever (tags)
"Many developing countries that were independent in food production at the start of the 1980s import food necessary for their populations today. The subsidized agriculture of western countries has flooded the cou9ntries of the South. Haiti imports the rice that it once cultivated.."
"Our America is Coming" : Social Movements Assembly Declaration - August 2010 (tags)
Social movements present at the IV Americas Social Forum, in Asuncion, Paraguay, we reaffirm our solidarity and commitment to Paraguayan people to the urgent need for progress in their process to sovereignty recovery over its territory, goods common, energy resources, land reform and democratization.
France: More strikes, opposition to social austerity (tags)
"At Université Lyon-2, students gathered to vote on future action and protest the detention of demonstrators at Corbas prison, according to an account in Lyon-Capitale. They criticized the unions and also bourgeois “left” parties such as the Socialist Party (PS) and its presumed 2012 presidential candidate, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Strauss-Kahn is currently the head of the International Monetary Fund, where he pressed for massive austerity policies and wage cuts to be imposed on Greek workers in exchange for an IMF bailout, during this spring’s Greek debt crisis. One Lyon student said: “We’re in the street because we have had enough of Sarkozy. We had had enough of [ex- President Jacques] Chirac before and we will have had enough of Strauss-Kahn.... What we do not want anymore is Sarkozy, capitalism, and globalization.”
Reviewing Project Censored's Top 2009-10 Stories (tags)
PC's top censored stories
When I was recently named chairman of the Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, I was approached by members of the press for my views on migrant labor. I remembered a speech I delivered last year at the Global Forum for Migration and Development in Athens, Greece. The thrust of the speech was that migrants’ rights have to be addressed on two fronts: ending the neoliberal policies that are responsible for creating poverty in their home countries, thus forcing them to emigrate, and demanding that they are given full rights in their host countries.
IMF Considers Replacing the Dollar as Key Currency (tags)
More stability and efficiency will be created and money and the credit system de-politicized. In stress situations, a world central bank could serve as creditor "of last resort" to provide the necessary liquidity in the whole system in case of grave shocks.
The IMF-in-Greece diary (tags)
Α real-time record of the IMF-era of Greece
The Road to World War III - The Global Banking Cartel Has One Card Left to Play (tags)
"The global elite have consistently used a strategy of arming and funding both sides of armed conflicts. While opposing populations kill each other off, they make off with their natural resources. When they confront a government that cannot be bribed or provoked into civil or regional war, they fund brutal death squads, attempt military coups and intimidate them by giving weapons to undemocratic neighboring regimes. If all that doesn’t work, they are declared a threat to national security and the US military, private contractors and NATO forces invade and occupy the country. These terrorist strategies are not limited to the Middle East and Africa, just ask our neighbors throughout Latin America about the School of the Americas. Contrary to popular belief, the horrendous torture techniques inflicted upon people in Abu Ghraib, Iraq were not an isolated incident. Many of those brutal torture techniques were developed over years by torturing innocent civilians throughout Latin America."
The Banking and Financial Crisis (tags)
"The transition from a long-term to a short-term orientation went along with the exaggerated profit goals. The approach of shareholder value sets maximum profits and dividends in the center of business policy and no longer long-term investments and the interests of employees.."
"Severe Austerity Programs will have Catastrophic Consequences" (tags)
"Instead of real growth, the financial sector has only promoted phantom growth. The state functions differently than a family. Less should be spent for unproductive purposes like the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and unconditional bank bailout packages.."
Latest Update from the IMF Resistance Network (tags)
The IMF Resistance Network is an East coast-based anti-authoritarian group dedicated to organizing resistance to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. http://imfresistance.org.
PHILIPPINES: Keeping an eye on Aquino’s commitment to change (tags)
MANILA - The new administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III begins with an extremely high trust rating of 88 percent – higher than any of the post-dictatorship presidents. This is a measure of people’s belief in the commitment of the Aquino administration to reverse the anti-poor policies implemented during the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The Global Political Awakening and the New World Order (tags)
"The global debt crisis, which is beginning in Greece, and spreading throughout the euro-zone economies of Spain, Portugal, Ireland and ultimately the entire EU, will further consume the UK, Japan and go all the way to America.[50] This will be a truly global debt crisis. Government measures to address the issue of debt focus on the implementation of ‘fiscal austerity measures’ to reduce the debt burdens and make interest payments on their debts. ‘Fiscal austerity’ is a vague term that in actuality refers to cutting social spending and increasing taxes. The effect this has is that the public sector is devastated, as all assets are privatized, public workers are fired en masse, unemployment becomes rampant, health and education disappear, taxes rise dramatically, and currencies are devalued to make all assets cheaper for international corporations and banks to buy up, while internally causing inflation – dramatically increasing the costs of fuel and food. In short, ‘fiscal austerity’ implies ‘social destruction’ as the social foundations of nations and peoples are pulled out from under them. States then become despotic and oppress the people, who naturally revolt against ‘austerity’: the sterilization of society."
Marcoses come close to full circle (tags)
With three of them now holding elective posts – including one senator – the Marcoses have come close to full circle.
The Best Immigration Law is No Law at All (tags)
The Best Immigration Law is No Law at All
IMF it is sabotaging the Brazilian economy.
Human Rights Before Trade Rules (tags)
Bread for the World shows that a fundamentally different trade and economic policy oriented in human rights is possible and very necessary. Many rich countries subsidize their farmers so their foodstuffs can be produced below the real costs and sold cheaply on the world market.
BRIC STRUGGLES AGAINST THE ANGLO-AMERICAN FINANCIAL SPECULATION (tags)
Bric x USA-UK
Worse than a crime – The electoral politics of the NDF and the CPP in the Philippines (tags)
The year 2010 has begun and we already know what’s going to be the most unlikely election coalition of the year. The legal National-Democratic (ND) movement of the Philippines, politically aligned with the underground Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines, has made an alliance with multimillionaire Manuel ‘Manny’ Bamba Villar Jr. and indirectly with Marcos’ admiring son, Ferdinand ’Bongbong’ Marcos jr.
"LOS GRINGOS" DON'T WANT TO BE MADE RESPONSIBLE BY THE DAMAGES THAT PRODUCED (tags)
We broke the world and now you all will pay the bill - the Tio San said. Didn't it arrive the moment of giving a beating in him?
The Planning of War Behind Closed Doors: Brussels, London, Istanbul: Week Of Western War (tags)
"If any further evidence was required that the United Nations is at the service of NATO and not vice versa, that the EU is NATO's civilian valet de chambre, and that all three are subordinated to the United States, the last week's events and the roster of attendees at them should suffice. ??The chain of command begins in Washington and orders barked out there work their way down to Brussels and New York City."
"Concepts must be developed against the global demand-deficit. Repairing the financial system is not enough. The economic-political prescriptions of the past - flexible wages and restricted social benefits - would worsen the situation."
The crisis in Venezuela: understanding the causes, assigning blame and suggesting solution (tags)
* The public pronouncement from the Editorial Collective of El Libertario in mid-January 2010 on the current situation in Venezuela.
The Next Crash is Brewing (tags)
The economic way of thinking enforced for a quarter of century is one of the structural factors that helped this "economy of depression" breakthrough. This dominant doctrine denies the role of demand and concentrates on the problems limiting the supply of goods & services
Lessons from the Crisis (tags)
Governments are extorted by multinational corporations. Those who made massive profits with bank business must now answer for the losses. The taxpayer may not pay for their crises. If control is not exercised by politics, banks will become absolute rulers with a state guarantee.
Two Anniversaries: Berlin and Seattle (tags)
November 2009 was not only the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall — an historical milestone reported to death by the corporate media — it was also the anniversary of an event the corporate media chose to ignore: the 10th anniversary of the mass protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle in November and December 1999. The challenge for radicals and progressives today is not only to revitalize the spirit of Seattle but to take back the initiative in an era in which the biggest and most confrontational mass actions are being staged by the "teabag" Right.
Is Growth Only Possible Through Inequality? (tags)
Does capitalism make the rich richer and the poor poorer instead of creating prosperity for everyone as promised? Inequality declined considerably between 1930 and 1970 in western industrial states.
The Shortwave Report 10/09 Listen Globally! (tags)
A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio. With times and freqs for listening at home. 2 files- broadcast and slow-modem streaming. Free to rebroadcast. China, Netherlands, Cuba, and Russia.
GMA’s Handling of Typhoon Ondoy is the Real Disaster (tags)
In response to the devastation of Typhoon Ondoy, members of the national Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) and the Filipino youth-based Daluyong Coordinating Committee are organizing Sagip-Tulong Sa Pilipinas (STP) Emergency Relief Fund Campaign. This campaign will raise material and monetary support for the typhoon victims and aims to raise $5,000 by Monday, October 5, and another $5,000 by Friday, October 16.
THE NEW LATIN AMERICA FOR NOAM CHOMSKY (tags)
Interview of Noam Chomsky
GERMANY: What Lessons Do We Learn from the Financial Crisis? (tags)
Rating agencies were paid by the firms to be rated. Ultimately rational individual conduct led to an irrational collective result. The lesson is clear. On the way of regulation or taxation, banks must be given a massive incentive to remain small.
Blase Bonpane Denounces U.S. Support of Honduran Coup (tags)
Blase Bonpane, who's been fighing the good fight against U.S. militarism and imperialism for over 40 years, spoke at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church in San Diego September 8 and said the recent coup in Honduras couldn't have happened without the approval of the U.S. government and corporations. He reviewed America's long history of direct intervention in Latin America in general and Honduras in particular, and said the U.S. backed the Honduran coup now as an attack on the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), organized by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez as a network of Latin American countries with Leftist governments who want to be out from under the thumb of oligarchs, corporate elites, international bankers and local militaries trained at the infamous School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.
Political countervailing power of the G-millions against the economism of the neoliberals can only be formed with a long breath.. The grass grows from below; words fall empty from the top.
The Face of Privatization (tags)
Under the present rule of neoliberal privatization, the all-embracing principle is conquest of the world transformed into rights of private property.. After destruction of the privatization myth, we need real democratization.
Risk Development and Dollar Inflation (tags)
Two articles by emeritus professor Elmar Altvater reveal the contradictions of credit or bubble prosperity in the counter-revolution of capital. As work cannot define us, competitiveness and profit maximization do not define the human experience Speculation could bring a new feudalism..
Mass Protests Rock Iran: No to All Wings of the Mullah Regime! (tags)
For more than a week, Iran has been convulsed by mass demonstrations denouncing election fraud. Hundreds of thousands have repeatedly taken to the streets to denounce the government, which is now threatening, and beginning to carry out, a bloody crackdown. This time around, imperialist intervention is veiled: the White House feigns neutrality, the Western media go all out for the opposition, while in the background various agencies provide vital technical aid. In reality, all candidates in the presidential vote swear allegiance to the Islamic Republic, and the supposed moderate reformers are no less butchers and enemies of poor and working people than the conservative "populist" government. The situation cries out for revolutionary leadership independent of all factions of the theocracy, to wage a struggle for workers revolution against imperialism and clerical reaction.
Decommissioning a Superpower (tags)
"From July to September 2008, China reduced its investment in the US real estate banks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The US tgovt needs $1.5 billion in foreign credits day after day..The greatest debtor of the world cannot force the law of trade on its creditors any more.."
Obama's Financial Reform Proposal - A Stealth Scheme for Global Monetary Control (tags)
global dominance, not reform is planned
Appalachia and Colombia: The People Behind the Coal --an interview with Aviva Chomsky (tags)
Aviva Chomsky is a professor of history and Latin American Studies at Salem State College in Massachusetts, and is a founder of the North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee, which has been working since 2002 with Colombian labor and popular movements, especially those affected by the foreign-owned mining sector. She just returned from a Witness for Peace delegation (May 28 – June 6) that traveled to two regions devastated by coal mining: the state of Kentucky and to northern Colombia.
From Obsuristan to Absurdistan: Barbarism or Human Future (tags)
Individual security can be emphasized so global vision fades. Half-truths and fish stories carry the day. "Communism is oppression of many by man and capitalism is just the reverse." Our challenge is to reawaken wonder and interdependence, to consider the way of nonviolent resistance.
Economic Crisis and the Crisis of Neoliberal Ideology (tags)
The crisis has his origins in the "real" economy. Inequality is the ideological motor of neoliberfalism. German president Kohler described the financial markets as a monster. The metaphor has changed from market as rational subject to monster.
Austria: Crash Instead of Cash (tags)
In 1978 the Bretton Woods system broke down since the US abandoned the key function of the US dollar to print money to finance the Vietnam War.. The liberalization of the financial markets started a mechanism in which the worldwide population loses.
Though a lot of so-called “progressives” voted no on the ballot measures on California’s May 19 special election ballot, the overwhelming defeat of these legislative compromises aimed at a short-term solution to California's budget problems has been a boon for the radical Right. For 43 years, ever since they elected Ronald Reagan as governor in 1966 and passed Proposition 13 in 1978, a cadre of radical-Right Republicans have been seeking to destroy the financial basis of California's government and thereby force the elimination of virtually all social welfare programs as well as scorched-earth cuts in education and health care. Now they’ve got their wish: after the budget dust settles, California will now no longer be in the business of helping working-class and lower-income people, and will instead be a low-tax,corporate-privilege Libertarian haven.
We persuaded ourselves permanent economic growth was the answer to all questions. We should now engage in a growth debate about the nature of this growth, not whether we should renounce on economic growth. Increased GDP can mean destruction of foundations in long-term
Attac Catalogue for Democratizing the Financial Markets (tags)
The financial industry contributed over $5 billion in the last year in campaign gifts and lobbying to ensure that Wall Street oligarchs have their way in the media and congress. Attac is a global justice network committed to shriveling the financial markets.
Water is a Human Right, not a Commodity (tags)
In Bolivia there was a bloody struggle over water. Indigenous persons led the water war in Cochabamba. Water is a human right and must be withdrawn from the logic of profit maximization.
Obama and the denial of genocide (tags)
Writer-activist David Boyajian’s investigative articles and commentaries have appeared in Armenian media outlets in the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Armenia and the Newton Tab and USA Armenian Life newspapers named him among their "Top 10 Newsmakers of 2007." So, when Barack Obama paid a visit to Turkey last month, it seemed like a good time to ask Boyajian for his take on the new president's approach to the issue of the Armenian genocide.
Mending our own pockets, setting system stabilization above profit maximization and long-term survival above short-term constraints is vital for an open, dynamic and future-friendly world.
The New Feasibility and the G20 (tags)
These fictional articles point to a future after the world turned upside down by financial speculation. They were published in a fictional issue of "DIE ZEIT," the famous Hamburg weekly.
The Foxes Guard the Henhouse (tags)
The banks must be forced to give credits to small and medium-size businesses. The general strike in France on January 29 was a sign of hope. Shriveling the financial markets must be the goal. Free trade is the wrong medicine.
Leading Economist Decries Power of Wall Street "Oligarchs" (tags)
n a fascinating piece in the latest issue of The Atlantic, Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, outlines what he sees as the alarming influence of Wall Street firms over the American economy. He expounds on his thesis in our interview, making several points:
France Jan 29, 2009. Public and private workers mount a one-day strike with mass support. Schools, courts and transportation shut down in several cities. This article is from: Freedom Socialist Vol30 No2 April-May 2009.
The Misery of the WTO: For a Reinvention of World Trade (tags)
The crisis of the WTO has two causes: a lack of trust and an ideological prejudice. A lack of trust exists because the countries of the North judge trade with two standards: free trade for the South and protectionism for their own economies.
What Obama's Trip to Europe Revealed (tags)
Declaring something a success doesn’t necessarily make it so. We learned this at the Bush-led G-20 summit only four months ago, when global leaders were expected to do something far-reaching in response to the world-wide economic crisis, instead of chatting about it. When nothing came of the meeting, we were told that the summit “succeeded” because it “laid the groundwork” for the next G-20 gathering, recently led by Obama. The four months between G-20 summits was one of rising massive unemployment and social misery for millions of people, creating an urgency that was unmet by the world leaders in London.
Calories on the Table, not in the Tank (tags)
For decades nearly all countries of the third world had to follow the "Washington Consensus"-a strategy of opening to the world market.. Wheat and corn land in the tank, not on the table. All of our dependence on the car appears here most perversely.
The Shortwave Report 03/27 Listen Globally! (tags)
A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio. With times and freqs for listening at home. 2 files- broadcast and slow-modem streaming. Free to rebroadcast. China, Netherlands, Cuba, and Russia.
Arsonists as the Fire Brigade (tags)
Supported by ideologically-blinded deregulators, the "masters of the universe" dominant in Wall Street and the City of London could bend the rules of the game on the global financial markets. Their shadow banking system existed above politics and regulators.
Dodd and Geithner should resign (tags)
The Casino is Closed: Reasons for the Crash (tags)
Ulrich Schafer discusses the greed for fast money, a world without rules and why the market alone cannot regulate everything. The crisis has a pre-history. The state simply abandoned control over many economic areas. The financial world in particular was left to itself.
Fear of the Great Depression (tags)
The acute danger exists of a self-reinforcing downward spiral from deflation, increasing debts and new problems in the financial sector..Degenerate banks must be closed by the state in a controlled way. Politics must try to reduce the uncertainties of consumers.
No One Can Escape the Crisis (tags)
From a long-term perspective, the crisis could bring about a radical rethinking in politics and the economy away from the mantra of shareholder value and the pursuit of short-term profits. The neoliberal model of the Washington consensus has revealed its fundamental weaknesses.
GABNET LOS ANGELES AND PESANTE USA COMMEMORATE MENDIOLA MASSACRE; (tags)
Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance and PESANTE-USA held a commemorative and educational forum on the 22nd anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre. Activists and community members gathered at Historic Filipinotown to hear about the 1987 event and discuss the ongoing struggle for peasant and human rights in the Philippines. The event was opened by Al Garcia of PESANTE-USA who described the January 22,1987 Mendiola Massacre, where 15,000 peasants peacefully rallying for genuine land reform were ruthlessly fired upon by the police and the Philippine Mari
REMEMBERING MENDIOLA, Jan 22, 2009 at FACLA (tags)
Los Angeles-- REMEMBER MENDIOLA! FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS! GABNET of the Mariposa Alliance,PESANTE and the Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) in Los Angeles,marked the 22nd Year of the January 22,1987 Mendiola Massacre, where thirteen (13)protesters were killed and over 150 others were wounded in an educational forum in FACLA, community hall on Jan 22, 2009 in Historic Filipinotown Los Angeles. Speaking before scores of FilAm activists, Arturo Garcia of Pesante and AJLPP explained that the AFP was after the NDF negotiating panel who were in Manila in 1987 during the 60 day ceasefire. Unable to liquidate their targets they pounced on the defend less peasants in Mendiola that day.
PESANTE COMMEMORATES MENDIOLA MASSACRE (tags)
On Thursday, January 22nd, Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance will co-host an educational forum with PESANTE and the Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) in Los Angeles. The groups will meet to commemorate the 22nd Year of the January 22,1987 Mendiola Massacre, where 15,000 peasants peacefully rallying for genuine land reform from the newly installed US-Aquino Regime were ruthlessly fired upon by the police and the Philippine Marines. Thirteen protesters were killed and over 150 others were wounded. The AFP was after the NDF negotiating panel who were in Manila in 1987 during the 60 day ceasefire. Unable to liquidate their targets they pounced on the defend less peasants in Mendiola that day.
REMEMBERING MENDIOLA, Jan 22, 2009 at FACLA (tags)
On January 22nd, 1987 government forces opened fire at a demonstration for agrarian reform on Mendiola St in Manila. As a result, 13 peasants were massacred, while 150 were severely wounded. This January 22nd we will remember those who have fallen for peace and justice in the Philippines. Join us as we discuss the root causes that continue to exist and oppress people worldwide.
Religious fundamentalism
Obama's Economic Dream Team? (tags)
indeed for Wall Street bankers
After the Bankruptcy (Jurgen Habermas) (tags)
The privatization mania has ended. Politics is necessary for the public interest, not the market. A tension always exists between capitalism and democracy because the market and politics are based on opposite principles.
Financial Crisis: Bending and Breaking (tags)
The governments still strike the pose of successful crisis management. The points are set for a state-sanctioned survival of neoliberlaism through bending and breaking, Instead of raising mass income, the state finances capital investments to liven up the domestic economy.
The Philosophies of Deregulation and Neoliberalism are Dead in the West (tags)
"The patient suffers massive internal bleeding and is given a blood transfusion. The banks lent money and accepted inflated assets as security. This bubble burst..Those who pocketed profits for years want to pin the losses on the taxpayers."
Lee Sustar explains that the mayhem in the markets this week is symptomatic of a deeper crisis--and the leaders of the most powerful governments aren't sure what to do.
"The Market is not a Safe Bank" by Helmut Schmidt (tags)
This crisis was avoidable. The fact that American investment banks are not subject to any normal bank supervision is scandalous. Financial transactions must be subject to rules and security standards. The heavier the traffic, the more rules and regulations are needed.
The Demise of Neoliberal Globalization (tags)
The capitalist world economy follows ananti-social logic. The replacement of neoliberalism is necessitated by a cyclical swing. Will the world economy return to a balance or sink in violent chaos? Wallerstein's article could stimulate fruitful academic and political discussions.
Very few people know that the US military is directly involved in the fierce fighting going on in the Philippines between the Moro insurgents and the corrupt and brutal Arroyo regime supported by the Bush neocons and the warmongering Pentagon planners. Will you continue to allow US tax dollars to be wasted in this barbaric genocidal war against indigenous peoples? Over a thousand extrajudicial killings and "forced disappearances" under Arroyo's tenure, plus a few hundred Muslims dead as "collateral damage," may be the signs of US "benevolent hegemony" (Robert Kagan) and US "magnanimous imperial power" (Dinesh D'Souza). McKinley's "Benevolent Assimilation" lives on!
Dollar is over, says Carlos Lessa (tags)
To Lessa, "dollar is over" and it’s necessary that a new "Bretton Woods" establishes new parameters to global economy.
Pulling the plug won't mean the end of the world; there is an alternative. Let's do a Kevorkian on this rotten system.
De-Acceleration or Globalization 2.0 (tags)
"The wondrous global division of labor came about in which threshold countries lend money to the US to buy Chinese or Indian products..Must cut-flowers from Africa be promoted in Europe?..With de-acceleration, globalization will catapult fewer jobs around the globe.
Negative Image: Robert Mugabe through the Lens of Western Propaganda (tags)
If you ever wondered how you came to know what you know about Zimbabwe, here is your chance to find out.
Hugo Chavez Spearheads the South American Revolution (tags)
How Venezuela is leading the revolutionary integration of South America
Rude Awakening in Mexico (tags)
US businesses invested $120 billion in Mexico between 1994 and 2006. Only 80,000 jobs were created per year while 730,000 Mexicans pressed on the labor market every year. While migration climbed 95% from 1980 to 1994, it soared an incredible 452% from 1994 to 2006.
Joint Statement on the 34th G8 Summit in Tōyako, Hokkaidō, Japan
The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve (tags)
Humiliation for Mr. Dollar: Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank, faces a general investigation by the International Monetary Fund. Just one more example of the Fed losing its power.
Crisis Populism and Rose-Colored Glasses (tags)
When it concerns socializing the losses of the financial disaster, the head of Deutsche Bank no longer believes in the "self-healing power of the market." The bankruptcy of neoliberalism is blatant.
"A Crime against Humanity" (tags)
When you fill the tank of an ethanol car with 50 liters, you burn over 700 pounds of corn. A Zambian child could live a whole year from that. More regulation instead of more market access is vital for developing countries. A rebellion of conscience is needed.
World Bank and IMF Policies Caused Food Crisis (tags)
The IMF changed its economic direction and took a market radical neoliberal economic course at the beginning of the 1980s with the rise of monetarism. Hunger inthe world can only be overcome with long-term sustainable strategies, not with the short-term horizon of Wall Street.
Mexico Exports Corn and Impoverished Farmers (tags)
Food that Mexico could have easily produced itself must be purchased for ten billion dollars every year from the US. Today Mexico can offer ruined farmers as its most important export article. Prices for corn, wheat and rice soared 40-50 percent within eight months.
Sandbox Liberals Practice Damage Control: World Bank and IMF (tags)
The IMF and the World Bank are not self-critical. With their conditions on developing countries, these two institutions crafted the economic structures that led to today's disaster. The world economy functions according to the rules of power and profit logic.
Psychology has a great influence on developments of the world econmy. In Tokyo, the G7 states agreed to avoid negative terms to not worsen the situation. Neither the extreme price drop of the dollar nor of the Yen were mentioned in the final declaration.
The Asian Crisis of 1997-1998: Deregulation (tags)
Enormous capital streamed in short-term monetary investments that could dissolve at any time, not in lasting direct investments. Higher stock prices and home prices fueled the credit boom. Deregulated finance markets are everything but efficient.
Interview with FARC Commander Raul Reyes (tags)
Following the March 1st attack by a Colombian military operation that resulted in the death of 20 FARC forces including rebel leader Raul Reyes. Interview with slain FARC leader from July 2007.
As long as the policies of the rich North represent a mixture of cruel carrot-and-stick maneuvers, coupled with basic contempt for the South, we can expect more lethal North-South tensions, more powerful boomerangs hurled back at us.
Democracy and the WTO: Alternatives to Free Trade (tags)
Trade policies that benefit multinational corporations are undemocratic and promote exploding inequality. "The negotiations are carried out on a supra-national plane where democracy or civil society interests fall by the wayside."
Is the "Mother of all Financial Crises" Imminent? (tags)
A trade-weighted devaluation of the dollar of around 25 percent is necessary allowing the US currency to ski "gradually and orderly" against free-floating currencies. The IMF could establish a "substitution account" with "special drawing rights" to avert a dollar panic.
Dislocations and Crises (tags)
Liberalization of the finance markets started a mechanism where the broad mass of the world's population lost. Only a few conglomerates and wealthy persons are winners.
Electing Canada as President (tags)
Ours is a brave new world where countries don't need dollars as in the past. Maybe we could accept our unparalleled life-and-death crisis from endless wars and melting dollar and affirm partnership and exchanging roles as we affirmed the total and absolute market
"Not torturing is changed into an act of barbarism.. Torture, the atom bomb and the globalization strategy all save life. State terrorism presents itself as humanist realism, the only way of securing life. As a Chilean general said, national security is like love; there is never enough."
Soaring Capital Profits and the Mountain of Corpses (tags)
For the first time in the historyof humanity, a surplus of goods could satisfy the basic needs of all earthlings. The moral imperative lives in all of us. Capital rule, the rule of finance capital over the economic events of the world, is nearly total.
California Scheming:Rudy Giuliani,Paul Singer, Vulture Funds Africa,GenesisIntermedia (tags)
In many ways it is Adnan Khashoggi as well as Paul Singer who are financing the campaign of Rudy Giuliani through money they made in the GenesisIntermedia pump and dump penny stock scam that collapsed around 9/11/01as well as money stolen from U.S. taxpayers and impoverished countries in Africa as well as Peru who were ripped off by the W Bush-Paul Singer 'Vulture Funds' fraud in which W Bush put U.S. funds in accounts directed at 3rd world debt only to have Mr. Singer come along and empty those accounts for his and the Republican Party's personal cash cow that was used to attempt changing California electoral voting system in favor of Rudy Giuliani and the Republican Party !
DUTCH FASCISM & BUSH-ARROYO STATE TERRORISM ATTACK FILIPINO REFUGEES (tags)
Colluding with U.S. & Filipino reactionaries, Dutch fascist authorities arrested Jose Maria Sison, a Filipino political refugee, and raided the National Democratic Front International Information Office in Holland. This is a clear example of State Terrorism working on behalf of predatory imperialist capital. All progressives and democrats everywhere should protest this outrage and support the Filipino people's struggle for justice, equality, and true independence.
Alternatives to Neoliberal Globalization (tags)
Refusing to work out historical sins like colonialism, fascism and apartheid repeats the historical model of conquest, domination and exclusion. Kairos Europe is directed against a system and its structures. Its positive goal sets life and people in first place.
Call to Action: Oct. IMF/World Bank protests (Eng./Sp.) (tags)
Disrupt the IMF and the World Bank meetings: Washington DC, October 19-21, 2007 A Desbaratar las Reuniones del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) y el Banco Mundial!
CUFI's Christian Zionists convene for Holy $$ War in DC (tags)
Right-wing Christian Zionist evangelicals of CUFI are fanning the flames of war with Iran, citing defense of Jews in Israel. CUFI depends on bribes to influence politicians and resettle Jews to Israel. However, Iranian Jews refuse cash offers in exchange for resettlement to Israel and remain a cohesive Jewish community in Iran.
Confronting U.S. Empire: Reviewing Filipino American Insurgent Intellectual Production (tags)
This new intervention by internationally renowned Filipino scholar E. SAN JUAN, Jr. signals a renewed self-reflection by the Filipino American community and the entire diaspora of nearly 10 million Overseas Contract Workers.
The big brother from the North misled the South.. The slogan "More Market, Less State" is losing a few old friends in Europe.. What is changing is the discourse, the eulogy of the market and its possibilities.
A backroom deal on trade? (tags)
Four bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs)--with Colombia, Peru, Panama and South Korea--are on the agenda this month for congressional approval, along with a June 30 deadline to reauthorize “trade promotion authority” (TPA) for George Bush. TPA, also known as “fast track” authority, allows the president to negotiate trade deals that Congress must either accept or reject, without amendment.
Who Frees Us From Capital? (tags)
Whole continents bowed to the Washington Consensus..The World Bank must end its embittered attack on distribution policy.. Privatization awakened false hopes.. Evo Morales in Bolivia nationalized the oil and gas economy and raised the monthly minimum wage to $100.
REPORT ON THE CLASS STRUGGLE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Interview of Filipino Activist Intellectual E. SAN JUAN, Jr.
Imperial Multilateralism in Crisis (tags)
For half a millenium, the West-first Spain and Portugal, then England and lastly the US-ruled the world. This position is now seriously put in question by the newcomers.. In reality the IMF and the World Bank are dominated by the US.
Taxes and Finance Capital: Back to the Feudal State (tags)
Taxes are the corrective to the furious free market. They safeguard the public interest, redistribution, public functions and services..For the oligarchs, tax is a confiscation and tax officials are highway robbers.. Tax reductions for the rich are the direrct cause of the debility of community.
FILIPINA MILITANTS CONDEMN ARROYO-BUSH FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY (tags)
The 2nd session of the Permanent People's Tribunal (March 21-25, The Hague, Netherlands) marks a historic milestone in the Filipino people's struggle for social justice and true independence from U.S. imperialism and predatory global capital. This brief report sums up the major achievement of the Tribunal, highlighting the role of progressive Filipina women in the fight for freedom and people's liberation.
Protests at IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings – a Prelude to October (tags)
News roundup of protests at IMF/World Bank spring meetings in April - and onward to October!
the secret of all secrets (tags)
the secret of all secrets
Make Capitalism History (tags)
The iron fist of McDonald Douglas protects the soft fist of McDonalds. Militarism is the back side of capitalism. We must resist normalization of war and militarization of foreign policy. Love for life and the future can change priorities and perspectives.
The Rise and Fall of the UN (tags)
One’s opinion of the United Nations reveals a lot about political consciousness; and because perception is usually based on experience, it’s only natural that people from different countries have opposing views about the UN and its pillar institutions— the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the United States, familiarity of the UN is limited to vague notions of ‘international democracy’ and ‘peacekeeping’, words that inspire the noblest of intentions; the World Bank and IMF on the other hand are institutions that invoke little reaction among the US public. How and by whom the UN was formed, whose interests it serves, and the actual history of its ‘peacekeeping’ missions are all things rarely examined. It is the purpose of this essay to look at the formation and development of the UN, and in so doing, attempt to show the evolution of the capitalistic system itself, which was ‘reborn’ upon the back of these hardly-neutral organizations.
"The Empire In Africa" screenes during the Hollywood Film Festival 10/22 (tags)
Shocking documentary denounces role of UN and the western powers in the civil war in Sierra Leone.
Creditor instead of Citizen (tags)
Do the capital markets undermine democracy?
Bush wants a bloodbath in Baghdad (tags)
Increasingly desperate over the deteriorating situation in Iraq, the Bush administration is demanding that the US-installed government in Baghdad support a savage intensification of repression or give way to a dictatorial regime that will.
IMF out of the Philippines and South countries now, protesters demand (tags)
On the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) together with the World Bank in Singapore, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and other civil society organizations blame “the Fund” for being the single most influential factor for the worsening poverty in the Philippines and other countries in the South.
Justice and Peace: Globalization from Below (tags)
Free trade is one of the most important idols that rule over us in Babylon..Deregulation as the owners of the world call this lawlessness leads to new forms of impoverishment..The greatest terrorist is neoliberal economicorder
The Planetary War of the United States of America (Dec2001) (tags)
Sooner or later the competing bourgeoisies will attempt to free themselves, to unite, to escape from America’s more and more choking dominance.
The spirit of resistance (tags)
The practical result is that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is ever more popular all over the Arab street. Kind of like the new, 21st-century Saladin. Hezbollah's moral and political cache could not but rise among peoples and movements worldwide who keep being bombed to oblivion but never had a chance to bomb back.
Counter the G8 + 5 Climate Summit! October 3-4 in Mexico City: CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW! (tags)
On Tuesday, October 3 in Mexico City, the Energy and Environment Ministers from the "Group of Eight" (G8) industrialized countries are scheduled to begin negotiating a climate change deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. They will be joined by Energy and Environment Ministers from the five "emerging" countries of Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Mexico. All together, these "G8 + 5" countries represent 58% of the world's human population, 61% of oil consumption, 80% of coal consumption, and 73% of C02 emissions.
CALL FOR GLOBAL ACTIONS AGAINST IMF/WORLD BANK, SEPTEMBER 14-20 (tags)
Mobilization for Global Justice (MGJ) has endorsed the following call, written and distributed by Jubilee South, a coalition of social movements throughout the Global South who are resisting illegitimate debts and IMF/World Bank policies. The statement calls on people worldwide to take action in their own communities against the IMF/World Bank the week of September 14-20, while the institutions meet in Singapore.
Major candidates in Mexican election offer no solution to the social crisis (tags)
On Sunday, July 2, Mexican voters will elect a new president and a new Congress. The election takes place under conditions of mounting class tensions, as hundreds of thousands of teachers, miners and other workers have taken to the streets. None of the major candidates in the presidential election genuinely addresses the needs of the masses for decent-paying jobs, improved living standards and social programs.
Unilateralism is Over. Resistance Grows. (tags)
The US government saw itself forced to climb down in two central foreign policy questions. Washington's efforts to completely cut off Palestinian authority's money supply were stopped. In the Iraq question, Bush was manoevered offside in the Security Council.
How the State of Education Has Changed Over Time in (tags)
I think, when the school opens this June, it’s high time to send our officials back to school so that they would learn first hand the real sad state of our educational system. #
STOP CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION: ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE! (tags)
A Statement of Unity from the OUR WORLD IS NOT FOR SALE Network:(www.ourworldisnotforsale.org)
"The US is a Terrorist State": Leonardo Boff (tags)
Everyone feels we are on a wrong track because we do not have a social contract any more..The US is a terrorist state. The US acts with violence, crushes human rights and tortures Americans and foreigners.. As humanity, we stand at a crossroads.
OUT AND SHOUT INTO THE STREETS! (tags)
We Fil-American students call on our fellow justice-loving students to raise their anti-imperialist voices on April 15 and May 1 to fight for full immigrant rights and forge an anti-imperialist solidarity with the working people and migrant peoples of the U.S..
Limiting Presidential War Powers
Call for Direct Action Against World Bank and IMF Meetings (tags)
Come to Washington, DC April 22-23 to take direct action against the World Bank and IMF
Defending Human Dignity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (tags)
The chapter of German resistance remains rather narrow compared with the wide support that Hitler could count on up to the end that enabled him to act mercilessly against all opposition.
The South is Bled White (tags)
Since the Asian crisis and the 1980s, we have had massive net capital flows from the South to the North. The South is systematically bled white under the present conditions of the world economy.
The First Principle of Political Activism is Awareness. (tags)
Becoming a political “activist” does not primarily mean protesting against something. Rather, at least one primary aspect of becoming an activist, is becoming “aware” of what is going on in the world—but also becoming aware of what is going on within oneself (in respect to what is perceived to be going on everywhere else).
The First Principle of Political Activism is Awareness. (tags)
Becoming a political “activist” does not primarily mean protesting against something. Rather, at least one primary aspect of becoming an activist, is becoming “aware” of what is going on in the world—but also becoming aware of what is going on within oneself (in respect to what is perceived to be going on everywhere else).
Photographs From Iraq: December 2005 (tags)
A selection of photos taken in Iraq, mostly from December 2005, depicting everything from insurgents running a polling station to massive protests against fraud in the election to a day of riots in Kirkuk.
WSF Caracas: Shroud for Venezuela’s social movements (tags)
* A member of the group promoting the Alternative Social Forum explains why the World Social Forum (WSF), taking place in Caracas during January 2006, is another attempt by the Chavez government to impede the autonomous development of social struggles in the country.
Hardly anyone today dares financing the social state by cutting the armament budget.. The fat years are over! Three cheers for dis-possession! Expropriation instead of representation!
The anniversary of the death of the Philippines' national hero Jose Rizal this Dec. 30 affords us the occasion to reassess his work, particularly in the context of ongoing fierce class war in the Philippines between the oppressed, impoverished majority and the few privileged landlords and politicians bought by global capital. This is taking place at a time when the Philippines is being re-colonized by the U.S. as the world's imperialist hegemon. Would Rizal want the country partitioned to greedy transnational corporations and their national elites in the current terrorist war against peoples of color in particular? These reflections hope to provoke a re-thinking of what it means to be a Filipino with the Philippines in permanent crisis, using Rizal as a point of departure, especially in the light of its citizens becoming an embattled diaspora--more than ten million OFWs as exploited domestics and contract workers around the planet, while the country's rich natural resources, cultures and traditions are wasted by foreign profiteers of globalizing capital supported by local comprador parasites currently headed by the corrupt Arroyo regime. "O where is the hope of the motherland...."?
Open Letter to United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) From Mobilization for Global Justice (tags)
Congratulations on organizing a very large demonstration in Washington, D.C. the weekend of September 24-25. The numbers and the resulting media coverage and visibility were indeed impressive. Having said that, we would like to share with you some fundamental political concerns of ours with: • the manner in which the mobilization was called, • what was and what was not included in the political message, • and how that was reflected in the way in which the organizing for the demonstrations happened on the ground.
Report: Screening of The Take/La Toma at the South Central Farm (11-17-05) (tags)
A film about worker-run factories in Argentina parallels the situation at the south central community farm in Los Angeles. Also, is there a solution to the land issue in south central?
Report Back From the 16th World Festival of Students in Venezuela (part 1) (tags)
"[The U.S. ruling elites] have a lot to lose because Venezuela is setting an example. If the people of Venezuela are able to struggle and alleviate so much poverty and illiteracy and lack of healthcare in their country, then why can't we do it here as well?" -- Muna Coobtee, delegate, World Festival of Students, 2005
Report Back From the 16th World Festival of Students in Venezuela (part 2) (tags)
"[The U.S. ruling elites] have a lot to lose because Venezuela is setting an example. If the people of Venezuela are able to struggle and alleviate so much poverty and illiteracy and lack of healthcare in their country, then why can't we do it here as well?" -- Muna Coobtee, delegate, World Festival of Students, 2005
"Counterpoints to the Standardized World": Book Review (tags)
"The world plague globalizationis a practiced philosophy in the interest of business and exploitation without responsibility toward our living space and without humanliness.."
Danger by Eduardo Galeano (tags)
The colonial organization of the planet would run a risk if the poor countries, comprising the overwhelming majority, could vote. They are invited to the banquet - to be eaten..II turns out that power is not as powerful as it says it is "
Join us in Washington, DC! Protest Military and Economic Violence! (tags)
Global Justice Feeder March! Saturday, September 24, 2005. 11:00 am Dupont Circle, Washington D.C.
Protest the Annual World Bank and IMF meetings::Call for Direct Action::Sept. 23-25, 2005 (tags)
Join us and the millions around the world dedicated to a world where development, security, and democracy are no longer tools of rhetoric employed by the World Bank, the IMF, and the U.S. government but are realities in the lives of all. Come to Washington DC September 23-25th for a weekend of spirited action to shake the pillars of empire!
Protest the Annual World Bank and IMF Meetings Sept. 23-25, 2005 Washington DC (tags)
Block the Bank! Fight the Fund! Reclaim Our Communities! Confront Economic Violence and Corporate Capitalism during the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings September 23-25, 2005 :: Washington DC :: Call for DIRECT ACTION
goon support movement (formerly anti-war movement) (tags)
soldiers are not human, and hence don't deserve rights!
Tapes key in protesters' fight against tactics of N.Y. police (tags)
The NYC Indymedia Video Team was very effective at defending civil liberties at the Republican National Convention. Here is a recent story about our success.
Mr. Greenspan and the German Way (tags)
Greenspan's dilemma is that interest rates must rise to reduce the trade deficit ($617B in 2004) and keep foreign investors ($2B a day) though this could burst the real estate bubble and raise consumer prices. US prosperity is a credit-b ased prosperity.
The New Inequality Machine (tags)
From the middle of the seventies, the interest rates exceeded the real growth rates. This made it even more attractive for owners of capital to invest their money in the financial markets rather than the real economy.
The Subject of National Security, continued
China's Rise to a Political and Economic Superpower (tags)
The US is increasingly losing its economic sovereignty..For the Chinese the third Iraq war was the harshest defeat in the short history of reintegration in the world economy. The more the US becomes entrenched in unilateralism the easier China finds allies.
BTL:World Bank/IMF Fail to Agree on Plan to Cancel Debt or Increase Aid to... (tags)
...Poorest Nations ~ Interview with Virginia Setshedi, of the South African Anti-Privatization Forum, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Debtors of the World, Unite! (tags)
The "bankruptcy reform" bill "passed the House on a 302-126 vote on Thursday, a month after the Senate voted 74-25." It is time for the American wing of the global justice movement, which has been struggling to force the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to drop the debt under which peasants and workers of the global South groan, to take on the finance and credit industry that oppresses US workers by usury.
Paul Wolfowitz as Head of the World Bank (tags)
In an Internet poll, Wolfowitz is regarded as a global disaster by over 80% of respondents while less than 10% see Bush's decision as a master stroke..The political scientist Bernd Kubbig points to Wolfowitz' contradictory and sinister role in the iraq conflict.
Venezuela: The Revolution Will Be Televised! (tags)
US of Amnesia - Chavez or Bush Choose (tags)
Forget lobbying, and all environmental, social justice and other organizing in the USA! It will never work – never change anything soon – and causes more problems than it solves. The Andes have a lot to teach us and a world to win - a dollar a year from every person in the USA could make the difference.
Call for Direct Actions A16 (tags)
Come to DC for a week of Direct Action and prevention of "Business as Usual" and the Spring World Bank and IMF meetings
All Out for April 16th, 2005! Washington DC A Better World is Under Construction N (tags)
Were you at the first A16 demonstration against the IMF and World Bank in Washington, DC in 2000? Come back once again to challenge these illegitimate institutions and their plans for a world of unbridled greed! Did you miss out on the first mass protests against the IMF and World Bank? Now's your chance to be part of the second A16! The Mobilization for Global Justice is calling for all those interested in helping to construct a mass movement against neo-liberalism and the devastation it is wreaking on the world to converge on Washington, DC from April 15th-17th. Come help us celebrate the successes of our movement, which in the past five years has not only put these institutions on the defensive and on the run, but has begun construction of the new world that has for so long been in all our hearts. For fliers to distribute in you community, logistical information, meeting times and updates e-mail mgj@riseup.net or visit www.globalizethis.org . GET INVOLVED! IT’S A BLAST!
"A Subtle Form of Hypocrisy" (tags)
Between 1980 and 2003, $1.8 trillion in interests alone flowed from the South to the North. The heavy debts of developing countries more than tripled in this time period.
Some view the election of George W. Bush as providing him with a mandate to pursue his reactionary policies at home and abroad.
Attention must now shift from security of the state to security of the people-human security The UNDP sees expansion of the security concept as a step to more peace and more prosperity and sets human security in the context of human development and hu rights.
Workers witness Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution (tags)
In late November, Chicagoans Beatrice Lumpkin and her husband Frank, a retired steelworker leader, traveled to Venezuela.
Five Years After WTO Protests: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization Movement (tags)
The media spin cycle leading up to major anti-globalization protests has become so predictable that activists have been forced to come up with better media strategies to keep up with the lies and disinformation. The mainstream media starts the cycle several months in advance with articles and coverage about the upcoming summit and accompanying protests.
The Economy of the Plundered South (tags)
The panacea of export orientation that the IMF and the World Bank promoted in the last 25 years for the South has led to absoute disaster..There is an alternative, abandoning export orientation and strengthening domestic demand.
Republicans Cry "Election Fraud" in Ukraine (tags)
Bush's cronies would know election fraud, wouldn't they? However, unlike John Kerry, in Ukraine the anti-Bush forces haven't rolled over and played dead - they're defending their country from a hostile takeover.
The immanent planned collapse ... US Silent As Euro Screams Higher
"Days of Dissent! Reflections on Summit Mobilisations"
US GIVING ISRAEL 5,000 SMART BOMBS (tags)
“Israel would be a much safer place to live if it would give up warfare and weapons and become civil-ized, if it would give up expansion and land grabbing and become decent and humane, if it would care about the ‘other’ and not only about more and more land, if it would stop being an occupier fretting over ‘demography’ and become a democracy caring about justice, liberty, and bread for all. “
US Expert Sees Danger of World Recession (tags)
"The new administration elected in November 2004 must systematically reduce the deficits. Otherwise an inflation threatens. America within the next two years could lead into a recession.."
Education is not a Commodity for Trade (tags)
"Educational policy can and must bring light into globalization.. The world is no longer as simploe as in biblical times when the traders could be simply chased from the temple. Education must remain master in its own house.. Education is not a commodity.."
Greenspan Sounds Alert on Social Security (tags)
THERE WILL BE NONE FOR YOU!! For at least the fourth time this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan issued his warning that the White House and Congress need to come up quickly with a plan to trim the Social Security and Medicare benefits that 77 million baby boomers are scheduled to receive when they retire.
BTL:Pagan Priestess Starhawk Draws Connection Between Spirituality and... (tags)
...Political Activism ~ Interview with Starhawk, pagan priestess and nonviolent direct action organizer, conducted by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
Life and Lies Under the Terrordome (tags)
How intensely war moves on the "home front" are being escalated! How suspicious the timing of all this is! How completely flimsy all the supposed "evidence" turned out to be!
The grass is not greener (tags)
Poor Euros. More evidence of the failure that is socialism. Socialists destroy the incentive to work and yet claim to support "Labor."
The World is not a Commodity: Another World is Possible (tags)
"Attac is an element of the anti-war and peace movement because a just world is impossible without peace.. We reject the militarization of foreign policy and war actions of the German army abroad.."
BTL:At Their Georgia Summit, G-8 Nations Fail to Cancel Debt for... (tags)
...World's Poorest Countries~ Interview with Njoki Njehu, director of the 50 Years is Enough Network, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Native Oaks and Rice over GMO (tags)
Alternatives to GMO/GE agribusiness monoculture is found in nature's bounty of wild edible foods that can be included into permaculture farming..
What's Behind the Attacks on the RCP and What's at Stake (tags)
On September 27, 2001, only 16 days after the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the Washington Times ran an article entitled "Communists, Go Home." Ostensibly in response to a long-planned Washington mobilization against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund by forces in the anti- globalization movement, this article was a very clear call to put communists in the government's crosshairs immediately after 9/11.
Young women say: We will stand for choice April 25 (tags)
WASHINGTON – In a time where many claim that youth in the United States are not as pro-choice as their mothers, a sizeable delegation of pro-choice young people from across the country aim to stand up and be counted at the March for Women’s Lives here April 25.
Venezuela, March 2004: The logic of our times (tags)
* A study of the current situation in Venezuela demystifying the image sold by the media and promoted by the current rulers or by those who aspire to take their place. Originally published in El Libertario # 36, the bimonthly newspaper of the Comision de Relaciones Anarquistas
U.S.-backed coup spurs terror in Haiti (tags)
God or no God, I don't like that demon antiChrist, Our Mr. bush Jr. very much (tags)
By Annan not publicly addressing this very serious issue, will not be fooling me he hasn't heard it mentioned. The families of Iraq are accounted almost entirely by "comprehensive, extremely detailed" measurements. So what the hell is going on about supporting our world community by not condemning war crimes?, Just where is Annan on the issue of an international commitment kept I want asked religiously across this world. Now.
congresswoman Maxine waters on the haiti coup (tags)
claims US is coup plotting yet again
How to defeat Bushism in 2004. (tags)
The defeat of Bush will require an international effort.
Iraqi sovereignty - outsourced to North Carolina (tags)
Naomi Klein: "....The appetite for democracy among Iraqis keeps racing ahead of the plodding plans for "capacity building" [Research Triangle Institute] drew up before the invasion. In November the Washington Post reported that when RTI arrived in the province of Taji, armed with flowcharts and ready to set up local councils, it discovered that "the Iraqi people formed their own representative councils in this region months ago, and many of those were elected, not selected, as the occupation is proposing." The Post quoted one man telling a RTI contractor, "We feel we are going backwards"....
These are the facts, read em and weep...
Political appeals to bigotry grow (tags)
Conservative columnist Cal Thomas recently questioned Howard Dean's faith because his wife is Jewish. Marrying her, Thomas opined, was "strange at best, considering the two faiths take a distinctly different view of Jesus."
First publicated on the trotskyist review Marxism Alive 6
Another fine analysis from Stan Goff. We're not asking for any favors. We DEMAND. A great letter by Stan Goff, a former high-ranking special forces soldier, which criticizes "liberals" and anti-war activists for backing Dean. A great contribution to the "lesser evilism" debate.
Draft Proposal for a Continental Anti-Authoritarian Anti-Capitalist Network (tags)
On this tenth anniversary of the emergence of the Zapatistas from the Lacandon jungle, we call for the formation of a continental anti-authoritarian anti-capitalist network for North America. Our movements for liberation and freedom have met many challenges and our resistance continues to grow. It is now time to organize ourselves better through a de-centralized continental network of anti-capitalists
The Permanent Revolution: Battle cry of the 21st Century (tags)
On the trotskyist review Marxism Alive 2 - October 2000
The imperial counter offensive: contradictions, challenges and opportunities. (tags)
A victory or prolonged war by the guerrillas in Colombia will provide breathing room for the rest of the left. Thus it is essential that maximum support and solidarity be extended to the Colombian struggle. Internationalism is not only the solidarity network against the new imperial military offensive, in general, but in support of the Colombian peasants and workers organized in their "Peoples Army."
After the Failure of the World Trade Conference (tags)
"There is growing skepticism toward the past structure of the WTO and the procedures and results of previous world trade conferences. With the founding of the WTO in 1994, all 148 member countries were promised that there would `only be winners'."
Who Hates the Jews Now? (tags)
Story about the Surge in Global Anti-Semitism, Especially Among those who posture as being on the "Left"
FBI Intelligence Bulletin no. 89: Spying On Protestors (tags)
The FBI intelligence bulletin, disseminated on a weekly basis, provides law enforcement with current, relevant terrorism information developed from counterterrorism investigations and analysis. The intelligence bulletin does not contain threat warning information.
FBI Publicly Denies Spying on Protesters (tags)
Senior FBI officials took the unusual step Tuesday of publicly declaring that agents are not using the war against terrorism as a cover to collect information on people who demonstrate against the government. (Warning: Homeland BU**SH** meter at critical.)
The New York Times: a proposal for ethnic cleansing in Iraq (tags)
While plans have been announced for Washington to erect a “sovereign” Iraqi regime by the middle of next year, this hollow exercise holds little prospect for ending a bitter conflict that is claiming the lives of American soldiers daily and creating growing political unrest in the US itself. Enter the New York Times with a modest proposal for a bloodbath. It advances what it terms a “three-state solution,” based on the partition of Iraq along ethnic and religious lines.
Its official COINTELPRO has returned (tags)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 The Federal Bureau of Investigation has collected extensive information on the tactics, training and organization of antiwar demonstrators and has advised local law enforcement officials to report any suspicious activity at protests to its counterterrorism squads, according to interviews and a confidential bureau memorandum.
Anti-Globalize the Corporate Globalization Movement - DO IT NOW! (tags)
Current U.S. Intervention in the Philippines* (tags)
Over the past century, the U.S. has been the leading interventionist power in the world often victimizing small independent countries and national liberation movements and using the military as its chief instrument. In many cases, U.S. interventionism leads to wars of aggression. Other methods used are: political and diplomatic pressures; economic pressures and trade sanctions; covert operations; media manipulation; and others.
Oil Companies Protected from Investigation (tags)
Bush Orders Oil Companies Protected From Investigation! A Licence To Loot
BTL:Bolivian Uprising is Another Blow to Corporate Globalization in... (tags)
...Latin America. Interview with Jim Schultz, executive director of the Democracy Center, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Protecting U.S. Oil Interests in Iraq. (tags)
In the short term, through the Development Fund and the Export-Import Bank programs, the Iraqi peoples’ oil will finance U.S. corporate entrees into Iraq. In the long term, Executive Order 13303 protects anything those corporations do.
Wesley Clark: Stalking-Horse for Bush Junior (tags)
It is this obviousness with Bush’s stalking-horse Clark that offends even the weakest minds. The obviousness that the vast majority of all the people, all the time, never even see at all. Lincoln was wrong!
The Future of America under the American-led Empire: A Realistic Sense of it. (tags)
That it is high-tech, well lighted, air conditioned and instantly gratifying in such a gratuitous fashion, will make it seem, to many, a benign kind of tyranny. A kind of benevolent beast. These four horsemen will seemingly come bearing new gifts for all.
Retired General Wesley Clark: Stalking-Horse for Bush Junior and The Grey Men (tags)
Should Wesley Clark win the primary nomination for president for the Democratic party, America loses and Bush wins; or Clark wins the general election and America loses. America loses and Empire the only winner.
Interesting article from the Asia Times. A different perspective than the usual propaganda from our Wall Street-controlled media.
Netanyahu attacks-Israeli working class responds (tags)
Israeli working class
Farmers and Indigenous United (tags)
Historic Gathering Set for October 12 in Venezuela
Examining the Impact of Globablization on Women Around the World (tags)
In the unprecedented expansion of world markets that began more than two decades ago, women play crucial roles. Some have been called beneficiaries of this globalization; but many more are its losers. NOW sheds light on how globalization has affected women's lives worldwide.
Carol Brouillet, who prints the Deception Dollars, and reviews a book that shows (or at least contends) how Osama bin Laden is part of the CIA terror network.
"Globalization is daily terror. Every seven seconds a child under 10 dies of starvation. Every four minutes a person loses eyesight on account of Vitamin A deficiency. Over 100,000 die every die of hunger..(while) world agriculture could feed twelve billion."
Radical right imposes austerity on Texas (tags)
AUSTIN, Texas – After three years in power, the Bush administration’s vision is coming more sharply into focus
Latin america: WEEKLY NEWS FROM THE RESISTANCE (tags)
This is an article about resistance in several neighborhoods of many latin american countries: the way they get active in the community and how they are evolving and making difference in their lives in a self-organized way.
War on terrorism is a fraud (tags)
These are two fine articles from earlier that have been published on Independent Media Center. The first one is about the war on terrorism and the second one is about the oppressive system and what we can do together to make a real change. They interrelate. The first article lay out facts about the violent hegemony of US and the second article present concrete solutions to the situation. Please, take time to read them, print them and distribute them.
Latin America fights neolibralism (tags)
Despite the murderous repression that the Pinochet regime was known for, thousands of Chileans took to the streets in mass demonstrations. With the economy collapsing, the fascist government was forced to rehire public sector workers and reinstitute many of the laws and programs in place before the coup.
About the "Kill a cop for the cause!" Redding Murder Case - Pt. 2 (tags)
The man who killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, CA claims immunity because he was incorporated.
American Oil's next target: Africa (tags)
American oil corpse like ExxonMobil are moving aggresively into African nations. There is no end to the mess they seek to create for millions of people.
Only SLAVES and CORPORATIONS need to use capitalization of their names. Better check your ID to make sure they haven't used capital letters, otherwise your a slave without any rights... yes thats right!! check Roman Law
America helps Iraq print "new" Saddam money (tags)
The likeness of Saddam is on the new money. "The Americans got rid of the old regime, so why are they printing the same currency?" Mudafar Mahdi, a businessman, asked Wednesday.
Peru: An Upsurge of Strikes and Barricades (tags)
All through May the people of Peru built a powerful wave of struggle--isolating the corrupt government and shaking the rotten system that holds them in misery. Peru's President Toledo responded with bloody repression--imposing a fascistic "state of emergency" and unleashing his soldiers to kill people in the streets. As we go to press, this powerful upsurge is still shaking the country. The following report is based on mainstream press accounts.
Enron Used U.S. Government to Bully Developing Nations (tags)
WASHINGTON, May 29 (IPS) - Defunct energy giant Enron used the U.S. government to coerce the World Bank and poor nations to grant concessions and resolve its investment problems, according to documents and correspondence released by the Treasury Department.
After the War is Before the War (tags)
The Marburg professor of political science gave this address at the union conference "After the Kosovo War" on Sept 4, 1999. Translated from the German
Neo-liberalism (by Latuff) (tags)
Copyright-free artwork by Brazilian cartoonist Latuff.
"I compare this new movement with the early battles for the abolition of slavery in the 18th century..At that time a hundred years were needed to abolish slavery, end child labor and introduce minimum wages..We need a different economic globalization from below..
U.S. Government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich (tags)
How has the secretive U.S.-based IMF/World Bank economically enslaved poor countries?
Questions of Life and Death (tags)
"Many politicians lack a moral imperative today. They act as though they have no options because the economy dictates conditions. This is not true. Politicians can still make decisions in the interests of many, not in the interests of a few.." From German
Gee I guess it was Blood for Oil after all! (tags)
The scope and duration of U.S. control over Iraq's oil outlined in the resolution goes well beyond previous administration statements, which largely have been confined to affirmations that the oil was the property of the Iraqi people. Testifying on Capitol Hill in March, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said, "The oil of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq. It's the source of revenue to run the country."
Here's That List of Terrorists You Asked For... Mr. President (tags)
I have the latest update on that terrorist list you've been asking for, Mr. President. I keep submitting my reports to Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee , Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Porter Goss, the Florida GOP Rep. and House Intelligence Committee Chairman, but they keep loosing the documents or forgetting I ever gave them the lists... Can you please send it to them for me. I know they will listen to you.
The truth about the CROWN (tags)
You are a slave Neo, born into a world of bondage, a prison for your mind, blinded by a world that has been pulled down over your eyes to blind you from the truth...
"The System is always Fair", the Cat says to the Mouse (tags)
"Behind closed doors, the WTO negotiated GATS, an agreement on liberalization of services. Health conglomerates all over the world can steal solvent patients. The existential necessity water could soon be much more expensive." Trans. from German
Foreign aid, foreign disaster (tags)
Be it bilateral or multilateral, dispensed directly from a government or through an international lending agency, foreign aid embodies all the failures and tragedies that have come to typify our government-run domestic poverty schemes.
How the Reformists attempt to liquidate the anti-war movement (tags)
Recent New York Times article outlines a well-organized, massive and concerted effort by the reformist wing of the antiwar movement to derail the antiwar movement and turn activists into election fodder for the Democratic Party.
The Peace Movement is Being Hijacked by the Liberals? (tags)
It's very easy after all hard work has been done for those that have without any democracy involved to take the reins of the peace movement and steer it nose first into the ground.
In other news - IMF reports globalization doesn't help the poor (tags)
While the world's attention is focused on war in Iraq, the International Monetary Fund has released a study finding there is little evidence that globalization helps poor countries. In other words, the protesters were right all along.
For Our Common Future - No to War! Cancel the Debts! (tags)
"War has changed into a structural and permanent part of the global hegemony.. In the name of the liberalization of the market, the population sees itself robbed of its elementary rights. Every area of life and nature is for sale.." Porto Alegre Jan 2003
THOMAS JEFFERSON CALLING: The time for revolution is now (tags)
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience [has] shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce [the people] under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security." Thomas Jefferson
We are Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Leith, David Wurmser, Ken Adelman, Lewis Libby, Bill Kristol, Mark Grossman, Ari Fleischer, Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Michael Medved, et al.
Venezuelan Crisis: Rich protesters against Socialist Chavez (tags)
As the international media ignores the perturbations in Venezuela, Chavez delivers speech at World Social Forum in Porto Allegre recounting the crisis situation in Venezuela caused by the wealthy, upper-class syndicates and their oppostion to nationalized petroleum and other proposed leftist-Chavezian laws projects
What the Bible says about the Israeli ruling class (tags)
Bush foreign policy guided by Conservative Israeli Likud Party: What does the Bible say about totalitarian capitalism and economic justice?
US to spend at least $4 bn to undermine democracy in Turkey (tags)
If the majority of the people in Turkey oppose the war, then for the US to pressure the Turkish government to support the war is to undermine democracy. Should the Turkish government answer to its citizens, or to the highest bidder with the biggest guns?
Washington escalates military buildup in Latin America (tags)
The resurgence of American militarism in what US imperialism has historically regarded as its "own backyard" was evident at the fifth Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas held in Santiago, Chile in late November.
Latin America Solidarity March April 10-15 (tags)
Latin America Solidairty Protests in April in DC! Help Organize!
Warining to Turkish muslim brothers! (tags)
Anybody who know us should know also what we can do at best:
The fight for water. A fight for human rights (tags)
Water. We see it everywhere. (see related story below) Many of us take water for granted. All we have to do is open a faucet and this life-sustaining liquid just pours out into our glass to quench our thirst. But in many places it is not so simple to get that clean glass of water.
Hypocrisy that underlies HIPC (tags)
Vultures at the IMF/World Bank use accounting tricks to starve and further impoverish the poor.
BTL:One Year After Argentina's Economic Collapse... (tags)
...Citizens Building Democratic Community Institutions. Interview with Todd Tucker, of the Center for Economic Justice, conducted by Between The Lines'Scott Harris
Absurd Responses vs. Earnest Politics; Global Justice vs. Anti-War Movements; Guerilla The (tags)
The Bush Administration is drawing the United States and the world ever closer to a state of permanent military engagement, So what do we do?” the front of the card asked. The back explained: “Throw a party!!! Activism doesn’t have to mean droning speeches, dull chants, and tired slogans. To sustain the growing movement over the long haul, we need humor, theater, music, flamboyance, irony, and fun.”
IMPORTANT NEWSFLASH FROM WHITEHOUSE (tags)
NEWSFLASH Mr. Bush's new criminal edict now states Americans can rise up for America to kill him as a terrorist and be thought Just and God Worthy. I Agree with bush finally.
venezuala: gunman may havebeen hired by anti-chavez general (tags)
agent provaceteur?
BTL:Opposition to Washington's Neoliberal Free Trade Policies Bolstered by... (tags)
...Key Electoral Victories Across Latin America. Interview with Antonia Juhasz, program directdor with the International Forum on Globalization, conducted by Between The Lines' Scott Harris
Holy Jesus Man! Johnny Wizard is staying for snacks! Holy Jesus Man! (tags)
Holy Jesus Man! Have you heard the Revelations from India's government to the FBI now made public?, regarding the principle terrorist funder of Mohammad Atta being, the ISI's, General Ahmad? The bush administration's personal confidant, and top secret military strategist? See, it was Jim at MSNBC that informed US of bush's terrorist plan existing as once top secret presidential documents, and, that this same general, was also responsible for, according to several members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, ...
Proud and Insolent Youth Incorporated (tags)
The man who killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, CA claims immunity because he was incorporated.
Australians protest against US exploitation of Latin America (tags)
US policies towards Latin America have caused an increase in hunger, unemployment, illness and infant mortality, Australian solidarity organisations say.
The Wilderness Lives: The End of Prehistory as a Beginning (tags)
"The status quo is limited and not lasting from eternity to eternity as the quasi-religious worship of capital asserts. This worship of capital handed over to its own destructive dynamic is still dominant but not unchallenged." H. Thielen lives in Brazil.
Christ I'm Actually Rising! (tags)
Chirst has like, actually come to take out the evil bushmob single handedly! He walks and talks like he's just human... Wow! Don't miss this incredible revelation!!
Bali terrorist attack causes shock-waves in the pacific (tags)
Bali terrorist attack
9/11 In Context: Plans and Counterplans (tags)
The Global Fascist Terror State has arrived, the fruit of decades of planning, propaganda and provocation. September 11 was its coming-out party, and for us, the last wake-up call.
A Million New Terrorists (tags)
"With its retreat from international obligations and agreements, the struggle against international terrorism and its posture in the Middle East conflict, the US government is now entangled in politics with double standards." Translated from the German
Thousands rally in capital against war and greed (tags)
WASHINGTON – For four days last week, the capital echoed with marching feet and chants of “corporate greed has got to go” and “No war for oil!”
World Bank and International Monetary Fund strangle economies of Third World (tags)
The World Bank’s origins go back to the Bretton Woods conference of July 1944, when leaders from 43 nations assembled to start building the global economy in the aftermath of World War II. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, hoping to avoid another worldwide depression, called for creation of institutions that would create “a dynamic world community in which the peoples of every nation will be able to realize their potentialities in peace.”
Globalizing Justice in the Peten Jungle of Guatemala (tags)
Speaker from Peter rainforest comes to LA to speak about Plan Puebla Panama on October 7th.
Washington: People's Strike Update (tags)
All the information on the People's Strike activities which will cause a shutdown of the government and downtown businesses of DC on Fri. morn. Sep. 27 and related activites...
Sachs says: 'Forget Debt, Spend on AIDS' (tags)
Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs says poor countries should simply stop making debt service payments and spend that money on health & education instead. As Jubilee South says, "Don't Owe, Won't Pay."
Caterpillar Corporation: Complicit in war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza. (tags)
On June 24, the SUSTAIN Campaign, Free Palestine Alliance, and the Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine sent a letter to the Caterpillar Corporation calling for a halt of all equipment sales to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). To date, Caterpillar has not responded. A international campaign to expose Caterpillar's complicity in Israel's war crimes and pressure the Peoria, Illinois based equipment manufacturer to stop all sales to the IDF is now underway.
FTAA and Government Repression in Ecuador: an eyewitness account (tags)
Globalization is supposed to make communication easier. But when the leaders of Ecuador`s social movements tried to deliver a letter critiquing neoliberal globalization to Summit of the Presidents of S. America, they were arrested, roughed up, and their giant letter was destroyed. This highlights the need for international support for the massive protest planned at the 7th summit of the Free Trade Area of the Americas in Ecuador in October.
Islam rejecting globalization - and Jews and Israel (tags)
[...] It bears mention that not just Islamic extremists, but also leftist movements' activities in the west against globalization rely on a strident anti-Israeli ideology which periodically lapses into outright demonstrations of anti-Semitism. For instance, Becker reports that in many anti-globalization rallies protesters carry placards that compare Israel to Nazi Germany [...]
Today's Voice: ISRAEL/PALESTINE: STOP THE VIOLENCE! (tags)
The Media tells us what is wrong with the world; Voice4change will tell you what to do about it! Our member organizations are busy organizing, so we want to bring their message to you. Our affiliates are doing great work every day. They need your support…We will be their link to you. Sign on to www.voice4change.org
The Gaza strip is a perfect realization of the Israeli vision of "separation". Surrounded with electric fences and army posts, completely sealed off the outside world, Gaza has become a huge prison. About one-third of its land was confiscated for the 7,000 Israeli settlers living there (and their defense array), while over a million Palestinians are crowded in the remaining areas of the prison. Now Israel is considering the imprisonment there of families of suicide bombers from the West Bank.
A Call for West Coast Solidarity(Against Columbus Day) (tags)
A Call for West Coast Solidarity A call to action and organization for all activists and anarchists in the West. - Phoenix Anarchist Coalition
A day in the life of a Palestinian-American's extended Faily and more! (tags)
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West He is co-author of HOMELAND: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994)
UN to consider Colombia role (tags)
The United Nations, an institution like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that was established by U.S. imperialism after the Second World War, is to consider a request by Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, to "mediate" in efforts to end the country's long-running civil war.
UN to consider Colombia role (tags)
The United Nations, an institution like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that was established by U.S. imperialism after the Second World War, is to consider a request by Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, to "mediate" in efforts to end the country's long-running civil war.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Protesters blocked highways, while many teachers and state workers stayed home on Wednesday as Argentina's third-largest union led a 24-hour strike in the latest protest over President Eduardo Duhalde's handling of a devastating four-year recession.
Salvadorans Dispatch Leader To Los Angeles (tags)
PRESIDENT BUSH PUSHES FREE TRADE IN EL SALVADOR; WORKER DEFENSE MOVEMENT OF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN COUNTRY DISPATCHES LEADER TO LOS ANGELES TO RESPOND
Wasatch Activist Convergence & Training (tags)
In preparation for the World Bank/IMF and Anti-War Demonstrations in D.C. and globally, the Westminster Action Network is hosting training workshops on political, social and cultural activism. Topics include lobbying, non-violent resistance, affinity groups, anti-globalization, green living, preserving biodiversity, and legal training.
Third World Debt Deemed Illegal (tags)
People's Tribunal on the Debt in Porto Alegre finds $1.8 trillion in debt illegal; World Bank, IMF & other lenders guilty of genocide
LIFE AND DEBT Goes Nationwide (tags)
LIFE AND DEBT /*** (Not rated) October 26, 2001 New Yorker Films presents a documentary produced and directed by Stephanie Black. Narration written by Jamaica Kincaid. Running time: 86 minutes. No MPAA rating.
International Action Center - "Peace Activists" with a Secret Agenda (tags)
A critical look at the Stalinist cult behind the International Action Center and the ANSWER coalition.
OTTAWA N16: ANTI-IMF/WB ANARCHIST CALL TO ACTION (tags)
12:30pm N16 RALLY AND SNAKE MARCH Anarchist Call to Action by the Anti-Capitalist Task Force (ACTF), Ottawa Endorsed by the Black Touta and the Black Overalls
Call To Action Against the WB/IMF and G20 in Ottawa (tags)
Global Democracy Ottawa (GDO), has issued a Call To Action against the upcoming meetings of the World Bank, the IMF and the G20 to be held in Ottawa. GDO is working on housing, legal, medical and food resources for any groups planning on coming to Ottawa.
IMFC meetings rescheduled to November (tags)
IMFC and Development Committee Meetings To Be Held November 17-18, 2001 in Ottawa
Information about a benefit for Politcal Prisoners this Saturday October 13 at Griffith Park.
US propaganda newspaper the "NY Times" big mouth no more as thousands resist (tags)
October 1, 2001 THE PROTEST Marchers Oppose Waging War Against Terrorists By ELIZABETH BECKER
Article -- S29 Anti-War Protesters March on D.C. (tags)
Led by the newly-formed A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, demonstrators marched on the capitol to protest President Bush's "New War" on terrorism.
IMF, World Bank May Cancel Meetings(AP) (tags)
Officials at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank said Wednesday they are considering cancellation of their annual meetings this month because of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
DC IMF/WB protests - BlackBloc / Direct Action / Self-Defense / Security culture (tags)
This website was developed as a means to inspire and inform participants of the upcoming action in DC against the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank.
Coalition Protesting Policies of World Bank and IMF Lays Out 4 Key Demands... (tags)
Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Robert Naiman, senior analyst with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, currently working with the Mobilization for Global Justice, who lays out the demands of labor, environmental, and human rights groups coming to Washington, D.C. the last week in September.
A Call for a Student Strike- 09/28 (tags)
On Friday, September 28, 2001- a call for a student strike.
Lawsuit Filed Against D.C. Police over Upcoming IMF/WB Protests (tags)
The Latin American Solidarity Conference and the International Action Center announced August 13 that they are filing a lawsuit against the Washington, D.C. police to block them from cordoning off a large part of D.C. during the next World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings September 29 and 30. The groups claim that their constitutional right to protest these organizations is being denied by the police actions. (Posted as a public service by Mark Gabrish Conlan of Zenger's Newsmagazine.)
MGJ: WORLD BANK AND IMF RETREAT (tags)
"It does not matter to the impoverished people of the world and our collective global environment whether the World Bank and IMF meet for six days, five days, two days, or not at all. What matters is the devastating impacts of these institutions' policies on the impoverished and on the environment upon which we all depend for life."
Four Deaths in Papau New Guinea July 1st (tags)
In order to keep our recent history in mind, the first global murders of the current period occurred at the beginning of this bloody summer in Papua New Guinea.
Seeking Change in Genoa (tags)
G-8 nations have pledged to address poverty, disease and debt reform at this weekend’s meetings, but activists and campaigners don’t believe the G-8 has what it takes to make real change.
Genoa: who are the protesters? (tags)
Standoff A lone protester confronts a phalanx of Italian carabinieri in downtown Genoa. Photo: Darko Bandic, AP
THE REAL CAUSE OF THE ANTI-GLOBALISATION RIOTS (tags)
I came across this news report today, which presents yet more clear and unmistakable evidence of how the anti-globalisation riots are orchestrated by the very forces that are imposing globalisation on the world. It's another problem-reaction-solution.
San Diego Indepent Media Center Activist/Biotech Movie Screenings 17 June!! (tags)
The San Diego Independent Media Center (SDIMC) will be screening three activist films, A Storm From The Mountain: The Zapatistas Take Mexico City, Risky Business: A Look at Biotechnology, and PRAHA 2000-Samurai Beat...
Colombians protest IMF policies (tags)
Workers and students have joined forces in Colombia to protest strucuture adjustment programs being imposed by the International Monetary Fund.
Picket at Philippine Consulate!!! (tags)
JOIN US IN OUR CALL TO END CORRUPTION! ESTRADA RESIGN OR BE OUSTED! END U.S.-SUPPORT FOR ESTRADA!
After Melbourne, the next stops on the travel itinerary of the global summit protesters are the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Prague later this month. In public they are putting a brave face on things, but in private the world's top trade negotiators admit that the chances of a new round of trade negotiations starting by the end of the year have shrunk to zero.
Anti-IMF protestors plot Czech "Seattle II" (tags)
Anti-IMF protestors plot Czech "Seattle II"--- For Prague is bracing for what anti-globalization protestors are warning will be "Seattle II," a mass demonstration against the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank from September 21-29.